WestEddy

We have a surplus of starting pitching. We have a dearth of outfield talent. If you don't see how a "useful player" fits into some broader strategy, I'm not sure what you're even asking. You can't assume that a player who has been successful in a short run in the majors has too many question marks, but a guy who has had a sketchy track record in the minors, even while ascending quickly at a young age - doesn't. I get that you don't like the trade. I wish the D-backs just gave us Fletcher for cash considerations. That would have been cool.

Getz doesn't value power so much that he will try to bury a garbage glove in LF or RF in order to get power. Yes, I agree with you on that. So what you're looking for is at least a 4-tool OF, and those are either going for $10+ million, or even Dylan Cease can't pluck somebody's at least 4-tool OF out of their minors. We'll either try to catch lighting in a bottle with Rafael Ortega, or someone like that, or get a project like DeLoach where, if we can fix his swing, you have a nice hitter who won't embarrass himself in the field. I think Lenyn Sosa can play his way into the lineup, and he can run into a dozen, or so. At some point, Yoan Moncada, Eloy Jimenez and Andrew Vaughn are going to have to pull on their big boy pants and live up to their billing.

I can still hear the wailing about trading 'infield depth' in Jake Peter for Joachim Soria back in 2017. Everybody mocks the guys who express there's some talent in the system, but when we trade some, we gave up too much.

I thought it was Rollins and Frazier. The implication at the time was that it was some of the new guys who looked at the situation, and were like, WTF?!?

Funnier still are MLBTR comments. Dudes shrugging off losing Berroa, saying that if the Mariners can't fix him, the Sox sure can't. When in fact, he was traded to the White Sox for a guy that the Sox "fixed". Gotta love the logic.

Yeah, that .377 BABIP is consistent with his minor league career. Some guys just hit. I don't have to pretend that every single player will slash .000/.000/.000 to protect myself from getting disappointed.

Any mortal man who dons a baseball glove is a huge question mark. Eloy, Yoan, Kopech were all top ten prospects in the game, right? I'm ready for anybody to step up and validate their own prospect buzz on the Sox. I think Fletcher looks like low ceiling, high floor. If he can OPS over .700, they've filled a hole. I'm here for it.

How does the acquisition of Joey Ortiz still have the Brewers on this list? They should have graduated to the "most awesome things in the universe" list, and aced that, too.

I'm excited because it's not a schlub who will be nudged out by August. I'm excited because we've picked up 6-12 interesting/exciting pitching prospects/projects in the last 8 months, and 0 (zero) OF prospects worthy of note. Between today's 2 OF acquisitions, we probably have our starting RF. If the dude puts up 2 WAR, it's a victory of untold magnitude. Of all our pitching prospects, I'd call Christian Mena middle tier. He's also interesting, but I think we can call starting pitching an area where we have multiple options at this point. I would have loved to see Marco Paddy have a resounding victory that validated his presence in the organization. Maybe Lenyn Sosa will be that validation. I would have loved to acquire Fletcher for Laz Rivera straight up. I do think we got a very interesting RF option today.

There's a 2nd time for everything.

I think Sosa has a clear shot at playing time if his bat comes alive. I also think Getz may have wanted to secure some OF dudes before looking for anybody giving Colas that come-hither look.

Elias could have nailed the coffin on that division shut with a Cease trade. Now we don't need any of their stinky ole' outfielders, and the true diamond of that organization, Joey Ortiz, is in Milwaukee, who I would imagine will be announcing a 10 year extension with him any day now. His double-play stare-down will be known as the Leer that Made Milwaukee Famous.

I'd bet a lot more happens before now and opening day, but Davis Martin will probably open the season on the 60 day IL

Pillar's a minor league deal. Lane Ramsey is the sole victim of this spending spree.

Are you talking about Adam Eaton's 6.8 fWAR in 2016? He still only OPSed .790. Or his last year in Arizona? They didn't like his defense, then. I'm now expecting 14.4 fWAR out of this Fletcher character in his first 3 years. I'm stoked.

The actual greatest thing that could happen would be for the Mariners to flip Santos to St. Louis, so Kenyan Middleton could watch him sleep in the bullpen every game.

I agree with you that Christian Mena was a very interesting prospect. I could certainly see him being a strong #3. Fletcher looks like a MLB ready hitter. If this guy can OPS you 750, and with the defense he plays, he's Adam Eaton. I don't see the problem. He's not a masher. He may only last 3-4 years before he starts breaking down. But you now have a real option in RF.

I think Madrigal's top 5 in MLB WAR for that 1st round. He's certainly logged more bWAR than the 3 guys chosen before him.

Maybe they're waiting for Elias to finish sitting shiva for Joey Ortiz. He's probably locked himself in a room, playing Roy Orbison songs and drawing hearts around the head of a DL Hall 8 x 10.

I would have loved for the Sox to have launched him at Getz's press conference. They didn't. I don't think it's because Getz believes that Grifol is the way, the truth and the light. I think Jim Margalus said it sure is possible the White Sox burn through all of these scrap heap pitchers by Memorial day. Then Getz takes his mulligan, and fires Grifol. Maybe Katz. No, I don't believe that "clubhouse culture" is the single most important aspect of all team building. There was a lot of chaos around last year's team, and I think a lot of it has been cleared out. But it's something these guys have to say. I don't see these additions as great because they're all fine, upstanding gentlemen. But the fact they're not raping tweens, starting an on field fight once a month, or have ladies giving interviews about how abusive they are - is a positive. It's certainly not a negative.

I really like both trades. Santos had a short track record, and Mena, while exciting to look forward, hopefully, I saw him as a project. Nastrini was always going to be first up. I'm still hoping for a waiver claim of Canaan Smith-Njigba, and now they have some OF prospect depth.

Fletcher put up 0.7 bWAR in 102 PAs. He is not replacement level.

Any. They had 4 positions to fill. C, 2B, SS and RF. Say they signed Gary Sanchez, Kolten Wong, Amed Rosario and Adam Duvall. That's $40+ million. If they signed Frankie Montas and Luis Silverio on "show-me" contracts, that's $30 million for the two. Would you be going nuts over that team? Are you ordering a season-ticket plan to watch that team that most probably won't perform much better than the Stassi, Lopez, DeJong, Pillar, Flexen, Soroka 2024 White Sox? I think we're all expecting at least Nastrini, Sosa and Colas to move in on DeJong's, Flexen's, Lopez's and Pillar's playing time by August. Maybe even Montgomery, Ramos and Popeye, too.

I think there's a lot going on that is outside of "Chris Getz building a roster". 1) Reinsdorf isn't paying 2 managers. 2) Stadium deal has any team spending on hold. 3) Possible Baltimore-type sale has any new long-term commitments on hold. I believe it's come from on high that Grifol is the manager coming into the year. Maybe he's made any kind of impression on JR that he needs a full shot. So Getz is giving Grifol what he wanted: "leaders who can catch the ball". When they're 40-68 at the tdl, Getz fires him, installs the bench coach, and starts promoting Sosa, Colas, Ramos, Monty, etc. into full time rolls.

Yes, but they have to start somewhere. I think a big generator of chaos was the KW/Hahn dynamic. It seems you're implying that the guys who weren't idiots were the problem. Guys catching the ball has pretty much been identified as the main problem. And Getz has filled holes with glove guys. The fact that they're not beating up their spouses, roiding, sex trafficking, a physical threat to their own teammates, or otherwise causing distractions is a positive, not a negative.