Chicago White Sox

You got to go with Giolito with as your #1 even if he can be a little inconsistent. The reality is this team is going to need a mix of luck and some hot streaks in order to go the distance and Lucas has the potential to dominate games unlike Dallas. We need the ball in Giolito’s hands as much as possible come October and that means slotting him in the #1 spot.

This is what I’m afraid of too. And while only nine games, Dylan hasn’t really shown much progress this year (which the game log below supports). I’ve pretty much seen all his starts except this last one and he’s mostly been bad despite a nice looking ERA.

FIFY

Just stop ?

Just stop

I love when people quit at the slightest bit of adversity, luckily this team isn’t so soft

You take hating a player to a legit creepy level

Lol...no fucking way bro.

Need to keep Yolmer fresh!

I have no idea how anyone could eat indoors at a restaurant right now. It’s absolutely bonkers.

Show me one post where someone called McCann “garbage”...

Just a guess, but he’s been known to come back under new handles and his posting style is very reminiscent of our old friend Tom.

Dunning has definitely passed Cease in terms of playoff rotation order.

Mods - Why we letting Tommy Longo back? I thought he’s received multiple lifetime bans?

POTY

Small sample size, but he already has five barrels this month (31.3%) and an average exit velocity of 90.3. He’s still striking out way to much (25.9%), but at least the quality of contact is getting better.

Completely missed yesterday’s game, what happened with Madrigal & Grandal?

Great post Jack and fully agree!

People are jumping way too quickly on their bandwagon. Their pitching could be stellar, but it’s all theoretical at the moment and one key injury could quickly change things. And yes they have Tork on the positional side but that only washes out our own Vaughn and they’d still have to make up for Robert, Eloy, Moncada, & Anderson. Honestly, them playing better than expected and fucking up their draft position is great news for us. Hopefully they don’t get any more top 5 picks and are unable to add another blue chip bat to mix, at least the easy way.

It’s true, unfortunately he’s been bad at all three core FIP metrics (BB rate, K rate, & HR rate).

I just don’t see how we bank on Cease going very long in the postseason. His numbers are terrible outside of a flukey ERA and against good lineups he will likely get lit up if nothing changes. Right now, I’d like to limit my reliance on him, which means going with Dane as our #3 starter and having Gonzalez be his opener.

Alright guys, with a 99.9% win probability and only 19 games remaining in the regular season, it’s time to start thinking about our potential post-season roster. While the positional side is pretty cut & dry outside of maybe one spot, the pitching staff has a ton of question marks at the moment and lots of different options to fill up spots. Given the overall uncertainty, I thought it would be an interesting exercise to see how you all would setup our pitching staff for the post-season. For now, I’m going to assume 14 total spots, four starters / tandems, and that key injured guys are coming back (Bummer / Fry). Rotation: Giolito Keuchel* Rodon* + Dunning Gonzalez* + Cease We all know that Giolito & Keuchel are locks for the top two spots in the rotation, but after that things get a bit scary. For me, Dunning has passed Cease and should be our primary #3 starter in the playoffs. However, given potential innings restrictions for Dane, I’d like to see us use Rodon as an opener for him. And when a fourth starter is needed, I’d like to see a Gonzalez & Cease tandem with Gio more or less serving as Dylan’s opener. Now, if Dylan can get hot down the stretch I’d potentially reconsider, but so far his peripherals have been ugly and he will likely require a short leash come the playoffs. Bullpen: CL: Colome SU: Bummer* SU: Marshall MR: Foster MR: Heuer MR: Fry* MR: Detwiler* MR: Cordero Ultimately I’m going with the guys who have been effective this year, which means Cishek, Burdi, & Lopez are out. That being said, I would keep using Zack down the stretch and see if he can find a way to harness his command. His general stuff and ability to generate whiffs could be a weapon in the postseason, but right now he’s too much of a liability to warrant real consideration. Also, in shorter series, I’d plan on using both Cease and Gonzalez out of the pen if needed.

Great stuff! Appreciate all you guys do!

Just as a point of reference, but we kicked off our rebuild with a ton of high-end pitching prospects including several elite ones (peak Baseball America ranking listed). As you can see below, the overall returns have been disappointing. Unfortunately there is a high attrition rate with pitching prospects and that is something the Tigers & Royals will likely experience in the coming years. I think it’s way too early to be scared of either of these rebuilds. Lucas Giolito: 5th (2016) - Top of rotation starter Michael Kopech: 11th (2018) - Work in progress (injuries) Carlos Rodon: 15th (2015) - Non-durable mid rotation starter Reynaldo Lopez: 31st (2017) - Fringe back of rotation starter Dylan Cease: 38th (2019) - Work in progress (command) Alec Hansen: 57th (2018) - BUST Carson Fulmer: 70th (2016) - BUST Dane Dunning: 82nd (2018) - Work in progress (injuries) Spencer Adams: 100th (2015) - BUST

It’s a great feeling though! And fully agree, it would be great to see us play tough against the Twins, Indians, Cubs, & Reds down the stretch. Beating up on the Royals & Tigers is great for making the playoffs, but if we want to go the distance we obviously got to beat good teams as well.