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Did we lose the Eaton trade?.......Oh we got Eaton back.

I have so many memories, obviously as many of us do, about that season. First, being at game five in Annahein, celebrating with the team after the game. Second, watching the WS with my Dad & older brother in Chicago. The last baseball games my dad & I watched together. Very special.

Don't know why anyone would bash him. This roster's likely gonna need a 6th and 7th, and possibly an 8th SP; most teams do. Dunning ain't here any more, and this is what this roster is, for better or worse. Let's pump the brakes on deeming Katz a miracle worker for just a minute. Katz couldn't "fix" Fulmer, and the results remain to be seen with Cease. Ugh, why didn't they sign another SP this offseason? The bullpen looks like it'll be NAILS, even without seeing much of Hendriks so far.

Gausman though...potential stud we should have signed. ?

Yoan is so locked in. Hot.

Good morning to everyone except Ryan Pace.

Denying that the game is taking longer and has less action is just denying reality. But sure, blame media guys or whatever.

Not a parallel universe, but rather all part of the August 22, 1980 WSNS Channel 44 Broadcast. Harry Caray interviewed Tony La Russa on the pre game show. Tony was sworn in as an Attorney by Judge before the game by Federal Judge Abe Lincoln Marovitz. Next Harry and Jimmy talked about the announcement that Ed DeBartolo Sr.. had the winning $20M bid to purchase the White Sox. Harry Caray asked Tony for his thoughts and stated the approval of the sale would be a mere formality. They both were certain the new owner would increase spending, and that the American League would ensure the White Sox would stay in Chicago (a few years before Jerry was given the team over DeBartolo, and then threatened to move to St. Pete). Harry also talked about his group of local investors which fell short in the bidding for the team (didn't recall that until watching today). Tony praised Bill Veeck for improving the farm system from one of the worst in baseball to a Top 5 system in baseball. Tony offered explanations for the White Sox failures in the 1980 season, and was looking to salvaging the season with good performances. Britt Burns went on to win, falling one out short of the complete game shutout. Ed Farmer came on to record the final out, to record his 22nd save of the season. He recorded eight more to end the year with 30, passing Terry Forster's 29 to become the all time single season record holder for the White Sox. Bob James would pass him with 35 in 1985. It was Dutchie Caray's Birthday. 1980 was another fun season of White Sox baseball, besides the usual poor record (70-90). Spanky Squires, Chet Lemon, Lamar Johnson, Wayne Nordhagen and rookie Harold Baines were fun to watch. Most of the core of the 1983 team built by Roland Hemond was already in place, with Britt Burns, LaMarr Hoyt and Richard Dotson three of the five starters (Steve Trout and Ross Baumgarten were the other two starters).

It makes sense. He is not a bullpen piece, and unless they change course and transition Kopech into a starter, Lopez is the fifth starter when the inevitable SP injury occurs.

We are trying to win a World Series. IMO neither of those two has the potential to be a difference maker. Vaughn does. Rebuild is over, Larussa is here to win now. Vaughn is the clear choice over those two.

Been expecting the announcement for over 2 weeks. Nothing new.

The world was simpler then.

Great.

Won on opening day 1-0. Won the first game back from the All Star break 1-0. Clinched the WS with a 1-0 win. What are the odds?

Vafan thanks for the ride down memory lane, I had forgotten some of what went on. Hoping we will make some more memories in the coming yrs with a dynasty

I do get kind of wistful thinking about all the different names this board could have melted down about.

Holy cow, Eloy. Holy cow.

Eloy just hit it into New Mexico

I just hope this lineup can score some runs, because we have Giolito handing off to our bullpen...Oh my god

I literally didn't delete anything. Nothing I said was distorted or cherry picked. I pulled all the data for all the years and posted the trend. I'll just go back to pretending your posts don't exist; things work much better that way. I said I don't want to be watching 4 hour games; I never said they were already 4 hours. Reading should be easy for a guy who writes novels every single post he makes.

