Tony

Nothing is promised. There may not be an AL or NL next year. In 1983, a 22 year old Cal Ripken was in his second full season, put up an 8.2 WAR and the Orioles won the World Series. He made 18 straight All-Star appearances with Baltimore after 1983, and he never made it to another World Series. In 2016, the Cubs won the World Series with a core of: Kris Bryant - 24 Anthony Rizzo - 26 Addison Russell - 22 Javier Baez - 23 They also had Kyle Schwarber, Willson Contreras and Ian Happ waiting in the wings. As we know, they never got back. Rentals will come cheaper than players with control. They should be able to acquire help without giving up high-end capital. I've said the last few months, I don't want them going after rentals, they're a year "early" and winning the division/playoff success is just house money. I've changed my perspective on that after watching more of the season play out. The AL is BAD. The only team that actually scares me is a healthy Yankees team, and I don't know if we'll even see a healthy Yankees team in 2026. There is a VERY real world where the Sox earn a first round bye in the playoffs. If that happens, the path to the World Series isn't crazy at all. I'm not advocating for Getz to push all his chips in the middle of the table, pillage the farm system in order to get new bodies on the team for 3 months. But standing pat, being overly conservative isn't the play either. Sometimes the best pitch to hit is the first one. You can wait, but that pitch may never come.

Said for a few months...that's going to be the really interesting thing to watch. We simply don't know who Getz is in this setting. No one does, Getz himself probably doesn't know yet.

I've come around more to the idea of being more aggressive than not. We know the AL is absolutely wide open this year We've seen too many teams over the years believe their "window" is just starting to open, and it never does. On a similar note, with the 2027 season being so up in the air right now, there should be more emphasis put on this year The Sox are actually built fairly well for a playoff series. Slug from both sides of the plate, a few good bullpen arms, and a few decent guys at the top of the rotation. Another reliable starter would go a long way. But they actually need to make the post-season first I'd still prefer Getz to try and thread the needle by acquiring players with some control outside of just this season, but again with 2027 being up in the air, maybe that isn't that important big picture. I think trading a guy like Bonemer would be a mistake, but outside of Bonemer, I don't think anyone should be off the table. Doesn't mean I want them to give up 3 guys in their Top 10 for a 2 month rental, but if Billy Carlson and Tanner McDougal can be moved for someone to help this team in September/October, and Getz believes in the process, then I'm making the move.

I agree. Not sure if it was Getz, Ishbia, or someone else, but something has seemingly snapped them into doing things that are relevant to the decade they are actually in, and it's very refreshing.

This really was a great article, and props to the Sox for letting Jesse have that kind of access. That takes a very willing organization to be OK with that, and credit to the FO office and the marketing team for allowing that to take place, otherwise we obviously don't get this piece.

Nothing has changed. You avoid adding rentals, especially those that will come at a significant cost. If there is a piece you can add that you are convinced will be a contributing member of the team next year (and/or beyond) and the cost is not prohibitive, then get aggressive. But stay the course

Bedard is a very good hockey player, is about to turn 21, and has played with a lot of garbage during his NHL career. However, the shoulders are now a concern as he's had major issues with both of them. He's going to miss a chunk of the season now, and the Hawks already didn't have a great offseason. They're going to be bad again, and will most likely miss the playoffs for the 7th year in a row. They haven't won a playoff series since 2014-2015. The franchise is not in a good place right now

Billy Koch and Scott Linebrink are in the discussion, but this fucking guy is giving them a run for their money

There are a bunch of unknowns. The people inside the sport should know better than anyone the chances of a season next year, but even the people most in the know are still just making an educated guess. It's truly an unknown. But even with there being potential for a work stoppage, that fact has to enter into the equation when you are trying to put a certain value percentage on a guy being under control for 2027. How could it not? The other big unknown (in my eyes) is the track record (or lack thereof), of Getz. That's no fault of Getz, he doesn't have a long enough tenure to tell us what sort of aggression level or philosophy he has with a team on the rise. We've all followed the sport long enough to see different FO's have different philosophies when it comes to going "all-in" vs. taking a more conservative approach to asset management. Kenny was a guy that loved adding at the deadline, and viewed prospects more as ammunition for trades than future contributors to the White Sox. Being a GM during a rebuild vs. being a GM for a team in the hunt have some stark differences. Great GM's can navigate both, but some are good at one thing, and not so much at the other. And we're going to find out who Getz is in the coming years.

