Later in 2025 season - Schultz and Hagen S. as MLB bullpen pieces

[Fielder Jones]

Sean Burke a breakout candidate for 2025 White Sox

Merk is incredibly well connected of course and had the Venable thing before anyone else. At the link he mentions the Sox plan for Schultz and Smith may be to bring them up to MLB later in 2025 but use them out of the pen. Bringing back the Chris Sale philosophy i guess. Any thoughts? Is this smart? 

I guess it could be Iriarte also debuted as a MLB reliever but now going into 2025 is probably back to starter in MILB (not that i know that)

[ChiSox59]

I think it's a terrible idea. 

[TheBooneLoganEra]

I wouldn't necessarily be opposed. Although going from starter, to bp, to starter doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. There is no "need" for this. Id rather they just come up and start a handful of games at the end of the season. 

The first half may be abysmal again, but the second half could be fun if we see C montgomery, quero, teel, smith and schultz all up. 

Edited Saturday at 05:59 PM by TheBooneLoganEra

[Timmy U]

Bannister likes to give starters some exposure to mlb out of the bullpen when they have basically reached their innings limit a la Iriarte last year. They are not putting Schultz and Smith on the Sale/Crochet plan.

[Fielder Jones]

the piece also stresses Colson is a starting OD candidate at SS. I could see the team kind of using Merk here to really play up that AFL stint (though he wasnt a SS in that!)

[Fielder Jones]

5 minutes ago, Timmy U said:

Bannister likes to give starters some exposure to mlb out of the bullpen when they have basically reached their innings limit a la Iriarte last year. They are not putting Schultz and Smith on the Sale/Crochet plan.

was Bannister with SF when the put Manaea on a part time relief role? that seems to have actually benefitted his career since..

[Y2Jimmy0]

I think Schultz makes big league starts in 2025 

[Chicago White Sox]

2 hours ago, Fielder Jones said:

the piece also stresses Colson is a starting OD candidate at SS. I could see the team kind of using Merk here to really play up that AFL stint (though he wasnt a SS in that!)

Man I really hope not.  Unless you think he’s got a decent chance of finishing top two in the AL ROY vote, play the team control game and send him to Charlotte.   A great AFL should not overide a tough season in AAA.

[Balta1701]

3 hours ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Man I really hope not.  Unless you think he’s got a decent chance of finishing top two in the AL ROY vote, play the team control game and send him to Charlotte.   A great AFL should not overide a tough season in AAA.

That’s the kind of inconsistent, weird treatment and favoritism that just has to lead to toxicity between players.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

6 hours ago, Fielder Jones said:

Sean Burke a breakout candidate for 2025 White Sox

Merk is incredibly well connected of course and had the Venable thing before anyone else. At the link he mentions the Sox plan for Schultz and Smith may be to bring them up to MLB later in 2025 but use them out of the pen. Bringing back the Chris Sale philosophy i guess. Any thoughts? Is this smart? 

I guess it could be Iriarte also debuted as a MLB reliever but now going into 2025 is probably back to starter in MILB (not that i know that)

I think they both need full seasons in the minors. The 40 man is a clusterfuck already with so many pitchers who are candidates to make the team including guys not on the 40 who had outstanding seasons in the minors last year like Palette, Schonele , and Coffey. Some pitchers are going to be off the 40 from now till the TDL.

If you add Schultz and Smith to the 40 you may have to get of an arm that you don't want to yet.

I'd say at the start of the 2026 season about 6-7 arms currently on the 40 won't be on it then.

 

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

6 hours ago, Fielder Jones said:

the piece also stresses Colson is a starting OD candidate at SS. I could see the team kind of using Merk here to really play up that AFL stint (though he wasnt a SS in that!)

Merk's selling tickets .You play up Montgomery having a shot to make the opening day roster when it's pretty unlikely to happen. I know Montgomery thinks it's possible. He'd need one helluva Spring Training.

