https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/news/white-sox-assistant-gm-josh-barfield-discusses-team-s-rebuild

Screw you, Barfield. You should be shown the door too.

Again, we can TALK about results all they want, but I want to SEE results.  A great place to start would be our minor leaguers showing any amount of baseball IQ, or looking like they belong when they get here.  

By the way, that story was worthless. Do better Merkin.

8 minutes ago, wegner said:

By the way, that story was worthless. Do better Merkin.

Yeah, that just serves to make me angry, and I'm not even really angry about this. Everybody knows about Schultz and Smith. 

9 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

Yeah, that just serves to make me angry, and I'm not even really angry about this. Everybody knows about Schultz and Smith. 

Come on over to the dark side....this is not the assistant GM you are looking for.

The headline says "White Sox front office still has faith in long-term plan", well at least somebody has faith, and apparently there is a plan!

You guys need to relax. Colson Montgomery is getting very close to the Maldonado line. All the way up to .097.

6 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

You guys need to relax. Colson Montgomery is getting very close to the Maldonado line. All the way up to .097.

Him and Vargas will make an amazing left side of the infield!

Josh BARField.  He’s on the same fail upward path as Getz.  Four years as the director of player development for the Diamondbacks and the Sox gave him a promotion to Assistant GM.

What rebuild. It must be secret. Just dissolve this terrible franchise. 

Just a bunch of politically correct stuff. Really didn't say much. 

Barfield after his wonderful Fletcher recommendation can go sit at the kids table.

Edited April 9, 20251 yr by Soxfest

I’ve watched just about every minor league game this year flipping back and forth between levels, and I’m actually really encouraged about the future. The main point of pessimism for me remains ownership. 

41 minutes ago, Lyle Moooton said:

I’ve watched just about every minor league game this year flipping back and forth between levels, and I’m actually really encouraged about the future. The main point of pessimism for me remains ownership. 

Those who proclaim they see no signs of change completely ignore the farm system jumping to top 5, and two minor league teams playing in their league's championships last season. 

19 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

Those who proclaim they see no signs of change completely ignore the farm system jumping to top 5, and two minor league teams playing in their league's championships last season. 

There’s very little correlation between winning MiLB league championships and producing 3+ fWAR major leaguers.

Often, it’s just accidental.

obviously, winning is preferable to losing…but development and major league readiness are still the key points of a system

 

For, now we’ve got Colson Montgomery free falling out of the Top 100 and a slew of TJS guys.

Luis Robert with little to no trade value.

Young players like Sosa getting blocked by veterans…without really receiving everyday playing time.  Or is he the just another early attrition casualty, along with Fletcher, Colas, etc.?

 

 

Holding on waiting for May 1st. Hopefully we'll add Ramos,Teel,Quero and Meidroth then. I'm sure they will all

struggle at times. I'd rather watch future MLB regulars struggle than a bunch of 4F's. Not including Colson is

intentional. His days of unearned optimism are over.

Edited April 8, 20251 yr by zisk
add

22 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

There’s very little correlation between winning MiLB league championships and producing 3+ fWAR major leaguers.

Often, it’s just accidental.

obviously, winning is preferable to losing…but development and major league readiness are still the key points of a system

 

For, now we’ve got Colson Montgomery free falling out of the Top 100 and a slew of TJS guys.

Luis Robert with little to no trade value.

Young players like Sosa getting blocked by veterans…without really receiving everyday playing time.  Or is he the just another early attrition casualty, along with Fletcher, Colas, etc.?

 

 

Birmingham proceeded to their league's playoffs on the back of their prospect-laden pitching rotation. That wasn't an accident. 

For now, we have a top 5 minor league system. I'm not sure what complaining about Sosa's playing time in the majors has to do with that. As we've discussed, there is a high rate of failure for minor league prospects. The key is to not rely on one player to save the major league team. The goal is to keep pumping SSs, CFs, catchers and prospect arms into the organization, so when one inevitably stumbles at a higher level (C. Montgomery), there are multiple options lined up behind him (Baldwin, Meidroth, Gonzalez, Bergolla, Jeral Perez, Caleb Bonemer). 

