caulfield12

Also depends on what the Royals and Twins try to do... Both teams have obvious starting pitching needs. The Twins also are dealing with back end bullpen problems as well. And both teams have pretty attractive (and deeper) minor league talent pools. The Twins have no choice but to get back in this with so many veterans like Cruz and Donaldson...and limited shelf life to trade Buxton/Berrios (for massive hauls) or simply get comp picks back. The Royals can sit back and bide their time, not really expected to compete this year. Their big additions will be from the minors. The White Sox have to approach this as a “playoffs are a necessity” season, an easy conclusion to reach.

So no team qualifies by this definition...perhaps the Red Sox come closest, but not quite.

Note that the Rays also have basically zero margin for error. Primary player (or two) goes down? Done. Manager makes a bad move to the bullpen in the playoffs? Done. Bad free agent signing? Done. The White Sox want to operate with the same margin for error with no demonstrated capacity for avoiding said errors. Posted by Trooper Galactus on Feb 26, 2021 | 3:46 PM Now the only counter-argument here is that the White Sox have a much larger margin for error because the Twins are spending even less (and likely losing Buxton and Berrios), the Indians now have the lowest payroll in baseball and will have to trade Jose Ramirez and Bieber, logically...the Tigers are the worst team in baseball and that just leaves the small-market Royals and Twins to fight it out with (and the possibility of a Wild Card beating up on Detroit.)

https://www.southsidesox.com/2021/2/26/22303207/white-sox-gm-rick-hahn-steps-in-it-again In an hour-long chat (one winces to imagine what was left on the cutting-room floor), Hahn essentially pulled a Reggie’s, defensively calling out White Sox fans (and their Twitter “hot takes”) for criticizing the terrible offseason the team has had. Hahn spoke specifically of attacks on the team’s (lack of) spending, listing several extremely inappropriate, and frankly tedious, future memes the GM will one day regret: The Tampa example (the Rays being two wins from a title as the tiniest of small-market teams means exactly ... what to the White Sox, who are richer, bigger-market — and more terrible at scouting, signing and trading — than Tampa?) “We’ve made a number of high-dollar commitments” (true, on the scale of, yes, the White Sox spent more than I did ... and you, too) If the White Sox had signed, say, Manny Machado, the money might not have been there to extend Luis Robert or Eloy Jiménez. (Seriously? The premise of this teardown on the cheap was locking up All-Star talent for pennies on the dollar, but, OK.) Yasmani Grandal — YASMANI GRANDAL, and his team record-setting four-year, $73 million deal, is cited as more proof of spending. The CHICAGO White Sox have never laid out more than $73 million in a single deal, and it’s being cited as reasons for critics to shut up. (You may recall our coverage of the Grandal signing was otherworldly-positive ... now just another thing Rick crapped on with this Athletic sitdown.) and, OF COURSE, the pandemic What really bothers me as a fan, and as writer, is Hahn’s assertion that “criticisms not based in reality bother me.” This is gaslighting, pure and simple. ..... Not even two years ago, during that odd circle-jerk with the NBC head-bobbers that was his “Reggie’s debacle,” Hahn inferred that a certain (presumably large) segment of White Sox fans wanted the rebuild to fail.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 182,874 wasted doses as of late March, three months into the country's effort to vaccinate the masses against the coronavirus. CVS was responsible for nearly half, and Walgreens was responsible for 21 percent, or nearly 128,500 wasted shots combined. CDC data suggest that the companies have wasted more doses than states, U.S. territories and federal agencies combined. Pfizer's vaccine, which in December was the first to be deployed and initially required storage at ultracold temperatures, made up nearly 60 percent of the tossed doses. https://www.yahoo.com/news/national-pharmacy-chains-wasted-hundreds-083110241.html

What AL team is going to help the White Sox? Needs to be an NL team, like us assuming Polanco’s deal with the Pirates, David Peralta, etc. Starling Marte would be another obvious one. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/11/2021-22-mlb-free-agents.html Good luck with this list...! Won’t be easy. At all.

