Who the heck could the Sox even sign in FA next year?

[greg775]

6 hours ago, FloydBannister1983 said:

If the bar is that low why limit yourself to this city.  You can root for anybody.

Lifelong sox fan so i haven't jumped ship yet. Just getting sick of bad baseball with no end in sight.

[tray]

Sox are way down in the standings but many of the losses this season were due to very poor relief performances, especially  when the Sox were ahead in middle to late innings. Plus we had no Closer and our set-up guys set up the other team with lead-off walks....No lead was ever safe. Bummer was famous for that.

You don't need to blow up the entire team.  Get a Closer and some reliable set-up guys.  You can win some games with a mediocre starting rotation and a Manager that knows when to deploy a decent bullpen.  Bullpen was bad but Grifol and Katz should have emphasized throwing strikes to get ahead instead of walking the tying run late in the game. And then there was the failure to hold men on base. A walk quickly became a double.

Edited August 1, 2023 by tray

[South Side Hit Men]

4 minutes ago, tray said:

Sox are way down in the standings but many of the losses this season were due to very poor relief performances, especially  when the Sox were ahead in middle to late innings. Plus had no Closer. Our set-up really men set up the other team with lead-off walks, then gave up runs in the 7th - 9th innings. No lead was ever safe.

You don't need to blow up the entire team.  Get a Closer and some reliable set-up guys.  You can win some games with a mediocre starting rotation and a Manager that knows when to deploy a decent bullpen.  Bullpen was bad but Grifol and Katz should have emphasized throwing strikes to get ahead instead of waking the tying run late in the game. And then tghere was the failure to hold men on base. A walk quickly became a double.

The sold off their best starter, and are near the bottom at every position not manned by Robert.

They need 15-20 better players on the roster to legitimately contend.

2023 fWAR Team Rankings through July 30

• 23rd Catcher (Need two catchers who can catch and also hit above .650 OPS)
• 23rd First Base (Give Vaughn 1-2 more years, this is the easiest position to fill externally)
• 27th Second Base (Need a starting 2B, they have enough for 1 decent reserve infielder)
• 19th Third Base (Yoan is putting for dough next year, Burger a better DH - Future minors/FA)
• 28th Shortstop (Tim is putting for dough next year, Montgomery in 2025 or 2026)
• 23rd Left Field (Hahn paid $75M for this - Hahn needs to go)
• 8th Center Field (Room for plate discipline improvement, but this is the one spot Sox are Good)
• 30th Right Field (Still a hole since Avisail Garcia left - Hahn needs to go)
• 4th Designated Hitter (Combo of Burger and Eloy, Looks great until you realize this is 2.0 fWAR).
• 25th Overall Pitching, 21st Starters & 26th Relievers (All before selling their best pitcher, Hahn spent well over $40M for this bullpen, 2/3 non Liam - Hahn needs to go).

[tray]

I watched the games and that is what I saw...late inning leads that the bullpen could not hold.

[South Side Hit Men]

8 minutes ago, tray said:

I watched the games and that is what I saw...late inning leads that the bullpen could not hold.

I agree with you, but it is one of three issues because most Sox wins were close games due to the fact their offense is bottom 10, their defense is bottom 5, and they had Lance Lynn and Kopech pitching poorly.

If most games are close, and you have bad offense, defense and a bad bullpen, you are not winning many games because just about everything is bad. Sox are sixth worst in run differential, their record reflects that.

[Lip Man 1]

53 minutes ago, tray said:

I watched the games and that is what I saw...late inning leads that the bullpen could not hold.

14 times so far the Sox had a lead in the 7th inning or later and wound up losing the game.

[Balta1701]

16 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said:

14 times so far the Sox had a lead in the 7th inning or later and wound up losing the game.

What is Minnesotas record in those cases?

[Lip Man 1]

56 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

What is Minnesotas record in those cases?

Balta: I don't know the answer to that myself maybe someone else has it. 

[The Mighty Mite]

8 hours ago, Balta1701 said:

What is Minnesotas record in those cases?

Sox are tied in most blown saves with Balt at 23, Minny has 21and Cleve. 22. 

Sox are lowest in the league in save percentage at 45%. For comparison the Red Sox lead the AL with a save percentage of 79% blowing only 8 saves.

[Balta1701]

1 hour ago, The Mighty Mite said:

Sox are tied in most blown saves with Balt at 23, Minny has 21and Cleve. 22. 

Sox are lowest in the league in save percentage at 45%. For comparison the Red Sox lead the AL with a save percentage of 79% blowing only 8 saves.

Well, you’re making it sound like the White Sox’s bullpen performance, although awful because Hahn did an awful job, isn’t going to reshape the organization if it is improved. And that Cleveland and Minnesota have almost as much room for improvement as the White Sox.

[The Mighty Mite]

6 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

Well, you’re making it sound like the White Sox’s bullpen performance, although awful because Hahn did an awful job, isn’t going to reshape the organization if it is improved. And that Cleveland and Minnesota have almost as much room for improvement as the White Sox.

Not saying that at all, the Sox stink in everything related to pitching not just all the blown saves. They did have a lot of Ks but that is a mixed blessing because it means you are usually throwing more pitches which meant that our starters very seldom pitched over 5 innings, too many walks also. Of course the hitting was equally bad. It’s going to be interesting to see how they can improve as Hahn states they plan on contending in 2024 as there is no help from the Minor Leagues and it’s not the greatest year coming up for free agents. 

[oldsox]

They could easily make an offer to Giolito if Halos don't extend him first.

[The Mighty Mite]

1 hour ago, oldsox said:

They could easily make an offer to Giolito if Halos don't extend him first.

I’m for that considering that Gio said he wanted to spend the rest of his career with the Sox.

[Lip Man 1]

3 hours ago, oldsox said:

They could easily make an offer to Giolito if Halos don't extend him first.

They could make an offer but when was the last time JR allowed a nine figure deal?

There you have it. Not happening. 

[Quin]

5 hours ago, oldsox said:

They could easily make an offer to Giolito if Halos don't extend him first.

For anyone wondering if this happens outside of Chapman, which is everyone's favorite example, it happens pretty frequently!

 

 Smart move would be to try and get Giolito while other teams are going for Ohtani, since that remains a pipe dream.

[RG23SoxFan]

2 hours ago, Lip Man 1 said:

They could make an offer but when was the last time JR allowed a nine figure deal?

There you have it. Not happening. 

Yes, and certainly wouldn't make Giolito the first.