2026 Spring Training Thread

[caulfield12]

We shall see with Kelenic.

Zero pressure or expectations except what he puts on himself mentally.

Might be his last shot before Asia.

No longer a Top 5-10 MLB prospect with the Mets...no trying to carry a team like in Seattle after that huge trade, he just has to go about his business everyday out of the limelight.

Be at least a 1.5-2.0 fWAR type of contributor to hold down a corner outfield spot...and be a positive influence on the younger players, instead of a distraction and "me first" type of teammate.  Hopefully he's matured by now and can channel his emotions more productively/positively.

[WhiteSox2023]

5 hours ago, fathom said:

Getz is getting destroyed on social media about this.

Yikes, you aren’t kidding.  I just looked around on Twitter.  He is getting shredded universally by baseball fans in general, as well as White Sox fans.  I think he’s going to have to address it, but not sure how he can walk this mistake back at this point.

[Chicago White Sox]

7 hours ago, stinky said:

Heard. Mostly dreaming. No clue what else he'd mean by payroll flexibility. Maybe more minor league deals, but is that really payroll flexibility? 

I’d assume that “payroll flexibility” at this point means we have a few million in the budget for in-season additions (think Houser signing last year). 

Honestly, I think the roster is mostly locked in other than working through the zero option guys (Sosa vs. Mead | keep Lee or 2 catchers) and possibly adding another arm to the LH bullpen mix.  IMO, Benintendi is here to stay until someone comes out and demands his playing time.  Braden could be that guy later this year if Andrew’s defense remains a complete drag on his overall value.

[Chicago White Sox]

5 hours ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

Yikes, you aren’t kidding.  I just looked around on Twitter.  He is getting shredded universally by baseball fans in general, as well as White Sox fans.  I think he’s going to have to address it, but not sure how he can walk this mistake back at this point.

He’d be crazy to address it.  There is no good reason for being confused on this four times and trying to walk it back will come off even more ridiculous.  If it were me, I’d avoid the media for a couple of days and bank on the Sox beat writers other than Fegan lacking any backbone.

Edited yesterday at 01:57 PM by Chicago White Sox

[soxrwhite]

5 hours ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

Yikes, you aren’t kidding.  I just looked around on Twitter.  He is getting shredded universally by baseball fans in general, as well as White Sox fans.  I think he’s going to have to address it, but not sure how he can walk this mistake back at this point.

Getting shredded as he should be. I think he should just admit he misspoke and of course he knows Acuna is a right handed hitter.

[Autumn Dreamin]

I just assume he had CF on the mind more broadly and was thinking of Baldwin

[Bob Sacamano]

13 minutes ago, Autumn Dreamin said:

I just assume he had CF on the mind more broadly and was thinking of Baldwin

4 times?

[bmags]

1 hour ago, Chicago White Sox said:

He’d be crazy to address it.  There is no good reason for being confused on this four times and trying to walk it back will come off even more ridiculous.  If it were me, I’d avoid the media for a couple of days and bank on the Sox beat writers other than Fegan lacking any backbone.

If it were me, I’d walk down to Acuna and demand he bat switch hitter all season.

[WhiteSox2023]

4 minutes ago, bmags said:

If it were me, I’d walk down to Acuna and demand he bat switch hitter all season.

LOL!

”I fucked up, Luisangel.  Now YOU have to fix it…  OR ELSE YOU’RE FIRED!!!”

It would be like having Vince McMahon as our evil GM.

Edited yesterday at 03:09 PM by WhiteSox2023

[WhiteSox2023]

25 minutes ago, Autumn Dreamin said:

I just assume he had CF on the mind more broadly and was thinking of Baldwin

This was my exact thought after he said it during the Kaplan/McGuffey interview, which I believe was the first time.  But he said it a total of four times.

[Chick Mercedes]

6 hours ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

Yikes, you aren’t kidding.  I just looked around on Twitter.  He is getting shredded universally by baseball fans in general, as well as White Sox fans.  I think he’s going to have to address it, but not sure how he can walk this mistake back at this point.

This is a bad one. If he made the deal based on this, then it’s stupid. But it’s mostly just a bad look because most people view the deal as acceptable as is. Unfortunately, feeds into a negative perception of him in some circles. Yet I am fairly satisfied with the job he’s doing even including this snafoo. But ownership has to check him out, maybe see a doctor.

[Chick Mercedes]

Getz to himself: ‘This nice lil’ switch hitter is available in the deal? I am killing Stearns on this transaction!’ 😎🤣🤩

[EloyJenkins]

this is 4D chess. he is putting that out there so the opposing teams scouts need to prep for him hitting both ways. Absolute genius tactics here...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just kidding. What a fucking Putz. 

