Chicago White Sox

I’d still go Holt over Miller.

Thanks guys!

Anyone else having trouble accessing this article through Patreon?

Just remember, most other teams will add similar amounts of talent via Latin America and the draft though. It’s not like we have bigger bonus pools and additional picks to quickly narrow the gap. It’s going to take hitting big on a couple of classes before we are back to being middle of the pack IMO. Hopefully the 2019 draft is the start of that.

? ? ?

Calling any half of a season “garbage time” is one of the most boggling statements I have ever seen on this site. And citing something as a SSS does not make something a bad argument unless one is stating something with absolute conviction based on that data. I have never once argued that Nomar will be a stud, I simply showed his stats after making some approach changes to show that maybe there is reason for hope for him. I have no strong convictions either way, but I do think when evaluating young players that SSS’s should be taken into consideration given the fact that development isn’t linear and things oftentimes can just suddenly click for talented young guys. Finally, to say approach changes rarely work out when we’re in the middle of the juiced ball era is just silly. Mazara has elite power potential and even small tweaks could have huge dividends. Again, no promises there, but it appears he was starting to improve his fly ball rate last year and that’s a big start.

Did you just call June to August “garbage time” for a team that was nearly .500? Yes, it is a small sample size, but Nomar did make some legit approach changes that impacted his batted ball profile (there are articles on this if you don’t believe me). This is the reason teams have scouts, to find guys that are at the beginning of an upward trajectory. Whether or not he’s that guy remains to be seen, but the Sox certainly feel that way and good clubs routinely acquire under-valued assets. It may be a bold or even risky move to gamble on upside, but calling it ego-centric just reeks of disdain for our front office.

Very excited for this. I’ve said it a few times, but FutureSox is absolutely best in class when it comes to White Sox minor league coverage. I pay for a Baseball America subscription and I truly believe you guys have surpassed them with your knowledge of the system & detailed write-ups. Also, for the FutureSox Patreon, is there a way to donate more than the $2/month? I wanted to go up a little given the new website and the loads of content we’ve getting recently, but couldn’t figure out how to exactly.

Here are Mazara’s splits against RHP from June to August after some approach changes and before going down with oblique & thumb injuries: .333/.382/.593/.975 (143 wRC+). Yes, that line is partially fueled by a .400 BABIP but the. 260 ISO is legit and that led to 15 2B’s & 8 HR’s in about 165 plate appearances. I’m not looking to do a rah-rah post here and I was plenty upset about the Mazara trade at the time, but that was before we added Encarnación to help anchor the middle of the lineup next year. Now with EE in the fold, I’m far more willing to gamble on Nomar’s update. This was a kid who got a $5M bonus and was consensus top 20 prospect in the game before reaching the majors. There is no doubting the talent and while I am with the group that argues age isn’t a skill, the reality is there is still plenty of room for growth when you are still just 24 years old and were brought to the major at an incredibly young age. Again, I would have preferred Joc over Mazara all else being equal, but the org has made it’s move and is not going to pay even more to acquire a redundant player in Pederson. IMO, we should give the front office the benefit of the doubt here and see how this plays out. The Sox are betting on on their own evaluations and if they’re right this could be a big win for us. If not, go ahead and rip them shreds after the season for going with a questionable RF option when the rest of their moves were geared towards winning now. For now, my primary concern is them using Nomar as an everyday guy. At bare minimum, I think he should be a useful strong side platoon RF, but the kid can not hit LHP and the org better not cute here by over-exposing him. Giving him everyday at-bats is a recipe for disaster and I wish he had a more proven platoon mate than Engel to avoid such temptation.

Just because he hasn’t cheated or done something criminal does not prevent him from being a selfish prick who created drama within the clubhouse.

If you want an insurance policy for those things happening go sign Maybin. We do not the circus that is Puig.

Encarnacion has been over 2 fWAR in 4 of the last 5 seasons. Meanwhile, Puig has been above 2 fWAR in just 1 of the last 5. No idea why you brought Edwin into this when he has actually been a damn good 1B / DH for an 8 year stretch while Puig has been below average for a while now.

I would have preferred Joc to Mazara, but at this point we got to see what we have in Nomar. It’s very clear the Sox are very high on him and we might as well see what he’s capable of now that he’s healthy and not forced to bat in the middle of their lineup.

Amazing the Dodgers got Downs & Gray (two 50 FV caliber prospects) for a bunch of spare parts and absorbing one year of a bad contract. Now they turn around and use one of those pieces to acquire Mookie fucking Betts. Just crazy how good that organization really is.

I’ll still be surprised if they don’t sign another infield option before Opening Day. The lack of depth on the left-side of the infield is a bit scary at the moment.

Where did you hear on that last one? I’ve seen strong rumors suggesting 3D World & Pikmin 3 ports this year, but Skyward Sword seems like it would be a really challenging port given the control scheme. Apparently a Metroid Prime Trilogy port is finished and Nintendo is waiting to release it once Metroid Prime 4 gets far enough along. By the way, I have also heard rumors of new Paper Mario & 2D Metroid games coming out this year. I’m really excited about the latter as it’s been a long time since an original 2D Metroid came and Super Metroid is a legit masterpiece.

Yup...it also allows them to use him as closer with worrying about his salary spiking significantly.

I think this theory made a ton of sense when you proposed it a month or so ago. The Sox have always spent their full allotment (penalty years not withstanding) and it really seems like something wrong last year. I don’t buy for a second that there weren’t enough guys they liked, that seemed like a blatant cover-up for something else.

He’s going to have a lot of tweets to delete when this doesn’t come to fruition.

Moncada didn’t make the 3B top 10 list??

Won’t happen this time though. Short of a spring injury, he’ll finally make a start for the Sox.

No idea how we’d fit another starter in at the moment.

Honestly, they haven’t recently reached NBA hell status yet. That’s the ceiling of this rebuild, but right now they still aren’t even an 8 seed type team. I have never in my life wanted to see a Chicago organization burn & crumble to the ground (outside of the Cubs) until now. Until both Paxson & Foreman are gone, I say fuck the Bulls.

Wasn’t there a certain blogger who was 100% certain Machado was signing with the Yankees and made a similar grave? Unfortunately these type of guys always seem to rise from the dead.

Do what? Trade for Arenado? Dude is awesome and would definitely be something to pursue at the right price. The challenge is he’s paid handsomely and has an opt-out in two years, so you can’t overpay. I would definitely trade say Madrigal + Stiever for him (doubt the Rockies do that) and not have second thoughts. Think about this lineup for a second: Robert, CF Moncada, 2B# Arenado, 3B Jimenez, LF Grandal, C# Abreu, 1B Encarnacion, DH Anderson, SS Mazara, RF* ?