A winner thread, featuring Thorpe’s first big league win

[JoeC]

Congratulations, Drew!

[hi8is]

I like this Thrope better than last weeks Thrope.

[greg775]

Anyone noting Sox are getting good pitching for the most part? I still say .490 is possible the rest of the way. Get rid of Beni, play Lee every day, get our suddenly good starters to throw strikes so they can go 7 2/3 minimum and tell Kopech WE NEED YOU and maybe we got something here (til we trade everything away). Sheets and Vaughn are hitting just a bit of late.

Edited June 22 by greg775

[nrockway]

Encouraging outing from Thorpe. 6 innings, 0 runs despite shaky control/4 walks. People were wondering what would happen in the future if his control wasn't perfect (myself included), looks like he managed pretty well. of course, you see again that the only two hits he gave up were on fastballs. 

We have some useful data after 3 outings now and 158 pitches.

Against his 4-seamer (58 pitches), opponents bat .357 and slug .714. On the cutter, .500/.1000 (14). 

Changeup (54): .200/.300 

Slider (24): .143/.480

There's a pretty massive disparity. His offspeed is elite but his heat is awful. It gets hit hard too. Obviously something's got to give with the fastball. Soft tossers can still get guys out with a fastball but it's usually a sinker. I'm not sure who Thorpe's comp is in the sense besides Marco Gonzales. And I wouldn't love it if Thorpe turned into him even though he's pretty good (and also started throwing a sinker this year). 

[Lip Man 1]

5 hours ago, greg775 said:

Anyone noting Sox are getting good pitching for the most part? I still say .490 is possible the rest of the way. Get rid of Beni, play Lee every day, get our suddenly good starters to throw strikes so they can go 7 2/3 minimum and tell Kopech WE NEED YOU and maybe we got something here (til we trade everything away). Sheets and Vaughn are hitting just a bit of late.

Greg...please this doesn't serve you well at all.

Please stop.

This team will be lucky to play ,300 ball when four or five guys are shipped out.

And again for the millionth time Beni isn't going anywhere unless the Sox can include him in a trade package.

JR will not approve cutting his ass with years left on his deal.

[greg775]

39 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said:

Greg...please this doesn't serve you well at all.

Please stop.

This team will be lucky to play ,300 ball when four or five guys are shipped out.

And again for the millionth time Beni isn't going anywhere unless the Sox can include him in a trade package.

JR will not approve cutting his ass with years left on his deal.

Lip I respect you but even u have to admit the pitching has been good to excellent the last two weeks. Hitting still reeks to high heaven but I'm not making it up that Sheets and Lee and Vaughn have hit a bit better. Robert and Eloy will be in there together soon to provide (on paper) a respectable 1-2 punch at 3 and 4 however Eloy is close to being finished in my mind. I may be too optimistic, Lip, but I don't understand why you don't agree with me on the pitching part of it. Not sure why Jerry minds dumping Beni. Anybody with 1/3 of a brain knows he provides zero value. Would be nice to get rid of the zero value guys like Beni and Maldy for starters. And I'd put DeJong in that group. Dump him.

Edited June 23 by greg775

[WestEddy]

1 hour ago, Lip Man 1 said:

Greg...please this doesn't serve you well at all.

Please stop.

This team will be lucky to play ,300 ball when four or five guys are shipped out.

And again for the millionth time Beni isn't going anywhere unless the Sox can include him in a trade package.

JR will not approve cutting his ass with years left on his deal.

edit

Edited June 23 by WestEddy

[Lip Man 1]

12 hours ago, greg775 said:

Lip I respect you but even u have to admit the pitching has been good to excellent the last two weeks. Hitting still reeks to high heaven but I'm not making it up that Sheets and Lee and Vaughn have hit a bit better. Robert and Eloy will be in there together soon to provide (on paper) a respectable 1-2 punch at 3 and 4 however Eloy is close to being finished in my mind. I may be too optimistic, Lip, but I don't understand why you don't agree with me on the pitching part of it. Not sure why Jerry minds dumping Beni. Anybody with 1/3 of a brain knows he provides zero value. Would be nice to get rid of the zero value guys like Beni and Maldy for starters. And I'd put DeJong in that group. Dump him.

Two reasons:

1.Because the sample size is very, VERY small.

2.Because these are the White Sox the most incompetent, dysfunctional and inept organization in baseball under JR.

Like my dad used to say, "The White Sox would screw up a two car funeral..." 

Regarding the second bolded part.

Because JR DOES MIND paying out 50 MILLION DOLLARS for Beni to just "go away..."

 

[greg775]

49 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said:

Because JR DOES MIND paying out 50 MILLION DOLLARS for Beni to just "go away..."

 

Probably true and this is why I should just dump finally being a Sox fan. It infuriates me. There's no reason to play Beni or keep Beni. Write it off as a misplaced expense, fire whoever wanted the guy in the first place. Finally ... I think your position is nothing matters til Jerry sells the team. So go ahead and complete another tank/rebuild. My position in a nutshell is the division we are in sucks. It doesn't take much to contend. With the pitching staff looking average now (you said it's a small sample size so I do realize that) and the everyday lineup two proven solid hitters away from being average to a little below average and the bullpen 2 solid guys from being average, there is hope if you do it my way. Yes the Sox are the worst team in baseball by far but not many moves from being a .440 team and with a good manager maybe a .480 team.

[greg775]

54 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said:

Like my dad used to say, "The White Sox would screw up a two car funeral..." 

