I feel like we can start adding up these bad, small deals in aggregate and they'd be enough to toss out Benintendi.

1 minute ago, Quin said:

I feel like we can start adding up these bad, small deals in aggregate and they'd be enough to toss out Benintendi.

Definitely if you start from Getz’s first offseason. He acquired a bunch of stiffs his first offseason and burned a pile of money.

I still don't really know what to make of it. It's true that Quero still hasn't shown much propensity to hit from the left side so the "complement" piece works there. But Teel is a lefty who is coming back in April. What then? If this was a vote of no-confidence in Quero, then I don't know why you'd grab a guy who doesn't complement Teel very well. And of course I don't know why you'd pay a player an above-minimum guaranteed deal to play for a few weeks.

1 hour ago, ChiSoxFanMike said:

They already had Lee who is significantly younger and has had a much better spring. I just don’t understand why they would push him to the side to give McGuire a guaranteed contract. That said, ideally neither will play that much so it doesn’t really matter.

There's a small bunch who revel in the fact that Getz said he was going to improve team defense yet still finished bottom five. Haw Haw Haw!!

Now he replaces a guy in Lee who has no future here with a player who offers better defense and offense, and everybody screams about paying another catcher $450k over the league minimum. Lee's age and stats over 47 PAs don't really change who he fundamentally is.

49 minutes ago, Quin said:

I feel like we can start adding up these bad, small deals in aggregate and they'd be enough to toss out Benintendi.

And that none of these moves can actually be wrong. The usual suspects carrying the usual water. A week ago I got told that they couldn't afford the million dollars to replace Benny on the roster. Now this. New GM, same cheap Jerry.

You think you would just hold onto Lee and try to sneak him through waivers when rosters are more set in April when Teel comes back.

2 minutes ago, Bob Sacamano said:

You think you would just hold onto Lee and try to sneak him through waivers when rosters are more set in April when Teel comes back.

Guessing they need the 40 man roster spot with the other injuries potentially requiring other adds. Either that, or they have never liked him, and they finally take the cash considerations for him instead of wasting a roster spot again.

A couple of years ago they had one of those articles about which organizations had created the most fWAR through draft and international signings over their eventual big league careers.

The White Sox were right around the middle of the pack.

Of course they were about to lose 100 games for three consecutive years.

Rodón Sale Semien Tatis Cease and now Crochet and even Andrew Vaughn have continued to add to that total.

Edited March 23Mar 23 by caulfield12

36 minutes ago, Bob Sacamano said:

You think you would just hold onto Lee and try to sneak him through waivers when rosters are more set in April when Teel comes back.

I think these 3-4 days of waiver activity are probably the best time to sneak him through waivers.

29 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

Guessing they need the 40 man roster spot with the other injuries potentially requiring other adds. Either that, or they have never liked him, and they finally take the cash considerations for him instead of wasting a roster spot again.

Usually Getz holds on to trade acquisitions for at least one year.

One wonders how much of this is the fear of being criticized in the short term when a trade goes south…

That said, it’s pretty clear he’s not being allowed to dump Benintendi for financial reasons.

just feels like he’s only made the right calls in terms of player evaluations between 1/4th and 1/3rd of that time…that’s a recipe for disaster for a team without a $100 million payroll, let alone $135-155 million, which is much closer to average.

8 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

A couple of years ago they had one of those articles about which organizations had created the most fWAR through draft and international signings over their eventual big league careers.

The White Sox were right around the middle of the pack.

Of course they were about to lose 100 games three consecutive years.

Rodón Sale Semien Tatis Cease and now Crochet and even Andrew Vaughn have continued to add to that total.

What, is Romy Gonzalez now chopped liver?

If you have a trade for Lee (or Quero), this makes sense. If you do not, then this just seems like a waste of 1 million as Teel is likely expected back in 1 month

11 minutes ago, Squirmin' for Yermin said:

If you have a trade for Lee (or Quero), this makes sense. If you do not, then this just seems like a waste of 1 million as Teel is likely expected back in 1 month

Judging by what other back up catchers have gone for, especially flawed ones, I would be shocked if this was anything more than Mr Considerations here.

4 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

Judging by what other back up catchers have gone for, especially flawed ones, I would be shocked if this was anything more than Mr Considerations here.

Yeah they’re getting either cash considerations or he actually clears waivers.

2 minutes ago, Bob Sacamano said:

Yeah they’re getting either cash considerations or he actually clears waivers.

Maybe it could get stretched into something like a 25 A ball reliever, but yeah, the point is this is almost certainly going to be nothing.

I don't really care about Lee, I'm just confused about this level of investment for a catcher that would seem to be the third MLB catcher within a month. And if that's not what he is, then I am very curious about which of the other two won't be among the MLB catchers and why that is.

If they don't like the way Lee works with pitchers, they can't have him in AAA working with their better prospects. That would make zero sense.

4 hours ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

I tend to agree with you. However, Lip posted an article that said Sox management is not a fan of Lee’s defense and that McGuire’s lefty bat better complements Quero’s strong-side righty bat.

This is a signing to maximize the margins (if you trust their evaluation skills, which I don't!) for a team that is competing. What a waste of 1.2 million for a team where every single dollar appears to be cherished.

37 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

If they don't like the way Lee works with pitchers, they can't have him in AAA working with their better prospects. That would make zero sense.

And if you aren't willing to play him to see if he can improve, why is he taking up a 40 man slot all this time when you could have had another guy you like better?

Lee would be DFA anyway when Teel is ready to catch again.

32 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

This is a signing to maximize the margins (if you trust their evaluation skills, which I don't!) for a team that is competing. What a waste of 1.2 million for a team where every single dollar appears to be cherished.

I do like how this shows they could eat Benintendi’s deal if they wanted to, like @southsider2k5 and you? have mentioned. Benintendi’s contract is already guaranteed. The Sox have to pay it regardless. Would they be better suited eating his deal, and opening up the roster spot for a player to start in LF that could be better? Or perhaps start Sosa there?

Edited March 23Mar 23 by WhiteSox2023

32 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

And if you aren't willing to play him to see if he can improve, why is he taking up a 40 man slot all this time when you could have had another guy you like better?

Because they needed him for catching reps in spring training. With the 3 TJS pitchers on the 40-man, they always had extra slots if somebody better came along, so Lee wasn't taking up anybody's 40-man slot.

Just now, WestEddy said:

Because they needed him for catching reps in spring training. With the 3 TJS pitchers on the 40-man, they always had extra slots if somebody better came along, so Lee wasn't taking up anybody's 40-man slot.

They have a ton of guys to serve as ST catchers. They didn't hold a spot all winter for that, and if they did, we have much bigger problems.

6 minutes ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

I do like how this shows they could eat Benintendi’s deal if they wanted to, like @southsider2k5 and you? have mentioned. Benintendi’s contract is already guaranteed. The Sox have to pay it regardless. Would they be better suited eating his deal, and opening up the roster spot for a player to start in LF that could be better? Or perhaps start Sosa there?

If nothing else, Brooks Baldwin creates a roster crunch in a couple of weeks when he comes back.

Just now, southsider2k5 said:

They have a ton of guys to serve as ST catchers. They didn't hold a spot all winter for that, and if they did, we have much bigger problems.

"Hold a spot"? Can you explain the benefit of pitchers throwing to guys who are still learning the rudiments of the position and how to call a game instead of a more experienced player? And who would have taken Lee's 40-man spot? McGuire signed on with the Brewers. Do teams generally waive players and keep an empty spot on the roster to telegraph to preferred players on other teams that they want them?

Edited March 23Mar 23 by WestEddy