Chicago White Sox

I’m guessing it’s more about the materiality. The dude who got the lifetime ban bet $150k whereas Popeye bet $750 total.

You think the Sox traded him because they knew of the gambling issue?

The pitching depth is great, but there isn’t a lot of hitting talent and very few with star potential. I’m still very much optimistic on Montgomery, but if he’s just a 2 win player, we are in big trouble.

The Sox currently sit at -0.4 fWAR on the season. Chris Getz has built a team below replacement level. I honestly think Jeremy Haber’s laptop with some ChatGPT could have built a more competent roster.

I think these guys may be bad

Uh oh

The way they’ve handled him since calling him back up has been bizarre. Feels like they have completely lost confidence in him and don’t have room on the 40 man for a veteran 4th OF so will instead just let Dominic rot.

Do you still believe that Fletcher is a at minimum 2 win player?

Correct…he’s a below replacement player.

It’s wild how bad these lineups are. Even when we kicked off the rebuild it was leagues better than this. And yes, I know three of our best hitters are injured, but still, dudes picked off the scrap-heap are literally batting in the key spots of the lineup.

Let’s be clear here. The Dodgers are a world class organization and the Sox are not. Just because the Sox may be handling Crochet a certain way doesn’t mean it’s right. I personally think Crochet should be handled more similar to Schultz (not as conservative though), but I’m obviously no pitching expert. I just know muscles need be conditioned over time for massive changes in usage and pretending that isn’t case will lead to disastrous outcomes 9 times out of 10.

I’m sure you’re right, especially since he’s already at AA. I just don’t like calling him up next year (at least early) if he still needs to build up innings. This team ain’t competing in 2025 and he’s still young enough to spend another season in the minors. I obviously won’t be mad if I get to watch him pitch in the majors.

These are just really weird flexes. Again, if you’re going to continue to be condescending about this, show us some examples of such a ramp-up?

Schultz probably needs another year in the minors to ramp-up. And that’s ok because I think we’ll have seven or eight guys in competition for three or four spots. Might as well use 2025 to see what you have in those guys and call up Schultz when he’s able to contribute without significant limitations.

Sale threw a 136 innings in 2010 across college, the minors, and the majors. His arm had previously been conditioned for a 60 inning jump. I don’t think anyone felt an innings limit was needed there. Crochet meanwhile has never experienced anything close to that level of workload and it’s all but certain his arm will start wearing out at some point. There is a reason Noah Schultz is being once a week and for four innings a start. Going 0 to 60 when it comes to arm conditioning is risky and there is zero to push to unreasonable levels when we are possibly the worst team in modern baseball history.

Chris Getz - 2024 Players Acquisition Tracker Pitchers: Erick Fedde: 3.88 FIP | 1.1 fWAR Mike Soroka: 6.28 FIP | -0.5 fWAR Chris Flexen: 4.83 FIP | 0.4 fWAR Mike Clevinger: 6.19 FIP | -0.1 fWAR Brad Keller: 6.55 FIP | -0.3 fWAR Jared Shuster: 3.73 FIP | 0.2 fWAR Jake Woodford: 2.67 FIP | 0.1 fWAR Steven Wilson: 6.24 FIP | -0.3 fWAR John Brebbia: 4.93 FIP | -0.1 fWAR Tim Hill: 3.48 FIP | 0.2 fWAR Bryan Shaw: 7.38 FIP | -0.2 fWAR Dominic Leone: 6.72 FIP | -0.4 fWAR Justin Anderson: 3.13 FIP | 0.1 fWAR Grand Total = 0.2 fWAR Hitters: Martin Maldonado: -25 wRC+ | -1.5 fWAR Nickly Lopez: 72 wRC+ | 0.2 fWAR Paul DeJong: 94 wRC+ | 0.7 fWAR Braden Shewmake: -12 wRC+ | -0.7 fWAR Tommy Pham: 121 wRC+ | 0.5 fWAR Dominic Fletcher: 46 wRC+ | -0.4 fWAR Zach DeLoach: -33 wRC+ | -0.1 fWAR Corey Julks: 171 wRC+ | 0.4 fWAR Kevin Pillar: 86 wRC+ | 0.2 fWAR Robbie Grossman: 80 wRC+ | -0.4 fWAR Rafael Ortega: 20 wRC+ | 0.2 fWAR Grand Total = -0.9 fWAR Getz has now made 24 external additions to the 26 man roster since taking over and they have combined for -0.7 fWAR this year. Meanwhile, Chris has given up multiple controllable pieces in the process. These included Declin Cronin (0.3 fWAR), Romy Gonzalez (0.1 fWAR), Popeye Rodriguez (118 wRC+ in AA), Bailey Horn (0.00 ERA / 3.11 FIP in AAA), Matt Thompson (40% reduction in BB rate in AA vs PY), and Christian Mena (3.70 ERA with improved GB rate). I understand Getz was forced to dumpster dive, but spending ~$23M above the league minimum on this collection of “talent” and ending up with negative fWAR from them is simply unacceptable. Obviously there is a lot more season to go, but the early signs are highly troubling and so far Getz’s roster feels like a really bad version of a Rick Hahn developed one. And Chris has no one but himself to blame for not having replacement level talent on call at AAA given his past role.

It’s really bad unfortunately. And I’m not even worried about Montgomery & Quero…just not a ton after them.

I’m making a definite statement based on how the human body works. I have no idea when he will finally start slowing down, but it will almost certainly be well before the end of the season if they keep using him like they are. If you disagree, provide some examples of guys who have been converted to a starter with this level of an innings increase and without eventually wearing down. And not sure who he has proven wrong. Most of us didn’t expect his arm to implode by the end of May, even if some of us felt it was a possibility given his track record of health.

Adams’ K to BB ratio is absolutely insane. And he’s the only guy who doesn’t have a Birmingham deflated HR rate as well. Throw in a high groundball rate and he’s probably been the most impressive of the starters at AA from a pure numbers standpoint. Does anyone know how his stuff has looked this year? I’ve always took him as a high pitchability guy with mediocre stuff, but would be great if his repertoire improved some this year. Just feels like a guy getting slept on quite a bit.

If you’re going to be condescending, at least explain your hypothetical science that allows him to go from pitching a career high 51 innings in 2021 to 150 innings or more this year. And no, him improving as a starter in his second month ever at being one (since college) doesn’t count.

Everyone is waiting for him to wear down because it will eventually happen. His arm is simply not conditioned to take on 150+ innings.

Why not fire Grifol and install Sizemore? Get a preview of how handles the job for three to four months and see if there is any chance he can be the guy. It’s going to be hard to convince a quality manager to come here so need to be a bit creative and should take advantage of this lost season.

But they don’t start tomorrow so not sure why that is relevant.

Getting stronger as the season progresses? It’s not even June. Let’s see how he is fairing come mid July when he hits 100 innings. He will no doubt wear down at some point and no contender is going to pay a massive price to acquire a guy he probably can’t count on down the stretch and into October. Teams don’t give up hauls for potential playoff openers.

I don’t see anyone trading for Crochet this deadline. Thisq offseason could be a different story, but really hope they explore an extension before considering a trade. I think Fedde is worth a top 150 (50 FV) prospect, so you’re on the money there. Flexen might return a lottery ticket and Clevinger is probably worthless.