Inside Scoop w/Ken Rosenthal covers Skubal’s arm, Philly’s rise, Drake Baldwin/Sal Stewart deal value + Fegan's White Sox report

00:00:05
Speaker 1: Let's hit the inside scoop with FT senior insider Ken Rosenthal. So, Ken, we got that Trek Schooble news late in our show yesterday. We were able to cover it there. You had fair territory in the morning. So let's get your reaction to here on the FT Network to that news and how much it affects the Tigers and schools.

00:00:20
Speaker 2: Free agency clearly affects both in my opinion, and the Tigers, for starters, obviously have a number of starting pitchers already on the injured list. Remember they lost Reese Olsen for the season. Jackson job is coming back from Tommy John. They're without Casey Miiz, They're without Verlander and now Schooble. So yes, it will be a return to pitching chaos for a bit. They're stretching out Troy Melton on his rehab assignment. They might put Drew Anderson into the rotation. They can do a number of things, but clearly this isn't a great development for them. The good news is they play in the ALS Central, which is a pretty forgiving division, and I don't see any of those teams in that division running away from the Tigers. While the Tigers are without Schooble. The free agency questioned Scott is a more difficult one, and certainly if he comes back and pitches well, he's still going to be a highly coveted free agent. But this is his third elbow procedure. You go back to twenty seventeen Seattle University. That's a Tommy John twenty twenty two flexor tendon. This is bone chips and considered relatively minor. The question is does it maybe lead to something else and what will those medicals look like at the end of the season. None of us know the answer to that, and it seems to me a bit less likely that he'll break Yamamoto's record for a starting pitcher now, but I could be wrong about that. A lot depends on how he comes back and what he looks like while he's pitching again.

00:01:53
Speaker 3: Ken, should he come back this year? Does he need to come back this year to get that giant contract? Or can if you know, should he sit out? And say, man, I really need to get healthy for the offseason and prove the teams he's healthy in the off season because I'm starting to see where some people are like, oh, is this the last game he threw? For the Tigers, and does he need to come back and pitch again? Do you do you agree that he needs to come back and prove that he's healthy to hit the free agent market running a.

00:02:21
Speaker 2: J I would say he needs to come back for two reasons. One, he's earning thirty two million this year from the Detroit Tigers. They are paying him to pitch, so yes, he has to come back to fulfill his contract. But also from the standpoint of his free agency, yes, I would think teams would want to see him pitch. This really, to me, is not even an issue. Trek Scougle has made repeated comments over the years about how much he wants to win in Detroit, and he is competitive. He understands that he has a big salary this year, and it's not a question of him sitting out. I can't even imagine that happening, unless, of course, physically he can't do it. That's something else.

00:02:59
Speaker 3: Okay, thank you, Ken. I just wanted to because I'm starting to hear that and I'm like, this is crazy. Trek Scooble is one of the ultimate competitors. He wants to be out there whenever he can, so thank you. I just wanted to hear you say it so other people will understand that this guy wants to pitch and it's not you know, yes, it's about the money, obviously, but it's also about him wanting to pitch and win in Detroit, So thank you.

00:03:19
Speaker 2: Sure.

00:03:21
Speaker 4: One of the things that people like banter about is trade value with scooball supposedly as trade value went down to like a million dollars or it was that forty one. I don't know how they even calculate that that doesn't matter if he's not pitching by the trade deadline and the Tigers are out of it. Can you name any contender that wouldn't be willing to risk even a little bit of the fact that he could come back and pitch for a month for.

00:03:45
Speaker 2: You, Eric, To me, this is another non story, and the reason it's a non story is because of what I said earlier on who is going to run away in the al Central Toe to where the Tigers are at or the White Sox. Yeah, the nightlife, but the Twins are down. The White Sox are much more competitive and one of the more compelling stories in the game right now. I don't see them running away. I don't see the Guardians doing it. Maybe the Royals, who are starting to play better, starting to hit. But does anyone seriously think the Tigers are going to be out of contention in July if they are, Yes, Eric, of course they entertain trading Schooble. I just can't see it. All right.

00:04:28
Speaker 4: Well, then a team that's made a change and is one of the hottest teams in baseball besides the White Sox Don Mattingly's phillies.

00:04:36
Speaker 5: Is there a change because we were on here.

00:04:37
Speaker 4: A week you were on here a week ago. It is like, well, they are kind of the same person, but it is a new person at the helm.

