caulfield12

From mlb.com White Sox: Tony La Russa may have a learning curve La Russa is a Hall of Famer, and this may all work out. But his first series showed some rust, from a misunderstanding of a new rule about how much time he had to challenge a call to intentionally walking Albert Pujols like it’s 2011. It is not 2011.

https://www.startribune.com/luis-arraez-has-been-learning-from-the-best-and-it-shows/600042225/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=twins Patterning his offensive approach off Rod Carew. Thome’s great for the Sox, but we obviously need a different approach with Leury, Engel, Madrigal and Hamilton.

Didn’t the A’s get swept? Apparently, a better strategy should have been selected.

We haven’t proven we are a real playoff caliber team yet...neither have the Twins, for that matter. Over a full season of play outside the Central, we’ll have a much better gauge of how close they really are to being the second best team in the AL.

But the super-utility players that bring a combination of plus offense and defense at 3-5 positions can make a massive difference. Someone like Profar, paid like a regular, around $7 million per season, for example who’s equally comfortable in the OF and infield and could play everyday for long stretches and not be platooned. Chris Taylor, Kike Rodriguez, Jake Cronenworth, Whit Merrifield, etc.

Then you better be optimistic the Tigers and Royals’ improvement will be offset by the Indians taking a major step backwards.

This feels too desperate for our results against a team we were supposed to be better than entering the season. We can make excuses or we can be accountable for results.

There were a number of utility players out there the White Sox passed on for various reasons. Kim and Profar with the Padres, Kike Rodriguez (perhaps the perfect fit), Marwin Gonzalez, Chris Taylor (should have been a trade target, or Muncy), DJ LeMahieu, Didi Gregorious, Marcus Semien, LaStella, Schoop and Villar. Our division has perhaps the best in the game in Merrifield. We were content with Leury Garcia, and now we’re paying the price. The Padres also have a player named Marcano who can play 7 different different positions to go along with Cronenworth and the other aforementioned two. They have enough flexibility to play Pham in CF while Grisham is out, too. We have Engel/Garcia, neither who’s ever going to be an everyday player. Padres=starting rotation (nine deep with Lamet returning soon and Clevinger next year) + multi-positional players (CJ Abrams will be their best soon enough) White Sox=high strikeout, mostly low OBP sluggers without clear positions and a top bullpen on paper, back of the rotation depth issues. We shall see if Vaughn, Collins and Mercedes have the ability to rectify that. Yes, too many names...but I guess Hahn has no time to even consider anything else with all his budget limitations and excuses/rationalizations. Somehow the Padres added Darvish, Snell, Musgrove and Clevinger while only touching one of their six top prospects (Luis Patino to TB). The only holdovers are Paddack and Lamet.

It’s quite simple. Take away 18-2 against KC and Detroit, we were 17-23 in our other games. Take away 2-8 vs. CLE, we’re a 15-15 team, in essence. So let’s keep track of our record all season long against LAA, Houston, Oakland, Minnesota, Cleveland and the top 3 of the AL East. That leaves Texas, Seattle, Detroit, KC, Boston and Baltimore. Cleveland can probably go either way, but we have to prove we can actually beat them first. We are also 3-9, 1-2 and then 1-3 in our last 19 games. 5-14 is pretty brutal. We’re not 32-16, but nor are we 5-14, either.

It’s the All-Star game controversy jinx...already have a cousin in Alabama referring to it as the start of another Civil War, lol. Also love the fact that A-Rod thinks playing it in Texas would be wise to have everyone jammed together in a covered facility in the July heat though.

Abreu is clearly pressing now without any protection from Moncada and Grandal.

A low fastball pitcher against a lowball hitter? Well, it wasn’t Trout that really killed us these four games anyway...even though it seemed he was constantly on base.

I’ll be fair/objective and assert we should be 3-1. That said, we are just not a very good team without Jimenez/Anderson and with a manager the game has passed by. It’s pretty sad that this is what we waited five years for. I would love to think that Hahn/KW would be gone if they miss the playoffs, but we know that will never happen with JR at the helm. The Yermin Mercedes excitement lasted all of two games.

I can just imagine the reaction to Robert getting hurt there. That really would be the end of the season, watching Engel out there everyday, along with Leury and Eaton.

I guess the fun this year will be seeing how long Reinsdorf can keep the press and fans at bay defending LaRussa... This was about as ugly as start as any White Sox fan could possibly imagine. They gave you four runs and you still couldn’t come up with one measly hit all night with a runner on base.

Well, that was completely unexpected. It's going to be a short return to MLB managing for TLR at this rate...

Getting squeezed by the HP umpire again.

Dammit. Well, Walsh and Upton haven't done anything at all this series. Was fantasizing that Grandal or Robert would homer in the 10th, but....nah.

That was impressive from Foster, but there's still two more tough outs to go. We saw this earlier in the series where Trout was retired only for the floodgates to open against Marshall.

That was impressive from Foster, but there's still two more tough outs to go. We saw this earlier in the series where Trout was retired only for the floodgates to open against Marshall.

Grandal, please hold on to the damned ball.

So it's Foster vs. Trout. Still not liking it, but at least it's not your worst pitcher against the best player on the planet.

This just seems like about a 75-80% chance the Angels score very quickly here...it will be a shock if they don't.

What now, Hendriks? Why the heck didn't you let Foster start off the inning? My god.

It's going to suck even worse if we lose Hendriks for tomorrow and lose. OTOH, it's going to suck really bad just giving the game away like they're posed to do with Ruiz.