caulfield12

Without Williams and Paddy, no Abreu or Robert, not so bueno.

Huge day for B10. Last Top 5 battle in Kinnick was 1985, Iowa beating Michigan. OU can thankfully be crossed off playoff list early. Cincy has such a weak schedule here on out, SMU their best opponent.

But where would we be now without having traded Sale, Eaton, Q…? Not seeing why Hahn would be in huge demand, compared to assistants from the truly revolutionary front offices like LA, TB, SF, Milwaukee, etc. We brag about our draft picks making the bigs, but how many are true high impact guys assuming Rodon leaves? You still have just Anderson and the 50/50 coin flip fortune of Luis Robert signing for less money to hang your hat on. Collins, Burdi, Fulmer, Heuer and Madrigal are gone or worthless. Jury still out on Crochet, Vaughn and Sheets.

Maybe curse Abreu some more for “underperforming” his way through illness…when the real sickness is ensconced on the dugout steps.

On the plus side, we’re 1-4 versus the Indians’/Twins’ combined 2-14….20% vs. 12.5% win probability.

Anderson, Abreu and Robert are going nowhere. Eloy, maybe. Not many LH hitting 3B, so hard to get rid of Moncada or Grandal for that matter. But what is Jimenez’s value at this point? 65-70 cents on the dollar, just like Madrigal/Heuer. Buying high and selling low over the long term usually ends up in a limited roster. Same with trading Vaughn. Of course, Sheets has some pop but no position as the roster is currently constituted.

Wrong Frazier. Adam was terrible in SD, a lot like Hernandez for the Sox.

Are we allowed to create threads with former poster's names?....that seems like it might be a report to mods-worthy transgression.

Otoh, it plays against the constant trope that LaRussa is now calling the shots on personnel moves…or TLR asked for Kimbrel specifically only to realize later he wasn’t the same guy outside of the closer’s role and is now attempting to shift the blame to Hahn when it backfired.

They weren’t major league experienced acquisitions, though.

Hahaha…it’s Comedy Central time around here. Not even sure they’d even consider it with Vaughn or Kopech included. Kimbrel has little trade value at this point…that $16 million price tag is too risky.

A dismal 3-18 post-season record since the Indians/Cubs World Series in 2016 (including 2021) Outscored 129-61 cumulatively Have finished the last 5 seasons (2020 had no official attendance recorded) with a "mean" MLB attendance number amongst the five divisional teams of 22.2, 19.8, 22 and 22.2 (out of 30). Started the 2021 season with only one out of the five teams sporting an above average payroll, with the White Sox barely above the cut line at #15. The Twins were #17 (and that will decline significantly with Cruz/Berrios and then likely Buxton, if they can't "cheaply" extend him, as well as Donaldson, etc., all on the way out), then the Royals and Tigers well behind at #23/24 and the Indians trailing every team in baseball nevertheless but getting the second best ROI behind the TB Rays in terms of spending $$$ per win. If the Twins and Indians commence their anticipated rebuilding/retooling plans, can the White Sox still get enough of a challenge from either the Royals or Tigers (especially from a financial/payroll standpoint) to make them a better, playoff-competitive team....when they have to play those same four teams 76 games per year??? And it's really close to 50/50 in terms of scheduling when you consider how bad the Cubs are likely to be for the next 2-3 seasons, at a minimum. If the White Sox were in any other division, and for comparison's sake let's call the AL East the SEC/ACC/Big 10 equivalent, they would certainly make the playoffs less frequently but at least they would be legit World Series contenders when they did make it to post-season play, having proved their mettle. And yes, I know it's HARD to complain they MIGHT actually be better off not making the playoffs when it has still ONLY happened 5 times in the last 22 seasons, compared to something like 17 times during that same stretch for the Cardinals... Should MLB reconsider playing more balanced intraleague scheduling or cutting back on the novelty of interleague play? Or are the White Sox simply better off as a franchise beating up on the Little Sisters of the Poor for the next 2-3 seasons? And how do we get better with managers who want to coast to the finish line every season instead of stepping on the gas?

https://twitter.com/greg_hibbard/status/696895711850459136/photo/1 How about a "good luck cat picture" from Greg "The Little Bulldog" Hibbard? We can use every bit of help we can get...from any source/s.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/08/sport/jim-kaat-apology-slavery-remark-mlb-spt/index.html

Beautiful stadium/setting, was there for the first time in summer of 2019...even witnessed firsthand a McCovey Cove ball from the unique perspective of standing along the RF walkway.

The outer onion layers must be peeled away if the real truth is to be revealed about this team. Or I can just offer a reply of "poop" I guess.

Have Stone or Benetti said anything on social media? Kasper? Northsiders are undoubtedly enjoying the comeuppance Kimbrel's experiencing after that roller coaster they were on with him during his ill-fated contract. just not quite as fun as it used to be to hate the Cubs or vice-versa for Sox fans, it's almost like losing a tradition to reason to care about random NL games on t.v.

The Carlos Quentin says hello... First White Sox version of Adam Eaton Jim Thome was fine coming over from Philly, although more an AL player, same with AJ (from SFG) Guys like DeAza from the Marlins' scrap heap Scotty Pods in 2005

Not quite a must-win situation, but that's a great statement to show that the Giants are legit and truly belong on that big stage...especially going up against Buehler, who has been almost impossible to beat in his Dodgers' post-season career (reflects wistfully on the Carson Fulmer Era of White Sox rebuild baseball.) But you shut down arguably the best offensive line-up in the NL, that's quite an accomplishment and he's pitched with very little fanfare the entire season, unless you're a huge baseball fan, live on the West Coast and/or are a dedicated rotisserie league/fantasy owner. Of course, to add insult to injury, the name Tommy LaStella. The Giants have done an amazing job assembling that pitching staff from where they were a year ago today, Zaidi's one of the best analytical minds in the game. He has made more positive pitching moves in an off season than the White Sox have made over the course of an entire decade, seemingly.

