White Sox agree to 1 year deal with INF Josh Rojas

[JUSTgottaBELIEVE]

42 minutes ago, ChiSox59 said:

No, don't do that.  Just play the fringe guys we have FFS. 

At least Dejong returned a live arm. You know they won’t play a fringe guy over Montgomery if those are the options..

[caulfield12]

50 minutes ago, Timmy U said:

The Sox were like 29th in team defense last year so Lopez and DeJong were not the answer. I believe better coaching, preparation, and positioning is going to make a big difference no matter who they run out there. Amaya got a fairly long run last year and does not appear to be an mlb player. I think between Baldwin, Sosa, Meidroth, and Montgomery they will fill their middle infield. Had no hopes for Amaya anyway.

DeJong was average to below average. 3B and first were terrible.  Lopez was fine.  The outfield was terrible to average except Fletcher in RF.  Robert down year all around. Catching was pretty bad too...although throwing out runners better than past seasons.

It can get worse...unfortunately.

[WhiteSox2023]

3 hours ago, Chicago White Sox said:

I’ve been assuming Baldwin at SS and Sosa at 2B with Amaya the main backup IF and Meidroth starting off at AAA.  With Amaya gone, that obviously opens up the door for Chase for an OD role.  I agree, I think we need to see what we have in Sosa and I’d like to see him get a real look to open the year.  A month or two in AAA makes all the sense in the world for multiple reasons..

Even with Baldwin around, the Amaya DFA is what made me lose hope that Montgomery wouldn’t be on the opening day roster.  Amaya was the one true SS the Sox had on the roster.  Meanwhile, Rojas will no doubt be starting at 3B.

[Chicago White Sox]

5 hours ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

Even with Baldwin around, the Amaya DFA is what made me lose hope that Montgomery wouldn’t be on the opening day roster.  Amaya was the one true SS the Sox had on the roster.  Meanwhile, Rojas will no doubt be starting at 3B.

Baldwin primarily played SS last year at Birmingham, Meidroth made the most starts at SS last year for Worcester, and Sosa has tons of experience at SS in the minors.  I think we can get by for a month or two with those three covering SS.

[Balta1701]

2 hours ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Baldwin primarily played SS last year at Birmingham, Meidroth made the most starts at SS last year for Worcester, and Sosa has tons of experience at SS in the minors.  I think we can get by for a month or two with those three covering SS.

Of course, we wouldn't have to find clugey ways to "get by" had Getz signed a person who could play SS, rather than adding depth only to 3b and 2b where there was already a glut of players before he added someone. It's amazing that it's this hard for a GM to understand the spots in his lineup where players would be most useful.

[Chicago White Sox]

11 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

Of course, we wouldn't have to find clugey ways to "get by" had Getz signed a person who could play SS, rather than adding depth only to 3b and 2b where there was already a glut of players before he added someone. It's amazing that it's this hard for a GM to understand the spots in his lineup where players would be most useful.

I agree, I would have preferred a SS addition to one at 3B / 2B.  Perhaps he just saw too much value in Rajos at $3.5M.  I just hope we don’t put Montgomery on the OD roster as a result.  We need to extend out service time windows where possible and a strong AFL should not override a not great AAA season.

[JUSTgottaBELIEVE]

1 hour ago, Balta1701 said:

Of course, we wouldn't have to find clugey ways to "get by" had Getz signed a person who could play SS, rather than adding depth only to 3b and 2b where there was already a glut of players before he added someone. It's amazing that it's this hard for a GM to understand the spots in his lineup where players would be most useful.

He’s waiting for the asking price on Dejong to drop below $5M

[T R U]

53 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

I agree, I would have preferred a SS addition to one at 3B / 2B.  Perhaps he just saw too much value in Rajos at $3.5M.  I just hope we don’t put Montgomery on the OD roster as a result.  We need to extend out service time windows where possible and a strong AFL should not override a not great AAA season.

I gotta say, everything we have done (or not done) is pointing at Colson being the SS on the main roster sooner rather than later.

The service time thing is not worth stressing over. If these guys come up and become stars they will never see year 6 or later in a Sox uniform anyways. There's no point.

[Balta1701]

1 hour ago, Chicago White Sox said:

I agree, I would have preferred a SS addition to one at 3B / 2B.  Perhaps he just saw too much value in Rajos at $3.5M.  I just hope we don’t put Montgomery on the OD roster as a result.  We need to extend out service time windows where possible and a strong AFL should not override a not great AAA season.

Honestly, I've sort of stopped caring about the "service time windows". Really have, its so far away and if Reinsdorf can't pay to keep his own players that's on him.

For me, I have started caring a lot more about what these undeserved callups and promotions do to the players and the people around them. We just had a team go completely toxic, literally ripped itself apart, and had an unbelievably set of poor results from what should have been an epic class of prospects. Do we really believe that the bizarrely inconsistent treatment that the prospects got in the minors had nothing to do with that? 

[southsider2k5]

13 hours ago, ChiSox59 said:

No, don't do that.  Just play the fringe guys we have FFS. 

