Chicago White Sox

Traded but also likely hurt yes

The Mayor has stood against private funding? Why?

I just look forward to this lineup at some point next year once Moncada goes down with an injury: Andrew Benintendi, LF* Whit Merrifield, 2B Luis Robert, CF Gavin Sheets, RF# Andrew Vaughn, 1B Paul DeJong, 3B Mark Payton, DH* Nicky Lopez, SS* Korey Lee, CA

I actually don’t want anything to do with Whit, but he makes even less sense with the additions of DeJong & Lopez. We definitely need to add an outfielder one way or the other, but Whit shouldn’t be that dude.

I have no idea if Grifol is pushing a Whit signing or not, but just wanted to reiterate that I hate that brown-nosing SOB with all my heart.

When do the Salvy rumors start popping up.

And this is a huge concern if actually part of their vision and not just a stupid short term focus on defense and culture.

Yes, I think the next owner will attempt to convince potential customers to purchase their product by actually having a good product. Some of that requires investing in your product up-front and taking some short term losses. Some it requires taking on some long-term risk to help win in the now. And above all else, it’s about not being an out of touch dinosaur and investing in the areas that provide the greatest ROI such as Latin America, analytics, biometrics, etc. Jerry Reinsdorf is legit the worst owner in baseball outside of the Pirates dude and perhaps one of the worst amongst the four major sports. Any change will be an improvement because from a conceptual standpoint it’s hard for any other owner to damage their franchise more than Jerry has.

Why is the desperation gone? How are you coming up with this theory? And why were you oblivious to this desperation at the actual deadline when you said Lucas wouldn’t command a top 100 prospect when we all said he would? The rumor is Yamamoto is going to get $300M…a guy who has never thrown a single pitch in the US. Aaron Nola just got 7/$175M as a 30 year old free agent who had a similar season to Cease in 2023. Guys like Lance Lynn are getting $10M guarantees despite being over the hill. Teams are going crazy for SP right now, unfortunately the market is somewhat at a standstill until Ohtani and the top free agent pitchers sign. I have no idea how you can honestly think this is not a strong seller’s market for those that hold cheap controllable, quality SP.

What was his FIP and xERA at the time? And how did he do the year beforehand vs. Cease?

What? You’re claiming two cheap years of Cease will bring in a similar return as two months of Giolito with no ability to QO him. Please explain why.

He still can’t explain why Giolito was worth a top 100 prospect just a few months ago but now quality SP are worth absolute dogshit.

Neither do I…especially not when they are looking to add two teams. Chicago is a potential goldmine with any competent owner. Just need George Lucas and his wife to free us from this reign of terror.

Write-up from Baseball America’s mid-season update where he ranked as the Red Sox’s #9 prospect

????? Let’s just ignore availability (i.e. ability to actually make starts), salary, & control

I don’t think they paid the Sox, they simply reduced the rent that would be owed.

Let’s go Wilcox!

?

That and maybe he didn’t like the “sell the team” billboards and signs in the park.

No doubt, but that “easier” path includes a higher degree of luck since we have more chances with pitching prospects than we do positional guys.

What old arguments are you referring to?

I’m willing to give Gonzalez a bit more time as he at least had supporters in the prospect community ahead of the draft, but his lack of speed and poor showing in his short minor league tenure makes me pessimistic. I just think you can’t totally overreact to a poor first year showing for a draft pick. And the kid does have pretty good plate discipline, so I could see an average everyday 2B floor being possible even if the upside is disappointing for such a high pick.

He did say he was willing to move some prospects, including some of the true top ones. He also acknowledged that they can more or less outbid anyone snd may not need to push so deeply to bid competitively for upgrades. I still think a trade will ultimately happen between us and them because the match is simply too perfect, but will likely require us to move on from Mayo or Basallo being in the trade (just my guess) and BAL beefing up the second piece with a legit top 100 guy.

Pretty much. And it all stems back to Jerry unfortunately.