WestEddy

Well, he's an Admin, and I understand that I can get salty. He's got to keep the site mostly free of flame wars, so that's fine.

I didn't use the word "unfair" at all. Yes, after the "what are you smoking" comment, I guess I ratcheted up a bit, and just gave it back. I'll calm down.

Of course. Breaking camp with Cease on the roster and a RF who looks like DeJong/Lopez could be called a 70 win team. But then they'll trade Cease, maybe Robert, allow Montgomery and/or Sosa to replace DeLopez, and fail a bit, trade any of Kopech/Soroka/Flexen that actually has any success, and then they'll tank. Or not.

I think you're exaggerating here. I haven't complained once that people are responding with reasons why optimism isn't justified. Unless accusing me of lying and being on drugs are actually reasoned arguments.

No, I guess the "not being honest" and "give me some of what you're smoking" comments just rubbed me the wrong way. And I don't even consider recognizing that 2024 could contain more wins than 2023 to be all that positive. My point is that NOT being negative gets one jumped on.

I hear ya on the frustration. I don't know if Mike Shirley is better than Hostetler at running a draft, but they just had a half dozen minor league hitters break out this last season in a way I don't remember seeing. And there's a good handful of pitchers that are actually being talked about for a change. I doubt they flip anybody beyond Soroka. I think the slogan for the 2024 season could be "For Christ's sake, Stop the Bleeding!!" I get that people are pissed that JR said he didn't want to rebuild, then Getz started swinging the sledge. Yes, it's a tear-down rebuild. I don't demand everybody feel good about that.

I don't disagree with anything you said. I said earlier that I stopped following the Bears because I got so tired of that level of constant disappointment. I'm not being very positive beyond finding Getz's approach interesting, and thinking they could finish 10 wins better with this team. The light at the end of the tunnel for me is that the whole front office finally seems to be on the same page. Baby steps.

I think that Bannister and Barfield don't have ties to the KC front office. It's become a joke how everybody tries to find if a new player even was on the Padres with an ex-Royal, then we all wail. I've posted a bunch about Getz's networking hires. That's where he was. That's who he knows. Deride away. I'm disappointed they didn't fire Grifol, too. Oh well. I've guessed it's probably a mulligan firing Getz is hanging onto if 2024 goes sideways, quick. I don't think I've expressed relief at Grandal leaving beyond saying the catching position delivered negative WAR last year. Grandal was the pin-up fantasy of the stat-heads. I just wanted someone to throw the ball back to the pitcher. Again, the craziest, out of leftfield things I've said are - they could win 70+ games, just with the changes they've made, and if a bunch of other positive things happen, they could get to the mid-70's in wins. Insane, I know. Be as negative as you want. Deride away. Nobody's asking anybody to cheer, or be positive. It's when people are actually offended by somebody not even being positive, just being less negative than everybody else that gets me to post my own whiny BS about it. I have justified my positions. So tell me I'm crazy. Ask me what I'm smoking. I don't care.

Oh, I know that. I actually do read through everyone's replies, because even the people I'm complaining about have really interesting things to say. It's just that the 11th comment that "Getz wasn't qualified for this position", or having it explained to me that nothing will change until Jerry Reinsdorf dies, and one of the many altruistic billionaires on the planet will buy the team and nurture their relationship as fans, and be nice to everybody, and spend all of their money on baseball players, and only then will the White Sox win every pennant going forward - gets old.

The team just fired a bunch of people that everybody has been screaming to be fired. They brought in a new pitching coordinator who has had success in another organization. They have made hires to the front office from outside the organization, which is what everybody has been screaming for. The GM has laid out a pretty clear plan for this off-season, and his moves sure look like they reflect that plan. The moves they're making aren't flashy. You have to squint to see the upside. It sure seems like they hired Bannister, and now they're picking up low-cost, fixer-upper dudes that can eat innings. Outside of Cease, Kopech and maybe Soroka, I don't expect them to be flipping any of these guys. If you think they're going to go trade for Manny Machado and sign Ohtani, then get angry when they don't, I don't know how to help you. I don't expect anybody to be all happy, shiny people about the White Sox. The constant bytch-fest isn't much more exciting than Oriole fans making the exact same wrong argument over and over and over. Do what you want, and I'm not demanding that people get more positive, it's just silly when being slightly positive gets one roundly accused of being a liar and a fool.

Who isn't being honest? Seriously, that's pretty rude to accuse people who won't mope like a bunch of children of "sticking their head in the sand". Yes, because I won't join the crowd and repeat the same 6 stupid, worn out, false jokes about Chris Getz, I am a sheep. LOL. I wouldn't call being interested in how a new approach is going to turn out being "super-positive". It gets tiresome when trying to be part of a discussion gets you accused of being insane and high. Nobody is predicting a world series win. The most "crazy" "out-there" thing I've said is that if a bunch of positive things happen, they could get within a half dozen wins of .500. You seem to get your fee-fees hurt if every single person on Earth isn't congratulating you on saying the same negative thing that everybody else is. I can't speak for poppy, but I don't expect a message board to not have the same whiney negative stuff that obvious losers who call into sports radio to complain about something that the last 17 callers said the exact same thing about a quarterback, using the exact same words provide. But I would expect to be able to say something on the positive end of a the spectrum of realistic outcomes to not be met with complete derision. Yes, I was goofing somewhat on the Chris Getz string out of boredom.