00:04:45
Speaker 5: Clearly it's working. Question Mark, good point.

00:04:49
Speaker 2: Eric. It's interesting to see what Bryce Harper said after last night's game, which is basically, we were all kind of waiting for something to happen, whether Thompson stayed or whether he was fired, and for whatever reason, it does seem to have had an effect on the team. Clearly they're playing much better now. Is the effect because it's Don Maddingly and not Rob Thompson, or is it the players are simply waking up having snapped to attention that they got a manager fired. That's what happened here. The players got the manager fired, so maybe they're feeling some responsibility. I just don't believe that this is such a different program under Don Manningly than it was under Rob Thompson. And I'll say this as well, Guys, if I'm Rob Thompson and I'm sitting home right now watching this, I'm a little peeved because this is what should have happened when he was the manager. There was nothing he was doing that was so bad that was holding the Phillies down. No, they just were playing poorly, and suddenly they've snapped to attention.

00:05:53
Speaker 1: You know, we don't always have to do things because that's how it's always been.

00:05:56
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00:06:53
Speaker 4: Right the Braves, they have been playing really well, the exact opposite of poorly. We've talked about Jake ball I'm Drake Baldwin, not Jake Baldwin. Drake Baldwin and the start that he's had to his career, not just this season, but it looks like this season's taken to another level from his Rookie of the Year year last year. Where could he change the salary for catchers in the future. Obviously his career is still young, but is there something he could do that we haven't seen for a bit?

00:07:24
Speaker 2: Well, he's a really interesting test case, and I wrote about him today in The Athletic And the reason he's interesting is because he's twenty five, he only has one year of service. He is, as you mentioned, eric, a nationally Rookie of the Year and this year looking like so far an MVP candidate. So the catching market has been depressed forever. Joe mahers one hundred and eighty four million dollar deal that he signed in twenty ten is still the most expensive deal ever given a catcher. Buster Posey not far behind his deal one hundred and sixty seven million that was signed in twenty thirteen. Now, JT real Muto might have gotten to that level if he didn't become a free agent in the COVID year, but that's what happened, and JT still has done really well. But for the most part, catchers still are not paid according to what you might think considering their value. Now, what's the reason for that. We know the reason. It's the fear of injury, the risk of wear and tear and all of that comes with being a catcher. But Drake Baldwin, because he's young, maybe he's the guy that changes this. Ideally, if the Braves sign him to an extension because they would be getting the young years at those rates plus a few free agent years. But it's going to be really interesting to see how this transpires. Now we've got some other catchers who also are potential long term candidates, who also could get big salaries. The highest salary for a catcher ever is twenty three point one million. That's JT. Real Muto in his first free agent deal. Adlei Rutchman, He's coming on now, Jay langoleires, coming on now. William Contreras. I don't know that he'll get it from the Brewers, but he's certainly a guy who is a star in the game. So I don't know if this market is ever going to change, regardless of what the labor agreement is, but these catchers, and particularly brought Baldwin, have a chance maybe to change that structure.

00:09:23
Speaker 3: Ken is somebody that set the catcher record one year back in two thousand and four, which is crazy. I mean it hasn't gone up that much, which is insane. And the reason people don't value catchers is the counting stats don't add up because catchers don't get to play as much, so therefore the counting stats don't add up and teams won one hundred games, and then another guy is sixty two. So it's hard for catcher marketing to move. You have to be a special guy in today's game to make the market move, and Drake Baldwin could be that guy, along with Langoliers. So I think you're right with that. But then the other guy that you're kind of talking about, a Sal Stewart, How have there not been extension talks with Sal Stewart. He's a special guy, he's having an unbelievable start to his career. How do you not a guy that's what twenty one, I think maybe almost twenty two not have extension talks if you're the Red So try to do what the Pirates do with Connor griven with the Tigers did with Kevin McGonagall. How have they not had these talks?

