Chicago White Sox

Positive 2.7 for Big Dick Nick

Not after Haber was stalking him on here

I feel like the bullpen only has room for one more guaranteed contract. Taylor, Leasure, Vasil, & Newcomb (assuming we add a SP) are all locks. We are going to keep at least one Rule 5 guy to start the season, if not both. Gilbert is out of options and pitched good enough for a mid relief role. And Gonzalez probably deserves a shot after flashing pretty well in his first set of appearances. That’s seven or eight guys right there. Add one high leverage reliever, ideally from the left side, and I think we’d be in good shape.

He was legit terrible in AAA last year. That being said, there is risk here so why the f*** not.

Email Brooks about this: bboyer@chisox.com

The sad part is that Tray’s extremely dumb, long-winded rant should never of happened in the first place if he put any rationale into this and realized the Ishbia’s are purchasing the Sox with their own personal wealth and not buying it through Justin’s private equity firm. As such, the “leveraged buyout playbook” theory holds no meaning whatsoever and the accusation makes Tray look like an ever bigger clown.

Where did he report this?

They wouldn’t conspire with him.

Ramos is almost certainly getting DFAed or traded before OD. He may be able to sneak through waivers though. Mead I think would get claimed because he is major ready. I view Murray morning as more of a “next man up” type who starts the year in AAA and gets a call up in the event of injury.

Was he? He was pretending to be Al’s Cheesy Beef and seemed unwell.

I don’t think you can roster both him and Sosa. And if you did, I struggle to see a path to playing time for Mead. IMO, if you believe in Mead, you should seriously look into trading Sosa for some other need.

The Japanese media doesn’t get utilized by agents the same way that US-based insiders do. And candidly speaking, the Sox wouldn’t be the team they’d want to use for such a threat. At minimum, the Sox are legit exploring the Imai market. If for some reason it’s weaker than expected or teams don’t want to commit massive dollars ahead of the Jan 2nd deadline, then perhaps there is a path where the Sox actually land him. Let’s not understate the Ishbia aspect here. If you’re Boras, you want to form a strong relationship with Ishbia from the get go. He and his brother will be the second wealthiest owners in the MLB when their deal completes and have a shown a willingness to take big swings in the NBA. That is exactly the type of owner Boras wants to be close with and doing a deal on Imai if the market isn’t great is a good to start fostering that relationship.

Yes, he went by the name Orlando and is still pretending to be an insider

We should hear something today or tomorrow at the latest. With New Years being a holiday, they will want a deal framework in place by tomorrow.

On the pitching side, I have three major takeaways: We could certainly use one more starter that has at least mid rotation upside more than just an innings eater. Last year we were dead last in innings from our SP group and it’s easy to over index on that, but Smith, Martin, & Burke all pitched around 146 innings last year (including AAA) and should be able to push towards 180 in 2026. Kay is coming off 155 in the NPB and should be able to do the same. Behind them you’ll have Cannon & Devitt as true inning eater types with options. We will also have several bulk-inning relievers in Vasil (101 IP last year), Newcomb (92.2 IP), & Paez (assuming he makes it) on top of Taylor and even Gonzalez depending on usage. Point is that Getz has done a decent job building a group that can absorb innings. For that last rotation spot, we should pursue some ceiling even if it comes with risk. I still think we’re short one high leverage arm. Right now, the only guys I have confidence in are Taylor and Leasure. Berroa might help at some point and maybe Gonzalez with time, but one arm that could knock everyone down a spot would be fantastic. Not sure what free agents are left, but I feel like this is a need that can’t be ignored and one that Getz will ultimately address. The LH reliever group is highly questionable outside of Newcomb and I don’t think he would profile well for high leverage use. One of Gilbert or Eisert is probably fine for a middle relief role, but I think having a high leverage arm from the left side would help the broader bullpen massively. Ky Bush never had big strikeout numbers, but I do wonder if his stuff would play up some in shorter stints. With a ton of other SP options, his quickest path the majors is likely a bullpen role and I could see him helping us at some point this year.

To be fair, if you or me said any material free agent signing wasn’t happening we’d be just as accurate as NBB has been. This one here is a good test because signing a high end Japanese pitcher to a multi year contract is probably the most anti Jerry thing possible. The only reason such a move is even theoretically possible is the Ishbia effect. The good news is we should have an answer on Imai soon enough. And FWIW, I’ve always been skeptical of NBB. His source would have to be Jerry based on the type of stuff he posts and I can’t believe that level of blatant leaking would be tolerated by Jerry or even the front office. Just don’t see what they have to gain by letting him share this stuff with the general public.

What has he predicted again? Not trying to dismiss him, but I can’t recall a single major prediction from him.

@fathom - What was he saying about Murakami prior to him signing with us?

What was the Cannon article about and was it good or bad?

Couple of immediate takeaways on the positional side: I don’t love having three catchers on the roster. I get the conceptual reason, but I don’t think it’s all that beneficial in reality. If Teel or Quero were to get injured mid game while catching and we had to sacrifice the DH for one game then so be it. As such, I do think there is a real chance one of the catchers is moved before OD. Lee is out of options and I think he’s the most likely one to be moved, but we also know that the Sox have been listening on Quero. I don’t see how this roster can justify keeping both Sosa & Mead as they are highly redundant players. Sosa obviously is further along with the bat, has shown an ability to hit both LH & RH pitching, and technically played SS in the minors (and theoretically could play there in a pinch). Neither has options and Sosa clearly has zero chance of making it through waivers. My guess is Mead ends up getting traded or DFAed ahead of OD, but if you believe in his talent the more prudent move would be to cash in on Sosa and hope Mead can develop into a similar player next season. I really think we need to add another outfielder and ideally a LH one. I don’t believe that Benintendi should be the primary LF due to his terrible defense, but right now there is no one on the roster capable of dethroning him. There aren’t a ton of options in free agency, but Tauchman would make a ton of sense for us at the right price. Have him and Baldwin in the corners with Pereira as a weak-side platoon for Brooks and I can see a passable OF start to form until Braden is ready for a shot. This shifts Benintendi to a reserve role and part time DH and forces Hill to Charlotte.

SoxMachine recently posted an article with Jim Margulus’ current projection of the opening day 26 man roster. Fangraphs’ Roster Resource page also has its own projection. As such, I thought it would be interesting to share both of these and see where people disagree and where we think future moves may take place. Lineup: 1B: Murakami (L) 2B: Meidroth (R) SS: C. Montgomery (L) 3B: Vargas (R) LF: Benintendi (L) CF: Robert (R) RF: Baldwin (S) DH: Quero (S) CA: Teel (L) Bench: BC: Lee (R) IF: Sosa (R) OF: Hill (R) IF: Mead (R) - SM | OF: Pereira (R) - FG Rotation: Shane Smith (R) Davis Martin (R) Anthony Kay (L) Sean Burke (R) Sean Newcomb (L) Bullpen: CL: Leasure (R) SU: Taylor (R) SU: Vasil (R) MR: Eisert (L) MR: Gilbert (L) MR: Gonzalez (R) MR: Hudson (L) - SM | Alberto (R) - FG LR: Jedixson Paez (R) DFA or Returned: OF: Pereira (R) - SM IF: Mead (R) - FG IF: Ramos (R) - SM & FG RP: Alberto (R) - SM RP: Hudson (L) - FG

Cincinnati Inquirer

Antonacci has walked more than Meidroth?

Reds still keeping conversations open with Sox on Robert despite recent outfield additions per Whittenmeyer.

Probably should. LF may be his eventual long-term home with how packed the infield situation is.