Chicago White Sox

I just hope we get some leak today on how much ownership he’s assumed…I’m guessing we don’t hear much until the league approves unfortunately.

I wasn’t referring to you, but thanks for always being respectful 😘

They’re just trolling. Unfortunately, there are still people who get joy making dumb comments on message boards and riling up the posters there.

DeLoach had an option last year and was a consensus top 16 to 25 prospect for the Mariners. Not suggesting that is overly valuable, but he was more than just a throw in. And one year later, he can’t hold a 40 man roster spot on a team completely devoid of OF talent.

It’s amazing that Getz acknowledged that having some OF depth in the upper minors would prove valuable given our general lack of talent outside of Robert and yet missed horribly on the evaluations of Fletcher & DeLoach. Honestly, I’d prefer rotating some of the infielders through LF while Andrew is out vs. giving Fletcher the job. I’d also throw a claim at Canairo when the Mets ultimately try to sneak him through waivers.

@ptatc - How worried should we be about Colson’s back spasms?

By no means am I supporting the acquisition. To be honest, it’s hard to see it working out for us unless he doesn’t transforms his offensive game. But I do truly believe Vargas will be a semi useful hitter next year and not the complete black hole he was last year.

Madrigal didn’t walk all that much to begin with though. And Vargas should have much more raw power than Nick, although he obviously didn’t show much last year.

I honestly disagree. I think his floor is probably a 90 wRC+ next year. I can’t stress enough how elite his plate discipline is and even a mostly empty OBP is going to create a fairly high floor. Again, for him it comes down to whether he can actually impact a baseball consistently when he makes contact. He looked awful in that regard last year and Statcast backs up the eye test. I just don’t buy what we saw last year is truly reflective of his ability. I’m not one to buy into spring training fluff pieces, but him gaining weight was important to see as he did look extremely frail last year when I watched him play. I think that should help in the power department and I don’t believe for a second that a kid with a 60 grade hit tool will be so bad at squaring up on the ball long-term. I expect substantial improvement this year with the bat, but even a 100 wRC+ isn’t all that valuable if he can’t play a normal position. He’s got to be closer to 120 if he wants to be an everyday 1B or DH and that’s hard to picture right now based on what we have seen out of him in a White Sox uniform.

Sosa is a really tough one for me. He’s obviously not going to get to 100 wRC+ without major improvement in his chase rate. If he can start laying off some sliders and take a few more walks, I think he can get there. Lenyn has fairly average bat speed and raw power, but he gets the most out of it by being able to square up on the ball consistently and having a swing geared for quality contact. He could go either way IMO and that high uncertainty is why I have him below Vargas & Baldwin in likelihood to achieve a 100 wRC+ next year.

The guys I think have the best chance of reaching or exceeding a 100 wRC+ this year are Vargas, Baldwin, Meidroth, & Sosa. My personal money would be on Vargas & Baldwin. By no means am I excited about Vargas, but his ability to draw walks at an elite level should hopefully get him close to 100. From there, it comes down to being impact the baseball more consistently, which I need to see before I believe. As for Baldwin, he’s just a well rounded hitter who does everything well. As much as I Stan for Meidroth, I am the highest on Baldwin of all prospects in this tier. I think he can be a 2+ win player as soon as next year and I could see him ending up around a 100 to 105 wRC+ if he adjusts a bit faster than expected.

Tucker + Guerrero for me. I get the risks with the latter long term, but I’m swinging for the fences if I’m Ishbia.

You are ignoring his entire minor league track record of plus bat to ball skills over six plate appearances to kick off spring training. And yeah, he’s not a guy who will regularly impact the baseball when does he make contact…if you’re expecting that from him you will certainly be disappointed in his game.

Yes, I saw his first at-bat, although not much to take from that. I also watched videos of him batting last year when we first traded for him. His game is taking pitches and making contact…what have you seen so far that makes you think those skills won’t translate to the majors?

Great, but we also need to 2 win players all over the place.

Six whole plate appearances and we’re already writing Meidroth off 😁

I have never seen that before, but what an awesome output

The only way it can get worse is if Jerry sells to his boob of a son. Otherwise, the odds are 99.9% the next owner is better than 89 year old Jerry.