00:10:16
Speaker 2: Ag I wrote about this as well, and my understanding is that the Reds financially right now are not in a great spot because of the TV deal that they lost with mainstream sports and just in general they are kind of in a period of uncertainty now. The Tigers also were a mainstream sports team, a main street sports team, and they signed McGonagall right, but it's a bigger market. So the Reds are kind of waiting for things to develop, maybe on the TV front, maybe on the labor agreement front, and then perhaps they will proceed. They love Stewart. How can you not love Stuart? The guy is a front runner for nationally Rookie of the Year. He was the Nationally Rookie of the Month along with McGonagall in the America League. But at the same time, even though they offered Ellie Dela Cruz the biggest contract in franchise history in the spring of twenty five, even though they offered Kyle Schwarber five years, one hundred and twenty five million ish in free agency this passed off season. They are in a different place now. This is again how I understand it, and a different financial place, particularly so they're not in a position now where they feel comfortable extending through it. Should they do it, of course they should do it if they can, And do they want to do it, Yes, I believe they want to do it. But if the money isn't there, and this is me hearing what I'm hearing, not me saying the money isn't there, we don't really know if that is their feeling right now, Well, then it's not going to happen.

00:11:49
Speaker 4: What about Sandy Alcontra? Is he going to be on the move? No matter what we've heard. I think Jim Bowden even said earlier year, even if the Marlins are still in it, there's a chance that they can move Sandy to add to what they're not doing well at Is there a chance now he stays based on how the Marlins are playing and the way the roster's shaken out.

00:12:11
Speaker 2: Yes, now, this one is really interesting and something that we'll all be keeping our eyes on as the deadline approaches three months from now. But the Marlins are in a fascinating position right now, and we've seen over the last two days them make two moves that maybe they wouldn't have made in the past. They sent down Augustine Ramirez to make room for Joe Mack, their top catching prospect. That was a move reflective of their desire to win. Today. They designated Chris Paddock for assignment, even though he was their third highest player, albeit at four million, and that is a move designed to make them a better team. They've got guys in the miners. Braxton Garrett is one, Thomas White is another Robbie Snelling, a third Garrett Or Snelling probably will take the place of Chris Paddock. So clearly they're trying to win within their limited means. So how does our contra fit into this mix. He does fit because, of course he is their best pitcher, former Cy Young winner. He is someone that is valued by fans and in the community and is a favorite of the owner, Bruce Sherman. Obviously, at the deadline, if you can trade him for a variety of pieces that can help you win now and in the future, you consider it. But my understanding here is that they're not going to be necessarily in a rush to do that, not when they're trying to win this season.

00:13:36
Speaker 4: All Right, I'm always I'm always interested to hear stories with Ken. So now we go one story with Ken about John Sterling, who we lost yesterday, just the amazing Yankees radio announcer for tons of years forty I don't know how many years it was. But do you have a good John Sterling story?

00:13:57
Speaker 2: Not from my baseball writing career, but from my childhood. And I grew up on Long Island and I was a huge Islanders fan and a huge Nets fan, and John Sterling was the announcer for both teams, the play by play guy on radio for both teams, and I particularly remember him with the Islanders, who weren't very good when I was a little kid, and his signature call for them. It wasn't as creative as some of his other ones later with the Yankees, but it was when they would score, is on the goal, IS on the goal, iwon the goal. And my dad was a big Ranger fan and in New York at the time, and even now it's a big rivalry, and my dad and I would go out it about this. He'd say, who is that idiot on the radio? He sounds ridiculous. Well, John Sterling, in many people's eyes, did sound ridiculous then and later when he was doing his thing with the Yankees. But he was an absolute original and we all loved them for that. He was an original with his calls, He was an original with his per personality. And I'll go back even to when he was calling the Nets games. This was when they were in the Ava still and Julia's serving doctor j was the best player, but they also had other guys with nicknames. And I saw this written yesterday. It was really funny, someone said, listening to Sterling called the Nets games, you wouldn't even know what the last names of the players were. It was doctor J to mister Kate, It's super John. It was one nickname after another, and he was always just a lot of fun and that is how people fondly remembered him. Yesterday, it was great to see the outpouring and all the memories come out, and it's great to see the Yankees honoring him the way they are with the JS on the cap. And then last night when the game ended, they played the Yankees win over the public address announcement or the speakers, and both Aaron Judge and Aaron Boone said, you know what, that's something we should keep doing.

00:15:56
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00:17:34
Speaker 2: Yes, I would agree with that, Scott. And certainly we see this in all kinds of ways on social media now. Things that occur on television and radio, television in particular, they can blow up. And yeah, John Sterling, if he was in his prime today and if he was just coming onto the scene with all these nicknames and catchphrases, I would think, yes, he would have been a since and he was a sensation in his day in his own way, but it wasn't a viral thing because virality didn't exist back then.

