caulfield12

NEXT season if their starting pitching holds up and they can quickly repair the bullpen. Shaw might be #2 with Karinchak sidelined. And now all of the AL Central teams have given out bigger contracts than the White Sox. Finally, they might have dodged a bullet giving a massive contract to Lindor, which instead goes to Ramirez, Bieber, Clase and perhaps Rosario. Better allocation of limited resources, by far.

Now Bieber has to be the next extension target, as well as Rosario. They already extended Clase this past week. I theorized about going in the direction of a total teardown last week, but then the direction of the division shifted in the last couple of weeks. They suddenly become the most interesting team in the division if they can keep Bieber because they actually have the deepest farm system vs. 2-3 headliners like Detroit and KC. They’ve currently got eight to ten players in their system who could end up as starting 2B or SS in the majors if one already includes Rosario and Gimenez. They continue to murder the White Sox in Latin America despite inherent budget restrictions. projections for 2023-24 starters Bo Naylor catcher Josh Naylor 1B/DH/OF injured Brayan Rocchio/Tyler Freeman/Owen Miller 2B Gabriel Arias/Carson Tucker/Aaron Bracho SS Jose Tena/Angel Martinez (utility) Jose Ramirez 3B OF George Valera, Nolan Jones (can also play 3B), Ahmed Rosario  Quantrill, McKenzie, Daniel Espino, Gavin Williams, Ethan Hankins, Logan Allen, Tanner Burns Clase The Indians have a TON of infield prospects already (their #9 and #10 prospects are also infielders). Their biggest current and future weaknesses are the outfield and catching spots. https://www.mlb.com/prospects/guardians/

Probably because other teams had more eventful offseasons. I have written a lot about the Twins and Guardians as well. (And now we will talk about them a lot more today in light of the Ramirez extension...which might not have happened had we buried the rest of the division this offseason.)

We're going to be quite fortunate to have ONE elite starter at the rate we're going. But who knows, maybe a fresh-armed Lynn will end up being a blessing in disguise. And still not seeing an easy path towards acquiring an ACE at the trade deadline due to our payroll and dearth of minor league impact talent.

Not only that, but Kopech missed so much time in the trenches the last 2-3 seasons while Cease was battling his behind off to become a better pitcher. We are expecting far too much out of Kopech this season IMO.

All of the pitchers but Tepera sucked... pretty much. Giolito wasn't his usual self either, compared to his A's playoff start. Unsurprising, though, when you compare the A's and Astros lineups 1-9.

Same argument that was made this offseason consistently. Until Kopech puts up a 200+ strikeout season and finishes Top 10-15 in fWAR, he will always be perceived as more potential and ceiling than reality. We don't have any reason to say he's a better pitcher because that requires at least three pitches for 90% of starters. Kopech relied on just two, so, the off speed stuff will be the key test, and reliably getting hitters to bite. Rodon always had that slider to go to, the question is how will Kopech fare when he's behind in counts and a 97+ mph fastball will get whistled past his head at 103. That continual evolution from thrower to pitcher that Cease is working through as well.

It was Kopech relatively recently... don't believe Rodon ever had it.

We do know that Keuchel should be more motivated, with an opportunity to hit his innings incentives and guarantee another $18 million salary for next season.

Even the ever-positive Sox fans were somewhat sceptical about Kopech being one of five dark horse Cy Young candidates... clearly favoring Cease for that honor. I suppose their argument is more about that All-Star version of Rodon being unavailable in the postseason, but there are no guarantees Kopech will still retain his early summer stuff in September, either. Not until he actually goes out and DOES it once.

We should be more supportive of Burr and Ruiz. If we believe in them, collectively, they will start to believe in themselves even more.

"Don’t give up on your dreams, or your dreams will give up on you.” "Perennials are flowers that eventually fade, while division championships are memories that will remain with us for a lifetime."

“Success is never final, failure is never fatal, and it’s courage that counts.”

