Two-Gun Pete

Oh, I agree with you with your assessment of Dunning. But all offseason, posters were telling us how Dunning sucks at baseball, and to give 6 of his seasons away for 1 season of Lynn was not even worth an afterthought. Also, if Dunning, a rookie coming off an injury, and without ++ stuff and without ++ velo was able to take away jobs from Cease, Lopez, Rodon, and Gonzalez, what does it say about those guys? Especially in a division race, AND THEN a playoff series?!? That NONE of them could "cowboy up" enough to take their jobs back... This is why I wanted more SP depth, and why I believe that this team needs to go .600-ish in games started by #s 1-3, while hoping to go ~.500 in Cease/Rodon/#6/7 SP-started games, in order to make the postseason.

Isn't that word "queue?" (Not being critical, just wanting to be sure I understand you.) Regardless, in the day and age of Three True Outcomes Baseball, Cease was among the worst SP in MLB in BB/ last season. Rodon, as usual, ate his way through 2020. BOTH got skunked by Dane Dunning, whom I was led to believe sucks out loud at baseball. So, if Dunning sucks at baseball, and he skunked Cease/Rodon/Lopez, then by inference, those three must suck out loud at baseball as well. Agreed with the bolded. Cease, Rodon, Lopez, Kopech, and Crochet all have ability. They all might become Golden Gods at baseball, or they might suck out loud. While I recognize his potential, I for one am not at all excited about "Dylan." I worry that he might suck, and walk the fucking yard (as he's done, going back to his time in AAA), which might keep this team from winning. I would jave preferred there to be other, more reliable options to take his job away, if he can't find the strike zone. We'll see. I maintain that this team needs to make hay when Giolito/Keuchel/Lynn are on the mound, so that Cease and Rodon don't sink this ship.

I would say next to nothing, but not "literally nothing." One wonders how this board, and ALL of White Sox Nation would have reacted if Ricky made those lineup choices, and if HIS players made the same kind of mistakes. I HATED the TLR hire with the fire of 1000 suns. But I was lead to believe that the (snicker) "Hall of Fame Baseball Person" would have made the right lineup choices, and that his players would have been prepared. Here's hoping that they get this sorted. I have scant patience for this particular manager to have time to figure it out. Hes supposed to be a Golden God at this, so he should prove it. Exactly this. This team needs to curbstomp opponents when they're in this position, because they decided to hope and wish and pray that 2-4 talented but unproven pitchers can find the strike zone with road map, instead of fortifying the prime weakness in the roster. It will be difficult to win on a regular basis when the #s 4/5 are on the mound. So, this team HAS TO make hay on the other 3 days, IMO.

See? We can all be excited about the underlined part of your post, while ALSO recognizing the bolded part. When someone posts about the bolded, they're not "negative," or whatever other dimestore analysis Pollyanna-types use to make themselves feel better. I'm excited about the potential of this team. I also think that they made the margin of error thinner than it had to be; they didn't need to spend a pile of money to widen their margin, IMO. They simply had to make better decisions with certain aspects of the team this offseason. That said, here's looking forward to 2021 with anticipation!

Just don't arouse the anger of one Nick Madrigal. He's coming to gitcha.

Oh, I get you. I think that being a charter franchise, that generally has punched below their weight, and has had many documentable mistakes over its recent history can weigh on fans, just as the promise of this team's potential can lift us up. I still think there's a balance that can be struck, though there are those that lean either sacchariney sweet, or a bit negative; Some of the former group tend to clutch their pearls at the latter. Yet, that site lingers... Like a case of the clap.

In 2021, Nick Madrigal will lead the league in OBP, Batting Average, and mound-chargings. To open the 2nd Half, Madrigal will end Verlander's career by charging the mound, after Verlander senselessly brushes him back in the 1st game after the ASB. The ensuing melee will finish up with Madrigal facing off against Jose Altuve in a MLB bantamweight title bout.

Two things that come front of mind while reading this thread: 1. These so-called "new posters" seem to come with built-in knowledge and experience and prejudices on this site. I wonder who they were before they got banned, now that they've come back to this site. 2. I'm of the mind that yes, we can be optimistic about this teams chances. I also think that we can be colored by this orgs failures in the past, as well as their failures to fix very fixable flaws. It really ain't that hard. If you want nothing but positivity, and Thought Police-enforced sacchariney-sweet happiness, here you go: Your Home For Mindless Posìtivity

Yeah, this would be "holy shit" bad. Trading for a 30 year old replacement level player would be bad. I believe that Cody Heuer's floor is as a solid MLB middle reliever, while his ceiling is as a MLB-average closer. The latter of which is but one reason out of many why I disagreed with buying a closer this offseason. To trade away Heuer+ for a 30 year old mediocrity would be really, really bad. The sad thing is that given this FO's history, it wouldn't surprise me if they did something this stupid. [I just hope I haven't jinxed this...]

