Tony

I mean, there is literally an internet meme created about you.

He literally says "We changed some things" when asked the question about approaches between the Sox and Dodgers, lol.

If you're going to base your argument on the words from Kopech, these also seem important: - As a Dodger, shortly after being traded from the White Sox: - An interview with PitcherList after the trade: I don't really have a horse in this race, but to say going from the 2024 White Sox to the 2024 Dodgers had no impact on Kopech, that he simply brought over exactly what he was doing with the White Sox to the Dodgers is silly.

Yeah, he's been hurt

Oh I think that’s the local perception as well 😂

Say you’re running your own business. You hire someone and invest heavy resources into the new hire, and they’ve been recommended to you by others in your company. They are a total disappointment. There is no development, they aren’t getting better, failing at their job. You eventually fire that person, they go to work for a competitor, and later learn they’re having tremendous success at this competitor. Two things stand out to me: 1. You’ve most likely made your organization better because at the end of the day said employee was not producing for you, and you can replace that person with someone who is much more productive 2. I would question my own organization that this person couldn’t find success with my company, but came highly recommended and is finding success with my competitor. Why couldn’t we get the same kind of production? Both things can be true, but simply throwing roses at the Sox because Andrew Vaughn sucked for them is naive

There is something going on with Tucker. He's got a .257 SLG in the second half of this season. He's hit 1 HR since July 1st. I think he's hurt, but with the amount of time he missed last year, he didn't want to miss more time this year so has played through so he doesn't get the "injury proned" tagged slapped on him before FA, but his lack of production since July has also probably hurt his value in the market. Probably not a ton, but he simply hasn't been very good since about July 1. Still time to turn it around, but they're running out of games.

Given I quoted his LH splits, probably a safe assumption I’m familiar with his overall numbers. He has put together a great first half of 2025. He earned that. In the second half, he’s slashing .205/.239/.398. He’s a rookie, I expect to see continued growth and any team would be fortunate to have him, as he plays a great CF. But I’m not ready to call him a Top 10 player in the league after a half season.

He's also just been atrocious against LHP this year. Rocking a .190/.219/.408 slash line in 157 PA's. Doesn't mean he won't get better, but that's not something that screams "7th best player in baseball"

That's a good pull. You are correct, he's had a stretch like this before in his career, and the numbers are very similar to those in Milwuakee. He's gotta come back to earth, but my guess is the Brewers won't be very happy if has a repeat performance of July 2024 (.188/.239/.353)

This is a case where I truly think there are two sides and both aren't wrong. He spent very little time in the minor leagues, and when he did arrive, the Sox put him at 1B, LF, RF, 2B and 3B (seriously, he played all those positions in 2021 alone.) On top of it, the environment was clearly toxic, the coaching staff with fairly inept (especially under Grifol) and Vaughn obviously wasn't the only player in that core that didn't reach his potential. I said for years (and have the receipts) that if Vaughn was drafted by the Brewers, Rays,..etc, he would have most likely developed into a much different player. On the other hand, I've always believed in personal responsibility and Vaughn clearly checked out. Even with the numbers I cited earlier in this thread about what he is doing in Milwaukee, his K rate dropping and walk percentage increasing...he's approaching AB's differently, being more disciplined, thinking after every pitch about what's coming next. That is much harder to do day in and day out than saying "I'm waiting for a fastball low, if I don't get it this AB, oh well, better luck next time." and my guess is there were a lot of that thought process from Vaughn during his time with the Sox. Again, that's on Vaughn himself more than anyone, and he deserves that blame. I guess the moral of the story is...it's very easy to be jealous of what the Brewers are doing up there, because it's a whole lot of right.

This is sounds nice, but you just wrote a lot of words to really say "I'm going to form an opinion on something I don't really know anything about." In 110 PA's, he's dropped his K% from 22.3% with the Sox in 2025 to 14.5% with the Brewers. His BB% is 10.0 with the Brewers, was 3.6 with the Sox. He's being more selective at the plate. His launch angle is also significantly lower with the Brewers than it was with the Sox, with indicates a change in approach. No one, including myself, believe Andrew Vaughn is now a 1.000 OPS guy for the rest of his career. He'll cool off. But it's become clear the Brewers are getting the most out of Vaughn, unlocked something in him, and he's helped them tremendously achieve the best record in baseball at this point. And I would expect him to be a key contributor moving forward for the Brewers, something he wasn't with the Sox. I'm not upset the Sox moved on, it clearly wasn't working here. Vaughn ended his Sox career with a -0.5 career WAR over 2400 PA's. It didn't work. But it's frustrating to see another organization, an organization that is light years better than the Sox, find real success with him.

We’re getting to the point where this isn’t just a streak with Vaughn

Yes, but there was more heat on them after that walkoff then even when they went into the playoffs against Houston. Outside of 2005, they have never been higher on the mountain than they were after that walkoff, that's my point.

That moment was the peak of that core. From like a "heat index" perspective, that was the highest they would have been since 2005. And it was all downhill from there.

