Good Guys

Teams value their prospects now more than ever. This is bad news for the Sox. It may take many years of drafting in the top 10 for the White Sox to get back to winning 80 or 90 games.

I think much of the success of the 2023 White Sox will depend on Grifol. Without Abreu and now Liam, the clubhouse will be looking for leadership. I think Grifol could make a major impact.

As of right now they are projected to be 13th in payroll. So close, but still inaccurate. Saying they are in the top half of baseball in payroll in their prime contention years would be accurate. In terms of attendance, maybe if the owner didn't hire his drunken friends to coach the team it would be better?

With limited second base free agent options available, I think Andrus would be one of the better options to start the season. He can cover short if an injury were to occur and he carried the Sox offense for a stretch last season. The only free agent option I would prefer at second over Andrus would be Profar. Just because he is younger with possibly more upside and can also cover in right.

There are still a few decent free agent options like Profar or Andrus. Also, a trade could happen. The Padres are shopping Kim.

McCutchen and Tapia are also still available I believe.

This guy sounds almost too perfect! A big bat combined with questionable defense. Probably more of a 1B/DH type than a left fielder. If he was a right-handed hitter this would be a done deal.

I would like to see them to add Michael Wacha. He was effective in the AL East last year when healthy. You can never have enough starting pitching IMO.

Is this why they signed Clevinger?

If the front office could pull it off. I think something like this would be an ideal off-season all things considered. https://www-southsidesox-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.southsidesox.com/platform/amp/2022/11/21/23459755/luke-smailes-chicago-white-sox-offseason-plan?amp_gsa=1&amp_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#amp_tf=From %1%24s&aoh=16692201039406&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.southsidesox.com%2F2022%2F11%2F21%2F23459755%2Fluke-smailes-chicago-white-sox-offseason-plan

What would a Bellinger trade cost? Liam Hendriks? At least it would be a buy low move and he could play CF. Other free agents that seem interesting are Pederson, Profar, and Drury.

Alright, let's go get the Judge.

How many seasons did the Sox wait on Rodon? And when he finally starts to put it together they won't resign him. Not even a qualifying offer. But they give Kimbrel $16 million. When healthy, Rodon was their best pitcher last year and maybe their best player. We'll see where is this year come playoff time? But knowing the Sox he'll probably pitch like this all year. I know it's easy to second guess the front office but I found these moves particularly frustrating. Sorry for the rant.

Sorry, tried to delete the comment but couldn't. It was in response to a previous post that asked when the last time a chubby guy played second base.

Mike Moustakas?

Probably a stupid question, but why didn't the Sox plan on using Lopez as a spot starter here instead of Lambert?

Not a popular opinion but I think the best option might be to go with Leury Garcia at second and see what's available at the trade deadline. The realistic free agent options available right now don't seem much better and I would hate to find out what the White Sox would give up to get McNeil.

I'm pretty sure you could find something close to this on Cubs message boards after the trade deadline.

He's saving his right arm for game 1 against the Giants.

It seemed like retaliation to me and pretty bush league if it was. It's one thing to throw at a guy on the first pitch. It's entirely different to throw at someone with an 0-2 count that's protecting the plate. The Tigers claimed that they were pitching inside and Abreu was standing on the plate. Watch the replay. Abreu was no where near the plate. Sounds like a poor excuse to cover up the truth. Teams rarely own up to throwing at a guy regardless if it was on purpose or not.

For Madrigal and Heuer.

True, but the Sox also paid Walmart prices instead of Macy's.

I can repost the old thread if you want. It was not from that long ago. I said that signing Madbum would be like signing the second coming of James Shields. That offended people. They were upset that the Dbacks got madbum on the cheap. Hahn should have offered 100 million to get the deal done.

A lot of posters on this board wanted Madbum if we didn't land Wheeler. I'm glad Hahn didn't do that. That being said I agree with Bauer. Especially on a short term deal regardless of the price. But I'm not as sold on Stroman or Q.

I wanted starting pitching more than anyone last offseason and that's because we needed it. Starting pitching wins in the postseason. End of story. But what good options are out there other than Bauer? I'm not sold on Stroman. Offer Bauer 40 for 1 year or 70 for 2?