Can you fool yourself into positivity?

[flavum]

Can you?

The division sucks. The Sox have an opportunity to get three games back this week. The Sox schedule in May is “easy”. The  Twins schedule in May is very difficult. 

The five starters have made all of their starts so far- and that in of itself is a positive.

Crochet and Hendriks are on the way. TA is back too.

The Sox have played their worst baseball of the season, because it cannot get worse. 

Back to the division- the balanced schedule is showing it’s possible all five Central teams are in 8 to 15 range in quality of the AL. It may only take 82 wins to take the 3-seed (which is bs, but that’s a topic for another day).

What I’m saying is the Sox need to flush the first 29 (hi Pedro), show up tomorrow night as if it’s opening day, and say we’re going to have five good months to get to over .500. 

If I’m a player or coach, this probably would be my attitude showing up Tuesday. As a fan, can you get there too?

 

[Tnetennba]

[Chisoxfn]

17 minutes ago, flavum said:

Can you?

The division sucks. The Sox have an opportunity to get three games back this week. The Sox schedule in May is “easy”. The  Twins schedule in May is very difficult. 

The five starters have made all of their starts so far- and that in of itself is a positive.

Crochet and Hendriks are on the way. TA is back too.

The Sox have played their worst baseball of the season, because it cannot get worse. 

Back to the division- the balanced schedule is showing it’s possible all five Central teams are in 8 to 15 range in quality of the AL. It may only take 82 wins to take the 3-seed (which is bs, but that’s a topic for another day).

What I’m saying is the Sox need to flush the first 29 (hi Pedro), show up tomorrow night as if it’s opening day, and say we’re going to have five good months to get to over .500. 

If I’m a player or coach, this probably would be my attitude showing up Tuesday. As a fan, can you get there too?

 

I am Mr. Positive.  I have zero hope for this team or this franchise at this point.  I really think it will take an ownership change at this point as I think the stench is so deep in this org.  The wrong standard, the wrong bar, the wrong money invested in the wrong things. Just awful.  With that said - a total clean house with a complete new voice could theoritically change things. And whomever the front office is - should know going into it what JR's guidelines for payroll are - and than optimize your roster under those standards. 

Don't pretend somehow you are going to be something you aren't.  

[T R U]

Season is over. Someone posted the other day, no team in MLB history has even made the postseason after starting like 7-18. Over a century of data tells you that this team will not be making the postseason this year.

I don't even want them to get close at this point, they need to "flush" the front office and the only way that has a remote chance of happening is if this team fails epically. This is what I want to see the rest of the year to hopefully force that change.

[Bob Sacamano]

Have to go 73-60 the rest of the way to finish .500. They haven’t exactly played good ball to this point. There’s not a lot of reason for hope.

[T R U]

1 minute ago, Bob Sacamano said:

Have to go 73-60 the rest of the way to finish .500. They haven’t exactly played good ball to this point. There’s not a lot of reason for hope.

54 - 79 makes them a 100 loss team. Looking at that, not sure I see it happening.

64 - 69 makes them a 90 loss team. This, I definitely see happening. I think its much more likely these guys go 64-69 the rest of the way than 73-60 from everything we have seen so far.

[4uckOffCommieScum]

Sox are gonna play a terrific game today, because they’re good enough, smart enough, and doggone it, we’re going to get back to .500

[FloydBannister1983]

I knew this would happen once they won a game.

 

The players on this team suck.  They have no pitching and I’m not sure that Cease wasn’t a one year wonder.  Lynn will continue to get shelled despite his good six innings the other night.  Giolito too.  They have no bullpen.

 

They be closer to the Royals than the top.  Don’t do this to yourselves.

[Harry Chappas]

17 minutes ago, T R U said:

Season is over. Someone posted the other day, no team in MLB history has even made the postseason after starting like 7-18. Over a century of data tells you that this team will not be making the postseason this year.

I don't even want them to get close at this point, they need to "flush" the front office and the only way that has a remote chance of happening is if this team fails epically. This is what I want to see the rest of the year to hopefully force that change.

