Greg Hibbard

Hey guys Maybe check out August 2005 for how bad of a 16 game stretch a World Series winner could have It's as if some of you have never watched baseball before. We are not even out of first yet, during a brutal stretch of our schedule. JFC guys

LOL at what this thread became, and LOL at "2 playoff appearances in 15 years." I guess we will just forget that one of those two won the world series, and that 2006 sported a 90 win team that finished in 3rd, and that there were a few other very near misses with 86-88 win teams. During the first 12 years of this front office, the Sox averaged 85 wins a season. The last three seasons have been the definition of retooling, largely due to LH power hitters named Adam crapping the major league bed in an unforeseen way.

There were a bunch of big positives to take away from a 2-4 week. 1) They were in all 6 games and could have won any of them. 2) I expected to lose 2/3 at Texas going in, and I think we had a tough luck loss with Q in New York. You're going to lose 2/3 on the road to mediocre teams on the road sometimes. I think 2-4 is fine. 3) Sale dominated as expected. 4) We are identifying the holes we need to shore up. We need another big bat, yes, but we also probably need a bit more depth in the bullpen 5) We got another servicable start from Gonzalez and he may be the fifth starter answer. 6) Todd F'n Frazier. 7) The rest of our division really sucks too right now. I'm hoping we win 6 out of 10 home games, and split the remaining road games. However, even if we go 1-5 in our last 6 road games in May, we finish the two toughest months of our schedule with an over .500 road record. And even if we go just 5-5 at home, and then 1-5 on the road, we finish April and May with a 30-24 record. That pace extrapolates to a 90 win season. I still think people look at the Cubs' cartoonish record across town and somehow expect the Sox to keep up with that. Remember, anything over .600 ball puts us in a position to win 95-100 games.

There's an intangible feeling about games. Some games "feel" like nail-biters, where you know neither team will really score runs and that a 1 run lead is safe forever, even when the game features two great offensive teams. Some games "feel" like anything can happen, and sometimes, they get out of hand in a lot of ways, early and then again late. Last night was just a wild, wild, wild game, chock full of offensive explosions and weird hiccups. There were so many unusual things that happened. I doubt we will see another game like that this season. To treat certain leads as if they "should" be categorically safe assumes that a 5 run lead in one game is just like another. I'm sorry, but a five run lead when the opposing team has 11 or 12 hits through 7 innings is NOTHING like a 5 run lead when your pitching staff is cruising. I never felt like that was over last night and was not surprised in the least when Texas scored seven. It was just that type of game.

A .617 winning percentage is a 100-win team. The White Sox currently have a .676 winning percentage. Yes, the sample size is small...but 20% of the season is pretty significant. Sure, the next few weeks feature a brutal schedule, but the last few weeks have been no cakewalk. This team has been living on the road and playing very well in stadiums that usually wreak havoc on the Sox, and/or beating or hanging with teams that are contenders or historically give us fits. Series wins at Oakland, Minnesota, Toronto....a split in Baltimore.... I think this team could go on a 5 game losing streak and I wouldn't really panic. They are so much fundamentally better, generally, than any team we've seen recently and the rest of the division has looked very beatable. I think it's easy to forget that losing 40% of your games, however you lose them, is par for the course for a great team in this sport, especially when sick teams like the Cubs and the Sox seemingly can't lose day-to-day. This is a strange, strange year so far. It's one bad loss guys. They've earned a pass on one bad loss. Let's see how they respond.

I was there last night. It was disappointing not to have the whole lower bowl jammed, but I agree that the people who were there were awesome. It was great to give the team standing O's on defensive plays. A lot of Red Sox fans running their mouths and being obnoxious. A lot of stupid Tom Brady bulls*** too. Some guy in my section with a "FREE BRADY" sign wouldn't stop being a boorish jackass pretty much all game.

I know he's hitting .220, but it's hard for me not to say Frazier. His defense, attitude, leadership and power have all been huge for the Sox. 1) Frazier 2) Sale 3) Latos

I'm gonna be there to welcome them home. Section 141 row 12. Let's do this.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ May 2, 2016 -> 11:16 AM) Would he ever do that? Ok, not a presser but a statement? I would figure that he might like to stop the teams from calling him if he has no actual interest in coming back. ...which is why I think the White Sox might be able to lure him in. They have $13 million of extra cash, nothing to lose but letting him get into shape on his own timetable, and he walks in as a savior to the franchise he had his storybook success with while they are in contention...call me crazy but I could see it.

