caulfield12

If they’re competitive in June and July still, that’s just going to be seen as another White Flag with absolutely nobody behind Gio on the depth chart. It’s 2001-03 bad…probably worse.

Eloy might have a worse throwing arm than Benintendi. He’s not a RFer, any more than AJ Pollock is or was in 2022-23.

Did you watch Burger everyday at third the last couple of weeks before he was Injured? The gap is closing. Not to mention almost nobody believes Moncada is a part of the long term future of the organization at this point.

What can Romy actually do?

Chapman already has the GG wrapped up...

What reason do you have to believe that Burger could handle MI duty?

19-31 Nationals is going to get a lot of play the next week or so... the year they won it all. 2005 Astros One of those years the Cardinals only won 83-84 but took the WS. 1987/1991 Twins, etc. The problem is that every team BUT the White Sox in the AL Central (except for the Royals?) have lost AT LEAST two starting pitchers or more to significant injuries already.

Can't have one major starting pitcher injury the remainder of the season...what exactly are the odds?

He arguably was getting there a decade ago but everyone assumed Bosh Wade LBJ could have been coached by high school legends/AAUers.

No reason to get excited until they defeat McKenzie Ramirez and Naylor head to head/convincingly. Taking down a diminished Bieber was progress of a sort.

Never in a million years would have had an "overweight" 3B with 2 major Achilles' injuries ahead of Moncada and Anderson on any type of speed chart. That said, it feels like 50% of that is sheer grit and determination, lol. Unless he took some type of Locastro/Witt Jr./Carroll special juice.

Royce Lewis and Gordon two cursed former first rounders...

There are teams out there signing classes of 30-50 Latin American players IN ONE YEAR. White Sox have never been even close. Dominican and Pacific Rim disaster areas. Brazil/Colombia/Venezuela/Panama virtually abandoned. Seemed (now even moreso) like their goal was actually to COLLAPSE as many minor league, short-season/summer/Arizona teams as possible to lower their operating budgets...which goes along with their forecast upcoming PURGE in operations at the end of the season.

They're going to have to get back down to 5-6 games within the Twins... Right now 8 back with three teams to chase down seems too much of an uphill battle when they're more likely to be subtracting than adding at the deadline. Will they really hold Giolito after Rodon and lose both of them without QO's to either guy? Of course, JR might try to stick it to Lucas as a union rep and actually tender the QO to make his FA case very challenging/intriguing. That said, if GIolito holds up and continues to throw 94-97 mph for the remainder of the season, then the QO is pretty much a foregone conclusion, especially with both Clevinger and Lynn likely on the way out for younger/cheaper starting pitchers. One thing's for sure. The AL and NL Central BOTH suck. The best thing would be to combine/collapse both divisions leaving the Cards, Brewers, Cubs, Sox, Twins and you would be hard-pressed to decide between Pitt, Cincy, KC, CLE and Detroit (coin flips?). Then your two expansion teams would theoretically go up, maybe 4 to make things more interesting for the various bidding cities instead of just LV and Nashville. (Obviously, this won't happen any time soon!!!)

