The White Sox are reportedly in agreement with right-hander Chris Flexen on a one-year, $1.75MM guarantee. There are an additional $1MM in incentives available for the O’Connell Sports Management client.
Flexen lands a big league deal despite a frustrating 2023 campaign. The 29-year-old opened the season in long relief with the Mariners, starting four of 17 appearances. He couldn’t find any rhythm, battling significant home run issues en route to a 7.71 ERA in 42 innings. The M’s designated him for assignment in early July, trading him to the Mets alongside reliever Trevor Gott.
New York only wanted Gott from that deal, agreeing to assume the nearly $4MM remaining on Flexen’s $8MM contract in the process. The Mets immediately released him. Flexen signed a minor league deal with Colorado and returned to the majors after two starts in Triple-A.
Making seven of 12 starts at Coors Field is a tough assignment for a pitcher looking for a rebound opportunity. Flexen continued to struggle (both at home and in his five road outings), posting a 6.27 ERA over 60 1/3 innings as a Rockie. Between Seattle and Colorado, he allowed a 6.86 ERA through 102 1/3 frames. Among pitchers to reach 100 innings, only Adam Wainwright and Joey Wentz allowed earned runs at a higher rate. The longball was the biggest contributor, as his 2.20 home runs per nine was the highest in the majors.
Flexen returned to free agency at season’s end despite having less than six years of MLB service. That’s common for players who sign a major league deal after a stint in a foreign pro league, as he did during the 2020-21 offseason after one year in the Korea Baseball Organization. Flexen will be a free agent again next winter despite still not reaching the six-year threshold.
It’s difficult to find many positives in Flexen’s 2023 performance, but he was an effective pitcher for Seattle over the preceding two years. Initially signed to a two-year, $4.5MM guarantee by Seattle, Flexen combined for a 3.66 ERA while starting 53 of his 64 appearances. His 16.5% strikeout rate over that stretch was well below-average, but he limited walks and did a much better job keeping the ball in the park. Flexen looked like a serviceable back-end starter two seasons ago.
The Sox will take a low-cost flier on a rebound, continuing an offseason of inexpensive depth pickups for first-year general manager Chris Getz. The Sox have also signed Tim Hill and Paul DeJong to one-year deals and agreed to terms with Martín Maldonado on a $4MM pact. Chicago rolled the dice on veteran catcher Max Stassi in a trade that paid his salary down to the league minimum. Their only multi-year pickup thus far was a two-year, $15MM deal for KBO returnee Erick Fedde.
Fedde has a rotation spot secure. Dylan Cease would be the Opening Day starter if the Sox don’t trade him this offseason. Michael Kopech and Michael Soroka project for middle-of-the-rotation roles, while Jared Shuster, Jesse Scholtens and Touki Toussaint could battle for jobs at the back end. Flexen steps into that fifth starter/long relief competition.
Chicago’s payroll is up to roughly $150MM, according to Roster Resource. That’s nowhere near last year’s $181MM Opening Day mark, although the Sox might not match that spending level as they rework the team. The 40-man roster is at capacity, so they’ll need to make two corresponding moves when they finalize the unofficial pickups of Flexen and Maldonado.
Bob Nightengale of USA Today first reported the White Sox and Flexen had agreed to a one-year deal. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reported the $1.75MM guarantee and $1MM in performance bonuses.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Clearly a reactionary move to the Red Sox’s signing.
You mean “reactive.” Two different words.
DeSantis is reactionary; Getz is reactive.
You are a fun person
Or you could just say “thanks for the clarification” because he’s correct.
Speaking of, water isn’t wet. It’s a liquid that makes things wet.
Can water make other water wet? If I toss a bucket of water on a pond, am I wetting the pond?
Or is it just ground that’s too wet and concave, so I’m just adding more wets to the wets?
yes you can what if the pond is heavy water and you throwing regular water on top .. it would probably just float technically making the water wet.
just like you can have a current of water in a body of water like a river in the bottom of the ocean.
Oh. Like your mom was wet but got more wet when Flexen signed? That kind of thing Alan?
@Superstar Prospect Wander Javier: He’s even more fun if fun means being more intelligent than you.
The latter in answer to your question.
welts
Maybe it is reactionary, what’s Flexens position on electoral integrity?
No, no, no, he must mean radioactive.
Weird flex, but ok.
