Jose Abreu

100%. He's a fine player, but the last thing this team needs is another singles hitter

I'd love Varsho but doubt the Sox could afford him. Still controlled through the 2026 season, 4.6 WAR last year. 27 home runs, 16 stolen bases, plays both catcher and center field well but was even a gold glove finalist for right field... definitely one of the league's most underrated players

I've read that the league has quickly soured on Thomas due to what some believe will be a long-term inability to consistently make solid contact

I don't quite share your optimism but I do lean closer to the "it was just a really bad year" mindset, perhaps with the exception of Grandal since he's old and has been hurt. Not to say that everyone will reach their full potential, but I also wouldn't be surprised at all to see 2021 Moncada and Robert again. Even Buehrle and Konerko had a randomly awful year in their primes (Buehrle was probably just exhausted, but still)

So the 2019 Pittsburgh Pirates are reassembling?

You could make a decent argument that he was better in 2021 after the ban rather than before, but for some reason that narrative just won't die

You joke, but they already let it slip that he'll still be involved...

If the White Sox trade Liam Hendriks to the Dodgers and you don't get Busch or Stone back, why even bother? And if the answer is that Hendriks doesn't have that kind of value, then why not just trade Graveman instead (for a lesser return, but still clears money)?

Grifol said Montoyo was his pick

Tomorrow, according to Fegan

Guess I need a new name...

I disagree. If you're just referring to him staying healthy, then sure. But even 2022 Jimenez (when healthy) was better (144 wRC+) than 2019 Soler (136 wRC+). I'd love to see Eloy hit 48 homers, but he's a much better contact hitter than even peak Soler, so the "best case scenario" for Jimenez probably has him hitting .300 or better in addition to massive power output

Ok, now I'm in. Thanks for sharing

Extremely minor gripe but where does the "s" come from?

Fair enough. He definitely has gotten much worse back there with age

Salvador Perez is consistently one of the worst defensive players in baseball I don't know much about Grifol overall, but I wouldn't use that as a selling point for him

We all just sat through a full rebuild that started 6 years ago with promises of championship contending clubs, and to date we have received 2 playoff game victories and nothing else. If you want to turn this into a "real fans" debate, then I would argue that the "real" fans are the ones who actually care about the team's success and want them to stop making the same mistake over and over, rather than the ones who would blindly love another former Sox manager comeback story that is, once again, very clearly not going to work out

Absolutely. It’s a credit to Ozzie that he knew exactly what needed to be done —win over JR first, and at that point the second “interview” doesn’t even matter

His comments on postgame shows over the years imply otherwise

If the three-headed monster had a functional dynamic and sound process, I would agree. But waiting a month+ just to hire Ozzie Guillen when they could have done so weeks ago, or even during the last season, is exactly something this FO would do

Here's the list of candidates (obviously, only the living ones): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chicago_White_Sox_managers

I think they could probably get away with framing it as making the team better by trading away the 2022 underperformers, but it's probably just me overcorrecting my expectations after the disaster that was last offseason

Your pessimistic/cheap outlook is way more optimistic than mine. I don't even like Conforto much, mainly since he's coming off shoulder surgery, but I'm fully expecting a nightmare offseason of salary cuts (due to lack of playoff revenue), utility/relief signings, salary dump trades (such as getting out of Joe Kelly's contract by attaching Jose Rodriguez to him), selling low on Moncada/Giolito only for them to predictably return to form, etc.

SI is just Fansided now. They would absolutely allow this to be posted if it were BS

He might be my favorite potential option, at least based on publicly available information. I recommend reading this (Athletic sub required): https://theathletic.com/3234920/2022/04/07/qa-phillies-hitting-coach-kevin-long-on-his-prep-work-philosophy-and-a-stacked-lineup-thats-as-solid-as-there-is/