Yeah, I saw this happening, too. Just having Hicks/Goldman, Mack, and Smith on defense, plus A Robinson on the offense are probably enough to keep this team out of the Top 5 picks. That is, if they're all healthy and engaged in playing well. At the same time, I don't want the clowns who spent piles of cash and other assets to get Glennon/Trubisky/Foles/Dalton to ever pick up another QB. I don't want them to squander any more resources in their moronic, quixotic quest for a QB. Because they'll inevitably spend time/money/picks on another piece of crap that'll have to be replaced by the next Front Office and coaching staff. This is why I thought it best to fire everyone in the FO and coaching staff, trade everything away that wasn't nailed down, and start the inevitable rebuild. Like it or not, its gonna happen. Unfortunately, as you said, this team will be in purgatory for a few years with this [snicker] "brain trust."

1. It was TWO 3rd round picks and a 4th. A decent front office should be able to find AT LEAST ONE starter for the roster, if not two out of that group of picks given away, and perhaps a special teams player. Especially picks that were HIGH in the draft, as the BEARS' were that year. When a team accumulates such mistakes [as Pace's front office has], it leads to salary cap hell, and productive players given away for nothing. 2. Well, you should care about this. It shows that Pace can neither think tactically, nor strategically. It also makes him the sucker of the entire league, which weakens his future negotiating ability with enemy front offices and player agents. When a GM is too stoopid to understand the situation at hand, AND he negotiates against himself, every other GM and player agent will try to rip him off. Over time, it increases the cost of doing business for the team that is unfortunate to have him working for them. 3. Pace played D-Line in college, so it makes sense that he knows defensive talent fairly well. Pace also worked for a New Orleans team that had a HOF QB in its roster, so he never ever had to bother with looking for a QB. What is further damaging to the BEARS and to Pace's reputation is that he was so stoopid and egotistical, that he failed to listen to others and to seek help in making an unfamiliar decision. It is widely reported that he did NOT consult the rest of the room when he honed in on Trubisky. A true leader utilizes the talent of the people around him, in order to come up with the best possible solution to a problem. Pace knew NOTHING about scouting QBs, yet STILL went his own way, and negotiated against himself, and crapped his pants. There is actually nothing admirable about the Trubisky pick, nor any of the process that went into it. I knew back then that Pace would be a failure of a GM, and have waited ever since 2017 for him to be fired. It is inevitable at this point. And YES, stoopidly cutting Cutler when there was no other option available, AND giving Mike Glennon $45MM to suck out loud, AND trading up to get Trubisky, AND trading away a pick for the right to overpay Foles, AND overpaying for Dalton are all unforced errors. And yes, you're right: The BEARS have been set back 4-5 years or more.

Good to hear you're OK. And, there's really nothing more charming than someone being the sole arbiter of taste, and the thought police. Carry on, then.

Would other fan bases also get the chance to drink in his awesome BB/9, as well? He's got talent, but he hasn't lived up to it, just yet.

Hey, thanks for sharing. Sorry your sensibilities got hurted. I don't think this too outrageous, actually, given what Balta's posted here. It's probably around the 90th percentile of likely outcomes, but its certainly possible for him. Well, take out the injury-shortened/COVID-impacted 2020, and I'm counting 13.9 fWAR from 2016-19. In other words, an average of 3.475 fWAR over that timeframe. If Quintana can match this, he's the steal of the offseason at $8MM/1year. Hell, if he only provides HALF of that [1.74 fWAR], he's easily worth $8MM. But yeah, Hendriks instead. Plus Cease/Lopez/Rodon.

Why did they squander their FA wad on a luxury purchase in Hendriks, instead of picking up some desperately needed SP depth? Cease has sucked at baseball, and has needed to be sent down to MiLB for him to find the fucking strike zone for awhile now. Lopez has sucked at baseball. And Rodon has sucked at baseball. Between Jimenez's injury, and Cease continually shitting his pants, all I can say is that this is not good.

Dylan Cease, please throw strikes today. Please stop fucking walking the yard. Please start to live up to your ability level, and give we the fans something to smile about on this dark, dark day. Once again, Dylan Cease, stop fucking walking the yard. Fucking throw fucking strikes today, and EVERYDAY you defend the colors of the White Sox. That is all.

Agreed. Going into 2021 with 3 SP options that were among the worst in MLB in 2020 becomes more problematic when you lose Eloy's production. I still wouldn't make a hasty trade for a replacement, just yet, though. Hahn would be negotiating from a position of vulnerability. And depth would no doubt suffer MORE if they were to make a trade. My preference would be to try to either use temporary internal solutions, or in a pinch, make a FA signing for someone currently on the street to try to band-aid it together until the TDL. Then, reassess. Maybe a youngster picks up his head in MiLB, or maybe Cespedes or Puig become more attractive between now and then. But trading for an OF NOW would be panicky and reactive, IMO.