He’s flexen his mucles…
Was this a minor league signing?
Nope.
Should be.
Flexin’ that checkbook.
He stunk for the Rockies. Good luck to him.
Looks more and more that the White Sox are going into rebuild.
I don’t think so. If they traded Cease and Robert then yes but they havent traded them yet.
So if they redo the other 38 on the roster, but not those two, its still not a rebuild?
White Sox are in throwing spaghetti at the wall mode. As much as many Giants fans complain about Farhan, not saying you do, at least he’s tried to build the farm and improve the player development. Chris Getz was head of player development, and he produced nothing of value in his tenure. He got the GM job because Jerry likes him.
Well, that’s a reason he got Barfield and Bannister.
And others to run development.
He just collecting a check.
Giants need to run into Chicago and get Vaughn out of there. The Sox are ruining that kid. He needs to be stuck at 1b on the daily and the Gs need one of them. Still young enough to not be ruined.
Was Lf but after Abreu left in FA.
Vaughn played 1b all last season and actually regressed at the plate. I have no idea why people think he’s good or has this massive upside. He hasn’t shown any of that since he was in college nearly five years ago. The guy is a bust period
Vaughn played 1B the whole year and he sucked. He’s one of many horrible Nick Hostetler picks.
When he wasn’t being shuttled all over the lineup offensively. He got rushed to the league and had LaRussa drunkenly making lineups out with him in the OF, 2B, etc. Last year was basically year one for him. As in true rookie MLB season. And my OP stands. He needs out of Chicago.
Your “op” can stand all you want, but you can’t change the fact he has been bad for 3 years. Guys switch positions all the time. Most young players are happy to do it if it gets them an opportunity in the big leagues. I guess apparently for Andrew Vaughn that somehow caused him to be bad for 3 years.
There’s nothing about his number. That suggests there is any upside or break out that is eminent. He was a high 5 years ago. That’s the only reason why anybody thinks he is good or has upside
He is stuck at 1b on the daily. Try to keep up.
I’d rather keep Wade at 1B than trade assets for Vaughan. Wade had better numbers anyway.
The White Sox are a bust. Period.
He got rushed period.
And how many years is that gonna be the excuse? We’re going on 4 now…
If you’ve noticed, the write-ups for every player the Sox have signed this off-season start with “He was good in 2021 or 2022, but he stunk in 2023.” A 7.71 ERA? 2.2 HR/9? None of that matters. All that matters is that he comes with a salary well below Getz’ ceiling of $3m. This is not how you rebuild a team. This is the way to show that anyone with talent (Cease, Robert) who wants to be paid what they’re worth gets shown the door. This is, at best, the building of a very bad AAA team.
The write ups for every Sox player are “would be better in a different organization”. It’s sad but true.
Ann what do you propose they do this year? Commit long term contracts to guys like Nola or Snell? They could sign both of those guys And it probably went move the needle enough to make them a legitimate contender
Weather there admitting it or not they’re rebuilding this year and probably next. These are the exact kind of sign things they should be making. Lowrisk 1-2 year deals with the hope that a couple work out and can they can flip them for prospects
Angels and White Sox are the lands of misfit toys.
Rebuild with over used parts
I’m glad he never pitched for the Mets when they got him in the horrible Trevor Gott deal. Disrespected the best Met shortstop of all time in Jose Reyes on the field. I hope he grew up since then
How’d he do that? I ask that seriously.
As for best Mets SS, I’d take Lindor, who in three seasons already has produced half as much WAR as Reyes did in 12 seasons.
@LordD99 in Jose Reyes’s first game playing the outfield, Chris Flexen hung a slider and the player hit it to were Reyes was and Reyes misplayed it. Flexen started screaming and cursing and threw up his hands towards Reyes. Mind you Flexen was a rookie and Reyes is a psuedo-Mets legend
If you want to read about the story northjersey.com/story/sports/mlb/mets/2017/08/30/m…
“In the moment, I was frustrated,” Flexen said. “But as soon as the game was over I went over and addressed him and apologized for that. Regardless of what happens, frustration or whatever, that can’t happen and I addressed that immediately.”
Seems to me that he handled it pretty well back then.
Thanks. I don’t like it when any teammate shows up another, especially a rookie. At least Flexen apologized.
So you admit he has done half as much and you think that is better? Longevity matters in this sport.
