southsider2k5

And only if we don't do what we did last year with blocking them to play worthless trade candidates.

I just don't see where the improvement will come from. Moncada is sure to be gone. Robert is probably getting traded, as is Crochet. There is no one at AAA who is an imminent threat of contributing at the major league level of substance. The bullpen isn't going to get any better because we don't have money to spend.

I absolutely believe that bringing in Machado or Harper also changes this a LOT. I think this is a more important breaking point for alternate timelines vs the Tony hiring.

I don't know about a big turn around. We are losing a lot of players, and there really isn't anyone to replace them, and the Sox are apparently now shopping at Goodwill for players because of budget problems.

I guess it comes down to is were the problems something physical and inevitable with the main guys? If so, yeah, this wasn't going to matter. I would also throw Kopech into that bucket. He was just as highly rated as the rest of them, saw just as many injuries, just as much failure, and even flat out said he wasn't listening to coaching right before he left. Were the problems the players tuning out coaching and leadership because of a loss of faith in them? I do wonder this because Ricky sure seemed to have them in check and working just fine. He didn't stop injuries as much as he had players playing at a high level when they were playing, which we don't have now. To me it feels like more of the second column vs the first.

NO one has any idea what this is about, so the thread title is being edited to reflect lack of news or rumor from any other source.

I think earlier lack of failure probably stops the cascading of events that led us to this point. Could someone like that hold up the dam forever? Who knows, but something absolutely changed in 2021. Yes, the won the division, and yes they won 93 games, but the season was in two parts. They were 58-37, and finished 35-32. The cracks had started really showing up mid-season and were never repaired, and the entire building fell in. Were those cracks fixable? Well, that is the question. Maybe Hinch has better ideas on player maintenance and buy in from the players. Ricky sure seemed to have these same guys bought in who are now apparently toxic.

https://www.mlb.com/news/pipeline-inbox-can-coby-mayo-stick-at-3rd-with-o-s-another-holliday-on-deck?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage

Is this news or a desire/

The pace we are on, we could see a 40 game improvement in one season, and still not be a .500 team. That's absurd.

I don't think it would take anywhere close to $30 million. I think a ton could be done with less than a Maldonado signing.

Not to mention what an odd flex this is... Like are Sox fans supposed to be happy right now? This is quite literally the worst season in modern baseball happening right in front of us. Are we supposed to be celebrating? Nah, keep the kool-aid bro.

This is exactly what we have been doing loading up on utility players. This is 2024, not 1924. It doesn't work anymore.

Also true. But even more so important with how much new growth is in the game of baseball that we have completely ignored.

If he is really hurt, I wish they would just shut him down. This is doing no one any good.

It's a bold strategy Cotton, let's see if it pays off for them.

Honestly? I don't think much changed because of 2005. He'd always been resistant to change, and for one year he caught lightning in a bottle. But it was easier to get lucky in 2005. The gap between top and bottom didn't exist like it does now. He didn't really change anything from 1981 to 2005, and he really hasn't changed anything from 2005-2024. I think the difference is his unwillingness to change is more pronounced now as the game has changed a ton with modern analytics and it's integration into scouting. I mean when you have a group openly mocking "computers" in 2024 it has more of an effect than being a luddite in 2005, or 1981. In my head, if I were to envision "change" in MLB vs change in the White Sox, this is how it would look if a visual works better. I think it is why the fall behind has been so dramatic this year. There is just a higher top of baseball than there is ever been, and the median/average pack has very largely progressed as well. Honestly, my graph might even been missing regression this year from the sounds of it.

For Eloy his entire stint with the White Sox centered around not having one ability. Availability. And when he was available, he was usually walking wounded. For a guy who was one of the top hitting prospects in the game to go absolutely no where during his six years year in a White Sox uniform when he should have been owning the game of baseball, both with his obvious charisma, and with his hitting ability is disappointing for most fans. Coming along and trying to talk down to everyone who feels this way, and then to drag the corpse of Andrew Vaughn who was never in his league to begin with as some sort of coping mechanism really doesn't achieve much. Bottom line: Eloy Jimenez was a massive failure and one of the faces of the Sox failure, along with guys like Michael Kopech, and is going to be remembered on the south side as such.

I don't think anyone, except Jerry, would argue with you.

This. That's why catching the line flip on the rare occasion the Sox would lead was vital.

Baltimore invested in scouting, player development and analytics.

I have tripled my betting account selectively doing exactly this during the season. I love catching the Sox with middle innings leads with the starter about to come out.