The issue is that the history changes.  You had one team playoffs when the Sox lost to the Yankees because they were the Yankees, the A's of the early 90's then the Indians of the late 90'skept them out.

The expanded playoffs and three divisions are more modern.  We also have the new schedule this year.

This all creates havoc and makes comparatives difficult.

The crappy division has been crappy for many years and the White Sox have not taken advantage of it. 

I have zero faith in this organization doing anything to gain success but .500 may certainly win this division.

The Twins just lost two starting pitchers for a pretty long time and Correa and Buxton are as big an injury risk as any Sox player.  

 

 

[TheBooneLoganEra]

I cant give up on a season after April. It's too long a winter and I wait for baseball everyday. There's nothing that can really change until closer to the deadline so we have to play with the cards dealt.

If I'm Pedro I stress to the team take it month by month. If they play 5 games over .500 in May, and 5 games over in June they'll be sniffing .500 by July and you go from there. I don't think a 15 - 10 or 16 - 11 month is impossible. Erase April from the collective memory and look forward. 

[Texsox]

@Harry Chappas excellent summary.

Up until a few years ago I would have been happy to watch a MLB game. I went to games from the mid 70s to the late 1990s regardless of how well the team was doing. It was baseball played by some of the best players in the planet. 

For the next couple decades I followed the team closely, watched a lot of games on TV, and attended several every time I was in town. 

Then I finally understood how epically horrible this franchise is. I have no more positive vibes to contribute. If the team creates some positive energy I will gladly sip. 

[soxfaninfl]

I really cannot get there but I do see some positives.

TA being back will be a help and Eloy is, hopefully, showing signs of breaking out of a season-long slump to this point. Liam will be a big boost to morale but who knows what he can really do at this point?

The negatives still weigh on the optimism. The bullpen and bench are simply awful and health will always be a ‘wait and see’ proposition with this team. And the jury is still out on the manager but, um, yikes.

I am not one to root for losing just so the Sox can clear out some offices even if I believe that is in the best interest of the team, however. I see .500 ball over the remainder of the season more likely if we can stay relatively healthy, but this hole is probably just too deep.

[almagest]

Getting Anderson and Moncada back will help. Hendriks will really help, but I'm not convinced this bullpen will ever be anything but bottom 5 in the league. That'll kill any momentum the team can muster - just look at how many times the bullpen gave up a lead or put a game out of reach during this losing streak.

It's criminal to have this bad of a bullpen for $10+ million more than they'd have spent per year to have Harper roaming RF for the next 10 years.

[joejoesox]

8 minutes ago, TheBooneLoganEra said:

I cant give up on a season after April. It's too long a winter and I wait for baseball everyday. There's nothing that can really change until closer to the deadline so we have to play with the cards dealt.

If I'm Pedro I stress to the team take it month by month. If they play 5 games over .500 in May, and 5 games over in June they'll be sniffing .500 by July and you go from there. I don't think a 15 - 10 or 16 - 11 month is impossible. Erase April from the collective memory and look forward. 

They don't have the bullpen for a 5-6 game over .500 month.

Bummer has been bad for multiple years now, Reylo is mentally weak, Crochet is a huge question mark

Graveman, Kelly, Diekman, bad bad bad

Starting rotation is way worse than we realized going into 2023, Lynn has lost 3mph off his pitches, Kopech is a head case, Clevinger has arguably the worst peripheral stats of all our starters

Cease and Giolito seem to be our only semi-reliable starters

Let's talk about our bench/depth: there isnt any. They called up our hottest minor leaguer and he looks about as awful as you can imagine, Romy was supposed to be the new Leury except he's actually WORSE

Then you have the injury problems. Robert seems hurt, Eloy is hurt again

I'm sorry but this team shouldn't be fooling any of you guys, they'll lose about 90-95 games

[MEANS]

32 minutes ago, FourEyesShottenhoffer said:

Sox are gonna play a terrific game today, because they’re good enough, smart enough, and doggone it, we’re going to get back to .500

not today, not good enough, not smart enough and .500 is a pipe dream. (or was your post supposed to be in green?)

