Greg Hibbard

Since the beginning of 2019 Moncada is a 4.84 WAR per 162 player. That anyone could think he isn’t elite is baffling.

Oh interesting, I’ve always seen rWAR referred to as bWAR. It seems like Robert right now has 6.2 rWAR. Could he conceivably arrive at 10 by his birthday? I think we all agree that the key to Luis being a hall of famer seems to be his health. As streaky as he is at times, he seems to have no problem evening out performance over a large enough sample size. It seems like if he gets reps, he is a WAR machine.

Going by fWAR (why is rWAR better by the way? I’m not familiar with it), yes Luis will probably be 6 WAR behind Frank by the time his age 25 season begins, and will have quite a hard time keeping pace with Franks first few years. But Interestingly, Frank only had 12.3 total fWAR over his last 8 seasons in the league (about a 1.5 WAR average per year). Yes a lot of injuries, but his lack of any defensive contribution meant that all he had was his excellent (but not otherworldly) offensive contribution when healthy. I think if Luis stays healthy he has a shot at an 80 WAR career simply because he’s probably always going to be an excellent defender and speed threat.

My Dinner with Verdugo: The Film

Is there anything empirically that backs up that players receiving one day of rest a week somehow produce better than when they play every day? I don’t really understand where this notion came from. It’s not like back in the 90s you would see players completely gassed from playing 130 games.

This was my initial thought too. Frank was absolutely insane as an offensive specimen his first 7 full years in the league. For my money, it’s him and Pujols as the best right handed hitters in the last several decades I do think it’s remarkable that Luis May out WAR him though.

AJ Pollock needs to go.

Luis Robert’s first 140 games feature 6.1 WAR (on pace for a 7 WAR for his first 162) with a .290/.340/.508/.848 with plenty of power (28 HR and 33 2B). Frank Thomas had 9.3 WAR over his first 218 games (1990-91, average 6.91 WAR per 162). His August of 1991 numbers were insane, just after he crossed the first 162 games played mark. For his first 140 games (all of 1990 and his first half of 1991) he had a better average / ops and (astronomically!) better walk rate but slightly worse power numbers than Robert - just 21 homers and 27 doubles and and no GG defense to boot. Who do you like better for their first 140 games? Is Luis perhaps set to become the best White Sox player ever in terms of total production over his first 162 games? Or does Thomas still have the edge? Is there anyone else in the past who comes close to these numbers?

I’m critical of this franchise all the time. I just don’t make sweeping conclusions about the last 7 years of what this FO/organization has been trying to do based on a sample size of roughly 13 bad games. Even with their current record, the same basic core has been winning at a 88 win pace per 162 since August of 2019 (162 wins in 299 games played). I suppose that I’m looking more at this group as being at that basic talent level when fully healthy.

Cool, I’m happy you have found your stride with your fandom and are “out” as far as this season goes. If this team makes some sort of comeback this season, I’m sure you’ll be there reminding us every step of the way how badly they’ll ultimately fail at anything.

Sorry, but this in bold is totally unacceptable to me. This organization - and it’s players - did not deserve to have all of these injuries. Part of the losing is that. Should Harrison and Garcia and Pollock be contributing more? Sure. I think people really need to cool it with rushing to some broad sweeping conclusion about the entire team and organization and rebuild arc. Good teams do go through bad stretches sometimes lasting 15-20 games. The jury is still out. yes the team on the field is not playing good baseball right now, but in no way was this organization off in assembling the major pieces of this team. If they get fully healthy by June 1, I still think they win no less than 85 games.

You know, just when you think things can’t get any worse, sometimes they don’t.

Yes, but losing to teams that aren’t any good is understandable when your #1 and #2 pitcher are out and or on pitch counts, and 3-4 of your starting 9 are out with injuries during that stretch.

