WestEddy

Dead-arm period?

Yes, I agree this team will be offensively challenged. I'm surprised how what looked like 11 possible starting pitchers quickly whittled themselves down to about 3.5. I still think they'd win about 68 games with this roster. However, if they end up trading Soroka, Eloy, and Brebbia, that number could crater.

Oh, maybe. I was just saying that if DeJong is still the starting shortstop in September, Monty's progression would have hit a snag.

I get not liking the DeJong/Lopez/Fletcher/Maldonado moves. Those 4 positions are still weak on paper, tho I believe, improved from last year. The rotation does look shaky after Michael Soroka. Fedde and Flexen will be a roller coaster ride until they prove they aren't. For all the complaining, the bullpen is one area where I think Getz has actually put together a solid unit. Three of those guys are coming off of good years, Tim Hill has thrown well in the past, and a recalibration might bring him back. Leasure and Garcia looked great in ST, and Touki is Touki. And if they choose to stick around, Knebel, Leone, Shaw, Barlow and Cousins all look to be various levels of solid as replacements. I agree that runs will be hard to come by. I don't think the bullpen will be a problem. Maybe Grifol's usage, thereof, but not the actual arms.

Okay, I will politely ask, on what planet do these guys "blow"? Bullpen: CL Kopech; SU Brebbia; Leasure & Wilson; MR Banks; Hill; Swing: Garcia; Toussaint John Brebbia's coming off a season of 1.174 WHIP, striking out 11 per 9 innings. Steven Wilson threw a 1.170 WHIP and had 9.7 k/9. Tanner Banks - 1.230 WHIP, strikes out less than a batter an inning, but his ratio is 3.19 k/bb. Tim Hill, as recently as 2022 threw a 1.229 WHIP. Kopech was great out of the bullpen in 2021. He can't seem to wrap his head around starting. Jordan Leasure and Deivi Garcia have tremendous upside. Touki was solid last year as a swing man, and has calmed down from a couple bad first outings this spring. I understand that you're angry at this team. That doesn't mean you get to mind-meld suckage upon them. I don't care if you think they will lose 145 games this season. I feel that your stated "110-120" losses is completely unsubstantiated. I just think it's weird that people will post laughing emojis on a prediction of 68 wins, but will look at somebody saying a not-bad bullpen "blows", and just treat it like a credible comment.

There's also the dichotomy of "the atmosphere around this team is so bad, free agents won't even sign here", but "sign all the free agents!!" Michael A. Taylor is still a league average starting centerfielder. Getting a starting CF job probably helps him with his next contract. Somebody watches Taylor put up 2 WAR playing CF regularly, he's a CF option next off-season for somebody. But if he walks into a situation where he changes to being the weak half of a platoon at an easier position, he's limiting his options going forward. Why would Taylor take that contract with the White Sox? The guy's already made $20 million in his career. Why take another $1 million to ride the bench for a bad team, then uproot his life in 4 months, then not see his family regularly for 2-3 months because he's traded who knows where?

The dour bunch says 40-50 wins, because zero wins is impossible. The modern record for worst record is the 1916 Philadelphia A's at 36-117. Nobody seems ready to commit to that. I feel that anybody who wants to "predict" 40-50 wins needs to explain why they'll do better than 36 wins.

I think that .230/.300/.425 is his absolute ceiling. Good defense could have him at about 1 bWAR by the trading deadline. That's his absolute ceiling. Dude would have to rake like a snake to change any trajectory. But I think if he could realize his first half of his 2023, he could buoy the infield, and not totally sink our offense. I mean, the propellor heads fall in love with the .180/.320/450 guys like they are the key to life if they could hit 30 HRs. They're not. However, if Dominic Fletcher turns into a hitting, fielding kid, Andrew Vaughn finds his prospect, Yoan and Eloy stay well, Nicky Two-Eighty stays there, Fedde and Flexen get through 6, the bullpen maintains, Soroka finds his prior self, you might just have a team....... that gets traded off at the deadline. Which would be great!

