WestEddy

They couldn't have gone into '24 with Lee as the 26-man back-up. He looked seriously exposed last year. Not Adrian Nieto exposed, but exposed, nonetheless.

Okay, so now he'll be Nicky Three-Hundred.

Maybe tomorrow.

Since they seem to want to go with all these ex-White Sox guys, why not bring in Adam Engel and Kevan Smith, too.

Probably names that came up in different conversations.

Cole out 1-2 months. https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/gerrit-cole-injury-update-yankees-ace-could-miss-up-to-two-months-with-elbow-issue-per-report/

This game may become known to history as the Shaw/Toussaint game. I still believe that 16-1 whoopings in the Sox's favor are the new normal until they prove different.

Understood. Point being, dude backs into guess-timating a package that has one of their top 3 pitching prospects, one of their top OF prospects, their 2nd round RHP pick from 2022, and potential utility infielder filler.

I don't suggest anybody listen to this. I did while working late last night. It's interesting listening to idiot fanbois from other teams gush over Dylan Cease. One dope thinks Cease won a Cy Young, and the main guy literally had to look up the word "droves" to understand the volume of White Sox scouts watching the Rangers that day. But I think it's a respectful take, not the "I'd maybe trade Anthony Rizzo straight up, but nothing more" level of disdain. They kind of gush over Jack Leiter, and compare him to Thorpe (#5), Snelling (#3) and Lesko (#4). The guy who believes Cease won a Cy Young compares Brock Porter to the level of prospect that Graham Pauly (#11) or Eguy Rosario (#16) are. They come up with a "similar" package of one of (thorpe, snelling, lesko), one of (pauly, rosario), Sam Zavala (#7) and maybe Adam Mazur (#10). The numbers are MLB's Padres' system rankings. I don't endorse. Just thought it was interesting to get bro-dude Padre-fan take on what they think Cease would cost them. They get into talking about a possible trade after 11:00.

All this reporting is moments in time. They're reporting on rumors. So maybe Baltimore is on the phone with Getz for a couple of days, and they're discussing names. To say a trade is possible isn't wrong. Then it falls apart. Nobody lied. I agree with the guys complaining about the eyeballs. But when multiple reporters are bringing names and teams, that's a lot of smoke. It could all go caput.

I was wondering when they were going to find a replacement for Scholtens.

Maybe the 2024 draft class looks to be thick on college position players.

The Frank Thomas saga is a reason why Ozzie should never be considered for the Sox dugout again. KW and Ozzie's kid were airing Frank's private issues just to spit on him as he left the franchise. As I said up front, many big leaguers stay on a year too long, then get angry at management when management has to pull the plug. KW and team Ozzie should have just shut up and let everything die down. Everything they did to Fisk was so off the charts. But JR and Einhorn are the guys who couldn't be happy in 83, they had to call Harry Caray names because they were so punk-assed.

I don't think announcing their signings quickly will solve the White Sox's lack of success in the DR. You seem to be angry the news of signings is coming out slowly. I don't believe I've been boasting about our success in the DR, so I'm not sure where that's coming from. You want to argue about something else than what I'm addressing. There's a big age scandal right now, so the Sox, being skittish in the international market, have probably decided to check and double check all the moves they had ready to go.

I hereby declare that tonight's game is what the White Sox 2024 season will look like. If they trade Dylan Cease in the spring, they might just end up trading to get him back by the deadline.

Your beef. The whole age scandal has probably gummed up the signings for everyone. They might only trot them out once they're verified.

I'm not sure what the beef is. I think James Fox said they'd be signing 4-5 DRs. This is one. $280k is a pretty substantial investment on one kid considering the pool they start with. Maybe you can call the front office. Seriously. Sometimes they'll put you through to someone who will shoot the sh*t with you about these guys for a bit. I once called to ask a question about a roster move, and Dan Evans got on the phone and talked about the trade that brought Foulke, Howry and 4 others.

Maybe they just stage the big prospects, and don't bother buying a cap and jersey for the kid who signs for $600.

I don't feel insulted. I know what's going on, and don't need an old baseball man to tell me what I already know.

I also remember KW losing it in the press over private issues with Jim Parque, or chiding Carlos Castillo for his weight, again, through the press. KW was kind of a hard-ass who liked to enforce his alpha nature.

A lot of guys moan when they stay on a year too long, and they've got to be asked to leave, like Karko. They really f*cked with Fisk by cutting him on the road, and making him find his own way back to Chicago. KW always had lot to say about specific players, be it scolding guys like Kelly Wunch in the press for whatever issues, telling Durham he wasn't giving up switch hitting through the press, or being angry that Aaron Myette used to put on lots of eye black so it would run down his face as he pitched to freak out hitters.

Not so funny now, is it?

Reading through trades of that era is so depressing. Jason Frasor, Zach Stewart, Myles Jaye (the late) Daniel Webb. Nestor Molina, Jhan Mariñez. It's almost like we had zero ability to scout baseball players to find a guy whose talent wasn't being maximized. Or we could, but had no idea how to develop them. To think of the time I spent holding up Baseball America's scouting report on Simon Castro with one hand...