The save conversion rate is reportedly down a not insignificant 15% from last year...especially some of the established 9th inning guys (and not so much the 7th and 8th high leverage pitchers). Most attribute this to the difficulty of some of those guys adjusting to the pitch clock...think the Kimbrel's and Kenley Jansen's on the world. Historically, VERY SLOW METHODICAL workers. So Point 1, focus on closers (and high leverage guys in general) who are comfortable working at a much faster pace...(it remains to be determined how this will impact Hendriks in his return, not only the faster pace but his fitness level appears to be at a low point from having so much sedentary time due to the lymphoma recovery period). One obvious example here is Reynaldo Lopez struggling mightily to adapt to the clock as well as pitching in the 9th. The counterexample is Joe Kelly adjusting so well in recent weeks. HIs value is increasing by the day to other MLB teams engaged in playoff races. Point 2, how quickly does the pitcher deliver the ball to the plate? White Sox have historically been bad to terrible here...as well as holding runners on, in general. Evidence suggests that the limited number of throws to 1B is not the biggest issue with controlling the running game, it's actually the distraction the pitch clock is causing in terms of losing focus and concentration. Used to be a 35% percentage throwing out runners was the typical MLB target. Grandal's at something like 13%. I'm sure statistics would say the majority are in that 15-25% range this year. So if you're not going to be spend on the position in the future (Realmuto/Grandal, etc.), then you SIMPLY HAVE TO HAVE a Maldonado/Olivo type who can throw out at least 25-35% of runners if given a shot by their pitchers. That's one quite obvious way or method to close the gap with Minny, Cleve and Detroit on the margins. Point 3, How fast can the catcher get the ball to second and third? Get the best possible defensive catcher on the market that can hit at least .150 to .175, lol. Perez and Seby do not seem to qualify here, lol. Point 4, stamina and endurance of your starting pitchers in terms of making adjustments to the faster pace with the clock. Lance Lynn seems to be one of the obvious "victims" here...but he also seems to slowly be battling back after the horrific start to the season caused by lack of off season condition and mental preparation for a completely-transformed sport. Has to be an increased focus on stamina and endurance to work at a much faster pace with the weather changing during the hot/humid summer months. Giolito's excessive jersey sweat (LOL) and Lynn will be severely tested getting through the heart of the summer in Chicago. You would have to ask Ethan Katz how much these changes have impacted Kopech (should have less pitches to choose from as a starter, as he currently has a two-pitch repertoire) and Cease, who seems to be in excellent condition compared to the majority of the league and constitutes the biggest mystery. Point 5, if at all possible, you need to have one very capable baserunner for pinch running in on order to control or at least positively impact the late innings, like a Hamilton/Gore/Dyson type who can almost steal bases at will...and who you (organizationally/roster management-wise) have to be less concerned with getting injured compared to your everyday starters.

Burger 9/18 in 76 at-bats. 1.021 OPS Career wise, .255, 18, 47 in just 282 at-bats. .837 OPS. No matter what happens the rest of the season, he has now become a core element of "rebuild/retool" and probably the best feel good story for the Sox since Carroll (QB from Purdue) pitching into lifetime MLB benefits and maybe Billy Hamilton two seasons ago. Robert leading the majors in XBH/3rd in homers and 95% of his former self in CF, too. Win tonight and only 8 games behind MIN before Memorial Day, lol.

He has bounced all around the minors...including Houston and TB.

If you get back McKenzie, Jose Ramirez, Naylor, last year's Gimenez, last year's Rosario (best FA SS in theory this year)...2022 Oscar Gonzalez was one of their best hitters in the second half. Sox killer Cy Civale became garbage too. But just watch, Battenfield and Bibee and Curry or some totally unknown High A/AA guy will win a Cy Young 2-3 years from now, lol. Have so many young 1-2 year players mixing into the lineup.

This inning not off to a promising start....but then the Guardians are erased by a DP. Rocchio too overanxious there in his first big league start.

Clevinger trying to emulate the Kopech hairstyle...with more of an Alabama/Deliverance feel to it, versus the "man bun." You could easily see him as one of first victims doing something idiotic in one of The Purge movies, lol.

That double will look like a liner in the box score tmrw. Straw one of the few Guardians playing better than last season.

Burger 8 of 9 homers hit at home...one of the few players lighting it up at GRate. Another hit. Meanwhile, Vaughn's average in danger of sinking down into the 230's now. Another ball well hit by Alberto. At least he's proving more of an offensive threat than Leury.

Sheets homer #6. Zunino 0 for his last 26. 20 strikeouts!!!! WD Smith has to be the best catcher in baseball right now...not many like him. Realmuto looks to be the biggest name available on the FA market. Doesn't exactly fit with a protracted rebuild...plus paying for past performance like we did with Grandal in his early 30's.

He was only about a decade late (KC 2014-15) trying for that super pen with Kimbrel and Hendriks. In the meantime, nearly every major league team has a quite capable pen...they have no choice, so many injuries and short outings from starting pitchers going at max velocity in the majority of cases.

Except Kwan has a lot more appreciation for the opportunity to be a big leaguer every day... Five players in recent history to hit homers in five consecutive for the Sox: AJ in 2012 the most recent Konerko, El Caballo, Big Hurt, Bull Luzinski