WestEddy

Podcast: White Sox Big Data Problem

I agree with and understand all of this. Brian Bannister just gave an interview where he talks about this on the pitching side (and SoxMachine addresses in their podcast, today). Strikeouts cost money. So, if it's going to be problematic to keep and extend the K monsters, they have to establish and maintain a steady stream of a few guys a year on the pitching side, pitching away from contact, etc. On the hitting side, sure, you might get a guy like Colson Montgomery who get comfortable in a winning situation, and will give a hometown discount, or a hometown right of first refusal.

Closer to the end of arbitration means a player with 4-5+ years service time. If somebody has shown "little" after 5 years in the majors, why would they be signing them to extensions? The anti-Getz crowd goes through such great pains to craft each phrase of each sentence in as negative a light as possible that they no longer make sense. My take from the article is that they're not going to sign an extension before the 2nd year starts to get them cheap, because they may question how that affected the motivation of their last class of "stars". To me, it's non-information. "We're going to wait to make sure they're major leaguers before extending them." Well, duh.

It was a weak draft. If they coaxed a live arm into taking 2nd round money (a la Payton Pallette and Grant Taylor) in order to get 1st round value in the 2nd round, that's a good strategy.

WTF is wrong with you? You're comparing an incomplete trade rumor leak to a thorough article documenting changes juxtaposed with a very transparent acknowledgement of serious problems and shortcomings in the organization. You've even admitted that Hayes didn't have all the information when he "went to press" by clicking send on Twitter. All I've ever said about the Hayes half rumor is that you don't know the whole story to be beating everybody over the head with it multiple times a day in multiple strings. You made a meme out of WE COULDA HAD KEASCHULL!!!! You did that all by yourself. If you don't understand the difference, haranguing me isn't going to do anything for you.

Good thing you thought of all of that now so you don't waste 5 good years that could be used to worry about this stuff. LOL.

That's good. I wish Flexen well. I went to the home finale against the Angels. Flexen got a standing O when he was pulled in the 7th.

This is a Rosenthal article that excoriates JR for his micro-managing, and talks about what Getz had modernized up til September of 24. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5773947/2024/09/19/white-sox-failure-worst-season-history/ This article on SportsMockery also gathers some of the reporting from September/24 White Sox Launch Front Office Overhaul As Getz Looks to Correct Years of Missteps

I said "journalists" when I should have specifically said "bloggers" and "podcasters". But as Jimmy has shown, journalists have reported on changes the org is making. It's insulting to be asked for other articles verifying the information being reported on in the first article I posted.

It seems that multiple people took it this way. Criticize and question Getz all you want. Let me know when you're going to start. I'll give you heart emojis to show my support.

The Sox were dead in the water with international scouting until Paddy came along. Paddy did get them jump started again, got them right into the Cuban pro market, but then he stalled. If you start a business, then hire a manager to manage a small group of people, then find that manager wasn't a good hire, do you shut down the business, or try to hire the right person?

Here's the paragraph from Fegan's article that talks about the Trajekt machine:

And this is also why I resort to snark. It gets tiresome when dudes have to dig and argue whether the White Sox actually got a Trajekt machine, or not. Seriously, why would a reporter make this up? You digging in and arguing the minutiae of anything positive about the White Sox tells me that you're somewhat less than totally objective, yourself.

No, the national publications don't usually beat down the doors to report on what local guys have reported on. The Athletic doesn't even have a devoted Sox reporter. James Fegan is a good reporter. Are you implying he's making up lies to make the White Sox look better? Ian is with FutureSox:

Wait a minute. When I said yesterday that all of Fletcher, DeLoach, Colas, Julks and Cal Mitchell are replacement level, you barreled in and declared that they're not even that. If Fletcher is below replacement level, and has shown in a full season's worth of PAs that he's "hot garbage" and a "bum", why are you advocating for starting him another year? The reason you would sign a veteran platoon to start over 5 sub-replacement level AAAA OFs (your assessment) is that you don't have the OF depth at the upper levels to cover positions for a period long enough that would expose most AAAA OFs. Or maybe to not set the loss record for 2 years in a row. Again, if the loss record doesn't matter, then stop mentioning it as reasons why Chris Getz sucks. Because you admit it doesn't matter. And seriously, it was so Rick Hahn to hang onto a player, and give him unlimited playing time in the hope that he would eventually run into a couple hits. Weird that you haven't internalized the sunk cost lessons of JB Shuck, or Adam Engel, Charlie Tilson, Ryan Cordell or Leury. Dominic Fletcher should now have to play his way back into major league playing time.

Snark is all I have left, as any discussion of these things wind their way down the path of "we don't know that", "history", or "41-121!!!". We reference a specific article, where Getz is exceedingly transparent about how backwards the organization was, and what has been implemented to solve the inefficiencies and gaps in communication. The evidence of this actually happening is 2 minor league teams competing in their leagues' championships. The evidence in changes to pitching development is the transformation of Garrett Crochet into an ace-level starter, and the buzz around the league over Sox pitching prospects, like Cannon, and Sean Burke, but also later round picks Davis Martin and Mason Adams. Change doesn't magically happen at the last out of a World Series victory. It's happening right now. Acknowledge it or don't.

Yes. It's being reported on by multiple journalists who cover the White Sox. Too bad you can't access it. Can you provide tangible evidence that refutes all of the reporting on those advancements?

? He just did. Read the article.

Jerold Rosario was 2 years younger than the average age for that level.

SoxMachine article: White Sox seek a more perfect union

Lee and Ramos were pretty much starting by May. The last third of the season had Lee, Baldwin, Sosa, Vargas, Amaya, and Fletcher starting. Burke, Martin and Cannon were in the rotation with starts from Bush and Nastrini. 2024 Chicago White Sox Lineups and Defense | Baseball-Reference.com

Tim Hill. Soroka also got a big raise from last year, but he wasn't a free agent signing last year.

If Robert gets traded, I'd bet Taylor stays in his stated role, backup CF, short side platoon for Benintendi, and maybe Fletcher/DeLoach/Colas starts CF against righties. Or something. Maybe it's more of a 1/2 and 1/2 sharing of CF with one of the 3 LHHs. They have no high-minors outfield "depth" outside of 4-5 AAAA guys, at this point. If I started crushing on Dominic Fletcher's ceiling, you and 3-4 others would tackle me and tell me exactly how bad he is. You know what you have. He's replacement level.

Colas, Fletcher, Julks and DeLoach are replacement level outfielders at this point. Cal Mitchell's in that group, too. I'm not expecting guys like Veras, Tatum, Burke, Hogan/Logan to blow past them, either. When they trade Robert, Tauchman, Slater, .... Taylor(?), there will be 2 months of PAs for whomever has the hottest bat. Then, maybe Zavala, Saucke and B. Monty become dots on the horizon this time next year.

But really, if Robert rakes in 3 weeks of spring training, how much better are offers going to be after a boffo 1st half? I really believe that anybody trading for him is trading for this season. The injury concerns will always be baked into his value. So, while there's 3 years of "control", it comes with 2 winters of front offices holding their breath.