Yoendrys Gomez Up, Vargas Back, Julks DFAed, Elvis down

[WestEddy]

17 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

Should keep a list of all those guys we can't seem to get rid of lol.

Rojas

Amaya

Clevinger

Julks

Fletcher

S.Wilson

 

Why would they release Steven Wilson? Dude's got a 2.81 ERA. 

[WhiteSox2023]

23 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

Why would they release Steven Wilson? Dude's got a 2.81 ERA. 

They won’t, but if Wilson was truly worth anything he would have been traded at the deadline.  He wasn’t traded because his walk rate is no gouda, which ultimately defeats the purpose of Getz acquiring him in the Cease trade because the entire point of acquiring him as the last piece was to flip him for additional prospect(s).

Edited August 15 by WhiteSox2023

[joejoesox]

On 8/12/2025 at 4:10 PM, chitownsportsfan said:

Rojas will never die. Seems like once Meidroth is back we have all the IF more than covered even without Rojas, but who knows what they are thinking.

they're gonna keep Rojas and send Baldwin down, we all know it's coming

[WestEddy]

36 minutes ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

They won’t, but if Wilson was truly worth anything he would have been traded at the deadline.  He wasn’t traded because his walk rate is no gouda, which ultimately defeats the purpose of Getz acquiring him in the Cease trade because the entire point of acquiring him as the last piece was to flip him for additional prospect(s).

One little known benefit of having baseball players on a team is that they can actually play in baseball games. 

Perhaps Getz didn't feel the offers were worth losing a bullpen arm. That's not exactly "worthless". 

[Paulie4Pres]

6 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

One little known benefit of having baseball players on a team is that they can actually play in baseball games. 

Perhaps Getz didn't feel the offers were worth losing a bullpen arm. That's not exactly "worthless". 

In a season you are probably losing 100 games a decent bullpen arm is the definition of worthless.

[WhiteSox2023]

21 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

One little known benefit of having baseball players on a team is that they can actually play in baseball games. 

Perhaps Getz didn't feel the offers were worth losing a bullpen arm. That's not exactly "worthless". 

Wilson was DFA’ed once already.  Iriarte and Zavala are more than likely career minor leaguers.  We are stuck with hoping Thorpe can be a starter in the rotation at some point with his 90 MPH fastball.

The Cease trade was an unmitigated disaster and hasn’t done for this team what Getz thought it was going to do.  If Getz had to put his hand on a bible and actually had the gall to say otherwise, lightning would probably strike him on the spot.

Edited August 15 by WhiteSox2023

[WhiteSox2023]

9 minutes ago, Paulie4Pres said:

In a season you are probably losing 100 games a decent bullpen arm is the definition of worthless.

Not to Getz.  Dude loves trading for 30+ year old relievers.

[caulfield12]

9 hours ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

Not to Getz.  Dude loves trading for 30+ year old relievers.

Booser for Fajardo...for example.

At least the McCarthy/Fletcher miss hasn't turned out so definitively.

 

Fajardo now in the Red Sox Top 25

Fajardo continually has added strength and velocity since turning pro, and he now works at 93-95 mph while touching 96 with his two-seam fastball and 97 with his four-seamer. He has a tight slider that ranges from 82-85 mph, and Boston is working with him on adding a sweepier version as well. He also has picked up an upper-80s kick-changeup very quickly, giving him the potential for at least solid offerings across the board.

More advanced than most 18-year-old pitchers, Fajardo needed just six outings this spring before earning a promotion to Single-A. He has thrown strikes throughout his pro career and commands his fastball well. Though he'll need time to develop, he's a potential mid-rotation starter.

mlb-pipeline-coverage.com

Edited August 15 by caulfield12

[caulfield12]

And Korean teenager LHP Jang is #22 in the #1 system (Sox sent LAD intl pool money)

Jang struck out 41 percent of the batters he faced in his first taste of pro ball while displaying some of the best stuff in the system. He works with a 94-96 mph fastball that reaches 99 with good carry up in the strike zone, and he might have more velocity in his strong but still projectable 6-foot-4 frame. His tight mid-80s slider gives him a second plus pitch and he emphasized it last summer over his upper-70s downer curveball. His upper-80s changeup has been better than anticipated, featuring deceptive tumble.

After a history of throwing strikes as an amateur, Jang issued 27 walks in 36 2/3 innings last year with a delivery that includes some effort and head whack. The Dodgers believe his issues were related more to targeting than mechanics and think his athleticism will help him improve in the future. He's a potential No. 2 starter if he can refine his control and command.