Nearly 1.3 billion adults globally in 2020 said they would not get a Covid-19 vaccine if one were offered to them at no cost, according to a new Gallup poll released on Monday. The poll, which surveyed more than 300,000 people across 117 countries last year, showed that 68% of adults worldwide would get a vaccine if one were offered to them for free. Some 29% of those polled said they would opt out of vaccination, and another 3% said they did not know. That global average falls below the range required for a herd immunity to the novel coronavirus, which experts have estimated as falling between 70% and 85%. www.cnn.com

Not if it continues to flame across the world and the West hides behind patent rights over saving lives and stopping the pandemic cold.

Do we really have to bump the Eaton thread up now...or his decline a result of an injury? Or does injury align with conventional wisdom he couldn’t consistently stay in the lineup all season long?

Hard to tell, we keep shifting on a dime around here recently...depending on the daily results.

I think you mean Colome, Giolito and duct tape vs. Lynn/Rodon/Kopech and the best bullpen ever assembled in the history of the game.

Sure in 2005, we spent just $65 million. Other teams have managed similar feats. The Rays last year and sustained success for almost 15 years, Brewers advancing to NLCs, Royals in 2014-15, Indians in 2016, etc. Yet there is no fWAR/$$$ allocated trophy awarded...at this point. Do we operate like any of those franchises, and also have one of the best managers? The point (from earlier) is baseball is lacking in dynasties other than the Yankees of the distant past. Baseball is too random from year to year...compared to the NBA or Pats in the NFL, Saban at Bama, Auriemma at UConn.

Why are we so proud of having a mid-tier payroll when we were promised “unprecedented financial flexibility?” Do the Indians, A’s and Rays get more credits for winning “cost efficiently” from their fans, and those traditional top payroll teams less? We also 100% knew about the obstacles Vaughn faced from the beginning of last off season...they simply could have added Nelson Cruz for just one season had they chosen to do so.

Were the Red Sox a dynasty with the Yankees in the same division the past 17 years? The Dodgers have 8 divisions in a row but only one title (arguably could be two.) The Braves for 14 years and only one title? The Giants with three titles, or Cardinals? Astros, Royals or Cubs? That bar is extremely freakin high, like the Bulls and Warriors...

And punishes the fans as well...little kids who might not have another opportunity to see Yermin play in person,

And acquired four Cy Young vote getting pitchers within one calendar year from outside the organization while the best player they surrendered in return was arguably Luis Patino, Mejia or Ty France...

Not with the Dodgers spending $250 million. The Padres are at least one year away still from peak. They both made the playoffs last year, although SD advanced before running into the Dodgers’ buzzsaw. Similar lengths of time between playoff appearances. I guess if you mean 2005, the White Sox have that over 18-20 teams but the bloom falls off a World Series rose within 4-5 years of winning (2007/09/11). But overall, more willingness to trade from their minor league talent pool, tons more quality depth, a relaxed team that enjoys playing together more than the Sox under LaRussa and a payroll approximately $40 million higher.

But the talent level is actually higher there, the stuff from pitchers more dominant (just not the command/control part)!!! You’d think putting up pinball numbers in Charlotte would do more to breed confidence than playing in Birmingham.

It’s almost the anti-Greg stance of relentless albeit forced positivity, and at least VAFAN does the rigorous background research instead of repeating tired old mantras. But it’s so White Sox to believe we have a dynasty/juggernaut before we’ve actually really accomplished anything (other than 2005.)

The Twins are practically begging rivals to take off and run away...but we’re only 4 1/2 up on them, which can change in a single series or week when you’re playing your direct competitors head to head. Everyone now knows the White Sox injuries will provide all four teams a shot at this division...wide open now. May the best GM and most generous owner win.

And three NLCS appearances to boot... I think our standard will be 2-3 playoff appearances, one ALCS...everything goes exactly right and one World Series. After 2024, all bets are off with Anderson likely gone. This year we’re already behind the eight ball with injuries, Rodon and Lynn departing, and Abreu/Grandal/Keuchel/Hendriks aging before our eyes. So that just leaves three years to get everything accomplished. More like the Royals’ timeframe.

Like Phil Rogers writing about Curtis Granderson or Cliff Floyd.

Are we back in 1984 or something?

An acceptable reason that wasn’t accepted, brilliant...! Students would love it if I took that approach as a teacher, I’m sure.