10 minutes ago, oldsox said:

Everyone says the outfield is the worst in MLB. Maybe so, but it will get worse if Colson strikes out 50% of the time, forcing them to move Acuna to Short.

Or CLE…or KC, but look no further than the Central for bad.

35 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

How about this; stop trading with the Dodgers and Rays thinking you're going to tap into something with a player that they couldn't. Let's start with an organization like the Rockies and work our way up!

Vargas is one of the few positions NOT in the bottom ten across mlb…but just barely.

“Luisangel Acuña quickly locked up center with his impressive athleticism and excellent showing at the plate. However, with some less-than-stellar results in his previous big league stints, the leash could be relatively short.

This would feel even more like the case if Brooks Baldwin is added back into the mix upon his return from the 10-day IL. Baldwin had a very solid spring and offers some valuable defensive versatility. Having said that, Derek Hill checks a very similar box and may currently have as much of Venable's trust. Even Tristan Peters has some high upside defensive chops that he paired with some solid plate appearances in camp.” Si.com

Peters is already 26 and has subpar exit velocity. Just don’t get it as Peters Hill Baldwin all bring somewhat similar profiles….unless Baldwin’s suddenly more than a 12-15 homer power hitter.

Edited Wednesday at 06:36 PM5 days by caulfield12

6 OFers on the 25 man, that are actually about 1.75 OFers.

1 hour ago, fathom said:

Getz really sucks at this. Houser trade was another disaster.

1 hour ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Mead actually showed a bit of power this spring between the WBC and Spring training, and power was always his only ++ tool.

I didn't like the trade at the time, but I would have liked to give Mead some run this year to see if he could tap into the power he had pre-injury.

edit: Keeping Bene and Hill over Mead is just not serious baseball. I know that Mead isn't an OF'er by trade, but get flexible with your org. Bene and Hill serve zero value or purpose to this org.

So is the implication here that the front office declined better offers for Houser to ultimately choose Mead, Peoples and Davitt 5 mins before the deadline?

Keeping Benintendi isn't a front office decision. The owner doesn't like paying players to go away.

I don’t think you’ve ever seen me blame Getz for not releasing Benintendi. We know that’s a Jerry thing. The Mead thing just irks me because Getz continues to act like former top prospects who have seen their stock plummet is some new market inefficiency.

Edited Wednesday at 07:50 PM5 days by fathom

1 minute ago, fathom said:

I don’t think you’ve ever seen me blame Getz for not releasing Benintendi. We know that’s a Jerry thing. The Mead thing just irks me because Getz continues to act like former top prospects who have seen their stock plummet is some new market efficiency.

Not even DePodesta’s going in that so-called direction after a decade in the NFL.

I'm satisfied with the Houser trade. It's not clear that any team was willing to give up anything for him. I don't regard Mead as untalented and I would gladly have him over Peters or Hill in a vacuum. I don't think it's crazy to give up on him considering the handedness and position he plays. The Sox also got more than Mead in the deal. I think the market inefficiency that interests Getz is 26-man roster spots which he expects/expected to have in spades and can use as a place to try out players who are out of options. That said, willingness to walk away from a player who he no longer thinks is worthwhile is probably something to be commended in general even if we would prefer that every acquisition pans out.

I still don't get the need to release Benintendi. The Sox literally have no OFs of interest close to the majors. If you want to make the argument he isn't an OF and is a DH (fair argument, btw), and that there is no room for him there either, I think the Teel injury quickly showed that wasn't really the case. If we get to a point where Beni is blocking Teel or Quero ABs and is sucking up the joint, the calculus changes. But for now, that is not the case.

Beni is not good, but the Sox could do far worse. If they had interesting AAAA guys or fringe prospects to try out there, sure. But they don't. I see no reason to pay him to play elsewhere, and it wouldn't be that surprising to see him deliver a 100-105 wRC+ season. Which for this team, could easily be a top 3-5 bat on the squad. He has had entended mid-season stretches where he has looked very playable; they've just been pre or proceeded by stretches of futility, largely due to playing injured.

