WestEddy

At the end of the day on 7/20, the Sox were 41-57. From July 21 through the end of the year, they played 20-44 ball.

Between 2 teams, Nicky Lopez put up 1.8 bWAR over 93 games, which is a better than average major leaguer. Fedde did pitch every turn in the rotation, last season. He's a #3-4 innings eater. I understand your point, and yes, the Cubs are closer to contention than the White Sox are. I'm not even comparing the two.

I got lazy and didn't read through this whole topic to see, but when it comes to stadium talk, I'll always check fieldofschemes.com, first. https://www.fieldofschemes.com/2024/01/19/20840/friday-roundup-white-vetoes-royals-chiefs-tax-vote-everybody-loses-mind-over-white-sox-vaporstadium/ From the article linked:

Erick Fedde.

Jerry Dibsinski

Chris Sale

Dude, I root for a baseball team. Being illogically negative is the flip side of the same coin as being illogically positive.

Sorry for the sass. I understand that the White Sox under KW/Hahn was a chaotic mess. Maybe it still is.

Pick a lane, grandpa. Maybe it's just an organization that hires people and when they feel blocked, they leave. Everything doesn't have to be come insane conspiracy theory.

So the Sox system is getting pilfered? i understand the narrative. When nobody gets taken, we suck and all our guys suck. When other organizations start pilfering people from us, it's because we suck and we can't hang onto our good people.

He's still on the Sox site. Maybe he has an Oedipal hatred for his father and his ways. Wants to sleep with a stats-oriented approach.

Jim at SoxMachine has a breakdown of some hiring trends, and stuff... https://soxmachine.com/2024/01/white-sox-2024-player-development-staff/

I tried looking up some bios. The MLB Sox site still seems to have some old names, and no bios for front office personnel. I was interested in the head of HR.

Old friend alert. Manny Bañuelos signs with CPBL's Rakuten Monkeys.

I told Sports Guy this a couple of days ago. He said O's fans would be "happy" to give up better packages for Luzardo. Then he went back to the same "[pick a player] won't be in that trade". Dude's tedious.

Old friend alert. Ryan Burr to the Phillies.

I don't remember where I read it in the last few days, but the starting pitcher trade market is pretty much Bieber, Cease, and Luzardo or Cabrera from Miami. That's it. So after Snell and Monty, if somebody wants to plug in 33 starts from a Cy Young ceiling starter, Cease is the best situation. Getz doesn't have to move him. If Cease comes out the gate dominant, you get 20 starts from him, and you have your dream package in July. I was on the "trade him now" bandwagon, and now I just don't care. He's pitching for his next contract, now. When he goes to a contender at the deadline, then he gets to write his postseason story.

Go get a RF and win the division, already.

So Cease is going to Streets and San, we get The 78 and cash, right?

I'm not really asking you to speak for any fans. Yes, Valdez does look like a more consistent, very good pitcher. And Luzardo has flashes of dominance when he's actually on the mound. That's why I mentioned the two of them, because they would seem like more consistently dominant pitchers than Cease. I don't care if you'd trade for Valdez or Luzardo. That wasn't my point. My point was that they would not only cost more, but the pain of the price tag would be proportional. If Valdez is worth more because he seems more consistently dominant, why would anybody think Houston would be "cool", and more reasonable, especially considering the obvious problem with Houston trading Valdez to the Orioles I mentioned and you ignored? To use your own logic, if there was a better deal out there for a reasonably equal or better pitcher to Cease, wouldn't Baltimore have taken it?

I see what you did there. You made a statement, but put it in the mouths of "many", so that you can both argue any inane point to make the other person wrong, and then claim you didn't say that. We're all adults, here, so you don't really need to explain how other people think to us. However, my belief is that if Houston were to offer their staff ace to a potential ALCS rival, that cost would hurt, to the point that "many" would not actually be "happy". They would scream about a Jackson Holliday + 3/4 ask, and Framber Valdez would immediately become a bum, an "older" 2-year rental who choked in the 2021 & 2023 playoffs, and "many" would wonder if he was just a "good" pitcher in the season who turns into a pumpkin come playoff time. So, no, I don't "get" that, but it seems like you're saying you don't either.

There was an MLBTR headline about Diamond Sports Group announcing a restructuring deal that doesn't mention the Rangers. So I'm guessing they probably would rather go with Monty, but are still in limbo.

When these dudes mention that the O's could just pivot to Jesus Luzardo, or Framber Valdez, do they not understand that they would be paying even more than what Getz is probably asking for Cease?