Over the New Year break, the Chicago White Sox came to terms with pitcher Chris Flexen. Jeff Passan and Bob Nightengale reported that the Sox and Flexen have come to terms on a 1-year/$1.75m contract. How does this affect the White Sox rotation? Can Flexen find success on the South Side? Join the CHGO White Sox crew, Sean Anderson, Herb Lawrence, and Vinnie Duber to discuss!
0:00 – Introshow setup
3:16 – White Sox signed another starting pitcher (Chris Flexen)
11:20 – What will Sox do with all these starting pitchers?
21:58 – Who is Chris Flexen?
32:10 – White Sox are putting a lot of faith in Brian Bannister (Senior Advisor of Pitching)
41:41 – Flexen has had no trouble with place of play
43:19 – Who is the Big Baby on the White Sox?
45:44 – Lucas Giolito to the Red Sox, Chris Sale traded to the Braves
54:50 – Odds for White Sox starters to make the rotation
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#WhiteSox #ChicagoWhiteSox #changethegame
Yeah heyo welcome in to the chgo white sock podcast coming to you live from Studio A of our chgo offices here in the West Loop of Chicago I’m your host Sean Anderson alongside me the full chgo White Soxs crew that is Vinnie duber our chgo White Sox beat writer you can
Follow him at Vinnie duber and you can read his latest piece up at algo.com about Chris flexon hey there’s producer Sarah hi sorry I threw off the order looks good Sarah flashing Vinnie’s uh screenshot so go check it out over at algo.com it’s not just a screenshot you can actually
Scroll you could go and scroll and it’s more words than even Sarah showed that’s iconic uh and the man of the middle is her hello you can follow him at eal 23 he’s our chgo White Sox Community leader uh and thanks everyone hanging out with
Us in the chat it’s still uh it’s a new year but uh same faces old old faces old familiar faces like Luke Jordan and uh Matt from okan hanging out with us in the chat make sure you hit that thumbs up button and make sure you’re subscribing because uh who isn’t a Bears
Fan right you might be a white sock fan you might be a Cubs fan but everyone uh is a Bears fan in Chicago and the number one uh with the crown over there means that the Bears have the number one pick this is going to be again uh and uh the
The whole quarterback thing uh is is huge so if you are looking for uh Chicago Bears coverage we also cover the the Bears on this this channel so make sure you’re subscribing make sure you’re telling your grandma make sure my grandma watches every one of these shows make sure you’re telling your grandma
Make sure you’re telling your grandpa make sure you’re telling any family friends that you know of of chgo because uh it’s going to be a big year and we also called each other to wear the same hats man we’re matching I I was going to be like you know what it’s 2024 I
Finally got one of the hats right I should go ahead and wear it proudly today and I had a moment of pause I’m like H what if Sean and Herbert wearing the same hat we all look like we’re matching and I’m like no I’ll roll the
Dice a roll of the dice today should have just gone with the blue this is this is strange looking came up craps the Hat the hat looks great the hats all together looks like we’re about to take the field they well I mean there they are three different hats though um you
You have a clean fresh one you know seems like you just took it out of the wrapping uh you have the trucker hat with the chg under the flag and as Lawrence called mine uh old and dirty so uh I think he was calling you old and
Dirty and the Hat’s all right oh nice oh great good good thanks you’re only like what 24 I was going to say it’s not often around here sean gets called old he didn’t like it false uh all right but uh let’s jump in uh as I wrote on
Twitter to promote the show I said come join Vinnie ecnerwal and Sean Anderson as they discussed the shape of the white sock rotation what is the shape of the white socks rotation is it a circle is it um a square wow this is this is abstract this is abstract but here’s
What I would say it has uh there’s a lot of volume yes there are a lot of guys who could be in this white sock rotation uh but as I wrote today I don’t think any of them uh are anything close to what you would call a sure thing giving
You dependability reliability going into the air the only guy who would do that is Dylan CE and the big question mark for him right now is is he even going to be on the White Sox come spring training or come opening day so uh Chris flexen
Is the newest member of that group and it is a group that Chris gets keeps adding to it’s a it’s a group that keeps welcoming in new names but uh I think you’d be hard pressed to find excitement in the fan base uh for just about any of
These guys as we were talking before the show you know we spent you know one or two weeks considering it was arguably the biggest move of the winter meetings talking about Eric fetty coming to the white socks he he’s starting to look like the guy who’s going to be the
Biggest lock the biggest sure thing out there and he didn’t even pitch in the major leagues last year so it should go to show you exactly what the shape of the White Sox rotation is at the moment because it is just nothing but questions all the way up and down yeah if you’re
An MLB fan you see these names as Vinnie brought up fetty flexen you’ve heard of these guys and you’ve heard of them getting rocked for their uh the later part of their uh Major League Baseball careers and so it doesn’t like instill like excitement in you and it shouldn’t
But I think that Eric uh that uh B Brian Bannister and Chris gets and some part of Ethan cats are like yes we can bring these guys in and get them back on track cuz it’s not that far away from when Chris flexon in 2021 was at the top of
The league in erra and innings pitched and wins like he was there in Seattle and doing well and it just fell off the table I think and I’ve been reading a little bit about him maybe the pitch clock messed him up big time this past year because in 2021 he had the most
Pickoffs to first base at any as any B but BAS ball player and he only picked off three guys so I don’t know what the hell he was doing but it’s a move that what $1.75 million who cares it’s a drop in the bucket and it’s actually giving the
White sock what they desperately need depth it not might not be good depth but these pitchers at minimum will be Major League starters at minimum maybe in the minor leagues you can have these tu tu sons and the Jesse Shulton go down to give you Triple A depth and then when
It’s time when one of these pitchers inevitably gets hurt you can have actual major league pitchers come up instead of people who like who is this guy this is not a this is not major league quality Tuki doesn’t have any options so TI is either on the team or off the team so
This is a a a move but it’s not a move where you got to get mad at if you’re a white sock fan it’s a fine well here’s the thing herb is that all the moves have been that so far I mean and and you know you could go into the position
Player side and basically say the same thing but if we’re just looking at the starting pitching the guys who have been added to it fetty flexen Soka Schuster I guess if you want to say Shane Drohan from the rule five draft I mean you’re talking about you’re talking about all
Really lowrisk but I mean they’re dice rolls all all of them are dice rolls and listen they brought in Brian Bannister for a reason a guy who said that it when he talked to us back in September his sweet spot he called it his sweet spot
Is working with guys coming off of down years who you know need to kind of recapture their former glory a little bit there’s a lot of those guys out there and and the the two guys that you mentioned are kind of part of that they didn’t really overly impress in their
