caulfield12

The only thing I would be slightly concerned about with Giolito is how early his TJS was in his career...his was late 2012 and wiped out the 2013 season, which is coming up on 7 years now. I don't know the "normal rate" for a recurrence, but they basically have no choice but to gamble on his health...as opposed to signing someone from outside the organization to even more outlandish dollars in Free Agency.

The rebuild is pretty much doomed if they're THAT far off on their assessments of core players like Vaughn, because we'll in our last two years of Moncada and Giolito at that point. Of course, with Nick Madrigal, the "half season" after the draft has shown itself to be less indicative of overall performance/potential than the follow-up year, fortunately. With an advanced college bat like that Vaughn's supposed to be up in late 2020 or early 2021. That would be following the same accelerated paths as Madrigal and Gordon Beckham before him.

https://theathletic.com/1151459/2019/08/20/rick-renteria-doesnt-give-a-shit-what-you-think-of-his-lineup-not-that-he-should/?source=dailyemail “I have conversations about Timmy hitting second, Eloy hitting fourth,” manager Rick Renteria said. “First of all, I do have conversations with the players. Timmy has been showing a lot better both against lefties and righties. He’s expressed that. He’s actually embracing the idea of possibly hitting second for us here. Why do I say possibly? Because once Yoán (Moncada) returns, maybe I’m thinking about slotting Yoán at the four hole. So I have to do some things to kind of prepare for that particular move. So if people are curious as to why, that’s one of the reasons why. Putting Eloy in the No. 4 hole right now is also because potentially down the road that’s where he can hit. So, I’m giving them and myself a different look.” This is not an unusual amount of variation in lineups. The Cubs have already used 111 different lineups. The Astros were turning heads back in 2015 when they used 151 different setups for their starting nine, exploring a level of team-wide versatility that A.J. Reed later cited as why he fell out of their plans. Pitching coach Don Cooper often talks about trying to build another rotation led by four workhorses like in 2005, but trotting out the same lineup for every game like the Sox did in the playoffs that year looks like the real relic of the past. It’s also not unusual for lineups to be a source of daily angst and confusion for every fan base, and the White Sox certainly are no exemption. Leury García is pretty firmly installed at the leadoff spot, and there has literally only been one game all season that hasn’t seen José Abreu batting third, but the rest has been in a state of flux or constant tweaking.

Baseball teams will almost always add that final player if they are desperate to win a World Series. It doesn’t always work. The A’s in 2014 looked like all their additions would put them over the top, only to lose in that bizarre game to KC. The Yankees and Dodgers are exceptions to the rule, but it’s not like they have been rewarded for it.

The ‘ol momentum shift coming this half inning. If the Twins are going to score, it’s now. And I could just hear Ron at home shouting at the t.v., why are they speeding up Abreu’s bat throwing all those curveballs...beforevfinally mixing in a pedestrian fastball that must have looked like 95+.

The company line was always no adds after Kimbrel and that was only possible due to Zobrist sitting out much of the year...

Tell that to the Astros as they added Verlander, Cole and Greinke. Or the Cubs with Chapman, Heyward and Royals with Shields, Cueto and Zobrist. Last time I checked, LAD and NYY aren’t winning any titles recently.

While this is less true recently, winning a World Series used to guarantee a five year sustained boost in attendance. Now, it’s just as much about broadcasting/media rights. And the Royals are definitely challenging that “five year” theory with their current rebuild. It was a lot more accurate for the Sox, with the 2010 season marking the downswing into the Dunn signing, Ozzie/Buehrle departing, 2013 and the eventual rebuild.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UYsH7Yy0BawYXQX7Jpgz7F0qswXDyRbAPtRJXhdU0qQ/htmlview When you’re spending at or even with the Cubs every season but 2009-10, much more is expected. Nobody expected a World Series in 2017, 18 or 19. But a competitive, .500ish and maybe even wild card competitor if everything goes right is quire fair to as for at this point for 2020.

This has not been the case at all for the AL Central. The success of the Indians, Royals and Twins go against the very trend you're highlighting. The White Sox had a Top 10 payroll in 2008, when they last made the playoffs, but they also ran Top 10 payrolls all the way through the 2013 season, where it was obvious they would need to either rebuild or "retool on the fly" with trades and free agents. They chose Option 2, spending money in free agency from 2014-16 and bringing in the likes of Samardzija and Todd Frazier via trade...as well as Jose Abreu for the 2014 season. The payroll didn't bottom out until the last 2-3 seasons.

2006-2013

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2014/09/01/bo-porter-fired-astros-culture-jeff-luhnow/14928347/ The problem is that our front office and manager are perfectly aligned...which is a BAD thing. Because Bo Porter, a former football player and emblematic of the KW approach, is representative of Rick Renteria in just about every way possible. And Luhnow wasn't having it...

