On 8/20/2025 at 2:15 PM, almagest said:

Team: 

Individual:

Quero - .304/.338/.491/.831

Sosa - .291/.336/.544/.880

Vargas - .286/.349/.455/.803    

Robert - .303/.370/.461/.831

Baldwin - .268/.339/.518/.857

Teel - .306/.351/.472/.823

Montgomery - .212/.255/.538/.793

 

Some encouraging signs so far with the younger guys and a nice bounce back from Robert. Hopefully they can keep it up throughout the rest of the second half.

Montgomery is a mega savage. 

To have two catchers with OPS above .800 (or even around  .800) is insane. FG absolutely loves Teel. 1.3 WAR in only like 50 games...positive offense and defense.

Vargas is also showing encouraging improvement. His WRC+ is now right at league average even with his big droughts during the season and his xwoba suggests he should probably be a little better than average. 

If Baldwin can learn to play a competent CF he could be good. 

Just need Meidroth to consistently hit some doubles to keep the defense honest. If he can get back to being a .360+ OBP, he can still be a 2-2.5 WAR player.

Braden being added at some point next year also should be great.

I'm excited.

47 minutes ago, SoCalChiSox said:

Montgomery is a mega savage. 

To have two catchers with OPS above .800 (or even around  .800) is insane. FG absolutely loves Teel. 1.3 WAR in only like 50 games...positive offense and defense.

Vargas is also showing encouraging improvement. His WRC+ is now right at league average even with his big droughts during the season and his xwoba suggests he should probably be a little better than average. 

If Baldwin can learn to play a competent CF he could be good. 

Just need Meidroth to consistently hit some doubles to keep the defense honest. If he can get back to being a .360+ OBP, he can still be a 2-2.5 WAR player.

Braden being added at some point next year also should be great.

I'm excited.

I'd go one further and give him a "giga" savage. 

And we all laughed at the Vargas trade when it occurred. It's time we eat crow and admit that Chris Getz simply operates on a different level than us and the other GMs. 

8 hours ago, PaleAleSox said:

Sports fans are fickle. Ishbia takes over and signs some guys and they start winning and everyone comes crawling back. Look at what the Blackhawks did. 

Big time factoid. Once Ishbia takes over and starts signing people, the Sox will be a hot ticket. 

30 minutes ago, ron883 said:

And we all laughed at the Vargas trade when it occurred. It's time we eat crow and admit that Chris Getz simply operates on a different level than us and the other GMs. 

Is this sarcasm?  Vargas has yet to prove he is anything but a bench player.

22 hours ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

Is this sarcasm?  Vargas has yet to prove he is anything but a bench player.

Is this performance art? Vargas is a league average bat with 30 doubles. That's not a bench player. 

Quero's .370 average vs. LHP is top 3 in the league (min 100 PAs)

He's also been doing this overall:

On 8/20/2025 at 3:47 PM, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

I dont know man, this looks like Sox propaganda. Getz has no idea what he's doing with all the money JR gives him. 

The coaches clearly didnt develop any hitters. We all know Sox history shows they cant develop hitters. Just lucky so far. A bunch of high character guys all supporting each other means nothing. 

By the way this was all sarcasm based on typical Soxtalk responses.

On 8/20/2025 at 2:15 PM, almagest said:

Team: 

Individual:

Quero - .304/.338/.491/.831

Sosa - .291/.336/.544/.880

Vargas - .286/.349/.455/.803    

Robert - .303/.370/.461/.831

Baldwin - .268/.339/.518/.857

Teel - .306/.351/.472/.823

Montgomery - .212/.255/.538/.793

 

Some encouraging signs so far with the younger guys and a nice bounce back from Robert. Hopefully they can keep it up throughout the rest of the second half.

Post ASB Sox have 9 hitters north of 100 wRC+.  This is not counting todays 7-0 win

Teel 145

Robert, Jr. 135

Vargas  133

Quero  132

Montgomery 127

Baldwin  120

Sosa   120

Tauchman   119

Meidroth 105

10 hours ago, WestEddy said:

Is this performance art? Vargas is a league average bat with 30 doubles. That's not a bench player. 

Yeah, he's at 1.7 WAR, and he had a pretty bad start to the year.  He's on pace for about 16 HRs and 37 2Bs, with an improving glove.  And again that's including his bad start.  Definitely not a bench player

1 minute ago, hogan873 said:

Yeah, he's at 1.7 WAR, and he had a pretty bad start to the year.  He's on pace for about 16 HRs and 37 2Bs, with an improving glove.  And again that's including his bad start.  Definitely not a bench player

If he ends up moving to 1B more fulltime going forward, we gotta see more power. He's been improving so hopefully we see it.

28 minutes ago, Bob Sacamano said:

If he ends up moving to 1B more fulltime going forward, we gotta see more power. He's been improving so hopefully we see it.

Since Vargas' stance change (4/23) he's been OPSing .783. That's great for where he was, but yeah, I think he has to step up in power, and iron out the slumps, or somebody's going to move him out in the next season or two. 

