White Sox agree to 1 year deal with INF Josh Rojas

[JUSTgottaBELIEVE]

14 minutes ago, Baron said:

 

That one might actually cost Jerry more than $5M

[caulfield12]

11 minutes ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said:

That one might actually cost Jerry more than $5M

What is this fascination with players in their 30s?

Did having all those vets like Banks, Wilson and Tim Hill last year help much in the overall scheme of things?

Just let the young hitters and pitchers play...

Edited Friday at 12:38 AM by caulfield12

[Quin]

3 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

What is this fascination with players in their 30s?

Did having all those vets like Banks, Wilson and Tim Hill last year help much last year?

Just let the young hitters and pitchers play...

To be fair, Tanner Banks was a homegrown arm.

[Jerksticks]

8 hours ago, HOFHurt35 said:

My God.  Just let Vargas, Baldwin,  Sosa, Ramos, etc get all the reps available.   I don't understand why they always need to pay for useless veterans to clog play time?

It needs to add up to the dollar amount a top tier FA would cost per year.  

[caulfield12]

8 minutes ago, Quin said:

To be fair, Tanner Banks was a homegrown arm.

He was simply cheap compared to Bummer, okay, Brebbia then...

[caulfield12]

4 minutes ago, Jerksticks said:

It needs to add up to the dollar amount a top tier FA would cost per year.  

Yes we wasted roughly $30 million on a boatload of crap like Maldonado and Nicky Lopez. 

Pham and DeJong were the only decent moves.  Pillar and Grossman were meh.

[Lyle Moooton]

16 minutes ago, Quin said:

To be fair, Tanner Banks was a homegrown arm.

He also turned into a possibly usable prospect. 

[caulfield12]

4 minutes ago, Lyle Moooton said:

He also turned into a possibly usable prospect. 

When can we reasonably expect all these exciting prospects to amount to a competitive team? 

2027?  2028?

[JUSTgottaBELIEVE]

27 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

What is this fascination with players in their 30s?

Did having all those vets like Banks, Wilson and Tim Hill last year help much in the overall scheme of things?

Just let the young hitters and pitchers play...

Oh, they certainly will. All these FA guys are on one year contracts and I’d guess at least half are gone by August.

Edited Friday at 01:01 AM by JUSTgottaBELIEVE

[poppysox]

36 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

Yes we wasted roughly $30 million on a boatload of crap like Maldonado and Nicky Lopez. 

Pham and DeJong were the only decent moves.  Pillar and Grossman were meh.

Maldonado was a very big boat.

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

Getz obsessed with post-30 guys coming off years of regression. Weird market to corner.

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

3 hours ago, WestEddy said:

22 games into the 2024 season, Danny Mendick became the starting 3B, after Moncada was injured, and Sosa/Shewmake exposed themselves as "not the answer". They ended up using 9 different players at 3B. They grabbed Jacob Amaya off the waiver wire, and he quickly became their starting shortstop. 

We're talking about the same group of players this year. I don't think anybody will be taking playing time away from anybody else. 

I'm excited for Sosa and he deserves tons of ABs

[caulfield12]

5 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Getz obsessed with post-30 guys coming off years of regression. Weird market to corner.

Meanwhile, the Tigers are going to give Skubal $250-300 million...

[caulfield12]

5 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

I'm excited for Sosa and he deserves tons of ABs

For once it would be nice if he started off his first month in the 240's or 250's before rallying..

[WhiteSox2023]

1 hour ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said:

That one might actually cost Jerry more than $5M

I’ve gotta think a contender will up the ante.  What has he not done in the past 3 years to not get paid?  I almost wonder if the Sox plan is to convert him back to a starter.

[Chicago White Sox]

5 hours ago, TaylorStSox said:

Zobrist was 6'4 225. He was a big, strong dude. Baldwin is 6'0 175 soaking wet.

You have clearly never seen Baldwin play once in your life

[Chicago White Sox]

5 hours ago, WestEddy said:

Rojas is depth. Injuries happen. Amaya isn't anything beyond a utility player. I agree that Ramos should get a shot, and C. Monty probably will have every opportunity to open the season at SS. But as we've just seen, Sosa/Baldwin/Ramos/Amaya/Vargas are all certainly capable of sh*tting the bed for a month. They're going to go through a bunch of players, again. Rojas is just one more. 

We should not be panicking on a young player for “shitting the bed for a month”…that’s called development

[southsider2k5]

39 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

We should not be panicking on a young player for “shitting the bed for a month”…that’s called development

And decent organizations see their guys get past it.

[Chicago White Sox]

5 hours ago, PaleAleSox said:

They added one guy who will play all around the field. I don't think that is disrupting stuff that much. The other two are platooning in RF where we have absolutely no one (since the team hates Colas).

I’m good with the veteran RF platoon.  Fletcher, DeLoach, & Colas are all old for prospects and weren’t good anywhere.  However, Baldwin was stellar at both AA and AAA (SSS on the latter), Sosa was good in AAA and in the majors in Sep, Meidroth was very good in AAA, Vargas has destroyed AAA, and Ramos has a lot of ability and should be ready soon.  We have multiple options at 2B & 3B and should be giving these guys a shot.  I am all for not rushing prospects and adding cheap veterans as placeholders when needed, but I don’t see that being the case at all right now.

