Greg Hibbard

If you wanted rest for the stars, pull them in inning 3 of game 1 and put them back in for game 2 and pound Guardian ass. It’s like we are managed by an absolute fucking moron

I’m so relieved that $100 million of our payroll gets to sit on the bench after they literally just had two scheduled days off

It is absolutely inexcusable to not use any of these stars on the bench late in this game in a pinch hit role for any starter comprising the almost entirely AAAA squad on the lineup card. This is your biggest division competition and every win is worth double.

Hahaha now I have that in my head

88-90. I still think they win the division by 10 games.

I get it, but I'm so tired of the payroll argument we make on this board to explain away the position of our ownership. Why not Sheets or Burger for an ace?

Honestly this discussion about Cueto devolving into who is replacing Rodon is just exhausting. Take Rodon’s 5 wins away from the club last year and we still win the division by 8 games. We also still lose the ALDS because we didn’t have a real right fielder at times, our aces Lynn and Gio got lit up, our lineup got owned, and our relievers got exposed for not being able to hold runners on whatsoever. Rodon at full May strength would not have won us that series. In 2022, even if Kopech pitches at just a serviceable level and we get anything out of Keuchel and Cueto, we still probably win the division by several games. That’s not the problem. The problem is the same things we faced in the postseason last year. We need to add an elite pitcher and a power LH bat at the deadline from teams dumping salary and stack this team with real players. This lineup needs to be downright scary with no question marks and we need to sort out three elite starters from a field of 8ish.

I love this move. Love it.

The Sox are probably a top 6 regular season team with their sheer talent. With their lack of depth, the trouble is that they are probably no higher than 3 in the AL and will face a much better 1 or 2 unless they add now or at the deadline.

This is all so dumb because this whole thing would have been avoided by getting a real right fielder to play right field this season. It didn’t have to be Conforto. It could be anyone. Anyone who naturally plays RF. How hard is it? You spend 183 million and you can’t spend 10% more to field one position adequately. I don’t really care if Vaughn didn’t play as much because he was splitting backup LF / backup 1B / Platoon DH. He could get more seasoning this year and be full time 1b next year. Now we have to wonder if he’s even going to play this year.

We are going to hear so much grinderball bs about Leury this year. I love him as a reserve, too, and as a clubhouse guy. He is just not quite a starter, especially on a squad that is supposed to be elite.

Just to play devils advocate, Kimbrel could be dealt at the deadline to an NL team for depth if he has decent numbers. I guess that’s a pretty big if, though.

People keep citing fWAR and comparing players like Leury to RPs. But honesty does fWAR account for high leverage situations accurately?

Just once I would like this team, who I have dedicated a lifetime of fandom to, to open the damned pocketbook and empty it out on the damned floor. I’ve certainly done it for them many times.

People who are rationalizing that this offense would be fine by committee and defense might be acceptable make good points, but my counterpoint is that Conforto, Sheets, and Vaughn are all insurance policies on one or two of them sucking, that another $25 or even $50 million a year or luxury tax or whatever is honestly just monopoly money to these billionaire owners, and 2022 and 2023 are THE YEARS the white Sox are best positioned to win the World Series. If WIN NOW ultimately means we spend more Monopoly money and Andrew Vaughn and Gavin Sheets need to ride the pine for a year so be it. Just get every asset you can for these next two years and LFG

Is the vax issue an issue with the Sox culturally? I’m not trying to turn this into a conversation about politics and science, I’m just curious if the Sox flat don’t want conforto specifically for that reason but will never actually say it publicly and ostensibly pretend to chase him like they did with Machado

Man that organization just has no idea what they are doing

Being results oriented with Tatis based on his track record with injuries feels icky and awful to me. The Hahn-Williams legacy with this was that they evaluated James Shields to be worth more than him. It doesn't matter whether Tatis never plays another ML game again, they should never be let off the hook for that. Never.

Grinder Ball 2022: Ozzie's Type of Guyzzz

Sure, Mendick's OPS is like .580 and Romy basically has no MLB experience. So yes, our floor was raised. But if Harrison's A's numbers ends up being his White Sox production over 60 games, do you think it's a good signing?

This move bewilders me, but it's also so typically White Sox. Get a guy who seems somewhat good enough to plug a hole that seems just insignificant enough to gloss over Can't wait for October when people chirp "well, what did you EXPECT from Harrison?" It's so infuriating, I'd rather just go with Leury and any prospect with decent upside And yes, this move has Kenny written all over it

I'm torn. Conforto is a proven player, but it is a very valid point that a down year at 28 could be the start of a decline - even if most of that was bad luck. I could see him turning into a 2ish WAR player and I don't think we can afford that at a power corner position, but I think I'm inclined to go after him because he does have a TON of proven production history and I'm concerned AV may turn out to be more mediocre than originally thought, and I don't know if I quite believe in Sheets yet (although I love what I've seen). As for second, I could live with Leury as long as he remains a 2ish WAR player and the positional consistency turns into more solid defense.

Significant? Maybe not. Leury’s 2021 WAR for 162 games would be 2.7 Nick has a career per 162 WAR so far of 3.3 I get the “Nick will improve” mantra, but that improvement is really contingent on him developing one tool - power - a tool he’s never really had much of. If he has limited power his per 162 WAR really has a ceiling of 4. He certainly won’t hit for much higher of a career average. We will see, though.

You're probably exactly right on the number of games. I hope. We do need him for 80, though, which is why I think this move is so crucial, and I think it's a savvier move than it appears because of the recent way teams have changed philosophically on "everyday" players. Nobody seems to play more than 140 games a year as a starter anymore, and many starters play 130, so there's no reason to think Leury won't get 15 starts at a handful of positions off the bench.

I love it, personally. I don't think he'll be a starter. Leury has been significantly better the last 3 years, and $5.5 million a year seems like a steal for a proven ML utility player who can play 6 positions and give you probably 1.5-2 WAR.