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Showing content with the highest reputation on 09/18/2022 in all areas
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No you weren’t. You’re just a shitty troll with a shtick that has been called out multiple times.7 points
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About three hours to first pitch and no one has started the game thread so an emergency minor league thread starter is called upon. Go Sox!5 points
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4 points
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4 points
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Need the Twins to win tomorrow and a sweep of Cleveland to have a chance.4 points
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Regardless of how the end of this season goes -- fangraphs still gives us a 15% chance of making the playoffs -- many of us have started thinking about next year. I know it's a bit premature, but it's on my mind, so here goes. The White Sox cannot be fixed by next year. Let's look at the challenge player by player. I'll start by going around the diamond. This is written after 146 games. 1. Yasmani Grandal. C, 1B, DH. 2022. 88 games, only 55 as a starting catcher. 67 OPS+, -1 WAR. Only a .505 OPS as a lefty, .818 as a righty. 2021. 90 games, 78 as a catcher. 155 OPS+. 3.7 WAR. .909 OPS as a lefty, 1.031 OPS as a righty. Contract -- 1 year left at $18,250,000. Evaluation: Grandal went from being the best hitter on the team to nearly the worst. But he was still injured for a significant stretch of the season and caught fewer than half of the games. His contract makes him untradeable, but he's also completely unreliable. Plus, he hits worse as a lefty when the Sox are desperate for lefties. 2. Yoan Moncada. 3B. 2022. 90 games. 78 OPS+. .569 OPS as a lefty. .856 OPS as a righty. 2021. 144 games. 116 OPS+. .817 OPS as lefty. .700 OPS as a righty. Contract -- 2 more years at $17.8M, $24.8M. Club option in 3rd year for $25M. Evaluation -- his OPS+ has been under 100 in 2 of the last 3 years. He seems to be hurt a lot, and he has been atrocious this year against right handed pitching. Like with Grandal, when the Sox are desperate for lefty power, Moncada comes up short. Can you trade him? Off this year, no. Off last year, probably. But the Sox paid for 2019 breakout year and he hasn't come close since. Like Grandal, he's not a reliable player. 3. Tim Anderson. SS. 2022. 79 games. 108 OPS+. All-Star. 2021. 123 games. 118 OPS+ Contract -- Club options for $12.5M next year and and $14M in 2 years. Evaluation -- One of the main leaders of the team, he's never healthy for a full season. Since 2019 he's played in 123, 49 (of 60), 123, and 79 games. He made the All-Star team this year, but it was his worst OPS+ since 2018. He has great speed, but with regular leg injuries, you can't afford to run him. Given his shaky health, it's hard to see the Sox giving him a big contract after his next 2 seasons run their course. And you need a backup SS to cover at least 40 games. 4. Second base. The Sox have trotted out a lot of 2B over the last 2 years. 2022. Harrison 81 games, Garcia 46 games, Gonzalez 18 games, Mendick 6 games. 2021. Hernandez 53 games, Madrigal 53 games, Garcia 36 games, Mendick 28 games. Hernandez and Madrigal are gone, Sox have a $5.5M option on Harrison next year, is a free agent, Garcia has 2 more years at $5.5M each, Mendick has 4 years of arbitration, and Gonzalez is under 5 more years of control. Evaluation -- Garcia has an albatross of a contract. Sox cannot trade him, so they need to eat $11M to be rid of him and his 42 OPS+. Harrison, Gonzalez and Mendick could cover 2B, but they are all right handed and don't begin to address the lefty power shortage the Sox have. Kolten Wong looks like the best lefty free agent 2B, but he's 32 and declining. Adam Frazier has been subpar for San Diego and Seattle and is not an answer. 5. Jose Abreu. 1B. 2022. 144 games. 137 OPS+ 2021. 152 games. 124 OPS+ Contract. Was just under $20M, but he's a free agent next year at 36. Evaluation -- The ONLY Sox player who comes to work every day. He's the oldest regular, but has played 20 more games than AJ Pollock, 23 more than Andrew Vaughn, 48 more than Luis Robert, 54 more than Moncada, 65 more than Tim Anderson, and 73 more then Eloy Jimenez. This is the biggest problem with the White Sox -- they have only ONE position player who they can count on to play every day, and he's the oldest regular on the team and is a free agent. I'm going to end my analysis right here because Abreu tells the whole story. 1. Most Sox regulars cannot be relied on to stay A) healthy, and B) hit according to their expected hitting norms. 2. The Sox are built around Grandal, Moncada, Anderson, Robert, Jimenez, Abreu, and Vaughn. The best and most reliable of those players is a 1B/DH and a free agent. The first 5 guys are regularly injured and otherwise unable to match their hitting norms. If you bring back Abreu, you are still left with Jimenez, Vaughn, and Sheets, who should all be DH or 1B guys, but 2 of them have to play the field and weaken the defense. Plus, only one of them is a lefty. 3. It's not just the offense. On the pitching side, Lucas Giolito has regressed to being a sub-par starter. Johnny Cueto had a great bounce back year, but is a free agent, and can he be counted on next year? Dylan Cease is the ACE. Lance Lynn seems to be back to normal, but is older and has health issues. And Kopech seems okay, but his record was terrible and he's not fully stretched out or reliable to pitch an entire season. So that's 2 sold starters and a lot of question marks. 4. The bullpen looks like the best part of the team, especially if Crochet returns to form. Hendrix and Graveman are solid, Lopez has found his groove, Lambert has done quite well. Add back Crochet as a lefty and this is a strength. The bottom line is that the Sox can't really trade anyone for some reliable lefty starters who play good defense. They have Oscar Colas in the minors, but he's not ready for MLB. They could try some patchwork things, but it's not going to make Grandal, Moncada, Anderson, Robert and Jimenez into reliable everyday players. Of those 5, only Robert and Moncada play good defense. So, of course the Sox can let go of TLR (he should retire) and fire the hitting coach, but even if they had money they can't reliably win with this core. It's pretty sad as a Sox fan. But I think that's reality.3 points
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Healthy Eloy is a guarantee for 40 bombs. He's got 14 in 72 games this year and a good portion of that was him not hitting homers. His 2nd half has been amazing.3 points
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My mom died 9 years ago, but pretty sure she loved me. But that doesn’t change the fact you’re a weak-skinned troll that loves to drop in threads and keep up this crusade defending LaRussa, and when someone calls you out, you can’t handle it.2 points
