Chicago White Sox

You continue to make this same argument that ignores everything but power when it comes to the 2B spot. Both Chase & Antonacci are going to get on base at a significantly higher clip and will provide positive defensive value. The overall value equation is likely higher with both of them, especially against RHP where Sosa is simply league average. I don’t your willing to acknowledge how bad Sosa was defensively last head, with 2B being a real challenge for him.

Murray has options and should start the season in AAA. But he’s another guy who can offer some of the RH power off the bench that does Sosa does, but with much more defensive versatility and value.

The thing is Kelenic is on a minor league deal and can simply go to AAA. Forcing him onto the OD roster is not actually protecting him. IMO, I want him down in AAA for a month or two and see how he hits. Call him up when you believe his chances of success are higher and when he’ll have access to regular at-bats. As for the makeup the bench, if you assume CF is Acuna, LF is Benintendi, and DH is Quero (I think him and Andrew split the DH role), that leaves four spots without requiring us carrying a third catcher. Additionally, there are four players without options in Sosa, Mead, Pereira, & Lee plus you have Hill on a two way contract. All the bubble guys are RH hitters and it seems incredibly unlikely we rock a fully RH bench and don’t have at least one more guy to rotate in who bats LF. And while Hill can play a hell of a CF, he gives you no platoon advantage at the spot when paired with Acuna. The same applies for Pereira but without the plus glove there. Given how good of a hitter Baldwin is and his ability to play CF, I just can’t see an argument for not keeping him on this roster from an optimization standpoint. From a protection standpoint, I don’t see a need to protect Hill at all as I think he’d clear waivers and is more of an insurance policy anyways if the young kids don’t work out and/or get hurt. If you keep Sosa (which we will), I don’t see how Mead even gets access to playing time. He’s simply too redundant so putting him on the OD roster won’t help his value. The same applies to Lee but at least there another team’s backup catcher could get injured in May and make him tradable. I do think we should keep Periera given our question marks in the OF, but you can do that while also rostering both Sosa & Baldwin and one of Mead or Lee. I just don’t see the roster crunch that requires Baldwin starting in AAA and that’s before any injuries happen and make this entire debate pointless.

I definitely believe the CF part. I am far more skeptical of the top of the order part. I think he’s clearly in the 8 or 9 hole until he demonstrates some ability to hit MLB pitching and get on base at a reasonable level. Until then, I fully expect Chase & Teel to be our #1 & #2 hitters.

Why though? Who would keep over him?

Has anyone but Levine said the above, especially the top of the order part?

The Sox aren’t uprooting Meidroth yet. The Sox absolutely love the kid and his power (while firmly below average) was compromised last season due to a variety of health issues. That being said, I do think that if Chase isn’t a 100+ wRC+ guy by June, then Antonacci has a real chance of taking the 2B job and pushing Chase to a reserve infielder role. I still love both players and think they are the type of role players a good org like the Dodgers have in the 8 to 11 range of their positional group.

I’d definitely put my money on that outcome vs. the alternative…I just hope it’s because Roch, Colson, & Murakami have forced the issue.

If Murakami performs, I hope the Sox plan to resign him. IMO, we should be in “win now” mode by next season unless a lot of things go wrong. And given that we have zero long term payroll commitments, resigning a 1B shouldn’t be a problem for us (hopefully). I think the more likely outcome is Vargas is eventually traded. But even talking about this hypothetical is a good problem to have.

Vargas needs to have a big year if he wants to hold that spot long-term. I fully expect another leap, but not sure if it will be enough to hold off the eventual impact of Roch.

There is no doubting the Sox should have taken a positional player in hindsight and I’d argue they should have probably done so at the time of the draft. The Sox taking Konner Griffin wasn’t a slam dunk decision at the time though. No doubt he had his fans and some posters here were championing for him, but Smith over him specifically wasn’t necessarily a crazy proposition draft night. Regardless, I think it’s fair to say Smith can turn out to be a really good pitcher while also acknowledging Getz sort of bungled the pick by over-ruling his Scouting Director.

