WestEddy

There's a bit of an echo chamber here, where a small group of irate people have created the reality of a team that will struggle to win 30 games a season for the next 7 years. That's ridiculous. Seeing Garret Crochet carve up the Braves and go 7 with no issues really opens up a lot of possibilities. You're going to hit this next off-season with probably 4 spots nailed down, and rookies moving Moncada, DeJong, and whatever catcher is left out of the way. What didn't work so well last time was a two-headed monster running the club with different priorities that neglected drafting, international signings and development. Hahn basically acquired 5 starters, drafted 2 more, and he was done with rotational depth. And then they never had final answers for 2B, RF or DH.

There was a day off after opening day, so Crochet pitched on regular rest, yesterday.

That's great, because I rank ESPN as zero for watchability. Maybe they should fire everyone, and just use AI to randomly generate content.

My reaction was about keeping Cease for the length of his control, not signing an extension. If this team was still in their contention window, Cease would be a White Sox right now. I also mentioned that we would have kept Giolito and Lynn to the end of last year.

Were the Sox magically functional when they wrapped up Eaton, Sale and Quintana? Jimenez and Moncada are injury machines. Yoan is amazing when well. Somebody here said in the last few days that Eloy is just a different player than he was his first year. He doesn't have that power anymore. I don't know if it's injuries, age, or mechanics. Eloy's contract will work out well if they don't pick up his options. Same with Yoan. I'd like to see the Sox buy out the last one or two years of arbitration, and grab a couple FA years, maybe tack on a couple of options. If this is a healthy Crochet, and he works his way up to 180 innings a year? That's one of the best dozen pitchers in the game.

And seriously, Robert's extension makes him practically untradeable right now, it's so valuable. If he's finally healthy for the first time in his pro career, Crochet locked up for 4 years is extremely valuable. He could probably even be had for a number that would work if he had to go back to the bullpen.

Well, maybe not that long, but I'd be surprised if Getz and the new KC contracts guy weren't hammering out the framework of a Crochet extension they'd pursue if Crochet got to the end of the season without incident. Chris Sale and Jose Quintana both got 5 year extensions.

Yeah, why not?

It would have happened if the team didn't crash and burn. They extended Lynn. Giolito was hell-bent on testing free agency. Right now, they're in rebuild mode. Every name that comes up on the roster, people start chanting "flip him", and that's not realistic. They need players to play the actual games. People were talking about "flipping" Steven Wilson, and he has 4 years of control. If Anderson, Lynn and Grandal continued being productive baseball players the team might have been competitive, and they would have retained Lynn, Giolito, and the bullpen guys through the end of the season. They didn't suck because Reinsdorf sent down a memo. Hahn/KW never filled the gaping holes in RF and 2B. Money? Clubhouse culture? Non-resourceful GM? All of it? I'm not defending anybody, it's just that the simplistic "Jerry Reinsdorf ruined life for everybody" refrain doesn't really explain mob-think that goes on. We're all complaining that we're not acquiring difference makers in trade. Garret Crochet appears to be a difference-maker. Maybe he's finally being handled correctly, and can stay healthy. There's your ace, going forward, that you can build a rotation around.

Dude, we're 4 games into the season. Robert's a star, and Crochet's looking like a stud. Yoan could be a player. The death march on the 0-23 opening is over. Let's see who steps up and looks like trade bait, and who looks like long termers. Shewmake could be this team's Lillibridge.

And, beyond Noah Schultz, nobody looks like a difference maker outside of Crochet. I am on the side of thinking that Dylan Cease, while a great pitcher, at times, was not an "ace". I think Crochet could be.

All of the arguments on this site have been that Crochet has NOT had a lot of usage, even in college. I'd see how Crochet looks in June, and try to wrap him up for 5 more years after the 3 we currently control him. Starting works for him, he was open to giving up an extra year of control just gambling on himself. Dude's a White Sock.

In da win column. Win tomorrow, and screw the haters!!

Houses come, houses go. You sell some, you bet some.

Pedro doesn't want to chance Getz seeing the bench manage manage a cogent inning.

I wouldn't mind an OPB-God Sheets being our lefty bat on the bench.

Hawk used to yell at Wimpy during the game. Hawk like to let the tension mount in silence, and Wimpy would just babble during a full count, 2 outs pitch.

Robbie Grossman hit 2 HRs for Charlotte, tonight, one a 9th inning grand slam in a blowout loss.

Bourgeois came up as an infielder, but spent the bulk of his time in the OF.

The only thing we'll get in a Clevenger trade is not paying him the final $1 million of his contract. I'd be surprised if they even got back a AAA utility infielder for him. At this point, I'm pretty numb from the first 4 games. I don't like Clevenger, and don't want him on this team. But if signing this lunkhead creates a softer landing for Nastrini, and creates any stability in the rotation over the course of the season, fine. I can just ignore him, and hope he's availing himself of the support MLB has promised to help him grow up. I'm disappointed in the Sox for going this route. Zack Greinke and Johnny Cueto are still unsigned.

I don't really think Clevenger makes any difference beyond pulling 50 innings away from the bullpen (meaning he pitches 150 instead of some lesser dude's 100), keeping Nastrini out of the majors for a month, and maybe making eventual decisions later in the year easier (ramping down Crochet, trading/cutting Soroka and Flexen). With Eloy possibly down, they need a bat.

And seriously, when the Sox don't set their loss record, will you be summoning all of the a-holes who predicted that to tell us why they were so wrong?

Yeah, I said our bullpen could be good. It just strikes me that if we took one from Detroit and lost by one today, everybody would be saying small sample size.

Well, I was doing pulmonary tests at Rush, so I was only observing the game on CBSsports. Maddening. I'm not sure what rip cords I'm going to pull. I'm a White Sox fan. I had an uncle who was a Chicago Cardinals fan. He fucking hated the Bears. When they moved to St. Louis, he became a Packers' fan. I'm a Sox fan. It's a slog. I'm sad about Clevenger. Maybe if the Sox are so irresponsible, they'll make him throw 210 pitches in his first start, and he will morph, and have two left hands on his tally-whacker, and nothing on his shoulders. Then he'll seek out and rape Trevor Bauer. Then all of baseball's troubles will be over.