CaliSoxFanViaSWside

From what I just gleened from Baseball Ref it looks like both Claudell and Garr are both still living. Both weren't bad for the Sox from my memory which might rival yours for accuracy but Washington did have a lot talent but his effort was always questioned. Garr had his best years with the Braves ( career .306 BA with maybe a batting title in there) and Washington with the A's.

Ralph Garr was the Road Runner.

I'm glad you brought up Hackenberg. When discussing the catching I was tempted to bring him into the conversation but since no one else did I figured no one took him to be a consequential option especially those pining for the top Dodger's catching prospect in a Cease trade. I've made it known that I'm not a big fan of getting more catching or DH 1st baseman type prospects who offer no baserunning or defenseful value. Prospect rankings mean very little if you are viewed as nothing but a bat and organizations do their best to hide defensive inefficiency with buzz words and phrases like " much improved." It's why scouting is so important and not just cursory looks but scouts out on the road constantly in their territory attending as many games as possible getting multiple looks and submitting reports on as many players as possible and then updating those reports on a regular basis.

I think Elias realizes their path to remain in contention for a long time lies in the prospects coming into the lineup as the other guys become too expensive for them, much in the same Tampa Bay has done it. Sooner or later, if they want to go that route , Mullins, Santander and others have to be traded for their pitching needs or a combination of the too expensive to keep with a prospect in order to get a pitcher who could step in to the top of the rotation. If the Sox were willing to take ,let's say Santander, it would be easier to make a deal with the O's. If Getz treats the Cease trade as an opportunity to " multiply" the talent and compete asap not just necessarily get only prospects there is some wiggle room for a trade with them. As fans we are only looking at prospects because we view it as a rebuild . But don't be too shocked if Getz retools with someone with less than full prospect status as long as he multiplies the depth of talent. Maybe he ends up getting 8 or 9 controllable years of 1 MLB starting position player and 1 high end pitching prospect rather than perhaps 18-24 years of control of 2 decent prospects and 1 or 2 lesser prospects.

It was nice to see Jake Burger stop by the CHGO White Sox podcast as a surprise drop in guest at the broadcast from the meetings today ! He was all class.

I don't THINK so either. It's a decent way to built controllable depth with a substantial amount of upside if it can be tapped. But I can also see it happening because well, nothing is happening atm.

The rest of it was great too !

Beggers can't be choosers. Postive fWAr wasn't exactly in abundance among Sox position players last year.

To which I would answer , " Have you seen the OFers in our farm system or our possible Opening Day RFer ? " That's an upgrade.

Good analogy. He needs to hit the right ? while others are waving more targets at him. Only 1 shot to get it right.

I didn't even mention if he has any injury . Then the floor gets lower. He just doesn't have the track record yet to know exactly what he is. He's still on the high side of value but that can change frightfully quick. The Sox had a whole team of guys like that. Cease and Robert are the only ones left.

I don't count switch hitters . Has to be purely LH.

Far be it for me to laugh at anyone . Not my style unless you berate me in any way 1st. Then we have a problem. You talk baseball I talk baseball back. I don't have tunnel vision about LH guys it's just with the Sox it seems they forget that there are LH players in baseball. The game has built in advantages for LHers and their history of having good LH position players is the worst in MLB history as far as actuality like , hitting a baseball. They've had their share of switch hitters but trust me on the lefty thing. The worst which kind of coincided with being the worst long standing franchise in baseball history when the Yankees were being the best with their ball park extremely conducive to taking advantage of LH power hitters.

Because it's his latest season, losing velocity is more common than gaining it back and you can always get worse. So you would have to be damn sure 2023 is his floor and he stays off the floor for 2 years.

Didn't Lance come from The Cardinals ?

I'm not valuing Kelenic higher but he's been through the grinder and showed some progress. I haven't bothered to check into Grissom except to know he's RH. I think any team should always show a preference for LH players especially the Sox who it seems hardly ever have good LH position players. Worst in baseball history. Can anyone actually name a Sox LH minor league OFer who became a regular ( non platoon) OFer with the Sox. How far do we have to go back ? Baines ?

Maybe someone might, like ,you know, continue to play in the minors. After all the Sox would be trading for prospects/suspects not instant ready to play MLBers. May the best man win. It's called depth or trade pieces.

Why not ? Is there a rule that says you can't have 2 LH youngish OFs who might turn into MLB players ?

If it's not apparent yet to any Sox fan allow me to spell it out. Salvador Perez would be a luxury item for this team now akin to the Cubs pursuit of Ohtani. Salvador Perez is the White Sox Ohtani. Let that sink in.

It's looking to me like the failed rebuild will be looked at as The Golden Age of White Sox baseball. After all they made the playoffs 2 years in a row and at one point they were talking about Machado and Harper. Now we get to hear about Martin Maldonado, DeJong, Nicky Lopez and the rest of the Braves garbage. It's no wonder people are hyperventilating about a Cease trade. That trade, whenever it happens, will be the pinnacle of excitement for Sox fans this off season. Reinsdorf has run his teams into the ground thus jeopardizing their TV contract which may be the main reason for what we should all be expecting and that is a lower payroll than all but a few imagined. We've seen how many teams are cutting back due to what's happening with the Bally situation. The only big players now seem to be teams on solid footing with their TV deals. Welcome to a deeper level of fan hell than we were imagining. This is one ugly situation that Reinsdorf has created.

Beat me to it. I figured Kelenic was available the last couple of years. Wanted him last year once it became apparent he'd be a good buy low guy. Then he broke out a bit in 2023

Braves just got Kelenic to trade for Cease

Ha I don't mean sucking in any way other than in the MLB in the last couple of years. NO D no go bro !

High quality defense, remote chance to hit 25 HR's and figure something out that's been missing for 3+ years. Illinois product. Basically just look for any Illinois native, see if they have sucked lately but can still play defense and run a little and those are our next Getz gets.

Assets are players who can run ,hit and field. Other organizations know this. I think the Sox tried having a bunch of DH' s already. Predictably it didn't end well.