Auditions last year uh that being tucon and Shulton you got some guys down in the minor leagues specifically Davis Martin who’s going to be coming off of an injury and then you’ve got of course Michael copc who had a terrible year last year and is going to need to be
That’s a lot of work for Brian Bannister and Ethan Katz to do and listen on on the positive side hey the white sock have guys who enjoy doing that work who have had success doing that work like good thing that they’ve got them in there because that’s what they’ve got to
Work with now but you’d also like some guys like Dylan CE who maybe don’t need to be worked with too much you know what I mean who don’t need to have that bounce back um you know whether CE is going to be here or not we don’t know
But to this point there’s been nobody added that you would look at and say oh that’s a long-term move that’s a guy that the white sock are are getting to put themselves in good a good spot in the years to come I think they’re hoping that some of these guys could could pay
Off that way but um you know a one-year deal for Chris flexon that sounds like a sign and flip to me right I mean or or an Innings eater even at that uh you know and and really fetty we’ve talked about the the possibility of that being
The same thing even though he is signed for two years you know if he’s killing it in July with the with what he was able to do in Korea is he going to be a guy that might just turn into prospects and and you start to wonder what what is
The long-term positioning on the pitching side they’ve got some guys in the minor leagues at the Double a level and and even lower if you’re talking about Noah Schultz who you know give you reason for optimism but the the guys they’ve been adding so far that’s why I
I use the word volume because I’m not quite sure what the quality is going to end up being on these guys but at least the the amount of players considering what we described as a pretty bare cupboard a pretty Barren cupboard when Chris gets took over I guess you can at
Least say that he’s he’s he’s infused some bodies into into that group yeah and not to sound harsh but I do think that’s maybe the Brian banister plan is to throw as many bodies out there as possible uh we we’ve brought up how many starters or how many pitchers made
Starts for the Giants last year they’re a team that goes through a ton of pitchers I think they had 44 some of these are position players but around 40 pitchers over the past two years uh throw a pitch for the Giants like they they are looking for the
Ability to just get to the end of the season and I don’t think that they care if it looks pretty um at least from what we look at banister previous pitching uh staffs for from Brian banister um so I get your point about all the question marks because there are a ton of
Question marks but is this not what you kind of talked about two weeks ago where you want to just grab all of the guys and and and have a ton of options it absolutely is but I think it needs to go in concert with other things right because we’ve talked about teams White
Sox teams in the past who looked like they had a solid starting five but there was nothing underneath them right and and so that’s the thing is like hey you need to build depth go out and get these minor league guys and see what you can
Do but then on the other hand if you’re just getting the depth part if you’re just getting guys who fall into that depth category who’s making all the starts for you you know what I mean like there it’s it’s great to have guys who did what Davis Martin did two years ago
Who could who can step into that role when someone gets hurt and you know you’re going to have confidence in in in plugging them in maybe Jesse Shulton ends up being that type of pitcher this year right or Jared Schuster a guy they can kind of shuttle up and down but they
Need they need guys to make starts they need guys to eat Innings Chris flexon is a guy who has eaten innings in the past and so maybe that’s what they’re seeing here Eric fetty is probably going to be a guy that’s relied upon to do that but
I mean how many times start to start were we talking about how many how many innings is Michael copc going to last today you know what I mean when we were throughout 2023 and so if he’s a guy that you’re that you’re going to lean on
To make a lot of starts and he’s got marks about it you don’t know how effective Eric fetty is going to be because he hasn’t faced Major League hitting in two years Chris flexen coming off a terrible season from an RA standpoint at the end of the day I
Understand that you need so many more than five pitchers but you also need those five pitchers I get your point but even like looking at the fan graphs right now their depth chart uh they have Tuki in the rotation along with Soka copc Fetti and CE but Garrick crochet
Has somewhat of a starter past right like could we see gar crochet be an opener I don’t think it’d be that surprising we know Jimmy Lambert’s been a starter in the past uh Davey Garcia has disgusting stuff so I do wonder if you just try to make a really difficult
Matchup to open up a game Tanner Banks has given you a lot of length in Innings Chris flexon as well in the in the the uh Bullpen and then Davis Martin who you bring up will likely return in you know May or June if everything goes correctly
Like all of these guys have the ability to open up a game so I don’t think it’s going to be again that’s three Innings but that’s three Innings right I mean you know you just you’re killing your you got get somebody else do you think the white socks are doing this on
Purpose though knowing that these guys are not really rotation pieces they’re doing the San Francisco thing because they’re trying to find a market inefficiency of okay in Major League Baseball how many people have a complete pitching rotation very few and so they’re probably saying okay it’s very
Expensive to fill that out if we do have a a very full rotation let’s go with the more inexpensive and throw more arms at Players like San Francisco did because it’s very hard to go from three Innings of Chris flexon even though Chris flexon wasn’t good and then change it up with a
Different pitcher like they’re probably just doing a different philosophy because all these pitchers coming in are on the roster I mean that 1.7 million you can cut him a drop in the bucket but he’s signed to a major league deal right he’s going to be he’s going to be on the
Team exactly and so and you just read all the people on the St rotation that’s they have way too many and so I’m thinking they’re just getting a bunch of arms so they can do the San Francisco thing like you’re suggesting and it fits right into what Jerry rinor has always
Preached you don’t give long-term money to starting pitchers and then they’re trying to actively trade their Ace that they found because he’ll cost too much money I think they’re trying to do this on purpose to just start a new markeet in efficiency cuz they know that they’re
Not going to be paying pitches top of the market money yeah I’m not s suggesting that they’re doing the San Francisco thing I’m just saying the guy the guy who was in San Francisco is now here and doing the thing and you could definitely tell that’s all I’m not
Trying to make any big jumps here no no he has influence he’s I would say that this is like 100% his influence cuz you wouldn’t see these deals to Rick H or Kenny Williams in the past like they wouldn’t do as many as the cou was be
Last year they wouldn’t be having all these players that are starters and starter quality on the rotation and there’s way too many uh players for the rotation I think they’re just going to be doing that thing where Michael copc has shown that he is not a five ining
Pitch or not a a regular starter in his career so maybe he’s a threein dive four in dive and then we bring another guy in that is paired with them maybe it’s flexen maybe it’s a left-hander I don’t know yet but it seems like you can’t have this many people that are starting
