nrockway

I'm still in the camp that firing Hahn/Williams earned enough good will to give Getz some time. There are young players on this team worth rooting for. The pitching situation seems genuinely good and a handful of position players could be mainstays for a long time. Chances are that I'm watching more minor league ball than the White Sox this year though. The "good will" is lost if they don't spend any money next year to improve the team. I expected a punt season and so it is. Even if the team on the field is worse than I thought it would be, I had no expectations except for individual players' progress. But there's no reason that next year should be and there are real opportunities to add useful non-superstar free agents at positions of need, unlike this past free agency cycle. My hope is that the money not spent this year will be spent next year and if that hope isn't realized, I'm probably in the same position as you "f*** all these guys, burn it down".

heads up play from Lenyn. I'm not sure that saving the run matters, it'll take until next week to make up that run differential.

yeah, that one guy is literally named "bum" and is making $6mil. looks like he's taking a step in the right direction though, his ERA is down to 5!

he dropped it

Banks had Fraley picked off too if Nicky felt like covering the bag.

I think my larger concern now is that we seem to be jettisoning players. I’m not asking you to add anything, getzy, just stop subtracting prospects!

I tend to agree and I thought he was throwing a change up a little bit but he's barely throwing it and it's been crushed when he has.

he throws a cutter to decent effect.

Is Joey Ortiz an old sock? The sock that never was? Well He looks pretty good. Will he sustain .928 OPS? Probably not but I thought he couldn't hit.

Totally agree, well said. Side note, I was trying to avoid the score so I could watch the replay (so why come to a white Sox forum? A mystery) but now I know I don’t have to subject myself to watching this team, you’ve saved my Friday evening!

I think this is the reality though and sort of what I'm judging Pedro on...this is a loser team (through no fault of his own) and we really do need to claw for every win (are we winning right now? I'm waiting to watch the replay). How well can Pedro hold onto leads with his bullpen decisions? Kopech helps because he can (and should) go two innings at a time without sacrificing stuff. Frankly, I don't see why he can't close out leads after the 6th inning two or three times a week, he's a starting pitcher and presumably prepared for the season like a starting pitcher. I guess baseball teams don't do this anymore, but why can't Kopech throw 90 to 100 innings out of the bullpen? I'm skeptical about Pedro's lineup/bullpen decisions because they seem formulaic and like a formula that the MLB moved past a long time ago but I can appreciate where his head is at, that he has the power to decide outcomes of certain games if he makes good managerial decisions.

Sounds like the sort of pointless statement that gets people to click on espn’s worthless articles

More good than bad so far imo. All you can do is grade him on his work and I think the team is better positioned than it was when he took over. What would someone like David Stearns or Alex Anthoupolos have done differently? Pulled Shohei Ohtani out of his hat? there have been a few head scratcher moves like Popeye and Mena but otherwise he seems fine. You can’t really make a proper judgement until we see what Thorpe, Iriarte and Zavala can do. I thought he could’ve gotten a better return similar to what Castillo netted the Reds but time will tell.

It's not conveniently forgotten that Sheets played, it's just not a stroke of managerial insight. He was obviously going to be the guy playing in this same role since well before the season began. This is what he did last year and nobody better came along to replace him. I've given credit where credit is due but this game's management was really bad from beginning to end. Putting Benintendi fifth is dumber than keeping TA first for so long last season. It's dumber because he was smart enough to realize Benintendi probably shouldn't be leading off but seemingly doesn't understand baseball well enough to realize maybe you shouldn't put the guy that can't hit in the slot where you expect the batter to drive in runs. As for the little league play, Sheets is out by a mile if Gimenez makes the right decision and throws home. I don't think major league teams are so bad that you can strategize around opponents' mental mistakes or bobbling bunts. Anyway, the point I'm responding to in the first place is why they don't score when runners are in scoring position and it starts with the manager not putting the team in a position for it to happen with his blunders. You can only do so much with this group of players, you're right, and he's not doing 'so much' or even 'much' with them.

