caulfield12

The context is those teams were deemed to be successful ramp up seasons to playoff/World Series runs for two rebuilding organizations. Is it fair to compare this year’s White Sox team to them? KC won 86. Sox went 72-89. 79 is the midpoint and pretty much the midpoint of 75-81 win projections flying around recently for this year’s team. So 78, basically. Fegan was at 79, right? You’re willing to set that as your definition of success for the rebuild at this point?

So the 2013 Royals and 2019 White Sox are fair comparisons of where they SHOULD be after 3 1/3rd years of rebuilding?

2012 Ventura made value huge difference until crunch time with the more talented Tigers. Sox also had improved "morale/fighting spirit" under Sizemore. Not exactly Indiana football under Cignetti, but they can make a difference on the margins...

Now you've done it. Well, this should be an interesting response. If you in fact receive one. Kudos for the extra feelings/emotions thrown in at the end. Something between defenestration and evisceration is coming. If you want to go back to your political analogy, selling hope/change/optimism tends to be better received. It's basic human nature. Even liberals can read Atlas Shrugged and be halfway convinced. Unfortunately there's no John Galt fighting on behalf of the White Sox.

1) You need the pen to go from Bottom 3 to middle of the pack. Maybe you can get there, 75% of pens are going to be inconsistent/unpredictable from year to year. On paper, vets like Hicks Newcomb and Dominguez should be better than Leasure/Taylor. 2) Much better fielding. Where does that come from? Acuna over Robert is a net neutral, less Sosa on the field? Baldwin improvement? 3) Baserunning... 4) Execution/fundamentals The US men's hockey team "brotherhood" doesn't develop without success, which means finishing over .500 at the very least. But almost every single expert has said they won't compete until 2027/28. We can bring up 1977, 1983, 1990, 2000, 2008 comps until everyone is blue in the face...but eventually results will matter.

How many wins did you predict coming into 2025? For all intents and purposes, the only projected members (as of today) of the White Sox for 2028 are Colson, Teel/Quero (one of two) and maybe/likely/hopefully Braden/Antonacci and Bonemer. (Might as well throw Cholowsky/Lebron in there too.) The rest is totally up in the air. Even the assumption by a majority that Colson will hit 25-35 homers is a bit presumptuous at this point.

https://www.mlb.com/player/dustin-harris-687957 Unfortunately, Dustin Harris is more of a LFer as well. Which potentially leaves Tristan Peters to back up CF and RF depending on how long the Pereira injury lingers.

It doesn't matter, except for those pushing the optimistic 75-81 win scenario one season too early...

https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/article/mlb-26-and-under-power-rankings-nos-10-6-bobby-witt-jr-gunnar-henderson-and-nolan-mclean-lifting-their-teams-up-the-list-215723725.html 10) Tigers 9) Royals 😎 DBacks 7) Orioles 6) Mets Left to be ranked..... SAC/ATH/LV Seattle Pittsburgh Cincy Milwaukee

He's going to have to cover a lot of ground surrounded by Benintendi Hays and Baldwin (unless he makes a huge jump in his reads/routes).

Hays has just 66 games in RF the last three years. Pereira has the side/oblique issue. Really no choice but to play Baldwin. (No, Braden skipping a key year of development isn't one of the logical answers here.)

JR isn't suddenly going be cutting $10+ million checks, but HOU shouldn't be so cocky with an outfield comparable to CLE and KC at this point. That said, it's not like Benintendi is playable in RF, either. And one year ago Cam Smith was a strong RoY candidate in RF.

3 war season won't be at Charlotte. Might be -3. Hicks isn't a win unless 1) he pitches much better or 2 they can flip him for somebody who will contribute in 2028-30.

Brilliant if it was 4-5 years ago lol.

Kelenic seems lost so far...granted, it's early but with all the offseason talk you start looking for some type of evidence or verification of something clicking. Hard hit balls/ev rather than K's in key situations.

Loperfido/Z.Cole/Meyers projected OF with Alvarez DH and Cam Smith/Paredes fighting for playing time.

https://www.mlb.com/player/dustin-harris-687957 More AAA outfield depth...

Moncada expected to be a starter for the Angels. (Well, Moreno says fans don't care about winning.)

Not a subscriber....kind of the same situation with Baseball America. Even Fangraphs is starting to charge for some of their statistical info. Included more for Giolito situation...

Lodolo tough match up. Down on three consecutive pitches for Mune. 4/11 5 k's

Baserunning partly comes down to Acuna being an everyday player and getting 140 starts. And Baldwin has yet to show the consistent ability to utilize his speed, at least so far.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/02/mlb-mailbag-giolito-littell-kopech-white-sox-mets.html Kopech remains unsigned as well... Dodgers/Cards mentioned, Coulombe out there as well.

Cannon likely starts in AAA. Him or Burke, unless they cut Fedde before OD. Definitely is it for Acuna. And then you have Mead, too.

It explains the lack of offseason spending by everyone but Detroit quite well...

Also think Bill Mazeroski became the gold standard for this type of player making it. Without the 1960 WS game winning homer, he wouldn't have made it either. And Ozzie Smith was a playable offensive weapon for those mid to late 80s Cardinals' teams...just think that Belanger suffers from lack of This Week in Baseball highlights. I