hogan873

I'm going to be cautiously optimistic. This should be a close, low scoring game, but something tells me it's going to spin out of control early...maybe in the 3rd inning, with one team blowing it open. Then the trailing team will score late and come up just short. Final score 8-6, somebody. Regardless, there will be much swearing and fist-shaking tonight.

Sox win the division with 90 wins. Twins and Guardians are close all season, but the Sox pull away at the end. They finally win a playoff series but lose to the Astros in the AL championship. Vaughn hits 30+ HRs. Eloy stays relatively healthy and hits 40+ HRs. Benintendi has a BA better than .300 and hits 10+ HRs. TA tears it up and has a career year. Moncada returns to form a bit. Bats .280, slugs 25+ HRs, and plays stellar defense. Cease, Giolito, and Lynn all pitch well. Kopech struggles early before settling down and pitches well down the stretch. Clevinger is hot and cold but is serviceable as a #5. Hendriks returns in mid-June.

With Alberto performing so well in spring training, you'd have to think he makes the team. And if that's the case, the Sox don't need Leury. At this point, the money owed to him doesn't matter. It's a sunk cost anyway. I'd love to see the Sox be ballsy and DFA him. Maybe he can be traded away with the Sox eating a big chuck of his salary. Seby is a certainty. For a fourth OF, I would think Hamilton might have the edge because of his defense and speed. I suppose Sheets might have the last spot, but it will be interesting to see what happens with Burger.

Leury Garcia For A Day - Play an inning in the field or go in as a pinch runner. Play poorly and be rewarded with $15 million. Swearing and Screaming Night With Lance Lynn - Fans get a chance to go toe-to-toe with Lance Lynn, yelling at each other Sprinting With Billy Hamilton - Fans can challenge Billy to suicide sprints in the outfield. First one to blow a hamstring loses. Eloy For a Day - Fans charge headlong into the outfield wall until they either knock themselves unconscious or tear a tit.

That's not good. Hopefully, for his sake, not a sign of another injury-prone year.

After being pessimistic and grumpy for far too long, I decided to be more hopeful. I was just getting too angry. I recognize that the team should be better constructed, but that's not on the players. I do feel pretty good about the 2023 team, knowing that a lot of stuff has to go right. But a s%*# ton of stuff went wrong last year, and they still ended up at .500.

Yeah, reading that article, it seems like the Sox did TLR a dis-service by not intervening and telling him he needed to step away and take care of himself.

It's more reasonable to believe the Sox will be better than last year than it is to predict a losing season. Key players were hurt for long periods of time, the team had a terrible manager, and more guys under-performed than over-performed. Moderate improvements in health and even slight returns to form for a couple key guys gets this team 4-5 more wins than last year. And the new coaching staff, and the resulting change in culture, won't hurt, either. They'll need some help to win the division, probably, with the balanced schedule. But the Sox should be able to take care of themselves. I would argue that the "woe is me as a Sox fan, we're gonna lose 85+ games" is a more kool-aid (poison kool-aid anyway) drinking view than being somewhat optimistic.

Sox 90-72 Twins 88-74 Guardians 87-75 Royals 75-87 Tigers 70-92 Sox stay healthy for the most part. They have streaks of great baseball and (luckily) shorter streaks of bad baseball. Sox, Twins, and Guardians are all in it all season, flip-flopping 1st, 2nd, and 3rd throughout the season. Hendriks come back in the second half. Just his presence boosts the team, and the Sox take over 1st place in early September and never look back.

So you're saying the Blue Jays might take him?

Zavala, Garcia (unfortunately), Sheets, and either Hamilton or Marisnick

Another team probably still would have offered Abreu more money than the Sox would have if none of the toxicity occurred (TLR was never hired), but Abreu could have still opted to stay with the Sox for less money. That's what really sucks about this. Jose would most likely still be a White Sox and would likely retire as a White Sox. The hiring of TLR was horrendous and absolutely ruined this team for two years. Grifol has a tall task ahead of him. So far I like what I'm seeing and hearing. Time will tell. But damn, it's so depressing how badly the TLR hire screwed this team.

Big improvement in game time so far. I like that it also holds the batter accountable. Too many times you see guys taking practice swings, adjusting their gloves, grabbing their crotch for 30 seconds or more. I'm sure the players will get used to it. Machado bragged that he'll have a lot of 0-1 counts before even stepping foot in the box, but the team will probably correct that attitude rather quickly.

It's refreshing to see a lot of positive news coming from spring training. The players seem engaged and happy. The coaches are working hard with them. Plenty of encouraging things so far. It's very frustrating to realize that two years of potential were wasted with TLR at the helm. Last year seemed to be rock bottom for sure, but I don't doubt that 2021 could have been a better year. Time will tell, but a new manager and coaching staff could (and should) have quite an impact with this team.

Yeah, certainly some hyperbole there. Just seems like the unhappy posters are the loudest.

SoxTalk: The Sox really need to add someone for 2B. Just someone so we don't have to rely on Romy or Sosa right away. Hell, even Harrison would have been a good option. *Sox sign a veteran middle infielder on a good deal* SoxTalk: Not like that! God this team sucks.

They weren't signed for stability and leadership, and everyone knows that.

Absolutely nothing wrong with this signing. At worst, it adds some depth in case TA goes down with an injury. At best, we get a guy similar to what we got last season and the 2B hole is filled. Getting the Andrus of last year for 500+ at-bats is highly unlikely, but the veteran presence, good glove, and added stability make this move solid.

It's hard to believe any player clicked with the previous regime. I'm looking forward to see how the new regime has an effect on this team.

I'm just tired of being frustrated about this team. So, I want to focus on rooting for the players. These guys don't have anything to do with a terrible owner and spineless GM. They're going to go out there and play their asses off, and I'm going to cheer them on. Once games start, even spring training games, it will be easier to do that. Right now, it's too easy to focus on the bad s%*#. I don't want to be angry and frustrated about how the team is constructed. I want to be angry and frustrated about the performance of the players. Just kidding...sort of. I just want baseball to start.

Eloy will probably tear his tit the first time he plays the outfield.

The Sox's hands are pretty much tied at this point. MLB hasn't done anything, and until they do, there's not much the Sox can do. On the off chance that he is cleared after the investigation, and if the Sox were to place him on leave or even release him, they'd be at risk for a lawsuit. That being said, this is a shitty situation for the Sox players. The guy will be there for camp and will we working out with everyone else. Everyone knows about the investigation, and I'm sure many players have their mind made up about Clevinger's guilt. I'm surprised MLB hasn't said anything. The investigation has been going on for quite a while. I certainly hope they make some sort of statement before opening day.

The past two seasons for sure beat the optimism out of many of us. I, for one, would feel better about the upcoming season had last season not been so bad. I'm trying to get past it and be excited about 2023. I do think we'll see better performances from most returning players, in part due to a better culture.

I don't doubt we'll see an improvement. I think it got pretty toxic toward the end with LaRussa. As fans, we're excited to see the difference. The players will hopefully respond to the new culture.

I think they'll be a little better. They ended up 81-81 last season, and a lot went wrong. They didn't do much to improve, but even some slight rebounds from a few guys add some wins.