I like how he says this but it's his own fault. Benintendi sucks so he promotes him to fifth in the lineup. Pedro thinks it's a demotion because "higher=better" but now a useless batter is in a position to hit when runners are actually in scoring position. How many did Benintendi strand today, 4 or 5 or more? Other odd lineup decisions that helped create this problem: pinch running for Vaughn then pinch hitting for Lee. not a terrible idea in a vacuum, except Lee is actually hitting and maybe there's someone else you'd pinch hit for (like Benintendi). The result is Pillar and Maldonado coming up to bat in extra innings and getting outs with runners in scoring position. Also odd: batting Sosa second and using him to sacrifice bunt. Many teams put their best hitters second in the lineup. If the manager thinks Sosa can't hit and is helping the team more by getting out on purpose, why is he batting second? I just watched the replay and this feels like a game that Pedro lost on his own.

he's got a beautiful swing. I'm impressed that a guy that big and strong has such an ability to crush high and inside pitches. I hope I was wrong about him and he's finally turned a corner, he has the tools to be a very good hitter. why do you have to build around your first baseman? that's seemingly the White Sox MO, but if you can have a first baseman making no money and hitting for .850-.900 OPS, I'd call that a good thing. first base and dh seem like the last two positions you should build around/devote real money to, but that's just me.

That really sucks. He was playing well, if he kept it up he'd probably get a pretty good contract next year. Time for an extended look at Sosa I guess, that's OK with me.

Crochet's value is probably still not super high considering the risk of injury and lack of track record. Pointless to trade him for now. Fedde probably has some value if he can keep this up for a while, I'd look to trade him and/or Kopech eventually for a middle infielder. I still like, in theory, a trade for Jonathan India. Their pitching is a little suspect and they have Marte, McLain, Arroyo ready to replace him. Kopech for India seems fair, Reds get a good closer who they can take a crack at turning back into a useful starter. Soroka is a guy who has more value to us than other teams I think. He's a free agent after this year and I don't think he's in a position like Lynn/Giolito to be traded for a prospect. I hope we can re-sign him for $10mil-ish AAV if he can prove to be a 4-4.5 ERA starter.

oh I guess it does say "when I was with the White Sox" I just can't read. I think it's annoying when players take shots at their former teams whether or not they're right so I guess I didn't want to be annoyed by Liam. He talks too much.

did Liam take less than he was worth? He got paid $13mil per 1 WAR he produced as a Sox, that feels like a pretty good return for him. Overpaying for relievers, including Hendricks, does not feel like a recipe for success and so I wonder why he would complain about being overpaid -- which leads me to believe other teams low-balled him. I'm just not sure who the Sox are scaring into taking less money unless he's talking about the international pipeline which I don't think he is, I think he's talking about free agency. Maybe Reinsdorf scared the bejesus out of Benintendi otherwise he was going to be paid 200 million dollars

Interesting remark that feels like it should be a shot at the White Sox, but they paid him $54mil the COVID year, so probably not.

on the other hand, the top of the order is actually worse than I figured it would be and stands to eventually even out. Like, Vaughn and Eloy are bad, but not .400 OPS bad. really need Oscar on the major league team, the worst possible outcome of his bat is still better than what 90% of this lineup can produce. even if this team is going to lose 120 games, I'd much rather watch Sosa and Colas and the like struggle rather than a bunch of bums who shouldn't be in the MLB anymore.

Oh I totally agree, my point is just that Pham is probably a better baseball player at 1/100th of the cost and I wanted to pile on Rick Hahn a little bit. Absolutely pointless to sign him, though maybe that hot head energy can breathe some life into the team. I'll take bat flippers over sad sacks.

I like this corner outfielder quick fix much more than the $75 million tin man.

I've talked a lot of trash about him in the past but he genuinely seems like a good dude who wants to succeed as a baseball player, so I wish him luck. He has the tools to be a good hitter and it's fun watching him crush high fastballs. I still think there's a good career ahead of him as a professional bricklayer if baseball doesn't work out, he definitely looks the part.