35thstreetswarm

It's sad all right.

OK, I'll bite, even though I'm pretty sure this whole thing is just performative and not even primarily about baseball. If they're "winning" with their shell of a team decimated by injuries, it would normally give one reason to think that they will improve even further and give reason for optimism when, you know, their two injured superstars return to said winning team in August. (And I know, they will not return, or they will return and be bad, or there will be no baseball, wamp wah -- you don't have to say it.)

They’ve scratched and clawed and fought their way through all that to a very good record and a 6 game division lead. If that’s not good enough to hold your “interest” I don’t know what to tell you, but it doesn’t say much for you as a fan.

It’s facially absurd and will never happen.

So 26-14 against teams not called the Chicago White Sox.

What a great sweep, especially off of the Twins beating the Indians in a series and seeming to gain some momentum. Lots of moments this could have gone south (and probably would have for past Sox teams) -- the Donaldson drama, the rough Rodon inning today, the Minnesota comeback in game 1...but we kept it together and ground our hated rivals into dust with half our lineup on the shelf. Nothing to minimize about this one. This was a good team kicking ass, pure and simple.

Spoken like someone who's watched more than one baseball game.

Celebrating hitting a run of the mill home run and accusing a player of habitual cheating are the same to you? Really?

Arrietta can’t hold a 7-run lead? I think it’s obvious what’s happening even if nobody will say it. His teammates’ vaccines have magnetized him.

That's fine, but I suspect many fans do care what the Sox pay for a rental since it directly impacts the team's future. I for one hope they give away as little as possible. I'm pretty confident that the FO will recognize that it can credibly negotiate from a position of strength and will make a smart move rather than a panicky one.

The question wasn't whether it's good to have more professional hitters, or whether we would be better if we hit more home runs, or whether 3 run HRs are important. Those aren't real questions. Obviously we can use more offense (like all teams can) especially during a brutal stretch of injury, and is the reason we're likely to go out and get Escobar or someone like him. The question was whether our situation is so objectively desperate to outsiders that it should require us to overpay for a somewhat inconsistent rental like Eduardo Escobar. The answer is we aren't. Probably no first-place team is, but particularly not one with its injured players scheduled to come back in a few weeks.

That's fine (unless they're willing to sell them to us). But the Cubs brass already let Darvish go. They see the writing on the wall. I'm not convinced their moves will be dictated by fear of some fan revolt brought on by a few weeks of moderate Wisdom-mania.

Plus despite the prevailing mood of this message board we're not really that desperate. We're in first place, about to enter a long run of games against struggling teams, and the timetable on Eloy and Robert's return seems to keep moving up.

Fair enough -- let's just agree that the Twins should suck it.

Well, if we do our job it's at least 2.

...aaaand now lost 5 in a row, 5 games out of first, closing in on third place, and out of the playoff picture at the moment. Wamp wah

I think the answer to that is pretty easy: he was drafted 11th overall. Clearly the org thought he had the talent to become an everyday player, and he's now healthy and producing even after skipping two levels. The main reason to regard him as anything other than a real prospect is a medical one that I'm not qualified to opine on.

How about a nice Luis Gonzalez?

I've had Adolfo at the top of my list of players I'm fairly certain will make us sad by producing with another team in the future.

Sometimes it’s just about getting through the bad stretches with minimal damage. We are playing our worst ball of the season but Cleveland isn’t really making a move. Actually gained ground this series. Hopefully we turn it around soon and start adding to that lead.

So we got through another part of our inevitable slump while gaining in the division? Cool

Yeah, imagining worst case outcomes for core players tends to be sad. Let me help—imagine they both come back and turn into the franchise players they could easily be. Yay!

Oh — didn’t realize that

Damn—really prefer to have Lambert in a shortened game.