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Getz assembling the 2024 offense puts him in the Run Prevention Hall of Fame.

Hmmm. The Sox already do a good job of preventing runs. Oh wait, preventing runs by the OTHER team. That makes more sense.

Unless my information is wrong, teams teams are required to place certain Rule-5 eligible players on their 40-man rosters in order to prevent other teams from prying them away in December's Rule 5 Draft. With the unofficial signing of outfielder Austin Slater to a major league deal, the White Sox will have 37 players on their 40-man roster. There's certainly enough chaff in that roster (Chuckie Robinson, Corey Julks, Jesse Scholtens and Justin Anderson to name a few) that could be removed, so by all means, the Sox could find a way to protect more than three players from Rule 5 selection. Below is who I believe are the twelve options (in order) the team could most consider for this roster protection. 1, Colson Montgomery (22) -- SS (Charlotte). Montgomery is the one no-brainer. Yes, he struggled for most of 2024 (.214/.329/.381), but still managed to produce 42 extra-base hits and 69 walks, Surprisingly, he fared better against southpaws (.248/.327/.376) than righties (.201/.329/.384). He likely put too much pressure on himself to produce numbers, but he was still playing against pitchers five years older than he on average. In September he slashed a more respectable .264/.357/.458 with 4 homers. Just as importantly, he lit up the scoreboard for the Glendale Desert Dogs in 45 at-bats by slugging .313/.511/.656 with three homers, four stolen bases and 10 walks while fanning just six times. Things may be starting to click for the 6'3" youngster, and with a hot spring, he just may be able to crack the Opening Day roster. In the meantime, he ranks 3rd among Sox prospects according to MLB Pipeline and is a borderline Top-100 overall prospect. 2. Wilfred Veras (22) -- OF (Birmingham). Like Montgomery, Veras' numbers slumped when compared to an outstanding 2023. Also like Montgomery, his numbers improved late in the year as well. With Birmingham, he slashed .267/.319/.424 in a tough ballpark to hit with 44 extra-base hits (16 homers), 34 walks (as opposed to 140 strikeouts) and 25 stolen bases. Not considered by many scouts to be a speed demon, he's been highly productive on the bases with 49 stolen bases in 2023. His plate discipline vastly improved in the season's last two months as he produced 18 walks as opposed to 37 punchouts (as opposed to 16 walks and 103 strikeouts the previous four months). This improvement resulted in a combined .297/.376/.465 slash line. He currently ranks 25th among Sox prospects per MLB Pipeline, and should begin next year in Charlotte. He could be the long-term answer in right field if he continues his recent improvements. 3, Juan Carela (22) -- RHSP (Birmingham). Falling just below Veras' MLB Sox prospect ranking at 26th, Carela produced nearly identical results with Winston-Salem and Birmingham. For the year, he produced a respectable 3.71 ERA and 1.24 WHIP in 23 starts (106.2 innings), as he surrendered just 87 hits and 45 walks while fanning 114. Like Veras, I expect Carela to begin next year with Charlotte. He's pitched splendidly for the Sox since they acquired him in 2023's trade deadline from the Yankees for reliever Keynan Middleton. Righties hit just .205 versus his offerings last year, as opposed to a .253 average by lefties. If he can improve his change-up against lefties, he could become a solid rotation piece in 2026 for the Sox. 4. Trey McGough (26) LHRP (Charlotte). Acquired in last year's tradeline from Baltimore in the Eloy Jimenez deal, he produced an outstanding 1.98 ERA and 1.02 WHIP over 81.2 innings by surrendering just 54 hits (.188 OBA) and 29 walks while striking out 88. What's more, his ERA has never finished above 3.86 in his five-year minor league career. His numbers versus lefties and righties were nearly identical, Certainly, the Sox were aware of his pending Rule 5 status for this year when making the Jimenez deal, so it seems likely that McGough will be the fourth option for Rule-5 protection. 5. Anthony Hoopii-Tuionetoa (24) -- RHRP (Charlotte). This is where things start becoming less clear regarding who'll be protected. At the time the White Sox acquired him from the Rangers in the May 8 trade for outfielder Robbie Grossman, the native Hawaiian had a 0.00 ERA and 0.89 WHIP in 10 relief outings. He did post a respectable 3.24 ERA and 1.08 WHIP for Birmingham in 25 outings. However, in Hoopii-Tuionetoa's nine appearances with Charlotte, he got lit up with a 13.50 ERA and 1.85 WHIP. He could have been fatigued toward the season, r the small ballpark in Charlotte could've caused problems. Hopefully, this is just an aberration as he's expected to be a member on the Sox Opening Day roster with a solid Spring Training. 