Alternate/ive Realities ("Safety Not Guaranteed")

[caulfield12]

White Sox sweep the Twins (instead of the opposite)

Sox 31-28

Twins 33-30

Tied

 

White Sox go 4-1 against the Guardians instead of 1-4

Sox 31-28

Guardians 26-30

3 1/2 game lead

 

(Even if we just reverse the Josh Naylor Debacle, we would be 29-30, Guardians 28-28 and just trailing them by 1/2 game.)

 

Of course, combining 3-0 and 4-1 (instead of 0-3 and 1-4, the hard current reality) into 7-1 would put them at 34-25 and 3 games up on the Twins and 6 1/2 on the Guardians.

Moral of the Story:  Win Your Damn Head-to-Head Divisional Match-Ups!

 

 

@DET (2)

@HOU (3)

Toronto (3)

Baltimore (4)

@LAA (3)

@SFG (3)

 

Minnesota (3)

Detroit (4)

@CLE (4)

@MIN (4)

CLE (4)

 

37 games through July 24th (trade deadline heats up for real, they would have played 96 games with 66 remaining for the stretch drive.)

Only 13 games against below .500 teams, and the Angels' true talent is better than that, as we all know.   If they're still within 5-6 games of the Twins and in the middle of the Wild Card race, they're going to have to add rather than subtract.

The way they're playing RIGHT NOW, 8-10 through the Giants' series in SF and 5 games under .500 would be QUITE the accomplishment.  Then the Sox hit that run of five consecutive AL Central divisional opponents.   They would have to go 12-7 during THAT stretch to get back to .500.

 

The biggest short-term question then becomes the fate of one Lucas Giolito.  That's undoubtedly tabled for the off season or perhaps the TDL in 2023.

Edited June 14, 2022 by caulfield12

[hi8is]

Mucho mas basebol lefto.

Yo hablamos manyo timeos, “See where we are two weeks after Lynn gets back.”

[caulfield12]

2 hours ago, hi8is said:

Mucho mas basebol lefto.

Yo hablamos manyo timeos, “See where we are two weeks after Lynn gets back.”

I think it's going to take Lynn at least 3-4 weeks if not longer to get back to anything approximating what he was first half last season.

[bmags]

Excellent "if the white sox won they wouldn't have lost" thread

[Chimpton]

3 hours ago, hi8is said:

Mucho mas basebol lefto.

Yo hablamos manyo timeos, “See where we are two weeks after Lynn gets back.”

Or 2 weeks after TA gets back, or 2 weeks after Grandal gets back or Eloy gets back, or whoever the next injury is.

[hi8is]

24 minutes ago, Chimpton said:

Or 2 weeks after TA gets back, or 2 weeks after Grandal gets back or Eloy gets back, or whoever the next injury is.

I’ve been saying it since before the season started and still think it’s a good time to call a spade a spade…

Shits been looking very spade like though.

[Harry Chappas]

Last year it was Yermin, this year it is Berger.

When will it Yoan and Robert.... you know the one's being paid to produce in this window. 

[southsider2k5]

15 minutes ago, Harry Chappas said:

Last year it was Yermin, this year it is Berger.

When will it Yoan and Robert.... you know the one's being paid to produce in this window. 

I do think Burgers bat has a much better chance at playing in the majors than Yermin ever did.  Sadly,  Burger also can play a miniscule amout of defense, which also puts him ahead of him.

The final thing is Jake actually seems to be a really tough guy and pretty good teammate. 

[Harry Chappas]

3 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

I do think Burgers bat has a much better chance at playing in the majors than Yermin ever did.  Sadly,  Burger also can play a miniscule amout of defense, which also puts him ahead of him.

The final thing is Jake actually seems to be a really tough guy and pretty good teammate. 

Burger can DH, play a little third, first and maybe a cup of coffee in LF. He looks like he has a role on this team as does Mendick.  Maybe it is because they seem to have decent at bats more times than not and are progressing. 

I'd love for Grandal, Yoan or Robert to carry the offense for a little bit as opposed to a 2-5 day with an RBI or two being a good game for them.  

[South Side Hit Men]

1 hour ago, Harry Chappas said:

Last year it was Yermin, this year it is Berger.

When will it Yoan and Robert.... you know the one's being paid to produce in this window. 

Criticism of Yoan's start this year is universal, and likely due in part to injuries, but both have played well during their tenure. Robert is producing this season.

Hopefully both will crank it up this Summer. Perhaps Lucas and Ethan Katz can point them to coaching help outside of the organization to help develop them further, since there is no help for anyone on Tony's staff.

2019 White Sox fWAR Leaders: 4.8 Moncada (21st in MLB); 4.5 Anderson (28th); 2.2 McCann (112th); 1.7 Leury (149th).

2021 White Sox fWAR Leaders: 4.7 Anderson (26th in MLB); 4.1 Moncada (42nd); 3.7 Grandal (52nd); 3.4 Robert (62nd).

2022 White Sox fWAR Leaders: 2.1 Anderson (21st in MLB); 1.5 Abreu (51st); 1.2 Robert (86th); 0.8 Burger (139th).

 

[caulfield12]

Robert is not producing ANYWHERE near his potential.

That said, we are finally down to just two DHs today in Abreu and Vaughn.