[nrockway]

11 hours ago, Paulie4Pres said:

In a season you are probably losing 100 games a decent bullpen arm is the definition of worthless.

He's under contract through 2027. Low arb estimate. More valuable to the Sox than to other teams I'd imagine. His value is probably similar to Keynan Middleton who returned Juan Carela. That was a pretty good trade in the sense that he improved after coming over (and Middleton is playing independent ball now. sheesh); but who's to say a similar deal existed for Wilson. Why trade a guy for a lotto ticket just to do it unless he's expiring?

 

1 hour ago, caulfield12 said:

And Korean teenager LHP Jang is #22 in the #1 system (Sox sent LAD intl pool money)

Jang struck out 41 percent of the batters he faced in his first taste of pro ball while displaying some of the best stuff in the system. He works with a 94-96 mph fastball that reaches 99 with good carry up in the strike zone, and he might have more velocity in his strong but still projectable 6-foot-4 frame. His tight mid-80s slider gives him a second plus pitch and he emphasized it last summer over his upper-70s downer curveball. His upper-80s changeup has been better than anticipated, featuring deceptive tumble.

After a history of throwing strikes as an amateur, Jang issued 27 walks in 36 2/3 innings last year with a delivery that includes some effort and head whack. The Dodgers believe his issues were related more to targeting than mechanics and think his athleticism will help him improve in the future. He's a potential No. 2 starter if he can refine his control and command.

Jang has a 5 ERA at A ball and isn't particularly young. are we actually mad about this? Fajardo might be pretty good and is advanced for his age. I'm basically chalking it up to "welp, who cares" unless he really turns into something. I think we pretty much liked the trade at the time. Those kinds of pitchers are sort of a dime a dozen, aren't they, especially at such a young age.

The guy to be upset about is Cristian Mena IMO. he ought to be pretty good and that struck me as a pretty bad trade at the time

Edited August 15 by nrockway

[T R U]

18 minutes ago, nrockway said:

He's under contract through 2027. Low arb estimate. More valuable to the Sox than to other teams I'd imagine. His value is probably similar to Keynan Middleton who returned Juan Carela. That was a pretty good trade in the sense that he improved after coming over (and Middleton is playing independent ball now. sheesh); but who's to say a similar deal existed for Wilson. Why trade a guy for a lotto ticket just to do it unless he's expiring?

Jang has a 5 ERA at A ball and isn't particularly young. are we actually mad about this? Fajardo might be pretty good and is advanced for his age. I'm basically chalking it up to "welp, who cares" unless he really turns into something. I think we pretty much liked the trade at the time. Those kinds of pitchers are sort of a dime a dozen, aren't they, especially at such a young age.

The guy to be upset about is Cristian Mena IMO. he ought to be pretty good and that struck me as a pretty bad trade at the time

That was an absolutely ridiculous trade for the situation the Sox were in. 

[southsider2k5]

6 minutes ago, T R U said:

That was an absolutely ridiculous trade for the situation the Sox were in. 

The Sox should be in the business of trading 30something relievers for 18 year olds, and not the flip side.

[caulfield12]

50 minutes ago, nrockway said:

He's under contract through 2027. Low arb estimate. More valuable to the Sox than to other teams I'd imagine. His value is probably similar to Keynan Middleton who returned Juan Carela. That was a pretty good trade in the sense that he improved after coming over (and Middleton is playing independent ball now. sheesh); but who's to say a similar deal existed for Wilson. Why trade a guy for a lotto ticket just to do it unless he's expiring?

 

Jang has a 5 ERA at A ball and isn't particularly young. are we actually mad about this? Fajardo might be pretty good and is advanced for his age. I'm basically chalking it up to "welp, who cares" unless he really turns into something. I think we pretty much liked the trade at the time. Those kinds of pitchers are sort of a dime a dozen, aren't they, especially at such a young age.

The guy to be upset about is Cristian Mena IMO. he ought to be pretty good and that struck me as a pretty bad trade at the time

Jang was the best high school pitcher in Korea the year he came out and this was considered yet another flag planted in that country for LA.  Goes all the way back to Chan Ho Park and they have Kim at middle infield now as well.

Renember, high schoolers usually graduate at 19 in that country.

[nrockway]

1 hour ago, caulfield12 said:

Jang was the best high school pitcher in Korea the year he came out and this was considered yet another flag planted in that country for LA.  Goes all the way back to Chan Ho Park and they have Kim at middle infield now as well.