6. Garrett Schoenle (26) -- LHRP (Birmingham). Schoenle followed up his worst professional season in 2023 (6.22 ERA, 1.57 WHIP) with his best one in 2024 (1.67 ERA/0.94 WHIP). While last year was primarily spent in the rotation, this year was spent mostly in the bullpen. In 70 innings, he allowed just 43 hits (.171 OBA) and 23 walks while fanning 88. Schoenle was Mr. Consistency, as no monthly ERA was above 2.25; also lefties hit .170 versus his offerings while righties hit .171 against him. Also, his numbers in the bullpen and his spot-starter roles were nearly identical. It would be easy to understand if the Sox selected Schoenle over Hoopii-Tuionetoa based upon those impressive results. 7. Adisyn Coffey (24) -- RHRP (Charlotte). Coffey was considered simply an under-slot 3rd Round selection from Wabash Valley Community College in the 2020 Draft, as his selection enabled the team to spend over-slot money on prep star Jared Kelley. However, Coffey has proven thus far to be the better of the two pitchers, as he combined with Birmingham and Charlotte for a 2.04 ERA and 1.22 WHIP over 35 relief appearances, In that span totaling over 52 innings, he allowed just 37 hits and 22 walks while striking out 55. Lefties hit just .160 against his offerings, and like Schoenle, surrendered just one homer for all of 2024. He's certainly in the mix with Hoopii-Tuionetoa and Schoenle for Rule 5 protection. 8. Caleb Freeman (26) -- RHRP (Birmingham). Selected in 2019's 15th round from Texas Tech, Freeman had the reputation of wildness which he hasn't totally shaken. He did post a respectable 3.92 ERA and 1.35 WHIP for Birmingham in 2024, as he allowed 33 hits (.208 OBA) and 26 walks while striking out 56. He also surrendered 5 homers in his 43 2/3 innings, which is similar to his career average. Mostly, his inconsistency is what brings him below the relievers already mentioned. His monthly ERA numbers were 3.00, 6.48, 0.00, 9.82, 1.04 and 4.91. Of course, ERA stats don't tell the whole picture, but in Freeman's case, it could explain why he hasn't received the promotion to Charlotte yet. 9. Jerold Rosado (22) -- RHRP (Winston-Salem). Rosada was acquired in last year's trade deadline from the Royals for infielder Paul DeJong, and he continued to pitch quite well. He combined with the Royal and Sox systems for an outstanding 2.11 ERA and 1.03 WHIP in 55 1/3 innings, as he allowed just 42 hits (.214 OBA), 15 walks and 68 strikeouts. Lefties hit .224 against him, while righties fared marginally worse at .207. I'd have Rosado higher on this list, but since he's only had 10 appearances beyond Low-A ball, the odds of him being selected in the Rule 5 Draft won't be that high. 10. Adam Hackenberg (25) -- C (Charlotte). Hackenberg's offensive numbers (.210/.315/.253) in 2024 were a significant drop-off from his 2023 numbers with Birmingham and Charlotte, but he's here due to the scarcity of the catcher position which is usually in demand (along with pitching) in Rule 5 drafts. He's considered an asset behind the plate, so despite his numbers, it won't be a shock to see him selected. 11. Andrew Dalquist (24) -- RHRP (Birmingham). The former 3rd-round selection has had a disappointing minor league career to date, although he resurrected it significantly after a conversion from the rotation to begin this year's campaign. He posted a 3.06 ERA and 1.47 WHIP in 47 innings for Birmingham, as he surrendered just 36 hits (.217 OBA) while fanning a solid 52. However, he got himself in trouble walking 27. In the past, he's given up lots of long balls; however, he surrendered just two in the friendly environs of Birmingham. His stock will escalate further if he can throw strikes, while still limiting the long ball, in the much more perilous Charlotte atmosphere. 12. DJ Gladney (23) -- OF (Birmingham). I nearly went with fellow Baron outfielder Terrell Tatum here, but since Gladney participated in this year's AFL, he deserves a shoutout here. He enjoyed his best minor league campaign with Winston-Salem and Birmingham in 2024 by slashing .246/.303/.450 -with 20 doubles and 16 homers spanning 353 at-bats. He also stole eight bases without getting caught. His strikeout rate has vastly improved since his 2023 effort when he struck out 173 times in 464 at-bats. I'll be fun to see how this local product builds upon his success in Charlotte next year, but in the meantime, the odds of Gladney's being selected in the Rule 5 draft is fairly small despite his overall improvements.

Based on the mad libs you could play with this statement, it seems like a strong, smart hire from an organization who has been doing things right for quite a bit.