Sox-related therapy....they could probably offer all their fans the last 75 years or so psychiatric help and raise a significant if not massive amount of money for Sox Charities.

Is just ONE win enough to put out the pitchforks for many? Probably not... How will you feel about the White Sox coming into next season, at least as things stand today? How easily will you accept both TLR AND Hahn returning? Are you like many in the game thread who feel discouraged knowing nothing is likely to change all that dramatically as long as JR or a family member is the principal owner? How optimistic are you that things (would) change with Jerry's son in charge of the franchise instead, like with the Bulls' new direction? Do we spend the majority of the off-season ruminating about changes in the front office or ownership that are highly improbable to occur, knowing the way this franchise operates historically? Do you expect any big changes, or do you think they'll be mostly cosmetic ones (a 2B or RF in the $6-8 million range, veteran relievers to replace Tepera/Kimbrel, etc.)...with the payroll still trending up (let's say $160-165 million), but no big or headline-grabbing moves, not even bringing in the likes of a veteran like Starling Marte? Are we simply doomed to continue the AL Central's trend of losing playoff games dating back to the Cleveland Indians/Cubs 2016 World Series? How much worse would it to be a Twins or Indians fan today...knowing how far those two teams are from competing if they trade Buxton and/or Jose Ramirez/Bieber? I found my attention span drifting a bit without much of a pennant race for the majority of the second half, and due the overall "mediocre" player since the ASB. I'll be honest in saying I was thoroughly unimpressed with the trade acquisitions (especially the Kimbrel one) and tried to get motivated again, staying up all night long here in China, but I really feel like I was punched in the face and not even sure how invested to be in Sunday's game (since another worknight/day). I also felt that the chances of winning this series were (only) roughly 25-30%, based on the match-up earlier this season in Houston, their line-up of professional hitters, their extensive playoff experience and veteran "been there, done that" vibe was going to be an incredibly tough out for this team that struggled mightily even against the A's last post-season. Nobody is probably SHOCKED right now, because we've ALREADY witnessed so many losses like this the last two weeks of 2020 and then off and on ever since the opening series in Anaheim this year. I DO feel REALLY excited about watching Luis Robert bloom into a superstar before our eyes...but also a sense that we're a team comprised of many misfit parts and pretty likely to take a hit to the starting pitching in 2022, having a hard time believing Kopech can replace Rodon's performance seamlessly and that Lynn is probably more due for a falloff than expecting an uptick from Keuchel or Lopez or whatever "budget-savvy" veteran free agent pitcher they add to the mix. But who knows, maybe Dylan Cease takes the next step and wins the Cy Young, right? I'm also a bit bitter about losing both Madrigal and Heuer's years of control for that bone-headed Kimbrel move (that, once again, even our own manager's questioning why we added a HoF closer only to put him in a set-up role he wasn't well-suited for.) And no, it's not on the level of my Fernando Tatis, Jr., obsession, lol. For the Top 10-20 posters and all the various moderators at SoxTalk (now in their 30's and 40's with families and grown-up responsibilities/reality or maybe Covid-19 intruding), do you feel like it will be easy to reignite your excitement again when spring training rolls around, or you're still going to feel that same sense of waiting for the next TLR headline or embarrassing manager move that everyone could see coming pages ahead in a GameThread? I've come to really admire those posters like Fathom and Dick Allen and many of the moderators who are there game in and game out, or Elrockin (Greg's favorite perpetually optimistic fan)...but I also woke up wondering after a 30-45 minute nap why do we keep putting ourselves through this season after season? Obviously, some will argue that at least expecting to make the post-season is 50-100X better than 2009-2019, but there were times I really enjoyed watching the direction of the franchise (2016-2019) that it was ALMOST as fun, if not moreso. I guess it's partly due to the expectation all that rebuilding was going to eventually lead to playoff wins and, if not another World Series, at LEAST the ALCS, even though by definition not being able to win like the Royals/Cubs/Astros did out of a massive rebuild will always be considered a failure of sorts by most Sox fans. I guess it's back to that curse of being a White Sox fan, most of us through family connections or 2005. Just like PTAC, I'm sure that I will get over my anger/frustration and start to enjoy the playoffs and sport of baseball again at some point...although maybe not until the heart of the free agent signing period if it's the Dodgers or Red Sox/Astros yet again. Of course, I say this same exact thing every year about Iowa Hawkeyes FB and BB, and still never give up hope despite all the odds in the world being stacked against them ever winning a national championship in either sport...so at least the White Sox have MUCH better odds than approximately 1 in 150 or 1 in 200, right? Just some random thoughts (by Jack Handey), mostly venting but in a free-style version. P.S. The White Sox will HOPEFULLY run off 3 in a row and make me look like an idiot, but, just in case, you probably don't want to bet on the Iowa Hawkeyes against Penn State this weekend, haha. TL/DR, haha.

See Adames, the rare mistake by TB, along with selling too soon on Cronenworth.

Disastrous deadline. TLR decision making, bad fundamentals, etc. Bullpen. Not pushing harder for HFA. Not the same Rodon and Lynn later in season. No Yerminator haha.

Guess this is what it's like to be a Twins' fan the last two decades, albeit with at least twice as many playoff appearances.

I was being sarcastic...but hard to imagine much worse results from such an overhyped pen.