This season has been “less awful than most”

[WBWSF]

The team is in better shape than what they were one year ago. Still, I think the one area  that has not looked promising is the starting pitching. Burke and Cannon have not been good. I'm wondering if they are even going to be on the team next year. If not, who will replace them?

[fathom]

16 hours ago, ptatc said:

Really good. The resteraunt is down here in New Lenox.

Pork chop with potatoes is amazing 

[ptatc]

50 minutes ago, fathom said:

Pork chop with potatoes is amazing 

The best.

[Lip Man 1]

3 hours ago, WBWSF said:

The team is in better shape than what they were one year ago. Still, I think the one area  that has not looked promising is the starting pitching. Burke and Cannon have not been good. I'm wondering if they are even going to be on the team next year. If not, who will replace them?

The ghosts of Billy Pierce, Early Wynn, Gary Peters and Joe Horlen. 

[GreenSox]

Some young position players are developing nicely. But isn’t that what is supposed to happen?

the 2 rule-5 pitchers are bright spots, but most of the rest of the young pitching didn’t make much progress or got worse.

All in all, 60 major league wins, and a farm system that is no better than average.  Disappointing, indeed.

Edited September 25 by GreenSox

[caulfield12]

1 hour ago, GreenSox said:

Some young position players are developing nicely. But isn’t that what is supposed to happen?

the 2 rule-5 pitchers are bright spots, but most of the rest of the young pitching didn’t make much progress or got worse.

All in all, 60 major league wins, and a farm system that is no better than average.  Disappointing, indeed.

If Schultz and Smith both looked like surefire Cy Young contenders...the sense of optimism for 2026 would be profoundly different.

Even though the bullpen would still remain a big mess.

[GreenSox]

1 hour ago, caulfield12 said:

If Schultz and Smith both looked like surefire Cy Young contenders...the sense of optimism for 2026 would be profoundly different.

Even though the bullpen would still remain a big mess.

True but that they don’t is one of the big disappointments.

The pen will sort itself out. Guys who backtracked like Cannon and Burke probably have  futures in the pen.   Same with some of Shirley’s failed reaches like Palette and Kelley.  Getz needs to stop trading for org. and 6^th inning relievers….it’s ridiculous.  Also don’t waste 40-man spots going into the offseason on guys like Eisert.

[nrockway]

9 hours ago, WBWSF said:

The team is in better shape than what they were one year ago. Still, I think the one area  that has not looked promising is the starting pitching. Burke and Cannon have not been good. I'm wondering if they are even going to be on the team next year. If not, who will replace them?

Thorpe will be back, right? I'd also bet on Shane Murphy being in the rotation to start the year. Mason Adams perhaps. Maybe some more Rule 5 magic. Ky Bush? probably not.

Heck, maybe it's Schultz or Smith but I wouldn't bank on it. I'd keep going with Burke. Maybe Cannon improves a lot but I think he's donezo.

Edited September 25 by nrockway

[southsider2k5]

2 hours ago, GreenSox said:

True but that they don’t is one of the big disappointments.

The pen will sort itself out. Guys who backtracked like Cannon and Burke probably have  futures in the pen.   Same with some of Shirley’s failed reaches like Palette and Kelley.  Getz needs to stop trading for org. and 6^th inning relievers….it’s ridiculous.  Also don’t waste 40-man spots going into the offseason on guys like Eisert.

Counting on most of the available SPs this year was always a fools errand.   Martin, Cannon, Burke, etc are guys who maybe have peak mid rotation years, but are just rotation fillers.  This team needs that Taylor/Smith/Schultz group to produce at least 1 star and another good starting pitcher for this to have a chance at getting of the gound in this decade.  

[WhiteSox2023]

53 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

Counting on most of the available SPs this year was always a fools errand.   Martin, Cannon, Burke, etc are guys who maybe have peak mid rotation years, but are just rotation fillers.  This team needs that Taylor/Smith/Schultz group to produce at least 1 star and another good starting pitcher for this to have a chance at getting of the gound in this decade.  

You already know this, but isn’t it amazing how your hopes for young players gets neutered year by year?  It truly must be 50% rate of success at best.  Cannon is the latest victim.

[GreenSox]

58 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

Counting on most of the available SPs this year was always a fools errand.   Martin, Cannon, Burke, etc are guys who maybe have peak mid rotation years, but are just rotation fillers.  This team needs that Taylor/Smith/Schultz group to produce at least 1 star and another good starting pitcher for this to have a chance at getting of the gound in this decade.  

Out of those 3, 1 ace, 1 mid-rotation starter, and 1 high-leverage reliever was a reasonable expectation.   But that still leaves several available spots.  the farm should be pushing out some mid-rotation guys.  Palette, “4-rounds” Kelley, Cannon, Keener, Burke and a bunch of others….  Are any major leaguers?  Smith and Vasil are rotation arms, but still  thin.

