Jose Abreu

Thanks for reading 😄

https://www.soxon35th.com/why-the-justin-ishbia-news-is-even-better-than-you-think-for-the-white-sox/

FWIW, in his 100 PAs with the Pirates, Alexander Canario has a .353 xwOBA. Only Tauchman and Slater (in even smaller samples) have higher figures with the White Sox. I've seen his numbers being used as a punchline in here, but he has been very unlucky and has actually had well above-average metrics, just with some particularly bad luck so far (.297 actual wOBA)

It's sad to see how normalized this is. 3 consecutive 100+ loss seasons (assuming 2025 continues to be poor), potentially back-to-back seasons of having the most losses in MLB history, very little progress in the minors from position players, and there's an extremely vocal (albeit small) group here that is just... ok with it. This isn't "just how rebuilds go"

He's having the career I thought Moncada would have

He isn't even a fourth outfielder IMO because a fourth outfielder should be average or better in center field, and he's atrocious out there. I've never seen a center fielder drop as many balls as he has in a season.

That's light... AJSS has been rough this year and Nacho is a 3rd piece at best to me. But I understand that's the best they can probably do without dipping into established players

I get that the Yankees have Spencer Jones even though we all (justifiably) don't like him. But how would the Braves even try to make that happen?

And when he (Mena) immediately adds 2-3 MPH on his fastball after the trade... @ChiSox59is fair in point out Mena's WHIP, but his numbers when you consider both how young he is and that he's pitching in the PCL honestly are not bad. I think he at least has an MLB future, which is more than I can say for Fletcher

Walker as a headliner for Fedde would be underwhelming even beyond the concerns with whether he's fixable. Fedde should net more than a reclamation project headliner

Except a way worse hitter in the minors. Honestly I can't think of a worse fit for both sides. There's plenty of talent there but the White Sox aren't going to get it out

I like the idea, I'm going to be bold and say Robert and Crochet are on the White Sox for the rest of the season (traded in the winter)

Hypothetically, let's say the Grandal contract was for 2 years. They got what they wanted out of him and that money and subsequent bad performance was gone in 2022 and 2023. Would the reallocation of ~$18M per year toward relievers and maybe a better RF have made the 81-81 White Sox a contender, or the 2023 team any different? If the answer is no, how did it weigh the team down?

Completely agree. Beyond the salary stuff being ridiculous, it also made comments about how teams won't see him as valuable because they'll be playing him in a corner rather than CF. And the one example they used was Julio Rodriguez, who is an objectively worse defender than Robert unless you're only looking at this year's ~20 game sample. The injury concerns are extremely valid but this felt too over the top to be a standard trade rumor article from neutral sources.

The home run Lopez gave up came on a very good pitch. I know some were upset that he went to the slider but it was a good pitch nonetheless, just happened to be against a top 2 hitter in baseball

I agree but who would have even needed to be replaced? Eloy was DH so obviously not him, and everyone else in the lineup probably doesn't need a defensive replacement. Especially when the bench (which was only Zavala, Sheets, and Alberto at the time) is mediocre at best defensively

Are you able to at least shoot around and just not play actual games?

Isn't that what AAA had last year?

It's not like tennis anymore, which has recently changed to a fully automated system (no more challenges), which has made the matches much smoother IMO Personally, I hate this ball/strike challenge system. They have the technology for full automation and it's proven to be far more accurate than the current system, so why not just use it? Why do a weird mix of the two?

Those were Cleveland fans who were heckling him, and it was one time, not "any chance he gets"

Grifol had said it would be happening (well before the fake insider tweet) so I’m wondering if TLR’s health issues just haven’t been getting any better

Especially since Hahn, at the Benintendi press conference, said they weren't a finished product. Since that quote, which is now a month old, they have acquired 0 MLB players