Balta1701

Except for the part where someone other than Hahn made the decision on Joe Kelly.

Not all of them, no. LAA and Boston, yes.

The legacy of where that name came from is also pretty racist too.

I looked through their projections and they're a little worse than last year, but that's because they expect a down year from basically everyone in their rotation except Bieber. Plesac, McKenzie, Civale all were better in 2020 or before than they were in 2021, but the projections are weighting them at their 2021 performance or worse. They also really don't like Cal Quantrill and project him to be way worse than the last 2 years, I don't know enough about him to say why but ERA last year of 3, FIP of 4, and the projections are dropping his ERA in at 4.5?

Just curious what makes you think Cleveland will be significantly worse than last year? Who did they lose that will hurt them?

And get the #3 seed as opposed to the #2 seed. Again.

Charles Comiskey was such an jerk to his players that several of them threw a World Series.

Turning the same point around, how many of those wins against Cleveland were without Bieber and others in their rotation who got hurt? For reference, they were 44-32 against the Central last year, so your prediction means they’ll be one game better this year.

You have called the Guardians the wrong name at least 3 times in 24 hours.

No. If the Padres decide to pay for this player, the White Sox could not match it without moving guys they would not move.

First, yes this is a philosophy class. Second, as pointed out, the White Sox absolutely can win a playoff series because any team that gets to the playoffs can win one. Third, the question asks me to make a prediction 6 months in advance without knowing the health status of either team or the opponent, all I know is both are playoff teams. Under this situation the White Sox have one clear disadvantage, they will be outcoached. Their manager will consistently put them in bad spots. We know this because we saw it last year. So, 6 months in advance if you are asking me to gauge what is the best bet, will the White Sox win or lose a playoff series, I will make my vote based on that piece of information and say the odds are they’re one and out. They could easily be a 95 win team against a banged up 85 win team Angels that won a wild card round but had Trout get hurt in game 3, and in that case I’d bet the opposite, but I can’t predict that in advance. Fourth, I can still enjoy the games, but knowing the coaching staff is such a large issue does in fact suck. But I have confidence that the manager will make it known that I’m not really a fan of the team, since he gets to decide those things, so I guess that evens it out.

The poll says will they. Not can they.

The White Sox are absolutely a top 6 team on paper and the best team in the AL central on paper. The White Sox also could have used this offseason to make themselves a top 2 team on paper, and did not do so by their own choices. The idea that no one is allowed to be annoyed or complain about the second point because the first is true is a stretch. The idea that any complaints about the second point means that people think they are a bottom ten team is the type of straw man people reach for when they have run out of realistic ways to defend the set of decisions the team made.

I would like to see evidence of someone saying anything remotely like this if you go back to the late 90s. The White Sox were among the top 10 winningest franchises of the 00’s if I recall correctly, with three playoff appearances and a title to their credit. They were one of the worst performing franchises of the 10s any way you slice it- the Pirates have 1 more win than them since 2010, and have probably spent 40% less money. That stat will probably be false after game 3 of this season at least, possibly earlier.

So let’s see, 30 teams, 24 years, one World Series? Yeah, they wouldn’t be the worst? Why would we think they would have been?

It's insane enough that it made a Caulfield paragraph totally on point and accurate.

Like it or not, a bench of "Engel, Leury/Romy, unknown possible human being, and backup catcher" has a hole that needs filled, and with his lack of ability to play key defensive positions like SS or OF, Burger isn't a good candidate for that role over a whole season, so there's no one obvious in the org who can do it. A bench of "Leury, Romy, Engel because we brought in a starting 2b" would also have worked fine.

A bench that is Romy, Harrison, Engel, catcher is a decent bench. Especially since Romy can be optioned in a pinch if you need an extra catcher or OF or pitcher.

Someone should note that 4/5 of the teams you mentioned are over the tax.

Gotcha. Manaea and a backup catcher for Montgomery.

The Twins sent along their first round pick from last year, spot #26, and a filler piece. I think Gray is a little more expensive, but does have an option. So if you treated Gray and Manaea comparably (Both were 3-rWAR pitchers last year), that's Colson Montgomery for Manaea straight up.

See the "Waiver options" line here: https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/chicago-white-sox/payroll/

At the trade deadline last year, the Blue Jays gave up Austin Martin and Simeon Woods Richardson for a couple months of Jose Berrios. Those 2 guys are now the #1 and #10 prospects in the Twins's system on the Fangraphs list, so that was some real value for 2 months of a 3 WAR pitcher somewhat comparable to Manaea.