South Side Hit Men

White Sox Quero is not at this game based on the OP lineup card. Milwaukee Quero is starting assuming the game isn’t cancelled.

If Tony did one thing right as a manager, it was hiring Jerry Narron to fill out the daily lineup card for the White Sox in 2021 and 2022.

Don Letts stated many Texans have not seen a live armadillo in person. Is this a true statement, and have you seen a live armadillo in nature or walking down the street during your time in Texas?

They are still a half a billion short on financing before cost overruns, and don’t have renderings for the planned hotel, in part because that stadium won’t likely fit on the tiny 9 acre stadium parcel (35 acres overall). In comparison, Comiskey Park II covers twelve acres plus 70 more acres in parking lots, cause Jerry. The A’s originally sought a 49 acre site on Tropicana across I-15 was shot down by the Nevada Legislature because it is owned by anti-union Station Casinos. Gotta call this The Casbah if this ever gets built. The only band that matters….

Behold the Spherical Armadillo. https://www.fieldofschemes.com/2024/03/06/21098/behold-the-spherical-armadillo-as-vegas-dream-stadium-has-ginormous-windows-scoreboard-funding-gap/ I can't believe the 29 other clowns are letting this continue. Baseball hasn't given me this much joy than the Field of Dreams Game and Giolito's Game 1 win in Oakland.

I don't see any expansion franchises even awarded until the end of Manfred's term, if ever. First you need two credibly financed groups who can cover the $2B expansion fee plus several hundred million more to credibly fund a franchise. With the remaining markets out there, it's like picking over produce at Butera. Second, you need to find two sucker municipalities with a half billion to a billion plus minimum to piss away. Apparently the Mormons pulled the trigger on some tax scheme, but good luck entering a market a third smaller than Milwaukee with no baseball history trying to sell about four times of the ticket inventory of the Jazz. Third, the RSN scam has run it's course, with a majority of the teams already hat in hand and any open markets likely grabbing an over the air TV contract for far less revenue, necessitating even more revenue sharing. MLB is better contracting to 24-26 teams to gain a much higher split of the annual revenue without handing a half billion plus to the Fishers and Nittings and Dolans and other billionaire MLB welfare recipients, while still keeping a few municipalities around who might be able to support stadium welfare with a decent fan base.

I cut the cord after the final episode.

Not sure who is on the call, but had to mute the brief Eloy HR call on Twitter. So glad to listen to Len and DJ beyond the games Len fills in on TV.

Recovering from TJS. It's possible. Several early injuries helps his chances stick with the team. Think they are bringing up six SPs, unless Crochet starts in AAA. Leasure can also start in AAA, with Berroa, Banks, Horn, Peralta and Speas having ML options.

Touki has no options left, bad timing to be brutal in Spring Training. Hopefully he can clear waivers and possibly work things out in Charlotte. This bullpen would work on OD: RHP P. Berroa (24) J. Chavez (40) D. Garcia (25) J. Leasure (25) D. Leone (32) LHP T. Banks (32) T. Hill (34) S. Peralta (26) AAA LHP B. Horn (26) RHP A. Speas (26) IL RHP J. Brebbia (34) LHP S. Drohan (25) RHP M. Foster (29) RHP C. Knebel (32) RHP J. Lambert (29)

Oh yeah, this game is tied once again. Thank you Eloy!!!

He cut his ERA by half from 108.00 to 54.00 today. LOLz

Touki is Toast this Spring Training.

Speaking of horrid defense, Dodgers really stinking it up out there. Hope they are shut out for another decade with Ohtani from a World Series title.

I'm OK if either Stassi or Maldonado are gone by Memorial Day, with Lee gaining MLB experience plus any additional coaching/mentoring.

I live in Chicago, but for those out of town the direction is East and 50,000 Watts. After sunset, they can expand their coverage beyond the Chicago area, but not sure if it goes far beyond Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan. Day Coverage Map: https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WMVP&service=AM&h=D Night Coverage Map: https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WMVP&service=AM&h=N People can also stream games online, at least through their website and a phone (not sure if they confirm location). https://www.espn.com/radio/play/_/s/wmvp-am

It's also being broadcast on WMVP AM 1000 for those of us without firesticks or cable TV bills.