00:18:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, the one person I think about is, gosh, i'm blanking my favorite radio broadcaster, the Cleveland Gotts help me out, Tom Hamilton when he did down Goes Anderson. There were so many young fans and now knew who he was and didn't before, And I'm like, oh, Tom Hamilton's been a legend for decades. He's I think, if not the best top three whatever right with him and Sterling running, he's just so good. So that went viral and then all of a sudden everyone's like, Oh, this guy's one of the best broadcasters. So there's your point. Ken, good stuff. Thanks for sharing the stories. We'll listen to you later this week on Fair. Thanks guys, Thank you Fair Territory Thursday Live. You know the deal. If you have questions I asked for him here. I answered some of it myself, since one of them was for a Joe Ryan update, and I don't think anybody has that yet based on waiting for MRI results, unless I've missed that, but anyway, maybe they'll be able to react to it on Thursday part of the FT Network. Okay, we're going to switch around the order because our next guest is about to be ready. It's James fi And who will join us soon, and he's going to talk with us about, Yes, the White Sox. Aja. It might feel like we're talking about the White Sox frequently, but I feel as if we've barely talked about them over the last few years compared to most other teams. So I think that play is the case. There is nothing to talk about this time around. They're off to a nice start, they have some promising pieces, and I do think they have the most interesting rookie in baseball in Morikami, who finally I saw that last night.

00:19:47
Speaker 3: We also hit a homer on a ball up and away and just flicked it to center field about four fifty, so up and away. Yeah, they own Soriano. So other teams are going to be calling and calling them to figure out what they do against Soriano.

00:19:59
Speaker 5: They had like.

00:20:00
Speaker 3: Seventeen hits last night or something. The White Sox listen, they have pieces now. It's nice to see they finally have pieces and there's a little bit of hope. And I know you guys joke to me when I put them in my power rankings, But tell me why they can't make the playoffs this year?

00:20:15
Speaker 5: That's my question.

00:20:16
Speaker 3: Tell me why they can't sneak into the postseason in the al Centrudes Detroit, no Schoogle, Flaherty looks awful. Hart Lander hasn't pitched. I mean their bullpen is vest is out. I mean they haven't. They haven't done much. The Guardians or the Guardians they hover around five hundred and get on a little running streak. Royals haven't been good. I don't know Guardians, the Royals. The Royals will play better.

00:20:45
Speaker 4: I'm gonna say the Royals are gonna finish better than the White Sox.

00:20:50
Speaker 1: Okay, well, let's own a friend. James Vegan is ready. He covers the White Sox for Socks Machine, and he's with us right now. It's great to have you on. Let's start with AJ's question that was thrown out there. Why not the White Sox this year? Do you see any pathway to them shocking the world and cracking a playoff spot? And how you doing.

00:21:13
Speaker 5: Doing that right?

00:21:14
Speaker 6: Other than the foremigness of being asked this question at all, three straight, one hundred lost seasons kind of makes it unfamiliar to think about. There's certainly a pathway in terms of like no one's no one really like looks like I had a higher tier than them in the Al Central, like as you were talking about coming in like Detroit, Kansas city of not run away with it. If we were like viewing the White Sox as a contender and putting them under those lens, there are some depth issues that could emerge over the course of the season. You got Shane Smith on the IL right now is Europe Day starred?

00:21:45
Speaker 5: He struggled.

00:21:46
Speaker 6: Tarry McDougal was one of their top prospects. They were hoping to you know, take part in the rotation. At some point he's on the eel as well, so like starting pitching, if something goes wrong, they don't necessarily have a great option to turn to right handed outfielders, you know. Ever since Praira and Austin Hayser banged, they just had to sign Randall Gritschuk off the you know, free agency, So there's some elements of their lineup like if something goes wrong or rotation goes wrong, like they don't necessarily have a ton to draw from because they're not really built up to contend. This is kind of surprise thing that's happened to them. But in terms of is there like some higher level ael central that they're walled out from, like playing on the same side of there's no one who.

00:22:20
Speaker 5: Like they go toe to toe with in that division.

00:22:23
Speaker 6: That they're overmatched with. So it's kind of a why not more than a y them situation. But that's that's that's an upgrade from where they've been.

