Greg Hibbard

Can’t wait to revisit the hot takes in this thread when this team is playing way different baseball in June.

I couldn’t disagree with this post more regarding some players. Jose Abreu bleeds White Sox colors and is always cited as an example of veteran leadership by everyone inside and outside of the organization. I think the success of TA and the White Sox are completely symbiotic and they are loyal to each other. Vaughn has played less than a season and he looks utterly legit as a hitter and has played his ass off at every position they have put him at. Lynn loves it here and frequently cited how much he’s thrilled he’s finally found a home. Despite the bullshit the Sox have put Giolito through in the off-season, I get the sense he still loves this team, its fans, and his teammates. I think there is absolutely a culture of this team and clubhouse and I think it’s a great one.

Some of you need to put this in perspective. Our record is not terrible despite the circumstances. I’m sorry, but 6-8 for less than 10% of the season is no big deal either way. The 2001 team, not nearly as talented as this one, but also coming off of a division title, started out 8-19. Royce Clayton hit about .100 for three months and David Wells was all but a complete bust. That team still finished 83-79. This team is extraordinarily talented on paper and has an unreal amount of injuries. The division is still very weak. I think I’ll be worried if we go 10 games under .500 over the first 60, but as for right now, I simply want everyone to get and stay healthy by June 1 (except Eloy who will be out til probably late June). As long as we stay within a few games of .500 while half our team is on the IL we should still coast to the division. Our only focus needs to be identifying needs to add at the deadline.

Eh, I think if the Sox are releasing a statement already with a preliminary estimate of 6-8 weeks I would assume it’s pretty accurate. There’s no reason for them to say anything unless they are reasonably sure.

I am really just not worried about this division. I think if the Sox play 10 games under their potential, they probably still easily win the division by 4 games with 86-88 wins. Worst case scenario is probably three teams bunched at 80-82 including the Sox til the end. They aren’t really playing close to well outside of the bullpen and Cease, and we are really, really injured with the top two starting pitchers out, with Moncada and Pollack, and Jimenez and Robert down. Somehow we are still somehow 6-6. I look at that as a miracle. Trying to see the positive moving forward, I am hoping La Russa is just using April as a time to see what players can do in different roles while managing injuries, and that he will settle on a basic lineup when everyone’s back. My hope is that the roster clarifies itself significantly by May 1. Please, please get everyone healthy by June 1. A completely healthy lineup and rotation in hot summer weather should crush the ball and destroy competition. I could see us having a 2000ish June at like 20-6.

I’m really not too worried yet. We still play in a weak division and are currently .500, and if everyone can get healthy, we will go on a tear at some point. The last four days have sucked but I would much rather all this happen now than have it happen in September.

If you wanted rest for the stars, pull them in inning 3 of game 1 and put them back in for game 2 and pound Guardian ass. It’s like we are managed by an absolute fucking moron

I’m so relieved that $100 million of our payroll gets to sit on the bench after they literally just had two scheduled days off

It is absolutely inexcusable to not use any of these stars on the bench late in this game in a pinch hit role for any starter comprising the almost entirely AAAA squad on the lineup card. This is your biggest division competition and every win is worth double.

Hahaha now I have that in my head

88-90. I still think they win the division by 10 games.

I get it, but I'm so tired of the payroll argument we make on this board to explain away the position of our ownership. Why not Sheets or Burger for an ace?

Honestly this discussion about Cueto devolving into who is replacing Rodon is just exhausting. Take Rodon’s 5 wins away from the club last year and we still win the division by 8 games. We also still lose the ALDS because we didn’t have a real right fielder at times, our aces Lynn and Gio got lit up, our lineup got owned, and our relievers got exposed for not being able to hold runners on whatsoever. Rodon at full May strength would not have won us that series. In 2022, even if Kopech pitches at just a serviceable level and we get anything out of Keuchel and Cueto, we still probably win the division by several games. That’s not the problem. The problem is the same things we faced in the postseason last year. We need to add an elite pitcher and a power LH bat at the deadline from teams dumping salary and stack this team with real players. This lineup needs to be downright scary with no question marks and we need to sort out three elite starters from a field of 8ish.

I love this move. Love it.

The Sox are probably a top 6 regular season team with their sheer talent. With their lack of depth, the trouble is that they are probably no higher than 3 in the AL and will face a much better 1 or 2 unless they add now or at the deadline.

This is all so dumb because this whole thing would have been avoided by getting a real right fielder to play right field this season. It didn’t have to be Conforto. It could be anyone. Anyone who naturally plays RF. How hard is it? You spend 183 million and you can’t spend 10% more to field one position adequately. I don’t really care if Vaughn didn’t play as much because he was splitting backup LF / backup 1B / Platoon DH. He could get more seasoning this year and be full time 1b next year. Now we have to wonder if he’s even going to play this year.

We are going to hear so much grinderball bs about Leury this year. I love him as a reserve, too, and as a clubhouse guy. He is just not quite a starter, especially on a squad that is supposed to be elite.

Just to play devils advocate, Kimbrel could be dealt at the deadline to an NL team for depth if he has decent numbers. I guess that’s a pretty big if, though.

People keep citing fWAR and comparing players like Leury to RPs. But honesty does fWAR account for high leverage situations accurately?

Just once I would like this team, who I have dedicated a lifetime of fandom to, to open the damned pocketbook and empty it out on the damned floor. I’ve certainly done it for them many times.

People who are rationalizing that this offense would be fine by committee and defense might be acceptable make good points, but my counterpoint is that Conforto, Sheets, and Vaughn are all insurance policies on one or two of them sucking, that another $25 or even $50 million a year or luxury tax or whatever is honestly just monopoly money to these billionaire owners, and 2022 and 2023 are THE YEARS the white Sox are best positioned to win the World Series. If WIN NOW ultimately means we spend more Monopoly money and Andrew Vaughn and Gavin Sheets need to ride the pine for a year so be it. Just get every asset you can for these next two years and LFG

Is the vax issue an issue with the Sox culturally? I’m not trying to turn this into a conversation about politics and science, I’m just curious if the Sox flat don’t want conforto specifically for that reason but will never actually say it publicly and ostensibly pretend to chase him like they did with Machado

Man that organization just has no idea what they are doing

Being results oriented with Tatis based on his track record with injuries feels icky and awful to me. The Hahn-Williams legacy with this was that they evaluated James Shields to be worth more than him. It doesn't matter whether Tatis never plays another ML game again, they should never be let off the hook for that. Never.

Grinder Ball 2022: Ozzie's Type of Guyzzz