They need a closer lol Been a fantastic two series. Beating the Braves and Dodgers without Mune is wildly impressive

These are always the most fun teams to watch, and it’s true in every sport. It’s usually only a few ingredients needed: Team has been bad the last few seasons Get a group of prospects playing together Start winning games/show up a year early to the rebuild The “surprise” season is probably the best type of season there is from an enjoyment level standpoint. Because when the team gets legit “good”, then legit expectations follow. It’s not as fun when they are expected to win, and the loses are more frustrating when you lose to teams you shouldn’t. 2007-2008 Hawks were like that, as they didn’t make the playoffs but you knew that core was primed and ready to go. Cub fans still talk about 2015 being just as memorable as 2016. Year before they were 73-89, then in 2015 they won 97 games and made the NLCS. It’s why while I think the Sox are at least a year away from really being truly competitive, you’d be a fool not to enjoy what’s going on right now. It’s objectively a fun, likeable team with a core that is exciting to think about moving forward.

That was sick

They are still too far away on the pitching side. If Schultz came up and just took the league by storm, that would have changed the equation, but they just don't have the arms. Getz has a tricky rope to walk (assuming they are still playing competitive ball around the deadline) but I would not move assets for a one year rental. If there is a player available to bring into the "core", and it happens to be at the deadline, so be it.

Teams got some great mojo going. First time in years these games are becoming must watch. Been really fun to tune in again and actually expect a good ballgame.

It's May 15th. Let's see what everything looks like on July 15th. We're still pretty early into the season, and a lot can change in two months. Objectively, this has been the most exciting stretch of baseball for the Sox since 2021. I've started to watch more, and can't deny the good vibes. I think getting Robert off this team was important, to truly turn the page on the last era of White Sox baseball. Heard Jesse on 1000 yesterday, talking about how he was in the clubhouse on Wednesday night, and how different it felt in there having covered the previous years teams. Too many "hurt lockers" with Eloy, Moncada, Robert, Abreu in the corner by himself (who wasn't the leader everyone made him out to be). There were a lot of different outcomes possible for the Sox coming into the season. Mune could have been an absolute bust. Colson was really a wild card, does he get better, or does he turn into the guy that had to be sent to development complex in 2025 to basically start over? Is this staff going to be able to keep them in games at all? All of them have turned into huge positives, and it's great to see. Getting Teel back is also going to make an impact. That's a big missing piece and excited to see him back in the lineup. Other guys are going to come back to earth. Really don't think Davis Martin is going to win the Cy Young, which he's basically on pace for right now. But with a shitty AL Central, they should be good enough to hang around, after the last 3 years of putrid play, we'll all take that in 2026.

I agree with almost everything here. @caulfield12 that's when you know you're REALLY on the wrong side of things.

But that's the point. No one wanted to offer him a long term deal. And it would stand to reason that if you told executives that on May 5th of the 2026 season, Murakami would be leading the league in HR's, there would have been some much larger commitments on the table for him, just like we're talking about now with our team. Aside from Belle, The Sox have never won a bidding war for a top tier free agent. And Jerry's spending habits have gotten worse over the years, not better. And maybe I'm misremembering things, but it didn't seem like the Sox were in on Murakami right from the start...it started to pick up steam quickly once it seemed like the big dogs weren't going to be players, and his reps started to pivot to secondary options. That's when the Sox came into play, and when apparently Brooks had to convince Jerry to make the investment. Again, I think it's fair to say the Sox had a lot of things bounce their way, things that weren't totally in their control, for Murakami to end up on the Sox. All good, but now they have him, ideally they need to find a way to keep him. And that doesn't have to happen tomorrow. But if this is the real Murakami, letting him walk at age 28 would be a crime.

