Quin

But what team is he a number 3 on other than like, the Phillies (Wheeler and Nola) and let's say...Seattle? Maybe Houston if Verlander stays strong and Tampa if they keep Glasnow (so, likely not), but after that, there's not much argument for Cease being a #3.

If there are 60 starting pitchers better than Dylan Cease in MLB, than the talent level in the league is absurd. I'm basically arguing against the notion that he's not a top of the rotation starter. Even in his "down" season last year, he was 18th in fWAR, ahead of Burnes, Verlander, and Castillo.

The hill that Cease isn't a top of the rotation starter, since 2021: 8th in fWAR 1st in games started 4th in K/9 22nd in FIP - so it could be better, but Snell is 21st and Gallen is 23rd 15th in wins, despite being on the Sox 20th in HR/9, ahead of Gallen, Rodon, Montgomery, Ohtani, etc. and just behind Bieber at 19th.

the b in bWAR stands for Baseball-Reference the f in fWAR stands for FanGraphs They calculate them slightly differently. FanGraphs uses FIP whereas BR uses RA9, so FanGraphs isn't gonna penalize a pitcher for some horrendous fielding.

I'm highlighting the Hostetler part. Look man, Burger is the ultimate feel good story, but he wasn't the #1 college bat. You're already walking back from "top..#3 at worst" to "top 3-5." There's no point retroactively making the Sox a worse franchise, because they're already horrendous. And if you leave the things that they actually did right in - such as taking Burger higher than expected - then it only serves to highlight their glaring flaws even more.

That's not necessarily a good thing.

Maybe the top power, but Adam Haseley was placed above him (and picked above him). Same for Pavin Smith. And Keston Hiura. McKay was a two-way player, but same deal. Like, Burger was very much not the #1 bat in that draft and got mocked well below where the Sox took him. There's no need to rewrite history because he had a great 2023 and the Sox traded him.

Boy that's a lot of old minor leaguers for Cease.

If they won the wild card series, we'd get a Leury/TLR statue in front of the 2005 statue.

If it was a grand slam, there'd already be a Leury Statue on the concourse.

I live and die by the word of Orlando

If Getz' first big move as a GM is a trade with the Cubs, it has to be an immediate fleece or else Jerry might never let him live it down. Especially if it's Cease.

I basically like highlighting every single thing they failed to develop. Alec Hansen went nuclear in both senses of the word.

To save costs, Jerry has declared that the entire 26-man roster will now consist of 2-way players.

While we all know that Giolito, Lopez, Dunning, Cease, Kopech led the way, guys like Clarkin, Fulmer, Hansen supposedly had future starter potential (although Fulmer got the reliever tag fairly quickly). Rodon also just, existed. This isn't an argument for not getting more arms (especially avoiding left-handed arms, which they badly needed), but they definitely had more than 5.

Also, the Cardinals vs. Bears tank game is going to be hilarious if they both enter with their current win totals or tied.

Dunking on things = clicks

We somehow end up with Aaron Bummer as a headliner.

I'm still imagining the nightmare scenario of outside the top 7 this year AND next year as penance for Reinsdorf's sins against baseball

The thing is, Lopez and Dejong feel a lot like Elvis, Harrison, Rollins, Lawrie, Eaton (round 2), Pollock, etc. And I have no faith in Mr. "Vets Don't Need Accountability" to actually play any young players over guys hovering at the Mendoza line.

Chris Getz: Man of Action

I cannot state this enough: Pedro hates rookies.

Sounds like a David Eckstein type winner

Don't mention the Cubs in a White Sox article: difficulty impossible

It feels like Hahn asking for Holliday/Lawler both reinforces this + indicates he wasn't serious about shipping Cease.