Chicago White Sox

It’s very hard to say how to proceed forward without knowing the budget. That being said, our needs are painfully obvious. Replace Tony with a competent manager Insert a new, modern day hitting coach Get all the 1B/DH types out of the OF Add a LH hitting OF to pair with Colas Acquire another quality SP (#3 type) Don’t get me wrong, I’d love adding a LH bat at 2B as well, but between Romy, Sosa, & Popeye it’s hard to imagine us investing heavily there. The biggest single decision that needs to be made is Abreu vs. Vaughn. I really struggle with the concept of losing a guy who plays everyday and provides 139 wRC+ type production and somehow being better. That being said, the fact he will be 36 next year and will probably want $15M+ should force our hand here (although likely won’t with Jerry in charge). His exit finally allows for Vaughn at 1B and Eloy at DH where they both belong. With that settled, we really only need two moves. To me, Nimmo is the guy we should be targeting for the OF. He doesn’t have a great arm and probably isn’t the best fit for RF long-term, but he can play there until Colas is ready. Once Oscar is called up in May, Nimmo shifts over to LF and Pollock moves to a 4th OF role. All that being said, I fully expect the Sox to go cheaper here. Conforto, Gallo, Joc, or Bellinger (who I expect will get non-tendered) all seem right up our alley and will be considerably less expensive. As for adding a SP, no idea what we do here, but we desperately need to add at this spot and it can’t be a VV type. I also think bringing back Cueto would be a mistake at his age. Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of sure-fire #3 SPs in this year’s free agent class. A lot of the guys who could theoretically make sense have legit question marks. A savvy GM would evaluate a group that includes Clevinger, Thor, Manaea, & Eovaldi and pick the one who will put up 4+ wins next years. That’s not Rick Hahn, who is more likely going to bet that Cueto or Quintana will repeat out of nowhere performances in their mid to late 30’s. That brings me to my last point which is that none of this really matters with Rick Hahn leading the charge. His past twelve months is some of the worst GMing I have ever seen. I can appreciate he got saddled with La Russa, who probably had more influence over roster decisions than many are willing to acknowledge. That being said, he is still the architect of this s%*#-show and has ignored the same handful of issues for years (lack of pitching depth, little LH hitting, playing guys out of position, etc). And even if you can’t fully blame him for signing obvious Tony guys like Leury & Kelly, he’s the guy negotiating the contracts and those are two of the worst deals I have ever seen at a conceptual level. If I could only have one move this off-season, it would be hiring someone like Mike Chernoff as President of Baseball Ops and let him install a brand new front office. Rick has proven time & time again that he can’t scout and lacks the vision to build a quality top-to-bottom organization. It’s officially time to get rid of this clown so we can start dominating the weakest division in all of sports.

Hire Mike Chernoff as President of Baseball Ops. Let him hire a GM and manager.

Glad this was Hahn’s only deadline move. Imagine how much more damage he could have done trying to save this sinking ship.

Please don’t challenge

Just a Menechino designed right there

Brutal as f*** right there. Need AJ to deliver here.

The answer to this question is 100% depended on payroll. If we can at least maintain our payroll, then there is some hope if we’re willing to be bold. If we have to cut payroll, then I think we’re in big trouble.

f*** this team

No way…not after this season.

Yup, that’s the argument.

What is with this need to blame one thing. Yes, the defense sucks at multiple spots, but the offense is also pretty bad and we lack pitching depth. We need to do much more than just shore up the defense if that’s what you’re suggesting.

No, because I want to bring in another quality starting pitcher in case Lucas continues to pitch like a #4 guy. But even this version of Lucas is worth a 1/$8M deal. I don’t think you realize what bad SPs who can eat innings get in free agency. VV got $4M guaranteed and has never been good.

Is above average the goal when we’re trying to win championships? What are you even arguing man?

What in the f*** was that??!

Lucas not worth $10M? Lol…what a bad post.

Yeah, who could have saw the guy 50 pounds overweight with bad knees and the guy who threw 84 total innings over the past four seasons possibly getting hurt. Please find better excuses than this Rick.

That’s who I wanted as well, but alas we needed a bunch of pricey relievers and UT guys instead.

And I wouldn’t surprised in the slightest with this front office, but I’d be shocked if that actually works out well for us.

And this is why Rick Hahn sucks as a GM. Use current year results as the basis for future performance. Guys will get older, guys will get hurt, guys will have bad seasons come out of nowhere. If we enter next year with Martin as our #5 starter and god knows who as our #6 starter then SP will certainly be an issue.

There are multiple issues affecting this team. SP may have not been THE issue, but let’s not pretend we’re loaded with pitching depth. Imagine if Johnny Cueto wasn’t magically available a week before spring training and didn’t pull off a miracle season. We’d be fucking toast weeks ago bro. Stop building rosters that need everything to go right to win. If a $200M payroll isn’t enough address all major needs and to build a high probability winner in this s%*# division then blow things up and start from scratch. No more fucking excuses.

I’m not suggesting something insane, but we need another quality SP. If they don’t want to add that because of bad money, then I hope Jerry is prepared to leave this world without another championship because there won’t be another Johnny Cueto waiting in the wings to save our season when a starter goes down.

And there it is

This is the season right here. Let’s see what AJ is made of.

We need to stop fucking around and finally get serious. We also need to start expecting the older guys to regress some. Can’t bank on Lynn maintaining the status quo or Lucas returning to form. That means adding a legit starter to replace Cueto and using Martin as depth. Pitching wise we shouldn’t need anything but a single SP. Try and make it an impact one unless we want more 2nd place finishes behind a team with a payroll +$100M lower than ours.

You want to go into next year with a rotation of Cease, Lynn, Giolito, Kopech, & Martin? Who is the #6 starter under such an arrangement?