How Concerned Should We Be?

[Texsox]

Before opening day I predicted a third place finish but got excited after the first week. Now I'm back to thinking third place. They got lucky last year and stayed somewhat healthy, I don't see their health luck happening two years in a row. We have crappy scrappy durable backups and injury prone starters. 

 

 

[Texsox]

5 minutes ago, fathom said:

The upcoming schedule is brutal.  You combine that with the Twins next month of games or so and this could get very ugly.

Isn't it already ugly? We were the worse AL team over the last ten games and tied with the Reds for worst in baseball with no help in sight. 

 

[Greg Hibbard]

Reading this thread is tiresome. I get that folks are frustrated, but some of these reactions make it seem like Sox fans have never watched an entire season of baseball before. A 1-9 stretch happens to very good teams, even championship teams, all the time. A 1-9 stretch during a time the Sox are missing many very key players due to injury is totally understandable. My sincere advice is don’t spend so much time obsessing over what’s happening with this team early in the season while so many big pieces are out. This team has enough talent fully healthy to win 10 games in a row. We are still going to easily win this division. 

[wrathofhahn]

Not very to be honest.

This team isn't hitting right now but the guys who aren't hitting are just slumping and way off their career numbers. I'm not concerned about the regular season I am more concerned about the playoffs and pitching

Edited April 29, 2022 by wrathofhahn

[southsider2k5]

19 minutes ago, Greg Hibbard said:

Reading this thread is tiresome. I get that folks are frustrated, but some of these reactions make it seem like Sox fans have never watched an entire season of baseball before. A 1-9 stretch happens to very good teams, even championship teams, all the time. A 1-9 stretch during a time the Sox are missing many very key players due to injury is totally understandable. My sincere advice is don’t spend so much time obsessing over what’s happening with this team early in the season while so many big pieces are out. This team has enough talent fully healthy to win 10 games in a row. We are still going to easily win this division. 

This is a team that has played absolutely terrible baseball for 10 games, but it is also one that has played .500 baseball over their last 90 games.  And it isn't just that they were 1-10, it is how they went 1-10.  If you watched it, you get it.

[Snopek]

15 minutes ago, Greg Hibbard said:

Reading this thread is tiresome. I get that folks are frustrated, but some of these reactions make it seem like Sox fans have never watched an entire season of baseball before. A 1-9 stretch happens to very good teams, even championship teams, all the time. A 1-9 stretch during a time the Sox are missing many very key players due to injury is totally understandable. My sincere advice is don’t spend so much time obsessing over what’s happening with this team early in the season while so many big pieces are out. This team has enough talent fully healthy to win 10 games in a row. We are still going to easily win this division. 

There’s a lot more wrong with this team than injuries, though. The little league defense, the inability to take a walk, the extreme ability to issue a walk, the roster flaws and redundancy, the manager decision making.

While I definitely don’t think they’re as bad a team as they’ve shown, and I still think they can recover from this, I’m not going to expect things to suddenly turn around once they’re healthy. And for that matter, I’m not actually expecting them to ever “be healthy” at this point, whatever that may even mean.

[Balta1701]

24 minutes ago, Greg Hibbard said:

Reading this thread is tiresome. I get that folks are frustrated, but some of these reactions make it seem like Sox fans have never watched an entire season of baseball before. A 1-9 stretch happens to very good teams, even championship teams, all the time. A 1-9 stretch during a time the Sox are missing many very key players due to injury is totally understandable. My sincere advice is don’t spend so much time obsessing over what’s happening with this team early in the season while so many big pieces are out. This team has enough talent fully healthy to win 10 games in a row. We are still going to easily win this division. 

Last season, 0 playoff teams had 8 game losing streaks.

[chitownsportsfan]

9 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

Last season, 0 playoff teams had 8 game losing streaks.

Yea I was gonna say most good teams do not have stretches like that. Not that it never happens but that it's a bad sign early for the Sox. There are plenty of arguments for optimism that isn't one of them however.

