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The whole world thought Nick was a high first round pick. If the Sox didn't select him, someone else would have. The Sox failed in developing him. Luis Arraez and Kwan show you that it CAN be done with a guy of his skillset. Granted, they could have drafted better, but don't let that failure, hide the development failure here.

If they land those two, that’s the deal, not the start of a larger package. And getting those two for Crochet would be a great deal for the White Sox imo.

This game needs a salary floor and cap in the worst way.

This. I also don't really see the point in Austin Hays. Just let our fringe guys play in 25.

Juan Soto might never see an at bat if he signed here. He literally might approach 400 walks per year. He’d be a half-billion dollar 8-10 HR guy and may not drive in 30 runs. We would likely witness one of the most unthinkable stat lines in the modern era. .280/.850/1.200/9 HR/27 RBI/40 Runs? Pitch counts would be down league-wide from the number of times they’d point to first.

Why are people so worried about getting nothing for Robert if he gets injured or sucks again? A weak return now is not much different than getting nothing for him. Perhaps I should I word it a different way. The difference between a weak return and no return is so much smaller than the difference between a weak return and the return we’d get if he performs well for the first few months of 2025. You absolutely take that gamble and hope for the best. If he sucks or gets injured, I won’t lose any sleep over it. But if we trade him now for a weak return and he explodes on a different team, that’s a nightmare scenario.

Campbell + Montgomery would be a terrific start to a package of 3-4 prospects

No idea how much he's gotten wrong, but according to his timeline he's gotten a few right. Then again, everything he has scooped has been Dodgers related. 3 signings and a trade. All dodgers. We'll see. https://x.com/1MLBinsider/status/1861847923895501195?t=7220NhRfzfU3_xE5ZHAZag&s=19

Did they though? Madrigal put up 1.7 bWAR in 83 games for the Sox. He slashed .317 / .358 / .764, which for a no power 2B is perfectly acceptable. Once he left though, he bottomed out.

Kristian Campbell would be a terrific headliner in a deal as well He raked across three different levels in 2024

Robert has a fWAR/162 of 4.35. Bohm's is 2.08. Plus, Robert has an extra year of control. Both can be non-tendered and/or bought out in case of major injury or fall off. They aren't close to comparable values no matter how much you try.

Trading Crochet for future pieces is truly the only way the Sox (and how they operate) is the only way they can get out of this. He pitched every 5 days this year and it was the most miserable season possible.

Unfortunately, Zack Wheeler was in the 10%

Why? He was actually a solid baseball player from June on. Its a real if, but IF he duplicates that performance April-June, he's tradeable (not for much return, but at least get the 26-27 $ off the books). If Jerry is trying to run this thing as lean as possible, I'd prefer not to pay Benintendi to be a 1 WAR OF somewhere else.

Sure. A serious injury is entirely possible for any player. $50M isn't the max payroll. So I don't really care to play those hypothetical games, but yes, I would. Because he is one asset that is a monster first half away from having major value (in 25, but also 26). The guy has 5-7 WAR ceiling, and he's actually done it.

In what way is this signing about throwing the Sox from a window? Wouldn't hurt anyway. Sox dwell in the sub-basement.

Alex Bohm has negative value to this team. It would make no sense. I would rather have another couple top 10 prospects instead.

@Harold's Leg Lift

Remember when they traded Mookie Betts for literal garbage?

And I'm pretty sure i know which of the two fanbases will be incredibly disappointed. Spoiler alert: It's not the one with "Red" in the team name. In all seriousness, if we got Braden Montgomery and Kristian Campbell as people have suggested, this would be pretty good. Montgomery would have gone far higher in the draft if it wasn't for his injury, and has a great arm for RF, is a switch hitter that has alot of power from the left side in particular so there's some real savagery there too. Campbell has played 2B, SS and I think CF so he could potentially fill multiple different spots depending on how those positions shake out after other moves so there's good flexibility there. I would support that deal if those are the two main pieces. I'd love Anthony from BOS but they aren't gonna deal him obviously.