Try the late 1990's. Moneyball was published in 2003. We're probably better off just reverting back to the 2004-2005 method of competing again.

https://links.e1.theathletic.com/a/click?_t=1d75fd3a730a463c8648bd84293b832a&_m=7764220c10864c8095df9ea684feebb9&_e=_K42l8C7zMnF0Asjk9a0AdM1-3X2CzXTPcIcVWfNcX86HbL7zl0tfrSwoYYiuVVrirqgBYi--dPvD2bEJJixl-Jg2Z9O0R992QjFUO4T5Pmao5TkuY0DYg4n9SWPhUcfzjbQ13jkOc21o0NoagpFaCSUlx6kO4rPrEgVoPGczdXyP176RxIA7RIouaTrehsdGnAemxy3Bc5t7xZAPQGTG9aPxHiaFoJ4sWPWS2-tXefbKgBClTS52JW6YQYzCj4oMXLE-nlDqCVdu17NLm1kU4Bo25NzgCC_rfHVos6JjqpvhbuKZy71Z3vZ_zm8wuhqIerNV4HYhTiYv369i3MOQ-XH52ZmJhe4T6cC86EUmn93CQYv9mLo-kJeoL_YrAr7b5rIska-RXFQGWRd1s-_HIlZXdXJ_QWSlwlepdRDMA7msW5ohU9lJgdjFqnhSkSw 35 under 35: The BrainKanix duo who revamped Lucas Giolito’s mental approach plans on doing much more In the middle of a rut of July starts that would send him from the White Sox starting rotation to Triple-A Charlotte, pitcher Dylan Covey was trying to describe why his four-seamer kept leaking back over the heart of the plate. But his mind kept wandering to a conversation with his teammate — and one of the best turnaround stories in baseball — Lucas Giolito. A few days earlier, Covey got a start against the A’s in Oakland, the team that had left him off its 40-man roster and exposed him to the Rule 5 draft. He wanted more than just to command his pitches, or piece together a quality start. He wanted to crush his former teammates while the front office staff that let him go watched. Instead, he allowed six runs without getting out of the first inning.

Basically seems like we're guaranteeing Jose Abreu a spot in the White Sox Hall of Fame and a lifetime coaching position, or at least deal like Jim Thome has with the front office. Cannot figure out to play said player at DH instead of 1B, of course. Also agree with Jack Parkman here...if you're anything resembling a "sane" baseball fan, you have to start watching other teams/players, studying what GOOD or even GREAT front offices are doing differently...watching Charlotte or the minor league teams. Worst-case scenario, cheering against the Cubs, but even that has lost a lot of its allure after 2016. I guess cheering for their dynasty to come crashing down, that's something.

Still don't understand why we'd be getting Bumgarner without significantly overpaying the rest of the NL..particularly teams west of the MIssissippi. He could theoretically be convinced if we were also making a commitment to bring in X Y Z other "high level" free agents to create a more competitive team (see Robertson/Cabrera/LaRoche), but would he realistically sign were he to be the only significant addition, and wait at least one year for a playoff run?

Here's the thing. Hahn traded decent players in Duke and Swarzak to acquire both of those guys. If the GM is okay with the manager playing a veteran whose main purposes (bringing in Machado, trade deadline move) have long passed, I don't know what it says about this organization's talent evaluation. Heck, it would even be better to give Daniel Palka those at-bats over Jay, because we still need to find a LH platoon bat for DH next year. Just strange we're prioritizing winning at the AAA level over the big league one right now. Not bringing up Robert and Madrigal is one thing, but it's just strange they're not willing to reward guys like Yermin and Mendick who worked hard for their opportunities all season long...

Don't forget Beef Wellington...

Like Collins?

It might work out in the end, but still don't like playing for single runs in the late innings at Minnesota...not with the erratic nature of the White Sox bullpen.

Yeah, I remember back in the day following through the old Yahoo Sports gameday stuff. Now, MLB and MILB.com make it more interesting when you at least have the pitch speeds and location. Chinese internet still isn't reliable for streaming games...always stops and starts, to doesn't come back after the commercial breaks and have to start over and reload.

Goins came to the big leagues as a "pure/defense first" SS, so not a huge surprise there. And Sano's hardly Usain Bolt. But yeah, great not to just let the runner score there and have another runner in scoring position, likely to score on a 2 out hit and tie the game. White Sox have nothing to lose...playing to win at this point in the season.

Maybe...he's been on my stupid fantasy team all season long and I haven't "felt" him make an impact like, say, Yelich...but it's that selective memory thing, of the 10% of the time I'm actively watching or paying attention, the other 90% gets blocked out. Cognitive dissonance.

Except how do you explain Castillo hitting after Abreu?

Miley's a really interesting case. He has been SO good, and unexpectedly so, I can't imagine the Astros letting him go so easily as they did with Morton, especially with Whitley's troubles this year. They do have McCullers coming back, supposedly, but who knows how well that takes with his history.