[Chicago White Sox]

5 hours ago, southsider2k5 said:

It's the continued gaslighting of Sox fans who are supposed to believe that we fixed all of the drafting, scouting, and development problems in the organization with all of the new hires, titles, and the rest, while also believing that needing to bring a bunch of bad to mediocre players at the expense of recent draft picks and prospects, as well as the current arrivals playing time, because they aren't good enough to be developed into usable major league pieces.

At best this is a 4-5 year process, but if this group still doesn't have faith in their own ability to train up their own people, this is going to be a lost decade until someone takes over for Jerry and puts real adults in charge.

This is definitely part of the issue.  Meidroth was the third piece of a Garrett Crochet trade.  He was 31% better than a league average hitter in his first go around as a AAA infielder.  What else does he have to do to earn an opportunity?  Baldwin was stellar last year in the minors.  Sosa was very good in AAA last year.  Vargas has destroyed the minors.  What else do those guys have to do to earn an opportunity?

My beef isn’t with Josh Rojas himself…he’s a perfectly fine role player and may end up being a nice little value signing.  The problem is whatever you might get for Rojas at the deadline is a fraction of the value of what it would be if one of the kids above worked out.  It’s simply poor and none of the rah rah Getz guys are going to convince me otherwise as I just witnessed how little Getz was able to extract for much better assets this past year.

[JUSTgottaBELIEVE]

8 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

This is definitely part of the issue.  Meidroth was the third piece of a Garrett Crochet trade.  He was 31% better than a league average hitter in his first go around as a AAA infielder.  What else does he have to do to earn an opportunity?  Baldwin was stellar last year in the minors.  Sosa was very good in AAA last year.  Vargas has destroyed the minors.  What else do those guys have to do to earn an opportunity?

My beef isn’t with Josh Rojas himself…he’s a perfectly fine role player and may end up being a nice little value signing.  The problem is whatever you might get for Rojas at the deadline is a fraction of the value of what it would be if one of the kids above worked out.  It’s simply poor and none of the rah rah Getz guys are going to convince me otherwise as I just witnessed how little Getz was able to extract for much better assets this past year.

In a perfect world, Baldwin and Meidroth start the season in AAA. Vargas and Sosa have seen plenty of AAA already and will be 25 years old when the season starts. It’s make or break time for them.

[JUSTgottaBELIEVE]

And along the lines of the infield being too crowded, which I think is a big stretch, I’d still love to see the Sox sign Kim to play SS. I know it won’t happen cuz Jerry but he’d be a great fit and provide stability at the position that is currently missing.

[southsider2k5]

19 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

This is definitely part of the issue.  Meidroth was the third piece of a Garrett Crochet trade.  He was 31% better than a league average hitter in his first go around as a AAA infielder.  What else does he have to do to earn an opportunity?  Baldwin was stellar last year in the minors.  Sosa was very good in AAA last year.  Vargas has destroyed the minors.  What else do those guys have to do to earn an opportunity?

My beef isn’t with Josh Rojas himself…he’s a perfectly fine role player and may end up being a nice little value signing.  The problem is whatever you might get for Rojas at the deadline is a fraction of the value of what it would be if one of the kids above worked out.  It’s simply poor and none of the rah rah Getz guys are going to convince me otherwise as I just witnessed how little Getz was able to extract for much better assets this past year.

Look having Josh Rojas isn't a problem for me in general.  He was a free agent signing who cost you nothing but money.

But there are two things of note here. 

1.Decent organizations have all kinds of good fielding/no hit utility guys falling out of their trees.

2. These kinds of guys aren't used to block guys who need ABs during historically bad seasons for exactly the value proposition you just outlined.  They are literal roster filler.

[WhiteSox2023]

35 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

Look having Josh Rojas isn't a problem for me in general.  He was a free agent signing who cost you nothing but money.

But there are two things of note here. 

1.Decent organizations have all kinds of good fielding/no hit utility guys falling out of their trees.

2. These kinds of guys aren't used to block guys who need ABs during historically bad seasons for exactly the value proposition you just outlined.  They are literal roster filler.

But meanwhile, the proof is in the pudding.  What other role does Rojas serve on this terrible White Sox team on a 1-year deal other than being a potential flip candidate?

So that means he is going to more than likely be a starter so Getz can attempt to trade him at the deadline, which will obviously block playing time for other younger prospects/players.

Afterall, if Rojas wasn’t brought in as a flip candidate, what in the hell was the point of signing him for this team?

And does anyone think that the potential trade deadline return for a mediocre hitting, good glove utility guy like Rojas will be worth the development time for other young players/prospects?  I don’t, and moves like this make me completely confused by Getz’s decisions.  Getz might at best get back some lottery tickets like the ones he already gave away for Booser and Gilbert.

@Chicago White Sox already called it — if you are going the flip route, spend the Rojas money on free agent relievers on 1-year deals that could generate a greater return in prospects if they have a good first half.  But maybe Getz realizes he s%*# the bed so much on this strategy last offseason by choosing all the worst FA veteran relievers that he’s trying something different with fourth outfielders and utility guys instead?

Edited Friday at 05:22 AM by WhiteSox2023

[Fielder Jones]

a lot of us would like the existing young guys to get all the burn this year but from Getz's perspective.. Hahn was responsible for some of these. Very evidently he's not a Colas fan. Not sure who now is supporting Sosa but Grifol clearly didnt like him. We probably cant expect Getz to want to have 162 games of all of Hahn's guys. If GMs are hired and fired eventually on win-loss record then I could understand him wanting a veteran in there to help grab a win or two (and he's a 2 win player, to boot). 

It might not be opening day but by second half of the season we could see 2B being entirely Meidroth and Rojas