I was thinking of a scenario around the giving season, I'm not sure what holidays Ishbia celebrates, he hands Getz an envelope with $160 million in it and it also has a coupon that says "good for 1 player".

So we aren't talkin Kyle Tucker, but we are talkin most of the other free agents, I guess. I gotta say I don't have a great feel there.

Who would you be most excited to add to our extremely bad team?

For me it's Schwarber. He'd almost certainly become obsolete because he joined specifically our team, but to have a no doubt lefty power hitter to add to Colson would be sweet relief after the last few years.

Most interesting thing to me was not wanting to block out our infield and let our young guys play out. So then you have a stretch where you probably would not have enough for Bellinger, and so it's mostly others like Alonso that I'd like.

Until you get to pitchers, which bore the hell out of me. But I guess re-signing Dylan Cease would be great, you know, really stick it to the padres when we roll out Cease and Steven Wilson in the same game. They'd be so pissed lol.

I am putting that money into everything BUT the on the field team. 

International scouts, MiLB scouts, top coaching and development people, facilities, technology, etc.  Quit acting like we should be impressed by getting the stuff other teams got a decade ago.  Do whatever we can to get ahead of the curve.  Hell looking into AI analytics programming before it takes over baseball and we chase that a decade later.  Get ahead of teams instead of even.

Ishbia gave one cash infusion summer of 2025 , and another comes in summer of 2026.  10 months apart FWIW.

This free agent class doesn’t exactly inspire me, but I would take Bellinger. It seems like his injuries are behind him and his positional versatility would come in handy as the Sox continue to figure out what they have. The pitchers are a real crapshoot. You don’t know what you’re getting from year to year with Cease and while I love his track record, Framber scares the hell out of me. There is a ton of mileage on that arm.

in reality I will take the Josh Rojas/Nicky Lopez OF equivalent and I’ll be forced to like it.

I'd sign Josh Naylor. Left-handed power, good hit tool, can steal you a base, and fiery presence. He's also been around long enough to check the veteran box. 

Instead of one BIG present can I have small presents.....

Devin Williams

Josh naylor 

Zac Gallen

34 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

I am putting that money into everything BUT the on the field team. 

International scouts, MiLB scouts, top coaching and development people, facilities, technology, etc.  Quit acting like we should be impressed by getting the stuff other teams got a decade ago.  Do whatever we can to get ahead of the curve.  Hell looking into AI analytics programming before it takes over baseball and we chase that a decade later.  Get ahead of teams instead of even.

^ I totally agree.  As much as I hope for the day that the Sox are spending on A-level free agents, they first need to devote resources into turning this entire organization around.

If all that stuff won't cost anywhere near $160M, then I'd rather Ishbia take the rest of that "gift" money and put it toward building a new stadium.  

Edited October 10, 2025Oct 10 by 77 Hitmen

41 minutes ago, bmags said:

I was thinking of a scenario around the giving season, I'm not sure what holidays Ishbia celebrates, he hands Getz an envelope with $160 million in it and it also has a coupon that says "good for 1 player".

So we aren't talkin Kyle Tucker, but we are talkin most of the other free agents, I guess. I gotta say I don't have a great feel there.

Who would you be most excited to add to our extremely bad team?

For me it's Schwarber. He'd almost certainly become obsolete because he joined specifically our team, but to have a no doubt lefty power hitter to add to Colson would be sweet relief after the last few years.

Most interesting thing to me was not wanting to block out our infield and let our young guys play out. So then you have a stretch where you probably would not have enough for Bellinger, and so it's mostly others like Alonso that I'd like.

Until you get to pitchers, which bore the hell out of me. But I guess re-signing Dylan Cease would be great, you know, really stick it to the padres when we roll out Cease and Steven Wilson in the same game. They'd be so pissed lol.

Carl Everett and Roberto Alomar.

You already mentioned this but all the free agents are too old for this team.  I would sooner see the Sox look for a team that wants to dump a bloated veteran contract and have that team pay the Sox in prospect(s) to take on their bad deal.

Edited October 10, 2025Oct 10 by WhiteSox2023

38 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

Quit acting like we should be impressed by getting the stuff other teams got a decade ago. 

 

This.

 

I just wish he would make an announcement about the stadium. Whether its about the new stadium or staying where they're  at.

46 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

I am putting that money into everything BUT the on the field team. 

International scouts, MiLB scouts, top coaching and development people, facilities, technology, etc.  Quit acting like we should be impressed by getting the stuff other teams got a decade ago.  Do whatever we can to get ahead of the curve.  Hell looking into AI analytics programming before it takes over baseball and we chase that a decade later.  Get ahead of teams instead of even.

That would be really good for the long run. Something Jerry never understood. As a fan I would love this

Honestly I would stay the F..k away from Schwarber. Typical Sox signing that will decline with the Sox. Plus he's 34

Tucker is easy answer

Just put money in the farm system. That is the future heartbeat of this organization. 

