Chicago White Sox

We shouldn’t prioritize positional depth over pitching and starting nine spots IMO when we play in the weakest division in baseball. The salary difference between Leury & Romy could be used to reinforce the pitching staff in some way and injuries to our staff is the number one thing that could derail us during the regular season next year. And rental positional guys are relatively affordable at the deadline (see Braves 2021), so just worth not allocating excess resources to the utility spot right now when we have a kid that led AA South League in OPS and is deserving of an opportunity. If we faced stiffer competition I’d feel differently, but we aren’t in the AL East or NL West and should take that into consideration when building out our roster this offseason.

Seems like an obvious move to give Leury’s job to Romy and allocate funds elsewhere.

Your last sentence isn’t even remotely true. We had the 13th highest OD payroll in 2005, but then rocked top 5 payrolls for three straight years from 2006 to 2008 and payrolls in the 7 to 11 range in the three years thereafter. KW had massive payrolls to work with during this seven year period and ultimately got us two playoff appearances and one title. Hahn’s best payroll was 11th overall in 2013 and has never been higher than 15th since then, including the 2020 & 2021 seasons that both ended in playoff appearances. It’s very clear you’re choosing to ignore inflation and changes in league wide spending as Hahn has yet to benefit from an above average payroll since the rebuild finished. The reality is we made the playoffs twice under KW over 12 years and twice under Hahn over nine years (which included multiple rebuilding years). Citing playoff outcomes in samples this small and attributing it to the GM is ridiculous. I get you have a beef to solve with Hahn, but you’re better than providing false narratives to accomplish said task.

I don’t think they’d elevate him straight to the major league roster, but he’s probably going to be the 3rd or 4th catcher on the depth chart next year.

You never devalue your players by ripping them in the media. What else is he supposed to say? I’d wager large sums of money that Collins and/or Zavala is traded and a veteran catcher is brought in.

Fully agree…there was absolutely no downside in trying when we had a double digit lead.

I think Kimbrel’s problems went beyond just how he was used, but we should have given him more closer opportunities to find out at a bare minimum.

Having the 6th highest payroll on like day seven of the offseason is a meaningless stat and not sure why you keep referencing it. And last year’s payroll was significantly impacted by COVID and would have been way higher without restricted attendance to start the year. Also, I’m not sure what you think our payroll was last year, but I believe it ended around $135M to $140M. $170M is a 100% realistic target for us and candidly speaking the Sox could probably rock a $200M payroll with ease as long as attendance is forecasted to be strong. Again, you are crazy if you think we’ll have a $150M to $155M payroll next year.

*Awaits mass panic that we’re keeping him and moving Hendriks to a setup role*

Yogurt looks pretty slim in that photo

I pray this is sarcasm

Wheeler was two years ago and Hahn made it sound like they’re looking for a long-term addition to the rotation. Given the connection with Gausman and less of a track record that other guys, I could definitely see him being the target. Again, Wheeler set a precedent that this is a price point we’re willing to play at.

What amount is Giolito asking for? I didn’t know this leaked.

You keep saying this but I don’t agree at all. You seem way too pessimistic on our financial outlook for next year.

I think you need to reset your expectations on what a “138 million guy is”. Gausman is coming off a 4.8 win season, which ranked eight overall last year amongst qualified starters. Wheeler got 5/$125M coming off very similar production two years ago. A guy with a better track record in Strasburg got a 7/$245M contract last offseason. Top of the rotation starters are very expensive. Six years at $23M AAV is a pretty fair deal all things considered.

Whoops, it’s technically meant to be a 6/$138M deal, which would be a $23M AAV. Just typed in the wrong footnote, although I’m guessing that doesn’t change your view on the deal. Can I ask why you don’t like a guy coming off a 4.8 win season and also looked really damn good in 2020 (partial season mind you)?

What’s your beef with Gausman and what you do instead to address the rotation?

FWIW (which may not be much), MLBTradeRumors has Verlander getting 2/$40M.

We have an option on Lynn for 2024.

We have two more years of control of Giolito and three more years of Lynn. We’re going to need Kopech to assume one of the top two spots in the rotation for the 2024 & 2025 seasons.

It’s revisionist to say Kimbrel was going to flop at the Heuer could have exceeded his production at 1/15 the cost.

I saw it and liked it. Definitely a slower, dialogue heavy film that won’t be loved by everyone.

I like pretty much all these moves, but the only concern I’d have is the rotation. Is Archer the #5 starter? I just worry we’re an injury away to a starter from serious problems, even with Quintana on a minor league deal.

If you want to question what the better addition would have been between Kimbrel and Bryant that’s fine, but don’t say Heuer was going to put up better numbers than the guy who was the best reliever in baseball at the time. These revisionist opinions are maddening.