[Bob Sacamano]

It’s hilarious to hear in one sentence “we have strongly analyzed him” and in the next: “he’s a switch hitter.”

[2Deep]

14 hours ago, joejoesox said:

Getz is such a fucking idiot

Absolute moron for this 

[ChiSoxFanMike]

Lol

[WhiteSox2023]

16 minutes ago, ChiSoxFanMike said:

Lol

I knew he would address it.  At least he all but admitted he fucked up by making a joke about it.

[fathom]

Yeah this is pathetic.  Organization continues to be a joke.  This will be the first thing people mention when he gets fired.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

7 minutes ago, ChiSoxFanMike said:

Lol

Probably the best way to handle it with some humor.

Theres not much else he can say to how can you not know he wasnt a switch hitter that many times ? You're the one who traded for him. 

Any excuse will sound lame.

Maybe his original ask was Carson Benge who is LH but that was quickly snuffed out . Then for a long time it was Jett Williams ,who is a switch hitter and the Sox were willing to pay down some of the Robert contract to get him. However  Williams was traded in the Freddy Peralta trade . Jan. 21. 

So Acuna was probably his 3rd choice Maybe Williams as a SH got stuck in his head because Williams was who he wanted for the longest period of time but they settled on Acuna+ and no salary payout. 

He can't really say Acuna was his 3rd choice. You just take the $20M and reinvest it quickly in other players. He's juggling a lot of possible trade candidates in his head at all times. 

[tray]

More broadly on the topic of switch-hitting, IMO just speaking as a WSox fan, there are some switch hitters that might be fine if they just focused on their primary  hitting side against all pitchers. 

[Lip Man 1]

https://awfulannouncing.com/mlb/white-sox-gm-chris-getz-switch-hitter-acuna.html

The jokes seem to write themselves don't they? 

[bmags]

5 minutes ago, tray said:

More broadly on the topic of switch-hitting, IMO just speaking as a WSox fan, there are some switch hitters that might be fine if they just focused on their primary  hitting side against all pitchers. 

Eh it’s one of those things where you don’t know how bad their weak side is without SH

[Bob Sacamano]

27 minutes ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

Probably the best way to handle it with some humor.

Theres not much else he can say to how can you not know he wasnt a switch hitter that many times ? You're the one who traded for him. 

Any excuse will sound lame.

Maybe his original ask was Carson Benge who is LH but that was quickly snuffed out . Then for a long time it was Jett Williams ,who is a switch hitter and the Sox were willing to pay down some of the Robert contract to get him. However  Williams was traded in the Freddy Peralta trade . Jan. 21. 

So Acuna was probably his 3rd choice Maybe Williams as a SH got stuck in his head because Williams was who he wanted for the longest period of time but they settled on Acuna+ and no salary payout. 

He can't really say Acuna was his 3rd choice. You just take the $20M and reinvest it quickly in other players. He's juggling a lot of possible trade candidates in his head at all times. 

Jett Williams - not a switch hitter

[WhiteSox2023]

15 minutes ago, tray said:

More broadly on the topic of switch-hitting, IMO just speaking as a WSox fan, there are some switch hitters that might be fine if they just focused on their primary  hitting side against all pitchers. 

This is probably true for many of them.  I believe it was The Valenstache whom was originally a switch hitter and gave it up for awhile because he was so weak from the right side.  It’s just such a nice ability to be able to pull out from a player’s bag of tricks if they can do it moderately well, even if one side is their stronger (and more powerful) side but they can still make some contact with their weak side.

Edited yesterday at 05:01 PM by WhiteSox2023

[WhiteSox2023]

1 hour ago, fathom said:

Yeah this is pathetic.  Organization continues to be a joke.  This will be the first thing people mention when he gets fired.

I don’t think it’s that awful and I appreciate that he owned up to it, even within a joke.  It’s just horrible timing for the flub(s) considering we all know Getz was trying to sell Sox fans so hard on the idea that Acuna was the guy they targeted in return for their franchise CF from the beginning, rather than what we know is the real truth.  That it was primarily a salary dump so Getz could use the money on other players.  You can’t BS me that you wanted Acuna so bad when you don’t even know which side he bats from.  He would have seen this if he watched scouting game tape on him.  He probably just looked at some old scouting reports from previous years that showed Acuna was once a top 5 prospect with two organizations and said fine — Acuna, a prospect, and no cash included with Robert.

Edited yesterday at 05:13 PM by WhiteSox2023