@hiflew Not agreeing with LordD99, but he said Lindor has done half as much in a quarter of the time
I understood what he said. I was just pointing out that no matter how long it takes, it is still half the accomplishments. Everyone is in such a hurry to anoint the next generation as superior to the prior generations that they don’t even want to wait for them to really pass them. It doesn’t matter if it takes Lindor 5 years, 10 years, or 6 months. He still needs to do MORE than Reyes to be considered better than Reyes. This whole projection system just needs to die.
Granted, the White Sox are in such a hole that they need surplus value wherever it can be found. Still, him, Touki and Siroka all look like extreme long shots. I’m not sure tendering a major league contract was justifiable.
The major league contract is a complete non issue when they have several guys they can easily DFA from the 40 man with no upside.
He will probably be bad again, but essentially 0 risk for a guy that was decent not that long ago.
20% of their roster could easily be DfA’s and no one would notice. Nor would they be missed. Very little real talent in this organization.
Dankyank, as a Braves fan, I’m pulling for Touki and Soroka. At least with CWS they’ll get a decent amount of runway.
Both of them will be traded by the deadline.
Welcome to purgatory Chris Flexen!
Mr. Chris will learn the Zen of Losing quickly, as he always has…….
Unless you want to see the visiting team, this WS team is not worth the cost of a bleacher seat…. This screams of needing a “new owner”.
The owner is at the heart of the problem. He won’t put any money into the team. He has his flunky Getz sign all the garbage he can find who will play for peanuts. I’m sure Getz thinks he’s doing a good job. He isn’t, but that’s why Reinsdorf hired him without conducting a single interview with a qualified GM. He knows Getz will never come to him asking for more money to sign actual baseball players. Getz is like a kid playing a bb game. But he’s everything a miser like jr wants.
He could care less if the team wins. He could care less if they ever contend for anything. Just keep the purse strings tight and sign anyone with a pulse. Money Over Talent.
Jerry isn’t the best owner but he isn’t nearly as cheap as people say. If you read the post in this thread, you would think they have a bottom five payroll. When in fact, they have been around the top 10 the last few years even with declining attendance.
Its not that Jerry won’t spend. Its that he has a limit to his spending, much like Cleveland, Milwaukee and Tampa Bay. However, he has no qualified personnel running his organization, unlike Cleveland, Milwaukee and Tampa Bay.
Yes that’s fair.. Definitely not the best owner it even a good owner like I said but the whole “cheap” argument doesn’t hold a ton of weight.
Rick Hahn is just as bad as Getz. Who knows if Getz will be better than Hahn.
Flexen that wallet! (Over a guy coming off a terrible year)
The White Sox are the original American League franchise, and they have been objected to some of the worst owner abuse in sports. It’s a miracle they have any fans at all. The fans they do have deserve medals of honor.
I agree.
It’s been rough, most of us are hoping a good owner steps in when Jerry kicks the bucket.
They’ve had suboptimal ownership their entire 123 year existence. Even Veeck. He was fun, but broke. I swear it’s a miracle they still have a team. I give huge props to south side Chicago for keeping them afloat. South side Chicago, which is another issue all in itself.
I’m from Toronto, but I always respected white Sox fans. Underappreciated bunch.
Veeck didn’t have the money, but he cared about the team and the fans. He never wanted to sell the team to Reinsdorf and Einhorn. He had a different group he wanted to sell the franchise to, but the commissioner (can’t remember who) disallowed it because he wanted his buddy Reinsdorf to get the team. Veeck had no choice but to sell it to that SOB. Too bad the current commissioner doesn’t care enough to force jr to either attempt to field a competitive team or sell it. But commissioners are in the owner’s pockets so owners like jr and Fisher will get a pass every time.
DeBartolo
That commisioner would be Bowie “In the Best Interest of Baseball ” Kuhn. He loved to interfere with everything, including blocking Finley from selling off his stars before they hit free agency.
I have to say—having visited many baseball stadiums across the country—that I found Guaranteed Rate Field more a mausoleum than a warm and fuzzy park.
In addition, when I was there (it was U.S. Cellular Field), you couldn’t move around the park. They blocked you off like cattle. Maybe things have changed.
I sincerely appreciate the input, but what are you getting at by it?
Even as a Cubs fan, I must admit I think Sox park (Guaranteed Rate Field) is a very nice place to watch baseball. The sight lines are great – as is the food and the food selections.