And a lawsuit against a ballplayer is going to HELP the business? In the day and age of "Me Too," one would have anticipated that a criminal complaint would have been more appropriate. As I understand it, the DA has to keep the name anonymous prior to trial. It's called "Crime Victim Anonymity," based on the 2004 Crime Victims' Rights Act. But you and I agree that this allegation should be resolved before Puig returns to MLB.

The odd thing about this allegation, is that the incident [if true] is squarely inside the statute of limitations for that sort of incident. It IS curious why the alleged victim has NOT gone to the LA county sheriff's department with this complaint, but rather, is suing for cash instead. I make no suppositions insofar as whether or not this happened. I just wonder why she hasn't sought a criminal complaint on this. I'd wanted the SOX to look into this in the past. But I'd agree that, absent resolution on this incident, I would not want him signed here, or really, ANYWHERE in MLB. If this was resolved, then sure: I'd take a flier on him. I wouldn't make a trade for anyone, though. [Again, I make no suppositions as to whether or not this happened, and I believe that anyone who makes such a report should have it investigated thoroughly, with the proper legal outcome(s) as the result.]

Or, there's the connecting thread that all those guys sucked out loud at baseball, and couldn't play dead, except for Semien. I think my calling KW/RH "fooking stoopid" for trading Semien and a pile of other stuff for jeff fooking samardzjia (sp?) got me banned from WSI for awhile. [Those imbeciles at WSI were still all sacchariney-sweet on "In Kenny We Trust" back then.] But, to your point, yes, this org has sucked a horse's ass at teaching players how to defend. I think that's cogent in terms of discussing Jimenez's future position, if this org can't get better at helping him get better at defense.

I disagree with you on Nagy. Its true he has SOME positive attributes that help to make a good head coach. (He has a positive outlook, hes a good communicator, and his teams play for him & support him.) But Nagy has MORE attributes that lead him to be pretty mediocre: he seems disinterested in supervising other coaches, his teams are generally soft and lack toughness, his teams lack the fit & finish of championship teams, he's too accommodating and permissive as a task master, his play designs are often too cute, and in general, he really just wants to be an unsupervised OC, instead of the CEO of everything that occurs on-field. As for Pace, he also has some positive attributes: he's positive in the media, he's not afraid to be aggressive in pursuing a player, & he has a good eye for DEFENSIVE players, especially in the middle rounds of a draft. But, he also lacks the understanding of roster economics, he fails at asset allocation, he gives up draft picks like a $10 whore, he constantly has to re-acquire positions where he just acquired a player previously, he can't think tactically or strategically, and he fails to seek help in areas that he's lacking understanding. Honestly, the best thing for the BEARS would be to fire both of them. The best thing for Nagy himself and Pace himself, is for them to get fired. That way, maybe they can learn from their mistakes, & get better at their craft. Hell, Belichick got fired, and he's pretty much the greatest football mind of our generation. In my mind, both Nagy and Pace are too high in the team structure, given their skill sets and knowledge bases. Pace should be a scouting director, not a GM. Nagy should either be a position coach or OC, not a head coach.

Meh, all he has to do is to provide more than [snicker] 67 WRC+ to outhit The Legend of Nomar Mazara, and his glorious 2020 season. And yes, Eaton does have to remain healthy, and provide positive DRS as well. That said, I share the concerns others seem to have for Robert. I get that it's "just spring training," but when he and Billy Hamilton are within 5 points of OPS of each other, I get mildly uncomfortable. I would like him to snap out of whatever has stopped his bat from working as it should.

Yeah, I'd known about Fulmer's time at Driveline, which was BEFORE 2019. To my recollection, he would have trained with Katz AFTER 2019/before 2020, during that offseason.

It really didn't have to be this way. Given the truly reasonable prices on FA innings-eaters, its laughable that the plan was to "wish and hope" that 2 of Cease/Rodon/Lopez stop walking the fucking yard every 5th day. For less than what they paid to Kelvin Herrera, the SOX could have signed Q, Jake Arrieta, or Chris Archer. For slightly more, they could have signed Odorizzi or Smyly. In other words, they could have plopped ~150 to 180 IP of ~3.7-ish to ~4-ish FIP smack dab in the middle of the rotation. This would then cause another youngster [Cease or Rodon] to be used as additional SP depth, instead of having, like ZERO SP depth.

During the 2019-2020 offseason, Fulmer went to work with Katz, after Katz had helped to turn around Giolito.