Just think, if we improve just 1 game each season over the next 120 years, we'll be 162-0.

When a post starts with "domestic violence enthusiast," you can be sure you're getting a fair assessment.

You joke, but that’s probably the quickest route to becoming the Director of Minor League Operations.

Julks is immediately expendable with the Slater add.

We'll know by 6PM CT Friday Nov. 22. I'm hoping both are gone. Vaughn isn't worth the $6M price tag just to get a shot under Fuller's eyes. He still can't defend or run well enough , he's not a LH 1st baseman and he isn't tall.

Good positive observation .

Coworker has a friend who played in the Sox org a few years ago. Didn't make it past A league before hanging it up but pretty much said the Pitching Coaches he worked with told him to spin the ball on breaking stuff and "just throw strikes". They used no current data and were stuck in 1975. Good to see Getz putting together something new.

"How about everyone at league minimum.....I'm Jerry Reinsdorf and I endorse this message"

The Brewers are a team that the Sox should be modeling themselves after. So this is a good move. I wonder if Renteria and Napoli join the staff in some capacity. Those are his boys.

Half of $1M is less than league minimum lol

He also had a hand in catcher development, which is especially interesting given it’s the Brewers.

First intern assignment: shovel snow at JR's house

When the book on the 2024 White Sox is being written, I hope they interview some posters here because evidently they have a lot of inside info on how things went down.

I think the Bears should hire Bill Self as the next head coach. Might be controversial, but he’s a really good coach, think it could translate into football.

To be fair, Martinez was coming off a 1.4 fWAR season in SD, but was given $26 million for TWO years by Cincy, so $13 million per year based on 16 GS in the majors or $7.5 and the KBO. Martinez was worth less than Fedde in 2023, but getting 3.5-4.0 fWAR/bWAR for $13 million would still be considered a very good FA signing, all things considered. Not a steal exactly had Martinez actually signed with the Sox, you'd have the third best signing overall after Fedde and DeJong...and you'd even have the trend of the Sox taking pitchers out of Korea and having success with them as something to hang your hat on.

out of that list, I'd call Fedde the 'steal' of it. it's too bad it turned into Vargas (jury's still out on him I guess), but you gotta give the front office credit for seeing something there though, that evidently only 'wunderkind' Stearns also saw. I suppose the discussion is about something different, but I don't know what Fedde's deal has to do with anything. He was probably in discussion with teams well before he eventually signed with the Sox...but the market was dry for him. Had to think he was expecting a bigger payday. Do we think the Reds would've rather paid Nick Martinez $21mil for 4.0 bWAR or Erick Fedde $7.5mil for 5.6 WAR? Easy to say in hindsight. I guess this is to say, glass half full perspective, it's probably a good thing that the Sox were able to identify Fedde as a useful player when other teams didn't. There was no point in signing Martinez, Gibson, Maeda, re-treading Lance, etc. I tend to think there's reason to be optimistic that the organization is at least competent on the pitching side of things. My hope going into next season is that some of these new hires can help out on the other side of the ball. Jury's out on Getz.

I don’t disagree. There’s no need to celebrate this move, and there’s no need to complain about it.

Why is this thread 3 pages

They never said anything specific or official, but there’s been a lot of “implying” here that he may have had a back issue. A sore back most of the year that felt better in September and in Winter Ball would be quite consistent with his performance on the year. What does that mean for the future if he did? If it’s a long term or degenerative thing, or even just a regular problem, that could affect his ability to ever be a big leaguer. If it’s a one time thing and he has actually recovered, maybe the strong AFL performance is a solid sign.

The real meat on this bone is Fuller. I don’t know what happened to this man. Early in his career, he preached patience at the plate with power mixed in, so what changed this year? This might get a little tinfoil-hatty, but I fully believe either Fuller or Elias wanted to implement a change in the approach of the organization’s hitters. They wanted to get more balls into the air and hit the ball harder; here is the problem: that doesn’t work for all hitters. Take Rutschman and Jackson Holliday. Holliday wasn’t a power hitter in the minors; he wasn’t the number-one prospect because of his power. Everything else made him unique, so why does it look like he is swinging for the fences on every swing and now has a massive hole in his swing that wasn’t there last year? Adley, like Holliday, was a line-drive hitter with a patient approach, so why did he pop up so much this year? Again, I don’t know what was done with these hitters. Fuller could have just been doing what he was told, and it seems weird for him to change his approach that much. Again, he was a guy who preached patience, so why did it change this year? I don’t have the answers; no fan does, and the only ones who do are in the Warehouse. In Fuller’s defense, he didn’t take one at-bat for this team; he might not have been the one to spearhead this new approach, instead simply following what Elias told him to do. He is gone now, and Elias wouldn’t have fired him without cause. One thing we’ve learned about Mike is that doesn’t just fire people to appease a loud majority of angry fans (if he did, Hyde wouldn’t still be here). There was a reason why Fuller was let go, and maybe it was because there were just too many cooks in the kitchen. The Orioles technically had three hitting coaches last year. Three! Most teams have one, so maybe that was the impetus here. Perhaps players were getting overloaded with data, and the message from the Warehouse to the player was getting lost in translation. https://eutawstreetreport.com/ryan-fuller/ Seems pretty clear that O's fans believe he was fired...or certainly pushed out, with the other two hitting instructors remaining in place. Luckily, the White Sox don't have many hitters like Rutschman, Holliday (or James McCann, one of the biggest hitting "culprits" in the postseason)...

