December 31, 20223 yr On 12/27/2022 at 8:18 PM, Jack Parkman said: Yeah and one of the teams that is better than them is Cleveland. Also, the ALC is and always has been a joke for the most part. If they're not contenders in the other 2 AL divisions then they're not contenders period. Winning the ALC by being the tallest dwarf is not an accomplishment worth celebrating. The Central since the turn of the century is the West’s equal and that’s just because of the Astros recent success. Before that the West just had the Angels in 2002 and the Rangers twice while the Central had the Sox, Tigers twice, Indians once (and a 2007 choke job from being twice) and Royals twice. Cleveland almost knocked off the Yankees this year. Detroit has had some strong years when they did not make the World Series. They are not an historic joke. Maybe just the last couple of years.
December 31, 20223 yr On 12/27/2022 at 7:18 PM, Jack Parkman said: Yeah and one of the teams that is better than them is Cleveland. This may seem like a dumb question, but why do you think Cleveland is a better team than the Sox?
December 31, 20223 yr 53 minutes ago, SoxBlanco said: This may seem like a dumb question, but why do you think Cleveland is a better team than the Sox? They were substantially better than the White Sox last year. They played 16 rookies last year, so they have a decent chance of being even better and way deeper this year. Their system is top 5 in baseball so even if people get hurt they have serious depth to call up and use for trades. They’re weak spots last year - power in the middle of the lineup, catcher - they have improved at those in free agency. They lost no one of importance to them in Free Agency. They have one of the best managers in baseball. They now have playoff experience also. If you go position by position, Cleveland is as good or better than the White Sox on paper across the whole roster. A couple might be narrow wins for the White Sox , but on paper that’s it. The White Sox had a negative run differential last year so the White Sox might not even be as good as their .500 record from last year. The White Sox lost their second best player and second best pitcher to free agency. The guys they added in free agency are just trying to make up for what they’ve lost, and they still need others to improve just to make up that ground. The White Sox have a bad system particularly at the upper levels, so it is difficult for them to fill in for injured players with callups or trades. There is a scenario where the White Sox are better, where literally all the problems the last 2 years were LaRussa related and they are super lucky with health this year. Grifol almost certainly would win manager of the year in this case. On paper this is Clearly Cleveland’s division. Someone has to seriously overperform to catch them. It can happen, but very few people outside of Sox fans and no projection systems are going to pick the White Sox this year.
December 31, 20223 yr 30 minutes ago, Balta1701 said: They were substantially better than the White Sox last year. They played 16 rookies last year, so they have a decent chance of being even better and way deeper this year. Their system is top 5 in baseball so even if people get hurt they have serious depth to call up and use for trades. They’re weak spots last year - power in the middle of the lineup, catcher - they have improved at those in free agency. They lost no one of importance to them in Free Agency. They have one of the best managers in baseball. They now have playoff experience also. If you go position by position, Cleveland is as good or better than the White Sox on paper across the whole roster. A couple might be narrow wins for the White Sox , but on paper that’s it. The White Sox had a negative run differential last year so the White Sox might not even be as good as their .500 record from last year. The White Sox lost their second best player and second best pitcher to free agency. The guys they added in free agency are just trying to make up for what they’ve lost, and they still need others to improve just to make up that ground. The White Sox have a bad system particularly at the upper levels, so it is difficult for them to fill in for injured players with callups or trades. There is a scenario where the White Sox are better, where literally all the problems the last 2 years were LaRussa related and they are super lucky with health this year. Grifol almost certainly would win manager of the year in this case. On paper this is Clearly Cleveland’s division. Someone has to seriously overperform to catch them. It can happen, but very few people outside of Sox fans and no projection systems are going to pick the White Sox this year. And yet, almost every expert, fan, and projection system had the Sox as the better team going into last season. Why were they all so wrong?
December 31, 20223 yr 13 minutes ago, SoxBlanco said: And yet, almost every expert, fan, and projection system had the Sox as the better team going into last season. Why were they all so wrong? Because the White Sox’s players were not as good as they were supposed to be. Projection systems didn’t know that Grandal’s back was blown out so they assumed he would still be an above average catcher, and they didn’t know how much Robert’s 2021 injury might affect his 2022 performance. Those two alone basically make up the difference between their projections and their final record. But…those projection systems already did say the White Sox were weak. The White Sox and the Cardinals showed as the weakest projected division winners, so it’s not surprising at all that they were vulnerable. And…projection systems typically underestimate young teams because they have no data on them. Cleveland was a young team, the White Sox were an old team, that’s the setup where a miss is more likely. If we follow that rule again this year - Cleveland is still one of the youngest teams in the league, the White Sox are fairly old overall (although a little younger than last year). Anyway, as I said, Cleveland is flat out better on paper. The White Sox were better on paper last year and turned out to not be. Cleveland could underperform this year, it’s baseball frankly you can’t count out the Royals and Tigers yet, anything is possible. Zips, for example since I have it open, got 4/6 division winners right and the only 2 playoff teams it missed were the White Sox (out) and Phillies (in). It isn’t hopeless, it’s not hopeless for KC and Detroit yet. It is absolutely an uphill climb. On paper, Cleveland is absolutely a better team. Baseball isn’t played on paper, but you also can’t ignore that.
December 31, 20223 yr 2 hours ago, SoxBlanco said: This may seem like a dumb question, but why do you think Cleveland is a better team than the Sox? Cause they are?
January 1, 20233 yr Ok, hear me out, was there ever *actually* a window under these goofs? Or just a bunch of blow hards blowing hot air?..
January 1, 20233 yr First post of 1/1/23. Let’s go White Sox!! Let’s win the AL Central and go to the dance baybee! Edited January 1, 20233 yr by The Beast
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