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Lightning in a Bottle; Sox have amazing year?


greg775
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Some of the fans on this board are smart fans of all baseball teams and statistical probabilities merged in with old fashioned traits of teams such as enthusiasm, want-to, or our fave 'will to win.'

So I am asking ... do any of you have a strong feeling (keeping fandom out of it) the Sox "could" be a surprise team this year? A team in which all the major rebuild pieces excel and the roster clicks to where the Sox could dominate the Central and make SERIOUS noise in the playoffs?

I'm so negative about the team now I'm not a good one to measure the team's "possible" upside. But some of you understand trends of teams, etc.

So are ANY of you thinking Sox could be THE surprise team of baseball this year and have the bodies to win, win, win?? Any reason for hope it clicks and Sox check in and complete the rebuild deal??

Thanks. Notice I have interjected no opinion on the team's strengths and weaknesses. I'm just all ears, listening, reading ...

Edited by greg775
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Sure, it could happen. There’s still a lot of talent on the team, so the upside is there. And maybe the new manager and staff are able to harness all that talent and turn it into success.

Realistically, though, my expectations are not very high. They have too many “if” scenarios where they’d need those outcomes to be very favorable. It’s a lot to ask and a lot to overcome, and I don’t particularly like those odds.

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21 minutes ago, greg775 said:

Some of the fans on this board are smart fans of all baseball teams and statistical probabilities merged in with old fashioned traits of teams such as enthusiasm, want-to, or our fave 'will to win.'

So I am asking ... do any of you have a strong feeling (keeping fandom out of it) the Sox "could" be a surprise team this year? A team in which all the major rebuild pieces excel and the roster clicks to where the Sox could dominate the Central and make SERIOUS noise in the playoffs?

I'm so negative about the team now I'm not a good one to measure the team's "possible" upside. But some of you understand trends of teams, etc.

So are ANY of you thinking Sox could be THE surprise team of baseball this year and have the bodies to win, win, win?? Any reason for hope it clicks and Sox check in and complete the rebuild deal??

Thanks. Notice I have interjected no opinion on the team's strengths and weaknesses. I'm just all ears, listening, reading ...

Yes - its absolutely possible. They need stars to play like stars (and be healthy), have positive health, and have some young players / other positive surprises. It is certainly possible. For example: Moncada, Anderson, Robert, Eloy, Vaughn play to their hype and are healthy. That alone has a MASSIVE impact on production.  

I will say loss of Liam is real tough and while I half expect White Sox to do nothing - it really will be pathetic if they don't look at things and decide they have to dig deeper and spend more (even if it is for '23) only before we get into spring training to upgrade this club.  

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With perfect health and players performing to their high-end ceilings....the team could be very good. If you take each players best year, and insert all of those numbers into a lineup of Anderson-Moncada-Eloy-Robert-Vaughn-Grandal-Benintendi, that team can hit the hell out of the baseball. Same goes for the pitching staff.

The problem, of course, is that both of those things are totally unrealistic. Staying on the field has been a huge problem for most of the guys listed above, and we haven't seen those "high ceiling" numbers from a number of them in a while. 

So do with that what you will. 

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I think they will be better than last year which isn’t saying a lot. First, they have to stay healthy. Second, some attitude adjustments are in order especially from Moncada and Anderson. Third, who will be the closer now that Liam is out probably for the year. Fourth, I hope I’m wrong but I think the loss of Abreu is going to hurt, who is going to step up and be the leader. Fifth point, who is the rightfielder? 6th point and on the good side is I think that the addition Benintendi is going to help and that Grifol is going to be a damn good manager. If things go their way, I say the Sox go 86-76 and contend for a WC.

 

 

Edited by The Mighty Mite
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Is it possible?  Sure.

I do think that a fair amount of bounceback is going to happen.  This is going to be the players first real normal winter and spring training since 2019.  I also think having an in touch staff and management group is going to do wonders all by itself.  I don't know about them being a miracle team, but the impact of the last two years is there.  How much of the real players and team is recoverable is the real  question.  Is health something they will never have, or is it something that can be done better with new eyes?  That biggest question of all.

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13 minutes ago, The Mighty Mite said:

I think they will be better than last year which isn’t saying a lot. First, they have to stay healthy. Second, some attitude adjustments are in order especially from Moncada and Anderson. Third, who will be the closer now that Liam is out probably for the year. Fourth, I hope I’m wrong but I think the loss of Abreu is going to hurt. Fifth point and on the good side is I think that Grifol is going to be a damn good manager. I say the Sox go 86-76 and contend for a WC.

 

 

Last season, the Boston Bruins and Celtics ended up with new coaches. At this point, both teams have the best records in their respective leagues. So, who knows what change can bring?

