CaliSoxFanViaSWside

Yes the regular season means just about nothing which is why I suggested and not for the 1st time, that the baseball season be shortened, mostly for the health of the players but it's never likely to happen.

For a chance at the World Series many teams do it though. In that context it wasn't all that risky. Giolito was in his 3rd season of getting Cy Young votes. After that he fell off . Cease was improving. Kopech was injured but was expected to be a high quality starter. We all know that the Sox have made that same mistake in years that they were mediocre. Samardzija, Bassitt, James Shields and in that context it is far worse. You cannot predict the future with youth. Dunning might look good ATM for his 12 appearances (8 in relief) but who knows how he'll do as as starter the rest of the year and in 24 and 25. If we look at all the injuries that doomed the Sox as well as the lack of depth at all levels Dunning wouldn't have helped the Sox contend in 2022 or 2023 and what he does going forward is a mystery. We can't talk about him now as if he's an All Star. He's not and he may never be. Fine depth for a contender like the Rangers With Dunning and without Lynn there's no playoffs in 2021 . If they weren't developing youth and kept every prospect they're likely still mediocre . Trades must be made at some point . I've long been saying the Sox have need to start getting more, youthful and operate more like Tampa Bay. We can't wish it into existence. Jerry and Hahn do what they do and we know what the usual results are. Crying about not having Dunning now is pure hindsight. At the time many thought it was a great trade for the "window".

You trade youth for Veterans in your contention window and Lynn was better than Dunning easily in 2021. Lynn 157 IP 4.2 fWAR (5.5 bWAR) 3rd in Cy Young voting Dunning 117.2 IP 1.8 fWAR (.7 bWAR) 2022 Lynn 121.2 IP Injured and sucked for all but his last 12 starts, 1.9 fWar (.7 bWAR) Dunning 153.1 IP .9 fWar (1.1 bWAR) 2023 Lynn 63.1 IP .7 fWar although I suspect it might be lower after today. Dunning 43 IP 1.0 fWar He has only started 4 games and pitched in relief the other 8 games he has appeared in. Context matters. The Sox needed Lynn in 2021 way more than they needed Dunning. 2022 was a slight edge to Dunning You used BWAR which is acceptable for pitchers. It widened the gap between Lynn Dunning in 2021 with a huge edge to Lynn It closed the gap in 2022. fWar had Lynn 1.0 WAR better while bWAR had Dunning .4 better even though he pitched 32.1 more innings. 2023 edge to Dunning but since he's only started 4 games its hard to compare them. 2021 Lynn was a big part of the Sox success. Lynn has been a big part of the 22-23 WhiteSox failures. Dunning wouldn't have made a difference in 2022 except for salary . Same in 2023. Going forward Lynn is likely toast. Going forward with Dunning is a mystery . He could end up back in the pen or become a reliable starter. The Rangers have him through 2026.

Except that the last 7 tr 8 times it happened( bases loaded less than 2 outs I think) the Sox were 7 for 7 with hits and one time with a sac fly. That ended when Vaughn hit into a DP but right before that he had the bases loaded double that cleared the bases in the same game.

Right you make my point even more valid. The Golden KNights although a very good team they were 9th of 16 playoffs teams listed to win the Cup (+1400). The Panthers were 13th (+3000). https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10072573-2023-nhl-stanley-cup-playoffs-updated-odds-for-all-16-teams

AT least 1 cheer in here for his HR. If he had made an error at 2nd base would have got 3 x as many comments.

Got to get with the times. All the 4 major sports have divisions in North America. Yes weak teams make the playoffs, it creates false hope, and generates a lot of revenue for owners from TV and capacity houses. But every once in a while the unexpected happens and one of the lesser teams win it all. Florida Panthers and Las Vegas Golden Knights are in the Stanley Cup Final this year. Neither one of those teams were favored to win it all this year but one of them will. Might not be an ideal TV match up though. I do think with expanded playoffs it make the regular season less important and they should reduce the schedules back to 154 games but once the money is scheduled to be in the coffers they don't want to remove it. It's hell on the pitchers health though. Those playoff arms with the extra games pitched need more recovery time. But like any sport being healthy means a lot.

