FT35

Exactly. This is bigger than the team on the field—the brand has been completely destroyed beyond repair. This is a product of not a few bad decisions, but decades of bad decisions. The Sox logo—once endeared—literally angers people now. It’s a symbol of total betrayal as far as baseball and sports “fanship” goes. I do not believe ownership/upper management understands either. We’re still throwing the Nicky Lopez’s of the world at this problem. No one respects what this organization has become. It’s built on endless spins and elusive narratives that turn out to be blatantly false—straight lies. Because of this—any possibility of positive intent is met with disbelief. It will take decades of sustained success to rebuild what these people have done to the White Sox brand.

Best part of the Sox not being able to hit baseballs is we don’t have to watch much of the super dumb HR celebrations that teams do to desperately try to appeal to fans. Such a strange time for MLB—all those acts are ultra awkward. I don’t mind genuine emotion after a big moment & I understand a handful of people might find the grossly immature HR side shows amusing—for me it got old fast and the game is becoming unwatchable. I watch these same guys slobber all over each other after a HR skit then proceed to ineptly fiddle fart around defensively the following inning like a bunch of amateurs. Let’s have fun in a way that keeps focus. The moment this team accidentally connects on a long ball and tries some goofy adolescent mosh pit ritual in the dugout that’s only funny to them (as if HR’s are a regular thing)…I’m out.

I think it will ultimately hurt Getz if he doesn’t. By not firing him, he’s already communicating to the organization that results don’t matter. Not just losing, but performing poorly is “OK” now “in the big picture” way. That is why their culture has been in the tank for so long. Hahn and Williams justified SO MUCH LOSING, going through repeated tanks and rebuilds. Justifying losing for any reason—whether it’s to tank or save money, whatever it may be, is difficult to get back. The person who justifies it is usually the person who has to leave before winning matters to everyone again. To think a team conditioned to justify losing for someone for so long will just all of a sudden be able to win for that same person is nonsense.

A multi-BILLION dollar industry and they can’t get a working radar gun for Spring Training?

They might not get on base.

Had we signed Yonder Alonso we might have had a better shot at Whit.

I hope he gets another chance to pitch in some meaningful games. His competitiveness needs fed!

2036 is the year we get him.

We’re going to need designated hitters for most of our position players.

I just also hope this deal doesn’t lower the bar as far as returns are concerned. “Burnes only returned “x” so we’re not going as high on Cease…”

1. I would have been pissed if this was the return on Cease. 2. This might force NYY or BOS hand.

Probably right! Or it makes it easier to sell a team…”sell the rumor, buy the news.” Time will tell I’m sure.

Maybe they should build a team before they build a stadium?

Ok good. It was in this thread that I was instructed to believe that great players are NEVER blocked. Maybe that just meant great Orioles players are never blocked! 😂. It only happens to the other mortal teams!

I was once told that great players were never blocked. I’m looking forward to seeing the O’s start multiple players at certain positions on any given night.

Agreed. You want a young, cheap, team-controlled TOR starting pitcher with ace potential to step in THIS YEAR? That’s a big ask—who wouldn’t want that?? Converting some prospects that are stuck behind layers of MLB depth—who have about a 10% chance of becoming as good of an MLB contributor as Cease—is a no brainer. Deal should have been done in November. If the Sox were knocking on the door of a serious contending window—watched a division-rival team land another superstar player and SP depth this offseason, had a young player with major star potential at both left side infield positions and more infield strength in the system, were sitting on a starting pitching staff of 2 quality options and some big question marks a month away from pitchers and catchers reporting…who here wouldn’t be willing to keep Colson Montgomery and move a package led by a guy like Jacob Gonzalez to land a Spencer Strider/Zac Gallen for the next 2 years?

If the Sox were smart—they wouldn’t go after any players from Baltimore and instead try to acquire the guys in charge of drafting and developing Baltimore’s prospects. That would likely pay off more in the long run. Give a guy a fish/teach a guy to fish…

Yeah I mean not to over simplify it—but there are 2 paths to acquiring a TOR SP who can immediately step into your rotation. You can commit to a 9-figure contract to snag a top FA or you can throw a similar value in prospects at it instead. Either way—the cost to obtain what Cease is, is very high and there’s no way around that. It is what it is.

As I look at these dreadful signings, the one thing that keeps playing in my head is Jerry justifying the Getz hire as being the fastest path back to relevancy. Fedde, Flexen, Stassi…we have a literal “FFS” class of additions that give us a look into what Jerry considers “relevancy.”

If you “shouldn’t” trade them, how else would you handle great MILB prospects that are blocked at the MLB level for at least the next half-decade?

Quite honestly, every team should be willing to do this. If you can convert guys you hope will someday be good into quality, controllable MLB pitching—you do it. You can take the chance the unknowns become good or you can guarantee they translate into valuable assets.

Wait, you know who the Sox are going to get in a few years for the bums we get for Cease now?

Those kinds of trades typically involve a MLer from a position of surplus for a MLer of a different position of need. This is definitely not one of those trades. This is a proven, elite, controllable MLB talent in exchange for guys we hope turn out to be as good as or better than Cease in a couple years. Essentially, you’re agreeing to get fleeced for the next couple years by giving up a top talent for nothing that will help you anytime soon. The hope is the return is worth waiting for.

Non Sox fans don’t understand how important it is for us to fleece someone in a Cease trade. For teams like us who don’t develop talent, this is our only path to any sort of success. And we will need to set the market high because we will want top dollar for all these guys we’re about to get for Cease when we burn it all to the ground in a few seasons.

Taking someone from good to great, yes! But making sure someone wants to try? Then I’d say hire a baby sitter for those guys! Once they’ve had their milk and a snack, send them out to the field to play major league baseball for Pedro. Pedro has his own issues, but making sure guys like Eloy feel like being a professional on any given day shouldn’t be one of those worries. Let another team spend their time and resources figuring out what combination of snacks, games and cartoons it takes to get their players to produce in the major leagues.