[WhiteSox2023]

8 minutes ago, GreenSox said:

Out of those 3, 1 ace, 1 mid-rotation starter, and 1 high-leverage reliever was a reasonable expectation.   But that still leaves several available spots.  the farm should be pushing out some mid-rotation guys.  Palette, “4-rounds” Kelley, Cannon, Keener, Burke and a bunch of others….  Are any major leaguers?  Smith and Vasil are rotation arms, but still  thin.

I wouldn’t be surprised if that is optimistic.  Smith and Schultz are walking the world in the minors, and they are supposed to be the starters with the most talent over everyone else.

Edited September 26 by WhiteSox2023

[FloydBannister1983]

23 hours ago, WBWSF said:

The team is in better shape than what they were one year ago. Still, I think the one area  that has not looked promising is the starting pitching. Burke and Cannon have not been good. I'm wondering if they are even going to be on the team next year. If not, who will replace them?

Hiroshima after the bomb was in better shape than the White Sox were a year ago.  There is no promising look when you’re losing at least 101 games.  

[southsider2k5]

15 hours ago, GreenSox said:

Out of those 3, 1 ace, 1 mid-rotation starter, and 1 high-leverage reliever was a reasonable expectation.   But that still leaves several available spots.  the farm should be pushing out some mid-rotation guys.  Palette, “4-rounds” Kelley, Cannon, Keener, Burke and a bunch of others….  Are any major leaguers?  Smith and Vasil are rotation arms, but still  thin.

If you are looking for a playoff team, you need front-line star players.  You don't have them in the rest of the guys, and you need them from that Taylor/Schultz/Smith group, because we sure as hell aren't going to go out and spend $300 million on a starting star pitcher.

[greg775]

On 9/24/2025 at 10:32 AM, T R U said:

I wouldn't call it a hot take, but this season was largely filled with awful baseball. 

The realization of the core failing did suck, but ill take watching an 81-81 team over a 100+ loss team every time. That's playoff race territory.

It's funny how many teams would have had gawd-awful seasons (so much so they might have to fire the manager) had they not beat up on the Sox again. Once again, KC stayed in the WC race solely cause of beating up on the Sox. Cleveland owes much to the Sox for righting the ship. Even the Yankees got six automatic wins recently vs. the Sox. The timing of series vs. the Sox is important to a lot of teams who need those automatic victories to stay in the race. Pity Minnesota. Usually the Twins beat up on the Sox so badly it keeps them in contention, but not this year.

Edited September 26 by greg775

[CBJ03]

On 9/25/2025 at 9:30 AM, WBWSF said:

The team is in better shape than what they were one year ago. Still, I think the one area  that has not looked promising is the starting pitching. Burke and Cannon have not been good. I'm wondering if they are even going to be on the team next year. If not, who will replace them?

Eventually they will be replaced by a combination of Taylor, Smith, Schultz, McDougal, Adams, Bush or Thorpe. Guys that are interesting and could join in the mix in the next couple of years include Oppor, LaCombe, and Larson. Guys that could be backend guys like Shane Murphy. 

[Dick Allen]

3 minutes ago, CBJ03 said:

Eventually they will be replaced by a combination of Taylor, Smith, Schultz, McDougal, Adams, Bush or Thorpe. Guys that are interesting and could join in the mix in the next couple of years include Oppor, LaCombe, and Larson. Guys that could be backend guys like Shane Murphy. 

Hopefully, but the one thing we know about pitching is some of those guys have been hurt, some will get hurt. Recoveries vary. 

[CBJ03]

23 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

Hopefully, but the one thing we know about pitching is some of those guys have been hurt, some will get hurt. Recoveries vary. 

I was just pointing out that there will most likely be some combination of those guys will fill out the 5 rotation spots. What that looks like, who knows? 

[southsider2k5]

1 hour ago, Dick Allen said:

Hopefully, but the one thing we know about pitching is some of those guys have been hurt, some will get hurt. Recoveries vary. 

Hell some of those guys are already hurt and/or weren't that good to begin with.

[Dan of Steel]

This team is on pace to finish with more losses than any team in franchise history outside of the 1970 and 2024 squad. 

So no, they're not "less awful than most". 

 

[soxrwhite]

16 hours ago, greg775 said:

It's funny how many teams would have had gawd-awful seasons (so much so they might have to fire the manager) had they not beat up on the Sox again. Once again, KC stayed in the WC race solely cause of beating up on the Sox. Cleveland owes much to the Sox for righting the ship. Even the Yankees got six automatic wins recently vs. the Sox. The timing of series vs. the Sox is important to a lot of teams who need those automatic victories to stay in the race. Pity Minnesota. Usually the Twins beat up on the Sox so badly it keeps them in contention, but not this year.

sad but true

[tray]

The last few weeks have taken away the short burst of hope that fans had.    Really demoralizing.                   

[Lip Man 1]

if they lose today they end the year with 13 losses in the last 15 games if I remember right. 

[Dick Allen]

2 hours ago, Lip Man 1 said:

if they lose today they end the year with 13 losses in the last 15 games if I remember right. 

Last year they won 5 out of the last 6 to get to 41. Schriffen basically says almost every player is finishing the year strong. If they are all playing well and they are 2-12; this nightmare will never end.