VAfan Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 Last time I wrote something like this, the Sox went on a tailspin. Hopefully, it won't happen again. But when you look at the standings and the loss column, the Sox only have one team with fewer losses (Baltimore at 49-49) between them and the Minnesota Twins for the second wild card spot. The Tigers are tied with us in the standings, and Toronto, who everyone thinks we should ship the Shark to, is tied with us at 50 losses. Tampa Bay has 51 losses, but two more wins. So why should the Sox sell at the trade deadline? Shouldn't we consider trying to add a bat instead? This latest streak has been fueled by a suddenly alive offense. But the starting pitching has also been excellent (outside of the games Danks pitches on the road). And the bullpen looks very good. Albers is a nice addition at this point, and Nate Jones still might make it back this year. You don't get many chances at the playoffs. Why not go for them when you have an opportunity? We've always felt like we could be a matchup nightmare for some teams with our rotation. Who wants to go up against Chris Sale, the Shark, Quintana, and even Rodon? We don't need to squander the future here. At the least, we could get a righty platoon partner for LaRoche. Beyond that, just probe for good deals, if they can be had. The only guy we're losing at the end of the year is Shark, and we'll get something back for him if we don't sign him. Seems like a small price to pay to have a chance at the postseason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WBWSF Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 Juston Upton is there for the taking. He would look good as the White Sox DH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OmarComing25 Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 I don't really want to add a bat if it costs us a good prospect. I'm down with not trading Shark if we keep kicking ass in Fenway the next three days due to the comp pick but I don't want to trade away a Montas/Danish/Adams/Micah for a small chance at a play-in game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBlackSox8 Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 QUOTE (WBWSF @ Jul 28, 2015 -> 09:08 AM) Juston Upton is there for the taking. He would look good as the White Sox DH. Right Fielder....put Avi at DH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buehrlesque Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 QUOTE (VAfan @ Jul 28, 2015 -> 10:05 AM) Last time I wrote something like this, the Sox went on a tailspin. Hopefully, it won't happen again. But when you look at the standings and the loss column, the Sox only have one team with fewer losses (Baltimore at 49-49) between them and the Minnesota Twins for the second wild card spot. The Tigers are tied with us in the standings, and Toronto, who everyone thinks we should ship the Shark to, is tied with us at 50 losses. Tampa Bay has 51 losses, but two more wins. So why should the Sox sell at the trade deadline? Shouldn't we consider trying to add a bat instead? This latest streak has been fueled by a suddenly alive offense. But the starting pitching has also been excellent (outside of the games Danks pitches on the road). And the bullpen looks very good. Albers is a nice addition at this point, and Nate Jones still might make it back this year. You don't get many chances at the playoffs. Why not go for them when you have an opportunity? We've always felt like we could be a matchup nightmare for some teams with our rotation. Who wants to go up against Chris Sale, the Shark, Quintana, and even Rodon? We don't need to squander the future here. At the least, we could get a righty platoon partner for LaRoche. Beyond that, just probe for good deals, if they can be had. The only guy we're losing at the end of the year is Shark, and we'll get something back for him if we don't sign him. Seems like a small price to pay to have a chance at the postseason. Not going to argue the merits of going for it vs. not going for it, because I can see both sides. But the bolded is simply not true in baseball anymore. With the second Wildcard in place now, you pretty much have a shot at the playoffs just about every year if you are trying — and, if this team is any proof, even if you have an abysmal start to the season. With the theoretical chance always there in this era, I think teams will have to be more discerning about their go for it/don't go for it midseason decisions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shysocks Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 QUOTE (Buehrlesque @ Jul 28, 2015 -> 10:13 AM) Not going to argue the merits of going for it vs. not going for it, because I can see both sides. But the bolded is simply not true in baseball anymore. With the second Wildcard in place now, you pretty much have a shot at the playoffs just about every year if you are trying — and, if this team is any proof, even if you have an abysmal start to the season. With the theoretical chance always there in this era, I think teams will have to be more discerning about their go for it/don't go for it midseason decisions. Well said. I'm also not sure about the quality of this particular chance at the playoffs. This is a steep uphill climb and no prospects should be mortgaged for that. Also, regarding Upton, he stopped hitting as soon as the calendar flipped to June. If you don't think LaRoche can get his act together, then Upton's no solution either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenSox Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 (edited) QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Jul 28, 2015 -> 10:09 AM) I don't really want to add a bat if it costs us a good prospect. I'm down with not trading Shark if we keep kicking ass in Fenway the next three days due to the comp pick but I don't want to trade away a Montas/Danish/Adams/Micah for a small chance at a play-in game. Amen Justin Upton's OPS is .759. Elite it is not. BTW, there will be many chances to make the playoffs. We aren't in a division with spenders, and the one spender is going to start a long rebuild sooner rather than later. Competent management should keep us ahead of Indians and Minny. Royals look like they have a decent window ahead, but if their pen starts to leak, as pens are want to do, they are in trouble. Edited July 28, 2015 by GreenSox Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coco1997 Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 (edited) What sparked the offense to suddenly come alive more than 3.5 months into the