00:22:31
Speaker 3: Agreed. I mean, it's nice to talk positive about the white soxual. It's been three long years on here James talking about Hunter loss, Hunter loss, Hunter Loss. Yeah, I mean I think the pitching is the one thing you worry about. But Davis Martin, he right now, he looks like a cy young candidate. He's beaten Soriano twice. Everyone you know, it says, oh, Soriano's got the cy Young and this and that, but Davis Martin has outdueled him twice now and last night ten punches, he looked electric.

00:22:57
Speaker 6: Yeah, Like up until last night, it's like these look like good. Davis Martin starts, he's mixing it up. He's using six pitches, he's pounding his zone. He's not walking anybody. He's not making any mistakes that or building up any bad innings that get him into you know, bad spots. But last night was just him blowing doors off from the start. Like his slider played amazingly. I know he tweaked it last season and saw better results from it, but he had been like kind of this kitchen sink, you know, work all sides of the plate. You show you a different type of attack every time, like kind of this old school effective mid rotation pitcher. But he's gonna pitch like he did last night. Then yeah, I thought like, man, if this keeps going, he could sneak his way onto an All Star team a little bit, you know, not accounting for the fact that Murk Comi's if they're going to be a single rep team, he's probably gonna be the guy. But the way you pitched last night, he's like, Hey, is he the All Star starter if we did it tonight? It sounds crazy to think he's not like this established top of the rotation ace, but he's certainly pile up the results and has so many weapons that he can turn to. Is going so deep into games consistently in a way that you don't see across the league. Right now, he's gonna be up there in terms of innings and war that I think he's going to be in that All Star conversation.

00:24:06
Speaker 3: On dred percent. Sean Berg's been great the last few times through rotation. Also, let's not let's not forget about what he's done. The back end of the bullpen's also been better. Sir Anthony has has kind of started to settle into that closers role. Some of the other guys, whether it's Taylor and all the White Sox fans hate Jordan Leisure. I don't know why, but I mean they just they'd love to hate on Jordan Leisure, but they've actually done a nice job kind of mixing and matching. Have they started to figure out some roles for guys in the bullpen.

00:24:32
Speaker 5: I think so.

00:24:33
Speaker 6: I mean Grant Taylor, he was opening at the start of the season. Now you're seeing him in leverage work a bit more often. Brian Hudson was a pretty good reliever for the Brewers in twenty twenty four. It seems like he's kind of back to that form. You know, he got cut by the Mets out of spring and they picked him up, you know, off the waiver wire, but he's been really good for a month, so that kind of settles up their lefty role pretty well. Sean Newcomb's been a pretty good multiing lefting for them as well, kind of as they anticipated when they picked him up in the offseason. So even with Leisure obviously not off to a good start, you know, most of his pitch metrics say he's mostly the same guy and he's going to round in the form. But they have like two or three set up guys that they feel pretty good about leading up to Dominga's and ever since, Diminga's worked on some things. The first couple of weeks where he's keeping his shoulder closed a bit more, he's getting that splitter down in a way to left handers, and that's now he's looks like a viable ninth inning guy when he has that weapon. So it's not the greatest bullpen of all time. It's not Murderer's Road, but it's certainly kind of more of a functional setup than the last couple of years where it was mostly leisure and then guys cycling it through the waiver wire or trying different things. So they did put the work in to at least give themselves like, at least a bullpen that looks like that of a playoff contender, you know, in the offseason. Now it feels felt crazy to really think like, why is this team spending on a closer? They're still rebuilding. Hey, now it doesn't look like such a crazy addition anymore, don't.

00:25:54
Speaker 3: You When you're in the al central changes everything, Scott, Yeah, that's slip quick man.

00:26:00
Speaker 1: It's not a good and I mean no offense to the division. I know they've had their years. What was it two years ago when a few teams made it, But aj, sometimes the margins are so thin that if you do build a nice bullpen, you pick up some wins you weren't supposed to early on in the season, it could make all the difference.

00:26:14
Speaker 6: Right, I mean, not to be negative, but two years ago a bunch of Ales Central teams are winning records when one of their teams that they played more than everyone else at one hundred and twenty one losses, So maybe they had a role and spiking how well the AL Central looked that year. I don't want to cast dispersions, but statistically it's a case that you could make that's fair.