Edited Wednesday at 09:02 PM5 days by ChiSox59

2 hours ago, fathom said:

I don’t think you’ve ever seen me blame Getz for not releasing Benintendi. We know that’s a Jerry thing. The Mead thing just irks me because Getz continues to act like former top prospects who have seen their stock plummet is some new market inefficiency.

So what plaerz should they target ? They got 3 guys for Houser. Should it be lower round guys putting decent MiLB numbers ? Theyre still dealing with guys on the fringes. Of course no GM will have much of a success rate doing that. Youre getting them because theyve failed for multiple years , approaching mid 20's and are generally considered AAAA guys. I've been telling people this for almost 2 years . Somehow it doesnt sink in. Its very rare to get breakout seasons from guys like that and even harder for it to last a while. But in Getz' position he has little choice but to keeping digging in the rejected pile.

Houser did great after they picked him up but he wasnt a youngster, Vargas is hanging in there.No ones picked up Kopech yet.Fedde did well but not well enough to stick with anyone. Hard to know if Acuna will stick.Kelenic didnt impress enough. Pereira has about the most upside we've seen judging by his 2025 AAA numbers but huge K rate. They all have problems which is why they become available.

Vargas as your #3 hitter…

3 hours ago, ChiSox59 said:

I still don't get the need to release Benintendi. The Sox literally have no OFs of interest close to the majors. If you want to make the argument he isn't an OF and is a DH (fair argument, btw), and that there is no room for him there either, I think the Teel injury quickly showed that wasn't really the case. If we get to a point where Beni is blocking Teel or Quero ABs and is sucking up the joint, the calculus changes. But for now, that is not the case.

Beni is not good, but the Sox could do far worse. If they had interesting AAAA guys or fringe prospects to try out there, sure. But they don't. I see no reason to pay him to play elsewhere, and it wouldn't be that surprising to see him deliver a 100-105 wRC+ season. Which for this team, could easily be a top 3-5 bat on the squad. He has had entended mid-season stretches where he has looked very playable; they've just been pre or proceeded by stretches of futility, largely due to playing injured.

The whole argument for Reese has been that they HAD to do this because of the small marginal upgrade they would get from the few games this dude would be on the roster, all for the million plus that he will get paid for however long he lasts. You have a TERRIBLE LF out there, one of the worst defenders in the game of baseball. Out of 31 LFs with 400 or more PAs last year, he was 30th in defensive measure at Fangraphs. If we are worried about little things affecting pitchers and the defense, this dude is case 1A. You could at least put a dude out there who can catch and throw.

Now he's starting to be hurt more than more, playing 116 games last year, so you already are playing other guys for about 1/3 of the season anyway. If you open it up to fWAR, he's 32nd of 34 with his grand 0.2.

Hell, going back to Sosa or some of these other excess players, try them out there during ST or winter ball to see if they can go. I don't care an iota about cost. They are paying him whether he is here or not. That's a sunk cost fallacy. It's a waste of a roster spot, and a harm to the pitching staff.

3 minutes ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

So what plaerz should they target ? They got 3 guys for Houser. Should it be lower round guys putting decent MiLB numbers ? Theyre still dealing with guys on the fringes. Of course no GM will have much of a success rate doing that. Youre getting them because theyve failed for multiple years , approaching mid 20's and are generally considered AAAA guys. I've been telling people this for almost 2 years . Somehow it doesnt sink in. Its very rare to get breakout seasons from guys like that and even harder for it to last a while. But in Getz' position he has little choice but to keeping digging in the rejected pile.

Houser did great after they picked him up but he wasnt a youngster, Vargas is hanging in there.No ones picked up Kopech yet.Fedde did well but not well enough to stick with anyone. Hard to know if Acuna will stick.Kelenic didnt impress enough. Pereira has about the most upside we've seen judging by his 2025 AAA numbers but huge K rate. They all have problems which is why they become available.

