WestEddy

Smith wasn't a castaway. I'm confused. Are you now claiming that identifying Shane Smith was a scouting failure? That's just dumb.

Can you define this scouting term "didn't think enough of them"? It feels like you want to say something else, but you know this phrasing will get more of a reaction.

Besides my face hurting from laughing at the supreme effort to turn a scouting and coaching victory into a negative, yeah, I'm fine.

So now, an All-Star assignment is a full-proof method of judging talent? LOL.

That's not right. Guys like Paez and Alberto were in organizations who probably figured they could be snuck past the Rule 5 because they were still in A-ball. So calling them "not good enough" is silly. Both were ranked prospects. I mean, twisting one's self into a pretzel to make arguments about why the team you root for sucks is reason enough to be embarrassed.

Brewers trying to get their mojo back by copying the team who's copying them.

The OP started with that. Yeah, it's sad that the Sox got in between, where all the starters flamed out at the same time, and there was literally nobody in the upper levels to step in. Sosa, Baldwin and Cannon really just got thrown to the dogs. Ramos. Ellard. Schultz and Monty were too far away to even dream on. Reminds me of starting pitching in the late 70s. Guys like Chris Knapp, Ross Baumgarten, Richard Wortham. Steve Trout was in there, Francisco Barrios. Right before Brit Burns, Dotson, Hoyt all started bubbling to the surface. That's what Shane Smith, Davis Martin, Sean Burke and Cannon feel like. Maybe Smith hangs in there with the coming deluge of elite pitching.

But then how embarrassing is it that the Twins' 41st best player was taken by the Tigers and started in CF and was 4th best on the team in bWAR? But while Tiger fans are running away and hiding for the shame, the Brewers just signed him to a major league contract. How embarrassing is it that the Brewers are guaranteeing a 26-man spot to a guy who was only another team's 41st best player, and then he wasn't even good enough for the team who picked him to keep him? Maybe the moral is that any sports fans who give a s%*# about what other people should be embarrassed about...should be embarrassed.

And there are people who don't realize just how embarrassing that is. It's like dumpster diving behind a restaurant that got shut down by the board of health, and coming away with a bloody, moldy rag for dinner.

You're supposed to feel deeply ashamed because the All-Star selection from a team that just lost 121 games wasn't one of the best players in the game with first round pedigree and home developed. I generally feel sad for people who feel the need to castigate others for not feeling properly embarrassed about nebulous things.

All-Star selections are weird. Nobody on the Sox really deserved to be selected. The vets were hum-drum, younger guys like Sosa and Vargas didn't particularly stick out as good enough, but each team gets a player on the team. Smith looked great for a couple of stretches. He also came from a very good pitching organization who had a true roster crunch. Good scouting, good coaching on picking him up and keeping him maintained. I don't find that embarrassing. Maybe I'm just built different.

That's some Olympic-level spin Simpsons Bill Clinton GIFfrom Simpsons GIFs

...which would put them under $90M for the season. Getz started out throwing cold water on expectations, then gradually ramped up to where we're talking about a couple middling guys and a couple bounce back candidates. It's also been reported that Getz only really expects any additions to come from free agency, not trades.

It's been explained pretty thoroughly that Colson went to Arizona as a mental reboot, and to work 1 on 1 with Fuller on his swing. Here's a SouthSideShowdown post that references multiple Merkin reports at the time, none of which mention any lingering back problems. The Chicago White Sox are pulling struggling top 5 prospect Colson Montgomery from game action

But the message has been moving steadily in a certain direction. At first, Getz stated they would lean heavily on the prospects who made it to the majors developing, along with the guys like B. Monty and Antonacci getting promoted, along with a few veteran acquisitions to fill in the holes. Then they switched to talking about being aggressive with their targets and not being afraid to add on years if that's what it took to get the guys they wanted. Now we're hearing talk about guys like Fairbanks. They're telling you what they want to do, and that's what to watch for. I actually think an off-season of O'Hearn, Fairbanks or May, another SP and maybe Bleday, if they dealt Robert - would be a productive off-season for where the team is right now.

They're just conjugations of the same verb, Alexander Albertar yo Alexander Alberto nosotros Alexander Albertamos tu Alexander Albertus usted Alexander Alberta ustedes Alexander Albertan

It puzzled me too. I just figured they either just weren't enamored with his arsenal, or he wasn't progressing as they wanted. Just because you don't have a team full of Mariano Riveras doesn't mean you have to fill your roster with middling dudes. I'd imagine they see Alberto and Paez as dudes who could explode and be stars. Pallette just wasn't doing that for them.

Maton, Palacios, Amaya, Dalbec and Jankowski all played in the first couple of months. Then they promoted 4 prospects who are part of their core, right now. That's how it's supposed to happen with a team in their position. Play scrubs until the actual prospects displace them, which is what happened. Mead, Elko and Robertson were all prospects given a shot in the 2nd half, which is what you want them to be doing. I'm not sure what the problem is. They didn't expose Pallette to the Rule 5 because of Travis Jankowski. They exposed Pallette because he didn't force the issue to get on their 40-man. The end.

Yeah, those are the kind of players who step in and start for a couple weeks when you starter goes down to injury. Braden Shewmake is still on the Yankees' 40-man. I guess they suck, too.

Cowles is younger and has options. Capra and Amaya are out of options. Derek Hill can play CF for stretches. Mead has top 40 prospect pedigree. I'm not happy Pallette's gone, but the Sox worked with him for 3 seasons and didn't like him enough to protect. Maybe they turn out to be wrong. But it's a non-argument to point at other players and say they could be cut to make room for him. If he can't force the issue, that's on him.

He didn't earn the chance.

No you don't. You see 5 or 6 guys you're not excited by and who play positions that Pallette doesn't. Sure, let's cut Ben Cowles and Tanner Murray, because who needs to carry minor league backup infielders during the off-season? Can't we just pick up guys like Jacob Amaya or Vinnie Capra off the waiver wire and plug them in? That always works so well. Derek Hill? Yeah, he sucks. Just toss Tim Elko an outfielder's mitt, and he'll be a 5-WAR player, right? Or maybe you're looking at guys who actually pitched against major league hitters, and didn't completely suck chode like Tyler Gilbert or Brandon Eisert? No, they're not 2nd rounders, but they can get outs in the bigs. Peyton Pallette isn't better than those guys.

And Emerson isn't that far away from being consensus best talent.

I think so. If Cholowsky wants full slot or has a stumble. Josh talks about how he seemed to slump when facing better pitching last year.

And Pallette was some of the fat they felt could be trimmed.