WestEddy

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.

And "poking the bear" was a lot of just making a comment, like, "I'm liking this bullpen", and getting clobbered. Which, again, is expected. There are people who show up to mock every single statement and move, and jump on every person who isn't negative. You called me or my comment a train wreck. When I give it back, I'm "getting personal".

If you're going to quibble with the word "stars", fine. Then let's say that Getz came in, saddled with 5 veteran players, all of who could have been expected to hit like major league baseball players, as they have in the past. And all 5 either got injured early, s%*# the bed, or both. And if somebody wants to jump in and start arguing that no, none of those players should have been relied upon, then you're only making a more sympathetic argument than I did, as they came into the season with 5 dead bodies they had to roster.

Great analysis. Fletcher's more exposed in CF than in RF. That's why CF play is more valued than RF. Fletcher has positive numbers in RF, negative in CF. I didn't like the Maldonado signing, but I didn't beat the pulp of that dead horse into liquid. I sure hope Getz set a date of reconning, after which, Grifol's fired, Vaughn is optioned, Benintendi is benched, Maldonado is DFAed, and they move on to the next stage of drowning.

Well, not having a "wait and see" attitude didn't really change anything, either. So my choices were to start screaming back in December, or figure out what or whom to root for. You do what you want, and I'll do what I want. Nobody's stopping you. I get lots of advice, here, of what I'm supposed to be thinking and feeling about this team, and why I should be apoplectic about each individual move. If that's what you're calling a train wreck, I sure hope Joe Biden shows up and comforts everyone.

Looking at the individuals, Maldonado, Benintendi and Vaughn are the worst full-time offenders. Fletcher's over-matched in CF, while he's adequate in RF. DeJong and Lopez are the team leaders. While Sheets is in negative territory at 1B, he's way better than Vaughn.

I would. I'm a fan who tried to have a "wait and see" attitude towards the moves that no amount of my sarcasm directed at the FO would change or reverse, and now I'm the face of the franchise, here. Even when trying to just let it drop, people are tagging me to drag me into somebody's sad metaphor attempt. That's fine. I'm happy to mix it up as a diversion. I'm not "embarrassed" by this start, I don't hate total strangers for not playing baseball good enough to make me feel better about myself. Sure, I'll curse at the TV, and all. It is frustrating when you just want to see a commanding inning.

Pedro seems resigned to being fired, just says the things he does after every single loss, knowing he has a landing spot as a Royals scout, or something. Usually, just seeing that their horrendous play has gotten people fired is enough to jolt guys into a bit of an attitude change. I don't even blame the "saying something stupid" on him. There's nothing to say. The only logical thing for Grifol to be saying after every game is really, "Why am I here?" WhiteSoxDave from barstool interviewed Getz in ST, then did a full interview with the 108 guys. His distinct impression was that if Grifol couldn't get anything out of Moncada, Jimenez, Benintendi and Vaughn, he'd be gone. If we're making up metaphors, you can't really kick the pilot out of the plane until one of the passengers has read up on the instrument panel so that air traffic control could talk him through crashing the plane into an open field.