I have been going to games there for my entire life and have never been “blocked off”. Upper deck csn not access lower deck but that is the only restriction which is not uncommon at any park
Who will have the better season? Flexen at $2.75MM or Giolito at approximately $20MM?
If Flexen continues to put up negative value, Giolito will be infinitely better? There’s no argument that can justify giving the former a major league contract.
How about the simple fact that they don’t have anybody better on the 40 mam roster. I mean God they may very well have to DFA Carlos Perez now
. What are they they ever going to do withoutnjim?
It’s very silly to get up and arms about a 1.75 million contract.. That is absolutely nothing these days. You have to understand the situation of the individual team before making a brass statement like that.
The only argument is that he would have signed elsewhere w/o the ML agreement. They evidently wanted him enough to do so. He’s healthy and can provide innings. Cheaper than Lynn or Lynch.
I’m sure that’s exactly it. He could get a minor league offer anywhere i’m sure.. clearing a 40 man spot will be no issue given their current lack of talent.
You have to look at the whole picture when you look at signings like this. Very silly to make a huge deal about it being a major league signing when they have very little talent
Had a 3.61 ERA in 2021 and a 3.73 ERA in 2022. He’s all of one year removed from two solid seasons. That’s worth a $1.75 million flyer since other teams would have given similar.
I was hoping Getz would sign him for 3 year 3.75m.
I’d say gio just for the simple reason of his strikeout ability compared to flexen’s.
Gio, of course. He’s got so much talent. He didn’t do well for the Angels or Indians, but now that he knows he’ll be with one team, he’ll bounce back. I’m just glad he’s not on the Titanic anymore. He deserves better.
Giolito was/is godawful and indicative of how bad this org was when they were trying to call him an ‘Ace’ which was laughable at best. He may be good enough to maybe be a .500 pitcher, but he is nothing to bost about. He was part of the issue in Chicago. Once the Red Sox see him giving up homer and homer in Fenway they’ll see it too.
Giolito easily, because Flexen is horrible.
Giolito is another John Danks
At least Gio is not a midget (in pitcher terms). Danks height (or lack thereof) screamed injury waiting to happen and whose contract was a severe over reaction to not being able to sign Buehrle to an extension.
Gio will likely be a 500 type pitcher, but is fairly durable.
An eXtra million if he wants the carrot
How in the world did he get a major league deal??
Why not? There bad and have plenty of guys on the 40 with no upside that can DFA. 1.75 mil is nothing. Why not take a shot and a guy that was at least decent not all that long ago.
He was never decent lol I’m guessing you’ve never seen him pitch. And he’s worse now than he used to be. Might as well wash that money down the toilet
What is your definition of decent then? Just because he didn’t strike out a crap ton of hitters doesn’t mean he hasn’t ever been “decent” those two consecutive seasons of under a 4 era beg to differ. Yes he was at least decent. The money they gave him is a drop in the bucket and if he can give the sox a season with an okay era he will be worth it. And can even be a trade piece if he does “decent” enough.
He posted a 4.6 WAR between 21-22 “lol’ But hey don’t let the facts get in the way of your ridiculous statement
At least somebody gets it. They’re basically taking the shot hoping he can be something close to the 21-22 version. And if he isn’t they lost 1.75 mil and whatever bum they dfa. Seems like a reasonable signing to me
He’s one of the worst starting pitchers in the majors, if he’s even a starter anymore. Only a bad team like the White Sox would sign him.
Yes, he was bad LAST year. WS will be getting NEXT years performance, however.
Easy, because the Sox are not the only bad team to have to field a roster.
The people commenting on this are the reason we need the mute button fixed. The first 4 commenters you should really stick to your day jobs
@King Donk of Punchstania
With AI taking over all the jobs, who has a day job nowadays?
At least don’t leave them for a Sox job
Flexen and Tim Hill will burnout by seasons end as they will be overworked like dogs this year out of the Pen.
Depends on what they get for Cease before ranking the rotation.
Chicago may sign another mid rotation guy to a 1 year deal as well. Who knows?
Gavin Sheets slated to start in the outfield again, Crash?
Lots of rumors out there. He may go for a couple of prospects
Trust in this, The Sox org is so inept at developing the players they have it likely does not matter what the Sox get for Cease (that is if they do not guess wrong and get chaff for him in the first place).