[Balta1701]

7 minutes ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

I think they both need full seasons in the minors. The 40 man is a clusterfuck already with so many pitchers who are candidates to make the team including guys not on the 40 who had outstanding seasons in the minors last year like Palette, Schonele , and Coffey. Some pitchers are going to be off the 40 from now till the TDL.

If you add Schultz and Smith to the 40 you may have to get of an arm that you don't want to yet.

I'd say at the start of the 2026 season about 6-7 arms currently on the 40 won't be on it then.

 

I don’t think that the callups for either Schultz or Smith should be determined by what roster spots they need for other pitchers unless those pitchers have clearly earned the spots by pitching better than Schultz and Smith. 

[Baron]

8 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

I don’t think that the callups for either Schultz or Smith should be determined by what roster spots they need for other pitchers unless those pitchers have clearly earned the spots by pitching better than Schultz and Smith. 

I was going to say there may be other issues with calling them up this year for bullpen use. But having roster spots available shouldn't be one. That's silly. 

[Chicago White Sox]

39 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

That’s the kind of inconsistent, weird treatment and favoritism that just has to lead to toxicity between players.

What in the world are you talking about?

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

5 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

I don’t think that the callups for either Schultz or Smith should be determined by what roster spots they need for other pitchers unless those pitchers have clearly earned the spots by pitching better than Schultz and Smith. 

I think they both need another full season of seasoning.Hagen Smith especially. Where's he going to start the season Winston Salem ?

I don't see the point of them throwing relief. Have them stick to their starters plan like  Crochet did. Schultz is still building up his innings.  He's still being babied. No hurry on him either.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

5 minutes ago, Baron said:

I was going to say there may be other issues with calling them up this year for bullpen use. But having roster spots available shouldn't be one. That's silly. 

They have a lot arms to go through in the next year to decide who stays and who goes. Building a stronger team has a lot to do with making the right decisions on the other pitchers you keep. The longer you can delay some of those decisions the better. Giving 40 man spots to Smith and Schultz when they don't have to would be silly.

[Baron]

7 minutes ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

They have a lot arms to go through in the next year to decide who stays and who goes. Building a stronger team has a lot to do with making the right decisions on the other pitchers you keep. The longer you can delay some of those decisions the better. Giving 40 man spots to Smith and Schultz when they don't have to would be silly.

and I'm sure those decisions late in 2025 are really going to be affected by giving the actual future of this team some work in the big leagues. After all those innings we won't know who's going to be here in 2026. 

Edited yesterday at 12:36 AM by Baron

[Timmy U]

The answer to this hypothetical is currently unknowable. If Smith and Schultz are just okay, sure preserve the roster spots. If they dominate in a way that announces their arrival as future core rotation pieces, you may have to be flexible. The Pirates certainly don’t begrudge Skenes’ roster spot. See what the season brings. The good ones tend to come quickly. I hope Smith and Schultz make it hard on them.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

10 minutes ago, Baron said:

and I'm sure those decisions late in 2025 are really going to be affected by giving the actual future of this team some work in the big leagues. After all those innings we won't know who's going to be here in 2026. 

The actual futures of the team will still have a future with the team in 2026 regardless of if they get called up in 2025. Decisions have to be made in who else has a future with the team.  Getz is likely hoping that he can trade 3 RP and maybe Davis Martin or Bryse Wilson or any other older starter given a chance in the 1st half at the deadline and maybe then give 40 man spots to the 3 young RP who did so well last year who might be deserving of spots too . You're not just building the starting pitching staff here, how you manage your roster and options is crucial.

[Baron]

12 minutes ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

The actual futures of the team will still have a future with the team in 2026 regardless of if they get called up in 2025. Decisions have to be made in who else has a future with the team.  Getz is likely hoping that he can trade 3 RP and maybe Davis Martin or Bryse Wilson or any other older starter given a chance in the 1st half at the deadline and maybe then give 40 man spots to the 3 young RP who did so well last year who might be deserving of spots too . You're not just building the starting pitching staff here, how you manage your roster and options is crucial.