[lpneck]

1 hour ago, flavum said:

The Sox have played their worst baseball of the season, because it cannot get worse. 

Have you familiarized yourself with the Chicago White Sox American League Baseball Team?

[chitownsportsfan]

No, next question.

[Jerry McNertney]

In today's MLB power rankings, the White Sox are 28th. How's that rebuild going?

[ron883]

Sure, just look at @elrockinMT

[pcq]

What do you call a crappy team in a crappy division? Double crappy I guess.

[flavum]

I will make one prediction when it comes to the Sox chances of making a run-

Six weeks from today is June 12th. I predict all five teams in the Central will be under.500 on June 12th. 

[TheBooneLoganEra]

44 minutes ago, joejoesox said:

They don't have the bullpen for a 5-6 game over .500 month.

Bummer has been bad for multiple years now, Reylo is mentally weak, Crochet is a huge question mark

Graveman, Kelly, Diekman, bad bad bad

Starting rotation is way worse than we realized going into 2023, Lynn has lost 3mph off his pitches, Kopech is a head case, Clevinger has arguably the worst peripheral stats of all our starters

Cease and Giolito seem to be our only semi-reliable starters

Let's talk about our bench/depth: there isnt any. They called up our hottest minor leaguer and he looks about as awful as you can imagine, Romy was supposed to be the new Leury except he's actually WORSE

Then you have the injury problems. Robert seems hurt, Eloy is hurt again

I'm sorry but this team shouldn't be fooling any of you guys, they'll lose about 90-95 games

I know all of these things. I'm trying to ignore them. 

[soxrwhite]

1 hour ago, TheBooneLoganEra said:

I cant give up on a season after April. It's too long a winter and I wait for baseball everyday. There's nothing that can really change until closer to the deadline so we have to play with the cards dealt.

If I'm Pedro I stress to the team take it month by month. If they play 5 games over .500 in May, and 5 games over in June they'll be sniffing .500 by July and you go from there. I don't think a 15 - 10 or 16 - 11 month is impossible. Erase April from the collective memory and look forward. 

Yes I agree...............It doesn't look good no doubt, but who gives up in April? A fan roots for their team to win, not lose. It's a long long season. Hang wiff'em.

[Tony]

The depressing fact that we always circle back to is...say the Sox flip the script and go on a 10 game winning streak (that was hard for me to even type out, let alone imagine) 

That brings them to 18-21, which still sucks, especially considering the division and this "World Series Window" 

On top of that, while making the playoffs gives you a better shot at winning the World Series, than, say, not making the playoffs...this team isn't anywhere CLOSE to Tampa, the Blue Jays, still even the Astros, and then teams like the Braves, Mets, Brewers, Dodgers, etc. 

So what is the point? There is too much history to tell us Rick and Kenny don't know how to build a consistent winner (because they legitimately never have) and Jerry won't ever invest to "push the team over the top" or seemingly invest in the infrastructure that winning organizations have. 

There have been a few outliers in the last 15 years, like the Nationals winning it all in 2019 and the Royals in 2015,  but in both those cases those teams executed full rebuilds and the Nats made the playoffs in 5/8 years during their run, while the Royals had a much shorter run with a 5 year "window" but two World Series Appearances. The other teams to win World Series since 2005? Cardinals, Red Sox, Phillies, Yankees, Giants, Cubs, Astros, Dodgers and Braves. Those have been the premiere franchises in baseball basically since the 90's and there is a reason for it, which isn't just payroll. The point is it's not just about "luck" in the playoffs, it's about building a consistent organization that can make playoff appearances on a regular basis, giving your team an actual chance for sustained success. 

That objectively will not happen with the current leadership in place. 

[soxrwhite]

So when you are at or watching a game now this season are you hoping your White Sox win that game or you pulling for their opponent?