Dominikk85

They need a DH, a RF and another SP. -DH will come from internal (Vaughn) -SP could come from internal (kopech) but depending on the number of innings he can throw and the development of cease another guy might be needed. Ideally you have giolito, keuchel, dunning, cease and kopech being the guys but kopech could be limited to about 120 innings and we don't know how much cease can improve the command. They sox just don't have much pitching depth -RF has to come from outside the org. There is no standout prospect for the OF in the org and mazara doesn't seem like the answer even if some health issues are resolved. Engel has done a good job but he isn't an everyday corner outfielder.

I like it. Obviously the sox could easily lose that series especially if they keep hitting like the last 7 games but still oakland at least has 2 left handed starters and an OK but not super great offense. The sox need to score early though because he As have a lights out pen, so they sox need to score multiple runs the first 5 innings The As are not an easy opponent but definitely prefer them over the Yankees or Indians.

I think Melvin is a better manager than ricky but the award always goes to a guy improving a team from sub .500. The last guy who came from over .500 was Showalter in 2014 (85 wins). The Rays simply were too good in 2019 with their 96 wins. I think that is stupid but that is the way it is. The voters are not going to see a guy who lost the division in ricky but a guy who turned a .450 team into a. 580 team even though that is not the whole story of course.

I also don't think he should win it but he is going to be. MOTY is always a guy who takes a sub 500 team to a playoff spot. Kevin cash might be the better manager but the Rays won 96 games last year so he is not going to win it Recent examples: 2019 baldelli 78 wins to playoffs 2018 Melvin 75 wins to playoffs 2017 molitor 59 wins to playoffs Yeah last week was bad but the whole body of work is judged and that is still better than expected. Manager of the year is a sub 500 to playoff guy every year and really ricky is the only candidate who fulfills that even though I think that is stupid.

The last week was terrible and Ricky made some bad decisions but you are fooling yourself if you think he will get fired. The sox team overall did outperform their talent despite the last 6 or 7 games. Not saying the sox don't have talent but they were projected for about mid 80s wins and they won 35 games which is the equivalent of 94 games. That means the team did perform at least 8 or 9 games better over a full season or about 4 games better over the shortened season (zips had them win 31 games). Now of course ricky did make bad decisions and people will say you have to look at circumstance but there really is no precedent in baseball history were a manager of a projected mid 80s win team won mid 90s games gets fired. I don't think ricky is a great manager but get used to the fact that he is coming back 99% next year. Next year he will be under the microscope though, expectations are higher and if he is let's say 5 games under .500 at all star break he could get axed. But for this year get over the fact that Ricky is not only keeping his job but also win manager or the year because no AL team improved as much as the sox and no AL team beat the projections by as much as the sox.

I also would not want to face Cleveland. The weakness of the sox hitters is plate discipline (both lots of Ks and not a lot of walks) and the indians are the kind of pitchers who can abuse that. Sox hitters need pitchers who make mistakes so their power plays and the indians pitchers just don't make many of those.

Sox are now set to play yankees because of the Indians loss. Indians lost 8 0 to pirates, I wonder if they were tanking.

I love the fastball. It is straight and doesnt move but it has tons of spin and a good axis creating lift and tons of swings and misses (17% swstr). He just needs to make sure to throw it up in the zone where is is very tough to hit while down the straightness of it will not play so well. He also has surprising control already, not super fine command but around the zone most of the time. I wonder what to do next year. You have to try making him a starter but those pitches in high A would be a travesty. Could you develope him into a starter in the majors over a multi inning role next year? Or couldn't he really develope his third pitch here? He could be solid as a 2.5 pitch guy (like denilson lamet) but that wouldn't be ideal.

I like the replay and would like robo ump at home but hate those calls where a player is off the base a 1/100th second

Don't want to be nit picky here but madrigal almost ran into another out, if the throw at home is on target he is out by 15 feet. It was two outs though (and EE up) so it wasn't that bad.

Are the Indians tanking to avoid the Yankees? Down 8 0 against pirates.

That is some bad throwing.

Or he hates the cubs more:)

You are right, read that wrong. I think that current spot is not the worst thing then, As are not easy but definitely prefer them over the yankees. Still hope they win at least one out of the last two for the confidence of the team.

Most important is imo to avoid third place because that puts them in the bracket with cleveland, NY and tampa. The other bracket you get the twins, As and astros which is clearly the easier path to the WS.

This should definitely seal that cease is not starting. Make him a reliever for the postseason

It will be either be the As, yankees or astros. I think the best outcome would be second, the As won a lot of games but while their pen is lights out neither their lineup nor their rotation are fearful. The yankees would be not good to face as they got most of their injured guys back. Astros weren't great but I still think they have an extra gear.

I don't think it affects the players confidence, every team has a 5 game losing streak over 162 games, it is just at a bad time. The rondon decision was bad but also consider that the sox had very few off days recently and coming up and the pen has been taxed a lot. I would have liked to see crochet there but he might not been available. Ricky didn't always manage the pen great but he also had to use it a lot because the back end starters are so bad

Maybe Zero is not accurate but I would say under 10%. I mean has there been a single case where a manager wins sub 75 games one year and over 90 the next getting fired the very same year? Ricky made some bad decisions but in the end they still outperformed the zips/pecota preseason projection by several games. There is simply almost no precedent of a manager getting fired in that scenario. Managers have been (rarely) fired after 90 win seasons but that was when the team was coming of several 90 win seasons and missed the playoffs. I think Ricky very likely keeps his job even if the white sox would be swept and if they advance a round obviously he is brought back 100%. The only way I see him getting fired is if the sox lose the next 3 and then get embarrassingly swept like losing every game by 5+ runs. But as it stands now the sox will have a drastically improved record compared to last season and Rick is also the front runner to win the manager of the year.

There is a zero percent chance that ricky gets fired after this year, even if they lose all the remaining games they still had a 92 win pace season and ricky has a good chance to win manager of the year. Yeah he also had a good team but it still beat the preseason projections by about 6 or 7 games. There simply is no precedent for a team projected for 85 wins winning 92+ games firing their manager. This is a talented team but by no means they were considered a juggernaut like the Dodgers or astros and they do have some big holes too (back of rotation, bullpen depth). There is a reason why projection systems had the sox around mid 80s wins. However I think next season he could be on a somewhat short leash, not after a bad month but if he is let's say 6 games under .500 at the all star break next year he could get fired.

Bummer hasn't pitched in 6 weeks either

Hahn has to be blamed just as much for not getting a starter at the deadline. The sox pen is overworked since they only have two starters who can go more than 5 innings which means you have to pitch bullpen innings by bad guys.

It is only partially his fault since the sox pen has been overworked a lot recently and some guys just need a breather but still rodon should not pitch here, he has no control over the ball.

Why is he throwing 7 fastballs in a row? Doesn't he have a breaking ball?

Madrigal has played the last 10 games in a row while Sanchez got 14 ABs in September,I wouldn't say that is too much, especially since he produced a .940 ops during that time. Now obviously that is not even close to his skill level but he neither has hit a lot, nor has he hurt the sox when he did. Madrigal probably just needs a breather here