caulfield12

They already have removed Logan Allen from the rotation and McKenzie is on the verge of getting pulled as well because he's not going long enough in games. That said, Civale has been really good. He's given up 3 to the Royals so far tonight, though. 3-3 tie.

Peralta is almost 2 years...pretty sure. They won't go 2+ right now, and they're not going to make a major trade until they know what the long-term prognosis for both Robert and Jimenez is. It's band-aids to get them through this season still afloat...like coming down the stretch in 2008 without Carlos Quentin, but still somehow hanging in there.

Can Eaton even walk or cover ground in RF without limping...? He's the next to go on the DL at this rate. We might actually be seeing Adolfo or Rutherford before soon.

But their offense is better than ours if they can fix the back end of the bullpen (Taylor Rogers will get first crack). Yeah, if Maeda is bad, but he's throwing a shutout tonight so far against a decent-hitting Rangers' club. I will bet anyone any amount of money the Twins will now make a major run at the White Sox...and it will happen in the next two months, not the second half. It's like we just directly injected their hearts with adrenaline or steroids.

He should run a hedge fund, lol. Guess it's better than listening to Buffet and Munger complain about Bitcoin and SPAC's and limited deal making in the financial news, at least Ray Ray can be interesting or provocative 50-75% of the time.

The Twins are only four games back...and can quickly make those back playing head to head against divisional opponents. Look at what happened the last two weeks of the 2020 season.

You're underestimating the impact on our outfield defense, covering for both Vaughn and Eaton. See 2006, Mackowiak vs. Anderson arguments.

There's just no way to know that...he's already set for life, financially. It all depends on his inner drive/ambition to be a transcendent baseball player, and especially get back on the field as quickly as possible to help out his teammates. That said, if the staff gets concerned about re-injuring by rushing him too quickly, they HAVE to shut down his entire season to save him from himself. There's a fine line. We can't afford more "double setbacks" like Burger or Engel more recently.

No major trades with Sox pitching will occur until at least late MAY, you can book it. Rodon needs to stay healthy for those two months and maintain his velocity and K rates. Same with Lynn. Lynn would be worth a ton to playoff contenders, so that's going to be the trickiest call of all. If the season is toast, I would see how much I would have to pay of Hendriks' contract to offload him as well. We can't afford that salary for closer if we're having to replace a player of Robert's caliber long-term. And Grandal/Keuchel/Abreu are obviously concerning as well.

Why not? Would rather try than simply give up. It would be history making, surely. Crochet is someone we can afford to lose more than Kopech/Cease at this point. We might want to send Reynaldo the other way as a reclamation project, but have a feeling he'll come in handy at some point this season...it's almost inevitable.

That's completely irrelevant right now, like so-called titles for winning the offseason.

Eloy doesn't have the arm for right... and yeah, roster wide, we have too many players without a good positional fit. I'd almost play Yermin in RF with Eloy DHing because of Mercedes' cannon. Would try to get Yermin in the best physical shape of his life, even if an intern has to stay with him 24 hours a day.

That all depends on which versions of Jimenez and Robert return... especially Luis.

I hear you. With Iowa, we get Jason Bohannon back and key transfers out to watch his kid play PG (while homegrown DJ Carton went to OSU and Marquette.) Kirk Ferentz boring and predictable offenses, with plenty of jailbreak screens mixed in with athletic department and program wide accusations of racism. If my dad didn’t go to Oklahoma, there would never be a shot at any national championship but wrestling in the major sports. Ever. Then the White Sox. The Dolphins for the last twenty years, pretty much gave up on them and adopted the Chiefs when I moved to KC. Still not the same feeling...more of a feeling happiness for those fans who suffered so long and what it meant to the city. NBA was Dr. J 76ers and then Bulls with Jordan, have hardly watched a full game since he retired. Maybe some of the most important NBA Finals games. I’m sure my friend who loves the Cubs will be trolling me today after how confidently the offseason started...and with the Cubs’ run slowly fading to black without enough pitching.