This may shock you. But figuring out who needs to be traded at the deadline will be done at the first half the season. There's alot of innings between now and if these two get called up for some work. I would argue giving either of them starts or bullpen time is better than giving marginal pitchers who may or may not have earned anything late in the 2025 season work. 

[southsider2k5]

7 hours ago, Fielder Jones said:

Sean Burke a breakout candidate for 2025 White Sox

Merk is incredibly well connected of course and had the Venable thing before anyone else. At the link he mentions the Sox plan for Schultz and Smith may be to bring them up to MLB later in 2025 but use them out of the pen. Bringing back the Chris Sale philosophy i guess. Any thoughts? Is this smart? 

I guess it could be Iriarte also debuted as a MLB reliever but now going into 2025 is probably back to starter in MILB (not that i know that)

Smith is experienced at pitching late into games, and is a much more polished pitcher than Schultz.   In a scenario where he progresses and destroys Charlotte for a couple of months, I would entertain the idea for a Hagen call up, but only after forcing the issue.  We don't need to Carlso Rodon him so he spends years at the MLB level learning how to pitch to MLB hitters.

Dutch still has so much conditioning and game situations to learn through the early part of his window should be mid to late 26.  He has literally never worked with starters stuff.  He has literally never thrown more than 68 pitches in a single outing since at least high school or summer leagues in 2022.  He didn't thrown any more than 64 pitches in a 2024 outing.  Learning to pitch to 100+ pitch outings is every bit as important as how many innings he throws.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

24 minutes ago, Timmy U said:

The answer to this hypothetical is currently unknowable. If Smith and Schultz are just okay, sure preserve the roster spots. If they dominate in a way that announces their arrival as future core rotation pieces, you may have to be flexible. The Pirates certainly don’t begrudge Skenes’ roster spot. See what the season brings. The good ones tend to come quickly. I hope Smith and Schultz make it hard on them.

Correct, unknowable, which is why I err on the side of slower development for them both.
Last year was Schultz 1st full season in the minors. He was still growing literally. I'm thrilled he got 88 innings pitched. Smith has barely pitched in the minors. He'll be entering his 1st full season. I don't see what's the rush to see him in the majors at all in 2025. There's no hurry on either of them.

[Baron]

I don't think there's a rush. But let's be real these two are going to push the issue. Their stuff is good enough to punish minor league bats. Timetables change and I don't think late 2026 is realistic for those two in their minds. 

Edited yesterday at 01:20 AM by Baron

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

13 minutes ago, Baron said:

This may shock you. But figuring out who needs to be traded at the deadline will be done at the first half the season. There's alot of innings between now and if these two get called up for some work. I would argue giving either of them starts or bullpen time is better than giving marginal pitchers who may or may not have earned anything late in the 2025 season work. 

I'm only shocked by your hurry to believe a fluffy article.

The Sox future will stud pitchers are still pretty wet behind the ears and yes I think every decision on what you seem marginal arms matters .Today's marginal arms are tomorrows cheap BP labor and picking the right ones can be the difference between a good BP that wins games in late innings and helps preserve the arms of Smith and Schultz and a lousy BP. They might even produce another Starting Pitcher among those arms.

[Baron]

4 minutes ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

I'm only shocked by your hurry to believe a fluffy article.

The Sox future will stud pitchers are still pretty wet behind the ears and yes I think every decision on what you seem marginal arms matters .Today's marginal arms are tomorrows cheap BP labor and picking the right ones can be the difference between a good BP that wins games in late innings and helps preserve the arms of Smith and Schultz and a lousy BP. They might even produce another Starting Pitcher among those arms.

We're discussing the possibility. Is that a problem?

There's so many innings before you even get to the possibiity of either one of these pitchers getting called up. Anybody that has a chance has spring training and the first 3/4 of the season. If you can't show off in that time period I don't know what to tell you.