[Texsox]

29 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

This is a team that has played absolutely terrible baseball for 10 games, but it is also one that has played .500 baseball over their last 90 games.  And it isn't just that they were 1-10, it is how they went 1-10.  If you watched it, you get it.

So true. The more you zoom out the bleaker the outlook. 

[ptatc]

1 hour ago, Texsox said:

Before opening day I predicted a third place finish but got excited after the first week. Now I'm back to thinking third place. They got lucky last year and stayed somewhat healthy, I don't see their health luck happening two years in a row. We have crappy scrappy durable backups and injury prone starters. 

 

 

There is no way they finish 3rd. There aren't 2 teams better than them. 

They are currently 3rd and have 8 on the IL and have played as absolutely as bad as they possibly can.

Now with this dead baseball the hitter are going to need to change their power first mentality at least for awhile. But they won't play this poorly all year.

[ChiSox59]

41 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

This is a team that has played absolutely terrible baseball for 10 games, but it is also one that has played .500 baseball over their last 90 games.  And it isn't just that they were 1-10, it is how they went 1-10.  If you watched it, you get it.

Last season it was this idea that the boys were being conserved with a big division lead and the flip would be switched a week or two prior to the playoffs.  The flip never got switched, and we have a senile man still trying to find it 6 month later.  

[southsider2k5]

4 minutes ago, ptatc said:

There is no way they finish 3rd. There aren't 2 teams better than them. 

They are currently 3rd and have 8 on the IL and have played as absolutely as bad as they possibly can.

Now with this dead baseball the hitter are going to need to change their power first mentality at least for awhile. But they won't play this poorly all year.

This is the good news.  The division is still flaming trash, despite what some people in the off season thought.  The division and a 3rd straight playoff birth are there if this team wakes up and starts playing to a level equitable to their talent.

[Texsox]

5 minutes ago, ptatc said:

There is no way they finish 3rd. There aren't 2 teams better than them. 

They are currently 3rd and have 8 on the IL and have played as absolutely as bad as they possibly can.

Now with this dead baseball the hitter are going to need to change their power first mentality at least for awhile. But they won't play this poorly all year.

I agree there aren't two teams better than them. But they don't have to be better, they just have to play better. And to me there are a couple teams capable of playing better than the Sox. 

[caulfield12]

1 hour ago, Greg Hibbard said:

Reading this thread is tiresome. I get that folks are frustrated, but some of these reactions make it seem like Sox fans have never watched an entire season of baseball before. A 1-9 stretch happens to very good teams, even championship teams, all the time. A 1-9 stretch during a time the Sox are missing many very key players due to injury is totally understandable. My sincere advice is don’t spend so much time obsessing over what’s happening with this team early in the season while so many big pieces are out. This team has enough talent fully healthy to win 10 games in a row. We are still going to easily win this division. 

8-9 consecutive losses by the WS winning teams has happened just twice in history.  83-79 Cards’ team lost eight consecutive twice and 1953 Yankees did lose nine in a row in early July before beating the Brooklyn Dodgers in October.

Let’s not make it seem totally normal.  And yes, the 2005 Astros were 15-30 in the early season but lost to the White Sox.

The Twins have somehow lost 18 consecutive in the postseason, the Indians now 8, so 2-5 definitely seems better in comparison, I guess…

Edited April 29, 2022 by caulfield12

[GreenSox]

I've watched  entire season of baseball, and certainly teams turn around.
But I've also watched c. 50 seasons of White Sox baseball and 10+ seasons of Hahnball..........

[caulfield12]

16 minutes ago, ptatc said:

There is no way they finish 3rd. There aren't 2 teams better than them. 

They are currently 3rd and have 8 on the IL and have played as absolutely as bad as they possibly can.

Now with this dead baseball the hitter are going to need to change their power first mentality at least for awhile. But they won't play this poorly all year.

No, but the Twins are now considered the favorites…and will likely stretch their lead out the next month or so.  It will be interesting to see if the White Sox have the character to fight back or they just fold like a cheap suit exactly like the Twins last season.