Rotation people that really haven’t done or haven’t done well in relief as Flex and hasn’t and then expect them all to be starting rotation people because there’s too many spots too many pitchers for five spots and they’re not going to do with a seven man rotation no nor
Should they um I I think if you’re talking about you know doing a piggybacking situation that’s dangerous because that’s a that’s a roster spot and that’s a that’s a bullpen that’s a bullpen spot that you’re taking away right so I mean if you need somebody the
Next day to come in and clean up when things don’t go well for Eric fety or heck things don’t go well for Dylan CE if he’s still around right and you need to cover six Innings of a game that you didn’t think you were going to need to
Cover that much that’s that’s really putting your Bullpen on tenuous ground but I I would say this going into spring training and having a lot of options is a good thing the question is how many of these options are are good how many of these options are going to pan out some
One or two of them will right some of them will it’s not like they’re just going to all show up and just oh well everybody has a 6C it’s the worst pitching staff in the history of love to say that it’s not going to happen you
Saw what happened a few years ago with Johnny quo right when he just they were just like yeah fine Johnny quo let’s see what he’s got and that was Ethan cat saying hey let’s go get Johnny quo from experience turned out to be great for him there’s going to be just as many
People that are if not more who are Irvin Santana who are you know what I mean who just don’t work at all um but you need the you need the volume and so I’m I’m complimenting the volume it just doesn’t it just seems like so many of them are complete are are complete
Flyers and that includes some of the guys who are on a little bit more stable footing in terms of their spot on the roster a guy like copc a guy like fety and and now you add flexen who’s on a Major League deal I mean those guys are
Going to be on the team they’re going to be part they whether they’re part of the rotation all year who knows but they’re going to be on the team it’s just a matter of are they going to be any good are they going to do are they going to
Perform you know you can it it’s a it’s a good thing that they’re leaning on banister because they think so highly of him he’s had success in other places and he could work Magic on one two more of these guys and and that would be great
But at the end of the day you need you need guys to get out and you need to be if you you need to be able to look Pedro Graal in the eye and say hey I’m not going to just put you in a position where you got to burn through your
Bullpen every day and you’re going to and you’re going to be managing with one hand TI behind your back but I think there’s going to be guys with designated long work each day they might not start the game like Shawn manah is a guy that sticks out as a past giant signing and
He was a guy that was consistently a starter in Oakland and I think he started five games for the Giants last year like he um all of his work which was like 30 plus uh outings only five of them were actual true starts um but he still was
Giving you five innings each time like let’s just give him consistent work on a designated day sure so maybe that’s Michael cop’s new thing where he’s still giving you five innings but he comes in during the third inning uh I I’m not sure what it will look like obviously we
Got to see how it plays out um but uh what was I going to build off with a manah point I don’t know uh at least since 2021 there’s been 90 pitching staffs right because 30 times three um San Francisco has had the ninth highest uh war in 2021 the 15th highest
Pitching staff in War uh in 2022 and then last year it was uh 45th so obviously uh they didn’t get the the the Run support maybe they needed uh in that 2022 uh Team when they had rodon but that’s the one thing that really I think separates those giants rotations is they
Had Logan web and then Carlos Ordon at one point right they they did have some of those bigger work horses as starting pitchers so I do think it’s still a problem right that they don’t have any of those guys that they can truly rely on maybe Fett’s that we know CE can be
That but will he be even on the team uh we’ll talk about that after we take a quick break want to let you know though about our friends over at ComEd and our friends over at Empire first first we got to let you know about how easy it is
For businesses to switch to electric vehicles it’s something we can all get behind for the health of the planet and for the well-being of all of us who share it Vinnie Sean that’s very correct it’s not just correct it’s very correct the electric grid is evolving to meet
Your cleaner energy needs as we all move with confidence toward an electric tomorrow who I believe they’re playing the electric tomorrow is playing The Empty Bottle later this week I think whether you have one delivery van or a whole Fleet of shipping trucks ComEd can help guide you to make the changes that
Make sense whole Fleet of shipping trucks is is open up really uh what’s your business owner it’s wordy yeah wfo St the album’s good though what the band name’s wordy but the album’s good oh yeah like Queens of the Stone h Sean you asked what business owners
Should do what they should do what should business owners what they should do is go to comed.com clean to learn more about the resources Fleet rebates and infrastructure incentives available to help businesses go electric if you yes you own a business don’t wait start making your plan today to switch to
Electric Vehicles they’re good for business good for the planet and good for all of us go to comed.com did you say comed.com clean you know Sean hasn’t been hanging out at The Empty Bottle because his hearing is perfect that’s exactly what I said go now and see how going electric
Connects us to a better way of doing business and a better future for generations to come you know I really love to enjoy concerts by uh putting uh things into my ear so the sound quality and the noise is uh deafened you know I never understood that you’re going to a
Concert maybe have sensitive ears but like okay I’m I’m young so I can damage my ears but like you know what’s the point just don’t go to a concert then you’re not getting any argument here okay all right uh you guys want to sing speaking of concerts yes
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Use promo code chgo restrictions apply see empiretoday.com chgo for details uh baloney saying you’d pull off a Empire carpet guy for Halloween it’s a good it’s a good costume idea you have to have to go white have to get it all white but yeah I mean he’s saying that
You would look well as a 70-year-old so that’s good thanks I guess very kind words um all right uh let’s look at Chris flex’s 2021 uh any I I know this is going to be a place that maybe I lose you here uh but I’m going to try to make
This as easy as possible is 2021 yes he almost threw 180 Innings that he did he he almost had Michael cop’s Dream Season um aund 179 innings in two 179 23s Innings a 361 ra for Chris flexen uh that is coming off of a stint in the kbo uh
During the uh shorten 2020 uh Chris flexon said screw that I don’t know if there’s going to be a baseball season let’s go pitch and K they’ve got two Korea Korea uh players now oh yeah yeah in the same rotation yeah over there he pitched 116 23s Innings and that was his
Most like professional work uh he had stin in the MLB with the Mets but didn’t pitch more than 50 innings in either of those STS from 2017 2018 2019 2020 he finally got the chance to go make 20 starts uh in a professional league and had an RA of 301 took that confidence
