Balta1701

Except we know he's apparently dumb enough to think that Salvador Perez can be a key part of a strong 2024 White Sox team and worth acquiring.

He does have a second restraining order filed against him from his time in Cleveland that was only uncovered after the first one because the person in that incident didn't file charges.

I really have no problem with them getting rid of Roquan, other than Mack he's the one traded away. I'm counting Edmunds, Edwards, Ngakoue, Billings, Walker, and Cole as defensive free agents signed by the Bears this year. One of them is a backup sure, but that's over $30 million in 2023 cap space on new defensive additions. I've said before I'm not expecting perfection out of this team, or even an elite defense. They are the second worst scoring defense and would be the worst if not for literally 1 game played by the Broncos. They are the 6th worst defense in yards/game, 4th worst in passing yards/game. Their ongoing streak of 25+point games is easy to note. Are they getting sufficient production out of this spending?

This was the problem last offseason. They were already held together by duct tape and hope in 2022, they acted like a team that was 1 or 2 players away because to act otherwise was an admission of defeat. But, they weren't 1 or 2 players away, and the end result of that is a multi-year deal with Benintendi - not the worst thing ever, but a classic setback type move when you can't accept where your team is. "Can't accept where your team is" is also a succinct description of an owner declaring they need to "Win soon" and that they "owed it to the fans to not conduct a GM search".

I mean, literally this puts Vaughn and Sheets both as potential OF starters again, and I kinda agree with the idea that neither of them should ever, ever, ever start in the OF again.

And even if they were, is it a good idea? They are already close to their payroll limit. If they spent another $25 million a year on Swanson, where does that money come from? Last year they signed Benintendi and Clevinger and had to backload both of those deals already, they basically spent $25 million total the entire offseason by doing so. Would they have gone into this season with a $210 million payroll that is only a few million from the luxury tax, and would they have all of a sudden been well over .500 from signing Swanson?

They can just promote internally without conducting professional interviews. As long as the guy tells you he'll be good at the job and that there's nothing to fix, he's worth hiring, that's the rule we used for the GM.

Lets' imagine that he was willing to open up the checkbook - are you confident that, if he signed everyone other than Ohtani, that this is a playoff team? Bellinger (OF) Blake Snell (SP) Josh Hader (Bullpen) Aaron Nola (SP) Eduardo Rodriguez (SP) If I do that, I've probably spent the payroll basically up to the luxury tax, they're starting at about $100 million right now, each of those starters is probably getting over $20 million next year. That gives a rotation of Snell, Nola, Cease, Rodriguez, and Kopech. The bullpen adds Hader, but isn't particularly deep - you'd have Hader, Santos (may be out for the season), Bummer, Crochet, and then the mess of guys we saw this year. You'd probably want to sign 1 or 2 more RH setup men, and then maybe hope for luck from someone else in the system stepping up. The lineup is improved with Bellinger so your RF spot is actually filled, you still have a weak spot at 2b, you have a gaping hole at catcher so there's more money you need to spend (note that I just signed guys, I didn't trade for Perez yet, which is still more money). Aside from Bellinger's help, you still have a terrible problem with OBP, you still have tons of positions that are wimpy and where you're hoping guys stay healthy because there's zero depth. This might be a competitive team in the AL Central, but does this look like the best team in the AL to you? I've probably spent up to $250 million in payroll just while typing here, I'm well into the luxury tax, and I think this team would be in a fight for the weak Central division again, and if any team put it together they could be out of it again.

He's actually got something of a problem with trying to do this, because even if it's true, he took the job with the instruction that he was going to "Win soon" and he clearly wasn't willing to dispel the owner of that notion prior to agreeing to take the job. This is the part where if he was better prepared for the position, he'd absolutely know he can't have the owner thinking that or telling the press that because it's not reasonable, but he allowed it to happen.

Amed Rosario seems like a guy they could be interested in.

