Quin

I'm gonna back you up here. Lots of pundits were picking the Sox to reach the World Series in 2021.

Like, the Mariners are paying the Brewers, right?

It's funny cause we're seeing what a team that can't run, can't throw, can't hit and can't field — JR's supposedly ideal player — is like. It's bad.

I'm sorry, we could sign 3 Maldonados with that money.

The Duality of Greg

Does anyone know Bridgeport Heather has survived the past few seasons???

I'm sorry, what?

And Lenyn was your possible stop-gap at 2B - except he's been holding down 3B while Ramos gets ready. Everyone loves to rag on Sosa, but his Charlotte numbers (even at the same age), dwarf Ramos. If any of Montgomery, Ramos or Gonzalez bust - you need Sosa, someone everyone wants to jettison because he's struggling at the major league level. But so far he's the only one to succeed at the Charlotte bandbox. This stuff takes time.

I mean, look at the O's. Their big turnaround started with the 2019 draft and getting Adley Rutschman as their cornerstone piece. Then they got Kjerstad, Cowser, Holliday and Bradfield. That's not counting Henderson (2019, 2nd rounder), Basallo (INT signing 2021), Norby (2nd rounder, 2021), Rodriguez (2018 1st), Westburg (Competitive Balance Pick). Yeah, their rotation has taken hits right now. But they are absolutely stuffed on offense and have close-to-ready prospects.

Like, I'm not even arguing that Mike Shirley can get the right players in. But their timetables have to all line up, and barring absolute historic drafts, that's going to be a multi-year process, even considering guys already in the system. Then you have to convince JR to pay up for Crochet.

He pitched 2/3 of an innings of relief, strained his arm and then threw out the bullpen 2021. Then his arm snapped after he aced Ohtani in spring training.

No, I think he'd be ready to go by 2026. SImple question: Do you not understand that developmental timelines and contracts need to lineup? That's the entire reason Crochet is being discussed as a trade piece, because he'd be gone by Jac's sophomore season. Robert has more control and we're discussing shipping him out. What happens if Montgomery doesn't solve things in AAA? You're now praying that Gonzalez is gonna come through. Schultz is still building innings. We're banking on him being ready to go full steam ahead in 2026? Crochets last year of team control. This is assuming Ramos avoids a sophomore slump, Quero reaches the majors at age 23 as a catcher both and Korey Lee pan out, Thorpe and Cannon prove that they're more indicative of their better starts than their worse starts. And we've just seen a bunch of prospects that were on the same timelines bust because this same medical staff couldn't keep guys healthy.

Then by this logic, the 2016 White Sox were ready to go.

Because when people say it'd take 5 years to get stuff going through the draft and you say "Shirley's work started in 2019" and we're just now getting major dividends in 2024, that works out to 5 years and that's just with Crochet. It's not just one player, it's a holistic approach. I'm a big Draft Jac person. If it takes until 2026 for Crochet (hopefully he's still here), Montgomery (if he's up this year), Schultz (next year may be a cup of coffee), Gonzalez (let's see him get through Birmingham), and Jac are all together - that's 7 years. I'll lop off 2019 since Crochet was 2020 - it's still a six-year process. You don't get to magically erase rehab years, because the player had to go through them before being a dominant, MLB starter.

And to kinda drive home the point that others were making, that is taking 5 years.

The Mets are 9-2 since Grimace graced their mound An absolute phenom We once asked, where's our Liriano? Then we got him and he sucked. But, in a season of despair, where is our Grimace?

This is essentially their rehab plan the past several years, in large part due to lack of depth.

Isn't this kind of what @Pal is alluding to?

Kopech, easy. Eloy and Moncada at least had pre-COVID success (even a Silver Slugger!). 2019 & 2021 Moncada isn't what you'd have dreamt on, but you'd be more than OK with that as your 3B. Kopech had an OK season as a starter with limited innings (2022) and that's about it

Now I'm just sad.

Offense Defense still bad Bullpen still bad The Sox probably don't let ReyLo start Once upon a time. From 2014-2016, Sale was #5 in fWAR and Quintana was #8. Rodon had fallen into their laps. Plus, they team literally can't tank. The new rules block them from drafting higher than 10 next year. The only thing anyone would want to do this year is try to get good value for players on the roster before they leave/lose value. Example: If they held onto Gio+Lopez and both decide to sign elsewhere, they don't get Quero or Bush, who are both performing well. Depressing example using the Bulls: Caruso was reportedly worth 2 first round picks this past trade deadline. Drummond was worth multiple seconds. LaVine and DDR both had good value in 2022-2023 - when the team was treading water in the exact same manner as last year, with it clear they couldn't use both. Vuc might have been worth a second as a salary dump, now he has an albatross. By holding onto everything, they've got Josh Giddey and whatever they could get for LaVine in return.

I'm so glad that despite everything, we can be united over the black hole of suck that Martin Maldonado

Needs 26 gym rats.

Ah, as expected from Getz and Pedro. The clown car rolls on.