Minors threads will suddenly get a lot more attention again, that’s for sure. Especially analyzing Cespedes’ transition, although too much is already expected just due to the family name.

The amazing thing is that playing with such a nagging injury his entire professional career hasn’t held him back for more than a 10 game DL stint. So many real doctors were saying he was going to have to get surgery and be out the entire season. That said, it can certainly happen again, not sure if the shoulder harness underneath will 100% prevent it. Also, Robert was our future Mike Trout one month into 2020. Future...potential...sky unlimited. This is even more devastating than Kopech because a speed based player without that explosion loses some of his defensive advantage and baserunning. Then he’s just a classic swing and miss player with 30-40 homer potential, but the hips certainly won’t help his swing, either. Pitchers usually come back from at least one TJS, and you almost expected it with how he was trying to throw harder and harder back then, it was like an obsession. Now he’s a lot more mature and has some clarity on dialing it back to protect his future, but not sacrificing the competitiveness.

He might be up this season at the rate we’re going. Or Sheets. Alas, neither can or should play CF. This is where we needed to target Profar in the offseason, to have a jack of all trades/Swiss army knife you can competently cover any position with for longer term.

Barbaro Garbey? Garbage?

Had to go there, lol...polarization of the message board over the next year, begin. Eventually, we have to figure out as how much insurance money the club is receiving for Jimenez and especially Robert on the shelf most of the season. Usually, it’s 40-60%. There really should be no excuses for not taking on a player like Starling Marte, David Peralta, Gregory Polanco...from cash strapped trams out of contention. Otherwise, we will have “rebuild the rebuild” by dealing assets this year threads popping after every loss to divisional rivals when/if we haven’t done something to address the losses...discussions on Lynn, Hendriks, Rodon, even Abreu.

Or TLR and a front office not aligned with ownership...? Yermin, TA and Hendriks bring plenty of emotion.

Depends on your definition of Leury, Hamilton and/or Engel on the offensive front. Most of the hopes surround Engel, but hitting the ground running offensively after such a long layoff and being forced to contribute as something more than a complementary player will be a huge test.

Jeremy Lamb most definitely is not a solution...

My theory: he spent his offseason focusing on defense. Playing in the outfield at Coors is hard, and for all of Hilliard’s impressive stats in 2019, his defense was terrible. He committed two errors in 18 starts and Fangraphs’ Defensive Runs Above Average (DEF) metric had him at -2.2. Last season he committed zero errors on his way to a -0.1 DEF rating. Being a league average defender while patrolling centerfield in Denver is a major accomplishment. For all his troubles last year, Hilliard’s homers and defense lifted him to a 0.2 fWAR, good for 7th on the team. Hilliard’s drop-off was foreshadowed by a poor offensive showing in last year’s shortened spring training. MLB.com shows that he hit .184 with 14 strikeouts and two walks in 17 games. This year he is hitting .267 through 13 spring games with five walks and nine strikeouts. Interestingly, while his strikeout rate remains high, he is yet to demonstrate his power. Instead, Hilliard appears to be taking a contact-driven approach, with only a single extra-base hit (an RBI double) to his name. This could pay dividends. Last year, Hilliard’s BABIP was .281, a number that should rise drastically if his goal is to get on bases rather than round them all at once. https://www.purplerow.com/2021/3/17/22335131/colorado-rockies-news-sam-hilliard-disastrous-2020-future-desmond-dahl

That team had an unique style and certainly a defined system of success. Core of young or rising talent with veterans mixed in. Lots of high contact hitters who kept the line moving. Willingness to put team over individual numbers. Fundamentally solid. Dominant dominant bullpens and defense up the middle, and Gordon in LF. Then ruling over the last 2-3 innings with Dyson, Cain and Gore nearly unstoppable on the basepaths and three closers for the 7th-9th. What defines this White Sox team but talent/potential? What is their identity?

Leery about Leury...actually, he’s been our recent top clutch hitter, seemingly because he had the most opportunities and the law of averages kicking in.