9 hours ago, Texsox said:

After fifty years of off season optimism I'm in the "I'll get excited when I see something on the field to get excited about" club. I do wish I had the old enthusiasm but I've been fooled to often but JR and Co. They've worn me down. 

The past two seasons for sure beat the optimism out of many of us.  I, for one, would feel better about the upcoming season had last season not been so bad.  I'm trying to get past it and be excited about 2023.  I do think we'll see better performances from most returning players, in part due to a better culture.

27 minutes ago, hogan873 said:

The past two seasons for sure beat the optimism out of many of us.  I, for one, would feel better about the upcoming season had last season not been so bad.  I'm trying to get past it and be excited about 2023.  I do think we'll see better performances from most returning players, in part due to a better culture.

I totally agree. I also remind myself that I've thought that for most of the past 50 off seasons and yet I allowed them to continue to disappoint. I'm going in with really low expectations.

I'm not going to plan my days around watching or listening to games. I'm not going to plan trips to Chicago around home stands. I'm looking at some east coast and Canada games based on when I'm going to be there, not when the Sox will be in town. 

The last part I think will be cool. Cheering for the home team may enhance the experience. 

At least there is no LaRussa. I am bracing myself for the first few images of Camelback this spring seeing Tony in uniform, with a fresh coat of black Just For Men in his hair. 

23 hours ago, ChiSox59 said:

I....don't agree.  Largely the same roster won 93 games 2 years ago with Tony punting the 2nd half of the season.  

Lots of things will need to go right for this team to win 90 games, but that certainly isn't the ceiling. 

The 2021 team got a combined 11.8 fWAR from Abreu, Engel, Madrigal, Rodon, Crochet and Keuchel.

The 2023 team has in their place Vaughn, Benintendi, Davis Martin, Diekman, Graveman and who knows who plays 2B.

I don't see that group combining for 11.8 fWAR, plus it's highly unlikely that Grandal comes anywhere near the 3.6 fWAR he produced in 2021.

13 minutes ago, CentralChamps21 said:

The 2021 team got a combined 11.8 fWAR from Abreu, Engel, Madrigal, Rodon, Crochet and Keuchel.

The 2023 team has in their place Vaughn, Benintendi, Davis Martin, Diekman, Graveman and who knows who plays 2B.

I don't see that group combining for 11.8 fWAR, plus it's highly unlikely that Grandal comes anywhere near the 3.6 fWAR he produced in 2021.

And Luis Robert played 68 games.  And Eloy played 55.  And TA missed 40 games.  And AV wasn't good.  Colas > then old Adam Eaton.  OF defense still sucked. 

It goes both ways, but yah, if you only want to focus on the negatives, things are awful! 

I have said it before and I will say it again.  The Sox need Robert, Eloy, and TA on the field.  If you want to assume those players will miss 250 games, then yes, the Sox aren't winning 90 games.  If those players play 130+ games, I really like the Sox chances of being a pretty good team in 2023. 

Edited February 9, 20233 yr by ChiSox59

15 minutes ago, ChiSox59 said:

And Luis Robert played 68 games.  And Eloy played 55.  And TA missed 40 games.  And AV wasn't good.  Colas > then old Adam Eaton.  OF defense still sucked. 

It goes both ways, but yah, if you only want to focus on the negatives, things are awful! 

I have said it before and I will say it again.  The Sox need Robert, Eloy, and TA on the field.  If you want to assume those players will miss 250 games, then yes, the Sox aren't winning 90 games.  If those players play 130+ games, I really like the Sox chances of being a pretty good team in 2023. 

As pessimistic as I am in general about this season, I largely agree with you.

I truly believe that the 2022 team was awful not because of talent, but because of execution. To me, that's largely coachable, and having a leader who sets the tone like Grifol seems to be doing is a good start.

I'm still pissed and disappointed in the lack of moves, but the change in leadership alone SHOULD account for fewer uncontrolled meltdowns. Say what you will about the "Ricky's boys don't quit" crap, but how many times did "Ricky's boys" just roll over and play dead? And how many times did that same cast roll over and play dead last year under Tony?

 

8 minutes ago, JoeC said:

As pessimistic as I am in general about this season, I largely agree with you.

I truly believe that the 2022 team was awful not because of talent, but because of execution. To me, that's largely coachable, and having a leader who sets the tone like Grifol seems to be doing is a good start.

I'm still pissed and disappointed in the lack of moves, but the change in leadership alone SHOULD account for fewer uncontrolled meltdowns. Say what you will about the "Ricky's boys don't quit" crap, but how many times did "Ricky's boys" just roll over and play dead? And how many times did that same cast roll over and play dead last year under Tony?

 

You mean this doesn't set the tone?

8 minutes ago, Quin said:

You mean this doesn't set the tone?

Oh it set a tone all right.

8 minutes ago, Quin said:

You mean this doesn't set the tone?

Oh, it does.

I wonder how many times he was absolutely hammered sitting in the dugout. 

2 hours ago, ShoeLessRob said:

I wonder how many times he was absolutely hammered sitting in the dugout. 

But supposedly he was a better manager hammered than when he was bright and alert.................

5 minutes ago, SCCWS said:

But supposedly he was a better manager hammered than when he was bright and alert.................

Oh they were better off with him passed out than they were with him pretending like he had any functionality left in his HOF baseball drunken corpse.

Colas will be different than the others. Sox OF is the one decent upgrade.