How about we instead focus on the exceptional case of the lockout, a shortened spring training, and 5-6 major injuries to top 10 organizational assets? this group of players have proven (yes, in the regular season) that they are winners over the past two seasons. I guess I wonder what’s fundamentally changed over the past 10 games to make Sox fans throw the team literally under the bus after one bad stretch.

And the team that won the World Series wasn’t over .500 until august.

Reading this thread is tiresome. I get that folks are frustrated, but some of these reactions make it seem like Sox fans have never watched an entire season of baseball before. A 1-9 stretch happens to very good teams, even championship teams, all the time. A 1-9 stretch during a time the Sox are missing many very key players due to injury is totally understandable. My sincere advice is don’t spend so much time obsessing over what’s happening with this team early in the season while so many big pieces are out. This team has enough talent fully healthy to win 10 games in a row. We are still going to easily win this division.

2021: Braves started 7-10, at one point were 30-35. Didn’t get over .500 until early August. Won the World Series. 2019 Nationals started 24-33 and were 9 games back. Didn’t get over .500 until June 30. Won the World Series. 2014 SF Giants played a stretch of baseball over 40 games in the middle of the season where they went an awful 16-25. Won the World Series. I guess I still feel like it’s way too early to close the door on the season

LMAO leury legend

You know who probably would’ve managed this team better this season? Ricky fn Renteria. How’s that for irony.

Can’t wait to revisit the hot takes in this thread when this team is playing way different baseball in June.

I couldn’t disagree with this post more regarding some players. Jose Abreu bleeds White Sox colors and is always cited as an example of veteran leadership by everyone inside and outside of the organization. I think the success of TA and the White Sox are completely symbiotic and they are loyal to each other. Vaughn has played less than a season and he looks utterly legit as a hitter and has played his ass off at every position they have put him at. Lynn loves it here and frequently cited how much he’s thrilled he’s finally found a home. Despite the bullshit the Sox have put Giolito through in the off-season, I get the sense he still loves this team, its fans, and his teammates. I think there is absolutely a culture of this team and clubhouse and I think it’s a great one.

Some of you need to put this in perspective. Our record is not terrible despite the circumstances. I’m sorry, but 6-8 for less than 10% of the season is no big deal either way. The 2001 team, not nearly as talented as this one, but also coming off of a division title, started out 8-19. Royce Clayton hit about .100 for three months and David Wells was all but a complete bust. That team still finished 83-79. This team is extraordinarily talented on paper and has an unreal amount of injuries. The division is still very weak. I think I’ll be worried if we go 10 games under .500 over the first 60, but as for right now, I simply want everyone to get and stay healthy by June 1 (except Eloy who will be out til probably late June). As long as we stay within a few games of .500 while half our team is on the IL we should still coast to the division. Our only focus needs to be identifying needs to add at the deadline.

Eh, I think if the Sox are releasing a statement already with a preliminary estimate of 6-8 weeks I would assume it’s pretty accurate. There’s no reason for them to say anything unless they are reasonably sure.

I am really just not worried about this division. I think if the Sox play 10 games under their potential, they probably still easily win the division by 4 games with 86-88 wins. Worst case scenario is probably three teams bunched at 80-82 including the Sox til the end. They aren’t really playing close to well outside of the bullpen and Cease, and we are really, really injured with the top two starting pitchers out, with Moncada and Pollack, and Jimenez and Robert down. Somehow we are still somehow 6-6. I look at that as a miracle. Trying to see the positive moving forward, I am hoping La Russa is just using April as a time to see what players can do in different roles while managing injuries, and that he will settle on a basic lineup when everyone’s back. My hope is that the roster clarifies itself significantly by May 1. Please, please get everyone healthy by June 1. A completely healthy lineup and rotation in hot summer weather should crush the ball and destroy competition. I could see us having a 2000ish June at like 20-6.

I’m really not too worried yet. We still play in a weak division and are currently .500, and if everyone can get healthy, we will go on a tear at some point. The last four days have sucked but I would much rather all this happen now than have it happen in September.