Chicago White Sox

No one should be thankful for any Jerry Reinsdorf ownership. Even the Bulls won despite of him and not because of him.

Oh no doubt. You will never hear me argue that he was qualified for the GM role and I fully that agree he bares responsibility for past player development failures. But despite big talk, Hahn didn’t change all that much during his time with the org. At least we can see Getz trying something different, even if it’s very possible he fails.

That’s 13.6 fWAR projected for the positional group, which is about a 20 win improvement vs. last year. Nothing seems too crazy to me, although I would take the under on Benintendi & Vaughn. And getting ~2 wins out of that $4M RF platoon would be a solid move for Getz. Only 3.9 fWAR projected for the pitching staff, which is about a 6 win decrease vs. last year. That projection for the bullpen is very ugly despite Getz’s recent trades. I do think that the pitching staff ultimately exceeds those numbers though. I am more optimistic on the SP’s and my guess is a few relievers will end up surprising. Team will still be very bad, but I still see a ~55 win club. Pounder that over if it’s still sitting at 49.5.

Wow, he actually got more with the Pirates than his original agreement with the Dodgers?

I think it’s very clear Getz was overwhelmed at the trade deadline and that at least particularly contributed to the fiasco that was the Fedde trade. Honestly, Getz should have brought in a former GM into his front office to help prepare for matters like this.

I hate even typing this, but we have seen some progress in terms of breaking up the insular nature of the org. Haber, Paddy, KW Jr, multiple long time pro scouts all gone and new people brought in. He’s added leadership positions in the front office to help build out pitching & hitting strategies. It sounds like there have been big changes in our analytics department. We also know that functions are now working with each other and not operating as silos. Will those efforts ultimately right the ship? Impossible for us to say, but it’s clear Getz is doing things differently than KW & Hahn and that’s a start.

The 2006 White Sox won 90 games…I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the best team to not make the playoffs in the Wild Card era. Unfortunately they came in short of expectations because the pitching staff was so worn down, but it was an extremely talented club. KW going out and getting Thome & Vasquez was awesome (despite the issues with the latter) and I will forever miss his aggressiveness.

Maybe I didn’t phrase my post quite right, so let me try again. The first step of any plan Chris Getz should be trying to execute is getting to average in terms of amateur scouting, international scouting, pro scouting, analytics (R&D), player development, strength & conditioning, etc. We are so behind the times when it comes most of these areas the near-term goal is just to get to average. By no means should we ever stop there…keep pushing to be great. And I agree, prioritize building up your foundations over major league payroll. That being said, I still think the Sox should be able to consistently outspend the rest of the division. Whether that’s big free agents or simply extending our own core, the reality is having a financial advantage is a huge plus. My main point is that Getz doesn’t have to be the next Andrew Friedman to turn us into a far more consistently competitive org. There is a pretty straight forward path to get back in the thick of things and being in the AL Central plays a big part of that. It will take time and obviously Jerry has to stop getting in the way with his risk aversion and his stubborn views on how baseball should work, but I truly believe we are so broken that even an unqualified dude like Getz can help make tremendous strides simply by bringing in new voices & ideas.

And by the way, we don’t need to be at the forefront of any key area. The reality is if we can be average or slightly better at everything, we should be able to parlay our market size into a payroll edge over the rest of the division. We don’t much crazier of a plan than that.

Multi-year FA or trade?

I’m sorry, what ended up backfiring?

That extra year of control would make the player you’re trading more valuable in your hypothetical.

Hostetler & Shirley were in our amateur scouting department before Hahn became GM. Paddy was hired by KW before Hahn became GM. Haber’s first baseball role was with the Sox 12 years ago. You’re right on Getz…but that’s basically it.

I agree.

Unfortunately Gene Watson. Like I said, bringing in outside voices makes all the sense in the world, but you still need to hire the right people. I do worry that Watson was a very bad hire and it highlights the risk that even if Getz can identify the problem areas he may not know how to actually fix them.

But I can point to actual people Getz has brought into the org. Who did Hahn bring in from the outside in key positions?

Should be. I get the “hard to predict six years down the road” concept, but when there is zero downside to starting a dude in AAA and potentially earning a seventh year I don’t know why you wouldn’t do it.

Pretty sure Francona’s staff in Cincinnati includes a ton of holdovers. I’m not sure it’s all that crazy to think a first time manager doesn’t have a big enough network that includes a bunch of qualified dudes out of work looking for a job. And in modern baseball, the pitching coaches and hitting coaches are in some ways extension of the specialists in the front office like Bannister & Fuller. And my last point would be a lot of those holdovers came in last year from other organizations. The White Sox lifers from last year were actually replaced.

Sure, but there is also zero pressure to burn a year of control for an extra two weeks of major league playing time this season. No doubt our front office may have seen something in him in September and in the AFL to suggest he’s now ready for a shot, but the right business decision is to start him in AAA. And the lack of strong results makes it very easy to justify such a decision.

There are many different points here that you are blending together. We have lots of 3B & 2B options that are ready or near ready. I think it’s totally fair to be concerned with Rojas stealing playing time from them in Y24. Kim is a different issue completely as he requires a long-term deal and his addition forces Colson off SS before we even give him a legit shot there. I think most people would be happy to gain an extra year of control with Schultz & Smith, so not really sure what that has to do with the other points.

That’s probably true, but my point was Getz wasn’t trying to brag like signing a $100M free agent is a big thing. I would be more concerned if he thought it was.

Murfee has options though and that’s just his major league contract right? If he goes to the minors, he makes a much different salary I believe.

All good, just sharing my opinion on the matter. And honestly, we were hoping for an impact hitter at 1B when we took him, but he’d actually have some value with say a 120 wRC+. That just hasn’t happened yet unfortunately.

He was a top 5 selection who was supposed to be high floor and he’s basically a replacement level player. That’s a bust in my eye.