Why aren't you happy? Getz waited until 4 days before the end of training camp to make this signing. That makes him "wise", right? You know, they just released Pillar. You should probably keep up. A lot has changed since your first year of following this team.

Comrade, I've been online for awhile. See, I didn't name myself after the first White Sox team I was ever aware of like you did. I have been called a Ron Schueler lover, a KW stan, a Rick Hahn fanboi, and now that I have a Getz obsession. I'm a White Sox fan. I don't follow them to shorten my life by decades like you do. I just follow them. I don't try to make people feel like sh*t for being positive. That's malarkey. I'm not really aware of this type of fanhood. You like a team, so you attack everybody who thinks players on that team will do well? Even when they have track records of doing well? I thought you were factually based. Sounds like you are too emotional to follow this sport. I don't think you've ever done anything patiently.

Oh, I get it. You haven't been watching baseball for that long, so unless you can recognize names, like Ohtani, Messi, LeBron, or The Queen of England, you have no idea if they're good at baseball or not. Actually, Brebbia has faced live hitters yesterday, or today. The days blend together. I understand your philosophy. You don't think the White Sox will be competitive in the next few decades. Conversely, you don't think the White Sox should sign or keep any players who won't be on their next championship team. Since you don't think the Sox will be Champions in the next 40 years, and none of those players have been born yet, you think the white Sox should just put posters of drawings of baseball players in the field for the next 40 years. That's untenable. But you have the weirdest way of telling me I'm right and that you agree with me. Thanks.

Bullpen: CL Kopech; SU Brebbia; Leasure & Wilson; MR Banks; Hill; Swing: Garcia; Toussaint That's not a bad bullpen. And with Knebel, Leone, Barlow and Cousins waiting in the wings, that actually looks like a pretty shut down bullpen.

Maybe Eloy is the RH part of that platoon until then. In which case, they're DHing Mendick/Stassi on days they're facing a LHP. Besides that, Wynton Bernard and Yoelki Cespedes are the highest ranking, right-handed hitting outfielders in the system. Bernard has hit in AAA for Colorado and Toronto, and Fangraphs seems to like him as a CF. I wonder if Getz will be watching for more OFs on the waiver wire.

Dude rakes vs. LHP. I suppose they can absorb his glove against lefties. Opening day right-fielder?

So Grossman the 4th OF? Sheets has been hitting.

Dominic Two-fer-Two has finally woken up, and is showing his true 3-WAR self to the world.

If DeJong's still getting serious innings in September, Monty's a ways off.

I quickly looked at his stats, and he appeared to be a better fielder than Pillar, and a natural CF. However, his platoon stats are neutral, perhaps even slightly reverse, and I didn't really look at his contract status. I rescind my support.

I thought they usually include those on the schedule.

Okay, here's a waiver claim I could get behind.

Yeah, but Michael A. Taylor played for the Royals. Everybody here agrees that makes him the worst player to acquire. You don't even know whether Taylor wanted to come in to be the weak half of a platoon. You wait to sign guys who don't matter and are filler. If somebody cuts Jose Ureña at the end of spring training and you have space? Sure, stow him at AAA. If you think Chris Flexen is a guy you can refocus and get throwing ground balls again, no, you don't wait and hope. That's what an idiot would do. Getz obviously had guys he targeted. I don't like the Maldonado signing. I don't care when it happened. He's here. I'm not going to have a stroke every single day because of his signing. I'm not going to look for random reasons why the signing was bad. Is it bad? I don't know. I haven't been coaching or managing baseball teams my whole adult life. If he wants a steadying influence on the field, then go for it. I'm not going to pretend I know more than industry lifers because I bought a ball cap.

So it really doesn't matter whether he signed January 5th, or later. But signing Maldonado had nothing to do with signing any pitchers.

Martin Maldonado was signed January 5th. Chris Getz must have done a great job this off-season if you're down to arguing that he should have signed Maldonado a day later. Just because.

I thought I heard him say in a post-game interview that he threw about 80 pitches.

Where did you hear this?