5/18 White Sox vs Astros

[Real]

Coming back to expectations

[caulfield12]

They cared way too much about saving the comp pick this past offseason

 

 

YEP. Which is pretty amazing considering how "short term"-oriented the White Sox always were under KW.

 

You plug Ian Desmond in at SS, you have a MUCH more potent offense and basically the same or likely better overall defense (certainly range) compared to Rollins. Saladino fits perfectly in that super-utility role.

 

I don't think there's any way they were going to sign Desmond and Fowler, buy they still would have had plenty of money left to bring in Pedro Alvarez as part of a DH platoon.

 

Other than Eaton and Cabrera, and those guys are gap hitters...we just don't have any LH power that opposing managers have to respect in late-game situations.

 

 

One certainty, though, is that the White Sox aren't going anywhere if we don't see the same Rodon who started the last 10 games or so last year. Last night, he was "pretty good," at least his stuff looked appreciably more lively.

[SoCalSox]

Cleveland wins. Lead down to 2.5 games.

[flavum]

Coming back to expectations

 

They're right at .600 ball, which of course was going to happen in the long run. But after starting 23-10, there really is no good excuse for them not to win 90 games, short of having injuries.

 

67-62 after 23-10 should be realistic.

Edited May 19, 2016 by flavum

[fathom]

Rodon will be fine. It's the 4-5 that are scary bad

[Dunt]

YEP. Which is pretty amazing considering how "short term"-oriented the White Sox always were under KW.

 

You plug Ian Desmond in at SS, you have a MUCH more potent offense and basically the same or likely better overall defense (certainly range) compared to Rollins. Saladino fits perfectly in that super-utility role.

 

I don't think there's any way they were going to sign Desmond and Fowler, buy they still would have had plenty of money left to bring in Pedro Alvarez as part of a DH platoon.

 

Other than Eaton and Cabrera, and those guys are gap hitters...we just don't have any LH power that opposing managers have to respect in late-game situations.

 

 

One certainty, though, is that the White Sox aren't going anywhere if we don't see the same Rodon who started the last 10 games or so last year. Last night, he was "pretty good," at least his stuff looked appreciably more lively.

 

2 ER over 6 innings with 7 K's and 1 BB? Ya, I'd say that's "pretty good"

[caulfield12]

At any rate, it was difficult for the White Sox to react so late to both the LaRoche and Danks situations catching them off guard.

 

That said, they probably didn't expect to be in the position which they are now in...just hoping to be in the mix.

 

Desmond/Alvarez/Jackson would have dealt with two pressing issues (SS production and LH power).

 

 

It still would leave us potentially two starters short, as counting on Danks/Erik Johnson was probably the most foolhardy part of the off-season.

 

They kind of lucked out with Latos' first three starts, but that mirage disappeared. Now we have holes at SS, CF (offensively), catcher, LH power, bench speed, bullpen and 2 starting pitchers (assuming Rodon will recover and be an above .500 pitcher the rest of the way). And the jury's still out on Lawrie and Avisail Garcia. Having the "real" Jose Abreu show up would be a huge lift.

Edited May 19, 2016 by caulfield12

[The Beast]

I wish the Sox weren't the champions of April and would rebound tomorrow and over the next week. That would fix a lot of things...they really need to get hot again and get out of this rut.

[caulfield12]

2 ER over 6 innings with 7 K's and 1 BB? Ya, I'd say that's "pretty good"

 

Rodon HAS to get his pitch count to a more manageable number where he's getting the ball to the bullpen in the 7th.

 

We have to start using our relief corps in the 6th or earlier, it exposes all the problems, as we have already seen repeating itself as a theme in the last 10 days.

[Dunt]

Rodon HAS to get his pitch count to a more manageable number where he's getting the ball to the bullpen in the 7th.

 

We have to start using our relief corps in the 6th or earlier, it exposes all the problems, as we have already seen repeating itself as a theme in the last 10 days.

 

Did you even watch the game last night? He would've easily cruised through 7 had there not been two brutal errors behind him. Those upped his pitch count immensely.

[caulfield12]

 

Sure, but he's averaging 5.65 IP per start over EIGHT starts.

 

That needs to be increased to 6.33-6.5ish.

[Lip Man 1]

At any rate, it was difficult for the White Sox to react so late to both the LaRoche and Danks situations catching them off guard.

 

That said, they probably didn't expect to be in the position which they are now in...just hoping to be in the mix.

 

Desmond/Alvarez/Jackson would have dealt with two pressing issues (SS production and LH power).

 

 

It still would leave us potentially two starters short, as counting on Danks/Erik Johnson was probably the most foolhardy part of the off-season.

 

They kind of lucked out with Latos' first three starts, but that mirage disappeared. Now we have holes at SS, CF (offensively), catcher, LH power, bench speed, bullpen and 2 starting pitchers (assuming Rodon will recover and be an above .500 pitcher the rest of the way). And the jury's still out on Lawrie and Avisail Garcia. Having the "real" Jose Abreu show up would be a huge lift.

