hogan873

Maybe this is finally the thing that gets changes to happen. Doubtful, but who knows. The brawl Saturday night, followed by this, is giving the Sox plenty of unwanted national attention. Wouldn't you think that there's a point where JR, as cheap as he is, finally says enough is enough? Clean house and try to build a team with a better culture. Now, how long until we see the announcement that SoxFest is cancelled again?

I still want to see Robert, Cease, TA do well. Cease and TA more to increase their value for potential off season trades. Since Toussaint is most likely part of the 2024 rotation, I'd like to see him do well. Otherwise, I want to see the best prospects continue to improve and give us a glimmer of hope for the future. As far as other teams, I've always sort of liked the Rays. Their old school Devil Rays gear is awesome. I'll follow the Marlins a bit now and keep an eye on Burger. I hope he does well there. My son and I are going to the Brewers game tomorrow, when they are playing the Pirates. I like both teams; the Brewers because they're a pretty good team, and the Pirates because I grew up a Pirates fan. And most of all, I'm rooting for damn football season to start to distract me from this embarrassment of a season.

Hahn made a comment around the trade deadline about (I'm paraphrasing) "hearing from those in charge" after the season. Definitely sounded like he's at least not sure of his future with the team.

The hot takes are flowing like a waterfall. Not just around Burger, but also Giolito, Lynn, Lopez, etc. White Sox Twitter (or White Sox X, I guess now) is virtually impossible to read. Burger had a nice game and had some great post game comments. I'm glad he's happy there, and I hope he tears the cover off the ball forever. But we hate the White Sox organization so much that we look at one outing after a player is traded and attribute their success to the fact that they don't play for the Sox anymore. Realistically, Jake will probably have very similar offensive numbers in Miami as he did here. If he's happier, that's great. Good for him and for the Marlins. Look at Giolito. He had a decent first outing (very 2023 Gio-like) and a horrible second outing. Lynn had a very 2023 Lance-like outing. They will probably both perform similarly to how they did in Chicago this year. A change of scenery can do some good, but it won't change who a player is performance-wise that much. The White Sox fucked up the rebuild so badly, and we're right to want big changes. Maybe some changes will occur after this year, maybe not. But most of us will be back. It's okay to love the team and the players and hate the organization. But, man, we can't look at one game after a player is traded and say, "See! I knew he sucked because he played for the White Sox. We got boned in that trade."

More than anything, I feel bad for Liam. He has been pitching with a partial tear for quite a while, so TJS is not that surprising. Maybe the cancer, recovery, and quick return to the mound pushed the injury to where he needed surgery. No one, except Liam, knew if he was ready to return when he did. We don't know if he pushed to pitch when he did or of the Sox pushed him. I expect is was more the former. Regardless, Liam is a one of a kind person, and I am very happy he played for my favorite team. Chances are he threw his last pitch as a Sox. However, maybe the Sox bring him back in '25. Who knows. As far '24, the smart business decision is to decline the option and pay out the $15M over 10 years. But, Liam is a special person, and I could see the Sox just paying him the $15M next year.

More than likely, Burger will be a perennial 25+ HR guy with a low average, a high K rate, and not much ability in the field. He's more suited to be a DH, and unlike other players (Eloy), accepts that role and does it pretty well. Do Sox fans remember how much they hated Dunn (the player)? Burger is Dunn, except he won't hit as many home runs, but he's a very likeable guy. I mean, easily one of the most likeable guys in baseball. Unfortunately for him and for us as fans, he had the highest trade value of the surplus of power-hitting 1B/DH types. And no team was going to take Moncada off our hands with the money he's owed, and the fact that he sucks as a hitter anymore. I wish Jake well, and I'll always be a fan. But the Sox now have a potentially really good pitcher that can help this team for quite a while.