6 man rotation outlook rather comical with…..Fedde, Kopech, Siroka, Flexen, Touki and Scholtens. Not even sure what order to assign once they trade Cease.
Not one you can count on for being a stopper. Long losing streaks with little hitting, good defense and losing pitching. Many HR’s for the “other” team……..
There is always a farm system to build on
It’s been 4 years since the White Sox have held their annual winter fan festival in January. The first 2 were cancelled because of Covid-19. Last year no public excuse was given.. This winter the front office decided to replace SoxFest with CrapFest.
He can pinch hit for DeJong
That’s Maldonado’s job.
There are whispers that the true leader of this “Re-whatever” is LaRussa, although he makes denial and claims to be nothing more than an adviser. Certainly this is not true. At least, I hope so……But what a disaster if….. I predict .over 100 losses this year and Kopech/Grifol will be gone.
Cease is definitely gone. If the Sox had been going through a true rebuild, Grifol would’ve been in over his head. But if Grifol leaves, who on earth would want to manage a team like the mess that is the White
The white sox should have traded everyone but Robert for sale. Oh that’s right he is up to 20 mill now
Im sure ‘the Chairman’ will bring back Bevington cause yknow he managed previously and knows the Chairman by his first name (and most importantly he would cost near nothing).
Cease is definitely gone. If the Sox had been going through a true rebuild, Grifol would’ve been in over his head. But if Grifol leaves, who on earth would want to manage a team like the directionless mess that is the White Sox.
While I also have assumed Cease will be traded, it may be that Getz cannot get the huge return for him this off-season and will enter the season with Cease anchoring the staff. The acquisition of plus defenders at 2B/SS and Maldonado behind the plate could help Cease return to form, and thus be traded during the season for a ransom.
Frankly, if they cannot get a package of Kjerstad & a top 100 IF prospect from BAL now, or similar from another club, it’s probably the best course of action, although risky depending upon Cease’s health and performance. He does have nearly league best stuff when on. Getz will likely gamble on that returning & shoot for a Sale-like return after mid-season.
Cease will gone sooner than later, as even a guy like Getz knows that the longer you have a pitcher slinging sliders the more likely their elbow goes BOOM.
This will make the Ohtani and Yamamoto signings look foolish
Did any of you actually think Getz first year as GM, working for Reinsdorf no less, was gonna come into the off season looking to sign premium talent?
As of now it doesn’t look like a full scale rebuild but rather a step back. Which makes sense with these short term player acquisitions. It’s not looking to be a great season for them but I don’t believe they’ll be quite as bad as this past one. We’ll see how the first half goes and what happens at the trade deadline. I’ll do my best to try to be open minded but they certainly need more than just different players. Hopefully the new coaches who were brought in can have a positive impact.
Yup people just love to complain. I honestly Would love to hear who some of these people think they were gonna sign this off season. They were never going to be in on the Snell, Nola, Bwllingwr types, and given the current they shouldn’t be. Those are the type of guys you sign when tour 1-2 players away, not 8-10
What do you mean “you people”? Racist
The bigger issue to me is that they did not make enough changes.. I.e GM, Coach and Pitching coach.. Getz is not a GM just the last guy in the building that knows ‘The Chairman’s name., and Grifol and Katz have NO reason to have kept their jobs. The org is half-assing it, and pissing on fans feet and telling em its raining.. ‘Step back” LOL. This is as close to a rebuild as you can go without admitting the defeat. You still have two expensive prima donnas on this roster, in Moncada and Jimenez, too busy with hang nails instead of trying to be better, and the same guy in the manager position that has enabled that.
Agree with you completely. Last off season the Sox should have hired a Billy Martin type manager that would wake up these lazy underachievers who have been guaranteed millions due to them and make no effort to earn it Grifol should have been fired for allowing all the clubhouse shenanigans to go on. He’s only a place holder in my opinion. If the Sox should actually become a playoff threat he’ll be gone just like they did to Renteria.
Yeah, but the difference will be Grifol deserves it, Renteria did not. Renteria never lost control of the locker room and muddled his way through an awful rebuild, only to see the benefits, but then had the rug pulled out fro underneath him.. Grifol did not realize there was a leadership vacuum until 3/4 into the season, which should tell any competent GM that this guy should go.