$160 million

Josh Naylor: UFA, $60 million 4 yr contract 

Shane Bieber: opts out of player option, $75 million 3 yr contract

Devin Williams: UFA, $10 million 2 yr contract

Adrian Houser: UFA, $15 million 2yr contract

 

Edited October 10, 2025Oct 10 by Falstaff

Naylor and Bellinger would make us like a 75 win team on paper assuming you make a couple smart pitching adds maybe even get up around 77-78. I'd settle for that.

Munetaka Murakami would be the #1 option for me. After him, it'd be signing younger players to 3-5 year deals at $5-$10 mil per year higher than they'd be getting elsewhere, or whatever it would take to get them to come here. This would both give the current team a much needed shot in the arm, and worst case you could trade them in 2-4 years for quality prospects if things don't go well. I likely wouldn't consider players much over 30 years old on anything except short term deals, with the intent to trade them in a year or two.

Younger players I'd consider:

• Kyle Tucker
• Josh Naylor
• Dylan Cease
• Ranger Suarez
• Zac Gallen
• Pete Alonso (He'll be 31 but his profile should age well. That said he'd come here and hit .220 with 18 HRs)
• Bo Bichette (not likely unless he's willing to move to third or second, or Colson moves to third) 

I like Alonso simply to put a RH power bat in the middle of the lineup between Teel and Colson probably. 

But as far as being better next year it would be Tucker or Schwarber. Maybe Suarez but I'd rather add power than a pitcher. 

As someone mentioned, Naylor and Gallen for roughly the same price would probably be the best. 

47 minutes ago, Falstaff said:

$160 million

Josh Naylor: UFA, $60 million 4 yr contract 

Shane Bieber: opts out of player option, $75 million 3 yr contract

Devin Williams: UFA, $10 million 2 yr contract

Adrian Houser: UFA, $15 million 2yr contract

 

They definitely should not overpay Houser that lol

Of course once again we see a nothing the Sox ever do is good enough answers. I dont know what we got but I'm sure it isn't good enough.  I'm not happy whatever they did to unlock Colson and find Shane Smith  have 8 rookies perform at decent levels. Let's downplay how huge these things were in scouting and development and demand they spend $160M on computers , software and more people which ,by the way, wouldnt even come close to being $160M . So lazy and unimaginative. 

Compare what Colson did in his rookie year to Tatis, Jr.  Very very similar . Next year it could be Hagen Smith  Schultz, Bonemer ,Antonacci, Teel or Quero, Baldwin, Sosa, Vargas , Shane Smith or even Burke emerging as All Star caliber players .There's more development left. Let's make sure the upcoming draft is the has been well scouted and they stick with the the current strategy of getting non prima donna types who love baseball.

How bout this. Stick your nose back into the Japanese market and make a play for Munetaka Murakami. He's only 25 and has big power and a high walk rate. He plays 3rd and 1st base. The Cubs seem to be able to get Japanese players so the Sox can too. Need to start evolving things on the player acquistion side of things. 

The faster the team gets into acting like a big market team on the player acquistion side of things the better.  It's the easiest way to win the division most years.

You don't need overkill in an area that generally doesn't cost tens of millions of dollars . You just have to maintain and update yearly and get the things like Trajekt machines and modern tech into the affiliates.  The Sox are probably still behind the curve  but since JR went into estate planning mode Getz has managed put some money into modernizing and R & D . The new facility in the DR that was announced in August 2025 will cost $12M and be finished in the fall 2026 .I'm sure getting everything up to speed the 1st few years would be the most costly but just $10M annually would go pretty far .

OK fantasy play time is over but in a few years once the Ishbia's are the new owners this could be a reality .

7 minutes ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

Of course once again we see a nothing the Sox ever do is good enough answers. I dont know what we got but I'm sure it isn't good enough.  I'm not happy whatever they did to unlock Colson and find Shane Smith  have 8 rookies perform at decent levels. Let's downplay how huge these things were in scouting and development and demand they spend $160M on computers , software and more people which ,by the way, wouldnt even come close to being $160M . So lazy and unimaginative. 

 

55 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said:

Naylor and Bellinger would make us like a 75 win team on paper assuming you make a couple smart pitching adds maybe even get up around 77-78. I'd settle for that.

.500  with those 2 , no sophomore slumps + full seasons from the 2025 rookies, a BP with more depth and maybe you avoid the dreaded April records we've seen and a better record in our own division and in 1 run games . 

1 hour ago, chitownsportsfan said:

Naylor and Bellinger would make us like a 75 win team on paper assuming you make a couple smart pitching adds maybe even get up around 77-78. I'd settle for that.

Yeah they would still need 2 front of the rotation arms, another SP, and like 2-3 relievers at least before I would say that they are "good."

Edited October 10, 2025Oct 10 by Bob Sacamano

10 minutes ago, champagne030 said:

Im not the one crying about how pitiful the Sox are , that's on you. You don't need tissues when you're hopeful, you need them when you cry  poor me the Sox still suck with a multi-billionaire family owners on the horizon. 

Edited October 10, 2025Oct 10 by CaliSoxFanViaSWside