The demise of the 2021 White Sox

[SCCWS]

2 hours ago, chw42 said:

Imagine being a fan of a team, hoping the team sucks just so you can tell other fans of said team, "I TOLD YOU SO". 

Or Imagine being a fan of a rival team hoping the team sucks so you can tell other fans of said teams 'I told you so".  New posters will be coming out of the the swamp the next few weeks. 

[SCCWS]

1 hour ago, JoeCredeYes said:

While I still think the Sox have a solid chance at winning a post-season series, it is incredibly difficult to win the World Series, so assuming they do fall short of that goal, I will focus my ire on the mid-season moves. 

The biggest need to me going in was a 2B and a left-handed power-hitting corner outfielder that can actually field.  Hahn whiffed on all 3 deals and it doesn't appear any of the 3 bring anything positive to the clubhouse. 

My only other major gripe was the handling of Kopech.  It was clear long enough ago that Rodon was going to be a huge question mark for the playoffs and that Dallas was not going to make the roster.  When ReyLo started getting starts, they should have been going to Kopech in order to get him ready for playoff starts.  They'll be thinking twice about that decision for years should a lack of a 3rd viable playoff starter (I actually think Cease can do it, but would prefer he not be put in that position) be the glaring reason they get bounced in the playoffs two years in a row.

Why would you prefer not to put Cease in that position but would put Kopech in it?  Cease would be my choice over Kopech. 

[SonofaRoache]

1 hour ago, brijames1957 said:

Exactly! Yea they are playing like crap right now. But they are about to win the Division and make the playoffs where anything can happen. I mean would you rather they sucked all year and weren't in the playoffs?

My opinion is they have had this thing pretty much locked up for months now. They haven't had any kind of challenge to get revved up about. Now if they are going through the motions once the playoffs start then we can all start b****ing!

Add this to the excuse counter that I posted below. Nothing to play for and "anything can happen" in the playoffs. How often have teams gone through the motions for an entire second half of baseball and then just got hot in the playoffs? This is why fans are upset about the strategy we've been using, there isn't a blue print for it working. We won the division sure, but the other teams are all under .500 type of teams and rebuilding. And yet, we keep losing to them. 

[SonofaRoache]

3 minutes ago, SCCWS said:

Why would you prefer not to put Cease in that position but would put Kopech in it?  Cease would be my choice over Kopech. 

I think his point was had Kopech been used as a potential playoff starter, he'd be a better option than Cease at this point. I'm not sure that is accurate however. 

[ptatc]

2 hours ago, The Grinder said:

I just would like to eek out 91 wins, then worry about post season

I need 92. Took the over on 91.5 before the season. 

[ptatc]

5 minutes ago, SonofaRoache said:

I think his point was had Kopech been used as a potential playoff starter, he'd be a better option than Cease at this point. I'm not sure that is accurate however. 

With his innings limit Kopech would have been done a long time ago. He probably only has about 20 innings left.

[southsider2k5]

1 hour ago, Tony said:

Just answer this question. Since you've been here, I'd estimate 90% of your posts have been about how this team sucks, how they won't advance in the playoffs, and arguing with anyone who disagrees with you. 

So the question is....why are you here? Why are you taking time out of your day to post on a White Sox message board, a team you think isn't very good and isn't going to do anything in the postseason? Why are you spending time here? 

Exactly.  

[southsider2k5]

19 minutes ago, SCCWS said:

Why would you prefer not to put Cease in that position but would put Kopech in it?  Cease would be my choice over Kopech. 

Kopech was being stretched out and added to until he got hurt.  That wasn't the organizations fault.

[kitekrazy]

2 hours ago, southsider2k5 said:

I will never understand people who call themselves "fans" but get way more out of the negative than the positive.  Its one thing to be upset in a bad moment and react, but to come back day after day after day, with nothing better to do with your time, and take a perverse joy in failure it just something I can't understand.  Find a new hobby or something.