Listen to the podcast. They talk a lot about this. There are a lot of shapes and sizes for GM's. As they discuss on the podcast, a good GM has to have a ton of traits. In 99/100 cases, one person isn't strong in all of those traits. You have to be a good leader of people and management, and have a very good staff around you that fills in those weak spots.

I think there is a little more nuance there than you are giving credit for. As three former GM's discussed on the podcast, there were relationships built over time with counterparts, and you understood their mission and what they were trying to accomplish. Hahn talked about GM's he enjoyed dealing, based on how they conducted their dealings and what the ultimate purpose was, and all three hosts discussed frustrations with dealing with GM's that seemed to be more interested in fact-finding missions and information gathering than ultimately wanting to close a deal. Nightengale offered very little detail in his statement behind why teams may have been getting frustrated with Getz, but I would put good money on the fact Nightengale isn't just making up that anecdote. It would be very safe to assume 2-3 GM's told him that, and he felt confident enough to put that out there, given what he had heard. Again, doesn't get into why they were frustrated with him, and as I said earlier, I'm not using it as a shot against Getz at this point, none of us have enough information to go off of on this specific topic to form an informed opinion or take a passionate stance on the topic. But I personally don't believe when it relates to Robert/Getz and the trade deadline, GM's were getting frustrated with Getz simply because of the high ask. That happens every day in GM conversations. And if a team won't move off those asks, then they end up keeping the player, pretty simple. I take it as more related to what was discussed on this podcast. Mixed-messages sent by a GM to another team, a willingness to deal then all the sudden pulling back the offer, or spending a lot of time on something that continues not to make any significant progress....could be a lot of different things, and I think a lot of those skills get sharpened over time. Some people are very natural in negotiations, but as a former player like Getz, trade conversations with other GM's, GM's that have been in their roles for a decade+, that has to be an acquired skill that is learned over time.

According to BRef, he's got an 8.2 WAR over a 162 game average. So that's probably not going to keep up...but if he can be a 4 WAR player for the Sox, it would help the rebuild in a big way.

Correct, brain fart there.

Yes, thought that part was interesting too, especially with the Nightengale report a last week that GM's were getting frustrated with Getz. Not saying it's 100% true as Nightengale has a questionable track record, and I'm not even taking a shot at Getz...I think it speaks to another part of the GM game that often gets overlooked and that's relationship building with other counterparts. Rick talked about almost sending Sale* to Washington, Rizzo not being overly pleased they didn't land him...but then getting the deal done for Eaton in Washington because they already laid a lot of the groundwork previously

Didn't see this posted anywhere, but very possible I missed it. Listened to this yesterday and while nothing was earth shattering, found certain elements to be interesting. Two biggest takeaways: - Rick telling Jerry after 2022 and then again in 2023 that he basically had to fire him, he didn't deserve another shot at a rebuild. - How involved Jerry still is and the process of Rick having to provide updates each step of the way. Specifically with the Quintana deal to the Cubs, how Jerry really wanted him to go to the Brewers instead of the Cubs, because of the optics involved. Which speaks to the personality of the GM and how important it is to have a spine and not be a "yes man" You obviously have to take Rick on his word with this stuff, and everyone may have a different stomach for that, but none the less, found the conversation interesting.

Yes. Literally every day on the radio in Chicago, the talk is 50/50 on the game itself, and if the Cubs are going to re-sign Tucker. If they don't, and don't have a long post season run this season, Cub fans are NOT going to be pleased. *I will say as we sit here on August 5, Cub fans are also pissed that Tucker has been pretty awful the last month as they have lost the division lead.

I agree, and I know this topic is about 2026, but bigger picture, they need to add a lot more power to the lineup, that would be my biggest priority. But with the CBA where it’s at, I don’t see them making any significant investments this offseason

In both 2026 and beyond, the lineup needs significantly more thump. LF/RF/1B/DH all need an upgrade. The slg. needs to be higher across the board. Some of that is going to be have to solved with $$. I wouldn't spend a ton on pitching at the moment, feel like they have a big enough collection of arms right now, and with Bannister seemingly getting good results out of guys, I'd spend my resources on getting more power on this team.

That’s not really the right attitude, though. Luis Robert is very likely the best CF “available” for the Sox the next two years. Meaning outside of trading real assets to acquire a CF better than Robert, or signing an FA who is better..Luis Robert is the best CF they have. If the trade market is light for Robert…there really isn’t a downside to keeping him. The money quite frankly is irrelevant. It’s not ours, and if there is one thing history has shown us, specifically on both sides of town…just because a team sheds the salary of a high priced player doesn’t mean they’ll magically replace that salary with something different. According to Kenny/Rick, the Sox offered Machado somewhere around a $250 million dollar contract. When he didn’t sign, that money wasn’t given out to 3-4 other players, Jerry simply sat on that cash. With no cap, I’m sick of talking about “getting players off the books” or a “bad” contract…until there is an actual hard cap, none of it matters.