Tony

In 2019 the Sox ranked 15th in shifts, doing it 22.3% of PA’s In 2020 the Sox ranked 22nd in shifts, but they actually increased the amount of shifts they employed, doing it 29.3% of PA’s In 2021, the Sox ranked 27th, and the number dropped to 20.3% So I’m not so sure it wasn’t a LaRussa decision……and I don’t think you should be either.

To me this is a question I would love to hear Hahn answer. I believe the Sox FO is adapting to the times and seems to be making a commitment to data and "new school" baseball. Their manager doesn't seem to have any interest in employing that on the field, and it cost the Sox runs in the postseason, no question about it.

My question would be 1. How was that any different than what Ricky did and 2. If Ricky was managing the 2021 club, how do you envision the results would have been different? I'm not a Renteria fan either, I think the choice to move on was the right one. But given the talent on this team, I expected a better outcome than 2020. Ricky and Tony won the same amount of playoff games and both suffered a first round exit. I'm not blaming that on Ricky, or Tony......but I'm wondering how big of an "upgrade" Tony was from the last guy?

For any of the LaRussa fans, now that the season is over...What did Tony do to make this team better than 2020? What did he do better than Ricky? What did he do to put the team in a better chance to win than the manager across the dugout? Very curious to hear.

The entire offseason comes down to how much the Sox believe that, and what they are willing to do to change that. Are they OK just being "a team" in the playoffs or do they want get to a point where they are making 5 straight ALCS? The White Sox have won 3 Playoff series since 1917. 3

A lot, I was commenting on the idea of signing those players, and how it's not based in any kind of reality.

Don't let reality get in the way of a good time.

Very well said.

It tells me 3 things. 1. The Astros are still the kings of the AL 2. They’ve made 5 straight ALCS. The playoffs aren’t as “random” as some are making them out to be 3. I don’t feel great about losing to anyone. I want the Sox to reach that Houston level. This series showed me they aren’t there yet. The Sox aren’t on the Houston “tier” in terms of quality.

They’ve made 5 straight ALCS. I’ve seen enough.

What do the Sox clearly do better than the Astros? Seems like Houston plays a better defense, has a deeper offense, and their starting staff was just better than what Sox put out on the mound. They were outclassed. Yes, it’s one series…but when you look at what the Sox did against above .500 teams, the picture becomes more clear that they aren’t currently in that elite tier as of now.

ptac, I think there is plenty of reason to be "optimistic" about next season. The White Sox have a very good core. That didn't change because of the playoff failure. But thus far, during this "window," the Sox are 2-5 in the playoffs and quite frankly didn't look very competitive against the class of the AL right now in the Astros. A team like the Rays seemed to run into some bad luck and bounces against the Red Sox......the White Sox got steamrolled. The core is there. But it doesn't seem like that's going to take them to the World Series. They need to improve in other areas. They can't just blame injuries and bad luck in 2021, and come back with the exact same core. There is no reason to expect different results in 2022 with the same group.

...How would you judge it?

Decided to look more into this. I think RD can be slightly misleading, especially when teams only play a 6 game series in a season. Record against .500 teams in 2021: White Sox: 27-29 Giants: 35-28 Dodgers: 35-27 Rays: 48-42 Astros: 45-32 Red Sox: 46-48 Yankees: 48-43 Brewers: 32-36 So a handful of teams that were considered "very good" had records under .500 against the better teams in the league. But the "elite" seemed to have fairly impressive records against winning teams. The Sox need to get better against better teams, no other way around it.

You can look it for yourself, but here is Houston, the team that the Sox will eventually have to get past... Rays: 4-2 Red Sox: 5-2 Yankees: 2-4 Blue Jays: 4-2 White Sox: 5-2 Seattle: 11-8 A's: 11-8 Giants: 1-2 Dodgers: 2-2 That's a 45-32 record against above .500 teams (when the season ended)* in 2021.

You've proven you're not smart enough to comprehend the argument. It's ok.

I think this was going to happen all along, but I also don't trust Bob at this point. Eduardo Escobar was a White Sox in July according to Bob..

You're simply worng.

Again, worthless having a conversation with you. Never said anything of the sort, but instead of acknowledging other points, you decided to be....you.

In 2021 (regular season): OPS against Baltimore: .927 OPS against Cubs: .928 OPS against Twins: .866 OPS against Tigers: .812 OPS against Boston: .743 OPS against Indians: .689 OPS against Royals: .660 (I was wrong about that one) OPS against Astros: .659 OPS against Tampa: .648 But the point sort of remains....

It's pointless aruging with you. Time and time again you've shown once you take a position, you'll die on that hill, no matter how bad you look doing it. You're talking out of both sides of your mouth and disgreading anything anyone says because of ONE STAT, yet claiming Jimmy is too hung up on his one stat. Believe what you want. The fact of the matter is the Sox hit the ball on the ground too much this season, and that exact same issue showed up in the playoffs. The full, healthy lineup slugged .376 in the playoffs against a decent Astros pitching staff. But keep jerking yourself off to offensive numbers put up against the Royals and Tigers pitching staffs...

Which Jimmy did here, and you said he was only focusing on one stat too much...Kind of seems like you want it both ways here.

I mean, they had 20 straight singles at one point in the playoffs. The starters posting a 10.22 ERA was issue No. 1 for me, but I think Jimmy's point is fairly valid given what we saw in the playoffs, albeit a small sample size.

They absolutely hurt his value, I agree. However there may still be a team out there that is enamored with him enough to make a run at him....

That's the only way Keuchle becomes movable, but without looking at the entire league, I'm sure there is an abundance of bad contracts that could be moved by teams, Keuchle isn't that unique.