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It's already been decided he is a bum who will never work again. Sorry.

Of course he was full of it. He said the Sox offer was for more money, but for some reason the team couldn’t afford to match the Padres offer of less money.

As opposed to being mad enough that people are mad after the worst season in MLB history that they need to gatekeep what everyone is allowed to be mad about. Speaking of inventing things..

The agent confirmed the Zach Wheeler story. It is what it is though. The White Sox offered 5/125 and they were given an indication by the agent that they had a deal. Wheeler changed his mind and went to Philly instead. The agency wanted to save face with the White Sox so they put out that the Sox had the higher offer. This is old news. In regards to Manny Machado and Bryce Harper, those are ownership decisions. There’s not much Rick Hahn and Ken Williams could do there without being able to convince Jerry Reinsdorf to go to $300 million. Again, old news.

When I think of my tax money spent on lining the pockets of billionaires, I feel a movement

Yes, they could have if our GM wasn’t a dipshit. Couldn’t send Fedde to the Twins with that additional year cuz he might hurt the Sox playoff chances next year! 🤣 Now we are stuck with watching Vargas for a full season of plate appearances. Exciting!!! 591 PA / .175 AVG / .273 OBP / .312 SLG / .586 OPS Vargas blows and so does Getz. Breathe it in and accept it.

Using the 121 loss season as an excuse to be mad about things that never happened seems a bit disingenuous.

Why does it bother you so much that I call out ridiculous conspiracy theories and laugh at them? On second thought, I know the answer.

Yes, Jerry Reinsdorf.

There’s enough to be ticked off with this team already. We don’t need to invent things.

Well because of his age, he will be a bargain. Why doesn’t Getz just sign him? I’m sure he will be impressed with Chris’ vision of the future.

Sounds like a horror flick

Obligatory nothing to get upset about post...but comebacks from shoulder surgery are quite rare.

It doesn’t. Like I said, there’s plenty to be bothered by without making up ridiculous conspiracy theories.

Why does it bother you so much that people are pissed off after the worst season in MLB history? Oh right.

Another Dunn? I'm skeptical

They planing on chloroforming the kid and locking him in a room until he signs a contract? He has zero benefit choosing to come to the Sox when he can become an immediate piece on a contender. Going to a contender is the only thing he can choose after missing out on a payday.

Sasaki is coming to the majors early and missing a giant payday because of it. That means the Sox would have to convince him that they're a better team to sign with than the other 29 on merit alone. It ain't happening.

is there any reason why this team should not take a run at Sasaki? He’s a 22 year old top pitching prospect, isn’t that exactly who this team should target? Land a player like this and trade Crochett for a couple top prospects , and i start feeling much better about this team.

Could be?

I like the cut of his jib. i’m cautiously optimistic he won’t be a complete buffoon.

Crochet and Fedde...the end. Until the Vargas trade undid all the good of the latter.

I didn’t need the screen grab to say that. History has proven my comments. Take a look at Sox managers over the past 20 years. Dude is grabbing the money while he can. This terrible franchise and team will sink his career.

Most likely NL veterans that can't adjust to the AL.

Yes and no. More to the point JR signed Belle to that deal because he was angry that the other MLB owners voted to settle the labor dispute after Judge Sotomoyer ruled they were not negotiating in good faith. In fact during the press conference reporters specifically asked JR about the motivation for the deal and JR said that (paraphrasing) 'If the other owners weren't going to look out for baseball he was going to look out for his team...' As an aside JR also said he asked Frank Thomas his opinion on if the Sox should sign Belle or Barry Bonds and Frank said Belle. Belle put up staggering numbers for the Sox. But JR (naturally) protected himself by allowing the clause that Belle had to be one of the three highest paid players in the game or he could become a free agent. When Rickey Henderson (I think) got his big deal that moved Belle out of the top three and invoked the clause which JR never intended to honor in order to keep him. As a follow up to that situation Thomas took a little less money on his deal thinking the Sox would use it to keep Belle AND Ventura. The Sox did neither which pissed off Frank. Remember JR always has to "win" at negotiations even if it hurts the team on the field.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that’s what I want to happen, but that’s what I can definitely see happening. Hopefully that’s just my beaten down brain, but I do also struggle to see a team giving up any kind of “blockbuster: top of the rotation” type package for Crochet. Caba, Abel and Buckholder. I can see something like that being enticing to Getz while also being ideal for the Phillies. And it’s honestly not terrible, but would rely a whole lot on being able to “fix” Abel and get the best out of him. But that also seems to be a Getz theme of his targets.