This would be big, even if they aren't competing in a few years since you want to have a thoughtful manager when several of the top prospects reach the majors. Replace him mid to end of season unless he makes a drastic turnaround, which I peg as a slim possibility at best. They can have a decent core with payroll flexibility in 2025, which is why I think it's at least possible they can compete for the Division, but not much beyond it without unlikely significant FA signings. Dylan Cease would add around $10M-11M or so if he is retained, Nicky Lopez around $5M, both in their final arbitration seasons. Potential 2025 Roster before FAs, Draft and Trade Acquisitions $78M including 2025 buyouts: $1.5M Catchers K. Lee & E. Quero $7.5M Infield A. Vaughn, L. Sosa, B. Ramos, C. Montgomery, J. Rodriguez $34.3M Outfield A. Benintendi, L. Robert Jr., O. Colas, D. Fletcher, Z. DeLoach $16.7M Starting Pitchers E. Fedde, M. Kopech, G. Crochet, N. Nastrini, J. Eder, D. Martin $6.5M Relief Pitchers P. Berroa, J. Cousin, S. Drohan, M. Foster, D. Garcia, B. Horn, J. Leasure, T. Toussaint $11.5M Buyouts J. Brebbia, L. Hendricks (+ $1.5M for 8 more years on "July 1, aka "Liam Hendricks Day"), E. Jimenez (+$3.0M in 2026), Y. Moncada. M. Stassi

I wouldn’t single out Colas for these comments, as he was one of many last year who didn’t seem to put in the work or be happy. He and a couple of other rookies were called out publicly by Pedro, whereas he didn’t do the same for his veterans doing the same or worse. Would love to see this rotation (prior to IL stints) to see what they have in Colas, Fletcher and Sosa to see who is useful in 2025 and beyond. 150 Robert (140 CF, 10 DH) 150 Vaughn (145 1B, 5 DH) 145 Moncada (140 3B, 5 DH) 142 Jimenez (142 DH) 130 Benintendi (130 LF) 126 Sosa (52 2B, 52 SS, 22 3B) 116 Fletcher (62 RF, 32 LF, 22 CF) 107 Colas (90 RF, 17 1B) 100 DeJong (100 SS) 100 Lopez (100 2B) 90 Stassi (90 C) 72 Maldonado (72 C) 30 Mendick (10 2B, 10 SS, 10 RF) Don’t want to see Moustakas, Phillips, Pillar, Remillard or Sheets beyond a unexpected long term / season ending injury.

There are many posters here with a much longer experience with these various sites, but I'll have to check out Sox on 35th. I never really followed prospects closely, but this is the first season I plan to dive in. I was too busy with life and work during prior rebuilds including the 2017-2019, though I went to a bunch of games in 2019 and really liked watching their younger players. Baseball Prospectus and The Athletic were the two prior sites I paid for access, the former for Rotisserie Leagues I no longer play, the later for James Fegan's Sox coverage until they cut staff last year and I dropped it.

