caulfield12

We love awarding $18 million contracts to veteran pitchers in their 30’s but NOT to Carlos Rodon in his 20’s. Idiots… That likely doesn’t happen without LaRussa’s involvement, either.

Here’s a better irony then. We traded Escobar for Francisco Liriano…the Twins then dealt Escobar for Jhoan Duran and he arguably will be one of the three biggest reasons the Twins end up ahead of the Sox ultimately. Not to mention the fact that we missed on our chances to trade for or sign Escobar last year because of an incorrect read on his quad injury…only to come up with the trade for Cesar Hernandez that screwed the Sox over. And we still don’t have a long-term solution at second base.

“a state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result” The day was billed as a celebration of the longevity of Jim Kaat’s career and how that perseverance led ultimately to the HoF. Lynn is pretty much the exact opposite, where he pretty much acknowledges that he doesn’t have a very healthy diet and yet makes no attempt to change his behaviors and yet is seemingly surprised by the dismal results. As someone noted, the worst thing the White Sox did was give him a guaranteed contract at that age. Guys like Keuchel and Lynn are or will be finding themselves without a job because they became complacent and started resting on their laurels instead of working twice as hard to remain at that top level. And Lance Lynn actually had the highest fWAR in the AL from 2019-2021 among qualified starters but is nothing like that same pitcher anymore. But now he looks like one of the worst pitchers in baseball.

Fwiw, Lynn wasn’t very good when he signed with the Twins in mid to late March, either. So this isn’t a total shocker. Restarting mid year is never easy unless you are in pretty top physical condition like a Luis Robert.

Have to really work hard to stay in this game past your mid-thirties anymore. Ironic that Lynn’s only about half the way to Kaat’s 25 years and might be nearing the end,

Slipped. Past tense.

All they had to do was dump Kimbrel and QO Rodon. Then no Pollock blocking Schwarber. That said, if you signed Schwarber in the offseason, it would have looked like you weren’t willing to trust in either Sheets or Jimenez. In the end, it would have been the best call, but it also would have forced Vaughn into a RF role, where he was even more ill-suited.

Well, Cease had never lost to the Tigers so all things come to an end eventually…?

https://www.healthline.com/health/treatments-for-dizziness You forgot to address Robert’s light-headeness…

Burger/Sosa, lol.

LF/RF/DH…well, at least we didn’t end up with a disappointing Castellanos season. There’s that. Basically in the Sheets role, but playing almost every day. Of course, they already were locked in with Jimenez and Pollock.

Wacha, Martin Perez, Tyler Anderson…one could assume they were never going to spend on Gausman. Andrew Heaney has been really good but hurt too much.

It’s a but crazy we couldn’t keep Rodon because we overinvested in Lynn and Keuchel, two pitchers on the decline phases of their careers. If you could pick any starter to go against the Twins on Sunday to keep the spread at just 3 games back, Rodon would be the choice of at least 60-75% of the board. The other votes would go to Cease and Cueto. And he’s really other than Cease the best choice for shutting down opposing offenses like the Yankees or Astros in the postseason as well.

And that’s on the farm system again. Either you add Escobar and play a Sosa/Rodriguez type for essentially the same amount of money…but Hahn spent even more money on getting even less production, and took valuable playing time away from a younger player who could have benefited, fit into the long(er) term plans and MORE likely produced better than Leury even in 2022. But Sosa and Rodriguez weren’t quite ready to replace even Mendick in the eyes of Hahn, KW and TLR. If we don’t go after Josh Bell, hopefully it’s a much better version of Leury in Ian Happ..although he obviously can’t play SS. Or Drury. But Leury’s continued presence on the roster continues to block even those moves.

Except we didn’t fill that Rodon/Lynn/Keuchel hole for at least six weeks with Cueto. RF? That was unaddressed, as Pollock inherited LF thankfully when Jimenez went out. RF has been a hodge podge of Engel, AV, Sheets, Pollock and Leury. LF has been bad because of Vaughn’s defense, Jimenez’s injury/defense and Pollock being barely above a replacement level player for way too much money for that rate of production. Josh Harrison has been much better recently but borderline terrible the first two months…to the point he was a mere week or two away from DFA status.

Also leading in GIDP’s, pretty sure…

Basically with no Eloy, Burger and Mendick you can do that. All three of the Central teams still have significant flaws. We should simply plan on not having Jimenez for the rest of the season and add Josh Bell to balance LH/RH, because it’s still hard to count on Sheets, Moncada or Grandal at this point. That said, it would be great if Grandal could out up at least a 700+ OPS for the remainder of the season, especially adding to the walks/OBP/pitch counts. Was looking at his numbers and saw he’d only scored 5-6 runs the entire season. That’s nuts for how much they are paying him. At any rate, then can then play Engel more if they’re getting increased offensive production from the other spots. (Of course, that still puts AV and Sheets in the OF far more than one would like.)

If you look at where Pollock and Harrison were last year…it definitely changes one’s perspective in grading. Pollock scares one even more being “stuck” on the roster for next season. On the plus side, Harrison being much much better the last 4-6 weeks than merely “terrible” or worst in the majors like Leury. At least for bWAR, he’s looking like at least a solid regular in this hitting depressed environment. Certainly a better fit than Madrigal or Cesar Hernandez for this particular team. Graveman and McGuire probably are at A- and C/C-. Then there’s the Leury Garcia extension (F/F-) and not offering a QO at least to Rodon. VV perhaps a C-, arguably Lambert and Martin weren’t ready to fill those spots the first 6-8 weeks as Keuchel transitioned off the roster.

Unless they’re satisfied with Banks and Sousa, they might need to add someone at the TDL…things from the RH side look solid for the first time in quite awhile, at least.

White Sox's Aaron Bummer: Not yet throwing off mound Rotowire JUL 7, 2022 Manager Tony La Russa said Thursday that Bummer(shoulder) isn't yet throwing off a mound, James Fegan of The Athletic reports. Bummer has been on the injured list since June 12 due to a left lat strain but has made slow progress in his recovery over the past month. He's unlikely to have a return timetable until he's able to progress in a throwing program.

And just two in the dreaded loss column.

just can't get Moncada back on track...

Interesting decision with Graveman at only 12 pitches. Could go Hendriks two tmrw instead. Now all the bullpen needs is Bummer back.

Light headedness ... some were saying vertigo but hopefully it gets fixed quickly with the proper medication.