15 minutes ago, WBWSF said:

The White Sox will be Coming, Trs La, Tra La!!!!

They were initially STROKIN’ but unfortunately they never got to finish.

5 hours ago, fathom said:

The irony of the Pham situation is everyone in the media loved it when he yelled at Schriffen, but they act like he’s the worst person ever if he gets mad at anyone else.

I’m good with that

26 minutes ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

They were initially STROKIN’ but unfortunately they never got to finish.

6 hours ago, fathom said:

The irony of the Pham situation is everyone in the media loved it when he yelled at Schriffen, but they act like he’s the worst person ever if he gets mad at anyone else.

Dude punched a teammate over fantasy football. He's more than grouchy or unlikeable.

8 hours ago, WestEddy said:

The numbered list is the article. The paragraphs with the dash (-) are my own thoughts.

1) who is sox core - (Vargas, Droth, Taylor, Burke, Ant)
- Vargas is the star, Droth, Peters, Ant, Burke and maybe Teel are the established "core" of this bunch. Grant Taylor, Hagen. While Teel took an effort to return from injuries, he OPSed .808 in September. Mune, Colson and Braden require some heavy work to be considered solid pieces going forward. Bonemer and Brooks Baldwin give Getz breathing room to make a decision on whether Braden is MLB-ready again at the end of ST, or he still needs a month in AAA to consolidate any advancements he pursues this off-season. William Bergolla, Nick McLain and maybe Samuel Zavala have outside shots at bench roles.
2) 27 rotation - (burke, taylor, Hagen, FA)
- That's where it starts. They've also assembled a group of 4's and 5's. (Martin, Schultz, Sandlin, Schweitzer, Shane Smith, McDougal, Thorpe, a returning Mike Vasil, Ky Bush, and let us not forget Luis Castillo).
3) strikeouts - fix Mune, trade Colson, Droth to SS, Ant to 2B
- Teel also requires a productive off-season to get his bat going consistently. Even though he OPSed .808 in September, he sported a 33% K-rate. I've seen Luis Arraez thrown out there as a profile who could compliment the K-heavy lineup. His defense is still solid enough where he's probably not old enough to commit to a DH-only role.
4) Shoman and hitting adjustments - cites K rates in postseason
- The Sox were 1/2 (AL only) in many offensive categories, and top 5 overall. They led the AL in Runs scored. They did something right, even though the current trend of 3 true outcomes isn't quite as aesthetically pleasing. They also led the AL in walks. That's ambitious for a team starting 7 players who haven't logged a full year of MLB games, and then Vargas, who's the veteran of the bunch, coming into the season with 2.5 seasons of games under his belt. They're young. The Sox got a lot out of this bunch, for all the griping about RISP, bunting and platoons.
5) Pham is evil
- I never understand focusing on one player who is the 26th, 27th man, as if he's indicative of why this team stopped astonishing. It's an incredibly young team. Veteran presence matters. The Sox entered the year with the goal of not losing 90 games. Getz flippantly floated improving another 19 games from 2025. The exposure came from the team achieving too much too soon. So a team built to audition a bunch of options had to cobble together some experience while not sacrificing the future. Pham wasn't the reason the Sox set all sorts of strikeout records. He's not the reason the Guards put up 9 runs in 2 drop-dead games in a row.
6) Venable needs growth - cites analytics, sticking with Teel, bullpen games
- Analytics are what drive the game today. Sam Antonacci is a good example. He had huge platoon splits for most of the season, so they subbed in a RHH against some lefties. As he gained experience, they left him in more. At the end of the season, his slash line against left-handed starters was .318/.398/.430. As far as sticking with the regulars as they stumbled in the final three games, who else was Venable going to play? He got a young team thorough playoff experience. One can only hope these guys watched the Guardians pile on the Rays yesterday and get pissed at how close they were.

Sullivan's take is that the team is still rebuilding, has a lot of question marks - beyond a few "tweaks".

I honestly thought Droth was a star wars character for a second.

Meidroth is a defensive downgrade over Colson at Short in my opinion.

1 hour ago, Lip Man 1 said:

Catch up to them by hiring away the best and brightest. Pay them whatever they want but get them over here.

Memo to the next owner.

1 hour ago, WBWSF said:

The White Sox will be Coming, Trs La, Tra La!!!!

Probably is the came and finished way too early...

we will have kneejerk responses with guys who have barely played a full season. Trading problems for a new set of problems rarely works for the Sox. For those guys who may not work as starting players you need a bench.

1 hour ago, kitekrazy1 said:

we will have kneejerk responses with guys who have barely played a full season. Trading problems for a new set of problems rarely works for the Sox. For those guys who may not work as starting players you need a bench.

Trading away some of the strikeouts is kind of an important priority after the historic Cleveland series don’t you think? Attack the problem with some aggression. Set some clear standards. And direction.

The very interesting comment in this piece was where A.J. said the Sox tried to put Castillo on the IL before they finally did so before the playoffs and he said, "no."

Hmmmmm.

A.J. also isn't convinced the Sox are going to spend money this off season he said he's going by the history under JR.

Edited 12 hours ago12 hr by Lip Man 1

6 hours ago, Lip Man 1 said:

The very interesting comment in this piece was where A.J. said the Sox tried to put Castillo on the IL before they finally did so before the playoffs and he said, "no."

Hmmmmm.

A.J. also isn't convinced the Sox are going to spend money this off season he said he's going by the history under JR.

I think AJ nailed it, and it’s not a surprise. I’m more surprised that some people seem to think Jerry is going to allow Getz to go on a spending spree, lockout or no lockout.

