Lip Man 1 Posted October 2, 2023 Share Posted October 2, 2023 By the Numbers… If the White Sox are being honest with themselves they’ll find there is not one…single…area where they can say, “We’re OK here, this is something we can build on…” Consider: The offense is terrible. Doesn’t draw walks, doesn’t hit home runs, strikes out far too much The are “baseball-stupid” when it comes to fundamentals The manager is clearly in over his head The front office is new and have to do “deep dives” into all the problems They at best may have two starting pitchers The bullpen is made up of has been’s, retreads, injury-prone guys and cast offs The minor league system is thin at best This has been my 63rd season following this team as a fan and then as a Sox historian. The time period from 1968-1970 was bad…but not this bad. There are so many areas that are crippling starting with ownership that is ossified. Just some numbers that show some of the issues: The 101 losses is tied for the third worst in the history of the franchise. They scored three runs or less in 87 of 162 games played. That’s 53.7% They were 5-10 in extra inning games (lack of fundamentals/bad bullpens). They allowed 10 or more runs in a game 20 times. 19 times they had a lead in the 7th inning or later…and LOST the game! Here is the pitcher breakdown (in some cases it was two pitchers in the inning who lost it): Kelly-5 (7th/5-27); (9th/5-28); (9th/6-10); (8th/7-1); (8th/7-4) Graveman-3 (7th/3-31); (9th/6-11); (9th/7-9); (9th/7-23) Lopez- 2 ½ (7th/4-14); (9th/4-21); (8th/5-4) Santos-2 ½ (7th/7-22); (9th/8-16); (9th/9-5) Crochet-1 (8th/9-22) Diekman-1 (7th/3-31); (7th/4-14) Lynn-1 (7th/4-29) Scholtens-1 (7th/8-12) Shaw-1 (7th/9-18) Banks- ½ (10th/7-23) Middleton- ½ (7th/7-22) With Reinsdorf already publicly setting limits on what Getz is going to be able to do in free agency, and with it being a mediocre free agent class to start with, plus not a lot of valuable trading assets I simply don’t see how this club is going to be significantly better next year, even in a bad division. In the winter of 1970, at least Roland Hemond had some valuable trading assets (Aparicio, Berry) he was able to move to get back multiple pieces and he had some good players (John, May, Melton, Wood) already producing on the roster. That’s how the Sox went from 56 wins to 79 in 1971. That’s not happening here. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hi8is Posted October 2, 2023 Share Posted October 2, 2023 Preach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoxAce Posted October 2, 2023 Share Posted October 2, 2023 7 hours ago, Lip Man 1 said: By the Numbers… If the White Sox are being honest with themselves they’ll find there is not one…single…area where they can say, “We’re OK here, this is something we can build on…” Consider: The offense is terrible. Doesn’t draw walks, doesn’t hit home runs, strikes out far too much The are “baseball-stupid” when it comes to fundamentals The manager is clearly in over his head The front office is new and have to do “deep dives” into all the problems They at best may have two starting pitchers The bullpen is made up of has been’s, retreads, injury-prone guys and cast offs The minor league system is thin at best This has been my 63rd season following this team as a fan and then as a Sox historian. The time period from 1968-1970 was bad…but not this bad. There are so many areas that are crippling starting with ownership that is ossified. Just some numbers that show some of the issues: The 101 losses is tied for the third worst in the history of the franchise. They scored three runs or less in 87 of 162 games played. That’s 53.7% They were 5-10 in extra inning games (lack of fundamentals/bad bullpens). They allowed 10 or more runs in a game 20 times. 19 times they had a lead in the 7th inning or later…and LOST the game! Here is the pitcher breakdown (in some cases it was two pitchers in the inning who lost it): Kelly-5 (7th/5-27); (9th/5-28); (9th/6-10); (8th/7-1); (8th/7-4) Graveman-3 (7th/3-31); (9th/6-11); (9th/7-9); (9th/7-23) Lopez- 2 ½ (7th/4-14); (9th/4-21); (8th/5-4) Santos-2 ½ (7th/7-22); (9th/8-16); (9th/9-5) Crochet-1 (8th/9-22) Diekman-1 (7th/3-31); (7th/4-14) Lynn-1 (7th/4-29) Scholtens-1 (7th/8-12) Shaw-1 (7th/9-18) Banks- ½ (10th/7-23) Middleton- ½ (7th/7-22) With Reinsdorf already publicly setting limits on what Getz is going to be able to do in free agency, and with it being a mediocre free agent class to start with, plus not a lot of valuable trading assets I simply don’t see how this club is going to be significantly better next year, even in a bad division. In the winter of 1970, at least Roland Hemond had some valuable trading assets (Aparicio, Berry) he was able to move to get back multiple pieces and he had some good players (John, May, Melton, Wood) already producing on the roster. That’s how the Sox went from 56 wins to 79 in 1971. That’s not happening here. One of the better posts you'll see on this site. Honestly I hate to say it but the only way this team can bring in legitimate young talent (that is close to MLB ready at that) is to trade away Luis Robert and get a haul back in a rich farm system. Dylan Cease as well depending on if his value isn't too tanked. It's a shame the Cease to the Orioles rumors didn't come to fruition. I wonder how many of those young outfielders they would've got back from it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitekrazy Posted October 2, 2023 Share Posted October 2, 2023 6 hours ago, SoxAce said: One of the better posts you'll see on this site. Honestly I hate to say it but the only way this team can bring in legitimate young talent (that is close to MLB ready at that) is to trade away Luis Robert and get a haul back in a rich farm system. Dylan Cease as well depending on if his value isn't too tanked. It's a shame the Cease to the Orioles rumors didn't come to fruition. I wonder how many of those young outfielders they would've got back from it. The biggest myth in baseball. Often a symptom of the habitual losing organization small market fanbase. There is this false premise this organization can scout, draft, and develop. Despite these changes in the organization there are few of them. The decisions made by Kenny and Hahn were also under the advice of scouting. The best teams never give you their top prospects. They lead you to believe they are. If it's obvious to the fans the Sox are a weak organization do you think GMs don't know this? You don't replace a star player unless you are sure the prospect is going to be as good. That's a risk the Rays and Dodgers can take. Sox have had this huge hole in CF ever after 2005. You want to do that again? Sox ruin prospects and they do it with other organizations prospects. Funny how the released Zavala coming off injury only to be replaced by a AAA catcher coming off injury. Shoulda let that boy get some more swings in Charlotte. Stocked farms are overrated but good for fisheries. This is not about trading youth for current players. You fail to see the lack of fundamentals and more bad base running. It's a Sox constant. It's hard to fix that in the majors. See Nick Madrigal. Someday that Sox Wheel of Fleeced will turn into Wheel of Fortune. Someday....Someday..... How many failures at scouting and developing are Jerry's untouchables? Some ideas are fine in a fantasy environment but reality it history. There's still some incompetent people and now there's new incompetent people. If you want the small market habitual losing mentality we are almost there as the Sox are becoming more Royalesque. Vague terms adopted by fans are Haul Stocked farm Meaningless games Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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