Hard not to be happy and optimistic about this start. We just won a series against a likely playoff team while pitching Velasquez, Kuechel, and Lambert. 

47 minutes ago, Ozzieguy13 said:

Hard not to be happy and optimistic about this start. We just won a series against a likely playoff team while pitching Velasquez, Kuechel, and Lambert. 

Toronto, NYY, Boston, TB and perhaps the Angels and Twins might have something to say about that…

11 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

Toronto, NYY, Boston, TB and perhaps the Angels and Twins might have something to say about that…

and here's caufield right on time ready to bring you down to his misery level.

Edited April 15, 20224 yr by Baron

Keep winning series and everything will work out.  If we can hold things together with the currently very thin pitching staff I'm very optimistic.

15 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

Toronto, NYY, Boston, TB and perhaps the Angels and Twins might have something to say about that…

You are a silly man

gotta be happy with the overall product - offense is doing well which i feel is kinda strange (correct me if im wrong, but it always feels like we are kinda bummish in april). Pitching has performed even with shitty offseason and bad starters and injuries.

Just hope we still end up making a trade and strengthening our staff

Other than Leury I have no complaints. 

I'm pleased with the performance so far, especially considering not having Lynn, Moncada, and Kelly, and missing Giolito and Pollock early.

The team has won four games without Lynn and without Giolito for a start.  A rotation of Giolito, Lynn, Cease, Kopech, and Keuchel is much better than what we rolled out recently.

The bullpen, which has looked good so far, will be even better once Kelly arrives.

The offense will improve dramatically with Moncada and Pollock returning.

Now if only we can keep Leury out of most games...

I was happy with what we got from Keuchel. If he stays our 5th starter and gives us all year what he gave against Seattle, I think Sox will easily win the division and be serious World Series contenders. But that’s assuming (hoping??) he’s our 5th starter all season and we keep four starters better than Dallas and keep him as 5th man.

I also think tonight with Cease will show a lot. Has he really taken another significant step forward, or was his 1st outing  just a beating Detroit thing?

Just follow each loss with a four game winning streak and all is good. 

Obviously, this is a very talented team. Two things can hold them back: Lack of depth in starting pitching and serious injuries. It would be nice if the FO can pick up a veteran pitcher at the trade deadline. Otherwise, the team has the potential to do something special.

Once Giolito and Lynn are back, if both of them plus Cease and Kopech stay healthy, this team will be hard to beat. At some point, one of Keuchel, VV or Cueto will earn the #5 spot. The bullpen has been pretty good except for Liam, and you have to think he'll get straightened out.

The weak spot is going to be the offense vs good RHP with plus sliders. Pollock and Grandal are going to have to carry the load against those guys, and Moncada needs to come back at least as good as he was last year.

2 hours ago, Ozzieguy13 said:

Hard not to be happy and optimistic about this start. We just won a series against a likely playoff team while pitching Velasquez, Kuechel, and Lambert. 

A 4-2 start with the injuries we have had it pretty much as good as could be asked for.

Sorry...I thought the thread title was Deep Thoughts.  I apologize.

2 hours ago, Baron said:

and here's caufield right on time ready to bring you down to his misery level.

Why do we have to be optimistic for the M’s?  Sympathy for Kelenic?

Every projection system has them in the low 80’s for win because they won so many one and two run games last year.  Rodriguez is going to be a star eventually, but they still have a ways to go.

 

Fine, the Mariners are clearly going to make the playoffs this year just to prove that the White Sox can actually beat playoff teams, lol.

Let’s see how we do with Tampa, Cleveland pitching and Minny first.

Any thoughts last year at this point were PTSD related.  It wasn’t until May 7th that the Sox gained the division lead.

Edited April 15, 20224 yr by caulfield12

On 4/15/2022 at 7:15 AM, Baron said:

and here's caufield right on time ready to bring you down to his misery level.

It's fun to rack up emoji pts. by making fun of others isn't it ?

At least caulfield was talking baseball. You know the thing a White Sox message board was meant to do.

What exactly is so miserable about saying other teams might have something to say about Seattle's playoff chances ? He never said he wasn't optimstic because of beating Seattle.

You actually seem to be the miserable one. One of the wolfpack of posters who pile on the guys everyone piles on like caulfield and Parkman. Makes you feel like a man I guess, running with the pack and taking bites out of people.

Edited April 17, 20223 yr by CaliSoxFanViaSWside

On 4/15/2022 at 12:10 PM, caulfield12 said:

Why do we have to be optimistic for the M’s?  Sympathy for Kelenic?

Every projection system has them in the low 80’s for win because they won so many one and two run games last year.  Rodriguez is going to be a star eventually, but they still have a ways to go.

 

Fine, the Mariners are clearly going to make the playoffs this year just to prove that the White Sox can actually beat playoff teams, lol.

Didn't the M's overachieve their pythagorean more than the SOX underachieved theirs in 21?

IOW, wasn't the M's 2021 record artificial?

1 hour ago, Two-Gun Pete said:

Didn't the M's overachieve their pythagorean more than the SOX underachieved theirs in 21?

IOW, wasn't the M's 2021 record artificial?

It was more than that even. They batted like a 130 wrc+ in the 7th and 8th innings in close games. It was fun and thrilling but pretty much a total fluke. They will struggle to win 82 games this year they have big holes unless Kelenic and Julio are stars. No indications they are even replacement level right now.

Of course, Ray’s 2021 season will not be a mirage, Paxton will come back healthy, Haniger won’t get hurt as usual, Crawford/Lewis/Rodriguez/Kelenic all get MVP votes and Brash wins ROY….then they’re a playoff team for sure!

Too early to really judge. The offense will get it going eventually but the off-season concern about facing right handed pitching is looking real.

About vs. right handed pitching.  There are some reasons to think it will get better: Grandal is off to his usual slow start; Moncada is out; Pollock is out and his career splits are almost as good vs. RH pitching as left (just less power)

Pollack

vs. RH: 279/338/464/802

vs.LH: 285/338/572/859

 

On 4/15/2022 at 4:18 PM, chitownsportsfan said:

Other than Leury I have no complaints. 

Which is why Leury is in the team, otherwise what would we have to complain about! ?

On 4/15/2022 at 4:37 PM, NWINFan said:

Obviously, this is a very talented team. Two things can hold them back: Lack of depth in starting pitching and serious injuries. It would be nice if the FO can pick up a veteran pitcher at the trade deadline. Otherwise, the team has the potential to do something special.

Agreed, this team is good enough as is to make the post season, but unless the starting pitching gets strengthened before then it will be hard to progress. But a 6-3 start while missing your 1-2 starting pitchers and your starting 3B  is better than I was expecting.