Greg Hibbard

Regardless of today's eventual outcome, I'd say this was a good series for the White Sox.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 1, 2016 -> 12:56 PM) At a mark of 28-25, the White Sox are on a pace for 85.6 wins, or almost exactly where Soxtalk predicted them to be this year. That is despite and including the horrible streak of ball in the last few weeks of May. They are on pace for sure, but I believe most would say their schedule has been weighted towards having the toughest stretch early, no?

I think that it's really foolish to write off a season, necessarily, because of one really bad 19 game stretch, and here's why.... Last five WS teams' worst stretches: 2015 KC Royals - 8-16 (games 134-157) - .333 winning percentage 2015 New York Mets - 7-14 (games 53-73) - .333 winning percentage 2014 San Francisco Giants - 5-18 (games 65-87) - .218 winning percentage 2014 KC Royals - 9-18 (games 72-98) - .333 winning percentage 2013 Boston Red Sox - 2-9 (games 29-39) - .182 winning percentage - *this was one of the more consistent teams, but had multiple 6-8 and 4-10 stretches, as well. 2013 St. Louis Cardinals - 4-13 (games 100-116) - .235 winning percentage - this team still won 97 freaking games. 2012 San Francisco Giants - 6-10 (games 17-32) - .375 winning percentage 2012 Detroit Tigers - 20-30 (games 7-56) - .400 winning percentage !!!!!!! - still won 88 games and made it to the WS despite a horrible FIFTY game stretch in the beginning of the season. 2011 St. Louis Cardinals - 11-18 (including a 3-11 stretch - games 51-79) - .379 winning percentage 2011 Texas Rangers - 4-11 (games 22-36) - .266 winning percentage It's baseball, folks. Really, really good teams are going to have really, really bad stretches because of poor play, variance, the length of the season, injuries....and really, really mediocre teams are going to have super hot stretches, inexplicably. One does not have to go much further than the 2010 white sox who went 22-5 in one stretch to find evidence the other way. My main point is that the jury is WAY WAY WAY out on this season. I would ask everyone here to keep something in mind: we play 27 of our last 43 games at home, including a stretch of 20 out of 27 games. This team has shown the ability to get red hot. We have maybe the single best pitcher in the AL in Chris Sale, another top 5 AL starter in Quintana, a bona fide superstar in Abreu (albeit slumping) and Frazier and Lawrie are major additions. Robertson is a front line closer. We have enough big pieces, we need the medium sized ones and we have the purchasing power. If you were sunshine and rainbows about the start, and doom and gloom about the last 20 days, it's totally understandable. This team has been more jeckyl and hyde with two initial big stretches than any I can remember recently. However, I am enjoying the fact that we are three games over .500, having played more road games than home, and being over .500 in both splits. We have figured out we have a lot of issues to address, but mainly we need to add a designated hitter and at least one pitcher. We have money to spend and an aggressive team president who still does have a world series win on his resume, something that no one who has ever worked for the people across town in the past 100 years can boast. That will start to weigh heavier and heavier on them as expectations get loftier and loftier on the North Side. Watch and see. I know faith is hard to come by around here, but I wasn't surprised they came back and won it last night. This is, after all, the exact same team that seemingly couldn't find a way to lose just three and a half short weeks ago. I was happy. I am trying to temper my expectations and hoping others do too.

QUOTE (Baron @ May 29, 2016 -> 04:28 PM) He's part of it and the easiest to try to fix. Why dont people understand this yet? So who do you replace Robin with, tomorrow? "Anyone else" is not really an acceptable answer here. There is literally no reason to believe anyone outside of this organization could right these problems this week. The fact of the matter is that Ventura will be here all year because this organization is not prepared to make that change mid season.

Anyone know what our BABIP is over this recent bad stretch, compared to the 23-10 stretch? It's really tempting to throw this entire organization under the bus for the last couple of meltdowns, but prior to this week most of our losing streak was just getting beaten in many close games in a row. I think we have had some offensive woes and some really protracted bullpen issues, but mostly this losing streak was just getting beat by competitive teams. I thought the Yankees series was going to be tough, and Arlington is never a picnic. The Houston series was bad, but now we are just getting beaten by division foes of a similar caliber. It happens. It happens in ugly ways sometimes. The AL is an extremely even league (except the twins) and I could see 12-13 teams winning 77 or more games. Like it or not, we are going to be within 4-5 games of this division. All year. My advice: Chill out, relax and enjoy the fact that we still don't have to make up any ground to be in first. Sure glad we are having this streak in May and not August. Let's make some much needed moves, reshuffle and get back to it.

QUOTE (harkness @ May 28, 2016 -> 04:18 PM) Your a patient man... 4 years is a bit too long for me. Come on. I'm being patient for a 4-13 stretch.

QUOTE (harkness @ May 28, 2016 -> 03:40 PM) Have you seen the score lately? Why yes, I have. I'm still not completely panicking. This team needs to make some moves. As unsustainable as 23-10 was, 4-13 is also unsustainable.

QUOTE (harkness @ May 28, 2016 -> 01:55 PM) So weird that you would post this when we were winning... surely just a coincidence. Actually it was. I had not yet even seen the score.

Hey guys Maybe check out August 2005 for how bad of a 16 game stretch a World Series winner could have It's as if some of you have never watched baseball before. We are not even out of first yet, during a brutal stretch of our schedule. JFC guys

LOL at what this thread became, and LOL at "2 playoff appearances in 15 years." I guess we will just forget that one of those two won the world series, and that 2006 sported a 90 win team that finished in 3rd, and that there were a few other very near misses with 86-88 win teams. During the first 12 years of this front office, the Sox averaged 85 wins a season. The last three seasons have been the definition of retooling, largely due to LH power hitters named Adam crapping the major league bed in an unforeseen way.

