supernuke

I am sure McCann won't be here next year, he would be foolish to not find a job as a starter. The only slim possibility is that the Bromance with Giolito is so strong that he can't tear himself away. I am not deluded enough to think that Grandal is bad, I just don't think that spending the money to upgrade from a B to an A+ made sense when there are still D's on the roster. It also becomes more frustrating when in an admittedly SSS we haven't seen that A+ player. Some articles I have read have indicated that framing abilities decline rapidly at around age 31, if the elite framing disappears is Grandal still a top 2 catcher?

I think you greatly underestimate James McCann. I see a guy who worked hard to change his approach at the plate and became a much better hitter because of it. He is completely changed form the hitter he was in Detroit. I think you over simplify things by showing the first half and second half numbers from last year. Going month by month you get: April .357/.400/.536 May .338./372/.514 June .275/.363.500 July .173/.212/.309 Aug .274/.330/.476 Sept .250/.314/.453 One horrible month of July is really dragging down the second half numbers. it looks to me like the pitchers finally made an adjustment to him in July and he had to adjust against that. He may not put up those first half stats over a full season but I believe he is clearly much better than a .250/.300/.400 hitter.

I really wish Sandy Alomar would have just taken the damn bench coach job when it was offered to him.

There only appears to be 1 potential #1 starter on the FA market this off season. If we are getting one it would likely have to be via trade.

Yep, and all I am saying is that so far we haven't seen all that was advertised.

I certainly hope they can find a #1 starter this off season. I would expect a regression from Giolito at least for his fist season without McCann. Hopefully they also find a backup catcher that will be able to work with Giolito if he can't click with Grandal.

I think another thing working against him is that after the signing he was presented as having this great knowledge in working with pitchers and he was going to be able to get more out of the pitchers. That hasn't seemed to happen so far. He was also an elite framer but for that hasn't shown up yet either. I have read a couple of articles that have said that framing abilities tend to drop off rapidly after age 31 so it is possible that we may never see that elite framing.

I don't hate Grandal but I think he was poor allocation of funds. We already had a good, maybe not great but good catcher on the team and several other holes on the team that should have been a higher priority in my opinion. The way he is being used makes it more frustrating. Move him down in the order and maybe some of this goes away.

Underwhelming as usual. Oh well, still early in the contention window so it wasn't imperative to make a move. It is going to be up to the bats to get us far this year.

If the Sox go out in 3 he may not pitch anyway?

I am really torn on this. I do think that the time could be right to take a real run at things but I am not sure any of the names that seem available are the guy to put us over the top. I think to have a chance both this year and next we need a true TOR starter and I don't really see one available. Lynn look pretty good but I am not sure if he is enough. Ray shouldn't even be looked at. Bundy seems to have emerged but is it for real? deGrom seems to be the only real difference maker to me and I doubt he is available.

That was so fun to watch. Truly a game to remember.

Why in the world would James McCann sign a deal to be the White Sox back up when he will be very likely to get a job as the starter somewhere else? Losing him for nothing was assured when he wasn't traded shortly after the Grandal signing.

WBWSF said he was confident in his abilities so I was curious as to what made him feel qualified. I don't know what that has to do with Hahn.

Out of curiosity, what do you feel are your qualifications for the job?

You? Wrong? My world is shattering!

I've never been a fan of Stone but I don't hate the TV broadcast. I was at the lake this weekend so I was listening to the radio broadcast instead of watching and I have to say I enjoyed the radio broadcast far more than the TV.

I would have liked to see McCann in the line up again today.

I'm starting to regret my MLBTV purchase. Hope something turns around.

I would prefer each Park installing cardboard cutout fans.

Cole.

It seems to me that Wheeler probably told his agent to gather final offers last night or early today then chose the one he preferred and signed the deal. In the end his desire to be close to family/stay in the NL/stay on the East coast was more important to him then the extra $2-7 million.

Damn, I was hoping the site was broken due to something big happening.

How much of those second half numbers are due to his abysmal month of July? I don't think August ans September have been that bad for him.

Long lost twin, separated at birth maybe? Is it possible you were cloned in a top secret lab?