Tony

Yeah, this one might be the worst loss of the season

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Db6I4FHprnz/ This makes like, no sense. How is he possibly going to be back before the season?

Yeah, way too early for something like this. He just turned 33. He was an All-Star for the Sox in 2022. If things went as everyone expected, he'd still be playing for the Sox. He was a teammate of Davis Martin. Him having a "retirement night" in 2026 is basically celebrating the failure that was the last rebuild. Way too soon.

If an outfielder doesn’t know how many outs there are, tosses the ball to a fan with two outs and a runner scores, do you expect that outfielder to get benched for the rest of the game? If you make an inexcusable mistake at work, are there are always zero repercussions?

If a dude drives home drunk but doesn’t hit anymore, did he not make a mistake? No big deal, right? Victim or not, you still made a grave mistake that was a totally uncalled for and was just sheer incompetence from a manager in the dog days of August trying to get this team going again after a very lackluster series in Boston. Taking your starter out, by mistake because you weren’t paying attention is inexcusable

There should be punishment that is handed down by the FO to Venable. Not sure what it would be, but your job is literally to put your team in the best position for success, and he failed in a huge way, after a 13 inning game the night before. I don’t care that he “owned up” to the mistake. You teach your players to be focused and not make mental errors, Venable’s main job duties are to sit on a bench for 2.5 hours a night. You can’t make that mistake at this level, and their should be repercussions for his actions

I know the Red Sox are historically hot right now, and our Sox are in the middle of a pretty tough stretch…but incredibly disappointing series, could have seperated themselves from the pack

I know he classified it as "off-season" but feel like someone like Grichuk should also be mentioned, given he plays the outfield and has been a solid contributor to this team. But he was signed in early May.

Still think our old friend James McCann would make some sense as a rental

Really like this move.

They showed that the last month, and some of it has nothing to do with the Sox. The AL is WIDE OPEN this year. If they kept this up, they’ll have a first round bye. Getting to the ALCS isn’t a stretch at all

Seranthony was pitching OK recently. Did anyone feel good about him getting any meaningful innings in the playoffs? You trusting him in really any situation? It's pretty much Castillio for Boston Smith, which given the needs of this team...I'm OK with. Still think they have another move in them before Monday, but we'll see

Oh f*** off caulfield

This really isn't that complicated. There have been zero indications that Getz is willing to move top prospects for a rental. In fact, the report published yesterday said literally the exact opposite. And obviously, that's smart business. If there is a player on the market that has multiple years left, that fills a hole on this team for 2026, and can be counted on in future seasons, that player will come at a higher cost, but given this team doesn't really spend in free agency, making an "offseason acquisition" now makes sense. They need to add, and I'll be shocked if they don't.

I know the D'Backs are right in the WC Race, but curious if James McCann could probably be acquired at a pretty low cost. Spend real capital on pitching, but McCann wouldn't be a terrible rental.

We've done this before. Yes, this group feels different from that group, but I remember the days of creating potential future lineups with a "stacked" outfield of Ryan Sweeney-Brian Anderson-Jeremy Reed. It's not to say the White Sox don't have a good foundation for the future, but we have no idea what the next few years will look like, but we know who the Sox are in 2026, as well as the rest of the AL.

River Ryan being No. 41 makes me laugh. He's going to be 28 in August, Juan Soto is younger than him and has 1169 hits at the major league level.

If the Padres accepted Carlson, Thorpe, LaCombe and Ryan Burrowes, I'd probably have a hard time saying no.

Showtime

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