It should have been a player that didn’t get cut in less than 8 months if the Sox had better scouting of hitters. From our fellow ST poster…

Sports Mockery

The Adrian Houser Trade Has Aged Badly For The White Sox

The Adrian Houser trade is aging badly for the White Sox, with Curtis Mead getting designated for assignment this afternoon.

Edited Wednesday at 10:58 PM5 days by WhiteSox2023

3 hours ago, Y2Jimmy0 said:

So is the implication here that the front office declined better offers for Houser to ultimately choose Mead, Peoples and Davitt 5 mins before the deadline?

Keeping Benintendi isn't a front office decision. The owner doesn't like paying players to go away.

Yes, my implication is this front office has no idea how to target talent they can maximize or find undervalued/utilized assets.

Maybe there amateur scouting has improved, but their pro scouting is a continued disaster.

3 hours ago, ChiSox59 said:

I still don't get the need to release Benintendi. The Sox literally have no OFs of interest close to the majors. If you want to make the argument he isn't an OF and is a DH (fair argument, btw), and that there is no room for him there either, I think the Teel injury quickly showed that wasn't really the case. If we get to a point where Beni is blocking Teel or Quero ABs and is sucking up the joint, the calculus changes. But for now, that is not the case.

Beni is not good, but the Sox could do far worse. If they had interesting AAAA guys or fringe prospects to try out there, sure. But they don't. I see no reason to pay him to play elsewhere, and it wouldn't be that surprising to see him deliver a 100-105 wRC+ season. Which for this team, could easily be a top 3-5 bat on the squad. He has had entended mid-season stretches where he has looked very playable; they've just been pre or proceeded by stretches of futility, largely due to playing injured.

If he's a DH, how would giving those AB's to Mead, who they felt was worth a gamble about 2 baseball months ago, not be a better usage of those ABs than giving them to bene.

Edited Wednesday at 11:06 PM5 days by Look at Ray Ray Run

3 hours ago, Jake said:

I'm satisfied with the Houser trade. It's not clear that any team was willing to give up anything for him. I don't regard Mead as untalented and I would gladly have him over Peters or Hill in a vacuum. I don't think it's crazy to give up on him considering the handedness and position he plays. The Sox also got more than Mead in the deal. I think the market inefficiency that interests Getz is 26-man roster spots which he expects/expected to have in spades and can use as a place to try out players who are out of options. That said, willingness to walk away from a player who he no longer thinks is worthwhile is probably something to be commended in general even if we would prefer that every acquisition pans out.

The problem wasn't that nobody was willing to give up anything it's that he was probably worth like a A ball lotto ticket, which is fine, and Getz tried to trade for some guy that MLB had already really decided was no longer a prospect -- I'd imagine because they thought they had something they could fix with him. Just a real longshot that didn't fit with our timeline at all, it's not like Mead even if he turned into the 99th percentile version of his tools is anything more than an average regular at a position we already have filled given the other options over the same time frame.

Trade Benintendi for Yoshida and cash to balance it out.

Then they can leverage that for more Japanese market media coverage and at least $10-15 million in sponsorships.

Both Japanese players would feel more wanted here, as would Beni back with Boston.

1 minute ago, chitownsportsfan said:

The problem wasn't that nobody was willing to give up anything it's that he was probably worth like a A ball lotto ticket, which is fine, and Getz tried to trade for some guy that MLB had already really decided was no longer a prospect -- I'd imagine because they thought they had something they could fix with him. Just a real longshot that didn't fit with our timeline at all, it's not like Mead even if he turned into the 99th percentile version of his tools is anything more than an average regular at a position we already have filled given the other options over the same time frame.

The league also just said Houser was worth 11 million a year for 2 years. To say the league didnt think he was worth anything is nonsense.

I'm so tired of the excuses being made for bad returns.

9 minutes ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

It should have been a player that didn’t get cut in less than 8 months if the Sox had better scouting of hitters. From our fellow ST poster…

Sports Mockery

The Adrian Houser Trade Has Aged Badly For The White Sox

The Adrian Houser trade is aging badly for the White Sox, with Curtis Mead getting designated for assignment this afternoon.

