FT35

I could see Alonso going all Adam Dunn here.

Totally agree here. This is the way to go—but our player evaluation is non-existent and I have zero faith that they get it right, leading to said millions of savings. There is value in all MLB at bats. Whether they are used to try to evaluate current talent on the roster or to increase value of older players who could be flipped for more upside than the internal crop. Again—choosing the correct path for players has not been our strong suit. They have been taking a beating on playing internal options AND capitalizing on flip value.

I wonder if paying them a good amount of money would help…soften the blow a little…like forever luxury living money for them and generations to come?? I loathe the idea of moving. Buuuut someone could probably talk me into moving somewhere for 6 months for say…25 MILLION DOLLARS EVERY YEAR for a half decade. I don’t know…I might check with my wife but something tells me she would ok that.

Why wouldn’t all the FAs want to sign here? If they are good, they are as good as out of here at the deadline and they know they will have shots with a playoff bound team. That seems better than signing with a team that should have a shot at contending but ends up not contending—but ends up keeping players who may contend another year. Seems like a great offer to top talent—if you want to play in the 2025 MLB playoffs—sign with the WHITE SOX!!

If he’s awful, they’ll just let him play out another punt year here. If he’s amazing, he could end up flipped to the Dodgers at the deadline for…well…no one actually.

Now…if we could just flip Robert for say a good young catcher prospect, things could really start to look up around here.

Juan Soto might never see an at bat if he signed here. He literally might approach 400 walks per year. He’d be a half-billion dollar 8-10 HR guy and may not drive in 30 runs. We would likely witness one of the most unthinkable stat lines in the modern era. .280/.850/1.200/9 HR/27 RBI/40 Runs? Pitch counts would be down league-wide from the number of times they’d point to first.

Totally! I did say “about a billion.” I know the Rangers were at a half billion…but they were closer than we are with the rest of their roster. We are a billion away at least. And that counts calling up minor league talent before it’s ready.

What if Venable sells Jerry on how the Rangers went out and spent about a billion dollars on FAs and it led to a title in like 2-3 years? They sign Soto and Burnes and a closer. They keep Crochet and Robert. (Lol to all!) But they could end up with a rotation of: Crochet Burnes Thorpe N. Shultz H. Smith And a team of: 1B Vaughn 2B Some FA SS Montgomery 3B Ramos OF Soto OF Robert OF Benintendi C Lee/Quero They have some decent bullpen pieces and if they add a closer—that is starting to look like a team that could win at LEAST 50 games, no?!?!

Absolutely bonkers to think that the Sox could be the most improved team in MLB next year by 21 games and still be a 100-loss team and likely finish as the worst team in baseball.

Haven’t been able to say this very often, but it’s been a solid 2 days for the Sox.

They’re so slow to the analytics game, something new will come along before they get good at it.

lol! I’ll work on something!

It shows that he can be honest and accurately assess. Sure they all want jobs but so do a lot of other guys. These guys had their chance and failed in EVERY way. Most of them do not deserve another. Say something that 1. Shows you understand the negative impact and damage your team has caused to sport in general 2. Doesn’t assume you’ll be given another opportunity 3. eludes to the future having success without saying that the keys to that success are the very same group of people who have lost 121 games. Hiring people will see the BS and disqualify for his brainless response. Maybe: “we all need to take a deep look in the mirror to decide if we have what it takes to cut it in MLB. Simply put, this year we did not show why any of us would deserve another job with another MLB team. We all want something better than what we created and will try to take the off-season and assess these difficult decisions.”

Absolutely. Be honest. Come out and say the truth—that none of us deserve a future in MLB. If he doesn’t have the guts to say that—at least don’t recommend that the fix is sticking with the people who have just achieved the most catastrophic result in the history of our game. This is like the captain of the Titanic thinking the very best—THE wisest way to keep the ship from sinking again would be to circle around and hit the same iceberg. I’m not sure what he should say—but nothing close to what he said would be my vote.

Then there’s this quote from Grady: "We're just focused on ourselves and getting better, and we know we have a lot to improve on," he said. "But I think we have the right guys and the right staff in place to get this thing turned around." Really?!?!? The guy in charge on the field is looking at the same guys who have lost 121 games this year being the “right” guys to fix it?!?! This is the voice in Getz’ ear this off-season?! This is bonkers.

When Chris Getz starts a sentence with “we feel pretty good about…” I start to worry big time.

Aside from Jerry, it’s looking like Getz might have been a bigger problem than Rick and Kenny. Some evidence of this would be, all the apparent “problem people” are leaving and they are getting much worse. RH/KW had their own issues obviously (Pedro was the cherry on top) but it was Getz’s failure in player development that forced RH/KW to always try to roll the dice on trades and find FA lightning in a bottle till someone was ready to call up—that talent never came! Getz’s recent comments are as bad as it gets from a GM. Simply offensive. Those comments make him look like he’s a child with no understanding of how things work. Then he stands there on the cusp of being the worst team in history and reflects on his best memory??? He’s no longer standing in the middle of the fire—the fire is long over! He’s standing on unprecedented scorched earth with everything already destroyed and has the gaul to say “my best memory is when I decided to make Crochet a starting pitcher.” What an immature loser! The only ones left standing are Getz and Jerry. Ladies and gentlemen—I give you—“the core of the problem.”

I wouldn’t put a ton of money on this one.

This is starting to sound like one of those new UNO games.

Anyone else notice in the broadcast booth interview last night how Getz literally turned his back on Stone the entire time and only looked at Schriffen to answer questions (including Stone’s questions)? Then as he left, he only said goodbye to and thanked Schriffen for the interview? Thought is was very odd & cold.

IMO, nothing wrong with supporting the guy or hoping he does well, but Getz doesn’t need people coming to his aide to defend him to make people respect him. He needs a record of success to do that. Not a move here and there that happens to work out…we’re talking a prolonged span of success where the franchise returns to its winning ways will be needed to redefine him. He doesn’t really have ANY history of success to refer to now. As of now, he only has a prolonged record of failures to show for his time in the GM role (and other roles) —so he (and JR) deserve the criticism and his defenders don’t have much to stand on. Don’t like it? Turn it around! Start proving people wrong. Start winning—consistently. Don’t rely on others’ narratives to do your bidding. People will come around then. If he’s good, we should be SEEING it—no need to be CONVINCED of it.

Mark Teahen.

White Sox language translated: ”Outside the organization” = “Kansas City Royals”

It’s ALWAYS nice to win—even if it’s rare with this group. Still prepping for a couple of attitudes today. 1. A newfound confidence in Pedro and a puff piece on why Getz was right to wait this out. 2. A fan scolding that has something to do with how we were 1. “Wrong to doubt them” (as though the 1 win is somehow more relevant than the 21 losses) and 2. A call for patience/hope. Listen closely because they might even be worked into the game calls!