Well, we have had different variations of this same argument for the past 10-15 years. The White Sox (like 75-80% of fellow professional sports franchises) tend to be a "doubting Thomas" fan base where the team's expected to win something before the fans will "prove/validate" their support by spending on the product. KW has likewise tried to cajole the fans into spending with his famous you can't spend a dollar when you only have 50 or 75 cents. The White Sox and JR are cheap! The White Sox and JR aren't cheap anymore, they're just not allocating their resources efficiently or prioritizing the rights areas to spend. You guys should actually have someone from the Sox (Boyer/Reifert/Merkin) do an interview with ST and see what insights they could provide about this phenomenon. Let all of the SoxTalk members submit questions without censoring them, but pick five "difficult/probing/annoying" ones and five "puff/PR" sounding questions so there's a balance. You can even give them permission to look at how their answers come off in black and white before "publishing" online. Maybe something positive would come out of it. Ask how ST could be used as a vehicle to better promote/market the White Sox...? How you can collaborate with them more directly, so to speak, without becoming "corporate shills" and still maintaining independence/objectivity? Clearly, complaining about the fan base, denigrating their support or directly calling them out (naming and shaming) are not successful PR strategies. The Blackout Games from 2008 and from last year's Game 2 against the Astros prove that Sox fans would love to get behind a winning team.

Quantrill and McKenzie can run it up into the mid 90s. It's probably better to have that balance across the rotation, because the White Sox traditionally have feasted on pure stuff guys and had fits with Bieber, Plesac and the infamous Cy Civale. Espino promises to be more of a raw stuff guy as well.

If they had won a playoff series the last couple of seasons, you would have seen a huge uptick in interest. And a better off season, too. Compare to the Cubs starting out their contention window with three consecutive NLCS, 2016 World Series, etc., it certainly goes both ways. The Sox are a bit unrealistic expecting fans to spend before they have won anything. That's just the nature of professional (compared to NCAA) sports fanbases, except for the very best who consistently turn out in huge numbers no matter what. Winning is always reflected in the next season's attendance, like the 2006-2010 time period for the Sox. For a World Series title, you traditionally had a five year bump. Right now, we're in a similar situation to the Twins and Indians post-2016, where they would make the playoffs but the fans didn't really have much confidence that they had the teams to advance past the big boys (especially Minny with the Yankees.)

The White Sox clearly would rather play Perez regularly and try to achieve any offensive improvements... as they're happy with everything on the defensive side. Basically, a 650-675 ops guy as a hitter would be the limits to their expectations.

Definitely have to go Will Smith #1. The Dodgers should know, they had both. Based on last year's full season, you would get arguments between Grandal and Sal Perez. Depends if you prefer the walls or homers.

It ranks up there with Ron ban bets and anti Abreu rhetoric, TA7 to catcher, Greg775 rants about concessions prices, numerous houses lost in bets, Lilian and left handed hitters, Balta/Ray Ray against the world and Applebees/Lawrence shared beers with Ozzie Guillen. Fathom's Cubs obsession until 2016/2017. VaFan eternal optimism.

Sure, 70000 posts about the Padres.

Now we are to the point of almost wishing injuries for Rodon (and Madrigal it seems) to prove a point? The better they do, shouldn't that partially be a reflection on the organization? If they all get hurt, why would other teams in the future want to trade for Sox players/prospects? Do you really believe the Giants are so dumb as to be easily fooled by Scott Boras PR stunts?

The Giants would certainly argue otherwise. You can't make emotional decisions about guys like Rodon, Madrigal and Vaughn simply in response to fan sentiment. The White Sox need to be knowledgeable about which players can be asked to do what...

You can do that if they actually pull off the trade for Jose Ramirez (which would actually be celebrated, but then impact the Sox 3-4 years down the line again.)

No, it reminds me too much of a Roller Derby team or the Marvel movie...so I'm holding out and refusing to use it.

If someone else is going to bring it up first, would it be better to make no comment? It's kind of fun to play along with the GM's and anticipate what they are thinking, and God knows the White Sox are unlikely to pull off any blockbuster trades for the next couple of seasons. As a fantasy team owner, I also have to know everything possible about both leagues.