Sheets, Burger, Grandal and Jimenez out.  Although TLR is going to treat Zahara like one, unfortunately.

[ChiSox59]

3 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

Robert is not producing ANYWHERE near his potential.

That said, we are finally down to just two DHs today in Abreu and Vaughn.

Sheets, Burger, Grandal and Jimenez out.  Although TLR is going to treat Zahara like one, unfortunately.

Robert needs an overhaul of his batting stance.  Do what you were doing at the end of last season.  What he is doing now sucks.  

[HOFHurt35]

As someone pointed out yesterday, be thrilled with our current record based on run differential. 

We should easily be 10 games under .500 right now. 

We can nitpick the Indians meltdown, the Turner fiasco, Giollito's turtle act, LaRussa's lineups..... we are lucky to be where we are at right now. 

[caulfield12]

1 minute ago, ChiSox59 said:

Robert needs an overhaul of his batting stance.  Do what you were doing at the end of last season.  What he is doing now sucks.  

It's like he is determined to prove he can be an opposite field singles and occasional doubles hitter...for Madrigal, that would be fine if he could drive the ball with authority.

For Robert, well, Buxton is tripling his homer count right now.

[Chimpton]

2 minutes ago, HOFHurt35 said:

As someone pointed out yesterday, be thrilled with our current record based on run differential. 

We should easily be 10 games under .500 right now. 

We can nitpick the Indians meltdown, the Turner fiasco, Giollito's turtle act, LaRussa's lineups..... we are lucky to be where we are at right now. 

Spoken like a true fan, be happy because we are not as bad as we should be! ?

[ChiSox59]

1 minute ago, caulfield12 said:

It's like he is determined to prove he can be an opposite field singles and occasional doubles hitter...for Madrigal, that would be fine if he could drive the ball with authority.

For Robert, well, Buxton is tripling his homer count right now.

Robert doesn't need to be Buxton.  It took Buxton half a decade to kind of sort of figure it out on the offensive side.  Not worried about him.  Robert needs to be Robert, and that is going to require an overhaul over his awful approach at the plate currently.  

[southsider2k5]

9 minutes ago, HOFHurt35 said:

As someone pointed out yesterday, be thrilled with our current record based on run differential. 

We should easily be 10 games under .500 right now. 

We can nitpick the Indians meltdown, the Turner fiasco, Giollito's turtle act, LaRussa's lineups..... we are lucky to be where we are at right now. 

You can call it luck, but I would call it unlucky to have a half assed manager holding this team back.

[Jack Parkman]

Idk where to put this comment, but if Robert and Moncada aren't the Sox best position players by WAR in 2023-24, the Sox are fucked. 

[ChiSox59]

13 minutes ago, Jack Parkman said:

Idk where to put this comment, but if Robert and Moncada aren't the Sox best position players by WAR in 2023-24, the Sox are fucked. 

Robert is at 1.2 fWAR currently (third on team behind TA 2.1 and Jose 1.5); on pace for just under 4.0 fWAR without really playing well.  

[Jack Parkman]

Just now, ChiSox59 said:

Robert is at 1.2 fWAR currently (third on team behind TA 2.1 and Jose 1.5); on pace for just under 4.0 fWAR without really playing well.  

I know, Robert is still solid even though he's not playing all that well. They really need Yoan to get back to his 4+ win self. I think he has it in him, he's too talented to stay this bad forever. 

[HOFHurt35]

1 hour ago, southsider2k5 said:

You can call it luck, but I would call it unlucky to have a half assed manager holding this team back.

Yep, LaRussa is about a 20 game difference right now.   Despite -52 on Run Differential. 

 

 

[Harry Chappas]

16 minutes ago, HOFHurt35 said:

Yep, LaRussa is about a 20 game difference right now.   Despite -52 on Run Differential. 

 

 

To me it feels that the White Sox are managed to take a game that they are down 3-1 and turn it into a 9-2 loss as well as lose a game 4-1 because we have three guys hitting under .200 batting 1st, 3rd and 5th in the lineup.

You would think this would keep the bullpen fresh but alas it has not.  

[southsider2k5]

It is funny to watch the run differential thrown out there as if Tony is actually out managing something this season.  Why aren't we asking WHY this team has a -52 run differential instead of finding a reason why -52 runs is somehow a good thing?

[Dick Allen]

The reason the run differential is so bad is somewhat on Tony, no? Let's not give him credit for having a team with more talent playing beneath itself. The guy sucks. Heyman even ripped him.

 

https://nypost.com/2022/06/13/tony-la-russas-shoddy-managing-hurting-more-than-white-sox/

[caulfield12]

3 hours ago, Dick Allen said:

The reason the run differential is so bad is somewhat on Tony, no? Let's not give him credit for having a team with more talent playing beneath itself. The guy sucks. Heyman even ripped him.

 

https://nypost.com/2022/06/13/tony-la-russas-shoddy-managing-hurting-more-than-white-sox/

(Reinsdorf said through a spokesman he isn’t planning on commenting on La Russa or the team at this time.) 

That's the highlight of the article...until this:

$3.75 million per season for TLR, and through 2023? 

We probably didn't even pay Robin, Torborg, Manuel, Fregosi, Bevington and Lamont that combined...and Ozzie on his initial contract was surely peanuts as well.