WestEddy

Oakland still hasn't figured out how to get Alex Speas to consistently throw strikes, and Jose Rodriguez has faltered to a slash line of .179/.309/.321 at AA. They're "prospects" like Zach Remillard is a prospect.

At this point, I feel that Soroka, Flexen, Fedde, Keller, Clevinger, Brebbia and Leone are very important parts of this club's future. Get any of them tuned up and trade them. Sosa, Colas, Fletcher, Lee, Nastrini and Cannon will have 2 solid months of major league time in August and September.

I suppose we'll have to wait for Monty to start annihilating AAA pitching before we worry about that.

Frustrated, just like everybody else. I think one guy on this board predicted a winning record. I thought they'd be better than 2023, assuming they'd trade Cease at the deadline, and they wouldn't lose all three of their top players in the first 2 weeks. Oh, and professional baseball players could suck and still hit .200. Sheets is a nice development. Korey Lee, too. And the bullpen isn't as bad as "expected".

They picked their top 2 prospects at #22 and #26. I'm not depressed.

I think it's more that the kids are better trained, better mentored, eat better, and have more access to better statistical analysis than "old guys blowing out sooner".

The Chicago White Sox, as an organization, aren't some dude sitting in his underwear, shitposting on the internet. They have to field a team. They can't field a team that will go 3-159, and then shitpost. They have to create some semblance of chance of winning to be able to lure casual fans into the ballpark. Nobody cares what you wanted this OFFSEASON. Why don't you send a resume to the White Sox? I'm sure they would be most interested in your concept of players that "blow" and of players that "don't blow". You had included Erick Fedde in your list of players who "blow" before ST, and now, somehow, you don't. I suppose you predicted that, somehow.

He has started 16 of 24 games. Is he platooning with Suwinski?

Taylor is still a starting CF, and probably wouldn't have come to Chicago to be the weak half of a corner OF platoon. Pham had offers all winter. He just thought he'd get more. You're a guy who complains that every cheap contract on the team is a player being overpaid. You should be happy the Sox stayed firm, and probably got Pham for a much lower payroll hit in April than they would have in January. Taylor is currently OPSing .609 in Pittsburgh. If he were doing that in Chicago, you'd be railing on that you could have told us before ST he would suck that bad.

More likely that the league has adjusted to him, and now he has to readjust.

Yes, that's how conversation works. Normally, it takes evidence to get somebody to back off of what they believe to be true.

I'm not sure what I'm doubling down on. Maybe you should follow the discussion.

I need an aperitif to clear my palette of the anger for the previous worst 23 game start.

Jesus Christ!!! A big league home run!! I can die happy, now.

Baseball Prospectus has a much better catcher rating system.

Vaughn's numbers are worse than Sheets' in the early going. I think Vaughn is just mentally messed up right now, and needs to get away from this team.

And if Maldonado has plans on being a manager, one day, he may just take the DFA and go be somebody's A-ball catching coach.

Okay, I'll agree with you. I don't know how stringent JR was on the budget. I do believe that the Sox were in such a bad position that they really had to overpay to bring in players. Benintendi probably should have been a 3-year deal, but I'm guessing they had to go to 5 to beat out another offer that wasn't even as good as their own 3-year offer. It was also a strange off-season that really reeks of collusion. They had offers on the table to guys like Pham and Clevinger for months.

I think when you put kids in this position, and there's no big veterans to carry them, they press, and start doing bone-headed plays. Shewmake and Sosa are going to be exposed. I'm surprised/not surprised that DeJong and Lopez are far and away the 2 best defensive players on the team.

Poor guy seems lost. Just the look on his face walking back from another strikeout. On a personal level, I feel terrible for the guy. Drop him down to AAA, just so he can feel what it's like to go on a bit of a tear, again.

Okay, then I'll do this. they say the jump from AAA to the bigs is the largest it's ever been. On top of that, our AAA facility is a bandbox that inflates offensive production, where guys like Colas, Chuckie Robinson, Lenyn Sosa and others look like viable offensive pieces - who show up at GRF, and proceed to hit .120. I almost think it would be as productive to leave Colson Montgomery and Quero at AA, let them hit .400, then promote them straight from Birmingham.

And replacing them with utility or AAAA guys exposed those replacements during an historic slump. If we had a guy in AAA who could step in, rake, and pick it with the best of them, he would have been in the opening day lineup.