Richie

Without a doubt. However, it would be nice if one of these days we could just get a Juan Soto or Gary Sanchez who just comes up and sets the league ablaze. lol

Eh, it wasn't that far fetched. That was their World Series run. He was a 4.1 WAR player that year and even got a small share of the MVP voting. Really nice power numbers for a SS with 21 HR's and 95 RBI's.

I give Anderson less of a shot due to the barrage of big names in the AL at SS. Coupled with a guy like Polanco who plays for one of the league's best teams record wise. However, Anderson has caught some national attention himself this year. His bat flipping and antics has made him a bit polarizing, garnering some debate, praise and hatred. Sanchez is the big road block for McCann. However, it's not impossible that he makes it. In a fair world, he would. McCann doesn't just have exception offensive numbers for a catcher, he's also fantastic defensively. Where Sanchez is rather brutal. I like Abreu, Colome and Giolito to make it.

Well said

And pessimists always refer to themselves as "realists" in order to rationalize their eternally bleak outlook. Constantly looking at life through darkened, scratched up lenses is no more or less rational than looking at life through lenses laden with flower and rainbow colors.

I feel like you're more so projecting this than anything. Do you have any numbers to back this up? Abreu has also never played for a contending White Sox team. We haven't ever had the opportunity to see him under the bright lights of a September playoff push or October playoff series. I also realize this was a long time ago, but his walk off grand slam vs Tampa Bay in 2014 was probably the most memorable White Sox clutch hitting moment over the past 5-6 years. Which speaks VOLUMES to how bad we've been during that time, but I thought I would toss it out there. EDIT: RISP: .319/.399/.551 (.950) RISP, 2 outs: .293/.390/.502 (.892) On 3rd, less than 2 outs: .374/.421/.574 (.995) On 3rd, 2 outs: .326/.416/.543 (.959) Tie Game: .279/.342/.511 (.853) Within 1R: .290/.349/.511 (.860) Ahead: .296/.352/.509 (.861) Behind: .296/.351/.522 (.873) Abreu's numbers are roughly the same, regardless of situation.

Let me throw my hat into the "not the slightest bit worried about Eloy" ring. However, he IS a straight up clown show in left. He makes many routine catches look incredibly difficult. I give baseball lessons to high school kids and the stuff he does out there often reminds me of how players that age react. Since coming off of the DL, there's been a multitude of plays where he takes a horrible angle, freezes entirely, misjudges a ball off the bat... etc... before he goes staggering in the correct direction with little to no body control. Then he makes what should be a routine play on the run with his arm extended or falling to the ground. The bullpen sarcastically applauds him and Benetti gets excited. I think a lot of fans are misconstruing that as Eloy actually doing something positive. When just a league average outfielder makes those plays boring. Now, he's a really good athlete, so he can clearly get better. However, it's an adventure for him out there at the moment.

Ah, yeah. I prefer Christopher Scissor Hands, though. You know... from that whole saga.

Did Sale have a nickname? We suck at this as fans, huh?

This post has been edited by the Soxtalk staff to remove objectionable material. Soxtalk encourages a free discussion between its members, but does not allow personal attacks, threats, graphic sexual material, nudity, or any other materials judged offensive by the Administrators and Moderators. Thank you. Your over reaction was way worse in the common decency department than his post. Why? Because I used bad words? If a stranger just randomly talked to you like that in real life, the proper response would be to tell them to "f themselves". There's nothing inappropriate about that response. I told him to "F off". I didn't look up his address, drive over and slap his mother. I'm sure he's a lovely guy. I have nothing against him. He said something kind of shitty. I said something back. It's over Moving on...

You talk down to someone (with whom you have never interacted with) like a child and it's "ironic" when they call you an asshole? You're a real treat. I'm wrong that the White Sox package had a higher raw total? Okay, sure. lol. Whatever you say.

I just think separating everyone as "eternal optimist or pessimist" is a bit unfair, that's all. I think that most realize that this team (notably the rotation) is obviously flawed. People are certainly interested in adding some help for this season. I might be in for a Kuechel contract as well. I think a lot of people are for that kind of thing, so long as it doesn't compromise anything going forward. However, I think that even those people have a decent amount of perspective on this team and understand that true contention is at least a year away. I don't think anyone is jumping around saying "We've made it!"

This post has been edited by the Soxtalk staff to remove objectionable material. Soxtalk encourages a free discussion between its members, but does not allow personal attacks, threats, graphic sexual material, nudity, or any other materials judged offensive by the Administrators and Moderators. Thank you.

To be fair, the White Sox game the best financial offer to Machado. It had nothing to do with being cheap. He wanted to go to San Diego.

I think you're misinterpreting a lot of people's thoughts. All I see is hopes that we can have some fun this year and (as opposed to the last couple of seasons) put up a fight. I haven't read this thread post for post... but is anyone really saying that they think we're going to win the 2nd AL Wild Card?

I mean, by this philosophy - you should only be concerned with winning if you think you have a shot at the world series. "What's the point of winning the division? We're going to lose right away in the playoffs." Look, I get that this is a rebuild. However, you can't just lose 95 games every season up until your "pre-determined contending" season and be under the impression that "Welp! Suddenly we're going to be great now because it's 2020! Remember how everyone promised we'd be good in 2020? Well, here we are!". It's not just going to happen overnight. You need to see signs of growth from the team. Seeing them find ways to win is a big part of that. The rotation has been quite poor, but Cease is on his way up and Kuechel (or other outside help) is an option. Eloy and the young players should only get better. If I believed this team was as good as it was going to get in 2019. Sure, I would agree that we're going to hit some mega rough patch at some point. However, there's real concrete reasons for cautious/realistic optimism here. Wishing for .500 and some competitive baseball isn't asking for the world. I'm not one of these guys who actually thinks we're going to be in a serious wild card hunt come September. However, to suggest that we should still (one year before we all think we're going to be a serious contender) be disregarding winning/losing entirely is just silly... That mentality has to end at some point.

Yeah, I was only being half serious. I realize that the playoffs is still a bit of a pipe dream. We're still more likely to be 10 games below .500 come August than we are to be square in the middle of things. However, it's fun to dream here while we can. If we can just stay .500 during that stretch, that would be a big win. Happily surprised by how Banuelos and Covey managed the past couple of nights. However, I cannot possibly expect it to maintain that course. Either or both of those guys would be welcomed. However, I'm also not sure that overbidding for Kuechel just to help us this year (when we're not making a serious run) is a smart move.

Can we just keep him and make the playoffs instead? Thanks.

What's the point of winning? I guess I don't follow. I think the point of winning is self-evident.

It's June and there's still playoff pipe dreams to be had. That's fun. Proud of the way we've played recently, minus the Minnesota series. Which I think was simply a matter of running into a scorching hot club that was firing on all cylinders. It would be really cool if we could go on some kind of run here.

I can taste .500 Yummmmmmmmm

With his grown man strength

Right as I ask for it! Abreu!

It would be real nice if we could open this lead up a little more. I don't have much faith that we're going to cruise to our landing gently.

Yeah, those type of innings are getting old.