Yeah rumor is he wants to stick around so current junior class graduates

So that was the impetus for the 17 page opening thread posts. Interesting. JK, nice thanks for linking.

Need to improve your reading comprehension and post formatting skilz, and remember what your dumbass posts stated (scoring has decreased over time, games are 4 hours). Stated why the game time and offense increased 30 minutes and scoring increased over the past four decades. Commercials and increase in commercials due to a near doubling of pitching changes per game. Pitching clock (20 seconds) enforced and automated strikes will shorten dead periods caused by an endless stream of pitchers stalling to pitch at max velocity.

Gotta think there's a good chance this is the Opening Day lineup, right?

Wow! These are fantastic. Very talented. Again, wow!

Very well put!!

This is insane lol.

I was talking about the formatting of what you posted, nothing more. It was a harmless joke

End blackout restrictions, or at the very least shrink them to match the distribution of the RSN that carries the team. Almost all of Indiana is in the Sox blackout territory, but only in NW IN and the South Bend areas are you going to get CSN Chicago as the RSN that comes with most cable/satellite/streaming package. The rest of the state is going to get FS Indiana. I'm not as familiar with Iowa, but I imagine all or most of Iowa gets an RSN from KC/MIN/STL instead of Chicago.

I disagree that it isn't hard to see lol

MVC moves to 3-1 in the NCAA Tournament this year and 22-14 since 2010. Time to start paying respect to mid-major conferences like the MVC.

If someone gets hurt the Sox can Stil make a trade in season. Yeah it might be a tad more expensive in terms of prospects but you will get a crusty old innings eater without giving up any of the top 5-6 prospects. Just don't give up a 17 yo who hasnt played a game as a lotto ticket:)

Jimmy Lambert and Kopech are probably the next guys up until the Sox trade for Kevin Gausman at the deadline

You cherry picked the lowest year (2005 2:49 total game) of a thirty five year span (1985-2020) where games averaged between 2:55 (Over an hour shorter than your OG Post). Games averaged 8.66 runs per game in 1985, and 5.5 pitching changes per game. Games averaged 9.29 runs per game in 2020, and 8.8 pitching changes per game. Offense up, 3 1/2 pitching changes = 7 minutes in commercials alone. Facts are stubborn things.

I-Rod is a tough argument to make with all the steroids accusations. Fisk and Posada are the two arguments for catchers peaking around age 30 and doing well into their 30's/40's. Of course, Posada was also right in the middle of the steroids era. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/plenty-of-catchers-peak-after-30-will-the-mets-get-lucky-with-james-mccann/ Elston Howard, Piazza (mostly from offense/steroids again) and Gary Carter are the only others over 21 fWAR in their 30's, with I-Rod #6 at 21.3. Posada at 32.5, Fisk at 39.5, the obvious anomaly or outlier in the group.

I’ll agree with the comments on McCann, I would have rather kept him and possibly used the money we gave to Yasmani towards other needs (not a guarantee we woulda spent the money). I know the statistics say Grandal is great defensively, but the eye test last year he didn’t jump out. But he does have great OBP and I do believe he’s a leader (all the players say he lives and breaths baseball). Worried about his age/health.

As I recall, Lopez is the same as Joe Musgrove.

I’m just thankful they brought him back. No matter what happens from here on out, it was a good chance to take.

Honestly how is Collins not the back up catcher?? I know some of the insiders on here say that Lucroy is a lock...but why? Collins looks competent as a catcher defensively and he has good at bats and he's a lefty. Lucroy would be fine as a back up catcher but you can't carry three catchers...and why would you take old and fine over young, promising and left handed?

I've been using the bat flip as my computer wallpaper for a long time now.

The Sox played 25 games in 27 days in September. Pitching 14 times in 27 days is abuse on his body. That does not allow adequate recovery. It is not irrelevant regardless if anyone has done it before.

No way... I would have never thought you believed this based on all your other 20 threads making the same point.