Sosa has started 6 of 9 games at 2B, Brooks Baldwin has started the other 3 games. I wouldn't call Baldwin a "veteran". Miguel Vargas has started every game at 3B, Sosa's other position. Again, Vargas isn't a veteran. 2 of the 3 games Sosa hasn't started, Robert and Benintendi were given a rest in the DH spot. Is that last paragraph supposed to make any sense? 

27 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

Birmingham proceeded to their league's playoffs on the back of their prospect-laden pitching rotation. That wasn't an accident. 

For now, we have a top 5 minor league system. I'm not sure what complaining about Sosa's playing time in the majors has to do with that. As we've discussed, there is a high rate of failure for minor league prospects. The key is to not rely on one player to save the major league team. The goal is to keep pumping SSs, CFs, catchers and prospect arms into the organization, so when one inevitably stumbles at a higher level (C. Montgomery), there are multiple options lined up behind him (Baldwin, Meidroth, Gonzalez, Bergolla, Jeral Perez, Caleb Bonemer). 

Sosa has started 6 of 9 games at 2B, Brooks Baldwin has started the other 3 games. I wouldn't call Baldwin a "veteran". Miguel Vargas has started every game at 3B, Sosa's other position. Again, Vargas isn't a veteran. 2 of the 3 games Sosa hasn't started, Robert and Benintendi were given a rest in the DH spot. Is that last paragraph supposed to make any sense? 

Sosa's perceived to be in a slump already and his playing time has been declining...while Maton has been playing nearly every day in the 5th or 6th spot.

Baldwin was at least hitting and is still a prospect...but what is it with all the Maton love besides two homers that won't make him a trade target nor help the Sox decide whether to keep Sosa or not.

Edited April 8, 20251 yr by caulfield12

2 hours ago, WestEddy said:

Those who proclaim they see no signs of change completely ignore the farm system jumping to top 5, and two minor league teams playing in their league's championships last season. 

No they don't.  They see what is actually in the system, and how it translates into nothing even close to covering all of the major league holes we have.

44 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

Sosa's perceived to be in a slump already and his playing time has been declining...while Maton has been playing nearly every day in the 5th or 6th spot.

Baldwin was at least hitting and is still a prospect...but what is it with all the Maton love besides two homers that won't make him a trade target nor help the Sox decide whether to keep Sosa or not.

The White Sox still have to play their games. They would probably like to put a competitive team on the field. It's been mentioned multiple times that Maton is a LHH, and some RHPs just eat up the RHHs in our lineup. Maton has a little pop, and just as everyone wants to see "what they can do", maybe the Sox would like to see what Maton can do as a lefty bench/DH bat. 

Sosa had pronounced platoon splits last season. Sitting him against some tough righties is giving him every chance to excel. 

1 hour ago, southsider2k5 said:

No they don't.  They see what is actually in the system, and how it translates into nothing even close to covering all of the major league holes we have.

Also, I doubt anyone has huge hopes for guys that were mentioned like Gonzalez and Bergolla.  Gonzalez already looks like a bust and Bergolla has zero power.  These guys aren’t major league infielders.

Sox need to trade Montgomery since it looks like he's not developing well with the Sox.

19 hours ago, wegner said:

By the way, that story was worthless. Do better Merkin.

That's asking a lot.   He has to try to create some interest,  I couldn't do it.

49 minutes ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

Also, I doubt anyone has huge hopes for guys that were mentioned like Gonzalez and Bergolla.  Gonzalez already looks like a bust and Bergolla has zero power.  These guys aren’t major league infielders.

And it isn't even just the actual prospects.  It is how they are being used (or neglected).  It is who is playing at the major league level, and who isn't.  This franchise has a weird older utility player fetish that seems to have survived both Kenny and Rick, and still exists for Chris.  Hell maybe that is some weird Jerry thing for it to still be going.