Awesome, I'll catch up on my reading today and tomorrow! Here is the comparison with Future Sox' Top 30 vs. the MLB rankings by Jim Callis. There are three Future Sox ranked not within the MLB Top 30 rankings. futuresox.net (James Fox author): https://www.futuresox.net/2024/03/05/futuresox-2024-preseas-wsox-t30-list/ MLB.com (Jim Callis author): https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/news/chicago-white-sox-top-30-prospects-list-2024-preseason?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage FutureSox Rankings: Bold = New FutureSox Ranked Prospect; Green Ranking Improvement vs. 2023; Red Rank Decline vs. 2023 MLB Notes (Rank, Level, ETA, Age) FutureSox Top 30 Same SS Colson Montgomery (2021 Draft R1) vs. #1 AA 2024 22 Same LHP Noah Schultz (2022 Draft R1) vs. #2 A 2026 20 +1 3B Bryan Ramos (2018 Cuban Signing) vs. #3 MLB 2024 21 -1 C Edgar Quero (2023 Trade Los Angeles Angels) vs. #4 AA 2025 20 +3 RHP Nick Nastrini (2023 Trade Los Angeles N. L.) vs. #6 AAA 2024 24 Same LHP Jake Eder (2023 Trade Miami) vs. #7 MLB 2025 25 -2 SS Jacob Gonzalez (2023 Draft R1) vs. #5 A 2026 21 +2 RHP Peyton Pallette (2022 Draft R2) vs. #9 AA 2026 22 +2 RHP Jonathan Cannon (2022 Draft R3) vs. #8 AA 2025 23 +2 RHP Grant Taylor (2023 Draft R2) vs. #10 ROK 2027 21 New OF Dominic Fletcher (2024 Trade Arizona) vs. #13 MLB 2024 26 +7 OF George Wolkow (2023 Draft R7) vs. #11 A 2027 18 -4 SS Jose Rodriguez (2018 Dominican Signing) vs. #14 MLB 2024 22 +8 RHP Tanner McDougal (2021 Draft R5) vs. #18 A 2026 20 Same RHP Seth Keener (2023 Draft R3) vs. #12 A 2026 22 -3 LHP Ky Bush (2023 Trade Los Angeles A. L.) vs. #17 AA 2025 24 -1 OF Jacob Burke (2023 Draft R11) vs. #30 A+ 2025 23 +2 OF Wilfred Veras (2019 Dominican Signing) vs. #25 AA 2025 21 +4 RHP Jordan Leasure (2023 Trade Los Angeles N. L.) vs. #15 AAA 2024 25 New OF Zach DeLoach (2024 Trade Seattle) vs. #29 MLB 2024 25 +3 SS Ryan Burrowes (2022 Panamanian Signing) vs. #21 A 2027 19 -8 OF Terrell Tatum (2021 Draft R16) vs. Not Ranked New RHP Prelander Berroa (2024 Trade Seattle) vs. #16 MLB 2024 23 New 2B Javier Mogollon (2023 Venezuelan Signing) vs. #22 ROK 2028 18 -7 RHP Sean Burke (2021 Draft R3) vs. #20 AAA 2025 24 New 3B Eduardo Herrera (2024 Venezuelan Signing) vs. #23 ROK 2029 17 -1 RHP Juan Carela (2023 Trade New York A. L.) vs. #26 A+ 2025 22 +2 RHP Mason Adams (2022 Draft R12) vs. #19 AA 2025 24 New RHP Mathias LaCombe (2023 Draft R12) vs. Not Ranked New RHP Aldrin Batista (2023 Trade Los Angeles N. L.) vs. Not Ranked Just missed within FutureSox Top 30 INF Brooks Baldwin (2022 Draft R12) #24 A+ 2025 23 LHP Shane Drohan (2023 Rule 5 Draft Boston) #27 MLB 2024 25 RHP Alex Speas (2023 Waiver Claim Texas) #28 MLB 2024 26

The Optimistic fWAR were my esitmates using current ZIPS, looking at recent success, putting a plausible substantial improvement for a few players over ZIPS. Here are the actual 80% fWAR projects, many of which exceed my optimistic estimates. And to reiterate, I don't believe a team is going to have most players outperform their projections, but there is a good case for several players if healthy to exceed current expectations. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2024-zips-projections-chicago-white-sox/ 80% fWAR Projections vs. My Optimistic Projections 80% fWAR = 47.3 vs. 39.7 SSHM Optimistic Projections 24.9 Starting Lineup 19.0 1.8 C Max Stassi (33) (2.9 in 2021) 1.5 2.8 1B Andrew Vaughn (26) (0.3 in 2023) 1.5 1.8 2B Nicky Lopez (29) (6.0 in 2021) 2.0 3.0 3B Yoan Moncada (29) (4.0 in 2021) 3.5 2.3 SS Paul DeJong (30) (1.3 in 2021) 1.3 2.6 LF Andrew Benintendi (29) (2.8 in 2022) 2.0 5.2 CF Luis Robert Junior (26) (5.0 in 2023) 4.0 2.7 RF Dominic Fletcher (26) (0.6 in 2023) 1.5 2.7 DH Eloy Jimenez (27) (1.7 in 2022) 1.7 6.1 Bench 3.0 1.1 C Korey Lee (25) (-0.3 in 2022) 0.5 1.2 1B/OF Oscar Colas (25) (-1.3 in 2023) 0.5 1.7 INF Lenyn Sosa (24) (-0.3 in 2022) 1.0 2.1 INF/OF Danny Mendick (30) (0.8 in 2022) 1.0 11.1 Starting Pitching 12.0 4.1 SP1 Dylan Cease (28) (4.5 in 2021) 4.0 2.1 SP2 Erick Fedde (31) (1.2 in 2021) 2.0 1.7 SP3 Michael Kopech (28) (1.7 in 2021) 2.0 1.7 SP4 Michael Soroka (26) (-0.4 in 2023) 2.0 1.5 SP5 Chris Flexen (29) (3.0 in 2021) 2.0 5.2 Relief Pitching 5.7 0.8 CL John Brebbia (34) (0.9 in 2022) 1.0 0.6 SU Jordan Leasure (25) (Rookie) 0.5 0.0 SU Tim Hill (34) (0.5 in 2022) 0.5 -- MI Prelander Berroa (24) (Rookie) 0.5 0.5 MI Deivi Garcia (25) (0.1 in 2021) 0.5 1.4 MI Shane Drohan (25) (Rookie) 0.7 0.9 Swing Touki Toussaint (28) (0.4 in 2021) 0.5 1.0 Swing Garrett Crochet (25) (1.4 in 2021) 1.5 A net 30.0 optimistic fWAR (vs. my 39.7) is likely a more realistic overall net ceiling in terms of outperformers vs. underperformers, plus poor roster decisions and overreliance on veterans like Moose, Maldonado and others who shouldn't be considered for this team, but there is still a somewhat reasonable chance at a substantial year over year improvement if a lot of things go right.

