Chicago White Sox

This offseason has been a big kick to the dick, but it’s going to be a fun season as long as health permits and Tony doesn’t overmanage things.

Don’t call me pal guy.

Not because of his view on Conforto, just the way he communicates on Twitter. Have you seen his tweets before? Just a real smugness to him. Like I said, I like him as announcer.

Exactly…if you got to carry that water, at least cut the smugness and arrogance. He can be a real dick to people who ask very innocent questions, which is very strange. Like Scott Merkin would never dare talk to his customer base the way Stone Pony does.

Especially against RHP…like this organization still doesn’t get how platooning works.

If you ever needed proof of missing the market, that’s it right there.

And that’s the problem…hard to tell what’s Hahn vs Tony. Although in reality if Hahn’s authority has been compromised then he should probably just quit and find a new job.

But if Hahn acquires a BC then that’s one less 1st round pick Hahn can brag about being part of the core.

I thought paying $22.3M per incremental via relief pitching was the market inefficiency.

Slap Factory 2.0!! And the best part is they probably won’t be the last two hitters in the lineup.

I just can’t believe after all our groundball problems last year Hahn’s first big move was locking up Leury for three years. SMFH…

It definitely could have been…just sad if their big plan coming out of the lockout was hoping they could scoop up a rental SP. But at this point I think we’d all be ecstatic if they could get him without giving up Sheets.

Kid just snagged that HR without even moving…lol

Panther!!!

Sadly, I’m starting to believe that first call post lockout was to lock down Joe Kelly per Tony’s request.

Remember, Stony Pony said we don’t need to add another starter since we’re already five deep and that improved defense & health on the positional side will solve all our problems. And you wonder why he was never afforded a front office opportunity.

I’m super pumped to watch 50+ games of the Slap Factory 2.0 staring Leury “Legend” Garcia & Josh “Big Energy” Harrison batting back-to-back.

Fuck Steve Stone…I love him as an announcer, but the dude is the absolute worst on Twitter.

This aged poorly…lol

The scary part is without an offseason with any coaching and a shortened spring training it’s hard to imagine Katz able to turn him around all that much. Hopefully I’m wrong there though.

Yeah, good stuff on both of them. That being said, even if you’re high on Colas, no way he factors into the 2022 season in any meaningful way.

100% agree

I agree there is still some time, but options to improve are quickly running out. That being said, I plan to revisit this once we see if they do anything else.

I agree that we needed both a left-handed power bat and another SP. Those are equally important from my perspective. That being said, I could have lived with Vaughn in RF until the trade deadline if they added an impact player or left-handed bat at 2B (not ideal but tolerable). Unfortunately they went dirt cheap at 2B with a redundant RH player instead, which leaves RF as the only spot to add much needed power / lineup balance. And if I had to wager, there are several reasons why they feel compelled to go with internal options in RF & DH despite having a need for left handed hitting (a need that Hahn called out in his end of season presser). First, I think they are scared to add a big multi-year deal to the offense when the payroll is already close to the CBT threshold and will require them to find spots to insert young players in the near future. And given most of our near major league ready prospects are 1B/DH types (Vaughn, Sheets, Burger) or OFs (Cespedes, Colas), they are probably even more hesitant to add a long-term commitment at RF or DH. I also think they may be reacting to what they’ve seen out of Colas so far. Keith Law just had a write-up on him and gave a pretty glowing endorsement. It’s possible the Sox feel he will move fast and they don’t want to block him. All that being said, I still don’t think any of that excuses Hahn from failing to to add any left-handed hitting or improving the offense in any meaningful way. And it certainly doesn’t excuse Hahn from spending wildly on the bullpen and not adding a much needed starter. I get you can’t completely ignore the future, but you also can’t completely take your foot off the gas pedal during your competitive window. Hopefully Hahn can still find a way to add Manaea or a similar starter before opening day, because what’s transpired has been very disappointing.

I’ve never once claimed that a team’s top four starters are all that will be needed come October. In fact, I’ve argued all offseason we need an additional starter because we need to plan for one of our big three being injured. But under no circumstance do I believe that “your 5th & 6th starters decide the playoffs”. That assumes 40% of your regular starters will be injured cone October (which I’m not buying) and ignores the contributions of all the other players on your roster. IMO, teams with serious World Series ambitions should be five strong so they can cover for one guy being out in the postseason. Also, in regards to your examples, Anibal Sanchez & Joe Ross were the National’s #4 & #5 starters heading into the playoffs and Ross started a single game in the 2019 post season. As for Gonsolin, he was one of six regular starters on a very unique Dodgers’ club. And I wouldn’t be overreacting to things that occurred during the 2020 & 2021 seasons as they were both heavily impacted by COVID. Having decent starting pitching depth beyond your top five is obviously important for the regular season, but no team outside the Dodgers is going to have more than five quality post season starters.