caulfield12

One team just made the World Series. The other is the winningest in MLB history. The White Sox, otoh, have lost 20 of their last 30...and are completely unproven against the best teams in the East and West of both leagues.

Agreed. They need to protect both Vaughn and in all likelihood Crochet after rushing them. Something is not quite right with either player...we can diagnose from the living room couch, but it needs to be addressed. The massive drop off from McCann to Collins has happened as pretty much everyone who looks at spring training realistically predicted. Engel with pressure to pick up the slack offensively doesn't work like Adam the complementary spare part/platoon guy. Sincere doubts whether Hahn can pull off the right move to get us to the end of July. Realistically, it’s 50% relying on the Twins or Indians to implode or suffer their own set of injuries, but that’s not the mindset of a real playoff contender with killer instincts.

https://www.mlb.com/news/clayton-kershaw-gem-mookie-betts-catch-lead-win-vs-padres?partnerId=zh-20210418-156906-MLB&qid=1026&bt_ee=tVOCqZvQOV5pDKmzycW7XjsfU2h5wx7%2FNE%2FIzTXcXtWfDysHPOPmwQV0DZSo7ADI&bt_ts=1618745916963 Two great games, but the Dodgers are simply coming up with that one key play in the biggest moments. The Padres still don’t quite believe they really can beat LA. Tatis has been terrible, and Pham hasn’t had a hit in days...when they almost tied it again for the third time in the bottom of the 8th or 9th over the span of two nights. HoF Kershaw getting a bases loaded walk against Darvish for the winning run pretty much sums it up about as well as the Betts catch. There’s not another team in baseball close to them IMO. The Padres won’t overtake LA until 2022-23.

The whole lineup, other than Eaton, Robert and Yermin is either underachieving or putting additional pressure on themselves. With Moncada, absolutely no clue what makes him tick, and exactly what’s going on in that head of his for the last 18 months.

You might as well add Rodon into the must overperform/stay healthy list in order for us to tread water while waiting for reinforcements. OR better hitting with RISP, bullpen, defense and managing.

They’ve got two years, if they don’t make it to the post-season this year. Really 1 1/2 from 2022 through midseason 2023 when they face the same decisions the Cubs are with Baez, Rizzo and Bryant. The difference is the Cubs are bottoming out after a window ending from 2015-2021. Those guys might have all peaked, and they devastated their future with trades and bad FA deals, but that’s as good as it gets unless you have the budget of the Dodgers, Yankees and Red Sox. The problem the White Sox is the timing, obviously. They can’t afford to go backwards, it will devastate the fanbase. It will be the equivalent of the Indians trading Lindor, or the Marlins trading Christian Yelich. Moncada has to perform like peak Bryant...and soon. Cease has to perform. Robert has to be a 4-5 fWAR CFer. Eloy has to come back as a 900ish OPS hitter. Otherwise, they’re miss timing the veterans with the first and second waves of talent. Their veterans will get old or depart (Lynn) before the second wave of youth is 100% ready (Kopech, Madrigal, Vaughn, Crochet). That’s the massive inherent risk right now. And they might have to start over with a new manager and a ticking clock to midseason of 2023, then another year later with TA. The only short term way to dig out it is spending more money/taking on additional salary obligations.

It looks like another version of the Samardzija deal, not that it would have worked out well for the Sox to have awarded him that final long term deal for around $100 million. We definitely helped the A’s make an extended run of post-season appearances with those 4 guys, though. https://theathletic.com/2006926/2020/08/19/why-dane-dunning-always-had-the-fortitude-to-make-his-white-sox-debut/ https://www.si.com/mlb/whitesox/features/deserving-dane-dunning-needs-to-be-third-starter-in-the-playoffs Halfway through Spring Training now, Dunning thinks repetition and executing pitches are the two biggest things he needs to work on. Dunning is likely to be a piggyback option for the Rangers, and less of a traditional starter, as he works his way up to throwing more innings. Manager Chris Woodward said one of the main points he communicated to Dunning was attacking the strike zone early in counts. “I know [Jose] Trevino was working with him in the dugout in between innings,” Woodward said. “I guess the last inning, he struck out the side and it was basically nine pitches or 10 pitches. So it was good to see him progress through the outing and still have a good one. To finish the way he did was very encouraging.” Kyle Gibson, the Rangers' 33-year-old starter, credits Dunning for his delivery and the tight spin he has on his breaking ball. He also praised Dunning for his preparation and his willingness to learn as a young player throughout Spring Training. Gibson said Dunning’s mindset is that he always knows what he wants to take to the mound in each outing. “He's obviously a well-thought-of prospect and a highly regarded guy to come in and make an impact soon,” Gibson said. “So for a guy to still be trying to work on his craft, and to get a little bit better in that position where he's pretty good. I think that shows a lot about him.” Dunning echoed those sentiments, saying he’s happy to be in a position to learn from players with a lot more experience than him. He said he’s picked the brains of various pitchers on the staff and even started using a water bag workout routine he learned from Gibson. “I’m just fortunate to be in the situation I am,” Dunning said. “Just being able to talk and be able to learn with the people who have had years of service time. Me, being a rookie and coming up, I'm trying to establish myself and be successful. I'm trying to surround myself with that environment. Being able to talk with every guy and learn simple things, I really love it.” https://www.mlb.com/news/dane-dunning-learning-from-rangers-veterans

10-20 in their last thirty games....need to go no worse than 2-3 on the rest of this brief road trip. 1-4 would cause lots of alarm bells to start ringing.

This sounds like 2013-2016...there’s certainly more depth of high potential guys, but they have to actually live up to their potential...with Moncada being the fulcrum. Meanwhile, Grandal, Keuchel, Abreu and Lynn are going to hit their declines soon or later. It’s a race against time. Meanwhile the Dodgers find guys like McKinstry, Will Smith, Taylor, Kiki, Muncy...on a yearly basis. It’s uncanny how they can evaluate so effectively. Walker Buehler selection, etc.

Have they announced the second starter tmrw yet? Giolito is supposed to face Eovaldi Monday at 9 a.m.

And the accidental Yermin addition...

I will take 40-50 homers per season, lol.

Yoda/Grodo?

Of course, Dane Dunning has a 0.69 ERA right now...

Covid after effects...? Somehow it hasn’t completely derailed Freddie Freeman, there were three days where he thought he was going to actually die.

They’re not going to trade Robert...at least it certainly won’t be Hahn or Williams.

Cubs’ fans at least had 3 straight NLCS, 2016, even 2018 and 2020 were. 5 postseasons in 6 years, depending on how you look at the 2018 debacle of an ending. We can’t even get past the Indians when they’re spending $80+ million less, lowest payroll in the majors by far.

They’ll talk to Jose and TA like they used to with Konerko, AJ, Dye and Thome back in the day and claim we have the horses to get us there with Eloy coming back...

Except crowing about Rodon...and how many first rounders were in that game, not counting TA, Burger, Fulmer and Crochet. Reds beat the Indians 3-2 in tenth.

Liam Hendriks is warming up why?

Collins has a 486 ops right now, yikes.

Vaughn got a quite generous single there...at .160, he’s automatically in the lineup tmrw. Well, I guess TLR will start everyone no matter what in a DHer.

They at least know how to make and especially spend money...not so great at choosing GM’s in the #metoo era, either.

Then you have the never burn high-leverage relievers in games you’re trailing axiom. Could just see that coming a mile a mile away with either Ruiz or Foster coming in.

If they are going to stick with TLR, the only way is if they gut the front office. Even that won’t pacify the fans for long. It will get really ugly...everyone is going to pick sides to assess blame.