You're probably a hoot at a dart bar.

I hope this works out better than the last time we traded a stud LH to Boston.....I knew we should've demanded Benintendi for Sale.

I think Sox gotta get two guys from Red Sox. I have seen Campbell + Montgomery floated. That sounds about right

From what I looked up, the White Sox made $288 million dollars in revenue in 2023. And that was with a 100 loss team that was total dogshit. You could probably double that number by investing into your roster to get the stadium filled and a good product on the field. This isn't Wrigley, people aren't going to come to White Sox games for a historical stadium regardless of how bad the team is. The whole angle of attendance is low so payroll needs to be low makes no sense to me in a world where the product you put on the field is directly related to the money that goes into your pocket for 99% of these teams.

Robert averages 1 win more a year than Bohm. He has a defensive home, and has consistently produced at least average f and bWAR throughout his career. "Schlub" may have been strong, but Robert has a higher ceiling that he has already shown himself capable of reaching.

Yes please.

Traumatized Miguel Vargas would be an all-time bobblehead.

The thing is there is a team out there in our division who turned a Madrigal like player into one of the leading skill hitters in baseball in Steven Kwan. Of course the Sox rushed Madrigal and we will never if taking a more deliberate and intelligent approach to his dev would have changed his path enough.

Filing this under “They need to make a bobblehead of someone.“

It was a long, hard road to get to this level of futility, and drafting duds like Madrigal at the top of the first round was a big part of it.

What's broken is other teams' front offices. The Dodgers are simply taking advantage of that. Franchises that are willing to spend money on farm systems, free agents and analytics will catch-up - not surprisingly, those teams include the Yankees, Mets, Phillies and Padres. Think of what team has historically fought those trends. *Edit: Forgot to put "free agents" in there. Whoops.

I have more of a problem with the teams that have like $50M payrolls not spending than the teams like the Dodgers and Yankees.

Did I miss the part where the White Sox were in on Blake Snell??

Why am I retaining him? Because his career fWAR/162 is 4.35 - including his god awful 2024 and other long stretches where he hasn't look like a big leaguer. He is just reaching his prime years. He's unlikely to ever give you 145+ games, but he doesn't need to do that to easily be worth $20M in today's game. He's a game changing talent that is obviously extremely streaky, but if the streak comes early in 2025 (or 26), we're sitting on the most sought after position player at the deadline. And if you want to assume Robert just is what he is, he's still a very good CF with a lot of pop, and the ability to carry a team for weeks if he gets hot. On an actual contender with legitimate protection around him, I am certain he would be much closer to the 23 version than 24.

I'm all for dumping on the Sox, but, what?

Getting thrown out an egress window lolol. That’s so much work for the one doing the throwing.

The surplus value of Crochet must be off the charts when a guy like Kikuchi is getting 3/$63M

Snell going to the Dodgers is probably good for trade market. Will make other NL teams a little more desperate, plus I didn’t love what the Dodgers could offer compared to others.

Him asking for a lot isn't a problem for me, it's him not panicking if he doesn't get it on Day 1 of the winter meetings that matters to me.

I think you’re underestimating Getz’s ability to start off with an already low asking price and still end up with a return even less than that.

I feel like Red Sox fans have actually been reasonable regarding Crochet’s value, at least on Twitter. Mets fans are the ones living in a delusional fantasyland thinking they can get him for a bunch of filler prospects.

Gimme Campbell over Mayer

I like Mayer, but the nagging injuries give me Moncada vibes

Letting Crochet walk away in two years would be corporate negligence.

Where were you when baseball destroyed itself from within?

Isn’t this a good thing, as it tightens the supply of the elite available left-handed starters? And the size of the contract versus Crochet’s also should enhance his demand.

Baseball is broken.

I do believe teams would give up a strong package at the deadline if Robert has an all-star level first half.

Who said it was a flex other than you? I think the Sox farm system is barely above average (back end of top 10 in mlb), which just goes to show how far the Orioles system has fallen in the span of 12 months.