Renember, high schoolers usually graduate at 19 in that country.

I'd like it if the Sox signed more prospects out of Asia, but it's hard to compete with any California team on that front. I also wish it was 70 degrees every day in Chicago. Geography isn't fair.

Is Jang better than either of the two guys we got in return? He seems a lot better than Maximo Martinez (80 grade name though) but Aldrin Batista had a really nice 2024. 1.04 ERA at Winston-Salem in 5 starts at age 21. 2.93 ERA in total across 110.2 innings. Good peripheral stats. Injured now unfortunately. Not TJ, might be nearing a return, but he's someone who looks like he'll climb up the prospect charts.

 

big fan of the Kim bros, wish they were both on the team. I'd want the Sox to consider Ha-Seong despite the crowded infield and injury concerns. Probably he picks up his player option at this point though.

Edited August 15 by nrockway

[Buehrle>Wood]

Jang wasn't signing with the Sox whether they traded pool money or not. I have no idea why a random player was even brought up there other than caulfielding.

[southsider2k5]

3 minutes ago, Buehrle>Wood said:

Jang wasn't signing with the Sox whether they traded pool money or not. I have no idea why a random player was even brought up there other than caulfielding.

This.  It wasn't Jang or the players we got in trades, it was players or nothing since the Sox don't work in Asia.

[WhiteSox2023]

1 hour ago, southsider2k5 said:

The Sox should be in the business of trading 30something relievers for 18 year olds, and not the flip side.

Yeah, but just think — maybe if Booser eventually pitches well, he can be flipped for a nice young prospect like Fajardo!

Oops…

[Timmy U]

5 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

And Korean teenager LHP Jang is #22 in the #1 system (Sox sent LAD intl pool money)

Jang struck out 41 percent of the batters he faced in his first taste of pro ball while displaying some of the best stuff in the system. He works with a 94-96 mph fastball that reaches 99 with good carry up in the strike zone, and he might have more velocity in his strong but still projectable 6-foot-4 frame. His tight mid-80s slider gives him a second plus pitch and he emphasized it last summer over his upper-70s downer curveball. His upper-80s changeup has been better than anticipated, featuring deceptive tumble.

After a history of throwing strikes as an amateur, Jang issued 27 walks in 36 2/3 innings last year with a delivery that includes some effort and head whack. The Dodgers believe his issues were related more to targeting than mechanics and think his athleticism will help him improve in the future. He's a potential No. 2 starter if he can refine his control and command.

Sox got Aldrin Batista in that trade. I would do that every day and twice on Sunday.

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

3 hours ago, nrockway said:

He's under contract through 2027. Low arb estimate. More valuable to the Sox than to other teams I'd imagine. His value is probably similar to Keynan Middleton who returned Juan Carela. That was a pretty good trade in the sense that he improved after coming over (and Middleton is playing independent ball now. sheesh); but who's to say a similar deal existed for Wilson. Why trade a guy for a lotto ticket just to do it unless he's expiring?

 

Jang has a 5 ERA at A ball and isn't particularly young. are we actually mad about this? Fajardo might be pretty good and is advanced for his age. I'm basically chalking it up to "welp, who cares" unless he really turns into something. I think we pretty much liked the trade at the time. Those kinds of pitchers are sort of a dime a dozen, aren't they, especially at such a young age.

The guy to be upset about is Cristian Mena IMO. he ought to be pretty good and that struck me as a pretty bad trade at the time

How can a bullpen arm be more valuable to a team not competing at all than to teams competing?

[nrockway]

1 hour ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

How can a bullpen arm be more valuable to a team not competing at all than to teams competing?

It was the first sentence: he's low-paid and under contract through 2027. I'm optimistic we might be good by 2027. Wouldn't it be nice to already have a proper setup guy instead of a guy who "might" be a proper setup guy in 2030? Build a team for the 2027 has been my view since the 81-81 disaster season (which to me was more disheartening than the worst team of all team. bad and rebuilding is preferable to permanent treadmill. see: the Bulls). Maybe if a deal could've been done with Tampa to go along with Houser that returned us Taj Bradley, that would've been a good trade to make. Who's to say that was an option though. Otherwise, let's look at what the relievers who were traded at the deadline returned:

We wouldn't have wanted the Yankees catchers for Bednar. Bednar is better than Wilson anyway with more of a track record. Helsley is more similar to Wilson and he returned pretty good value, namely a third baseman, but we're pretty stacked on mid-tier infield prospects and the two pitchers are flyers. I wouldn't have been mad about that trade, but also, who cares? Duran is incomparable. Tyler Rogers is better than Wilson and returned MLB-ready guys. I kinda like Drew Gilbert, that might've been an OK trade, but he's not exactly highly-touted, I'm not sure he's the solution in the corner outfield any more than Dom Fletcher or Corey Julks is. I think the last guy is Brock Stewart who returned James Outman. Maybe that would've been an OK trade...two years ago if he didn't fall off a cliff.

