Dominikk85

The team is on a good way but there were still too many holes. The acquisitions to fill RF and DH did not work and cease and reylo did not take the step forward that could be hoped for plus the kopech situation. The team did slightly overperform and some regression could come next year (anderson babip, jose will be good but not that good at age 34 and Keuchel got a little lucky too, maybe some relievers like colome decline a bit too) but on the other hand the team will add Vaughn, maybe a competent RF and a starter plus hopefully kopech coming back which will improve the team. I would be very happy if they replicate this year's win pace of 94-95 wins next year.

The sox recently invested into analytics on the hitting side by signing guys like Johanson and lisle but I think the pitching development was really subpar. The sox had lots of pitching prospects in the top100 the last 4 years and a lot of them busted or got hurt and the Sox play 2020 with only 2 reliable starters. Guys like Rey lo, cease did not really develope and others like fulmer and Hansen failed completely. Even giolito did stagnate before he made a change on his own. What needs to happen that the sox pitching development gets up to speed? Should they hire a driveline guy and give him full control?

The biggest issue except for everyone walking guys was crochet getting hurt. The sox would have needed two innings out of crochet. Dunning struggled the last weeks already and thus his leash was always going to be short. That being said I would have preferred crochet opening for dunning but I can also understand the thinking of hoping for 2-3 innings out of dunning.

Hamels is 36 and only pitched 3 innings this year due to a shoulder injury. He was a fantastic pitcher and still pretty good 2019 but I'm scared of a 36 year old with a shoulder injury. As a cheap reclamation project sure but not as a guy you rely on.

I agree. He truly seems to be an elite athlete when he is fit and you could dream of a young Yoenis cespedes with him. Hit tool probably needs work to get there but you are not getting a guy with that power, arm and speed often. A question is of course if he can hold that weight or whether he will gain it again.

Oh yeah I see. That should be easier to correct than a lack of spin rate though. Not sure how far the sox are with pitch design though.

No way as I said in the other thread, he won games at a 94 win clip with 2 and a half starting pitchers and narrowly lost a best of 3 series against the 2 seed. People say "because of jerry" but there is simply no precedent in baseball history that a manager coming off a losing season has such a successful season and gets fired. That has simply never happened white sox or any other team. He is back 100%. Of course he did make a couple mistakes but bottom line his team still performed much better than even the most optimistic projection said.

Cease FB spin rate is elite at 2500 (95th percentile), he just has no idea where it is going.

That sucks. Hopefully he can avoid TJ. It sounds bad but I would try conservative treatment first so you can keep him on the roster and send him down instead of 15 months of service time getting lost on the DL.

Really neither has done enough for that. That doesn't mean they can't ever but they need to earn it by tearing up the minors first. The sox aren't in a position anymore were anyone who does halfway decent in the minors eventually gets called up, at this point prospects need to earn it because there aren't as many free spots anymore.

Yeah probably. I think it's better to err on the side of too much pitching, on paper it might look overcrowded but in reality if you have 6 solid starters there might be a crunch the first couple starts but then it usually gets sorted out quickly.

Moncada also had some bad luck with line outs the last days. Obviously his power is currently compromised (a healthy and fit moncada would have hit a few of those high liners out of the park) due to his physical problems but there was some bad luck involved too.

An issue is the sox have so many question marks. Dunning, cease, kopech and even Reylo all could step up next season but neither of them is a sure thing. Realistically you can hope for two of them stepping up so you would need one more but in an ideal case 3 of them step up and the sox rotation is pretty solid. Of course also the worst case could happen and only one of them steps up and then you need two. Lots of uncertainty.

Yeah you are right, cease got super lucky the first half. But dunning actually looked solid in August before faltering in September

Rodon basically did start the inning, he came in with bases empty after the homer. This was the perfect spot for rodon if there is such a thing for him.

The sox just don't have a 3rd starter and it was always clear this is going to be a pen game. Obviously you hope dunning gives you two or 3 but he always was going to be gone after the first trouble. It was some risk but it could have worked if some of the relievers got their job done. There was really no other way to manage that today. Had he left dunning on and he gave up 3 anyone here would have complained too

Rick tried to play chess but his rook and queen played like pawns:).

I think it depends on what was available and what is the price. Not mortgaging the future is good but the future isn't forever either, I.e 1 year is 20-25% of a typical competitive window and shouldn't be thrown away easily. Thus it depends on what you have to give up. You don't want to give up a key piece but clinging on to 40 fv guys for "the future" might not be that smart either. Hahn definitely should trade spare pieces like Rutherford and sheets before they lose any value or even get rule 5ed but of course you need to get back something and not total crap. If Lynn was offered for let's say sheets and Rutherford hahn definitely should have pulled the trigger but probably that wasn't on the table.

Sox didn't come through in some situations but they also had some bad luck with hard hit balls and line outs while most hits seem to fall for the As. Also the tight zone helps the patient As more than the free swinging sox hitters.

Ricky did some mistakes but this game he really managed great. He pulled dunning when he got in trouble and then went with his best guys stretching them maybe a batter too long but not terrible either. This game there were two problems and neither is on ricky: 1. The sox don't have a third starter 2. The usually good relievers didn't find the zone Nothing he could do here. Sure it sucks rodon had to pitch but he brought in rodon with 2 out and bases empty, a perfect situation that doesn't get any easier.

Rodon was brought in at the right time, with two out in the 4th and nobody on, doesn't get more low leverage than that. If he needs to pitch that was the time. Unfortunately nobody got the job done.

I think cease has to pitch now. Not much left in the pen

In hindsight it was a mistake to not trade for a starter but cease and dunning looked not bad in the first half but especially cease struggled more than expected in the second half.

At that rate a position player pitches in the 8th

Well if you have a bullpen game in the first inning you have to leave some guys out a batter too long and hope for the best, otherwise you have nobody left in the 7th. Sucks that the sox only have two real starters.