And came back back and put up a three-w season in 2021 with the Mariners again 179 and 2/3 Innings and a 361 ra and the way that he made that was or the made way that he was so efficient was his location uh his location plus was a 104
Uh the leader in this stat at least in 2021 was H Julio uas uh at 108 uh 100 would be League average so he’s 4% better than a qualified starter at loow pitches and as sah if you want to flash this graph here um you can see that his
Fast is you know up in the zone it’s it’s kind of concentrated to up uh and back then he had a really good vertical movement on his fast ball which made it gave it that Rising factor which either caused weak contact or swing and Miss rise ball Rising fast ball Jenny Finch
Yes maybe maybe they should hire her what if I mean again it’s the whole uh Rookie of the Year conversation I mean they’re not expecting you to throw underhand so what if you did rip it like Jenny Finch I don’t think it’s illegal no of course not probably hurt your
Elbow but other than that yeah right um he also mixed in a cutter and you could see that that cutter again was uh located to a very specific Zone it was going to be low and in uh mostly to I think that’s righties if I’m reading the
The plate correctly um and then that curveball it was low and he tried keep it low and then that change up uh it was really just on one side of the plate and working it off that four seam fastball with its natural tail it it’s just going
To end up in that area right so it looks like a four seam fast ball uh at 91 but it’s actually that 83 uh m per hour change up change up looks like the state of Illinois kind of let me see weirdly kind of kind of it’s giving
A little bit well maybe more the cutter does sorry the cutter does the Cutter’s got more of a kind of I could kind of see the the M anyways um but as you could tell his location Plus in 2023 and 2022 not 104 and I don’t need to show the the what’s
It what are those called The Rack test theack the rack test for you because they’re not as pretty they they’re not as succinct he was very very good in 2021 even though the stuff wasn’t that great um he delivered with location his stuff plus was a 93 which isn’t great
But you even see with location plus there’s guys like Kyle Hendricks above him uh right guys that make their uh their money on weak contact so I I think that if Brian banister can work on getting back to those zones and getting back to uh getting more vertical
Movement on Chris flex’s fastball he could be a guy that’s a four er right he he could be a guy that ends up giving you 100 plus Innings and a a very uh below average uh ER so I I I don’t know if it’s a a bad signing but again it’s
Nothing that you can actually you know lock in uh right I don’t know if Chris flexon will will make the uh rotation um but two players or two uh people on online this is my final thing we’ll jump into a different topic uh pitch profiler and uh TJ stats at TJ stats
Um Chris flexen according to uh TJ stats uh has an expected 2024 ra of 4.0 8 a negative 2.78 uh difference from his actual ER in 2023 and Pitch profiler has him as the biggest bounceback candidate from 2023 ra to 2024 predicted ra Chris flexon again 6.86 uh ER in 2023 pitch
Profiler having him as a predicted RA in 4.01 uh so at least uh as long as the location is there uh expected stats do like Chris flexen because again the main thing is him causing weak contact and with the the better defense hopefully he’ll be able to deliver that and hey
Maybe Martin maldonado’s game plans will be able to come through for cl uh Chris flexen so just trying to talk about why they might be interested in the guy that my gut reaction was to throw up what well take it easy Sean it’s going to be
Okay I know I know just saying like I I just you know I think yeah it’s just ugly I mean yeah you just go take some take some Pepto settle that down but uh I I think listen there’s been a lot of talk you know Among Us included but but
Folks online as well that I’ve seen about what what are they trying to do here what are the white sock trying to do here and I think big picture that that question is very valid right we we haven’t seen a lot of moves that have Ben that are going to benefit them for
The long term uh and on top of that a lot of the moves we’ve seen them make for the short term don’t seem like they’re going to enhance this team enough to make them really you know competitive in in 2024 that being said it is following a plan of how they
Want to play and and I think that if you are wondering what they’re trying to do they’re very clearly trying to as Sean has Illustrated not just with flexon but with Tim Hill and with Eric fetty before them they’re trying to get guys who hit the ball on the ground to their now
Better infielders who can pick up the ball and throw it to first base that’s how you get an out they really seem to be I mean seriously they really seem to be trying to make their pitching staff better this is odd to say without going and spending a lot of money on their
Pitching staff if that makes sense right they they have gotten guys to surround the pitching staff and hopefully make it easier for them to pitch now is that going to mean they’re going to have the best pitching staff in the AL Central in in 2024 I mean I don’t think a lot of
People are going to be betting on that does it mean that they’re going to have a chance at winning the division in 2024 I don’t think a lot of people are going to be bet on that but you can see the way they’re trying to play the way
They’re trying to improve this team if even just marginally so there’s that little bit of an answer there that said that outstanding question of what are they doing to make this team better in the long run I definitely still think remains very much unanswered the thing
Is I think that they’re at the end of next year when we’re looking back we could say man Brian banister Chris getson them genius moves cuz if if Chris flexen throws a 4.08 ER say 100 plus Innings that’s a genius ass move for 1.75 they’re going
To flip him he’s going to be on somebody else’s team and they’re bringing in the next Chris flexon next year and maybe Brian banister will be up for some general manager spots cuz that is some genius stuff now this can be a disaster which is most White Sox fans are
Thinking it’s going to be because you have a bunch of nobodies out there who are going to be pitching for the 2024 white sock and then you’re trying to trade your best pitcher who your only pitcher you can actually rely on so I don’t mind that they’re doing this
Because they talked to you guys and they said they were going to be doing things like this I like when they explain what they’re doing and then go out and execute what they’re doing I might not like the people they’re picking up but at least they’re following through on
Their game plan and if Chris flexen and Eric fetty who I have like you said V much more uh confidence that he’s actually going to be good because this is his first year off of kbo just like when flexon went to kbo came the next year and learned the things he had in
Korea and then installed them into what his major league Talent was I think that’s going to be the same thing with fedy I think if they get something out of flexon that is reminiscent of anything under five five ER or below it’s a good signing and so I’m he
Five ra and as long as he’s thrown 160 Innings I mean be an Innings oh my God yeah that’s already yeah that’s hands down you could throw like a 12 V but yes I this is under 2 million this yeah this is their plan I might not like it but
They laid it out and this is what they’re doing I don’t like that they haven’t got a starting second basement yet hello to my guy Nicki Lopez or a right fielder but I think those are on the menu still there’s still available people who are available to pick up but
