More Historical Perspective

[southsider2k5]

Caulfield? No, never

 

Tuffy Rhodes and Buddy Biancalada agree.

[caulfield12]

Who is Biancalada?

 

Is that a new mocktail in Chicago?

[caulfield12]

So why aren't we saying that Cleveland isn't going to win the division or doesn't deserve to win the division because they are 2-4 against the Twins?

 

Why not say that the Royals don't deserve it if they are going to go 1-3 against the Indians thus far? Or 1-3 against the under .500 Yanks and 0-3 against the last place Angels?

 

The Indians and Royals aren't exactly juggernauts, here. Yes, the Royals are playing much better of late, but both teams have had wildly inconsistent stretches and shown plenty of weaknesses. So have the Sox. I'm call it about even in early June.

 

I hope you're being hyperbolic when you say the White Sox absolutely need to win a series in Detroit this weekend. They may win 3, they may lose 3, they may win or lose 2. It will likely have little bearing on the strategy or the overall standings. No one is going to run away and hide with this division.

 

The composition of this team will drastically change WHEN (not if) the front office acquires players to make their run later this summer. It's likely we won't have the same rotation, daily lineup, or bench. We will likely be much improved, if we can remain injury free. So yes, we will have a much better time beating the Royals and Indians when we are actually sporting a Major League Designated hitter, a deeper bench, and a more seasoned rotation.

 

Additionally, Rodon and Saladino are good examples of players that are apparently benefiting from seasoning on the job, and may be better as we go on. Wouldn't you agree? Would you say that they might be more reliable major league pieces in September than they were in April?

 

Because there are so many teams in the AL that are still in it, it's likely that the White Sox will not acquire all of their pieces until potentially late July or early August, when some teams finally give up. I think I'll wait until then to start proclaiming certain series "must win"

 

I think more was expected by the majority of fans (of Rodon), 1) because of the way he finished out 2015, and 2) because of Chris Sale, and the idea he could somehow follow the same path because he was even more highly-touted coming into the draft.

 

Since we're talking historical, I bet it would be quite difficult to find an American Central division winner that started 3-12 or 4-11 that season against the other three top teams out of 4 and made it to the playoffs...or had a record closer to .500 at home than .600 heading into June.

 

 

So yes, we will have a much better time beating the Royals and Indians when we are actually sporting a Major League Designated hitter...you could just as easily have said RF, because it was assumed until the Austin Jackson acquisition that our RFer would be MOSTLY Avisail Garcia, who almost everyone at this site had serious concerns about coming into the season. We can use the rationale that we didn't know about LaRoche until it was too late to even get a Alvarez or Chris Carter type, but this was the offseason to sign Fowler or Ian Desmond at 50 cents on the dollar and we didn't take advantage because of that draft pick.

 

Do you think we could get their equivalents for $3-6.5 million on the trade market this June/July? Probably not happening. One poster today speculated we would need to overpay and offered Fulmer for Carlos Gonzalez and that ugly contract of his. (Compelling argument, maybe not...but there's no sure thing with so many teams all searching for improvements at the same time that we can easily fill holes without the cost being greater than originally planned for.)

 

Maybe you're right, we can acquire them or all the sparks to the offense are available already ("for free") at the minor league level (another than another starting pitcher, that is)....in Anderson/Coats/Hayes. We shall see.

 

 

And the part about winning 2/3 against DET, it's just as much for the fans...mostly because a sweep or winning just 1/3 coming into a key homestand is going to put the team psyche, fans, media and Ventura back into "tense mode" again.

 

 

Edited June 3, 2016 by caulfield12

[captain54]

Tuffy Rhodes and Buddy Biancalada agree.

 

I thought it was Biancalana. Not Biancalada

 

[tray]

Momentum was lost during an extended run against American League teams with powerful line-ups, excellent starting pitchers, and in some cases dominant bullpen arms. But what was lost lost by the Sox was more than simply momentum. Close competitive games against excellent line-ups forced Ventura to deploy a bullpen that was ill prepared for extended outings and repeated use in high leverage situations. That in turn resulted in losing several games where teams came back in late innings to win.

The schedule just kept exposing this as we faced Texas, Toronto, Boston, Baltimore, the Yankees..

 

Compare the Cubs schedule during the same time frame against team like the Reds , the Pirates, the Phillies , Padres etc.. Kicking the azzes of those teams allowed starters to pitch deeper into games. The bullpen in turn, was not needed often in high leverage situations, and confidence and momentum built.

 

So I would say the Sox tried mightily to get off to a great start, but a very grueling schedule against tough teams, some bad luck, and a shallow bullpen have turned momentum against the team.

 

At this point I am not sure how that gets turned around. The team seems to lack confidence offensively. The rotation only provides decent startswhen Sale or Q are pitching and the bullpen appears to be in tatters.

 

History provides no solace. What might help would be a trade or two to bring in a pitcher and a hitter and maybe lose a few of the guys who have been a drag.

Robin isn't going anywhere until after the season, or until the Sox have played themselves out of contention, which may not be that far off.