The Sox have several players with a much higher recent (2021-2023) fWAR seasons. Not all will hit or exceed these marks, but in a 80% year many can exceed their current ZIPS projections and get the team close to that 40 fWAR mark. Not likely, but could get close if several players go better than expected. If they are smart and play a younger bench to get them experience (2B/SS/RF rotates 4-5 games a week). Can also gain experience for solid role players, perhaps an unexpected starter for the next few years. 2024 ZIPS fWAR / Position Player (2024 Age) (Highest fWAR 2021-2023) - Optimistic 2024 fWAR 15.5 Starting Lineup 19.0 1.4 C Max Stassi (33) (2.9 in 2021) 1.5 1.5 1B Andrew Vaughn (26) (0.3 in 2023) 1.5 1.1 2B Nicky Lopez (29) (6.0 in 2021) 2.0 2.0 3B Yoan Moncada (29) (4.0 in 2021) 3.5 1.3 SS Paul DeJong (30) (1.3 in 2021) 1.3 1.6 LF Andrew Benintendi (29) (2.8 in 2022) 2.0 3.9 CF Luis Robert Junior (26) (5.0 in 2023) 4.0 1.0 RF Dominic Fletcher (26) (0.6 in 2023) 1.5 1.7 DH Eloy Jimenez (27) (1.7 in 2022) 1.7 2.5 Bench 3.0 0.3 C Korey Lee (25) (-0.3 in 2022) 0.5 0.2 1B/OF Oscar Colas (25) (-1.3 in 2023) 0.5 0.7 INF Lenyn Sosa (24) (-0.3 in 2022) 1.0 1.3 INF/OF Danny Mendick (30) (0.8 in 2022) 1.0 8.9 Starting Pitching 12.0 3.4 SP1 Dylan Cease (28) (4.5 in 2021) 4.0 1.4 SP2 Erick Fedde (31) (1.2 in 2021) 2.0 0.8 SP3 Michael Kopech (28) (1.7 in 2021) 2.0 1.0 SP4 Michael Soroka (26) (-0.4 in 2023) 2.0 1.3 SP5 Chris Flexen (29) (3.0 in 2021) 2.0 1.8 Relief Pitching 5.7 0.4 CL John Brebbia (34) (0.9 in 2022) 1.0 0.1 SU Jordan Leasure (25) (Rookie) 0.5 -0.3 SU Tim Hill (34) (0.5 in 2022) 0.5 0.3 MI Prelander Berroa (24) (Rookie) 0.5 0.0 MI Deivi Garcia (25) (0.1 in 2021) 0.5 0.7 MI Shane Drohan (25) (Rookie) 0.7 0.2 Swing Touki Toussaint (28) (0.4 in 2021) 0.5 0.4 Swing Garrett Crochet (25) (1.4 in 2021) 1.5 28.7 Totals 39.7

Will post a comparison after Future Sox posts their Top 15 later this week. Signed up for Patreon for both Future Sox and Sox Machine after creating an account this week. Have enjoyed the full analysis for each of the players and other content. Signed up for Sox Machine primarily to get James Fegan's coverage.