This is to say, are any of those players more valuable to the White Sox in 2026 and 2027 and beyond? Maybe, maybe not. It's certainly not something to complain about. Maybe Wilson keeps up his play and actually becomes a valuable trade piece. Maybe we're upset that he's seemingly the best player in the Cease deal, but maybe Cease wasn't all that valuable to begin with as the Padres found out.

My perspective is similar with Robert at this point. Are you actually going to find a better player to replace him when it comes time to compete? The time to trade him was after the 2023 season.Since that didn't happen, might as well keep him. My perspective is not similar with Crochet (though I really loved watching him pitch and was a big cheerleader when he was injured/in the pen). Too much money, too much injury risk, far too valuable to other teams ready to compete now. 

The idea shouldn't be to trade guys just because you can. Tauchman is probably the only guy we didn't trade who maybe should have been, but there were some mitigating circumstances and he's still arguably the best corner outfielder we've had in years, is under contract for another year, and maybe we just extend him.

Edited August 15 by nrockway

[caulfield12]

19 hours ago, nrockway said:

It was the first sentence: he's low-paid and under contract through 2027. I'm optimistic we might be good by 2027. Wouldn't it be nice to already have a proper setup guy instead of a guy who "might" be a proper setup guy in 2030? Build a team for the 2027 has been my view since the 81-81 disaster season (which to me was more disheartening than the worst team of all team. bad and rebuilding is preferable to permanent treadmill. see: the Bulls). Maybe if a deal could've been done with Tampa to go along with Houser that returned us Taj Bradley, that would've been a good trade to make. Who's to say that was an option though. Otherwise, let's look at what the relievers who were traded at the deadline returned:

We wouldn't have wanted the Yankees catchers for Bednar. Bednar is better than Wilson anyway with more of a track record. Helsley is more similar to Wilson and he returned pretty good value, namely a third baseman, but we're pretty stacked on mid-tier infield prospects and the two pitchers are flyers. I wouldn't have been mad about that trade, but also, who cares? Duran is incomparable. Tyler Rogers is better than Wilson and returned MLB-ready guys. I kinda like Drew Gilbert, that might've been an OK trade, but he's not exactly highly-touted, I'm not sure he's the solution in the corner outfield any more than Dom Fletcher or Corey Julks is. I think the last guy is Brock Stewart who returned James Outman. Maybe that would've been an OK trade...two years ago if he didn't fall off a cliff.

This is to say, are any of those players more valuable to the White Sox in 2026 and 2027 and beyond? Maybe, maybe not. It's certainly not something to complain about. Maybe Wilson keeps up his play and actually becomes a valuable trade piece. Maybe we're upset that he's seemingly the best player in the Cease deal, but maybe Cease wasn't all that valuable to begin with as the Padres found out.

My perspective is similar with Robert at this point. Are you actually going to find a better player to replace him when it comes time to compete? The time to trade him was after the 2023 season.Since that didn't happen, might as well keep him. My perspective is not similar with Crochet (though I really loved watching him pitch and was a big cheerleader when he was injured/in the pen). Too much money, too much injury risk, far too valuable to other teams ready to compete now. 

The idea shouldn't be to trade guys just because you can. Tauchman is probably the only guy we didn't trade who maybe should have been, but there were some mitigating circumstances and he's still arguably the best corner outfielder we've had in years, is under contract for another year, and maybe we just extend him.

Cease they needed to hold for this playoff run…especially with the King injury.

They can just go QO with him…and will have to make QO decisions on King, Arraez and Suarez, too.

I’m sure they don’t want Suarez back at his age for that much money, though.

[oldsox]

On 8/15/2025 at 12:55 PM, Timmy U said:

Sox got Aldrin Batista in that trade. I would do that every day and twice on Sunday.

Before or after his injury?

[caulfield12]

On 8/16/2025 at 12:55 AM, Timmy U said:

Sox got Aldrin Batista in that trade. I would do that every day and twice on Sunday.

Marketing is also important.

How many Asian fans do you typically see at Sox games, versus the Cubs' typical draw at Wrigley?