Yes. A chosen screengrab of a 15 minute press conference can tell you that.

Venable knows this is his first and last managerial gig. I bet he massively bumped up his retirement funding right after he signed the contract.

Because the Sox former Executive Vice President was a goofball, and you would be foolish to believe anything he or Hahn said. Kenny literally tried to say that an 8-year contract worth $250 million guaranteed, with non-guaranteed Incentives and option years that could push the total value to $350 million was a better offer than 10-years, $300 million guaranteed with an opt-out after the 5th year. Kenny and Hahn were lying fools. Oh yes, “the money will be spent”… until it wasn’t.

Yes I am.

Notice how he looked up before saying it… classic tell of a liar.

I literally laughed out loud and couldn't take the rest of that circle jerk seriously after that. It was the worst season in the history of modern baseball. I really don't want to hear more lies.

The press conference introducing Venable was absolutely gross… Specifically Getz. He said he was “proud of what we have accomplished in the last year.” Dude.

They both look thrilled to be there.

I did say only when there is no general consensus on which player to trade for or draft among players considered equally talented from the talent evaluators there can be ways to break the tie where certain opinions are given more value than others. It can be the top guy like Bannister, it can be a successful scout who has ID'd good pitchers before or an analytics guy with a good track record of doing the same thing. We're basically splitting hairs since picking young talent and developing it is more difficult in baseball than any other sport. I know heres a lot of emphasis on some coach or coaches along the way who unlock a key that makes a difference but ultimately it may come down to mental or physical maturation from the player along with various tweaks through the trial and error part of coaching . Who can say for example what made Crochet good in 2024 and why he didnt get injured again ? There's no general consensus on it. Among the Getz haters bristling and embarrassed about the loss record we hear Getz and by extension Bannister, who Getz hired,had little or nothing to do with it. It was all Crochet. Bannister has talked at length many times what their plan was to make Crochet a healthy and productive starting pitcher . Besides adding and developing grips & pitches there is a sports management team that made a plan to keep him healthy. Between all these people including Crochet's mental and physical maturation and rehab from injuries it all added up to success this season. You could argue he's a smarter ,bigger stronger version of himself which is what development is all about. Even if you think the previous regime held him back, abused him and Crochet is resentful and bitter about it as some fans are, it all led to where he is now. No one can simplify it down to one thing. Many many things happened on his path . Even if we think Crochet and his agent were wrong to demand an extension because it hurt our baseball sensibilities about being gung ho for winning a championship and team 1st BS you have to look out for yourself in this world . Once you are at your best and in a situation to better contribute to your teams success is the time to be the rah rah guy. We always hear about putting players in a position to succeed .Crochet didn't want to take any chances on being put into a position to fail. He took charge of his own destiny. However Crochet has also been very happy with the whole plan so much which was what led him to do what he did at the trade tradeline. Turns out everyone was so happy and did such a good job it bit them in the ass for a little while. Fans got pissed, they wanted shiny new toys for the Sox and Crochet spoiled the party. Many thought he tanked his value or teams wouldn't want him because he made a "me 1st" power play. Many were wrong. I just don't think it's anything to get hung up on. Go listen to Bannister talk. He's a very bright guy and in touch with modern pitching and player development. Anyone who wants to feel better about Bannister and Katz and educate themselves there are quite a few interviews with him before and after he was hired here .

Which is why the ballpark village concept would appeal to Jerry.

I agree totally. I've come to believe that the happiest people I know have the most choices. Eliminating choices and creating obstacles isn't a path I would recommend for anyone. People find inspiration everywhere, I found mine in an improv class. "Yes . . . and" is the building block of all improv. I try to say yes to all new opportunities (that my wife approves of) and explore it. I'm happiest when I'm learning new things and my wife shares that passion. I don't think it would matter where she was from.

Nope, our terrible GM is going to ensure that when he can’t build a decent roster for Venable.

Hate to break it to you but are no Reinsdorf

No GM has ever been able to accomplish what Chris Getz was able to accomplish in his first year on the job.

A normal terrible team still wins like 50 games. The White Sox had a unique combination of a terrible team top to bottom, including the coaching staff, entire team concept from the GM, strategy, etc. It's tough to lose more than 110, it takes some serious skill at being awful.