[Chicago White Sox]

Being 3 1/2 games back heading into May with an underperforming and injured team is very concerning.  Gonna need the bats to get going or there is simply no hope.  The good news is that should happen even without Eloy for a couple months.

Pitching is the real problem and not much hope there until Lynn is back.  Even then there is no clear #5 starter / rotation depth and we’re an injury away from being right back in this predicament.  If we’re serious about competing for a playoff spot, then Hahn needs to acquire a legit starter once one becomes available.  Cueto should be viewed as nothing more than a #6 type guy if he even gets a call-up.

[caulfield12]

7 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Being 3 1/2 games back heading into May with an underperforming and injured team is very concerning.  Gonna need the bats to get going or there is simply no hope.  The good news is that should happen even without Eloy for a couple months.

Pitching is the real problem and not much hope there until Lynn is back.  Even then there is no clear #5 starter / rotation depth and we’re an injury away from being right back in this predicament.  If we’re serious about competing for a playoff spot, then Hahn needs to acquire a legit starter once one becomes available.  Cueto should be viewed as nothing more than a #6 type guy if he even gets a call-up.

You can never get on a consistent roll with Keuchel and VV in the rotation…that much is patently obvious.  You start two games out of five with only 25-30% odds of winning out of the gate.  That’s not easy to overcome with this current offense.

Expecting Cueto to be April/May 2016 Matt Latos is being pretty optimistic, too.

[caulfield12]

11 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Being 3 1/2 games back heading into May with an underperforming and injured team is very concerning.  Gonna need the bats to get going or there is simply no hope.  The good news is that should happen even without Eloy for a couple months.

Pitching is the real problem and not much hope there until Lynn is back.  Even then there is no clear #5 starter / rotation depth and we’re an injury away from being right back in this predicament.  If we’re serious about competing for a playoff spot, then Hahn needs to acquire a legit starter once one becomes available.  Cueto should be viewed as nothing more than a #6 type guy if he even gets a call-up.

This does sound like the 2016 predicament in a way, except that team got out of the gate and played way over their heads and everyone knew 23-10 was a mirage.  Or you can simply go along with the .500ish team narrative that has been established over the last ninety or so games (and not the red hot May/June 2021 Sox team that made us a Top Five favorite entering the season).

At roughly the 40 game mark in 2016 we decided to start looking for a “big game” pitcher to swing the odds back on our favor somehow…let’s try not to do something foolhardy like that again, Hahn.

[Balta1701]

 

[Greg Hibbard]

7 hours ago, Balta1701 said:

Last season, 0 playoff teams had 8 game losing streaks.

And the team that won the World Series wasn’t over .500 until august. 

[caulfield12]

1 minute ago, Greg Hibbard said:

And the team that won the World Series wasn’t over .500 until august. 

Yes and they without 2/3 best hitters in Acuna and Ozuna.

Well, we can keep repeating these exceptional cases or stare reality in the face based on the eye test, bad body language other than Vaughn and Harrison.  Then there's the painful experience of taking  in a typical TLR postmortem where you can see he's clearly struggling with his once sharper mental acuity...

[Balta1701]

12 minutes ago, Greg Hibbard said:

And the team that won the World Series wasn’t over .500 until august. 

They also never once lost more than 4 in a row.

[caulfield12]

21 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

They also never once lost more than 4 in a row.

Touche.  You can look at exceptions to the rule but that doesn't make them winning bets from a probability standpoint.

[Greg Hibbard]

59 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

Yes and they without 2/3 best hitters in Acuna and Ozuna.

Well, we can keep repeating these exceptional cases or stare reality in the face based on the eye test, bad body language other than Vaughn and Harrison.  Then there's the painful experience of taking  in a typical TLR postmortem where you can see he's clearly struggling with his once sharper mental acuity...

How about we instead focus on the exceptional case of the lockout, a shortened spring training, and 5-6 major injuries to top 10 organizational assets?

this group of players have proven (yes, in the regular season) that they are winners over the past two seasons. I guess I wonder what’s fundamentally changed over the past 10 games to make Sox fans throw the team literally under the bus after one bad stretch.