Chicago White Sox

Are they actually going to consider him for a rotation spot by OD next year? I just don’t love the idea of calling up a young pitcher in September if they aren’t going to realistically be part of the pitching staff to start next season. Requires you to burn an option almost right of the gate and if they get injured down the stretch or in spring training they potentially lose service time if you decide to protect the option. But if they do think he could be part of the OD mix, then I’m more than ok with it.

Getz needs to find a way to get one interesting prospect out of Robert. Eat money, package him with other pieces, get fucking creative. Ideally we come away with an OF prospect who isn’t too far off, even if they come with some question marks. I can’t stress enough the value of the playing time we will have down the stretch and into next year. Basically zero major league ready OFs outside of Baldwin if that’s where we plan to play him. Look at a guy like Stowers who had a ton of question marks and would never have gotten a shot with the Orioles. He’s now an All-Star and even if his performance drops off some as the league adjusts to him, it seems likely the Marlins have an everyday player. We can afford to take guys like that or even post hype guys (say Jordan Walker on the Cardinals) and give them an extended runway to prove themselves.

I like Sosa but he is limited defensively and has zero plate discipline (and hasn’t shown any real improvement this year). I certainly wouldn’t give him away, but if someone was willing to give me say an OF of similar value I’d probably make that trade. The chances of him being more than a role player or second division regular are fairly slim and he can only play a position that we are loaded at. As for Meidroth, he’s a quality defensive player who can handle SS and has two elite skills in his contact ability and plate discipline. His ceiling will be limited if he can’t provide some impact when hitting the baseball, but I still see a 2 win floor at maturity and I fully expect more impact when it’s all said and done. If a high ceiling prospect comes along and pushes him to the bench then so be it, but he’s one of the more productive players we have at the moment in his current state.

Here are the guys we should be trading: Robert + cash (weak side platoon CF at worst w/ significant upside) Tauchman (productive corner OF on the cheap => 129 wRC+) Slater (weak side platoon corner OF => 137 wRC+ vs. LHP) Taylor (solid bench piece / 4th OF for depth purposes) Houser (middle of the rotation SP who can soak up innings) Wilson (decent middle reliever with team control) Try to package some of these guys together in hopes of getting the best couple of prospects you can possibly get. I’d certainly look to dump Civale, Altavilla, Alexander, Benintendi (with cash), & Rojas but just not sure any value would be there. I’d certainly explore offers on Sosa, Cannon, and especially Martin, but my guess is they need to be holds for another year before having any meaningful value.

If we finish with the worst record behind the Rockies, what’s the worse we could pick next year?

The rumor is that Haber’s laptop was basically our Analytics department and he was overruling the scouting department at times. If you have a legit Analytics department, then their info should be part of the broader drafting process in unison with traditional scouting info.

It’s nice we’re getting rounds 11 to 20 today. Won’t be a lot of action for us until round at this point.

Three preps in our top 4 picks would be a welcome change of pace.

If I’m being honest, the fastest path to a turnaround is getting our young pitching going and then trading from it to add offensive help. Davis Martin should have been a decent trade chip to move at this deadline or the offseason, but right now I question how much value he’d even have despite the 3.79 ERA and considerable amount of control. A 5.91 K/9 and 5.46 xERA screams impending regression and I think teams are going to be hesitant to pay for control of a guy who is likely just a back-of-the-rotation starter. He remains a hold until he can show more strikeout stuff. Burke & Smith have both flashed at times, but will likely need strong 2026 seasons to return any meaningful pieces that can help the offense. As such, I don’t see any of our SPs generating much of a return this deadline outside of Houser, which will likely be limited when it’s all said and done. Along these same lines, we need to get Schultz & Smith back on track. If those guys can’t give us a pair of TOR starters, then the entire timeline gets pushed even further. Them going backwards this year is highly concerning. Obviously I think people should take minor league pitching numbers with some grain of salt as we don’t always know what guys are working on, but the level of control decline this season is hard to completely ignore. Way too early to fully panic, but not what you want to see from these guys to feel warm & fuzzy. Additionally, Taylor shifting away from starting can be viewed pessimistically. Doesn’t mean he’s a reliever forever, but I’m not sure we should be pointing to Crochett as proof that the reliever to SP transition will be easy. Candidly, I think they keep him as their closer and that takes away one of few guys with TOR upside in our system. Beyond that, we really got to hope Thorpe, Adams, & Bush can come back strong next year and produce out of the gate. They may lack ceiling, but they all flashed enough to warrant major league opportunities and Thorpe in particular is a guy that I still believe can be a really good mid-rotation SP, especially if the fastball adds a tick or two post TJS. That being said, the competition for rotation spots could be fierce next year and it’s very likely a few of these guys will ultimately languish in AAA for a stretch. I get the “cream rises to the top” thinking when it comes to having a surplus of SP options, but if the goal is to flip the lower ceiling guys before more impactful guys demand spots, then time becomes a potential challenge as windows to prove themselves will be limited. Just something Getz and Bannister will need to work through.