I see what they’re doing it’s fine it might work out but when if it does we’re going to be marveling up about this front office staff and what they did this offseason with how active Chris gets is he’ll probably be talking about a new acquisition you know next week so
I’m not I’m not too worried um but yeah I think that there is value in just going out and and pitching uh again Kyle Gibson basically had one War uh this year and he had an erra of like oh sorry no I just lost it uh 4.73 and pitched
192 Innings right like if if Chris flexon can give you I don’t know near one war like that’s teams are paying 9.5 million they just paid him 1.75 I think we’re talking about Jord the same thing he was terrible Jord just sending him out there just to throw Innings that has
Value it saves bull pins even though you’re bad what you are saying is true and I agree with it but I guess to my point when you talk about what Chris gats and and team brass has said to us what’s one thing they want to make very clear they’re not doing rebuilding yes
And if you’re going out and signing guys the oneyear sign and flip contracts what does that look like re that looks like you’re rebuilding Y and I I and and that’s listen if they if that’s the way that they think they’re going to turn this thing around then okay but they’re
They’re coming out and saying adamantly this is not a rebuild we’re not using that word rebuild you got Jerry saying we are not doing the complete tear down and thing that’s going to take forever like it just did with Rick Han and so your your first ex some of your first
Actions upon not rebuilding about upon not doing the complete tear down is to Hope Chris flexon turns into two prospects at the trade deadline like that sounds like a rebuild right I think it’s on it is a rebuild I mean we we knew that I mean is it shocking that
It’s a rebuild they just don’t want to say it right and that’s why I joke about the word revamping because maybe they’ll use that because it’s not rebuilt that’s what I’m saying they’re not doing anything that’s that there that is going to be that long-term thing but I I I
Disagree with you because is not over yet but still the longterm thing is Brian banister the long-term thing is actually being a professional organization and trying to have the idea of if a player is struggling how do we help them besides just keep throwing them out there to just fix it right I
Think Brian banister is trying to use every single piece of data to help the pitchers and I I I know that that sounds like a very well duh no [ __ ] like that’s what they should be doing but it’s he he has shown that he is better at this than
Other people in Major League Baseball so I think the whole idea isn’t oh well let’s go get X player because you can look at San Francisco I forgot about this you know who had a 5.72 n or a five that’s not how you say ER many digs uh
5.72 erra before coming to the uh Giants in 2020 who played with the Braves in the Reds in 2019 oh Anthony scalfani no not Anthony D scalfani who is it no I want you to keep keep guessing cuz I forgot and this is one got play one a former
Orial as well a orial red break yeah who went to the Giants went to the Giants forgot that this guy was even a pitcher for the for the Giants Michael Lorenzen nope which year 2020 and 2021 I’m just shouting out former red like because they loost they didn’t have rhon
In 2021 and I was like well who else was there with Logan Webb this guy and then he got a big contract from a different team what team in the AL Jesus Christ Sean I don’t I don’t know Kevin Gosman oh Kevin Gosman Kevin Gosman wasn’t hot [ __ ] in
2019 coming off his 28y old old season I remember Brave Kevin go right do you remember red Kevin go no I remember him as a giant um and blue J exactly and and he didn’t become like you know great until going to the Giants and working
With Brian Bannister um a lot of it was location too making sure that he could locate that fast ball that was like 97 plus and his splitter that was nasty like getting it to actually be whff pitch um it’s and it’s all about how it comes out of the hands right and that’s
What Brian Bannister showed even on Twitter and that’s why I love this guy he’s great for Content uh Chris Sale gets traded and he’s showing rap stto slowed down camera of Chris uh sales fastball you could just see the great rotation coming off of Chris sa’s fastball in slow motion right he’s going
To be able to do that for every single uh player and we don’t hear stories about that uh from prior regimes like we know that the socks have a pitch lab in Camelback Ranch but it doesn’t seem like there’s a ton of stories coming out
Being like oh look at how proud of we are it does seem like Brian Bannister has studied the art of pitching I know that’s his whole like company or like his old side thing um but I think he actually means it like I think that this the whole long-term plan is Brian
Banister at least for as long as he wants to be here will set the groundwork of how to professionally help pitchers now let me tell you if Brian Bannister does this year and next year what we’re saying he might do he’s not going to be here that long he’s somebody other
Team’s going hey you’re the general manager now just like Craig breslo is now the general manager in uh Boston that took a little bit longer but yeah that’s guy if he this philosophy because I would think that to get him from San Francisco you had to give him certain
Type of uh assurances of hey you have the the ear of Chris gets not only the ear but you can uh have the pictures that you want oh yeah I mean it has been laid out that he is playing a huge role in the acquisition of these players and
He was sold on Chris get’s plan right and I I think that there’s the prior relationship of them playing together like I I think that this is Chris gets trying to get the the gain together to win a World Series like I don’t think that banister jumps to an opportunity
Until he’s bored with this one CU I I get your point that he probably is you know in line for a general manager spot yeah absolutely but do this yeah but again he’s he’s back at a place where he grew up too like I I think that there is
Some other personal motivations besides being a GM he’s still young I mean he he’s got he’s got time if he wants to be a GM so I get I get your point but I do think that there is at least the narrative that we’ve heard is big on
Chris gs’s future being sold on Chris get’s future everybody has everybody’s saying that whether it’s whether it’s the guys who joined the front office guys who joined the coaching staff guys who uh have have come to the team as players everybody’s saying that and and I you know I think that that says
Something about that that long-term Vision even if we’re not seeing it in in action necessarily yet but I do think that you know I’ve obviously been harping on that for weeks now with with the moves that they’ve been making but I will say on the on the on the positive
End of it a you’ve got everybody raving about what they’re hearing from Chris gets and B maybe it does start with just bringing in guys that play the right way that play the way the way they want them to play and saying all right we’re going
To set it this might not be the most talented team you’ve ever seen this might not be a team that’s going to compete for the AL Central title but boy they’re going to play the way we want them to play and so next offseason we
Can go out to a free agent and say are you going to play like that because that’s what we want on our team it it it might not put a lot of butts in the seats this year necessarily but if it’s all about building that organizational identity as part of this makeover as
Part of that long-term plan I guess you do got to start somewhere yeah uh let’s take a break and we’ll talk about what this uh rotation will actually look like come Opening Day Vinnie you brought up the idea of odds uh to make the starting