 

Funny you mention a funeral. To show you how crazed a Sox family I'm from in case you ever think I'm lying or trolling about my Sox fandom ... My dad died about 5 years ago in his 70s. I went back home of course and being the only remaining practicing Catholic in the family (my dad was big Catholic; a Eucharistic minister and all that) I stacked the Mass with the most touching, emotional songs and readings in our Mass repertoire cause I wanted to respect my dad that way. We still have some impactful songs and readings if you look for them.

Anyhow ... I'm in my mom's living room looking through old pictures for the funeral home montage and I see a White Sox sweatshirt and pants draped on a chair. At some point after looking at that for several hours, I said to my mom, 'What is all this Sox stuff?' My mom said, "We have to take that to the funeral home. It's what your dad will wear (in casket and forevermore). I said, 'What?? He doesn't work for the White Sox!! He had a great career at the Board of Trade as a zillionaire broker and was a great dresser, proud of his suits, ties, etc. There is no way you are burying him in Sox gear!" To my mom's credit, she calmly said "You are right I don't know what I was thinking," and went to get a suit and tie out of his closet to bring to the funeral home to bury him in. I apologized for raising my voice but I said, "No way he is being buried in gear of a franchise that drove him crazy as much as gave him a bit of enjoyment. He wasn't an employee of the team or anything." Geez.

Just thought I'd add that to point out my background in fandom which is intense regarding the inept Sox.

[The Grinder]

15 minutes ago, greg775 said:

Funny you mention a funeral. To show you how crazed a Sox family I'm from in case you ever think I'm lying or trolling about my Sox fandom ... My dad died about 5 years ago in his 70s. I went back home of course and being the only remaining practicing Catholic in the family (my dad was big Catholic; a Eucharistic minister and all that) I stacked the Mass with the most touching, emotional songs and readings in our Mass repertoire cause I wanted to respect my dad that way. We still have some impactful songs and readings if you look for them.

Anyhow ... I'm in my mom's living room looking through old pictures for the funeral home montage and I see a White Sox sweatshirt and pants draped on a chair. At some point after looking at that for several hours, I said to my mom, 'What is all this Sox stuff?' My mom said, "We have to take that to the funeral home. It's what your dad will wear (in casket and forevermore). I said, 'What?? He doesn't work for the White Sox!! He had a great career at the Board of Trade as a zillionaire broker and was a great dresser, proud of his suits, ties, etc. There is no way you are burying him in Sox gear!" To my mom's credit, she calmly said "You are right I don't know what I was thinking," and went to get a suit and tie out of his closet to bring to the funeral home to bury him in. I apologized for raising my voice but I said, "No way he is being buried in gear of a franchise that drove him crazy as much as gave him a bit of enjoyment. He wasn't an employee of the team or anything." Geez.

Just thought I'd add that to point out my background in fandom which is intense regarding the inept Sox.

Sorry to hear of yr Dads passing. At least they won a WS during his dash years. 

Sounds like he was a good Catholic. Like the old saying: For every 4 Catholics you'll find a Fifth ! 

 

[Lip Man 1]

2 hours ago, greg775 said:

Probably true and this is why I should just dump finally being a Sox fan. It infuriates me. There's no reason to play Beni or keep Beni. Write it off as a misplaced expense, fire whoever wanted the guy in the first place. Finally ... I think your position is nothing matters til Jerry sells the team. So go ahead and complete another tank/rebuild. My position in a nutshell is the division we are in sucks. It doesn't take much to contend. With the pitching staff looking average now (you said it's a small sample size so I do realize that) and the everyday lineup two proven solid hitters away from being average to a little below average and the bullpen 2 solid guys from being average, there is hope if you do it my way. Yes the Sox are the worst team in baseball by far but not many moves from being a .440 team and with a good manager maybe a .480 team.

If you think playing .440 or .480 baseball in an improved Central Division qualifies as "contending" I admire your definition of the word.

This team is as close to contending even with the moves you suggest as I am from Antarctica. 

The ENTIRE organization on the baseball side, from top to bottom, ownership, front office, medical, training, conditioning staffs, analytics ALL need to be fired. And will be with new ownership.

Anything short of that is frankly half-assed and will accomplish nothing. Period. End of story. Full stop. 

Bottom line THERE IS NO HOPE...none, nada, nyet as long as JR owns the team. 

If there is any hope (and it is slight at best) it is to acquire as much cheap, controllable talent and hope for once, it all works out.

That's it friends and neighbors. That's all she wrote.

Even that is a small chance at best.

The best chance is to take care of yourself, outlive current ownership and see what new ownership can do. 

[greg775]

4 hours ago, Lip Man 1 said:

If you think playing .440 or .480 baseball in an improved Central Division qualifies as "contending" I admire your definition of the word.

This team is as close to contending even with the moves you suggest as I am from Antarctica. 

The ENTIRE organization on the baseball side, from top to bottom, ownership, front office, medical, training, conditioning staffs, analytics ALL need to be fired. And will be with new ownership.

Anything short of that is frankly half-assed and will accomplish nothing. Period. End of story. Full stop. 

Bottom line THERE IS NO HOPE...none, nada, nyet as long as JR owns the team. 

If there is any hope (and it is slight at best) it is to acquire as much cheap, controllable talent and hope for once, it all works out.

That's it friends and neighbors. That's all she wrote.

Even that is a small chance at best.

The best chance is to take care of yourself, outlive current ownership and see what new ownership can do. 

At least u are consistent. You demand new ownership before u take anything the Sox do noteworthy. JR somehow got that magical title in 2005. Otherwise he'd be known as the worst BASEBALL owner in history. He won all those titles in basketball.