vilehoopster

Really, you only expect the Sox to win between 40 to 50 games? Is this hyperbole? I am optimistic and hope and expect about 72 wins, but I know 60 wins (even a few less) is a possiblity. But you think only 45 wins, really? What happened?

Well, Dejong is NOT going to embarrass the White Sox and us fans by . . . . Repeatedly get suspended by the league Act like a bad ass then get knocked on his butt in a fight Slap a teammate be disliked by his teammates to the point that no one cheers when it's announced he make the all-star team make us watch and wait as an opponent checks and overturns a double play because he missed stepping on 2nd base . . again have countless errors repeatedly get picked off base Dejong is not going to be Tim - building my brand means more than wins - Anderson. For that reason alone, I expect the Sox to be better, maybe only slightly better, but better. But they will be significantly easier to watch.

I looked this up on a couple sources a while ago: Japanese baseball is equal to a little better than AAA level ball. Korean ball where Fedde is equal to AA ball. Both dominated at those levels/ leagues last year. Pitchers jump up from AA and do well all the time. Also, I didn't realize that yesterday's game when Yamamota give up five runs in the 1st inning was only spring training; I must have misunderstood that. Just because the Dodgers throw a ton of money at someone, doesn't start to make him a guaranteed success. How did all that money thrown at Trevor Bauer turn out? It just means the Dodgers have too much money to throw around and they're trying to get Far East TVs. My logic is as sound as yours when you consider Yamamota is making over 20 times what Fedde is making for only achieving at a AAA level.

If we were working in the same office and could put money down, I'd take that bet in a second. Will Yamamoto do better? Maybe. Probably. But not definitely. And I am extremely confident that he's not going to do $310 million dollars better.

I agree 100%.

The Fedde signing is looking a hell of a lot better than $325 million for Yamamota. I know the Sox hit him really hard his ST game, and wasn't he rocked in other ST appearances. Then he got shelled like a peanut yesterday. I'm more than fine with $15 million for Fedde; it could be bust, but could end up being a steal.

Wow, have we seen this movie before. A 3 to 1 loss. Moncada was, at the last minute, unavaiable to play, Eloy went out with an injury, no home runs, and 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position. I'm not anywhere near as down on this year's team, but this was a complete same old, same old drag to watch. Nobody wants Sheets on the team, and especially we don't want him in RF, but if Fletcher doesn't start hitting very soon in ST, he's going to get about a two (maybe three) week window once the season starts to prove he has a MLB bat. If he fails, it's Sheets in RF. The pitching has been good; really everything has been good. Except Fletcher is just bombing his opportunity to be a regular right fielder.

I like most people here did not want Sheets in RF, but I think you have to find somewhere to put his bat. He has been the best bat in spring training. And you can't say spring training means nothing when everyone want Nastrini starting and Crochet is our opening day starter. Spring has to mean something.

Can we kind of get back on topic of the projected starting lineups? Three questions: 1. When discussing starting rotations, not sure how or where I heard or read it, but it seems clear, or it was strongly implied, that Drew Thorpe is going right into the starting rotation. Does anyone else get that vibe from Sox media? Merkin doesn't have Thorpe in his starting rotation, but I got a feeling from his earlier discussing the trade and on Garfien's podcast that Thorpe would be stepping right into the starting rotation. 2. How would Crochet being a starter work? Would he go longer that three innings? I can't see how he should. And really, even with three building up to four or five inning starts, I can't see him pitching into July, unless he's taking two weeks off between starts. How will this work? 3. Is the idea to use Crochet for a couple months, short outings, and then bring in Thorpe or someone else ?

So, Cease is gone. What is our starting rotation? Fedde Kopech Soroka Flexen Our unhittable pitcher this spring has been Crochet. I see him getting some three inning starts up to a certain number of innings. And Nastrini, whom I think has looked great in ST Really the per

Whoever gave this a D or F, especially the F, Why??

