Managing Editor of Sox Machine Jim Margalus joins the show to talk White Sox, Munetaka Murakami and the MLB First-Year Player Draft

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Rahimi & Grote Show 18 min 3 speakers 3 chapters transcribed 2 months ago

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Who is Jim Margalus and why is he on the show before the MLB draft?

Mark Grote 0:01

Socks machine.

Vinny Rotino 0:06

You know what that music means. We want machine. Sox machine. On a Friday, just feels like the right move, especially one day ahead of the MLB first-year player draft. We know just the guy, Jim Margulis. He is the managing editor of SoxMachine.com. He is also at SoxMachine on Twitter. He works with guys like James Feagin, for example, Josh Nelson. They do a fantastic job, and he joins us on Twitch. Twitch.tv slash TheScoreChicago. Jim, how are you today?

Jim Margalus 0:36

I'm good. How are you?

Vinny Rotino 0:38

I'm good, but I'm not the one trying to figure out what's going on in this first-year player draft tomorrow. And I feel like the weight of the 1-1 is especially heavy today for the White Sox.

Jim Margalus 0:49

It is and it isn't. I would say that entering the season, there was a big concern that, at least for somebody on a business that's contingent on the White Sox being interesting, that, all right, we have programming through July with the first overall pick and they really need to nail it because... There's so much riding on it. They need this player to be the linchpin of either maybe the finishing piece of this particular stage of what they're building or the linchpin for the next iteration if this one doesn't work. And now they're at a point where we're still trying to figure out exactly how real this team is, but there are enough pieces here to where... they don't necessarily need somebody to come in and be good next year in order for this pick to be successful.

How important is the No. 1 overall draft pick for the White Sox right now?

Jim Margalus 1:38

They have the ability to, you know, they could draft Rock Cholowski first and that'd be a good pick and he might be able to help as soon as like late 2027, 2028 seems more realistic. Or they could draft Grady Emerson with the high school timeline and some high school players getting the majors faster and faster. But if he's on a typical three, four year timeline, that's also fine because they have infielders to spare. So the picture that they had when they got the first overall pick of the draft lottery is considerably different from what it is now.

Mark Grote 2:08

That's a great point. You're right, because they do. They've got this gluttony of young position players, some young, promising starting pitchers as well. So this would be adding to the party, especially if you were to draft Rock Cholowski. But I'll ask you, Jim, who do you want the White Sox to draft and who do you think the White Sox will draft?

Jim Margalus 2:31

I'm with Josh Nelson. I take a lot of my cues from him because we pay him to pay attention to the draft. College baseball and prep baseball are so big and wide ranging that it's hard for me to stay on top of the major league team and the farm system and also try to pay attention to hundreds of schools and hundreds of prospects. So Josh really digs in and pays attention for the months where the regular season is going on, seasons are still proceeding, and then I kind of come in at the end and a little bit of stolen valor riding on his research. Fair enough.

Vinny Rotino 3:04

I feel like you guys are a team. I think you're being hard on yourself.

Jim Margalus 3:08

Oh, no. I'm just crediting him. He's so enthusiastic about it, throws himself into it, and I really appreciate the work that he does. But I think I would go with Grady Emerson just because they've shown an ability to develop high school players. The timeline is so generous for a high school player to have a bad year or have an injury, lose a year, and then come back and be fine. Like Colson Montgomery kind of had to wander through the wilderness a bit, but he still... He's got plenty of time ahead of him because they drafted him out of high school. And so he had a forgiving timeline to be able to struggle and figure it out. And so I tend to lean towards younger players if possible. However, Rock Cholowski, the defense is really, really strong, legit shortstop.

Jim Margalus 4:00

He comes in with that high floor because of it. I think he's got more power that he's shown, so... Also a fine pick. Like I think between those two, I don't think I would say I want Emerson. It'd be a mistake if they didn't draft him like Cholowski. There's a great case for him and it'd be fine if they drafted him as well.