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The other day (yesterday maybe), Bernstein & Holmes mentioned a video they saw of Robert recently doing some kind of slow boxing/sparring with gloves vs another person wearing hand pads.  The bottom line was that, to B & H, Luis looked to have gained weight & not the good kind. 

I haven't seen it but if true, it wouldn't surprise me.  There's so many loafers on this team that just don't give a crap and the org doesn't see a need to hold anyone accountable for not being the best player they possible can.  They're too busy living the good life to care about playing serious baseball for the White Sox.  Its hard to envision that this team will ever be dedicated to playing winning baseball and won't even surpass last season's mediocrity.  Guardians will win div by at least 15 games.....over Twins.  That team & org is scary good!

 

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The Sox will play much better because they have a new manager.  Most first yr managers on decent teams ending up playing great the first yr.  Just ask Rocco baldelli, even robin Ventura had the Sox in first in late August before they collapsed.

If healthy, the Sox will win the division this yr. 

The Indians are the same team they were the beginning of 2022.  Nobody really gave them a chance then but they caught an over confident Sox team that had no heart and at the end ran away with it.

My prediction, Grandal will have a great yr at the plate and everyone will be bitching that Jerry is too cheap at the end of the yr because he won't extend him.

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5 minutes ago, G13 said:

The Sox will play much better because they have a new manager.  Most first yr managers on decent teams ending up playing great the first yr.  Just ask Rocco baldelli, even robin Ventura had the Sox in first in late August before they collapsed.

If healthy, the Sox will win the division this yr. 

The Indians are the same team they were the beginning of 2022.  Nobody really gave them a chance then but they caught an over confident Sox team that had no heart and at the end ran away with it.

My prediction, Grandal will have a great yr at the plate and everyone will be bitching that Jerry is too cheap at the end of the yr because he won't extend him.

Grandal will be grand gone by May. Pup. Book it Danno. 

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Anything is possible that's why they play the games on the field but with so many issues, holes, controversies (I was told last week that the Sox new bizarre ticket approach was created without the knowledge or input of a few of the high levels front office staff) it's a long shot.

White Sox fans should heed the motto: "Hope for the best, expect the worst..."

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2 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said:

Anything is possible that's why they play the games on the field but with so many issues, holes, controversies (I was told last week that the Sox new bizarre ticket approach was created without the knowledge or input of a few of the high levels front office staff) it's a long shot.

White Sox fans should heed the motto: "Hope for the best, expect the worst..."

If you have several positions or SP spots open in Feb you are right on the cusp of suckage. Maybe Tito can throw a team together in the spring but not our Sox. 

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We lost Abreu and Liam, while gaining Benintendi, the subtraction of Tony La Russa and the wild new plan to play outfielders in the outfield. If we have a relatively healthy season I expect this team to win the division. To do anything besides get blown out in the first round, a few guys need to have career years or a lot of people need to get hot at the right time, which is no different than what usually happens when any team wins the world series. 

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There obviously is time to make moves, but to me, I don’t know why fans should be excited. They weren’t good enough last year, lost their best player and leader, and at least 3rd best starter for nothing. Replaced the starter with a more expensive question mark. Signing Benitendi seems good, but I hope they really don’t think he’s the savior for which  they are making him . Pedro has to be better than Tony, I ll give them that, but relying on the rest of the roster to remain healthy let alone have big time bounce back seasons? How baked is Hahn? 

Edited by Dick Allen
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1 hour ago, Rounding_Third said:

The other day (yesterday maybe), Bernstein & Holmes mentioned a video they saw of Robert recently doing some kind of slow boxing/sparring with gloves vs another person wearing hand pads.  The bottom line was that, to B & H, Luis looked to have gained weight & not the good kind. 

I haven't seen it but if true, it wouldn't surprise me.  There's so many loafers on this team that just don't give a crap and the org doesn't see a need to hold anyone accountable for not being the best player they possible can.  They're too busy living the good life to care about playing serious baseball for the White Sox.  Its hard to envision that this team will ever be dedicated to playing winning baseball and won't even surpass last season's mediocrity.  Guardians will win div by at least 15 games.....over Twins.  That team & org is scary good!

 

This is comical. I think you can make the claim that Luis can't stay healthy. I feel like that is fair. To say the man is anything but incredible shape is just a lie though. All the guy does is post workout videos. 

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I’m hopeful for a good season, especially under a new coaching staff. That usually bumps up the effort and energy level. I just hope we stay healthy enough to find out what we have at this point. Based on history, it would be a miracle to get 150 starts each out of Robert, Eloy, TA, Moncada, and Vaughn, but that’s what we really need. 

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Great replies for the most part. It will take something big early to get most of us excited I'm thinking. That would be a heckuva first six weeks OR a sign our players can start competing better vs. the Central Division. I hate those losses the most. It's deflating when Sox get boatraced by Minnie, KC, Det and Cleveland. ugh.

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