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Before I go into the why, I want make something clear. The past 18 months have been incredibly difficult to be a White Sox. It started with one of the most underwhelming off-seasons in my life where Rick Hahn ignored major needs, loaded up on pricey relievers, and gave a three year deal to Leury fucking Garcia. That followed with a season filled injury, underperformance, poor fundamentals, and terrible managing / coaching. What was once one of the most promising young cores in baseball looked like it was quickly approaching the end of its competitive window. And somehow, things were made worse this past winter with another mediocre off-season where we lost the face of the franchise and found out our star closer is battling cancer. And it’s that consistent disappointment over the past 18 months that has brought my excitement and optimism for the Sox to an all time low. But sometimes when you step away a bit, you come back a bit more objective. There is still plenty of talent here, even if the roster remains flawed thanks to a GM that I don’t believe to be very good as his job and an owner that refuses to overspend to make up for that GM’s mistakes. While I’m not going to predict a World Series victory, I do think a division title will happen next year. 10 Reasons Why the Sox will win the AL Central in 2023: Pedro Grifol - There are no words to describe how bad Tony La Russa was at his job last year. Any credible replacement would represent a multi-win improvement. That being said, I think Grifol is the right man to bring out the best of this roster. Jose Castro - Similar to above, Frank “f*** the HR” Menechino was a disaster as our hitting coach. So far, Castro has said all the right things and it seems like he will prioritize utilizing the team’s raw power vs. focusing hitting lots of weak grounders. Better Health - I hate even typing this, but this team can only be healthier next year just through normalized luck. Goldy Simmons having a full off-season to work with our guys and the hiring of Geoff Head as Director of Sports Medicine will also help. Eloy at DH - The kid put up a 144 wRC+ over 84 games last year and showed why he once was a pillar of the rebuild. With the move to DH and some legit weight loss, Eloy could finally have a breakthrough season and one where he plays +140 games. Vaughn at 1B - Andrew had a 125 wRC+ through August last year, before wearing down in September and seeing his FY line drop to 113. Playing a less demanding position should allow him to endure a full season and allow him to take a big leap. OF Defense - Vaughn & Sheets were two of the worst defensive OFs in the game last year (Andrew being far & away the worst). Replacing them with Benintendi & Colas is a massive improvement. And Robert can only be better in 2023 as well. Angry Tim - Let’s be honest, this dude is mad as f*** and is already starting to think about his next payday. He is going to to motivated as hell this year and is going to bring his his A game. I fully expect him to rebound to his previous +4 win player form. A New Junior - With a new name comes new beginnings. I believe Robert is going to flash that Mike Trout lite potential next year. The 155 wRC+ he put up in 2021 is my expectation along with above average CF defense. A +6 win season is possible. The Rotation - I’m very optimistic about the group this year. We got less than five wins from Lynn, Giolito, & Kopech last year and I expect that figure to double. And while Clevinger is pure scum, I do think he’ll give us quality production at the #5 spot. The Division - Last but not least, but the AL Central is simply not good. I get the Guardians won 92 games last year, but I don’t see them repeating that despite what projection models may say. I think they’re a high 80’s win team and we can beat that.

I'm good with most of the changes but I'll die on the hill that the automatic runner on 2nd in extras is a terrible rule

Fired up - just got into town and get to see my first spring training game in I dont know when and my kids get their first spring training experience ever.

The Taipei Water Moccasins.

Who's caulfield rooting for here?

You mean we all get to use the balls they used for Yankees games last year?

You've been Caulfield'ed.

Those were Cleveland fans who were heckling him, and it was one time, not "any chance he gets"

I wouldn't mind it in the the 12th or something. Not the 10th

Unfortunately these rule changes now make Manfred greatest commissioner of all time.

Healthy Yo going 1st to 3rd on a single...?

As many know I am extremely high on Colas. He is a prototypical RF . Power LH and 7 assists in only 32 games in RF for Birmingham last. The other games for Birmingham were in CF and DH. I don't think the whole OF had 7 assists combined all last year.

I’ve read Kopech is expected to get the opener

I hope you are right. I’m optimistic as well.

Grifol already failing to challenge Romy's legit stolen base. Smh. /s

RON DeSantis, your anti-woke, CRT-inspired/AP African American history hatin' namesake.