If I’m being honest, both of these projections feel low to me. The Sox pitching staff put up 11.5 fWAR last year. You are basically assuming we get like 5 fWAR total from the rotation and like 3 from the bullpen, which seems super pessimistic when Shane Smith should provide 2+ and Taylor 1+ respectively. I just don’t buy the other four SP’s combining for 3 or less wins and I don’t buy the other seven relievers combining for 2 or less wins. The Opening Day rotation is bad on paper, but there are a fuckton of arms coming and I think Burke is going to blow his projections out of the water with his slider fixed. The bullpen on paper is way better than last year’s and that one combined for 4 wins. I get bullpens are volatile, but can’t accept it getting worse than last year with the additions we have made and further usage of Taylor. My median projection for the broader staff would be closer to 12 wins and I think any reasonable floor is certainly above 8. Your positional projection feels more reasonable to me, but I’m definitely a bit higher than you. Steamer also his this group around 13 wins, but I think they are too low on certain players (Colson, Teel, Baldwin, Sosa, Antonacci) and too high on Chase. I expect the former group to outproduce their projections by 4 or 5 wins in aggregate and Chase to come in a win light. As such, I expect something closer to 17 to 18 wins from this group, which would have been about league average last year.

So you think this team is going to put up about 15 fWAR next year?

It comes down to roster fit. Sosa’s path to playing time is limited because of his defensive shortcomings. Right now, I’m assuming the bulk of his at-bats will be at DH and against LH pitching. That’s just not a huge role. Obviously injury could change that, but even then Antonacci isn’t too far off and will eventually push for a role. Plus the Sox already have Baldwin who is a better option at 3B or 2B. None of this means you should trade him, but it’s hard to see his value going up as a short side platoon DH.

I don’t disagree that the Sox have been elevating his status beyond the typical NRI and obviously have higher hopes for him than me. But I also think people have come to this conclusion that the Sox have soured on Baldwin for reasons unknown.

I’m sure the Sox are hoping Kelenic somehow achieves his former top 5 prospect potential, but not sure why anyone would expect any sort of outcome like that at this time. He was legit awful last year. Meanwhile, Baldwin put a 119 wRC+ in the second half of 2025 (his first season), which is better than Kelenic’s best season by nine points. I’m just blown away by these Kelenic & Baldwin takes.

Then Getz should resign for asset mismanagement. Really hope that isn’t the plan.

According to who?

He was mostly a regular after July 1st and used primarily within the OF during that time. He sat against some lefties but that’s not really that unusual for a first year player. Seems like you are trying to shape the facts to fit a narrative that isn’t really true.

Then what is his purpose on this roster? And who makes more sense DHing over him?

Then he should be traded. Thinking him being used as a backup catcher for a season will somehow increase his value is crazy. If Quero doesn’t get 400+ PA’s somewhere then I’ll be pushing for Getz to lose his job.

Based on what? What have the Sox said or signaled that suggests a lack of faith in Baldwin? I keep hearing this narrative and have yet to find anything substantial backing it.

I still don’t buy Kelenic being in our starting nine 9 come OD and not yet convinced he will even make the major league roster coming out of camp. Definitely possible on the latter, but it’s going to be an uphill battle to steal significant playing time from Quero & Baldwin.

Venable told the media Braden won’t be leaving camp with the team. But if he performs in the minors, I think he could be up by mid season.

I’m growing optimistic about this team’s chances of competing this year. While the OF has uncertainty to it, I like the broader group of positional players Getz has put together and feel like potential reinforcements in Montgomery and Antonacci will help in fill in any gaps. Murakami and Colson being middle of the lineup anchors is essential to that though, so any shortfalls there and my hope goes out the window. The rotation is without question the big wild card. This is a poor group on paper, perhaps the worst in baseball. However, Smith is a legit SP and I truly believe in Burke’s talent and fully expect a rebound. From there, you got to hope that one of Kay or Martin can surprise a bit and maintain a spot. If so, I can see some combo of McDougal, Sandlin, Schultz, Smith, & Thorpe upgrading the last two spots by midseason. As I just posted, I expect Tanner to come fairly quick and likely knock out Fedde. The other kids could be ready by June or July. No guarantees these kids come up and produce immediately, but this a very talented group of pitching prospects and could see Shane Smith type production or better out of the gate