caulfield12

Fine. Even without Jimenez, we would/should been favorites over the Yankees. Because that will be Hahn’s message during the offseason for not adding another bat, that we have Vaughn on the way to go with additions of Kopech and Crochet.

We’ve already outlasted the Central...and no way we beat the Yankees the way their offense has been going. That point has to be obvious after watching that marathon back and forth game. Tristan McKenzie’s like a cross between Carl Edwards and Ramon Martinez. Just 18 months ago, Dunning was such a huge question mark, and yet here we are. We at least have made it a huge battle for survival. Otoh, the idea of Renteria going anywhere seems less and less likely by the hour.

Well, that streak against lefties is almost up to Twins’ 18 game winless streak in reverse. Or the A’s string of postseason series losses, I think ten including WC games as one.

No Rodon. Would rather see Foster.

9. Luis Robert, 22, Chicago White Sox (1.5 fWAR) Robert seemed like the obvious Rookie of the Year pick coming into the season, since he had a clear full-time job, plus defense in center, and legit power. Even as I picked him to win that honor, though, I pointed out that he had trouble with velocity inside, and that’s where he struggled this year, hitting .214/.314/.330 off fastballs and whiffing on 31 percent of fastballs on the inner third of the zone. He can still make a huge impact on a playoff game with his defense, speed, and the power he shows when he can get his arms extended, but I expect to see the A’s try to pound him inside with fastballs (and of course, outside with sliders, my edit). Jimenez 6th, Robert 9th on Top 20 impact players in the playoffs under 25, had a really nice/complimentary paragraph on Jimenez, though The abbreviated season meant a lot of player breakouts happened quietly, like Jiménez’s surge to .296/.332/.559, a jump in his wRC+ from 116 last year to 141 this year; he’s a threat to hit 40 homers if we get a full season in 2021. He’s not the most famous under-25 guy in the White Sox’ lineup, but he’s the one on whose bat I’d bet the most for this postseason. https://theathletic.com/2099573/2020/09/29/law-the-top-20-players-under-25-in-the-2020-postseason/?source=dailyemail

Might want to clean up that title...looks like 12 instead of Game 1, at 2 p.m. Chicago time, 12:00 p.m. local (OAK/SF)

The last place I'm going to hire a White Sox GM is from those darned leggheads/economists/law professors at Univ of Chicago, lol...

We've had the playing time/professional experience argument with KW vs. Hahn before...do Kellogg, Michigan and Harvard Law outdo Billy Beane, for example? NO WAY. If you look at all the big impact moves even of the last decade, plus. Alexei Ramirez, Floyd, Danks, Quentin, Gio Gonzalez, Semien/Tatis/Montas/Bassitt, Sale, Quintana, Eaton, Jose Abreu, Luis Robert...in addition to all the scouting work behind the three 2016-2017 cycle megatrades, KW was involved quite intimately with every one of those moves. A lot of his trades backfired, but the talent evaluation in the first place was quite often on the money. Now the amateur draft is a totally different situation, but KW's a pretty darned good judge of talent if he has the money to spend. Sure, we've struck out on guys like Viciedo and Beckham, but, all things considered, I would put his actual eye for talent/judgement against all but the Top 6-8 execs in the game.

Because we can't make comparisons with developed countries featuring high-tech/subsidized health care systems and countries like India, Brazil and Mexico, for one. COVID-19 has had a disproportionate impact on rural communities, people of color, women, those with pre-existing or underlying conditions. What exactly can we extrapolate from mostly the city of Stockholm and a bunch of rural/outlying areas that will help the rest of the world deal with this? https://reason.com/2020/08/14/did-sweden-accidentally-blunder-into-covid-19-herd-immunity/ This article is from August, and posits they might have accidentally blundered into herd immunity...if that was the case, it definitely hasn't been in the UK, and they're a lot better example to follow than Sweden in terms of being analogous to the US on a smaller scale. Or maybe all we have to do is look at Florida, where DeSantis is opening EVERYTHING up wide open as of about a week ago, damn the consequences. If he doesn't kill off or hospitalize 1/4th those in assisted living, do we then consider it a success? What's the opportunity cost trade-off? How much is sacrificing each individual life for a parallel version of Texsox's local entrepreneurs with restaurants on the verge of going under without emergency loans or a significant new government stimulus package?

Why is KW the one who is assumed to be responsible for this particular trade? We've seen plenty of evidence that he and Paddy were heavily involved with Abreu and Robert, to cite other examples...but does Hahn then receive the full credit because those two, along with McCann and Keuchel, actually worked out well ? Unfortunately, the most logical move, and one that would have us now celebrating an AL Central (sort of title) would have been Kole Calhoun. And it's not like Mazara was ever going to be a 3-4 fWAR player in a full season, we were just HOPING for maybe 1. In reality, guys like Calhoun that are pretty much reliable for 1.5-2.5 (and definitely outproduced those this year) become the enemy of the elusive young/impact player we keep chasing (Avi for years/Betts/Springer/Pederson, etc.) Marte makes a lot of sense. Ozuna, likely now has outpriced himself out of Sox market, along with adding the Grandal/Keuchel salaries.