I’d be pretty pumped if they took Neville to kick off the 4th. I get there are serious contact issues, but the rest of the package is exiting and you won’t want a lot of college guys who offer the ceiling he does at this point in the draft. Feels like a swing that Shirley really good take if they have any faith in Fuller and our minor league development program for hitters.

Is this a serious post? Jerry is one of the worst owners in all of sports even if he lucked into Michael Jordan. Meanwhile, you refuse to give Ishbia a shot at being a successful owner before even gained control because he’s a private equity guy…

BA has Lodise #57 overall, so I doubt he’s a big under slot guy if at all.

You can stream for free of their website

No one has done more over slot college deals in the 2nd round than the Sox…🤔 In all seriousness there is no way to make that math work, but always fun to poke jabs at the Gavin Sheets and Steele Walker selections.

Yes, first three rounds tonight.

Oh f***

Jerry goes bye bye?

I know you should always follow the adage of BPA, but we desperately need to come out of this draft with power, athleticism, and positional upside. How we address those needs can be different on a player by player basis, but I’d like to see us take three pretty swings on the positional side with our limited bonus pool and for us to prioritize ceiling over floor where possible.

Final Baseball America in case it hasn’t been posted already: WAS - Kade Anderson, LHP (LSU) LAA - Liam Doyle, LHP (Tennessee) SEA - Seth Hernandez, RHP (Corona HS) COL - Ethan Holiday, SS (Stillwater HS) STL - Eli Willits, SS (Ford Cobb-Brockton HS) PIT - Aiva Arquette, SS (Oregon St) MIA - Ike Irish, C / OF (Auburn) TOR - JoJo Parker, SS (Purvis HS) CIN - Jamie Arnold, LHP (Florida St) CHW - Billy Carlson, SS (Corona HS)

I did not realize McDougal went to an outside pitching lab. That does not seem great.

Sure, but doing multi year deals on C tier free agents in general is bad process. I am not concerned about “blocking” the kids if we go out and add meaningful SP to anchor the rotation. But I don’t want to commit dollars to guys that we are hoping will be replaced in the near future. On a one year deal? No concerns there. But under no circumstance am extending a guy like Houser multiple years. I 100% believe that we need to give guys like Thorpe & Adams extended runways next year (if healthy) to show what they are capable of, just like we are doing with Burke, Smith, Cannon, & Martin right now. Those guys may not work out, but it’s the right thing to do given where we are at in the rebuild. If Ishbia wants to go out and spend a fuckton of money, I’d probably feel very different. But honestly, I think best case scenario we are two years away from a massive payroll injection and therefore continue to give playing time to young guys where you have them and SP is one spot we have a lot of semi-interesting arms on the cusp.

My list was more intended to reflect OD options, but perhaps he’s going to keep moving much faster than anticipated.

Where did I say not to sign MLB starters? I mean, the post literally says go ahead and add some cheap veterans to the mix. But if you are going to sign a SP to a multi-year deal and block some of the kids, it should be for someone far more impactful than Houser. Do you feel otherwise? @WhiteSox2023 - Oh look, another post where I said we should 100% trade Houser…🤔

lol…you actually think I’m lying when I say an obviously dumb post was intentional trolling. f*** man, you got me. I guess I never posted the comment below in the 4th of July gamethread and unfortunately you weren’t there that day to agree with me. Oh wait…🤔 As for Robert, I have never argued he is a star player or even good in his current form and it’s fucking wild you are arguing otherwise. But I get it, you are butt hurt that I call you out for your consistently poor analysis & blindly pessimistic takes and are hoping to gotcha me. Unfortunately, tonight won’t be your night buddy.

We have a winner. I thought more people would have caught onto my blatant trolling, but my post was apparently just insane enough to seem dumb also sincere. Regardless, I 100% believe trading him is the right thing to do. If you want a vet SP to add to the mix, add one in the offseason.