 I've cut back on watching this team. I get the frustration. Maybe the hype going into the season was a bit unrealistic for some.  I've decided to watch more teams that have a much closer post season race.  This team doesn't really have any pressure on them right now. 

I do wonder if there is a team they could actually beat with a tie score going into the 8th inning.

It does amaze me that everyone has that one whipping boy out of 9 guys.

Edited September 21, 2021 by kitekrazy

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

I gotta say, OP sucks more than the Sox right now.

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

2 hours ago, DannyWright said:

What is more important; the results of a sample that is 95 large, or the results of a sample that is 55 large?

Edited September 21, 2021 by Look at Ray Ray Run

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

2 hours ago, Dick Allen said:

These games have sucked and been pretty boring. But all that really matters is they have put themselves in a position where it doesn’t matter, and what happens staring October 7th is all that counts. Crying about these games is like crying about spring training games. Sure, you would like to win, but it doesn’t really matter. Maybe it will be like 2005 and they go on a little hot streak to end the season and stay hot when it matters. 

First time the organization has made the playoffs in back to back years and people are pissed off and angry. Truly amazing stuff.

The season has been boring the past 2 months because they locked up the season early. I haven't even watched as much lately because the games just don't matter. Everyone knows it.

Get it going in the next few days and let's wreck some havoc in the playoffs.

[Soxsi75]

51 minutes ago, IWokeUpLikeThis said:

*The 2006 Cardinals were 42-26 in mid-June. They went 41-53 the rest of the way to finish 83-79.

They won the World Series. 

*Our 2005 White Sox came within a hair of blowing a 15-game lead.

And won the World Series.

*The 2001 Mariners won 10 of 12 entering the postseason, finishing 116-46.

They went 4-6 in the playoffs.

*The 2008 Cubs went 98-64 and many thought were the best team in baseball.

They got blown out in 3 consecutive games by a mediocre 84-78 Dodgers team. 

—————————————-

There’s no rhyme or reason to what happens in the playoffs based off how the team finished the regular season.

Well put. You forgot one though. How about the 1983 White Sox? They went 22-6 in September, 44-15 in August and September combined, averaged nearly 6 runs a game in September, AND won 19 of their last 20 home games. So what happened.........we all know we lost to Baltimore in the playoffs, but to go even deeper to prove this point.....after averaging those 6 runs a game in September we proceeded to score a TOTAL of 3 runs in the 4 game playoff series, and after winning those 19 of 20 at Comiskey, they went out and gave away the home field advantage by losing their two home games in that series. Shall I go further? In those 20 home games, they scored 134 runs, or 6.7 per game......and then scored a total of one run in their two home playoff games. Translation? As you put here, their is NO correlation to how you do in the regular season to how you perform in the post season. None. Yes, it is distressing how they're playing right now. And yes, if they play like this in the post season they will lose to Houston.  But remember, we've been treating the last two months like one big giant spring training. NEVER playing all our regulars on the same day, or goofy pitching decisions like pitching Fry in a tie game today, or using Mike Wright in the 10th inning of the Boston game a couple of weeks ago. My biggest concern is can they turn it on when they have to after not having ANYTHING to play for 2 months?  I've always believed that what helped them win in 05 was the scare Cleveland gave us in September. Because playoff pressure is real, but we already experienced it when it became a concern that we were going to gag away a 15 game lead. But when we held them off, we had our big scare, so October we could relax and play like the team that built up that 15 game lead. Another concern is Rodon, but even if he can go 4 or 5 innings and then turn it over to the bullpen, that would be fine. Everybody does that in the postseason now anyway. Also agree with someone else on here who didn't understand why we didn't stretch out Kopech more. Because if we do have to start Keuchel, then we are in trouble. Not sure how he got so awful so fast.  

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

17 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

Kopech was being stretched out and added to until he got hurt.  That wasn't the organizations fault.

Huh?

The Sox stopped stretching Kopech out because of a lower body muscle strain? Get outta here.