There were a bunch of big positives to take away from a 2-4 week. 1) They were in all 6 games and could have won any of them. 2) I expected to lose 2/3 at Texas going in, and I think we had a tough luck loss with Q in New York. You're going to lose 2/3 on the road to mediocre teams on the road sometimes. I think 2-4 is fine. 3) Sale dominated as expected. 4) We are identifying the holes we need to shore up. We need another big bat, yes, but we also probably need a bit more depth in the bullpen 5) We got another servicable start from Gonzalez and he may be the fifth starter answer. 6) Todd F'n Frazier. 7) The rest of our division really sucks too right now. I'm hoping we win 6 out of 10 home games, and split the remaining road games. However, even if we go 1-5 in our last 6 road games in May, we finish the two toughest months of our schedule with an over .500 road record. And even if we go just 5-5 at home, and then 1-5 on the road, we finish April and May with a 30-24 record. That pace extrapolates to a 90 win season. I still think people look at the Cubs' cartoonish record across town and somehow expect the Sox to keep up with that. Remember, anything over .600 ball puts us in a position to win 95-100 games.

There's an intangible feeling about games. Some games "feel" like nail-biters, where you know neither team will really score runs and that a 1 run lead is safe forever, even when the game features two great offensive teams. Some games "feel" like anything can happen, and sometimes, they get out of hand in a lot of ways, early and then again late. Last night was just a wild, wild, wild game, chock full of offensive explosions and weird hiccups. There were so many unusual things that happened. I doubt we will see another game like that this season. To treat certain leads as if they "should" be categorically safe assumes that a 5 run lead in one game is just like another. I'm sorry, but a five run lead when the opposing team has 11 or 12 hits through 7 innings is NOTHING like a 5 run lead when your pitching staff is cruising. I never felt like that was over last night and was not surprised in the least when Texas scored seven. It was just that type of game.

A .617 winning percentage is a 100-win team. The White Sox currently have a .676 winning percentage. Yes, the sample size is small...but 20% of the season is pretty significant. Sure, the next few weeks feature a brutal schedule, but the last few weeks have been no cakewalk. This team has been living on the road and playing very well in stadiums that usually wreak havoc on the Sox, and/or beating or hanging with teams that are contenders or historically give us fits. Series wins at Oakland, Minnesota, Toronto....a split in Baltimore.... I think this team could go on a 5 game losing streak and I wouldn't really panic. They are so much fundamentally better, generally, than any team we've seen recently and the rest of the division has looked very beatable. I think it's easy to forget that losing 40% of your games, however you lose them, is par for the course for a great team in this sport, especially when sick teams like the Cubs and the Sox seemingly can't lose day-to-day. This is a strange, strange year so far. It's one bad loss guys. They've earned a pass on one bad loss. Let's see how they respond.

I was there last night. It was disappointing not to have the whole lower bowl jammed, but I agree that the people who were there were awesome. It was great to give the team standing O's on defensive plays. A lot of Red Sox fans running their mouths and being obnoxious. A lot of stupid Tom Brady bulls*** too. Some guy in my section with a "FREE BRADY" sign wouldn't stop being a boorish jackass pretty much all game.

I know he's hitting .220, but it's hard for me not to say Frazier. His defense, attitude, leadership and power have all been huge for the Sox. 1) Frazier 2) Sale 3) Latos

I'm gonna be there to welcome them home. Section 141 row 12. Let's do this.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ May 2, 2016 -> 11:16 AM) Would he ever do that? Ok, not a presser but a statement? I would figure that he might like to stop the teams from calling him if he has no actual interest in coming back. ...which is why I think the White Sox might be able to lure him in. They have $13 million of extra cash, nothing to lose but letting him get into shape on his own timetable, and he walks in as a savior to the franchise he had his storybook success with while they are in contention...call me crazy but I could see it.

So why not hold a press conference and just retire?

I realize this topic has probably been beaten to death here, but I can't find it. Google searching for news on Buehrle makes everything seem like crickets so far. Is he just holding out for a Cardinals offer, staying retired otherwise?

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Apr 21, 2016 -> 07:46 PM) Avi, Duke and Danks for a bag of balls. Yes.

A bunch of dudes with separate agendas and hiding s*** from the media. Doubletalk, backtalk, everything under the sun Great way to approach the last couple weeks of getting ready to play a team sport intensively for 6 months

JFC are the inmates really running the asylum? It's sad that I have to go back and cite that even Jerry "Gandhi" Manuel, of all people, nipped s*** like this in the bud

Here's the thing about this KW may have done the right thing, certainly it seems that way on paper. LaRoche may have done what he needed to do. The net result though is that the team is pissed off and the fans are screwed, and it seems to be a pattern with this organization. We lose a potential vital LH bat that we really need in the lineup, and the $13 million in savings does us as fans no good, necessarily. This has all the feeling of Baines getting his number retired and then getting traded. It has the feel of Frank Thomas leaving the organization, of Fisk with the sour taste in his mouth. And this team honestly wonders why they have a PR problem and problems getting asses in seats.

I can completely get behind this sentiment. 78 wins will be decided improvement over the 76 win campaign of last season I'm looking forward to eating at least a few hot dogs and taking a lap or two around the concourse a few times this season

I keep coming back to this - it's not about whether Robin should be fired for doing something wrong. It's that Robin is doing absolutely NOTHING of value in his current position. I can't come up with a reason why we wouldn't replace him.