If they agree to a posting...he's currently heading for a $175-225 million deal.

The expedited timelines due to the expected Dec 1st lockout and the lack of premium position players available (might be zero $100+ million guys at this point) and his prime age of 27 make him theoretically the most fascinating player to watch after Tarik Skubal (looking at $300-350 million if he bounces back successfully this year).

Would be RF for White Sox, moving Braden Montgomery over to CF.

This would give the Sox a Top 2-3 mlb lineup.

Antonacci 2B

Murakami 1B

Cholowsky 3B/DH

Colson Montgomery SS

Vargas DH/3B

Braden Montgomery CF

Sato RF

Teel Catcher

Bonemer LF

Or you move Cholowsky to second base, leave Vargas at 3B and rotate your DH...with Antonacci Quero/Romo Billy Carlson and fourth OF on the bench.

Just Baseball

Teruaki Sato Looks MLB-Bound in Superstar Form | Just Bas...

A 2026 surge has established Teruaki Sato as the best player in Japan, and the NPB superstar looks bound for MLB.

Edited May 11May 11 by caulfield12

He is tops on my list in terms of Ishibia infused splash moves. Fits the timeline, fits the position need, enhanced marketing opportunities, etc.

48 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

If they agree to a posting...he's currently heading for a $175-225 million deal.

The expedited timelines due to the expected Dec 1st lockout and the lack of premium position players available (might be zero $100+ million guys at this point) and his prime age of 27 make him theoretically the most fascinating player to watch after Tarik Skubal (looking at $300-350 million if he bounces back successfully this year).

Would be RF for White Sox, moving Braden Montgomery over to CF.

This would give the Sox a Top 2-3 mlb lineup.

Antonacci 2B

Murakami 1B

Cholowsky 3B/DH

Colson Montgomery SS

Vargas DH/3B

Braden Montgomery CF

Sato RF

Teel Catcher

Bonemer LF

Or you move Cholowsky to second base, leave Vargas at 3B and rotate your DH...with Antonacci Quero/Romo Billy Carlson and fourth OF on the bench.

Just Baseball

Teruaki Sato Looks MLB-Bound in Superstar Form | Just Bas...

A 2026 surge has established Teruaki Sato as the best player in Japan, and the NPB superstar looks bound for MLB.

That lineup gave me a hard on

21 minutes ago, DoUEvenShift said:

That lineup gave me a hard on

Seiya would be the cheaper alternative...and be a direct hit on the Cubs as a bonus.

If anything, too left handed (including Benintendi).

That's where it became a struggle as Sato actually hit 2nd for Team Samurai after replacing the aging Kondoh.

Antonacci 2B

Sato/Seiya Suzuki RF

Cholowsky 3B

Murakami 1B

Vargas DH

Colson SS

Bonemer LF

Braden Montgomery CF

Teel/Quero/Romo C

That lineup scores the most runs and outside less pressure on the younger players.

The only ?'s are Braden in CF (would be at least average or slightly above defensive line there) and not 100% sold on Antonacci yet as a leadoff man.

But that's a blueprint that leaves Quero Carlson fourth OF and ? on the bench.

Sato/Suzuki RF

Murakami 1B

Cholowsky 2B

Colson SS

Rotating DH

Vargas 3B

Bonemer LF

Montgomery CF

Teel Catcher

Edited May 12May 12 by caulfield12

2 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

If they agree to a posting...he's currently heading for a $175-225 million deal.

The expedited timelines due to the expected Dec 1st lockout and the lack of premium position players available (might be zero $100+ million guys at this point) and his prime age of 27 make him theoretically the most fascinating player to watch after Tarik Skubal (looking at $300-350 million if he bounces back successfully this year).

Would be RF for White Sox, moving Braden Montgomery over to CF.

This would give the Sox a Top 2-3 mlb lineup.

Antonacci 2B

Murakami 1B

Cholowsky 3B/DH

Colson Montgomery SS

Vargas DH/3B

Braden Montgomery CF

Sato RF

Teel Catcher

Bonemer LF

Or you move Cholowsky to second base, leave Vargas at 3B and rotate your DH...with Antonacci Quero/Romo Billy Carlson and fourth OF on the bench.

Just Baseball

Teruaki Sato Looks MLB-Bound in Superstar Form | Just Bas...

A 2026 surge has established Teruaki Sato as the best player in Japan, and the NPB superstar looks bound for MLB.

I can see Jerry Reinsdorf refusing out of principle - even with the low payroll and with Ishbia taking over in the near future. It's a total Reinsdorf move to refuse to give that much to a player that hasn't proved it in the MLB. Like how he is with giving pitchers big contracts.

42 minutes ago, ron883 said:

I can see Jerry Reinsdorf refusing out of principle - even with the low payroll and with Ishbia taking over in the near future. It's a total Reinsdorf move to refuse to give that much to a player that hasn't proved it in the MLB. Like how he is with giving pitchers big contracts.

