GreenSox

I'd have been more pissed off than I already was had Samardzija said after the trade "Yea, I really hope Chris Bassitt and Marcus Semien do well in Oakland; that's important to me." Perhaps Merkin could not ask incompetent and irrelevant questions. It's a roundabout way of asking "Hey, Garret, say you still like the Whitesox. Please." Have some pride. This whole situation is a win-win. Boston gets an ace. Crochet got his long term deal. The Sox, 1 injury away from another Burdi situation, end up with 3 young highly-regraded POSITION prospects.

And Quero should be right behind him. And anyone else who has hit in Charlotte.

3 1-run losses in a row. It gets old. And Robert - what is that?

I kind of feel bad for not feeling bad about this. This Sox are beyond due to get lucky with one of these AAAA players. I don't know about this guy though. The one I thought was interesting was the guy the As waived and went to the Dodgers.

Hahn inherited an 85 win team and, in only 1 season, led that team to his comfort zone of 63 wins. He had a productive offseason with KW bagging Abreu and Hahn making a savvy deal ( one of the 4 he made in his long career) for Eaton. The team improved 10 games to 73 wins in 2014 with some young players showing promise. But then Hahn put on the clown hat and clowns shoes, pulled out his magic 8-ball and made series of moves over the next 18 months that set this organization back 5 years (or is it 10+ and counting?). And then in mid-season 2016, barely a month after the last of his outrageous moves, he announces that it's time to rebuild. What a Putz. And for all of his decade+ tenure, he had a competitive budget. I can't say that Getz is a good GM at this time. But he isn't Hahn.

And 2 of those guys need to really pop for that Crochet deal to be a big plus. Crochet only had 2 years of control, but man he's a top 5 pitcher. On the other hand, Santos for the #68 pick by itself seems like a good deal (if one values draft picks).

Getz is nowhere near Hahn-level bad.

He didn't hire himself, so I just evaluate what he's done as GM. I can understand the ire. I just choose not to participate in it, if for no other reason than I spent 10 years howling about Hahn (who effed things up a lot more than Getz has) and I'm tired of howling;

Tragic May he rest in peace.

Max Fried got more than that and Crochet's a better pitcher than Fried. But, Crochet has never pitched an unencumbered full-season; Crochet may have been able to get more by waiting but there is risk to doing that and even last year, Crochet was wanting to sign an extension.

On the other hand, the only trade where the jury is not out is Mena for Fletcher. That one is bad and looked bad at the time; and in that one, we're the ones that gave up the more uncertain prospect. Otherwise, the Santos trade is still live and TBD; as are the Cease and Crochet trades. And as questionable as the Fedde trade looked (and still looks) it's at worst a neutral, because we wouldn't have had Fedde to trade, but for Getz. And he also deserves some of the credit for getting Crochet out of the bullpen. The last guy sputtered at the start but did some good work in his year 2; and then in year 3, it all went to hell and he kept digging a bigger hole. Hopefully, this won't repeat.

When you trade for prospects, you will have a high miss rate. Yea, a few of his trades look pretty sucky. Some look pretty good, though. Some are described as bad, but they really weren't (Santos, e.g.).. And, in contrast to the last guy, none have been devastating!. Meanwhile, he continues to bring knowledgeable people into the org (also in contrast to the last guy). He's trying to improve.

On paper the lineup looks worse; and there's no Fedde or Crochet in the rotation. Still, I think they will hit better (although still likely #30) and pitch better than last year. And until we have some interesting OF prospects (like Teel perhaps when he's not catching) I kind of like this "100% Defense" OF motif (at least when Bene DHs).

They will be bad; but the pitching might prevent them from being "very" bad. I predicted 63 because a)I thought the pitching would be average and b) I've seen worse rosters than the 2024 Sox win in the 50s. That roster winning in the 40s was a fluke, abetted by several players who did not want to be there and Pedro.

He was the third SS that they selected in that 2023 draft. They've had great drafts this century. 12-16 months from how, the Sox may be able to say the same, but on the pitching side.

Dodgers win again, with a Betts walk-off. Tigers roughed up Tanner Scott (great Dodger defense minimized damage). 0-2 Tigers are tough, and remain my pick to win the AL Central. They're going to be a problem.

If both Quero and Teal can hit, and it looks like they can, I would think that both need to be in the lineup when the Sox are ready to win. Moving off of C might depreciate some value, but it's still more value than sitting, especially as hitting-starved as MLB is.

I certainly wouldn't trade for this guy; sure claim him, as he's more interesting than several on the 40 man. Well, we could trade Colas for him. Sox have first priority - there will be other interesting players available in the coming days/weeks. NO need to start trading now. As an aside, for how long do the Sox have the #1 waiver pick?

I would say that the Sox were historically bad due to the offense. As measured by OPS, the #29 team was closer to the #13 team than the #30 team (Sox) was to the #29 team. If measured by runs scored, the #29 team was closer to #16 than #30 to #29. The bullpen was bad, but was #29 (measured by ERA or WHIP), ahead of the Rockies. And the gap between #29 and #28, while wide, wasn't nearly as wide as the offensive gaps. Some marginal improvement in the offense should have a significant effect on the win total: Like if Sosa and Vargas could get OPS in, say, the mid .700s. Same with bullpen, although to a lesser extent.

Rushing high draft pick into the pen, Anderson, Moncada and Nicky...emulate the best!

The pitching should be pretty good this year. Guys like Burke and Martin aren't TOR, but they aren't 5th starters either...more mid-rotation guys with #2 potential. Leasure in the pen is interesting - they haven't hesitated to cut losses on failed prospects, yet he not only sticks on the 40, he sticks on the 26. The coaching staff looks much better. Venable is smart and is not whining about the clubhouse. Lot of smiles and energy from the players. Vargas and Sosa. And cutting bait on failed prospects is refreshing (once one gets over the angst of more waste on failed prospects). All tempered with the reality that the Angels may be worse than us. Or maybe my 63-99 prediction should be reversed.

One would have thought that Barfield would known about Fletcher; but in the end it is a minor deal. Wasn't DeLoach really the last piece in the Santos trade? We hoped for better, but the odds were that he was a AAA guy. People really liked the trade because of the draft choice....seems a bit disingenuous to hate it now. I didn't like the trade because I'm not a big fan of Shirley and the way the Sox draft (too much reaching, too much punting for my tastes) but I'm in the minority on that. Eder was a declining prospect when acquired; we've seen KW pull that handout sort of move before (when moving Jackson and Quentin, e.g.). it was almost like a FU to Hahn....and then JR said FU to both of them.

I'm surprised Anderson didn't make it. I always thought they liked him more than was warranted. His Spring was, however, something less than outstanding.

Should be able to fashion a little trade then, right?

Signing Vasil is certainly a bet on the come....he had a poor spring, statistically, and his minor league numbers have been up and down. I can't imagine that they expect him to be productive out of the box; Sox will have more dependable candidates down in Charlotte. The Sox must really like his "tools."