This is what I think, and it’s mostly due to not wanting to give up on a 1st round pick (#3 overall). Keep in mind that Getz was the Sox director of player development when Vaughn was drafted. Although he may not have been involved directly in drafting Vaughn, his lack of development over the years and having to cut him won’t reflect very well on Getz.

Great… something to look forward to in this bleak thing called life. Yay. Joy. Yahoo.

People get antsy when top prospects development declines no matter how you choose to rationalize it. It might be top notch rationalization too but despite the warnings that development isn't linear, panic sets in when when a downward line appears.

I like this hire—good organization to poach from.

It's a 6 game sample size.I wonder if the Sox even have scout there watching games. If they do, I'm sure there are younger players to scout. I hope the Fuller hire doesn't mean it's another coach taking a crack at Vaughn and Sheets. Send them packing and use the $8M somewhere else. Abreu " signing imminent " sounds like BS based on sample sIze.

Ron McSubmarineSandwich

How many great teams are going to want him?

Then Jose Abreu won't be playing in the big leagues at least to start the year. Obvious contenders might be willing to try him out on their AAA team to start the year, but he will not be their option 1 or 2. IF he wants a team that could give him a reasonable shot to break camp in the big leagues, that's the White Sox. If things go well for him in the first half, he might play on a contender after the trade deadline anyway, but he'd have to show that he can hit big league pitching again first.

A minor league deal with an invite to spring training would be my setup. Doesn't take up a roster spot, leaves you the option of finding someone better (say, in a Robert or Crochet deal, or as a free agent in February or March). Basically for me, the motivation is not having Abreu around, it's using him as an excuse to not pay Vaughn in arbitration. If they're chopping the payroll down to $80 million or less, whatever their motivation for doing so is, then spending $6.4 million on Vaughn just isn't smart money any more. He isn't playing up to that, and if he were to break out with the White Sox this season (which seems admittedly unlikely), he's not going to be worth enough in a trade to justify the money spent on him given they have limited control left of him and he has a long history of struggles. If the payroll is being slashed, then slash it.

So a 1 game improvement then!

Look I get that we aren't spending this winter, and I totally understand why, but if we are going to dumpster dive can we try to make it someone who could have actual trade value and not just a roster spot?

With this guy being in charge of the Brewers daily game planning, it hammers home something that Getz and Fuller have been hammering on in all of their media appearances, the need to get better at game planning. Makes you wonder what Grifol was providing to the guys on a daily basis, but this has to be a long stemming problem for the team.

I thought he meant 1 year at $4 million. This guy probably isn’t worth $2 million. Wrapping up $10+ million on Vaughn, Sheets, and Slater doesn’t seem like the greatest investment, but it is the White Sox way. Spread out millions amongst several bad players. One contract alone isn’t really that bad, but added all up and it’s like burning millions in a 🔥 on a known quantity of bad players.

Looking forward to the return of the FIREWALKER posts.

Second highest reaction count!

Have heard that Rogan and Bill Maher were interested in coaching...

Or Austin Slater…

I don’t think Gladney even needs to be protected because I don’t think he gets taken with his strikeout rate. He wouldn’t last on a roster long enough next season to stay with that team.

I didn't even have to see who this post was from to know who this post was from.

I'd absolutely bring Jose back on an milb deal if they move on from AV.

He painted himself into a corner immediately. Said he would make the same call again, then later said “well yea I would have liked to get a little closer” dude what do you have to lose anymore? Let it rip. Riverboat Ron got like 2 extra seasons because he did that lol

TimmyU knows his onions. There's no doubt about that.

That's not very nice. I feel mods shouldn't mock readers/Sox fans but that's just me. Admitting to mockery is not conducive to good message board business by mods IMO.