35thstreetswarm

My son recently switched to a regular burger-only order at Portillo's. I thought he was nuts, but then I tried it -- that's a damn good burger.

I dunno, I know a few of them, and they still haven't gotten over the 2005 ALCS ?

I remember him. Pretty awful stats, but small sample size: I think it was just Dewon Day.

The Angels always seem to be "going for it." Their problem seems to be the "being good at baseball" part. I bet their message boards are fun during the offseasons, though.

#triggered

Thanks for your message board declaration, but I’ll stick with his actual measurable performance over the last couple seasons for now.

The Cubs dumped their best pitcher, are in absolute teardown mode, and have zero hope for anything but steeper decline on the horizon. The Sox are one of the hottest teams in the league, just added a top 5 in CY voting starter, and have two months to add more. The general mood and level of despondency on the teams’ respective message boards is roughly the same. “What a league.”

Yes, I’m sure the Twins feel great that a team that was already even with them last year (to be charitable to the Twins) added a top starter to its rotation while the Twins themselves have done nothing. ?

Keuchel has had a higher WAR than Snell three out of the last four years.

...also, isn't the original jumping-off point that the Padres just traded for Snell, and that Snell is a star? Why, because he won a Cy Young a couple years back? If so, then isn't Keuchel a star?

OK. But you're in a thread about the Padres trading for Snell and Darvish.

Resist the siren song of the "win the offseason" moves. They are always so tantalizing, and time and again they get fans and the baseball press gushing in January about the acquiring team's "aggressiveness." But it's almost uncanny how rarely they seem to work out as planned.

Give them a minute

Absolutely not. Likewise, if Nick Madrigal wins the MVP I still won't forgive him for being a bad baseball player.

You are, and it’s neither informed nor responsible. That’s the last I’ll say on this subject, which really has no place as a subject for “debate” on a White Sox message board.

Your willingness to speak with an air of authority on literally every topic is astounding.

One that is rapidly leaving you behind.

You were a Drake Laroche fan, were you? ? Say what you want, I'd run through a wall for that kid.

The "do anything for a shiny name" approach has a long history of backfiring across sports. And Snell isn't even that shiny a name.

I like this way of thinking about it, though I might expand Group B a bit. This team still has the potential to pull off a really good offseason that will make them a contending team, even if it's not the exact offseason I'd choose if it were up to me. The good news that I think some posters lose sight of is that the Sox are a really strong team on a steep upward trajectory, and all these arguments are about topics in the "good problems to have" category. For so long we were arguing over how to find pieces that, if all went perfectly, might magically fill gaping holes keeping us from being even a fringe playoff contender. Whatever happens this offseason I resolve to maintain a baseline level of excitement that matches the high quality of the team. This board, however, seems to have a level of gestalt misery that matches the dark days of Drake Laroche. I don't get that.

Sure - we could have signed every top-market free agent at every position of need during the very first weeks of the offseason. The Twins could have done that, too, as could any team. There's nothing uniquely "bad" about the Sox offseason so far that it should have rivals celebrating, especially since it's still incomplete. Let's just let things play out before we start calling the whole offseason a failure two weeks before Xmas.

Well, then every team should be happy with their rivals’ offseasons so far. It’s December 14, and nobody has done much of anything. Actually, the Twins are probably less happy than most, since the Sox have done more to upgrade than most.

“Spiders” is the easiest call in history. I would be jealous of that mascot name. And the branding possibilities are endless.

I would be thrilled and think the Sox would be too. Pretty sure they signed him in the hopes he could get back to 2019 form.

OK, if the point is that the Sox only made the playoffs because of the pandemic-shortened season, and would certainly have missed the playoffs in an alternate-universe season with a different number of games, different personnel, and a different set of rules, that's totally unknowable. If I'm guessing, I'd bet on a team that had a nearly .600 winning percentage in the shortened season with arguably their best player severely compromised by COVID, and rolling without their best young pitcher (who likely would have played in a "normal" season). But there's nothing here to "realize," just infinite room to speculate.