Hopefully they really do know something, because the alternatives are either A, they are rushing him to try to make themselves look good, or B, they are too cheap to sign another fill in to bridge the gap.  Either way its some more Rick Hahn stuff.  Just make sure he wins the job, and is not anointed because no one else steps forward.

[JUSTgottaBELIEVE]

35 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

Honestly, I've sort of stopped caring about the "service time windows". Really have, its so far away and if Reinsdorf can't pay to keep his own players that's on him.

For me, I have started caring a lot more about what these undeserved callups and promotions do to the players and the people around them. We just had a team go completely toxic, literally ripped itself apart, and had an unbelievably set of poor results from what should have been an epic class of prospects. Do we really believe that the bizarrely inconsistent treatment that the prospects got in the minors had nothing to do with that? 

But we got people more concerned about veterans blocking prospects that aren’t ready for MLB in 2025 until proven otherwise (Colson, Ramos, Baldwin, Iriarte, Quero, Schultz, Smith fit this category imo).

And you bring up a great point. What about the potential harm in promoting prospects that aren’t ready for mlb but the team feeling forced to promote them anyways because they lack other options? I guess the thought process from that group is that they will develop in the majors…meanwhile, they’re burning service time as they “develop” them in mlb and potentially screw up the development process altogether.

[southsider2k5]

12 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

DeJong was average to below average. 3B and first were terrible.  Lopez was fine.  The outfield was terrible to average except Fletcher in RF.  Robert down year all around. Catching was pretty bad too...although throwing out runners better than past seasons.

It can get worse...unfortunately.

A placeholder type like DeJong is absolutely fine in a year like this where you don't have the guys in place yet, but if they show they are ready, you have no problem pushing them off to the side for the new guy.

[Balta1701]

20 minutes ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said:

But we got people more concerned about veterans blocking prospects that aren’t ready for MLB in 2025 until proven otherwise (Colson, Ramos, Baldwin, Iriarte, Quero, Schultz, Smith fit this category imo).

And you bring up a great point. What about the potential harm in promoting prospects that aren’t ready for mlb but the team feeling forced to promote them anyways because they lack other options? I guess the thought process from that group is that they will develop in the majors…meanwhile, they’re burning service time as they “develop” them in mlb and potentially screw up the development process altogether.

Honestly, the reason I dont' like the Rojas deal very much is that I do think it blocks people who are ready for at bats - specifically Vargas, Sosa, and Meidroth - I don't see how any of these guys would benefit from time at AAA, that's 3 guys, 2 positions and DH, just yuck, this is the spot where we don't need a veteran taking up 500 plate appearances. They've all clearly put themselves in a position where they should get at bats to start the year and at least get a shot to sink or swim this season.

Shortstop,  that's just a weak spot. We're either going with Baldwin, who may or may not need more time at AAA since he was promoted from AA, or moving someone like Sosa into that spot out of position, or calling up Colson who quite simply hasn't earned it yet.

A utility guy who plays SS and also could back up the other IF positions would have been well justified. Blocking only the other positions and taking up a roster spot in addition? I'm not sure why we'd do this. 

[JUSTgottaBELIEVE]

46 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

Honestly, the reason I dont' like the Rojas deal very much is that I do think it blocks people who are ready for at bats - specifically Vargas, Sosa, and Meidroth - I don't see how any of these guys would benefit from time at AAA, that's 3 guys, 2 positions and DH, just yuck, this is the spot where we don't need a veteran taking up 500 plate appearances. They've all clearly put themselves in a position where they should get at bats to start the year and at least get a shot to sink or swim this season.

Shortstop,  that's just a weak spot. We're either going with Baldwin, who may or may not need more time at AAA since he was promoted from AA, or moving someone like Sosa into that spot out of position, or calling up Colson who quite simply hasn't earned it yet.

A utility guy who plays SS and also could back up the other IF positions would have been well justified. Blocking only the other positions and taking up a roster spot in addition? I'm not sure why we'd do this. 

The real problem is both Vargas and Sosa are DHs from what I saw in 2024. I don’t need to see more from either of them at 2b or 3b so I don’t believe Rojas blocks anyone for the first half of 2025 at a minimum.

[caulfield12]

11 minutes ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said:

The real problem is both Vargas and Sosa are DHs from what I saw in 2024. I don’t need to see more from either of them at 2b or 3b so I don’t believe Rojas blocks anyone for the first half of 2025 at a minimum.

Ramos?  Meidroth?

[JUSTgottaBELIEVE]

7 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

Ramos?  Meidroth?

Ramos is 22 yo and struggled mightily last year in the minors and mlb. He’s got a lot more to prove.

Meidroth is interesting. I’d put him in the same boat as Colson to where if he comes out scorching hot this Spring I’d be looking to promote him to mlb around Memorial Day. I’ve never seen Meidroth play. His hitting stats in the minors last year look pretty good but his profile on pipeline reads like he could still use some work defensively at second base. If you want to make the argument that he should break camp with the team then there’s still room for everyone. Meidroth should get the bulk of the playing time at 2b, Vargas/Sosa can fill the DH spot and rotate into 2b/3b as well, and Rojas can rotate between 3b/OF. Plenty of at bats to go around.