Sarava

The Yankees would be favorites if they played the Sox. But the Sox absolutely could beat them. Baseball is weird. You're hot for 5 games, then ice cold. If the Sox start playing like they did 3-4 weeks ago, they can roll through any team.

Why would anyone want Maddon? The Cubs won the series in 2016 despite his bad managing, not because of it. If the Sox win today, this discussion is moot. They won't can him if he wins a playoff series.

It would be nice if he could at least DH, to give us some thump in the lineup.

The Sox are division champs if Ricky doesn't give that game away against Cleveland. If the playoffs don't go well, I'd guess he is gone.

They were kind of light on Ricky. A lifetime ban seems more appropriate.

wtf Grandal. How did this guy get sold as a top defensive catcher?

I would agree that he's more likely to come back than get canned. But to say zero percent chance is not accurate. The world isn't just black or white. For all we know, KW, Reinsdorf or Hahn could be sitting there watching the games getting pissed off just like all us fans are at all his headscratching decisions. Ricky's experimenting with Rodon might very well cause the Sox to play the Yankees in the first round, instead of hosting the Blue Jays or Astros. And most of all, Reinsdorf has invested a lot in this rebuild. If they don't feel like he's the guy to lead it, this winter is the time to make the move. You can't assume the window is going to be open wider 2 or 3 years down the line. Other rebuild teams have come to later realize that their initial spurts of success were their best chances.

Someone tell Ricky that we're not tanking anymore

I don't want to say I'm glad this slump is happening. But I felt it coming for a while, and they kept winning through it. As others have said, they had some slumps in 2005, including late in the season when it was pretty close to the playoffs. Maybe it's good that this happened now, instead of a week from now. I still like out chances in the playoffs. Getting this team right is way more important than the seeding. If the Sox end up going to NYY in the first round, then so be it.

Yeah, I followed up my post about that. You must of missed it.

A recent interview has him softening his stance on insisting for a one year deal. And I did forget about the throwing the ball to centerfield thing...I guess that was disruptive. Anyway, I think he would be the best possible addition this winter.

I'd love him to sign here. He'd give us the #1 starter that we need, and would probably be an amazing mentor for our young pitchers. I haven't seen anything he does that disrupts his team, nor has anything ever been suggested as far as I know.

Something about bringing Q back entices me. Maybe I'm foolish and am thinking he might be like his old White Sox self if he comes back. Regarding Kopech. I don't have any names in mind, but what if they dangled Kopech out there for a young stud right fielder...then signed Q? Or are we already overloaded on young guns and should concentrate on a vet for RF? Hmm.

As much as I'd like to agree with you. Even with this magical season, the Sox gotta be losing their asses this year because of no fans. I don't see Reinsdorf splurging this winter. It doesn't feel like it's in his DNA, given what we are going through now. Q will probably be the perfect signing with everything in mind.

Can't wait!

Abreu is just going nuts this year.

Agree. I'm so glad they didn't move him for a quick rental fix.

Obviously Giolito and McCann have a lengthy track record of success together. See 2019. What do we make of Grandal and Giolito? At this point, they seem intent on McCann catching all of Gio's games now. Makes me wonder who decided that. Did Giolito request it? Are the Sox just rolling with something that works? Hmm.

Both guys have been good offensively. For Grandal - I never watched him that closely as a National League player. It seemed weird in the off-season how some sources would call Grandal one of the elite defensive catchers in baseball, and other sources would say he is terrible. You don't generally see a player described at both ends of the spectrum like that. And I think we've seen both sides of that. He is an elite pitch framer. He works well with most pitchers. And defensively, outside of pitch framing, he seems very below average. He struggles with balls in the dirt. And that play ending last night's game was inexcusable. I see talk above about guarantees what McCann will fetch in the market this winter. I think we need to be careful and remember most teams are losing their asses this year, and it's likely spending will be way down. I heard talk there might be a lot of one year deals this winter. I don't think we can say for sure McCann is out of reach for the Sox next year. The idea that trading Grandal would stain the Sox with future free agents is dumb. You're allowed to trade free agent acquisitions if someone else pans out better. Nobody would hold that against the Sox, except possibly that one player. Boo hoo. The problem would be that teams probably aren't going to want to trade for a player with so much guaranteed cash. The world has changed since he signed last November. And finally, the biggest equation in this all, and most of you seem oblivious to it, is Lucas Giolito. Starting pitching is not one of this team's strengths right now, and we have a severe difference in how Gio performs between these 2 catchers. Giolito with Grandal catching - 1-2, 5.66 ERA, 20.2 IP, 23 K's, 10 BB's Giolito with McCann catching - 3-0, 1.85 ERA, 34IP, 52 K's, 8 BB's

Hard to argue with any of this. The Sox probably don't have the rotation depth to make a World Series run. Hope I'm wrong of course. And as much as I hate to do this, if Cease continues to struggle, we may have to give Reynaldo another chance at the rotation.

I'm not against Grandal. He's a good overall player. And I really don't don't like the title of this thread. Being a fan of McCann doesn't mean you 'hate' Grandal or don't appreciate him. But like many other catchers who get played heavily, McCann wore down last year. Getting worn down ≠ getting exposed.

Not everything is black or white. They could consider trading Grandal to make room for signing McCann. I'm not saying they should, but it's an option. McCann handles balls in the dirt better. Right now he's hitting better. And there's that Giolito connection, which is the most important part of this.

Sad news. RIP Tom.

I would think the Sox best path at this point is to leave him down this year. Let him beat up AA and AAA for a month or two in 2021, and call him up by June if he does that.

He's not very good with balls in the dirt either. The Sox should think long and hard before they let McCann walk out the door this winter.