I give the trades a solid B. First of all, however, it sucks that these trades had to made at all. But, since the team woefully underperformed, it is what it is. The farm system became dramatically better over the past week. And some of the guys added can be up with the big league club as soon as 2024. Lee will most likely be up this year and will supplant Grandal or Zavala, and will probably be the #1 catcher in 2024. Unlike the last rebuild, we shouldn't have to wait long to see what we actually got with these trades. So, the farm system will be pretty highly rated (top 10-15?) for a season, maybe two. There really wasn't a dud of a trade in all the action. The Middleton trade was pretty meh in comparison to the others, but they still got a guy who could be helpful down the road. I hate to say this, but I think the Burger trade was possibly the best. I love Jake Burger, and he's such a cool story. But Jake did one thing well - hit home runs. Okay, he did two things well - hit home runs and be a super nice guy. Unfortunately, he was one part of a surplus this team has: power-hitting 1B/DH. And he had the most value in a trade, as evidenced by the nabbing of the Marlins' #4 prospect. Eloy, Vaughn, Sheets, or Moncada weren't going to get that type of return. I'm both disappointed and not disappointed that Cease wasn't traded. I do think the Sox did the right thing sticking to their guns and demanding a big return. Baltimore did not send much to the Cardinals, which leads me to believe their offer for Cease was lacking. If the Sox have any real opportunity to sign Cease to an extension, I would feel even better about keeping him. But we know this team's track record, especially with Boras clients. It will be paramount for the Sox to do something significant in the off season to build off what they did over the past week if they are truly serious about contending in 2024. I'm skeptical, but for now I'll keep that slimmest of slim hopes that this FO will do the right thing eventually.

Marlins #4 prospect. Nice.

Probably.

Looks like Lee could be back in early August. Rehab stint, then up with the Sox?

JR must be beside himself with pride. Hahn has shed a s%*#-ton of payroll.

This trade happened so fast we didn't have time to start a rumor thread.

Probably still better than Seby.

Yeah, they could probably go ahead do that now. Just fly him straight to Chicago.

He's the Astros' #5 prospect, but their system sucks. Is this a prelude to a Yaz trade?

Nastrini is probably in the top 5 in the Sox system?

Not a bad return especially if no money was sent. When is Trayce due to return from the IL?

There's probably a delay because Hahn hung up before they discussed a return. KW: Who's coming back? Hahn: What? KW: From LA. Who are they sending? Hahn: You mean a driver for Lance and Joe? KW: Hahn: Should I drive them to the airport?

If this trade goes down, the rotation will be sparse. I think Madison Bumgarner is still out of work. ?

I know it's tough (okay, maybe impossible) to ignore why the Sox are in this position, but if there were a team we didn't know much about that traded a guy like Giolito and a guy like Lopez for what they got in return, we'd be impressed. It just really sucks that this is how our "window of competitiveness" ends. Plenty of blame to go around. Players, manager, coaches, front office, owner. It's a perfect storm of shittiness, and we had a front row seat to it.

Surprised to wake up and see the news. Sad to see Gio go, but we knew it was coming. Putting aside how little faith we have in this organization, this seems like a good trade. Quero gets the Sox something they desperately need in a good catching prospect. Bush could contribute as soon as next year. Netting a top 100 prospect (a catching one at that) for Giolito, while shedding ReyLo's salary, is a nice deal. Time will tell how nice, though. I find it interesting how quickly the Angels pivoted from possibly selling to definitely buying. I hope it works out for Gio and he makes it to the playoffs.

Benintendi LF Remillard 2B Arenado 3B Robert CF Burger DH Vaughn 1B Colas RF Andrus SS Zavala C TA and Grandal traded. Sheets is also traded along with a pitcher. Arenado, upon being traded to the Sox and playing the August 1 game, announces his retirement and quits baseball altogether.

I only watched the first round, but Luis was like a movie villain that dispatches a main character in the first 10 minutes of the film. The crowd and announcers (and most people watching at home) were just loving Rutschman's performance, praising him, getting teary eyed with his dad pitching to him. Then Luis comes in and destroys him and 28 baseballs. The perfunctory hug afterwards was classic.

Man, I remember when this thread started and I still believed. How naive I was. Now 90 losses seems optimistic. If they sell, which they should, 95-100 losses is likely. Oddly, the team will probably be more fun to watch afterwards. Right now it's torture.

Players I've seen enough of: - Tim Anderson - Elvis Andrus - Seby Zavala - Clint Frazier - Gavin Sheets (over used, not necessarily his fault) Just bring up Colas and let him play RF. Give Remillard every chance at 2B. I heard Carlos Perez was up with the team; let him take Zavala's role. I think we're stuck with either TA or Andrus at SS, unfortunately.