Timmy U

31 year old with 0.0 mil in trade value. Maybe he surprises, but there’s nothing to indicate he’s “good.” I guess, faith in Bannister says, “possibly cromulent”?

To me there’s one thing you could judge about Vargas in the Spring: Has he adjusted to the 4-seam? If not, there’s very little hope for him. You literally cannot find a single decent player who struggles against 4-seamers the way Vargas does. If he makes the adjustment, give him half a season. If not, I don’t know why you would.

Why did he feel it necessary to say “not the White Sox”? It feels like salt in the wound.

Combs looks like a piece that doesn’t need 40 man protection for several years. Gilbert is a DFA that may or may not make the team. I don’t know wtf they are thinking.

You don't need one of the partners to run the joint. You could hire a team president who speaks for the club at the mlb level (like Kevin Warren) and then either Reinsdorf or another owner is a level up. Now, it is possible that LaRussa is the de facto President right now, but he is not qualified for that role. I would love Mellody Hobson to step up and run the team, but she is very busy running a hedge fund and promoting her book. I doubt she wants to run the Sox. But it would guarantee the best Star Wars night in all of baseball.

Both of those guys have the stuff to force the issue. If they dominate higher levels, the Sox won’t have much choice. Gotta challenge them to improve. I would start Schultz at AA and Smith at A+ to make it difficult on them to Zoom right up though.

Vargas cannot play LF. Full stop. There is an opportunity cost with just giving him 3b. That would mean no chance for Ramos and maybe Sosa. I think Vargas is a dh. Not against trying him at 3b if Ramos and Sosa don’t earn a shot, but I want to play the best man. I would make it an ongoing competition.

If you’re talking Montgomery or Ramos or Teel or Quero or even Vargas, sure. But Fletcher is a low ceiling 26/27 year old guy. He is not a future piece. He is a now piece. He hits, play him. He doesn’t, minors.

I am tired of letting people play long into their suckitude. Sure, if they hit. But Fletcher was not a highly-ranked prospect, plus, he was bad in the majors and worse in AAA than either Colas or DeLoach. Vargas was a good prospect but he has not made the jump. And he was so bad last year, I find it hard to believe he’ll have more than half a year to prove himself.

Or now he can concentrate on learning either Korean or Japanese. He is going to need it.

I will kill for them to be average at 1 thing. Maybe Bannister is doing that with pitching development, but they aren’t there yet. Everything else, they seem to be bottom third or lower.

I wasn’t calling it success. I was predicting what they’ll do. Elias is stubborn.

The Orioles can score a lot of runs. They have had success with a patchwork rotation before. I predict they do nothing.

Flip candidates almost always have to be bargain basement guys made good. By definition, FA signings go to the club willing to pay them the most money. Unless Torres magically recaptures his form from the juiced ball year, he's getting paid the max of what any team wants to pay him. The prospect cost of acquirig him at the deadline will be marginal. It's similar to a scenario where Benintendi has last year's second half in the first half of 2025. He'd get you something, but it's not gona be a top prospect.

He’s not great but Torres may have some upside left for the Tigers.

I was at the game where he broke the streak with, I believe, a bunt single. Then he went yard. I seem to remember it was off pre-steroids Roger Clemens.

I dispute the premise that the reason the majority of Sox prospects have failed is that they were rushed. Yes, most prospects have failed. And, yes, many of them were rushed, but hitting in the majors has gotten increasingly hard and the Sox have not been good at developing players after their ascension. If, for instance, Eloy, Moncada, and Robert were rushed, you’d expect their initial time in the majors to be a disaster. But after brief adjustment periods, they all thrived. Then, over time, the league adjusted and they did not keep up. That points to problems in the major league staff, information, preparation, etc. Even Beckham had initial success. Now, I suppose you could argue that you have to wait for a prospect to struggle in the minors, adjust, and then they will be ready. But that can easily be disproved by hundreds of players who never struggled in the minors and then excelled in the majors Trout, Soto, etc etc. going further back, the Sox rushed a bunch of guys who were later successful. Harold Baines had no business being in mlb when he was called up. Robin Ventura hit .270 with 2 HR in AA and was the opening day 3b the next year. It’s possible all of those Sox prospects ho busted just weren’t good enough and would have busted whenever they were brought up. Or the Sox are not very good at helping their players once they get to the majors. Either way, I doubt a month in Charlotte is going to matter that much to Colson one way or the other.

Sox can’t even win most aggrieved fans. ESPN did a ranking and placed them 3rd, ahead of the Angels and Mariners cuz “things can turn around in a hurry”? Why the Mariners and Angels? God only knows. What about A’s fans? Their team left. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/43062978/mlb-2024-10-most-frustrated-fan-bases-angels-mariners-cubs-cardinals

Just what Venable needs, another guy who interviewed for his job looking over his shoulder

I like guys who can hit and they can work on the glove. Gunnar Henderson is an example of a good athlete people kept saying would have to move to 3b. With good coaching, he has made himself GG-caliber. Bonemer is a guy like that for the Sox. Bigger guy, great athlete. His D has been good as an amateur, but the ba is the carrying tool. Give me guys like that.

For sure. And at the lower levels there will be quite a few piggybacks.

Good list. I think you are too aggressive on Wikelman Gonzalez (I think they have said he is going to be in AA). Also, a little aggressive on Batista. I bet he spends the first half in that jam-packed W-S rotation. I bet they sign some AAAA guy for rotation depth in Charlotte. But this is a very good list. Kanny’s rotation is a real head scratcher. I think Reyes could see time there as well as Oppor, LaCombe, etc., plus I will be interested to see whether Yohemy Nolasco is back.

I hate this trade, but here’s the logic: Boston faces a roster crunch. They’re gonna have to DFA this guy, so they ask around for trade proposals. They Sox like the guy enough that Boston knows he ain’t getting past waivers, so they take less than he’s worth so they don’t let him go for nothing. They reports are good on Fajardo, but DSL pitcher is not a huge price, so the Sox were willing to pay it. Maybe Boston bluffed them and they had no other offers, but whatever.

Good trade for the Phillies. I am suspicious of glove-first shortstops that far from the majors. A lot of utility player risk.

Sox still have Wilson because he was had zero value at the deadline.