I don't think it's that crazy at all. It's clear a lot of people were wrong on Murakami. The Sox aren't signing Murakami if the Padres, Mets, Angles decide to go 4/100 last offseason on Murakami. No one wanted to make a serious commitment, and the Sox came in and (in theory) offered the best deal. And credit to the Sox for making the move. But they aren't in the discussion if other teams had better scouting departments. "Stumbled into" seems pretty accurate.

Really nice run these guys are on. First “fun” stretch in far too long.

So the worst outcome possible. It does sound very White Sox, so can't really argue there.

You didn't answer the question I asked to you. If Murakami continues on his current pace, and the Sox as a unit are showing signs of improvement, given his two year contract, do you expect the White Sox to try and resign him to a longer extension? Or are they trading a 27 year old power hitting LH bat to another team because they don't have any interest in giving him over $100 million dollars? What do you believe is the most likely outcome?

Wait, let me see if I got this straight. You asked, word for word "who are all these players we've developed and then traded right away because we didn't want to pay them?" As @Look at Ray Ray Run pointed out, the list is full of talented players that were traded in their prime because the Sox didn't want to pay them. If they traded them because they were in a rebuild...who's choice was that? Was the rebuild forced upon them? It was 100% the choice of the White Sox organization not to extend them. There is no "pass" given because the organization decided to do ANOTHER gut job. But then, you turn around and say "It's beyond stupid to pretend that the Sox are going to build a competitive team, then start trading away the stars because "tee-hee, moar prospects" Why is that beyond stupid? What history do you have that the Sox will keep good players around for a long term competitive window? By your logic, that means you assume the Sox will be keeping Murakami long term, outside of his two year contract? (with the assumption he continues to play at this level and is a 'star' level player under your definition)

I'm not endorsing they sign him to an extension tomorrow. Think the sample size is too small, I'd like to work with some more historical evidence before making a long term investment. I'm not debating about the "when" but instead the overall intent with the player, and overall direction of the team. He's 26. We're going on Year 4 of abysmal seasons. At what point does this team enter the "competitive window" so to speak? Lockout aside, when the Sox embarked on this full tear down in the 2023 offseason, I would have hoped by 2028, they were coming out the other side of it and ready to start trying to win. If Murakami is still doing this in July, signing him to a 4 year extension gets him to age 30/31, covering 2027-2028-2029-2030. Having a big LH power bat in the middle of the lineup is something every contending team would love to have. My hope is the Sox are one of those teams, not looking to trade it to a team actually trying to win. Lets be one of those teams for a change.

At 26, given his hitting profile and position, he should have another 5-6 years of production at his current level. Not saying this HR pace will continue, we need to see more data, but given what we know at this point, I'm not comfortable taking the position of trading being the only logical solution. I get it, I've made the argument plenty of times that guys like Sale and Crochet probably should have been kept long term, but we knew ownership wouldn't sign them to a big deal, so because of that the only option to get any value for the player is to trade them. I guess I'm just tired of rooting for an organization like that. We should hold them to a higher standard. You potentially have a 26 year old star, a guy that picked your franchise, a guy that most scouts seemingly were wrong about, and the Sox deserve credit for making an investment in him. But turning around and trading him for another couple of lottery tickets isn't where this franchise should be right now, especially as we are in Year 4 of the worst stretch of White Sox baseball in history. When they signed him, the best case scenerio should have been "We were right, everyone else was wrong, we just found a middle of the order power hitter in his prime that can anchor our lineup for the next 5-6 years." Not "We were right, everyone else was wrong, we just found a middle of the order power hitter in his prime that we can trade to the highest bidder in a year"