Rotation and uh let’s I I put some out there so so we’ll see what happens uh let’s let you know though about our friends over at game time uh if you are looking for uh a stressfree way to get into the next big event uh game time is
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Off thank you Vinnie you’re welcome Sean herb would you bring up about flexen with it with the pitch clock uh in 2021 he threw the most uh pickoff uh pickoffs the first in the league attempts pick off attemps and he only picked off I think only three or four people
You disagree what I don’t not the pitch clock the new rules limiting the number of times you throw first okay he’s a big big time killer uh at least from statcast uh pitcher running game Who uh there’s a stat pitcher base advance run uh pitcher base advances prevented uh
Pbap of course rolls off the tongue uh if you have a plus number that’s good that means you’re preventing runs you who led the league Chris flexing on the mes no shock Dylan CE somehow Dead uh so I I don’t remember Dylan having too many problems I think that was more of a
Clevenger and copc thing um but flexen was above average uh two pitcher base advance is prevented so I don’t know if that’s a huge issue and also uh he didn’t work super fast but he still worked well under the uh allowed time limit uh for the actual pitch Tempo and
Didn’t have any violations so I don’t know if he was was too affected by the by the pitch clock I don’t I don’t know if that’s I you like Vinnie said the throwing over to the first like you can only do it twice or three times but I
Mean also that I mean I was Colorado rolling out the best I mean I guess he was All-Star MVP uh the the best defensive catchers like I don’t know that could also just be a part of the the defensive uh game around you um the matchup of the big
Baby both of these Chris flex’s nickname White Sox fans is Big Baby and as we know aloy Jimenez hi Mom uh also nickname big baby so 64 aloy Jimenez 240 lbs versus 63 219 Chris flexen they’re both pretty big babies who is getting the nickname I think the White Sox will
Stick with calling aloy that you know it’s entrenched kind of situation I mean they had the whole ceremony in La for him when he died when he died when the big baby passed but I think he acts kind of like a childlike not in the bad way and not a negative
Connotation there I so the big baby fits with the lwy I don’t know Chris flex’s personality as yet but as a starting pitcher we won’t see it that much because when he’s on the mountain usually they’re all business so I would say Chris flexen has to bring like at
Least $20,000 to aoy to take the name from him otherwise it’s 20 grand yeah that’s a lot yeah or maybe just I mean do do a lot of people call either of those two guys that I’ve never has the uh has the Instagram handle I believe
Yeah and Chris flexen has a very uh low social media presence as I found out he does have an Instagram has zero posts uh I doubt it’s even active uh so I don’t I don’t think he’s gonna care Chris flexon doesn’t seem like a big nickname guy
Yeah we’ll find out you said Chris flexen on them hoes uh and he said Chris flexon on them P hose that was that’s a good one he’s on them I don’t know I don’t know uh Conor with the uh Super Chat top music socks fans number one uh
Muddy Waters number two uh vanz and Ronnie VanZant Chance the Rapper there you go Ronnie VanZant I’m I’m unaware I’m gonna have to talk with Connor about that yeah you just can’t say VanZant vanzant’s a very large I mean I know who I know who he’s referring to but that
Person is from Jacksonville Florida I’m not quite sure of his white sock connections or was VanZant was an advid fisherman he enjoyed baseball and was a fan of the Chicago White Socks and New York Yankees there you go and this is a no Wikipedia yeah I mean he was in
Florida when there were no teams in Florida he was attracted by the Tampa Rumors in this which happened 10 years after he died so [ __ ] anywh who uh listen we had there were some there was some uh White Sox related news over the weekend with Lucas gelo signing with the Red Sox uh
And then also uh Chris S as you mentioned traded to from the Red Sox to the Braves yes and I wanted to bring up uh the report from Chris ctio Chris catillo my bad I don’t know why I said ctio I don’t think he’s hispanic um wof
Uh it was covering the CRA Craig breslo press conference after they make the moves to trade sale and to acquire Lucas G Alo and uh Chris said he’s hearing from a source that the Red Sox have told at least one free agent Target that they need to shed more pray payroll before
Pursuing him as aggressively as they want to uh and uh also Craig brlo add that they would be interested in controlled pitching that is Dylan CE as well I don’t know if you guys have thoughts on the goo and salale stuff first before we get into maybe the Red
Sox being a player for Dylan well I the the first thing that would jump to my mind would be we heard a lot of mention as of the Braves as potential [ __ ] for Dylan CE and now that they’ve got Chris S do are they suitors for Dylan CE
Anymore they might not have been willing to meet the White Soxs price on a Dylan CE trade Tris now’ take team that have very interested in acquiring Dyan ceas did the white socks I don’t want to say wait too long but are there are there is the pool have
Fewer people in it now um the people that they could trade with will see goo um you know really obviously took a hit market-wise from what he was do what he did after the white sock traded him away um you would think that maybe that would
Have opened up the white sock as a possibility perhaps given that he maybe wasn’t going to cost as much as he might have when they traded him uh in in Late July there but uh he is going to go wear Red Sox now and uh you know you’re
You’re Sean bringing up the idea of the Red Sox perhaps being a a cease trading partner if they want another pitcher if they want to trade some salary away um but uh I I I don’t know are the Red Sox just going to replace their one former
White Sox pitcher with two now former one former White Sox Ace with two more I think Johnny quo is available not a former White Sox Ace though no yes he was no no the C I say CE was on that team too there was some brief window
Where Johnny quo was the ace I will go find that window but it was weird I thought like when I heard that Braves are trading with the Red Sox a starting pictures coming back to the Braves I was like okay Ronaldo Lopez is going to Boston so we can stay together with his
Trade man but it’s very sad that Lucas and Ronaldo are not playing the same team for the first time in their professional careers but it is a shocking development that Lucas Le GLE got what 19 million per year for two years the league saw Lucas GLE last year
And his non-white Soxs games were pretty bad and they looked right past that the Boston Red Sox said we like that we value that at 19 million I was just like whoa hey get your money Lucas gilo enjoy Boston I hope he does well because he’s
A good person I would want him back here with the white sock but that was a shocking move to me and then the fact that Atlanta Braves they’re just trading everybody Chris S of course is at the end of his career not as healthy as he
Used to be as uh some people have said I don’t know if they’re necessarily done on the trademark because you can’t depend on Chris S to throw what a starting pitcher should be throwing and a a guy of his ilk should be throwing so they might still be in there but you
Know Von Grom was one of the people rumored if you do the ceas thing to bring back to the white socks so I think they might be out of it because you know when you pick up a salary and all that uh goodness of Chris Sale you’re probably done with getting a big
