Chicago White Sox

Sherman wrote a column today on why the Dodgers could still be a fit for Crochet and even without an extension. His main point was the Dodgers are looking for a game changer for October since they are already a lock for the playoffs. And if they acquire Crochet, they can either work on an extension post trade or try to convince him that they can manage his workload (assuming as opener) and keep his arm healthy for a playoff run without one. I still think it’s a massive long shot, but I do agree they are the one team that would probably take on some risk in this type of trade. For the Sox, I don’t think you compromise your valuation all that much. I’d personally need De Paula, Freeland, Hope, plus a second tier arm to make a deal with them. And to me, that’s a no brainer trade for the Dodgers with the way they develop talent.

I’m hoping Guardians or Brewers as the landing spot. Both will value the extra year of control at $7.5M next year and have the positional prospects to make it happen.

One fascinating note is Paddy only has three players on this list. While the depth of the system is as strong as it’s been in a long time, it’s not sustainable if the LatAm pipeline is providing little to no talent. I know Jerry is a big problem there, but the series of misses in Cuba (Vera, Yogurt, Cespedes, likely Colas) and none of the larger non-Cuban not cracking the list (like Erick Hernandez for example) is highly concerning. Feels like a big change is needed there unless Jerry’s refusal to deal with 14 & 15 year olds is a non-negotiable.

I think it depends on what he can extract for Crochet, Robert, & Fedde. I truly believe you need five good to great positional prospects to come back from those guys to have any hope. I feel like the rotation should be in a pretty good spot by 2026 (health permitting) even with Crochet traded. And I’m confident we can quickly build a bullpen with the pitching depth we have amassed and a little bit of spending. But even with five positional additions (obviously not all of them will be hits), there is just so little to get excited about in the system. I just don’t get what we’re doing on the player development side though. When did this velocity issue first happen for Colson because he seemed to hit in AA and I feel like pure stuff is better in AA in AAA? How did Ramos have a great partial season in AA last year only to fall off a cliff? And Gonzalez at least had plus plate discipline in High A and now is just a bad all around hitter. I get that development isn’t linear and there can be big ups & downs over the course a season, but some of these drop-offs are shocking. I just wonder what we are actually doing to make these kids better.

Here is the updated list. Our top five selections in the draft made the list. Schultz, LHP (#8) Montgomery, SS (#34) Smith, LHP (#46) Thorpe, RHP (#51) Quero, CA (#90) Bush, LHP Iriarte, RHP Taylor, RHP Nastrini, RHP Ramos, 3B Eder, LHP Gonzalez, SS Bonemer, SS Baldwin, SS Zavala, OF Adams, RHP Batista, RHP Keener, RHP Wolkow, OF Larson, LHP Hernandez, CA Adler, RHP Hoopii-Tuionetoa, RHP Schweitzer, LHP Saucke, OF McLain, OF Luna, LHP McDougal, RHP Burrowes, SS Pallette, RHP

I hope you’re right, but it feels like there hasn’t been any movement on the SP front so that may take more time.

Who are these fans you speak of?

Seems like Crochet (if he’s willing to pitch in October), Kopech, & Pham would solve a lot of problems for you guys.

The title says it all. We have one of the worst offenses in modern baseball history and little to no pieces that will be part of the next good one outside of possibly Robert (if not traded), Baldwin, & Lee. As such, Getz will almost have to build an entire lineup from scratch which will be no easy feat. And to make matters that much harder, a ton of our top positional prospects have struggled this year in Colson (85 wRC+ in AAA), Ramos (66 wRC+ in AAA), & Gonzalez (77 wRC+ in AA). The three more advanced OF prospects in our system in Colas (97 wRC+), Fletcher (89 wRC+), & DeLoach (93 wRC+) all look more like AAAA guys. And there’s not a ton at the young levels to get excited about with Zavala hitting below .200 (despite an elite BB rate) and Burrowes mostly a disaster. Wolkow is obviously highly intriguing but has a long ways to go with the K rate before he enters the long-term plan and Ronny Hernandez has been a pleasant surprise this year but is a 19 year old catcher in A ball. As I‘ve stated before, I do have confidence in Bannister and the pitching side of things, but the outlook for the offense is beyond a bit terrifying. What should the plan be there? How do we go about building something capable and in a quick enough fashion to match up with the timeline of the pitching? And have we ever seen a GM have to accomplish this large of a task in recent memory, especially with positional prospects harder than ever to pry from other organizations?

Five real reasons for bumping this thread: Team is historically bad and well beyond Getz’s expectations Despite the awful results, the entire coaching staff still intact Right now, the Mena & Santos trades look highly questionable Have made no gains in terms of positional player development Incredible seller’s market and we may come out empty handed

It just sucks because had they started him in Charlotte for a month (which would have been completely readable) they would be able to sell him with three years of control this offseason. I’m just annoyed he didn’t handle this quietly and had his agency leak this to the press. Probably wouldn’t have changed the outcome, but this comes off real fucking selfish in my mind even if he has every right to be worried about misuse and his health in general.

I have and right now he looks like a poor man’s Dominic Fletcher (and I don’t mean that in a good way). Yes, I’m aware of the defense value he brings, but there is no hope for this franchise until we start adding multiple everyday guys who can hit 20+ HRs while sporting average or better OBP’s. And since Fedde might be our only big chip we move, it needs to be for a guy who can help this offense in the next year or two. My bigger worry is that Getz will simply acquire more pitching and claim they will flip from their surplus at a later date to fix the offense. And that would the final nail in the coffin for me in terms of having any hope for Getz ever being able to build an offense.

It’s starting to feel like the only thing that could save the franchise. Unfortunately Jerry would never nut up for that and would prefer a lineup of David Eckstein’s.

Did you literally come up with this plan and forget about our best prospect and one of the three or four best pitching prospects in all of baseball?

I still can’t believe Crochet went to the media with this s%*# after what the org has done for this year. Just what an absolute fucking disaster. Every start from here on out will be watched the greatest angst until if/when he’s traded.

I just can’t get behind this as our only big trade. We desperately need offense wherever we can get it from and that’s not Scott. I think there are better options than St. Louis for Fedde.

100%. He will be a star the moment he has something to play for. I get that pisses some people off, but it’s hard to stay motived when you play for Pedro Grifol and will likely be competing for the all time worst record.

Well luckily for us we none of our prospects are hitting in Charlotte so we can trust the stats ?

Bump

I’m going to assume he meant Maldonado given how much he’s stanned for him all year

???

We need to find eight or nine hitters. That will be impossible to do without getting a couple of high end prospects for Crochet.

And what’s wild is due to injuries, we almost immediately had OF needs and they basically went out and blocked these guys. Now, based on their AAA results this year, they probably haven’t warranted a shot, but that again points to poor evaluations on these guys.

He gave up a top 10 org prospect for Fletcher and a potentially very valuable, controllable reliever for DeLoach (and others). The evaluations on both guys look highly suspect at the moment and it’s just wild that both are rotting in AAA as we speak. That being said, I think he did fairly well in the Cease trade and the Fedde signing was obviously a HR. But generally speaking, we have wasted a ton of playing time on positional guys who have little to no “flip” upside. I will never understand the point of trading for 26 & 25 year old prospects if you weren’t going to give them actual opportunities to become long-term contributors.

He was heavily involved in the hiring of Pedro per Merkin