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Maybe if you were a Universal Moderator I'd care more about what you think of me. But you're only a Global Moderator. I'm sure your mom still thinks you're a good boy though.2 points
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2 points
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The two important points: 1. VAfan is completely drained of hope. He wrote a dozen threads before the season about how great this team was going to be. Now he’s doing the same thing with how hopeless he is. This says something about the fan base after this season. 2. so many of these guys underperformed the big answer is still the same thing - try a professional, well qualified coaching staff, found through a detailed search and with people who actually deserve the job, rather than the current lineup of schmucks, yes men, and nepotism hires. What’s the harm?2 points
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Hendriks will not bring a big return, not with his contract. He’s movable and will return something; but not someone who is going to make the white Sox substantially better in the near future.2 points
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We shouldn’t want a baseball intelligent owner. We should want a billionaire with $ to blow that hires baseball intelligent people. The last thing I want for my favorite sports teams is an owner that thinks they know what they are doing, very rarely works out.2 points
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Yep. So far the team hasn't been sold to a baseball intelligent owner who wants to be like the Dodgers, Rays. or Cardinals.2 points
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so your analysis of the entire white sox chances to be fixed covers 5 guys? what about the pitching staff and robert and eloy honestly, i like reading it, so was hoping your thread would be more deep, but was sad to find it ended so quickly and felt unfinished2 points
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2 points
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Eloy is invaluable to this offense. You simply cannot trade him, because you can't replace that bat.... The value coming back won't be even remotely close to what the Sox would give up. He's as natural a power hitter as there exists in the MLB today. He plays 150 games and he's hitting 35-45 every season.2 points
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Why does this organization keep bad players around so long? Ruiz, Leury, and there's probably a few more I'm forgetting. What a joke2 points
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It can’t hurt to have him as a number 5 or depth piece, but he should not replace Cueto or be the next arm they need for the rotation.2 points
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Memo to the Sox: You need to get more than 5 hits, 2 walks, 2 runs and and not getting 13 K's in 9 innings to a last place team that is 35 games under 500. Quit making mediocre pitchers look like Cy Young candidates.2 points
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Until JR is no longer in charge, until new individuals with no connection to the "family" are in charge of the baseball side of the operations things will always be done in a manner that seems to literally contradict what the name of the game is...to win. JR wants to win, badly, I've met him twice in passing and he seems like a nice person who has done a lot of good from a charitable standpoint. BUT... He wants to win HIS WAY, with his ideas of a salary structure, his ideas of what agents he wants the franchise to deal with, his way when it comes to dealing with the media (which like it or not is the bridge between the team and the fan base) and his way when it come to loyalty and accountability. His "philosophy" has filtered down through the organization because the people in key positions are all loyal to him and have shown an unwillingness to rock the boat. I understand that position certainly but it just reinforces the idea that nothing will really change until he is gone...until then you are simply rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.2 points
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DVS of the Sun-Times is a Sox fan and you can tell by his writing this year he's as frustrated and tired of the nonsense as all of us. An example tonight: "There was no choice but to trudge forward, even with a rotation blowing tires as the team takes the final lap of an enormously disappointing season fraught with injuries. Heaping one more on the pile seemed fitting."2 points
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Kopech strikes me as a guy who won't ever be healthy. I am very concerned about Kopech, Gio, Eloy, Moncada, and Robert being championship caliber players. I would almost bet against them being healthy or stars.2 points
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Then again Atlanta could win back to back World Series and they won't drop the Tomahawk Chop. Karma is a fickle mistress.1 point
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1 point
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It figures after an entire season of just a garbage division, when the Sox finally rid themselves of the anchor around their necks, the only team in baseball hotter than them is Cleveland.1 point
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1 point
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4 games back. 5 in the loss column. Don’t have the tiebreaker yet. Half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark and we’re wearing sunglasses. Hit it. ?1 point
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Davis Martin coming out of nowhere and actually being useful is a nice development. You might have to consider him for the back end of the rotation next year if we cut a lot of payroll.1 point
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Yep, I hope the new GM blows it up. They’re so far away from being a true contender.1 point
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So happy they let Robert play today. They’ve made amazing decisions all year.1 point
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I said it before, but this team truly only cares about cashing checks on the 15th and 30th. Underachieving talent galore!1 point
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We need a rallying cry at the Rate!!! ”PULL YOUR SOX UP” rally call!! A rally “White Sox” give away for every fan to wave at all the remaining games!1 point
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Found this topic on page 4 That's too fucking low Just a reminder to Fire Frank M!!!1 point
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Or it’s bullshit, and his agent shut him down because the Sox are out if it.1 point
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