00:26:36
Speaker 3: Also, also, James o't forget two years ago was Garret Corochees fall. That's what Chuck Garfinkel told us on here, that it was Garat Corochet's fall because they had to cover for him only pitching a few innings at a time, Which is one of the craziest things I ever heard, Chuck saying, he said a lot of crazy stuff years. Yeah, he said a lot of crazy stuff over the years. With that one ranked right up there, let's talk line up here. I mean Murcami revelation call. Some Montgomerys still hitting home runs, not a high average with a ton of home runs, but Antonachi since they put him in the leadoff spot has been great up there. Are they just going to keep them there for the foreseeable future and let him ride this wave out well.

00:27:13
Speaker 6: Venable loves the mix and match and play the platoon, so like, I don't know if sam Antanacchi.

00:27:17
Speaker 5: Will ever be everyday leadoff spot.

00:27:19
Speaker 6: Probably not this year and certainly not against lefties to start out. I mean, they got Chase my drop hitting fifth the last couple of days, Like they're not wedded to any like, hey, this is a small, fast OBP guy.

00:27:29
Speaker 5: Let's put him at the top. They'll they'll put guys anywhere.

00:27:32
Speaker 6: But yeah, he's he's been like crazy obps, gets hit by pitches, takes walks, hits for contact all throughout the miners. And now he's added a bit of bat speed with their training program in the off season, and now he looks much more like a viable hitter. And you know, he's someone who was starting to hit for a little bit of power in Charlotte. Maybe gives you a bit more top of the order thump that he can stick around there for a bit.

00:27:53
Speaker 5: I don't know.

00:27:54
Speaker 6: Exactly like it will be first all the time, it's it's working for him now, but I think he's going to be someone that they're is going to be at the heart of what they're doing, you know, in that top six, the lineup for the rest of the season until something something else happens.

00:28:10
Speaker 1: Hey, how lucky and how fortunate.

00:28:12
Speaker 2: You know.

00:28:12
Speaker 1: Do you think the organization is feeling for landing Morikami? You know, the conversation starting to pick up within the industry of hey, did we miss out here? Right, Like, the more you see this, the less it looks like a fluke. The more that he's hitting different types of pitches for homers, the more he keeps taking his walks, it's looking special. The reality of it is that from what I read, the White Sox weren't like one hundred percent sold on him. They loved the fact that they could try and get a guy who was a star in Japan and maybe seemed undervalued and could have some serious marketing systele if the industry had correctly assessed him, they weren't going to play in those waters.

00:28:56
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think they'd probably try to give themselves credit like, oh, we're open mind and we're searching for any opportunity. But yeah, they're totally lucky in several respects. Like the pitch that was given to me at the time the day they signed him was like why not, why should we not take a chance? Like what first base prospect are we blocking? What other plan do we have in place? Like if he flames out and he's terrible, what does it really do? How does it alter our timeline? Like if any team should take the shot, we should, and they certainly weren't. Like their whole off seasons built around Murracami. Everyone will tell you like this happened fast. We put in our presentation and then we told the next day that we were going to have it, Like it was a very short period of time in terms of putting it together. So everything about it like feels like that it fell into a lapse. Now they deserve credit for he's made adjustments mechanically, he's been working on the traject that they bought to acclimate the pitching. They've done so many things, So much work has been put into putting him in a good spot, and he's clearly seen results from it. But in terms of the acquisition process or this was not something that was like talked about as a target, like going in the off season or even talked about like a likely thing when you were getting the field for where they're at at the Winter Median. So in terms of like grand strokes of fate in history, right now, it looks like it ranks up with you know, winning the draft lottery.

00:30:12
Speaker 3: Come on, I mean, they had the best chance in the world of winning the draft lottery, so they should have won the draft lottery. I mean they tanked for three years to get the first pick. And yeah, so no this he fell in their lab because other teams were questioning them, and then he fell in their lab, and now the White text need to take advantage of him and get some Japanese marketing done and stuff like that.

00:30:31
Speaker 5: But then that leads me to my next question.

00:30:33
Speaker 3: Let's say they don't make the playoffs, or even if they do make the playoffs and have an early exit, okay, which I know we're not even forty games in, so it's a big ask. Will this offseason, depending on the lockout, and I'm just going to say there's not going to be one, will they go out and make the necessary moves to bolster this team to a point where they actually can be a legitimate contender. By spending some money on some players that are free agents, whether it's starting pitching, relievers, bench pieces, starting pieces, to get them Excuse me too, I know my stomach can't even believe that I'm saying this to a point where they can be legitimate contenders to win a World Series.

00:31:09
Speaker 6: Again, I'd be surprised if they launched back into like the top five in the payroll, which they had been like say, you know, back when you were playing twenty twenty twelve or or something like that.