I also give it a B. I think it was fair for both teams. I also think the Sox got pretty much what they needed with Cease leaving: They got help for this season right now and one promising prospect and one very promising prospect for the future

Tim Anderson WAS the toxic situation. His being gone (along with Fat Lynn and Grandal) is my main reason for hope this year and going forward.

What I want is to keep all our good prospects down in AAA for pretty much the entire year. Keep them together in Charlotte and let them build confidence and enjoy being on a winning team. Keep them all down there: Montgomery, Quero, Ramos; those young arms, keep them down there, starting with Crochet, and add to it Nastrini, Cannon, and Eder. Let them all build innings and build some confidence also. I would be fine with bring a bunch up in September to get their feet wet, but try to keep them in AAA and have a really outstanding year and team in Charlotte. I think we should try to muddle through this year with our inexpensive veterans and try to get lucky and win 70 games. Knowing that we have all that talent down in Charlotte will make this year a lot, a lot easier to take.

An example of why WAR is a joke, expecially concerning 1st basemen. Before the Covid year, Abreu with over 100 RBIs had a War of like 2.9, and Yolmer Sanchez had a War of like 2.6. The next year, the White Sox cut Yolmar to start the season and Abreu went on to win AL MVP. Abreu's value to the Sox was only a 1/3 of a run more than Yolmer?? What a joke!

I wonder if Fletcher will ever say that a 13 year old is a leader in the clubhouse or on the team?? Hmm?? Fletcher won't be the dick that Eaton was. Remember the emphasis on clubhouse?? I like this trade because it will help the team THIS year. I still plan on watching the games and hoping the Sox win those games. He will help the Sox THIS year. He'll play good defense, take the extra base, and bat around .260. Is anybody going to argue that that these types of results is not a BIG improvement on what, at least the last five years.

I'm with this guy. He became a continued embarrassment to the White Sox, and by extention, embarrassment to the Sox fan base. There were just so many incidents that I can no longer root for him; I can't.

What has changed? It's spring that's fast approaching after winter. John Fogery says it. "Well, I beat the drum and hold the phone The sun came out today We're born again, there's new grass on the field." It's spring training. "We're born again." I choose to be happy and excited about it.

I agree with this guy 100%. This is my post in shorter words.

There's a scene in Ghostbusters where the giant Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man is coming to kill them, and they all expect to die, no chances left. Egon says that maybe they should cross the streams. Murry/ Venkman says that he told them they all would die if they crossed the streams. Egon replies, "There's definitely a very small chance we could survive". Bill Murry/ Venkman thinks about it, and realizes, as much as it sucks, "definitely a very small chance" is way better than no chance at all to survive; so he does the line, "I love this plan . . Let's do it". He knows that a terrible plan is way better than no plan at all. That's where I'm at with this White Sox team. I'm a White Sox Fan, and spring training is here. I know that everything looks bad for this year, and the team this year could really suck. But again, I'm a White fan, and damn it, I'm gonna stay a White Sox fan, and there's "definitely a very small chance" they could succeed and maybe contend for the division. And since the other choice is ignoring the White Sox and baseball after a long winter (for me, baseball death). I’m jumping on that “definitely very small chance” and so I love this team and I’m getting excited about this Sox team. So here goes, why I’m excited about this team (some of these I’m more confident about than others): A lot of my hope rests on the benefits of a motivated and quality clubhouse. I think that could really make a difference, or I’m hoping it will. I’m very curious and excited about this new pitching staff, especially with the improved defense. I expect Cease to be outstanding until he’s dealt at the deadline. I expect a solid bounce back from a couple of either Fedde, Soroka, and Flexen. I think maybe one or two of them can be this year’s Mike Clevenger without being . . .well . . . Mike Clevenger. The bullpen: I get that everyone is complaining about the no-name bullpen; but really, even with all the “big names” last year, it was completely terrible, completely. I honestly believe that this year’s bullpen can’t be worse than last year’s bullpen. It can’t be. I expect a big jump in production from Vaughn and Benitendi. I really do; I think that will come from the improved clubhouse and Benitendi’s improved hand. I think, this being the last year of his contract, I expect a motivated Moncada, motivated to play 145 games or so, and actually give some real production at the plate. I’m hanging onto that last month of production he had at the end of last year as evidence of what he can do all year in ‘24. Now to Eloy, hmmm. . . back to the clubhouse thing here. Last year as Eloy sat at his locker, he would look down the row of teammates and see this: fat Lance Lynn who was too lazy to get in shape and lose weight to help his team; the unmotivated Moncada; Grandal, what a piece of yuck; and finally, TA, the biggest cancer on a team loaded with cancers. That won’t be the case this year (I hope). With guys around him putting the team first, I’m hoping that he’ll step up this year and be productive. The defense will be significantly better, and that will help pitching. I know everyone, including me, wonders where the runs are going to come from, but again, it can’t be worse than last year. I just looked it up; the White Sox were 2nd to last (29 out of 30) in run production last year. The Sox offense has to be able to do better (or less bad) than that. And even if it’s not improved, with the better pitching and defense; they’re still going to win more games. So, I say it again: There’s definitely a very small chance that he White Sox could be successful this year, and I’m gonna get behind that chance because it is way better than no chance at all and being one of the countless number of doomsayers. And so, I love the team this year. I’m excited to be a fan of it!!