Harold working with him as a sports psychologist?

Fortunately, it's pretty miserable competition.

Colas in RF

Nice to see two handed swings this year

Boy it looks pretty as hell there

Watching Yaz try to run is brutal

Pitch clock may just save baseball although Fox will just add more commercials to keep at 3.5 hours.

Love the pitch clock. Man why did this take so long

Sorry, I wasn't suggesting that online education is for everybody. I think some elements of it (not having "lecture" time in every class 3-5 times/week, more individualized curriculum, etc.) need to be incorporated into physical schools. If you have the ability to have your kid at home full time and the kid is an above-average student, I highly recommend online learning though.

Lack of shift is startling

Robert swings at first pitch, Moncada walks. Midseason form for both.

Steve said the bases are six inches closer I say four and a half approx. Prove me wrong.

okay im already sick of it

I'm taking the opposite approach. I don't see any reason to expect them to win more than 82 games (the roster is worse than last year, managerial change or not) -- so if they somehow win 92 and take the division I'll be pleasantly surprised. If they don't, well, I never expected anything anyways. Can't get fooled again.

I like you optimism!!! I agree with you. Its going to be a great year and the team is playoff bound.

It would be really nice if we found yoelki made a jump in approach. Really love his center field. I think last spring showed his mature instincts. Just need a guy that can give you 85 wRC+. Colas/ Cespedes and vera had such extreme breaks in middle of their development. I’m not ruling out a later bloom for any of em

f*** it.. I'm taking the +200. A+ post

They have little depth in certain areas, with OF, C, & SP being the main areas of concern. I actually like some of the lesser bullpen additions we made and I think we have quite a few interesting depth pieces in the IF and at 1B / DH. I’d say Robert is the single most important player next year from a health standpoint. If he goes down, we could be looking at up to a 5 win swing. At least with catcher we got Carlos Perez and with SP we got Davis Martin. Not good depth by any means, but far better than the CF situation.

Very true. I’m glad people are sleeping on us. This team needs a chip on its shoulder after the s%*#-show that was last year.

If it’s inevitable he’s on the team to start, I’d hope he starts the third game in Houston. If he starts April 1, 7, and 12, his first three starts are on the road.

In my years of fandom, the White Sox have usually played better when they are underestimated. I do not mind one bit if they are picked to take 3rd in the Central this season. Let's get this started and see what they can do.

I woke up this morning and looked at forecast - it looked alright and all our stuff in so cal was rained out - so checked for rooms and drove out after work (completely last minute). Shockingly hit zero traffic.

@The Beast That seems to be everywhere. We've had much worse behavior in our school since COVID. Eighteen months of quarantine and away from in person coats l classes seems to have long term implications beyond gaps in learning. (For comparison we're a mostly two parent, college educated, upper middle class school.) We've had more like expelled this year than in the past ten years combined. I'm at an out of town tournament with seven players ranging in age from a nearly 18 year old to barely 14. We're staying three days so we've kind of settled in. This seems as normal as it's always been. But once we get back to large groups things just are different.

Tim all love .

I was going by memory, but then I looked up the numbers and it refreshed my memory that his bad defense was much more concentrated. TA had 12 errors last year. 6 of those 12 were in a 3-day period (4/20-4/22 - against Cleveland and Minnesota). Other than that one 3-day stretch he played solid defense.

It was a dumb tweet that was deleted as this thread should be

Cannot give 400 AB to Moncada with a .626 OPS again at that position again this year. He was awful last year and should not be handed the position until he can show he’s no longer an anchor on the entire lineup. I’ll take Burger’s defense issues if he’s mashing the ball like he did last year.

White Sox are in a good spot at 15. Could be a spot for college pitching or one of the better prep bats due to the amount of college bats who look like top 10 players. It'll be tough to pass on Waldrep or Lowder

This regime had Sale, Q, and Eaton to trade for the rebuild. Think how bad the rebuild would go without guys like that to trade. No Gio, no Cease, no Kopech, no Mocada, no Eloy, no Lopez. They can’t draft well. They don’t develop players well. Another rebuild would be a long disaster with the same dopes calling the shots.

By the way, the clinical term for the surgery is an addadicktome

This thread is longer than . . . Yeah too easy

“I was in the pool!!!”