My guess is this is how this will all play out: Ishbia buys out minority shareholders this Friday…Ishbia will assume +50% ownership of team but control will remain with Jerry Capital call for remaining shareholders to help finance new stadium…team control passes to Ishbia and he receives ROFR on Reinsdorf shares Jerry passes and his sons liquidate their holdings at elevated multiple…Ishbia secures full ownership through new agreement or ROFR The first part we will know about in the next couple weeks. How and when control passes to Jerry is the big wild card.

I know people are super down and rightfully so, but there is actual stuff to look forward to this year. First & foremost, we will have a sizable group of young players on the major league roster this year. On the positional side, you start with current top 100 prospects in Montgomery, Teel, & Quero. In addition, you have a former top 40 prospect in Vargas and a former fringe top 100 prospect in Ramos. And on top of that, you have a super versatile player in Baldwin who put up a 150 wRC+ in the upper minors last year, another infielder in Meidroth who put up a 132 wRC+ in AAA due to a .437 OBP, and a third infielder in Sosa who put up a 173 wRC+ in Sep/Oct and who was overall a league average hitter last year per Statcast despite his chase & walk issues. While this group obviously lacks the star potential that the previous rebuild core possessed, there is a lot of depth here and I’m confident that we can quickly build a foundation of good 2+ win players across the infield and at catcher. IMO, it will be super fun to watch. On the pitching side, the major league rotation will lack the level of intrigue that the 2024 version possessed. There is no TOR ceiling type arm like there was with Crochet last year and Fedde was more interesting as a potential trade chip than Martin Perez. Regardless, there is a lot to be excited about even if the Big Three arms don’t arrive this year. Year 2 of Davis Martin post TJS is going to be super interesting. He’s coming off 10 starts of league average production and should only get better as the rust wears off and and he gets more work in with Bannister (sounds like he’s added a sinker to his already vast arsenal). Cannon may lack a high ceiling, but he already looks a legit BOR major league starter who will soak up a ton of innings. Can he be more than? Burke may be the most interesting arm on the roster next year. Massive dude with four legit pitches who Keith Law is a big fan of and who cracked a Fangraphs’ top 25 pitching prospect list based on projected peak major league performance. He has a chance to be super valuable SP if he can stay healthy and harness his command. And while he won’t be ready for OD, Thorpe is high on my list of must follows for next year. I think the prospect community and this site are sleeping on this kid way too much. I get Region’s Park is super pitching friendly, but we’re talking about a consensus top 100 prospect (who was as high as the 50’s) who just put up a 1.35 ERA across 11 starts last year. Yes, he didn’t look great in his last handful of major league starts, but there is strong reason to believe the kid was not 100% healthy at the time. I personally believe with a little improvement to his 4 seamer and repertoire changes that allow for less reliance on it, he can develop into a solid mid rotation starter. And given the length of this post, I won’t go into much detail regarding the minors, but this is the deepest system we have had in over a decade or more. The rotations will be loaded throughout. There are actually some high upside positional guys worth following in B. Montgomery, Wolkow, Bonemer, etc. It’s going to be a fun follow on a daily basis regardless how bad the parent club is. Finally, and most importantly, we should finally get confirmation on what life after Jerry might look like. I have been as down as anyone when it comes to this team and a big part of that was there was zero margin for error with the farm system as Free Agency isn’t a foundational level with Jerry. But the change to Ishbia will completely change that equation and it’s important to take in next year with that consideration in mind. We don’t need to win 70 games next year to feel good about our future… we just need to find enough long-term pieces that can provide us with a solid floor that we supplement via free agency. And that should excite the fanbase more than pretty much anything next year.

Greg just reentered the world after years of Captain America style hibernating and doesn’t get how these sports are different! Give him a fucking break Kyle!

What in the world are you guys talking about? Public ownership isn’t happening and it’s not worth wasting a billionth of a second talking out. It’s absolutely wild to me that there are actually posters trying to paint going from Jerry to Ishbia as anything but a positive.

Still trolling after all these years.

It was honestly just about immediate likelihood of grabbing a role. Smith would be second to last if the list was based on ability to retain a role long term. My point is we can easily survive trading Davis Martin and covering the innings.

Berroa is 100% a reliever. This is just the list of dudes in AAA and above who will likely make starts this year: Davis Martin Jonathan Cannon Martin Perez Sean Burke Bryse Wilson Shane Smith Drew Thorpe Nick Nastrini Jairo Iriarte Mason Adams Owen White That seems like pretty good depth for one season before the Big 3 and other arms start hitting.