Well, I sure hope that Hahn and KW get it right this year. Tell me, if the White Sox suck so horribly, and there is no way they will ever deliver any bit of joy to their fans, why do you bother? I stopped being a Bears' fan years ago, because I was tired of being angry ALL year. Then I grew up. I don't spend my days on Bears' boards telling Bears' fans how stupid and high they are for talking about next year's draft, or whatnot. Seriously, if you don't think some retread a-hole can run into 15 homers and the Sox could surprise, I really don't understand why any of the glum crowd does this. To even pay attention to something you're so sure will bring you misery because a team owner is intent on ruining your summer, year after year is insane, and indicative of addictive behavior.

Well, why aren't you? People are predicting that the White Sox will set the record for most losses in a season. The record is 134.

Writers were making up mock trades for columns. I think Hahn even said afterwards that there was no movement on any front until he sat down with Epstein and said, "let's get a deal done". Epstein needed a pitcher, so he did.

Only if you teach us the process of opening your head and soaking your brain in horse tranquilizer. That seems to work quite well for you.

You're right. The White Sox will lose 140 games for the next 10 years, nobody from their farm system will ever become major leaguers, and it will only get worse from there. Boy is it great being a baseball fan. More negative pablum, please.

I think there has been signs of something changing. Sure, JR could derail everything by running Gene LaMont back out there to right another old "wrong", but it sure looks like Getz has a plan, where Hahn/KW didn't.

The 2024 team doesn't have to get better in 2025. That's what Colson Montgomery and crew are supposed to do. Chris Flexen isn't the long term answer. Neither is Nicky Lopez. And sure, they can blow through every pitcher they signed in the last 2 months by the end of May. But I think it will be interesting to see what Bannister and Katz can do with Soroka and Fedde. The whole point is to put a good defensive team out there. I believe that alone will make 2024's team better than 2023's. I also think the plan is to have competent place-holders that prospects have to beat out for those positions. I'm already breathlessly happy that we're not running Micah Johnsons or Jacob Mays out there and hyping the crap out of guys who will take 6 weeks to get their first major league hit, or play their first inning of gaffe free ball.

I'm going by B-R. Catching (I know that WAR isn't a good indicator for catchers), RF, 2B and SS were black holes for wins, last year, and a quick addition of the guys who got the most PAs at those positions looks like negative bWAR. I would expect Benintendi, Eloy and Vaughn to at least inch up towards their means this year, unless those are the players they are. Nobody's claiming they're going to win the next 3 world series. It's not "insane", or I'm not "high on crack" to state that the 2024 team can win more games than last year. Seriously, is there a rules of the site page here, where I should have read that being positive about a bad team is not allowed?

Again, please explain the joke to me. 72 wins is more than 61. Go nuts and throw another 5 wins through regression or not letting a Lance Lynn or Michael Kopech start 20 games to realize they suck, and now you're in the mid-70s. It's like the glum crowd is really a bunch of drama queens wanting to pretend they're victims because their team won't win this year. Everybody here wants the Sox to win 120 games and the World Series every year. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but they don't. So some of us choose to not just whine for 3 months about it.

You give me what you're shooting up with, first. It's almost like "the experts" here have no idea how bad this team was last year. If you replace [minus] 5 bWAR with 0 (zero) bWAR, that's an improvement. I guess it's fun to keep repeating that this team will lose 140 games next year. They won't. Instead of just posting laughing emojis and calling us stupid or high, please tell us how a zero WAR player who can field his position will make the team worse than a [minus] 2 WAR player who thought he was playing soccer when a ground ball came his way.

The team had negative WAR at 4 positions, and got less than a full win from 3 others. If they at least have a quicker hook for the horrible pitchers they throw out there, that could mitigate some damage (that is, if they're trying to put "W"s up on the board). Lynn and Kopech pretty much sucked all year. Maybe they stayed in the rotation, and Anderson stayed in the leadoff spot due to infighting in the front office. Who knows? If Chris Flexen or Soroka doesn't have it, I don't think it will take 20 starts to realize that, and somebody else will take their spots.

If they keep Cease and solve RF, I think this team could easily be better than last year's. You had negative WAR at 4 positions last year. Just putting replacement level players in RF, 2B, SS and C probably adds 5 wins. And just having options vs. Lynn/Kopech/Toussant/Scholtens adds a few more.

Thanks for this.