Greg Hibbard

I’m a little confused as to your comment “the way things are going”. I think TA and Eloy’s injury cost us some winnable games, and DFAing an absolutely listless Yonder was necessary so we could try a couple of new options in seasonal garbage time. However, I don’t buy in to the theory that injuries have become organizational and I certainly don’t think it’s some sort of referendum on the franchise direction. We are three major league bats short on a team that is already three major league bats short. We are also two major league starting arms short on a team that is already two arms short. Cease needs to develop at the ML level so there will be some hiccups. Losing games in exactly that way was always going to be part of it.

Yes, we've gone 4-13 in the last 17 and it hasn't been pretty. Yes, it is hard to watch teams like Minnesota and Oakland absolutely trounce us. Yes, it's worrisome to watch guys like Giolito and Cease struggle, sometimes mightily. However, I think we need to get a collective grip on what real swings of a baseball season are, even for competitive teams, because I think the board has taken a sharp dive towards unbearable lately with some of the sky-is-falling/rebuild has failed talk, especially in game threads. The very best teams struggle to win 60% of their games in no small part because even great playoff teams have 20 game stretches where they play like absolute garbage. I urge you to consider the following before condemning the entire front office, managerial staff, and organization for what's been going on recently: That currently, even with the terrifying bad stretch of baseball we've been playing, this team is still on pace to win about 73 games. How many wins did you have them down for at the beginning of the season? I had them down for about 74 and I considered that optimistic. That the following good teams have had the following awful stretches of baseball this year: Yankees: 4-8 games 2 through 13 of the season, and then 3-8 in early June. Red Sox: 6-13 through first 19 games of the season (are 12 over now) Minnesota: 12-16 stretch recently. Houston: lost 7 in a row and 9 of 11. Oakland: started the season 14-19 and are 12 over now. Those are currently the five best teams in the American League, and they've all had 2-3 week stretches where they have played WAY below their ability. Not because they suck, but because that's variance, that's baseball, and those are stretches. Yes, 4-13 is a different beast, but 4-13 for a team that is expected to win maybe 77 games at best is similar to 8-12 for a team that expects to win 90. I think what's also been lost in a lot of talk recently too is that I see little mention of people putting into context that we DFA'd our DH without an ML replacement, have been playing without TA for a while, and Eloy went down, and much more mention about how this is failing. We are in a bad stretch. At some point this season, this team will snap out of it and suddenly with 4 in a row or 7 of 8 and that won't make any sense either. Because that's baseball. I still think we are on track.

And yet the same haters will say if he gets hot that he only hits when it’s meaningless. He literally can’t win with some of our fans. It’s sickening that after all of his production he can’t even buy an ounce of equity with certain people.

Ron creating that thread means Jose can go yard here?

Wow. lost in the doom and gloom of the last two weeks is the legitimately major league looking bat of Adam Engel 4.0

I’m still a Gio fan. Bad starts are part of a great pitcher’s resume.

100% this.

Ricky looks like he couldn’t care less

The cops they are keystone make it stop

The at bat of Rondon’s life right there

“And AJ Reed is going to get pulled back (YES!!!) for pinch hitter... Jose Rondon (NOOOOO!!!!)”

Wow. Happy he got another shot. Would have sucked to have gone out like that.

Let's just say for a moment that Jose Abreu is at 80% of his career numbers for 3 years purely at DH. Even from a value perspective, isn't an .800+ OPS reliable DH enough? I know everyone is high on the prospects we have coming up, but it's not like Collins projects to necessarily be better than a slightly declined Jose. Vaughn also might need a year to settle in.

I'm not sure if you're really serious here, but the whole line of reasoning that Abreu is somehow resonsible for a losing culture just really sucks, though IMO, because Jose had zero to do with those teams underperforming. The 2016 team underperformed because of so many other things. That whole campaign was an utter disaster. I'm not sure where you think 2017 and 2018 should have been "performance-wise" for the team, given what they chose as the direction. It's also hard to think that Jose somehow "underperformed" in 2014 when he won ROTY. So what does that leave us? 2015 where he had a slash line almost exactly in line with his career numbers? It makes me sort of angry that the only guy we have been able to truly count on for possibly one of the worst 6 year stretches in franchise history is held to this completely unreasonable standard that no one else ever is.

I still wonder how many of the same people who are leery of an Abreu extension were probably crying for the team to extend Paulie for three years at two years older in 2010 for the same money. And no, Konerko didn't win the World Series by himself. Also, just because Reinsdorf make us feel like there are choices to be made about where the money goes doesn't mean there actually is. Pay the man $30-$35 million and let's just have him be a career white sox. There's even a chance he produces roughly the same over the next three years as a DH and we end up with #79 being retired by the team. If he doesn't produce, we just let him go. It's really not that hard.

I did some more digging and Abreu does hit slightly worse as a DH for his career, but it's .843 vs. .870 OPS.

Ok, here's something interesting that's to consider: as 1b Jose is .292/.318/.547/.865 (64 games) as DH Jose is .231/.311/.436/.747 (22 games) Is there something to that or do we think sample size is at work?

His OPS and OPS+ are basically right in line with his career numbers.

haha true. let me dream tho

27.3% K rate. less than 24% since June 1 (1.1+ OPS since that time). BABIP is a bit up compared to his average, but he's been so fricking hot how could it not be? Top 5 MVP candidate and he could win it.

If the general consensus is that this team was going to win somewhere between 69 and 79 games and not compete for a playoff spot, then I don't honestly understand why either the Santana move or the Nova move is troubling. They're just blank major league players to fill a roster spot while guys are getting ready in the minors and/or rehabbing. I think people also don't keep in mind that the original plan included a healthy Michael Kopech, but that lone injury set us back a year. Add Dane Dunning to that, who was tearing up the minor leagues, and there were just very few guys who were available as proven major league caliber starters on a short term deal that allowed for our eventual rotation to take shape without medium / long term salary being eaten.

I am enjoying Livin La Vida Nova today

Dude, he has 550 or so professional at bats. He has done well, but 200 or so more professional at bats in the minors won’t kill him, and I would much rather have a 5-tool CF at the age of 28 hitting his peak as a major league player, potentially delivering a 6 WAR year in a season the Sox will be assuredly competitive than a couple of months of him figuring it out to satisfy your impatience.

Popular teams like the Yankees, Cubs, and Red Sox get “popularly good” but not necessarily totally deserving all star selections all the time. Their fans revel in it as a chance to throw their weight around. Meanwhile, a portion of our fans hate on Abreu for receiving the same treatment. I’m proud that one of our players has the reputation of being an all star even if the advanced metrics aren’t totally there. Good for him and good for us.

Wow.