Success of Murakami and Okamoto mitigates against that somewhat, though.

Now if you said don't spend $125 million on Itoh after the Imai debacle in Houston, would tend to agree with steering away from pitchers.

Roki Sasaki right now has a 5.76 era as we speak...taking baby strides. Devery just blasted his supposed best pitch the splitter out of the park at 102.7 and over 400 feet.

Imai has a way out of his Astros' deal after season, but the asking price would have to come down pretty dramatically.

Imanaga in line for a big deal if he can maintain a low 2s ERA for the second half when he tends to wear down and lose crispness on his pitches...error margin tighter in the low 90s.

I guess it also depends on how close Sato and Mune are...he's kind of new blood on the Samurai scene, Seiya Ohtani Mune Kondoh Okamoto and Yoshida the old guard in terms of intl experience.

Japanese manager waited too late to commit to Sato over Kondoh imo, and tried Rotating Sato with Okamoto at third base when they were in Japan inearly wbc pool play.

Edited May 12May 12 by caulfield12

So when we getting this guy?

4 hours ago, ron883 said:

So when we getting this guy?

If he's posted well before December 1st.

Two schools of thought are big market teams will rush out to make deals that they believe will be grandfathered into the new agreement...the othbefore smaller market teams will wait for the new landscape to emerge before making any considerable financial commitments.

That said, Skubal and Sato are the only two slated to get over $100+ million FA deals.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=sato--000ter

OPS numbers skyrocketing up by the year...

Edited 22 hours ago22 hr by caulfield12

Why would the Dodgers sign Sato? Sato, according to ESPN.com's Jorge Castillo, will be posted in ***2027***. With Max Muncy at the age of 35 and Teoscar Hernandez being in the last year of his deal during the 2027 season, the Dodgers could look to add another big Japanese name to their squad in Sato.

_{6 days ago}

_{Dodgers Yankees Phillies all heavily scouting him.}

The attention Sato is generating remains undeniable — representatives from the Mets, Angels, Diamondbacks, Cubs, Cardinals, Reds, and Tigers were also present. (yahoo sports)

Sox are highly unlikely to get into a bidding war here with all big spenders but the Blue Jays involved.

Seiya Suzuki will be a FA for the Cubs as well, afaik.

Edited 22 hours ago22 hr by caulfield12

On 5/11/2026 at 6:09 PM, Chisoxfn said:

He is tops on my list in terms of Ishibia infused splash moves. Fits the timeline, fits the position need, enhanced marketing opportunities, etc.

Ishbia...LOL He is too busy trying to monetize moving the White Sox (and leaving taxpayers holding the bag for lack of tax revenue from an abandoned stadium and surrounding property). By Ishbia's own admission, he has nothing to do with the day to day operations of the White Sox, Meanwhile Jerry, Getz , Venable and Janish are all responsible for putting an excellent team on the field this year. It has been fun to watch.

3 hours ago, tray said:

Ishbia...LOL He is too busy trying to monetize moving the White Sox (and leaving taxpayers holding the bag for lack of tax revenue from an abandoned stadium and surrounding property). By Ishbia's own admission, he has nothing to do with the day to day operations of the White Sox, Meanwhile Jerry, Getz , Venable and Janish are all responsible for putting an excellent team on the field this year. It has been fun to watch.

Why would you abandon 40-45% of the third largest media market in the US when your place of work and dream estate that you painstakingly built are both in Chicago?

Also, which city promised even 50% public funding for a baseball stadium if the Sox were to move?

Not to mention the rail/yard parcels he's now connected to...he's just doing that for fun and giggles? Misdirection?

Edited 18 hours ago18 hr by caulfield12

6 hours ago, tray said:

Ishbia...LOL He is too busy trying to monetize moving the White Sox (and leaving taxpayers holding the bag for lack of tax revenue from an abandoned stadium and surrounding property). By Ishbia's own admission, he has nothing to do with the day to day operations of the White Sox, Meanwhile Jerry, Getz , Venable and Janish are all responsible for putting an excellent team on the field this year. It has been fun to watch.

Ishbia doesn’t own the team yet, so while it makes sense for you to give credit for the current team’s success to Jerry, Getz, Venable, and Janish, Ishbia shouldn’t be dumped on for things out of his control at this point. Also, it took three years of losing with 100+ loss seasons to build this 2 games over .500 team.

Edited 15 hours ago15 hr by WhiteSox2023

7 hours ago, tray said:

Ishbia...LOL He is too busy trying to monetize moving the White Sox (and leaving taxpayers holding the bag for lack of tax revenue from an abandoned stadium and surrounding property). By Ishbia's own admission, he has nothing to do with the day to day operations of the White Sox, Meanwhile Jerry, Getz , Venable and Janish are all responsible for putting an excellent team on the field this year. It has been fun to watch.

Right out of Jerry's playbook. How many different places did he try to move the team to?