27. Sweden 5,880 deaths 10,115,000 total population=0.00058 28. Philippines 5,448 deaths 109,581,000 total population=0.0000497 (11.67 times better than Sweden for a 3rd world/developing country) 67. Denmark 650 deaths 5,797,000 total population=0.000112 (about FIVE times better than Sweden) 82. Finland 345 deaths 5,543,000 total population=0.00006224 (about NINE times better than Sweden) 88. Norway 274 deaths 5,431,000 total population=0.00005045 (about ELEVEN and 1/2 times better than Sweden, also consistently one of Top 5 countries in the world on PISA exams for Math/Science) USA 209,815 deaths 328,240,000=0.0006392 (USA 1.10 times worse than Sweden) UK 42,001 deaths 67,886,000=0.0006187 (UK 1.067 times worse than Sweden)

American League wild-card series No. 8 Toronto Blue Jays at No. 1 Tampa Bay Rays -- Rays 29, Blue Jays 1 No. 7 Chicago White Sox at No. 2 Oakland Athletics -- A's 19, White Sox 11 No. 6 Houston Astros at No. 3 Minnesota Twins -- Twins 21, Astros 9 No. 5 New York Yankees at No. 4 Cleveland Indians -- Indians 20, Yankees 10 https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29991008/expert-picks-2020-mlb-playoffs

Sure, the counter-argument of course is always going to be we STILL would have been a Wild Card team based on overall record...with the caveat being we have no idea how well the White Sox and Robert/Moncada/EE/Mazara would have pulled out of their tailspins over a much longer season. Not to mention the bullpen was on track to be totally worn out even in a half season (guys like Cordero and Detwiler), with Cishek being yet another patented Rick Hahn FA special ala Herrera. Of course, the argument there is Hahn knew Crochet was coming along with Bummer, and that he WOULD have done something in a normal, 162 game schedule at the trade deadline.

The Marlins, White Sox and Padres all broke long playoff-less droughts. That basically leaves the Mariners on the outside looking in.

The irony is that we were STILL #1 in AL runs scored/runs allowed...before today. From first to seventh, couldn’t have happened to any other franchise, congrats for that. No heartbreak like 1967, just not much of a positive feeling at all. We did outdo 2012, that went 4-11 down the stretch, this was somehow 2-8. No AL Central banner, yet again.

Robert Redford since in The Natural and couldn't be worse...

Nope.

How would we be ahead of the Indians?

Who are we willing to trade that SF would really want? He’s the top fWAR guy on their entire team... It’s not going to be just Stiever as the headliner. Or Lopez.

Pederson/Engel is absolutely fine for the weakest offensive spot...and no reason to believe Pederson would not at least have an 800 ops with the right matchups, except for the fact we said the same about Mazara. But compare their career fWAR numbers. Not even close.

Relying on Rodon or Lopez as a potential closer...Rodon walks WAY too many, and Lopez lacks a true dominating wipeout pitch. With Bummer and Crochet, they’re absolutely set from the LH side. That still leaves Heuer, Marshall, Foster, Burdi, Ian Hamilton and Lopez/Rodon/Stiever. Not to mention Thompson or Dahlquist...? Tons of options there. There’s also still a non-zero chance Kopech ends up as the closer. Maybe they win a championship and then convert Crochet in a legit attempt at a starting role...

Pederson for one year, assuming Colas or Cespedes long term. Leery of buying high on NL player peaking at that age. But who knows? All depends on the ask and how highly SF values him. If thry make the postseason and he stars, his value is even higher, but he has started to return to earth already. We can look all point to Cruz, but JD Martinez and EE are both looking dead in the water, at some point soon, he’s going to crash hard. Vaughn gets that shot, regardless. Still no idea what they’re thinking with Leury Garcia. He seemed an automatic resign until the injury, bot not so sure anymore with Mendick and Engel, even Yolmer, potentially back in the oicture.

Is it my imagination, or did Clayton Richard start one of those 2008 playoff games against TB? Or was it Javy?

Feels a LITTLE bit like 2005 now...but that 3rd starter question is now even more jumbled. It could end up being either Lopez or Gio Gonzalez, which would be pretty nuts. Clayton Richard, haha?

NL MVP goes to Freddie Freeman? By fWAR, Tatis is somehow still second... Looks like StL (1), SF (losing, would be -1) and MIL going down to the wire tmrw. MIL also at -1, so they have to account for those missing Cardinals' games.