Acquisition and they don’t know if they have enough players that the white socks are interested in to bring back to the Chris S to Atlanta and then bring them back to the Chicago there was a nine game stretch from July 4th to August 20th nine games where Johnny quo had a 1
195 ra Dylan CE in those eight games had a 132 ra so annoyed uh yeah the the sale thing is interesting um I was on a you retweeted Mike Palm [ __ ] on Justin Fields when we’re out at Circa uh and on that flight I got I was blessed with uh
Live TV from United uh and I got to watch MLB Network I just wonder how much you know is still left in that cuz the expected stats are still insane his expected ra 74th percentile expected batting average 85th percentile Chase rate 92 percentile K rate 88th percentile so he’s still is Chris Sail
He’s still getting swings and misses and he’s doing this without the actual you know 99 blazing stuff so uh very odd and the slider is like very loopy now it’s very like a video game we’re going to have like 25 Ines a Break um it’s it’s
Very weird so maybe the Braves can do this but just the Braves have had the weirdest off season in the world OD I think they’ve made 25 trades I haven’t counted oh yeah very active the white socks and Braves very active including with each other that’s right hey uh you
Know there’s there going be some mingling if you’re going to be that active uh so yeah I mean the sale one’s interesting the goo one is interesting but I mean what do we expect I mean I think it’s been 34 days since John morosi said that the Dylan CE Market was
Heating up uh and he’s still a white sock it seems like the price is too high that’s why we have the Reds like leaking that reported uh package or so uh for what the White Sox wanted for for Dylan CE maybe just pitching is more expensive than we thought I mean the average
Contract that they thought G would get would be around 15 million aav and gets around 19 so exactly you know I mean the price for pitching’s high so I’m fine if Dylan ceases a white sock until July because I feel like that means you’re going to get the highest price if you do
Wait someone’s going to play pay that that premium that was my fear coming into this offseason and having the deal and cease rumors of him maybe being traded that a first year GM would be too like willing to give up him and bring back lesser than his Market but no he is
Held steady held fast where this is the price you don’t want to meet it cool I’ll keep this man we got him in two years and that’s a great way to go through it and uh if that is the thing where no one the Reds the Orioles the
Braves the Red Sox whatever these teams are don’t want to meet the price the price is the price and if Chris S holds steady I’m good with that it’s you got them for two years or Chris gets I said Chris S sorry yeah they hold steady and
You still as morosi said down there you have two more pennant races if you trade him at the trade deadline for Dylan CE so the price will still be the price at that time yes a whole year has been gone but I think as uh John Mercy said the
Price won’t change and maybe it goes up because now these people are desperate and now they don’t have other avenues to get a quote unquote Ace on the market and now all you have to do is trade some of your prospects away to go and compete for a world championship for two playoff
P pushes for c for Dylan C so yeah I’m good with him doing this and if the reds don’t think it’s feasible for what they’re asking bump them you’re not ready for baseball then you’re not ready for major league trading then but Reds
Cuz Dylan C I don’t care if you he had a whatever ER this year most people see him as an Ace and that’s he sees himself as an ace that’s why you fire your other agent and you go and get Scott Boris and you’re writing poems for yourself and
Printing out t-shirts I just keep I’ll keep bringing up the guy who we just talked about though Chris S when rickon traded Chris Sale Chris Sale was had three years of control versus two and Chris Sale was Peak Chris Sale yes he was um which is one of the best pitches
That we’ve seen in a long time Dylan CE has been great CE is coming off a downish year for him I don’t think anybody would claim that Dylan CE has been as good in the last two three years as Chris Sale was in the three years prior to him getting traded from the
White sock yeah Chris Sale in the Five Seasons before he was traded at a cool 304 ER and sa young finishes of 653 four and five right I mean he was ridiculous and and he got KC monata plus is is that is that package we saw
About the Reds which is again who knows where in the conversation that was but that package we saw about the Reds seems bigger than the copc monata Plus Package the price of pitching as you mentioned goes up it can be different on in any different Market but um I would I would
Think about what the white socks got for sale and compare it to what you think they might get maybe what you think they might should get for c yeah uh all right uh want to just move into the final thing because we got about five minutes
Uh odds to make the rotation uh because we’ve been talking about Chris flexen talking about cease and the possibility of him being traded I have Eric fety atus 800 uh what does that mean a favorite he’s a lock you want to be as minused as possible so like so so
Uh if you’re at plus 100 right that means you get the same amount of money as you gambled or as you wagered uh so if you if you bet $1 on something that’s plus 100 you will get a dollar if you win uh if if it’s minus 800 I don’t know
The the thing but I think you get like if you bet a you get like 20 cents ah maybe not even it’s probably like point it’s probably 8 cents um so he’s a a very heavy favor understood um it’s uh dredrick Tatum versus Homer Simpson understod uh Eric fetty uh minus 800
Michael copc minus 145 I think that you know he’s not he he is I would say that he is probably the second closest thing to a lock to make the starting rotation and we you’re I would count that as even if he’s Shawn manay he’s coming in in the fifth inning all
Right I’m just going to let you go and finish your thing you sure no I’m going to let your thing keep going keep going uh I’m going to put ceit minus 105 it’s not even money usually you know Sports books want to tempt people with that
Plus uh but I think it’s likely that he will stay on the team uh it seems like the White Sox will hold on to ceas I’ll put him at minus 105 I think he’s got the third best chance to be on the White Sox rotation Chris flexon plus 105 you
Know it’s likely he’ll be on the in the rotation but I mean he’s also been a guy that’s been working in the bullpen before maybe they think of him as just a a one time through the rotation guy and they give Tuki chant that chance and
Then Michael Soka plus 125 uh the fifth best chance to be that fifth starter if he’s healthy seems like Michael Soko will be there uh but again that’s been a big if for him uh he seems like he’s got the quality to being starting pitcher
But again he hasn’t had the health to to go along with it so we’ll give him we’ll give him longer shot there and so your Chris your um Dylan C thing is only because he might be traded that’s why you have it minus 105
Okay I mean I I I you I wouldn’t be surprised if you know an actual sports book put it at plus because it you know I would no I would it it seems likely that it’ll get traded I would put that over I would put cease over copc and
More closer to what fetty is because I think we’ve already don’t think he’s getting traded I think the people people are gunshy31 and maybe the white sock want to get back to that and I know that his ceiling is higher than just a reliever guy and so they would want to exhaust
Every Avenue as a starting pitcher for Michael copc that’s understood but they have a bunch of other starting options now where Michael copc if he doesn’t come to spring training correctly or they see something that’s not working for Michael kobc they could say hey man we got all these rest of these people