Does the reason/ title of this topic come from last week's Soxtalk podcast.? If not, it should. The topic of that podcast was something like" Yoan Mocada: It's now or never". Anyway, Ryan McGuffy had one of my favorite quotes EVER concerning the Sox and their recent failures: "Yoan Moncada is the Abe Lincoln on the Mount Rushmore of White Sox busts."

I understand the save on money thing and save on travel and all that. But Charlotte used to come to Indy. I remember going to a Knights game in Indy to watch Cease pitch, and there were a whole lot of Sox fans from the Region and Chicago to see him. Cease was scratched from starting, but that's not important; what's important is that we had a pretty good group behind the Charlotte dugout. I really think Sox management should (I know it's too late for this year already) get Charlotte back to Indy for a series every year, regardless of the money. It can't cost any more than going to Syracuse. The good of having fans from Chicago and Northwest Indiana seeing Charlotte at Indy seems like such a obvious conclusion. I don't understand why it doesn't happen. Seriously, think about if it happened this year. With all those young pitchers that we fans want to see; and to see Quero and Ramos. And think about Colson being from southern Indiana. His town would probably bring 500 people just to see him. If this upcoming Charlotte team played in Indy, on a Friday night this coming August, it's entirely possible that the game would outdraw a Sox game on that same Friday night, considering that the Sox might very well be 30 games under .500. by then. I'm not exaggerating. I think it could and would happen. I just don't get why this doesn't happen every year; again, it seems so obvious. It just seems like another middle finger to the fans from Sox ownership.

I can believe that Bummer will go to Atlanta and be good, maybe very good for them. But there's no way I think Reynaldo won't be up and down crazy and unreliable like he was for the Sox. IMO, there's no way I see him helping Atlanta take that step to a World Series. That blown save against Tampa Bay early in the season started the downward spiral for the Sox last season. It was the equivalent of Engel's dropped foul ball from the year before.

So on the latest Garfien podcast, he and Ryan went on for a while about players sitting out games and taking "spa days". Garfien said something like, "Under Grifol, the players definitely took spa days, and that's on him." Garfien or Ryan said that what Grifol needs to do the first day of spring training is "take the massage table and flip it over, something about sending the Gatorade flying and making it clear that spa days are over. So from this, I assume a spa day is when a player says he has some minor ache and needed to rest it, and instead of playing, that player got a massage and ice bath and all whatever pampering. Can anyone explain more in depth what a spa day was for the Sox? Were they as bad as Garfien made them sound? I don't think we need to wonder who were the guys taking too many spa days?

If the Sox have a "stench", Tim Anderson, more than any other player, has created that stench. I would say more than any other two players the Sox have or have had. I am soooo glad he is gone.