 

The Danks situation was pretty obviously going back to last season. Everyone (but the Sox) knew he'd lost it. They had plenty of time to solve or potentially solve his issue. LaRoche I understand your point but not Danks.

 

The only reason he was around as long as he was, was because of his contract. The same reason Dunn was kept around and the same reason LaRoche would still be playing if he hadn't quit regardless of how bad he was.

 

Mark

Edited May 19, 2016 by Lip Man 1

[greg775]

They cared way too much about saving the comp pick this past offseason

Great point.

 

Rodon will be fine. It's the 4-5 that are scary bad

We can't win with those 4-5, that's for sure. Only way we're going to make the playoffs is if our starters DOMINATE. Remember when we were dominating 1 through 4 with only Danks lousy? Sox are in big trouble. Like I said, what about the LaRoche haters? When are they gonna kick some clubhouse ass and get the team going? Sox look like patsies right now. Royals smelling blood this weekend. Only hope for us is their starters suck as well, but you know how the Sox generally look against lousy starters?

[Dunt]

Sure, but he's averaging 5.65 IP per start over EIGHT starts.

 

That needs to be increased to 6.33-6.5ish.

 

He's gone between 6-7 innings in 7 of those 8 games. Please just stop talking your nonsense. He's been fine outside of the Angels game.

[greg775]

The Royals is going to rip this team to shreds this weekend.

You know it. The Moustakas return game Saturday is gonna piss me off beyond belief. He has a flair and pencil him in for two homers and five ribbies on Sat minimum. Why can't he sit a few more games??

 

Putnam isn't close to being a "prospect" anymore...he's more of a journeyman veteran who seemingly has found a home in our bullpen but hasn't been AS effective as he was in 2014. He's fine for a "second unit" in the pen, but he's not currently the guy who can blow away guys (see Giles yesterday) and tends to pitch to more contact...which is fine as long as those sinkers and forkballs are hit at fielders and not elevated.

 

Btw, your OKC obliteration of the Warriors isn't working out so well.

I chose the wrong word on prospect. Sorry. I kinda meant (in my mind anyway) the candidate to be our best eighth inning guy now that Albers is throwing meat up there screaming "hit me." Not prospect but our best choice. I think he has more talent than Albers POTENTIALLY this season is what I was going to say.

 

To add insult to injury, it was Rajai Davis who tied the game for CLE, yikes...Kipnis just made a highlight reel play, 2 outs for the Reds and nobody on base.

At any rate, Quintana vs. Dillon Gee strongly favors the Sox, Gonzalez vs. Duffy (on a pitch count) is a toss-up and then Rodon/Ventura could go either way.

We miss Volquez/Kennedy entirely, so there's no excuse for not taking 2/3 against KC this weekend.

KC is going to be on a bit of a high since they're back to .500, playing much better defense and Moustakas is returning on SAT.

Damn the Moustakas game bothers me.

[fathom]

He's gone between 6-7 innings in 7 of those 8 games. Please just stop talking your nonsense. He's been fine outside of the Angels game.

 

He had fantastic stuff yesterday. Plenty of reasons to be optimistic going forward with him

[wizeguy57]

This is why you don't go overboard after only 30 games. Positively or negatively. The Sox fans were talking playoffs and the the Tiger and Royal fans were talking wtf is going on.

You don't get a true reading on any team until at least 50 games in. You can only hide your weaknesses for so long.

[greg775]

This is why you don't go overboard after only 30 games. Positively or negatively. The Sox fans were talking playoffs and the the Tiger and Royal fans were talking wtf is going on.

You don't get a true reading on any team until at least 50 games in. You can only hide your weaknesses for so long.

Very true. We were getting close to becoming consistent winners, though. Texas put an end to that by throttling the bullpen. Little surprised coming home to face Houston we folded like this. We haven't had a lot of home games. Lack of home runs continues to hurt the Sox. Frazier has been sick, but we really need Frazier and Abreu to bash tons of home runs. I don't think anybody else has the power to hit more than 10. Maybe Lawrie can hit 15.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

So these last 2 pages is what it looks like when we hit the panic button. Sure these games are disappointing as are all losses, however, things are not nearly as bad as some of you think.

 

The Sox have been in every game in this slump.The pen has blown up a bit and the luck has turned but then again the luck was so good for a while. The pitching and defense were great. The hitting and pitching were in sync. Score 3 give up 1 , score 3 give up 2 . It wasn't going to go on like that forever and it was a pretty long run of success . The hitting has actually improved and getting contributions from more guys now. But they are not in sync anymore. We were not as good as the really good run and we definitely aren't as bad as this bad run. The Sox are somewhere in the middle and I think they are very capable of making the playoffs.

 

I think they should definitely add Morneau when he is ready. He won't cost anything but money and shouldn't be that much, The only questions I have is what will Hahn give up to get another starting pitcher. The Sox need to hold the line at somewhere around 10-12 games above .500 until Hahn is able to add to the mix.

 

P.S. Royals... DEAD !! Indians ... DEAD !! We gotta take these bastards.

Edited May 19, 2016 by CaliSoxFanViaSWside