So why not hold a press conference and just retire?

I realize this topic has probably been beaten to death here, but I can't find it. Google searching for news on Buehrle makes everything seem like crickets so far. Is he just holding out for a Cardinals offer, staying retired otherwise?

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Apr 21, 2016 -> 07:46 PM) Avi, Duke and Danks for a bag of balls. Yes.

A bunch of dudes with separate agendas and hiding s*** from the media. Doubletalk, backtalk, everything under the sun Great way to approach the last couple weeks of getting ready to play a team sport intensively for 6 months

JFC are the inmates really running the asylum? It's sad that I have to go back and cite that even Jerry "Gandhi" Manuel, of all people, nipped s*** like this in the bud

Here's the thing about this KW may have done the right thing, certainly it seems that way on paper. LaRoche may have done what he needed to do. The net result though is that the team is pissed off and the fans are screwed, and it seems to be a pattern with this organization. We lose a potential vital LH bat that we really need in the lineup, and the $13 million in savings does us as fans no good, necessarily. This has all the feeling of Baines getting his number retired and then getting traded. It has the feel of Frank Thomas leaving the organization, of Fisk with the sour taste in his mouth. And this team honestly wonders why they have a PR problem and problems getting asses in seats.

I can completely get behind this sentiment. 78 wins will be decided improvement over the 76 win campaign of last season I'm looking forward to eating at least a few hot dogs and taking a lap or two around the concourse a few times this season

I keep coming back to this - it's not about whether Robin should be fired for doing something wrong. It's that Robin is doing absolutely NOTHING of value in his current position. I can't come up with a reason why we wouldn't replace him.

I know we need to make up 6.5 games on 3 different teams, but with good SP and enough hitting, we'll be right there, 3-4-5 games out, at most, in August, with the way this AL looks. This has been my hunch all season. I'd rather be relying on Sale, Shark, Q and Robertson than a team sporting a lineup clogged with hitters needing to stay hot with suspect pitching.

sorry about the accidental quick post. Fixed OP now.

I dunno. I guess this is why I refuse to give up on this season. Both Tex and Min stunk out of the gate, then feasted on relatively good schedules. Now we see Min falling precipitously back to earth. I just can't believe Tex is all that good, personally - I think they're just hot right now. NYY 19-17 TB 19-18 BOS 15-22 TOR 20-17 BAL 18-19 KC 18-16 DET 16-20 MIN 21-14 (second best in AL) SOX 20-18 CLE 20-17 LAA 18-18 HOU 18-20 SEA 17-20 TEX 24-13 (best in AL) OAK 14-23 (worst in AL)

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 1, 2015 -> 09:10 AM) Not too worried. Their run differential is a little out of whack from that 5 game disaster of a road trip where they were -29. The 1990 White Sox were +7. If the players start hitting and pitching like they are supposed to, this is a good team. I agree with this.

Even when they were 5 or 6 games under I never stopped believing. I still think this team wins 85-90 games

QUOTE (flavum @ May 24, 2015 -> 03:49 PM) Also, it's 11 games. They need to go 7-4 to make up for this homestand, period. No, really, they don't. It's early days still. At the very minimum, they need to stay within 2-3-4 games of .500 for the next few weeks and hope KC and Detroit come back to earth a bit. At 70 games if they are 34-36, would you still rule them out? My answer would be "it depends on what record KC and Detroit have at that time." If either of those teams runs away and hides with this thing, it doesn't matter if the white sox win 77 or 93 games. We aren't seeing postseason play. I think there's very good starting pitching talent and enough hitting to make a run. Defense is still my main concern.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 24, 2015 -> 03:14 PM) 2-8 or 3-7 road trip should about eliminate this bad team Agreed but I think they will go 4-6 or better.

QUOTE (Tannerfan @ May 24, 2015 -> 03:35 PM) You're dreaming. Ok.