 

https://x.com/ChuckGarfien/status/1963325585616458

Edited September 3, 2025Sep 3 by almagest

 

Seeing those numbers it just continues to amaze me how hard this organization fought against playing some of these guys on a daily basis, both bringing in crappy utility guys, and then either keeping them in the minors, or just plain benched.

1 hour ago, southsider2k5 said:

Seeing those numbers it just continues to amaze me how hard this organization fought against playing some of these guys on a daily basis, both bringing in crappy utility guys, and then either keeping them in the minors, or just plain benched.

Let The Kids Play! Time to bring that back. 

38 minutes ago, LittleHurtCG said:

Let The Kids Play! Time to bring that back. 

It actually was "The Kids Can Play..." marketing slogan. 

Are the Sox suddenly contenders for 2026? Is the team a .500 team right now? Amazing how good the Sox have been post all star break with this pitching staff arguably one of the most no name staffs in Sox history.

I like how the Sox handled them. They didn't just hand them jobs, they made them earn it. Plus they know they werent winning anything this year. No need to throw away service time. Wait until they knock down the door to the bigs or at least get to the point where you will benefit more from the coaching at the MLB level and feeding off the positive vibes and success of your peers.

Plus you sure can't gripe about the results . 😉 Seems they did it the right way . Weird how one day you can say the Sox rush prospects and how that hurts them and next you say it took them too long but the Sox are still the same ole Sox. Guess we need more fans telling us the precise moments to bring guys up . Sounds like damned if you do, damned if you don't hater agenda. I dare anyone to find me anywhere else besides Soxtalk and the X verse where anyone argues the Sox screwed up keeping guys down on the farm this year too long. Anyone with any responsible podcast or media job usually doesnt make those kind of accusations.

Edited September 4, 2025Sep 4 by CaliSoxFanViaSWside

13 minutes ago, greg775 said:

Are the Sox suddenly contenders for 2026? Is the team a .500 team right now? Amazing how good the Sox have been post all star break with this pitching staff arguably one of the most no name staffs in Sox history.

No I dont think so. They might've been if Schultz and Hagen Smith didnt have setbacks but they had a lot of position prospects do pretty well. 

They just dont have a solid rotation or bullpen yet and its pretty doubtful that JR or Ishbia  pays for significant upgrades.

Sure people are speculating on it but my guess is it's not very likely. You're getting a little ahead of yourself here. Lots of work to do just to get to 75 wins. 

7 minutes ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

No I dont think so. They might've been if Schultz and Hagen Smith didnt have setbacks but they had a lot of position prospects do pretty well. 

They just dont have a solid rotation or bullpen yet and its pretty doubtful that JR or Ishbia  pays for significant upgrades.

Sure people are speculating on it but my guess is it's not very likely. You're getting a little ahead of yourself here. Lots of work to do just to get to 75 wins. 

That would be typical Sox if this no name staff makes no progress at all and spoils an improved hitting attack.

3 minutes ago, greg775 said:

That would be typical Sox if this no name staff makes no progress at all and spoils an improved hitting attack.

Takes time Greg. Just set a modern day record for losses in 2024 and Jerry isnt paying for anything. Payroll was slashed to rock bottom after the team hit rock bottom. 

Hitters still have to prove theyre for real . Theyll be hitying the dreadful sophomore slump territory next year.  the 1 good young starting pitcher they have, Shane Smith,needs a few more pitchers capable of under 4 ERA and pitching a full season. Thats why they constantly bring in innings eaters. It takes time for starting pitchers to build stamina. 

Our young catchers might've performed well because they shared catching duties. It's a grueling position and their 1st time through a grueling MLB season. 

A lot of people were calling for a 3 catcher roster so they could both play every day but its good that rookies get rest . Keeps them fresh . There's always alternatives ways to look at performance. 

28 minutes ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

No I dont think so. They might've been if Schultz and Hagen Smith didnt have setbacks but they had a lot of position prospects do pretty well. 

They just dont have a solid rotation or bullpen yet and its pretty doubtful that JR or Ishbia  pays for significant upgrades.

Sure people are speculating on it but my guess is it's not very likely. You're getting a little ahead of yourself here. Lots of work to do just to get to 75 wins. 

I'd call this team a 65-70 win team, right now, as is. Maybe a few of Vargas, Meidroth, Monty, Mead, Ramos, Baldwin, Teel, Quero, Lee and Sosa step up and play like bona fide regulars, and they add to that in the 26-27 off-season. As it stands, Grant Taylor, McDougal and Vasil are set to crash the rotation next season, and they might even give Schultz the opportunity to make the team out of spring training after a strong AFL showing. 

Edited September 4, 2025Sep 4 by WestEddy

1 hour ago, greg775 said:

Are the Sox suddenly contenders for 2026? Is the team a .500 team right now? Amazing how good the Sox have been post all star break with this pitching staff arguably one of the most no name staffs in Sox history.

Let me have what you're drinking...I want to get loaded too! 😆

Not...even...close.

And with the labor situation coming up JR won't allow Getz to do anything dramatic to improve the talent.