JUSTgottaBELIEVE

Who penciled him as the opening day RF 4 months ago? I said he’d be up in early May and was told no way he’d be ready by then.

Ha, and everyone argued with me when I said 4 months ago Colas was going to be the starting RF in 2023 when many were advocating for a Conforto signing.

Remember when people thought the Sox overpaid at 3 years $50M? Three years later and people now think 3 years $60M is a good deal for Houston lol

More than any sport the mantra of just get in and anything can happen holds true in baseball.

My entire argument was based on (1) home field advantage isn’t that important in baseball and (2) baseball is a game of rhythm and routine, rest doesn’t benefit a player anywhere near a sport such as football.

I recall having a discussion with some here earlier this year and they were saying how big of an advantage it was to earn a top 2 seed under the new playoff format. And yet it appears we could very well only have just 1 of the top 2 seeds advance beyond the divisional round. So much for that big advantage…

Guess that’s what happens when you mortgage your future for the honor of selecting two “franchise” QBs within 4 years.

I couldn’t tell

Gausman would have fit in well. Just another playoff choker!

Yea…that’s why I wish Kelly was available this inning

Didn’t know that. Damn

I know the thought of Joe Kelly is scary but I’d go to him over Diekman with all these righties coming up.

End it Eloy

Is it???

See post above regarding Twins. Cleveland may have a good farm but it wouldn’t surprise me if they trade Bieber this offseason either. It’s always 1 step forward, 2 steps back for that penny pinching franchise in recent years. Detroit and LC won’t be a threat next year but should be more competitive in 2024/2025.

They may be active but I don’t see them improving much with the way their roster is currently structured and payroll limitations.

I don’t see the Twins or Guardians improving much this offseason and if all three bring basically the same team back, I think the Sox are heavy favorites especially if Tony is gone.

No. It’s easy. The White Sox make up ground by playing to their true potential just like they did last season and getting rid of Tony (.667 winning % without him this season.

I never said that. In fact, I said the exact opposite. This is who they are but there is no denying that they have been impacted by injury far greater than Cleveland and that is the 4 game difference between the two. No one can convince me Cleveland is the more talented team. They are the healthier team and better coached team yes.

There you go again giving other teams the benefit of the doubt over the Sox. If all three teams were equally impacted by injury, I would say it’s fair that all three teams are within a game or so of one another. It shows your clear bias when you automatically slot the Sox at third in that scenario. If anything. Cleveland is in third and Minnesota is in first by a game.

And probably even more important than the sheer number of days on IL is the value lost. Notice the Sox bubble is MUCH larger than Cleveland’s bubble. No one cares if Leury, Ruiz, and Keuchel are racking up IL time but when you have important players missing time it matters. I don’t think cleveland holds up if Bieber and JRam miss significant time regardless of their minor league depth.

But there appears to be very little correlation between that injury scatter plot and the average age of rosters you linked earlier. Mets are the oldest team in baseball but about average within the scatter plot. Yankees second oldest but one of the top 10 healthiest teams (even healthier than Cleveland). Nationals third oldest and third least healthiest. White Sox fourth oldest and middle of the pack. So where’s the correlation? My guess is there’s very little correlation in MLB unlike NFL and NBA because MLB is far less physically demanding compared to the other major sports. It’s less of a sprint and more of a marathon. Young dudes run sprints, old dudes run marathons.

I’m not saying they will be healthier next season. They are what they are. My original point was that Cleveland has been absurdly healthy and that’s the difference between the two teams to this point. Really that simple. Also, Tony vs Terry probably accounts for a 4-5 game swing on its own. Having someone like Cairo in place of Tony narrows that gap further.

It still doesn’t capture the players playing with more than just “normal” injuries that a lot of guys play through. I don’t think there’s another team in baseball that would keep running Robert out there over the past month when you see how much that wrist is impacting his play. I get the feeling Kopech, Kelly, Grandal, and Moncada should have spent more time on the IL than they actually did for most other teams as well because the organization was so damn desperate/stubborn. And I’m not sure there is a correlation between age and frequency of injuries for the White Sox at least. Their younger players are the ones that seem injured the most - Eloy, Robert, Moncada, Anderson, Kopech. These guys are all in their mid/upper 20s…

What players of significance have the Guardians lost due to injury? They gotta be the healthiest team in baseball this year. To say the Sox haven’t been hit hard by injuries is disingenuous. Guys like Robert, Moncada, Kopech, Lynn, and Grandal spent good portions of their seasons playing with nagging injures even if they weren’t on the IL at the time.