I love the fact four infielders must be in the infield and not on the outfield grass at all times. I despise the shift so much it has almost ruined baseball for me. Players won't bunt to beat the shift. I despise when a lefty slams the ball in the hole between first and second and the outfielder throws him out. I despise when a player rocks what should be a single up the middle but there's an infielder right over second base. Anything please to get rid of shifts. I also hate when a player does the Paul Konerko unflipping the velcro on the batting glove after every pitch. Call me insane and in need of help but I can't take it. Yet I of course loved Konerko. I'm not crazy about Manfred's ruining the playoffs but please please get rid of shifts and please start calling the belt high fastball a strike. I can't take it.

Thanks for the random weekly Torkelson update.

Here's what I do: I DVR the game, get things done, start watching it like an hour and a half or so into the game, and watch the game on fast forward x1 to see the pitches and plays (stopping to play when something good or interesting happens) and then I FFx2 or FFx3 through commercials, Sox math, and other forms of televised bullshit. I get through the game quickly and I still get to see everything that happens. If it's the playoffs or I'm just chillin' I'll watch the whole game. But I don't mind the length. As far as other people go, all you have to do is move the start time up an hour. But they won't do that because they want the best chance possible to put people in the stands. But that's an easy answer. Otherwise, do this to shorten the game: -Raise the mound -Take a little more of the bounce out of the baseball -Let the fielders be positioned anywhere on the field the manager wants, so long as there is a P and a C. -Force a mandatory 20 feet of foul territory on both sides of the line from home plate to the wall -Force a mandatory 6' minimum height wall on all sides of the playing field, which is heavily padded, so that the players can freely chase down flyballs without worrying about hitting brick or concrete, or falling into the stands or dugout, etc. That will encourage P to work more in the zone and keep them healthier. It will also force a lot of balls which are normally going out of play and extending ABs to be kept in play, and it will make it easier for defensive players to catch foul balls. Innings will go much quicker and games will have lower scores. Of course none of these ideas will ever be up for discussion because it's not just about shortening the game, its about shortening the game AND diminishing pitching and defense in favor of more offense.

I'm not sure if analytics has much to do with it. Analytics say to shift on defense when playing defense, and (probably) to try not to hit into the shift on offense by BBing, hitting the ball in the air, or going the other way, and maybe with a bunt depending on the type of player. The way I see it, the commissioners office for decades now -- at least-- has had a serious problem with pitching and defense. Nowhere in Manfred's bullshit is anything about raising the mound or increasing foul territory or pushing fences back, etc. It's all anti-anti-defensive nonsense. They want a faster game on clock time with more offense, more home runs, etc. . But a pitching and defense-based game, for me as a fan, is the most appealing form of baseball. I also have an attention span longer than a chihuahua which allows me to still pay attention even if the game exceeds 3 hours in length. I know I am not the only one. It seems, actually, that most hardcore fans -- not necessarily some idiot in a suit in the press box or a kid in front of the tv with a video game controller -- actually prefer pitching and defense-based baseball. With Manfred it's not "missing the forest for the trees" because there is no forest. He lives in the moment, cares only about $$$ now, and short-term objectives as they may be worked or completed now, and doesn't give a shit about the long-term best interests of the game, or the history of the game. He'll pay lip service to topics like minorities and diversity because he's looking for the cash that can come with it. But he's a morally and ethically-empty prick who doesn't know a thing about baseball and doesn't deserve his position in baseball or even being included in baseball any more than any qualified person in baseball history has ever deserved being excluded from baseball. He's a nitwick fuck who can go pound sand / lay face-down under a horny rottweiler and bite MyPillow. But yeah, it's been anti-defense for a long time. Manfred is just making it worse. He's trying to flush the game down the toilet faster than anyone else.

I say we eliminate off-speed pitches too. Actually, just eliminate the pitcher all together. Put a pitching machine up there and letter-rip. What a bunch of bs. So if pitchers can't hold runners on does that mean no more steals? Or there will be a limitation as to how far the runner will be able to leadoff?