I can’t wait until this brilliant baseball GM gets to choose his own coach this offseason. Only an absolute idiot would have Pedro Grifol as his manager, no quality baseball person would have this guy coach for him in the first place, and this season made replacing him the easiest decision that any true baseball guy could ever make. I can’t wait to see who Getz uses as his coach next year, it has to be a massive upgrade over Grifol since Getz is a true baseball person.

If they’re bold, they can trade down from #2 to #3 and still get Harrison while adding an extra 2nd or something like that. Or they could actually draft both QBs and hope that one of them work out.

Yeah. When will they be firing these losers and hiring them?

Congrats. You got a 2 fWAR season out of him for $12 million. That’s, tolerable? Better than average for Rick Hahn? Not the worst Hahn free agent signing of last offseason?

My guess is they give up Quero or Schultz in that deal though.

Until proven otherwise I’m expecting them to massively overpay for Salvador Perez in a trade (hoping not to the point of Montgomery) sign 4 or 5 players to $10 million contracts, and declare that they think they’re competitive for the AL Central right now.

Let’s go specifically to his hitting attitudes, he makes it clear that he doesn’t want coaching, he doesn’t need those advanced scouting reports, he doesn’t want someone telling him he needs to be more patient at the plate. Hes up there to swing and he doesn’t need any help. That kind of attitude is ok with the White Sox, but do you think that would fly on a quality team? Would the Dodgers put up with that? And that strategy also is working now when he’s 25 &: still one of the quickest, most athletic guys on the field. Does it still work when he’s 28 and things have slowed down by a few microseconds on his response time? Or if he’s 27 and he has a sore hip or sore shoulder?

Giolito the union rep? Of course the front office thought their union representatives was a malcontent.

The obvious answer is “be honest”. Admit you’re in a tough spot and this will take time. Admit there are issues but say you are fixing them, and even tell the fans how. Give your fans some credit and respect them and they will tolerate any delay you have to do as long as it’s clear you’re trying.

There’s still a clear and obvious problem. This guy is the assistant GM in an organization without a president of baseball operations. Hes one step below where Rick Hahn was for a decade. He has multiple operations to oversee, dozens of employees, salary decisions, player decisions, draft decisions. He should be receiving hundreds of reports yearly on players, performance, new ideas for things to try, all sorts of other things. Those organizational philosophies that we want the White Sox to develop and practice at all levels? It’s his job to help develop and oversee the implementation of those and then find ways to evaluate their effectiveness. This is NOT a guy who should be personally working with pitchers. When he was first brought into a front office role, working directly with pitchers and bringing in new training techniques was his job. In a management role, his job is to find the people who have positive and helpful new ideas and hire or contract with them to work with his pitchers. To make good decisions at his level that empower the staff who are below him and give them the tools they need to succeed. These sound like the jobs of assistant pitching coaches and development staff. Or of physical trainers or digital coaches or guys who are software experts. Not of an assistant GM. He not only can’t possibly do his job well while working with pitchers personally, he shouldn’t even be trying. If he’s working with pitchers directly then he can’t possibly do his other job well: If he is trying to, then we are perfectly set for more of the same.

1. Is there a point to trading Cease after a second half with an ERA over 5? Is anyone giving up multiple top prospects for that? Even Kenny Williams didn’t pay that kind of price for struggling pitchers. At least have to wait until the deadline. 2. Robert being traded is still something I’d consider if I were the white sox GM, but I wouldn’t pay a fair price if I was an opposing GM. The opposing GM would be paying a premium talent price for 4 years of control, for a player with a substantial injury history, who also seems to be very difficult to coach - he’s relying solely on athletic ability and doesn’t want to learn more. The trade deadline problems still exist, only a handful of teams can afford him and for those who could it’s a very risky deal.

I do have to give these fans some props. The owner stood up their and said that because of he fans are demanding, he doesn’t need to listen to them or care about them. They’ve clearly responded “right back at ya”.

Plus, when he has surgery in April or May of 2024, they'll still think he can come back in 2025.