Edited 6 hours ago6 hr by WhiteSox2023

29 minutes ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

I think AJ nailed it, and it’s not a surprise. I’m more surprised that some people seem to think Jerry is going to allow Getz to go on a spending spree, lockout or no lockout.

This year's success is all the reason for Jerry to not spend money. He probably thinks you can have this success with this low of a payroll every year.

6 hours ago, Lip Man 1 said:

The very interesting comment in this piece was where A.J. said the Sox tried to put Castillo on the IL before they finally did so before the playoffs and he said, "no."

Hmmmmm.

A.J. also isn't convinced the Sox are going to spend money this off season he said he's going by the history under JR.

Ha, I even said I bet they tried to get Castillo on the IL earlier because there was no way they didn't want to replace him down the stretch. Of course he refused.

17 minutes ago, 2Deep said:

This year's success is all the reason for Jerry to not spend money. He probably thinks you can have this success with this low of a payroll every year.

He’s more greedy than stupid

44 minutes ago, Chick Mercedes said:

He’s more greedy than stupid

I used to think this, but seeing what the similar teams who did spend and build franchise value are worth these days, it is very clear to me that Jerry literally left billions on the table with his cheap ways in the overall franchise value. This could easily be a 4 to 5 billion franchise if he had invested hard into it. He didn't, and it is worth about half of that.

In 2006 I thought the Sox made all the right moves to repeat by trading for Jim Thome & Javier Vazquez.

Edited 5 hours ago5 hr by Falstaff

25 minutes ago, Falstaff said:

In 2006 I thought the Sox made all the right moves to repeat by trading for Jim Thome & Javier Vazquez.

The 2006 team had all the pieces. I think the pitchers just ran out of gas. But that offense was a top 3 offense in franchise history. 90 win team.

3 hours ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

I think AJ nailed it, and it’s not a surprise. I’m more surprised that some people seem to think Jerry is going to allow Getz to go on a spending spree, lockout or no lockout.

Caught this yesterday, what a blunder bringing him in was. His -0.9 WAR over just 6 starts and 9 appearances with the Sox likely cost them the division, then he pulls s%*# like this. Fire him into the sun and eat the money.

3 hours ago, Chick Mercedes said:

He’s more greedy than stupid

At least he's not arrogant.

18 minutes ago, JoeCredeYes said:

Caught this yesterday, what a blunder bringing him in was. His -0.9 WAR over just 6 starts and 9 appearances with the Sox likely cost them the division, then he pulls s%*# like this. Fire him into the sun and eat the money.

Well, he’s likely in the rotation next year due to taking up $22.75 million of payroll so hopefully he is productive.

2 hours ago, southsider2k5 said:

I used to think this, but seeing what the similar teams who did spend and build franchise value are worth these days, it is very clear to me that Jerry literally left billions on the table with his cheap ways in the overall franchise value. This could easily be a 4 to 5 billion franchise if he had invested hard into it. He didn't, and it is worth about half of that.

Yeah, more short-sighted or "penny wise, dollar foolish" than anything. History has shown he's willing to increase the payroll after more money starts rolling in thanks to increased attendance after a winning season. But, he always stops just short of really putting this franchise over the top. Their big "All In" move (which became their advertising slogan that year) that I can think of was to sign the one-dimensional, 32-year old Adam Dunn to a four-year contract. Even with the infamous Hahn rebuild where "the money will be spent", he wouldn't commit to Machado or Harper and instead the Sox spread all that payroll space they had on B-level free agents like Keuchel and Grandal plus trying to outsmart the market by signing their young, unproven talent to extensions.

Not to mention that this has taken place on top of not investing enough in scouting, player development, international scouting, etc.

Look at the Padres. Yeah, they have no WS titles or pennants to show for their actions, but they now draw 3M a year and were sold for nearly $4B thanks to fielding exciting teams and developing a top-notch ballpark.

5 minutes ago, 77 Hitmen said:

Yeah, more short-sighted or "penny wise, dollar foolish" than anything. History has shown he's willing to increase the payroll after more money starts rolling in thanks to increased attendance after a winning season. But, he always stops just short of really putting this franchise over the top. Their big "All In" move (which became their advertising slogan that year) that I can think of was to sign the one-dimensional, 32-year old Adam Dunn to a four-year contract. Even with the infamous Hahn rebuild where "the money will be spent", he wouldn't commit to Machado or Harper and instead the Sox spread all that payroll space they had on B-level free agents like Keuchel and Grandal plus trying to outsmart the market by signing their young, unproven talent to extensions.

Not to mention that this has taken place on top of not investing enough in scouting, player development, international scouting, etc.

Look at the Padres. Yeah, they have no WS titles or pennants to show for their actions, but they now draw 3M a year and were sold for nearly $4B thanks to fielding exciting teams and developing a top-notch ballpark.

Weather

Stadium

Entertainment District—-destination ballpark

No other nhl nfl nba team…more corporate sponsors

What the Sox don’t have…but they do have the much bigger media market, no Dodgers or Giants or DBacks, bigger population base

They also spent big adding all those bullpen arms like Hendriks Kimbrel Kelly and Graveman in addition to carrying the three long term extensions

Finally three year deal for Mr. Steak & Potatoes

Abreu wasn’t cheap, either

41 minutes ago, JoeCredeYes said:

Caught this yesterday, what a blunder bringing him in was. His -0.9 WAR over just 6 starts and 9 appearances with the Sox likely cost them the division, then he pulls s%*# like this. Fire him into the sun and eat the money.

If AJ is telling the truth, I also want to know why Getz and Venable didn’t have the balls to force Castillo to the DL if he truly had an injury while he was posting a 6+ ERA and doing nothing for the team in his starts.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by WhiteSox2023