Chicago White Sox

Hope is an elite prospect, Smith is not. Ryan is also a far superior prospect even with his injury concerns. And I say this is a big Smith fan.

If we’re rosterbating on a Sunday, here is my dream Roch & Bonemer lineup: Antonacci, 2B* Murakami, DH* Vargas, 1B C. Montgomery, 3B* Bonemer, LF B. Montgomery, RF* Teel, CA Cholowsky, SS Peters, CF* Chase & Baldwin on the bench as UT guys. Get good a good platoon parter for Peters in CF and a RH hitting defensive oriented backup catcher.

I just hope that second rotation upgrade is coming! Also, I will relent further whining for now. Had to get it out of my system but now will cheer on Castillo and hope for the best.

Your 2026 rotation right now is: Burke Martin Castillo Kay* Schultz*/McDougal/H. Smith/S. Smith/Sandlin/Thorpe/Adams They’ll definitely need to add someone of impact because that’s simply not a championship caliber rotation without a young guy breaking through.

I posted the trade grades just as a point reference so that people who don’t like this trade on paper aren’t viewed as being unfairly negative. Ultimately instant trades mean nothing but they do reconfirm some of the major concerns here. Ultimately, there are two reasons to believe Castillo could rebound: 1) his slider has fallen off dramatically this year in terms of whiff rate and perhaps the Sox have a simple adjustment in mind to get that back on track. 2) Per Fegan, the Sox believe they have the ability to teach/implement changeups and Castillo getting his back to even 2021 form & usage would be a godsend for him vs. lefties. I hope Bannister has a blueprint in mind and ready to be implemented day 1. I want to look like a jackass and be wrong about this trade. Still think it’s a poorly negotiated trade even if you think there are fixes because the Mariners had legit zero leverage here, but I’ll get over that if Castillo can be productive.

100%

I’m confused. Are you suggested Smith is a better prospect than what the Dodgers gave up?

I would have preferred to roll the dice on Peralta. Obviously we should all wait and see what other guys cost. My biggest issue is the multi year commitment we are making here on a guy clearing trending downward. Maybe there is some gas left in the tank, but damn those road numbers don’t inspire much hope.

Trade grades from the Athletic are a D and C+. Not exactly glowing write-ups for us.

I’ve slept on this trade and am desperately looking for reasons for optimism, but am struggling to find them. I will say this, if this is our only SP move and we don’t get someone to slot in between Burke & Martin, then I truly hate it. If we can land a #2 and push Castillo down to the #4 spot then it’s more digestible. Ultimately, we aren’t a serious club if we keep Fedde in the rotation. Don’t care about his smoke & mirros performance as of late. I appreciate the guy going out there and gutting it out, but he’s a ticking time bomb and one who is taxing the bullpen heavily in the interim.

Here are Castillo’s road ERAs since joint the Mariners: 2023: 3.62 2024: 4.25 (+0.63) 2025: 4.71 (+0.46) 2026: 5.07 (+0.36) What is it about these numbers that screams good pitcher?

Yes, there are two legitimate top 100 prospects in this deal.

It’s a total joke. And uniformed fans love to say “other owners should just spend like the Dodgers” and have no understanding how the financials of the game work and why the Dodgers have a huge competitive advantage given their regional TV deal (which doesn’t even fully count for CBT purposes due their previous owner getting divorced). It’s a truly unfair system and one that requires a floor & cap like all other major sports to solve. We can all enjoy the Dodgers go for a three peat while their tax bill is higher than half the league’s payrolls as you mentioned.

The more I stew on this, the more I think this is the “big” pitching move. Not sure we add another arm at this point. More or less expecting something like this moving forward: Rotation: Burke Martin Castillo Kay* Fedde Bullpen: CL: Taylor SU: Newcomb* SU: Hicks SU: Hudson* MR: Murphy* MR: McDougal MR: H. Smith* LR: Richards

I’m going on a limb here, but I will predict the Sox trade Wolkow for a rental catcher. Feels like there are a handful of guys they are looking to cash in on and Boston was one and George is another.

I think people are mad at them for outspending many teams by 2x & 3x

Sounds like we’re covering some sort of Dominguez’s $2M buyout.

Truly fucking broken

Dear god

He struck out 3, walked two, and gave up 2 HR’s in 7 innings. He must have induced some weak contact outside of the two bombs as the xERA was really good, but that is ugly from a FIP perspective. The lack of strikeouts is what concerns me. Hopefully there is a fix for that because he’s going to struggle if it sticks around 6 per 9 like it has the last two months.

Exactly. And don’t get me wrong, I love that he pounds the strike zone, but without generating some whiffs that success won’t last forever. He could very well get better with time…just not sure I want to bank on that down the stretch if a higher impact arm is an option.

We’re paying him $24M next year…he’s locked in for a spot in the rotation and it certainly limits how much we’ll spend in that area.

I’m starting to consider. I can’t comprehend how any legitimate Sox fan who has endured the reign of Jerry Reinsdorf would be upset when a savior owner finally arrives. Just mind boggling stupid and not worthy of conversion at that point.

He’s hasn’t been a #2 starter for several years now. People look at his ERA and scream “ace” and completely ignore the SafeCo effect. His ERA at home was 2.95 the last three years vs. 4.16 in the road. That’s a significant split and a major advantage he loses out on moving forward.

Which start are you referring to?