Beating up on the mop up LHP for 3 in the 9th.

Ho Hum another lineup without your second best HR hitter and the guy who had 3 hits yesterday ( although one of them was gift hit.) I still see Robert ,Vaughn ,and Romy in the lineup. Also the homerless wonders still at the top of the order getting the most AB's.

But can you give the front office a pass knowing that they needed a player at his healthiest this season and giving him $75M for 5 years without knowing know the surgery he had in Sept. 2022 was going to affect him. Obviously it's affected him greatly. I'm not even 100 % sure he had surgery. Lots of articles said he needs surgery and will get surgery but finally found one that said he had surgery and that was MLBTR. As far as an uptick goes, he has nowhere to go but up from 0 HR's and a huge drop in his hard hit rate. TA and benni both can't be at the top of the order until one of them shows they are fully healthy. Maybe one can but not both.

I love this post ! It's pure truth without the Hahn and JR sucks attached to them. It explains why they suck and why they always are mediocre to bad when the mediocre get overpaid. It's why they couldn't even fail at losing enough to get top 3 draft choices over and over. They traded youth for mediocre to bad players and did the same thing with free agency while ignoring anything to do with bringing in youth and developing it. They brought in just enough mediocre players during the rebuild to have mediocre losing seasons when they needed elite losing seasons. The only vision the Sox front office seems to have is tunnel vision.

That works in 3, 4, and 5 WAR seasons and playing and mostly catching 120+ games per year. But outside of 2021, his 3.6 fWAr year, he hasn't been that player for the Sox and hasn't yet played in 100 games. This year we haven't seen the highs and lows, just him hitting for a higher average than he normally does but not the slugging and walks he used to have.

Funny you mentioned Yaz because when I wrote my post I was going over the guys in the lineup and Yaz was the only one I could think of also who has been fairly consistent without looking it up . Trouble is it's not consistently good since it's only made him a league average catcher.

Vaughn has shown to be streaky in the past and this year also. I was hoping that he would become more consistent this year based on how he has progressed from his rookie year. Looks like he's trying to pull the ball more but so far not working out. He actually did better with Menechino and is pretty adept at going to RF. He may never be a power hitting 1st baseman that way but could be a fairly competent one. Nothing special as far as 1st basemen go until he can show he can overcome his deficiencies and put up 2-3 fWAR per year.

Basically we get to enjoy some hot streaks and wins at home and cold streaks and losses on the road.

Right Liptak reminded me that was possibly what you meant. My brain didnt register the sarcasm because I think most of the time in terms of statistically who the best players are.

Actually it does mathematically because it now means you are one of only 12 teams who can win the World Series instead of 30. Plus there is playoff revenue which will help Jerry and Hahn to keep making expensive wrong decisions.

They aren't going to go full rebuild. They still think they are in a window of contention. JR didnt want to do a rebuild in the 1st place. They will do what they always do once the return to mediocrity is official, make bad trades,sign mediocre FA's, operate key portions of the infrastruture on a small budget and reward the incompetence with loyalty jobs which allows Jerry to put the money in a bigger than small market payrolls but without the infrastructure to make sound decisions on FA, drafting and developing either internationally or nationally.

Not something you should be worrying about. Doubtful they trade him at the deadline, his value is down down down. Once Tim became a rock star he screwed up his life and he couldn't handle it. Once you start marketing yourself and think you are better than you are ,your ego runs amok. That's what happened to those who don't know how to handle fame or listen to bad advise from people sponging off you.

Ahh maybe that's who he meant. It wasn't clear to me. My mind didn't go to the recent quotes from TA.

Who do you think is the best player on the field ? Are you counting the Angels players too ?

Vaughn entered tonight 2nd in MLB with a1.404 OPS with RISP. Romy 2 hits and HR's in 3 games in a row. Robert 3 hits, 2 doubles Burger 3 hits.

Pump it up until you can feel it Pump it up when you don't really need it !

Gotta love the good that happens on the field when it happens. We are all pretty resigned to the idea that making the playoffs is probably a 10-1 shot right now.

Real nice Rey !