season? Saladino? He's a nice player and a defensive upgrade over Gillaspie but does anyone really expect him to continue hitting around .300 the rest of the season? You still have two offensive black holes in the lineup in LaRoche and Flowers (and who knows what Sanchez will do from here on out). Eaton is returning to form and Melky finally looks like the player the Sox thought they were getting when they signed him. However, my concern is that all it would take is for one or two of these guys to slip back into a bad slump and the offense will suddenly look terrible once again. Edited July 28, 2015 by coco1997 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenSox Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 Very true, but the competence of Saladino and Sanchez, two young players, has been key in this mini-turnaround. And they are handling their positions defensively. Keep building Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 QUOTE (GreenSox @ Jul 28, 2015 -> 10:24 AM) Very true, but the competence of Saladino and Sanchez, two young players, has been key in this mini-turnaround. And they are handling their positions defensively. Keep building The changes really started to happen once the defense solidified. Alexei and Eaton started fielding like themselves again, Gillaspie and Johnson were banished, and everyone else stayed OK. This team has been a lot more competitive with each notch the defense has gotten better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coco1997 Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 28, 2015 -> 10:27 AM) The changes really started to happen once the defense solidified. Alexei and Eaton started fielding like themselves again, Gillaspie and Johnson were banished, and everyone else stayed OK. This team has been a lot more competitive with each notch the defense has gotten better. Sure, the defense got better when Johnson was demoted and just recently when Saladino replaced Gillaspie, but it's only been within the last week that they've started scoring runs. For the majority of the season the offense overall has been historically bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 28, 2015 -> 11:27 AM) The changes really started to happen once the defense solidified. Alexei and Eaton started fielding like themselves again, Gillaspie and Johnson were banished, and everyone else stayed OK. This team has been a lot more competitive with each notch the defense has gotten better. I think one of the key things is we had bad defense guys in there--Gillaspie the poster boy and Micah for the first month--and they weren't really hitting. No use having no defense, no hit players. And I think Robin in particular felt that poor defense had a demoralizing effect on the team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marky Mark Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 No reason to try to replace LaRoche. Most of his career, he was a significantly better player in the latter half of the season. When we look at the chance of him repeating history and picking it back up versus the chances of us winning the WS by trading away prospects to replace him, I think the better move is waiting for him to improve and/or sticking with in house options. Just bat him lower in the order if he's still slumping. If we had an option to replace Flowers with Wieters or a unanimously better catcher than Tyler, then do it. We know what we are getting in TFlo. Otherwise, we made enough offseason moves to just let it ride out from here without buying or selling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buehrlesque Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 QUOTE (shysocks @ Jul 28, 2015 -> 10:16 AM) Well said. I'm also not sure about the quality of this particular chance at the playoffs. This is a steep uphill climb and no prospects should be mortgaged for that. Also, regarding Upton, he stopped hitting as soon as the calendar flipped to June. If you don't think LaRoche can get his act together, then Upton's no solution either. Yeah, that's a key. Teams shouldn't flip their sh** just because their mediocre team has a chance at the playoffs. There will be times now where teams "technically" still in the race decide to ease off the accelerator. That being said, the Sox could go a lot of ways this year. If they find a can't-pass-up package for Samardzija, they should take it. But if they find an intriguing deal that upgrades the offense beyond this year, they should consider that too, even if it requires prospects being traded. That would help them nominally compete in 2015 and more significantly compete in '16 and '17. A really cheap rental for just the rest of 2015 wouldn't do much damage either. There are a lot of ways to go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shysocks Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 QUOTE (Buehrlesque @ Jul 28, 2015 -> 10:41 AM) Yeah, that's a key. Teams shouldn't flip their sh** just because their mediocre team has a chance at the playoffs. There will be times now where teams "technically" still in the race decide to ease off the accelerator. That being said, the Sox could go a lot of ways this year. If they find a can't-pass-up package for Samardzija, they should take it. But if they find an intriguing deal that upgrades the offense beyond this year, they should consider that too, even if it requires prospects being traded. That would help them nominally compete in 2015 and more significantly compete in '16 and '17. A really cheap rental for just the rest of 2015 wouldn't do much damage either. There are a lot of ways to go! Jay Bruce continues to make a lot of sense in that context. It would mean one of Avi or LaRoche losing PA's but that doesn't exactly break my heart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenSox Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 QUOTE (coco1997 @ Jul 28, 2015 -> 10:30 AM) Sure, the defense got better when Johnson was demoted and just recently when Saladino replaced Gillaspie, but it's only been within the last week that they've started scoring runs. For the majority of the season the offense overall has been historically bad. The offense was, but the team wasn't. Sometimes it takes young players a while to get going (Sanchez). But the Sox never fell completely into the abyss. The improved infield D helped that. And really the team started playing better once Saladino took over 3rd. I know we lost 5/6 right out of the break, but that was to a)2 excellent teams and b) 2 of those games could have gone either way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.