Would the White Sox be a serious pennant contender without Chris Sale

[southsider2k5]

Remember the Quentin for Beachy rumors?

 

If we had done that, we'd have the league leaders in ERA.

 

The funny part was most of Soxtalk felt Beachy had no ceiling and wanted more.

[LittleHurt05]

Remember the Quentin for Beachy rumors?

 

If we had done that, we'd have the league leaders in ERA.

.

Key word = rumors. By this point, I have seen Delgado, Tehran, Beachy, Freeman, Heyward, & McCann all offered up for Quentin.

[Kyyle23]

You asked a yes or no question and included 4 poll options.

 

In all reality, there should be 1 option. It's "no."

 

*boy passes folded paper to girl during class*

 

*girl opens and reads paper*

 

"Do you like me? circle answer below"

 

"yes, but only when you wear nikes"

 

"yes, but I like the taste of crayolas"

 

"no, but I want to say yes kinda"

 

"no, my brother didnt like you 5 years ago and now he is in middle school"

 

"i like eating paste"

[LittleHurt05]

You asked a yes or no question and included 4 poll options.

 

In all reality, there should be 1 option. It's "no."

 

In Communist China, "no" chooses you

[Balta1701]

In Communist China, "no" chooses you

[caulfield12]

Only Justin Verlander, Felix Hernandez, CC Sabathia and Edinson Volquez have thrown more than his 1,211 pitches.

 

(David) Price is an ace and a workhorse, the sort of thing teams dream of when they choose a pitcher with the No. 1 selection, and the decision whether to let …

 

9. Stephen Strasburg fulfill that destiny this season will drive the Washington Nationals to a decision bound to be scrutinized either way.

 

Here are the pertinent facts: The Nats are in a three-way tie for first place in the NL East on June 4. Strasburg is 21 months separated from Tommy John surgery. Following seven shutout innings Saturday, he has thrown 65. The Nats want to limit him to 160.

 

And so the conundrum: go for it now or save Strasburg for future years – even if the arm could survive this year just fine or blow out the next even after being shut down. If Strasburg weren't so damn good, this would be an easy decision. But his 2.35 ERA is the fourth best in the National League, and he's got the second-best strikeout rate behind teammate Gio Gonzalez, and his raw stuff is even better than his numbers indicate.

 

Even after the surgery, he's the pitcher we thought he'd be in the 2009 draft, when the Nats chose him a year before …

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/10-degrees--a..._qhUxqMETkRvLYF

 

 

 

 

 

The medical miracle that is Jake Peavy is 6-1 with some terrific outings. He sounds like a guy who eats wrought iron for a pregame meal, and so, I had him pegged as the Sox’s stopper.

 

But no.

 

Only one of Peavy’s six wins came after a Sox loss, and that was in April against Baltimore. Peavy twice gave the Sox stopper-caliber outings, but he suffered a 1-0 complete-game loss to Jon Lester and Boston at the end of April and then watched Matt Thornton blow a save against Detroit in early May.

 

Part of the opportunity to play stopper, of course, is the result of where a pitcher’s turn falls. Another element is that a first-place team wins more than it loses, thus requiring a stopper less often. And look, there’s nothing wrong with extending a winning streak.

 

I’m not trying to diminish Peavy’s season here. Fact is, I began looking up Sox results to back up my feeling that Peavy was the team’s stopper because of his win total and often electric performances.

 

But Sale has been better and more important than you can believe. Well, at least more important than I believed.

Turns out, five of Sale’s seven wins (now six out of eight) have come after Sox losses. To put that into perspective, the wispy left-hander who makes floss looks like it’s on steroids has nearly as many of those wins as the rest of the staff combined.

 

Sale has won three of those five on the road and has allowed more than two earned runs only once, posting a 1.83 ERA with 37 strikeouts and 10 walks in 34 1/3 innings.

 

We knew Sale was having a good season, but this is a great start in the context of preventing bad things from getting worse.

 

To think, only a month ago, Don Cooper was saying that Sale’s tender elbow was reason to remove him from the rotation and make him the closer. Sale would fight the move, angrily, it turned out, during a full-metal conversation with general manager Kenny Williams.

 

Sale was returned to the rotation and has won four straight. Imagine where the Sox would be without those starts against the backdrop of John Danks’ injury, Philip Humber’s fall from grace and Gavin Floyd’s interplanetary travels.

 

You could argue, then, that Sale’s most important victory was stopping his team from making a bad decision.

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/rosen...,2492715.column

Edited June 11, 2012 by caulfield12

[cabiness42]

Turns out, five of Sale’s seven wins (now six out of eight) have come after Sox losses. To put that into perspective, the wispy left-hander who makes floss looks like it’s on steroids has nearly as many of those wins as the rest of the staff combined.[/b]

 

To be perfectly fair to the rest of the staff, Sale is the only one who gets to pitch after Floyd.

[kitekrazy]

according to ESPNs playoff odds - we have the highest % chance of making the playoffs of ANY TEAM IN THE LEAGUE

 

thats unreal - speaks more to the division than anything else i suppose

 

Just another reason why I never believe anything from ESPN.

 

[flavum]

Just another reason why I never believe anything from ESPN.

 

Sox have dropped to 3rd.

 

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/standings

[Steve9347]

This poll is just kinda weird. I went with one of the 2nd place options.

 

And holy crap, Chris Sale rocks.

[Wedge]

Sorry if already posted, but from Phil Rogers' MLB power rankings today:

 

: In 169 career innings, Chris Sale has a 6.7 WAR (wins above replacement). Stephen Strasburg has a 4.4 WAR in 163 innings.

[Quin]

Sorry if already posted, but from Phil Rogers' MLB power rankings today:

 

But he'll be bad cause of farm system and Law and stuff.

[caulfield12]

Sorry if already posted, but from Phil Rogers' MLB power rankings today:

 

29. Cubs (29): Ryan Dempster is turning himself into a big-time bargaining chip. But don't forget that he's a 10-and-5 player, with full no-trade rights.

 

30. Padres (30): While trading Carlos Quentin is the easy move, the right one is to suck it up and sign him to a long-term contract. He's a hometown guy and he can really hit, when he's healthy. The problem is the Padres are like the Cubs when Ted Lilly was approaching free agency. They don't have an owner on hand to authorize a major expenditure, and it will take one to keep Quentin off the market.

 

 

Note to Padres: Please don't trade him to the Tigers or Indians. Thanks a bunch.