Easy enough to imagine polishing turds enough to make them glitter but the reality is it doesnt happen often . Find me 5 guys found cheaply who did well in 2025 not counting Smith or Vasil who hadnt used more than a years worth of eligibility yet . Shouldnt be hard right ? Thirty teams out there trying to find those close to the majors nuggets. They cant be involved in major trades Found cheaply. Go.

I wanna have some optimism but yikes..... Outfield is terrible. A lot of things gotta go right. Colson, Sosa, Vargas and Mune. Any decent showing by benny would be nice... Not counting on it tho

13 minutes ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

Easy enough to imagine polishing turds enough to make them glitter but the reality is it doesnt happen often . Find me 5 guys found cheaply who did well in 2025 not counting Smith or Vasil who hadnt used more than a years worth of eligibility yet . Shouldnt be hard right ? Thirty teams out there trying to find those close to the majors nuggets. They cant be involved in major trades Found cheaply. Go.

Unfortunately, neither of us know what players or prospects Getz may have turned down in his trades. But we do know the pile of turds he has acquired in some of his deals. Obviously, some of these were minor trades but it just goes back to the idea of poor scouting targeting flawed players.

Samuel Zavala

Zack DeLoach

Dominic Fletcher

Curtis Mead

Braden Shewmake

Corey Julks

Greg Jones

Edited Wednesday at 11:41 PM5 days by WhiteSox2023

51 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

The whole argument for Reese has been that they HAD to do this because of the small marginal upgrade they would get from the few games this dude would be on the roster, all for the million plus that he will get paid for however long he lasts. You have a TERRIBLE LF out there, one of the worst defenders in the game of baseball. Out of 31 LFs with 400 or more PAs last year, he was 30th in defensive measure at Fangraphs. If we are worried about little things affecting pitchers and the defense, this dude is case 1A. You could at least put a dude out there who can catch and throw.

Now he's starting to be hurt more than more, playing 116 games last year, so you already are playing other guys for about 1/3 of the season anyway. If you open it up to fWAR, he's 32nd of 34 with his grand 0.2.

Hell, going back to Sosa or some of these other excess players, try them out there during ST or winter ball to see if they can go. I don't care an iota about cost. They are paying him whether he is here or not. That's a sunk cost fallacy. It's a waste of a roster spot, and a harm to the pitching staff.

White Sox Opening Day Lineup vs Brewers

1. Chase Meidroth- 2B
2. Colson Montgomery- SS
3. Miguel Vargas- 3B
4. Andrew Benintendi- DH
5. Austin Hays- LF
6. Munetaka Murakami- 1B
7. Everson Pereira- RF
8. Edgar Quero- C
9. Luisangel Acuna- CF

2 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

White Sox Opening Day Lineup vs Brewers

1. Chase Meidroth- 2B
2. Colson Montgomery- SS
3. Miguel Vargas- 3B
4. Andrew Benintendi- DH
5. Austin Hays- LF
6. Munetaka Murakami- 1B
7. Everson Pereira- RF
8. Edgar Quero- C
9. Luisangel Acuna- CF

I don't think he should be here anymore, but that's because over 3 years he's been worth .6 WAR total. It's time to move on.

That said, guy had a 104 OPS+ last year. He was a slightly above league average hitter. People talk about him like he's some black hole in a lineup which isn't really true.

Yankees have Spencer Jones and Jasson Dominguez in AAA.

Dodgers have loaded All Star outfields in AA/AAA. No place for any of them to play.

Meanwhile, Sox have biggest MAYBE in Braden for the next two seasons, unless Bonemer and Antonacci are suddenly corner outfielders.

6 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

I don't think he should be here anymore, but that's because over 3 years he's been worth .6 WAR total. It's time to move on.

That said, guy had a 104 OPS+ last year. He was a slightly above league average hitter. People talk about him like he's some black hole in a lineup which isn't really true.

Even if he never plays defense, his OPS+ last year was good for 24th of the same 34 OFs. He plugs in at 24th of 31 DHs with his LY OPS+.

He's trash.