The Sox stopped stretching him out because they wanted him in the bullpen where they thought they were weak while they thought the rotation was fine and dandy. It was poor planning; both for this year and next.

[Spumoni]

1 minute ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

First time the organization has made the playoffs in back to back years and people are pissed off and angry. Truly amazing stuff.

The season has been boring the past 2 months because they locked up the season early. I haven't even watched as much lately because the games just don't matter. Everyone knows it.

Get it going in the next few days and let's wreck some havoc in the playoffs.

This, for real.  Once they fell a few back on Houston over the past week the rest of the regular season effectively became unimportant.  The fact that people are reacting this angrily is wild.  Let's see what October brings.  Until then, sit back and wait.

[southsider2k5]

10 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Huh?

The Sox stopped stretching Kopech out because of a lower body muscle strain? Get outta here.

The Sox stopped stretching him out because they wanted him in the bullpen where they thought they were weak while they thought the rotation was fine and dandy. It was poor planning; both for this year and next.

It was poor planning that he got hurt. If he doesn't get hurt, he most likely stepped into the role that ReyLo did.  The team obviously reevaluated his health risks post injury. 

[southsider2k5]

18 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

What is more important; the results of a sample that is 95 large, or the results of a sample that is 55 large?

The one that fills his agenda. 

[JoeCredeYes]

41 minutes ago, SonofaRoache said:

I think his point was had Kopech been used as a potential playoff starter, he'd be a better option than Cease at this point. I'm not sure that is accurate however. 

Yeah that was my point, Cease control issues still concern me to start a playoff game, but I agree with you that my hypothetical statement probably isn't accurate and PTATC has reminded me of Kopech's inning limit.  

[Balta1701]

2 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

It was poor planning that he got hurt. If he doesn't get hurt, he most likely stepped into the role that ReyLo did.  The team obviously reevaluated his health risks post injury. 

Or LaRussa said you can’t take a guy out of his bullpen.

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

27 minutes ago, Spumoni said:

This, for real.  Once they fell a few back on Houston over the past week the rest of the regular season effectively became unimportant.  The fact that people are reacting this angrily is wild.  Let's see what October brings.  Until then, sit back and wait.

Yeah, I wish they would have pushed for home field because I think it matters, but it was quite obvious Tony wasn't going to do that so why get worked up about it? Is it dumb? Sure, but they're going to the playoffs and won their division by a ton. Let's go. I sat through shit for years to reap playoffs every year. The playoffs are a crap shoot, best way to maximize your WS wins is to go to the playoffs as much as possible.

We got the same shot as everyone else, and I still like our starters more so I'd likely give them a good shot on the road versus Houston; although I wish we were at home.

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

19 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

It was poor planning that he got hurt. If he doesn't get hurt, he most likely stepped into the role that ReyLo did.  The team obviously reevaluated his health risks post injury. 

If anything, the injury gave them a reason to stretch him out and limit his appearances. If they were really contemplating it, the timing was perfect for them because it would take him 3-4 weeks to get ramped up and by then he'd be available for them late in the season as many had thought was the plan.

[Balta1701]

2 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

If anything, the injury gave them a reason to stretch him out and limit his appearances. If they were really contemplating it, the timing was perfect for them because it would take him 3-4 weeks to get ramped up and by then he'd be available for them late in the season as many had thought was the plan.

I believe back in November “LaRussa Kopech in the bullpen and he will not be overruled” was literally my example of the kind of thing that could go wrong when a manager is forced on a now-powerless GM.

[JTB]

Seems to me “demise” is way too strong!  How about “middling play,” or “lackluster second half,”

[DoUEvenShift]

.

Edited September 22, 2021 by DoUEvenShift
double post

[Marqhead]

I think it’s fair to be both excited by the team’s second playoff appearance in two years and beginning of their competitive window and very disappointed and concerned about their recent performance over the last two months and how that projects into the playoffs. The two aren’t mutually exclusive.