You obviously dont know shyte abkut baseball. Im smarter than you. And better looking. The key to winning is siginf the best free agents and blowing the luxury tax to space. Study harder bro
Sweet,you won’t be needing Cease then.
I expected Flexen would have to settle for a MiLB contract with an invite and an opt out. He’s gotta be happy he’ll be in the big show.
See everyone, there’s enough pitching to go around.
Should be interesting how this plays out. While his ERA sat at 6+, he actually pitched slight better with a Forecasted Run Average of 4.75 and a kwERA of 4.24. Would be interesting how this plays out next year. I’m not expecting him being an ace in 2024 but he might have a bounce back year where he’s serviceable and an innings eater.
Flaxen will fill a starter role like Latos did for them a decade ago, cut after 6-8 starts once a few youngsters are ready to be called up when the weather turns warm. Expect innings and little else..
At one point, I thought Joey Wentz was going to be a future stud..
Not so much…
Wouldn’t write Joey off just yet. Fetters can do wonders, and Went was bounced up and down all year. (and he’s lefty.)
It looks as though the Sox are gearing up to compete with Oakland for bottom of the barrel supremacy.
Yet again
Since that seems to be their objective I hope they move Moncada even if they have to eat a sizeable portion of his salary. It would also be desired to move Kopech who has failed to live up to expectations. Of course if they do these two things & trade Cease for some major league ready prospects they will have gotten rid of last seasons pitching staff in toto. Time to MOVE THE MEAT as they say. Oh and let’s not forget Eloy before he suffers an ingrown toenail & is out for the season. Again I say “MOVE THE MEAT”!!!!
Tanking season. Team gets sold. New owner moves to Nashville.
Sounds good to me.
Cuban sells off his portion of the Mavericks and has some cash to burn…hmmmm
Wasn’t he in on the cubs but mlb wasn’t having it?
Fly ball pitcher than gave up too many bombs in Seattle. I always thought of the CHW park as home run friendly. Hm…..
Cease/Kopech/Soroka/Fedde/Flexen may not actually be that bad of a rotation if healthy (Soroka). This Division may definitely come down to the best of the worst
Agree.
It’s going to be a long season for us White Sox fans. I don’t think we will making third place yet alone second until 2025. I feel we might lose 80+ loses again 2024.
Jeff. Have the Sox thought about bringing back Clayton Richard from retirement?
It’s amazing they will still have that size of a payroll and will be horrible again
Seems like he should get more. Bad pitchers getting big money this off-season. Seems like a decent rebound candidate. People getting paid so much to “eat innings”. Don’t see the difference really. Anyone who can start seems to get more than this.
Agreed. 1.75 million is absolutely nothing in this market. And unlike other teams they can easily clear a roster spot without having to sacrifice anything of any real value.
Seems like the exact kind of signing a team. Like the white sox should be making
That’s fine, but if the Sox are blowing it up, they should cop to it, and also rid themselves of the inept Manager and pitching coach as well. This we are retooling or taking a step back, is all semantics..
Is this guy a Cy Young winner no? He will be a lot like Touki, probably may have a good outing here and there, but likely will get his brains beat out. The Sox are going to lose a LOT of games this season and by scores of like 10-1. Its going to be a fairly brutal season for Sox fans. Compounded by a lax org who cannot manage their way out of a paper bag but are here showing their fealty to the ‘Chairman’
More like 4 or 5-1.
Hey I know this has nothing to do with this post but I’m assuming there’s obviously white soxs fans in this Thread Anyway quick question what’s going on with Tim Anderson Do you guys know if he signed with anyone yet would love for my Tigers to sign him considering he was a tiger killer every time we face do you guys I absolutely hated him but Would love to have him even considering he’s what 34 years old now Still think he would have at least 3 years of good lead off hitter left in him What do you guys think white sox fans?
Anyone who wants Anderson on their team should get a mental examination along with Anderson. Setting aside the rediculousness of the idea that cause the guy killed your team he MUST be a good player if on said team. I guess if Anderson if can finally find some tape or string to tie up that holey glove of his, then rediscover his power, then stop fiddling with social media influencers and having kids with them (instead of his wife), then figure out a way to coexist with Jose Ramirez, and find a way to stay healthy for a change.. Well then, he may be a good player again.
Though the thought of him stinking it up for another Central team and having to face Ramirez a bunch of times in a season would be mildly entertaining for Sox fans.