00:31:20
Speaker 5: Like I think they would take a step up.

00:31:22
Speaker 6: I think they would, you know, have the posture of like, let's try to win the vision. I think they would build upon like the activity they had in this offseason. If they suddenly vaulted towards like we're going to you know, spend with the big boys. We're going to be shopping at the top of the market, that would surprise me. Based on I don't know, the last ten years of covering the team, Like obviously they push forward a little bit, you know, the last rebuild, but as far as like making that step right now based on what they say their revenues have been the past couple of years, a huge leap forward that would surprise. I think it will step up from what it was this offseason, which was obviously more active, but not you know, we're gonna, you know, go toe to toe with the Dodgers level of activity.

00:32:05
Speaker 1: James, where's the team at on the prospect front? We've seen some exciting call ups this year last year. Is there more on the way soon to provide some reinforcements.

00:32:18
Speaker 6: They would want to see Brady Montgomery and Hagen Smith in Chicago this season. I don't think it's an imminute sort of thing. Brady Montgomery just got promoted the Triple A. I think you want to see if he actually has some success there. He is, you know, physically as tooled now as you can be, but it's a kind of a swing and misprofile. I think you want to give a bat like that sometime to acclimate and not rush the level of stuff he's facing too crazily. Hagen Smith, stuff wise, is ready to go. It's more about one command. The walks have been unacceptably high, probably his whole pro career, even if he's had pretty good results.

00:32:52
Speaker 5: Outside of it.

00:32:53
Speaker 6: But also he pitched in the AFL last year and they've been slow playing him ever since his last start with three innings long. They want to get him up to five at some point, but they've been doing it very gradually for the point where you wonder if he's going to be making kind of full length starts much before June, and so I think you don't want to really want to throw him into major league rotation and give him a slot before he's doing that. But that would be like the primary, you know, top hundred great prospects that you would see over the course of this year. I think Caleb Bonamer probably another year away. Even if he's killing High A. There are other guys who are doing Triple A pretty well. Jacob Gonzalez, their former first round pick he really kind of forgotten about, is hitting a lot better in Triple A this year in a way that bears some paying attention to. But they've already promoted a good chunk of you know what they want this year with Noah Schultz in Sam Antanaci, Channon McDougall gets healthy again this season. That's someone they wanted to make a debut at some point this year. He certainly can hit one hundred and be an impact in the rotation or the bullpen. Depending on where he's at. But I think the biggest pieces you've maybe probably seen already with Noah Schultz, but I think Bray Montgomery Higginsmith that would be kind of the thing is to wait for in the next two to three months.

00:34:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think we hit it well. We'll keep an eye on those two names. James, thanks for joining us. Man. James covers the White Sox for Sox Machine. You can get a lot more coverage there from him listening and reading wise, good to catch up. It's man, maybe we'll be talking more. We haven't had John enough because you know, but maybe a little more now. Maybe another phone call or too throughout the season.

00:34:23
Speaker 5: What do you say?

00:34:25
Speaker 6: There have been people who I didn't realize had my number who have wanted to talk about the White Sox in the last week or two that so sure, it's been not crazy.

00:34:34
Speaker 5: It feels like about the White Sox. I talk about the.

00:34:37
Speaker 6: White Sox, but like the fan base right now, it's like, uh, you remember back when money was tight and like getting your tax returned felt like like a huge windfall. Like that's what they feel like about having a team that's like playing five hundred, Like they can't believe like what they've come into.

00:34:51
Speaker 5: I get that.

00:34:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I was saying this five ten minutes ago or whatever right before you came on. Some fans who write us and always come playing about where our coverage tilts as a national show. There are thirty teams in the bigs recently feel like, oh, you're talking about the White Sox too much. I'm like, are you kidding me? They're like, oh, it's Aj. You know he wants to talk about the White Sox. Well, first of all, as you know, pretty prideful White Sox player, he's kind of a big deal there. But also like we barely talk about them up until this year. We've talked about them probably more in the first month and a half James than we have in all of the other years combined on this show, based on Morecami and a decent start. So we're going to keep talking about them until they fall out of contention. That's a promise.

00:35:35
Speaker 5: I'll be around.

00:35:36
Speaker 1: Thank you, good catching up, dude. Appreciate you all right.

00:35:39
Speaker 5: I think care