Who are doing the job and we’re getting production from and you’re just not there yet we’ll put you in the bullpen or do what we were talking about bringing him in the third inning cuz his big time struggles were in the first and the fifth innings in 2023 maybe you do a
Different thing with that guy to get more maximum effort out of him and the results are better than that cuz we’ve seen this best he was like a five and dive guy I I that’s not true at his best he’s a noit he’s no hitting the Yankees he’s going eight near
Perfect they are but at his best he’s he’s a he’s a Legit Beast yeah but he’s got to find consistency he has not done abely yeah no I’m not saying that but I mean I I would I would not say at his best he five and die but
These are these are different people too different eyes looking at copc they didn’t draft him they’re like he’s good he’s got talent nobody on the White Sox draft but but didn’t was I mean Brian Bannister was in the Red Sox organization I don’t I can’t imagine he
Was involved in the draft no yeah there’s no like you know connection to Michael copc so you know usually you know a GM like yeah I this guy I want him to succeed because that’s my pick that’s part of my legacy these guys have no attachment necessarily to Michael
Copc and his success for them but yeah I think that he has a great shot of being a starting rotation pitcher but also I would think that they like hey if you don’t get it done brother we have other options we can go with cuz if you’re
Only giving us four and 2/3 what the hell are good are you uh when banister first met the media can you fix copc part of being around the game a long time I had Michael in Boston he was a part of the sale trade I’m a big
Believer in him we already had some internal initial discussions my sweet spot has always been helping pitchers who are either coming off a down year or have lost their identity a little bit and really getting in there and building trust with them and helping them identify what makes them a productive
Major league pitcher and just walking alongside them in that process but can you fix copc for sure I just knew he had that issue but going forward there are things that we didn’t Boston that I’m also looking to do here so I don’t know I I push back on that because he’s he
Has worked with him before and like you look at Chris flexon you look at Eric fety you look like Michael copc has major league stuff like the best canvas that he has or the best I don’t know what what would this be for Brian clay the best actual you know
Flown in from Italy like this is the best material where the best Clay comes from I don’t know France cuz the rongos the finest Italian clay the best materials that you have of making anything outside of ceas is is Michael copc Michael copc has a major league
Elite fastball and that has been from 2021 2022 to 2023 at least these stuff right it hasn’t been located well all throughout those years um and when he had the training wheels on he was a lot better in one inning situations but again they they need him to work out as
A starter and there’s nothing stopping them from letting him completely fail and burn out in Chicago like I don’t understand the reason why you wouldn’t have him be the starter other options is there a better option right now than Michael copc besides right now but if he’s if he’s in spring training not
Showing you exactly what you need to see there’s other people that are showing you what they can do herb far from not showing exactly what you need to see if he comes to spring training and he’s showing you exactly what you don’t want to see and I think the the the reason
That you’re saying what you’re saying I kind of agree with in that he was very bad last year and it is possible that that could replicate itself come spring doesn’t mean it will no and it it’s very possible that banister and Ethan Katz have had a very successful offseason
With him so far will continue to do so and he shows up to spring training at anywhere on a wide spectrum from uh okay fine we’ll give it a chance to wow he’s looking like we always thought Michael copc could look it’s a wide spectrum and
He could be anywhere along that or he could be on the other side of it which is boy this is looking a lot like 2023 but I think Sean’s right in too in saying what what’s the harm you’re not expecting to win let this guy figure it out that’s what exhausting every Avenue
Means and so if they have exhausted every Avenue by the end of spring training which I guess is possible then maybe sure they would be like because they’re already talking about at the end of last year oh remember the versatility he had he could end up in the bullpen B
BL and so when you’ve got your manager and and your and your general manager already mentioning that as a possible outcome it it it sends up a little bit of an alarm bell saying oh maybe they think there’s a safety net there that they can that allow him to fall into all
That being said they have not gone out and acquired anybody that is blowing Michael copc off the depth chart right now and so I think the odds are that he will be in the opening day rotation but if you were to ask me who’s more likely
To be I think Eric Fetti is more likely to be and I would argue hey look they just gave Chris flexon a major league contract guy started 31 games two years ago but but we’ll see how that all plays out right and I I think when we look at
You know these like pakota projections and the idea of like oh a team just had their 100th percentile season or their zero percentile season like copc could absolutely in 2024 be anywhere from that 0 percentile to that 100 percentile I completely understand that but when you
Look at actual stuff on their fast balls uh since 2022 so this takes in his 2022 year and 2023 year on pitchers that at least have thrown 200 Innings he has the eighth best fast ball in Major League Baseball according to stuff uh the only guys above him Brandon Woodruff UD
Darvish Blake Snell Dylan CE hunter green Garrett Cole and Spencer Strider and the only thing that he really lacks is location obviously location plus he’s got the worst out of those at 93 plus uh but Snell and ceas are around 97 so even if you can make incremental in like
Improvements on that location the fastball plays he has an elite fast ball and if they are able to find something in those secondary pitches with Michael copc again I I I I would be shocked that they wouldn’t want to say let’s give him as many chances and as many
Opportunities to start until we have no other opportunity as you said exhausting every Avenue then we’ll put him in the bullpen or then we’ll give him a chance in in Triple A and maybe he needs a confidence boost or what whatever uh maybe they’ll give him give him up maybe
They’ll just cut him who knows I will never cut him as you said he’s he’s wanted once they cut him it’s somebody else is going to pick them up and fix them once they cut him unless Yan monata has a huge year uh the Chris Sale trade
Uh will will end uh anyways that’s going to do it for the chgo White Sox podcast that’s Vinnie duber you can read his latest piece up at all chg.com talking about Chris flexen and the state of the Chicago or the shape of the Chicago White Socks rotation um and even though
They keep signing guys doesn’t seem like any of them are emphatic periods in this rotation uh you can read that at lch.com that’s herb Lawrence you can follow him at eall 23 he’s our chg Sox Community leader and I’m Sean Anderson you can follow me at shanor W Anderson thank you
To Sarah for producing the show hit that like button on your way out and we will see you tomorrow at 3:30 goodbye we all sitting like the mayor
1 Comment
Does this mean we only lose 95 games next year with the Flexen signing