https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/news/white-sox-gm-chris-getz-speaks-on-team-long-term-competition-plan

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/48712239/mlb-2026-american-league-al-standings-history-weird-yankees-rays

A tongue-in-cheek projection sent to me by a colleague a couple of days ago gets to the heart of how the American League standings look so far:

Yankees: 94-68
Rest of AL: 81-81
Angels: 68-94

No, the final standings won't look like that, and the joke is probably unfair to the Tampa Bay Rays, though their plus-17 run differential portends a finish closer to the AL's rabble than to the New York Yankees (at plus-75) -- but it's hard to look at the AL records from top to bottom and not wonder what the heck is going on.

Nearing the quarter mark of the season, two of the AL's three division leaders are just two games over .500 (the 20-18 Athletics and 21-19 Cleveland Guardians) while the Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners are tied for the final wild-card berth at 18-21. In fact, the AL-worst Los Angeles Angels are only three games out of a playoff spot, too.

Edited Saturday at 08:26 PM1 day by caulfield12

Not a fan of a lot of this interview. Just stop talking until we are decent.

“That’s how we are going to separate ourselves. We are going to continue to add talent and find ways to get these guys better,” Getz said. “We’ve been very intentional on who we are bringing into this clubhouse.

“We are looking for winning-type players that are focused on what I have to do to help this team win. That’s starting to really seep into this organization as a whole and help clarify who we are targeting at any level of acquisition.”

No evidence at all of that with the recent string of bullpen moves.

Feels like just throwing darts at the wall.

Pitching can't possibly be better now without Crochet, Houser, Perez, Civale, etc.

Davis Martin has really been great so far, but the back end is a total mess and Shane Smith has just disappeared.

If Getz means guys like Romo Peters Hill and Kelenic (and not Braden)...well more power to him I guess.

Or it's Jacob Gonzalez next because he played on such a dominant CWS team?

Edited Saturday at 08:36 PM1 day by caulfield12

6 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

“That’s how we are going to separate ourselves. We are going to continue to add talent and find ways to get these guys better,” Getz said. “We’ve been very intentional on who we are bringing into this clubhouse.

“We are looking for winning-type players that are focused on what I have to do to help this team win. That’s starting to really seep into this organization as a whole and help clarify who we are targeting at any level of acquisition.”

No evidence at all of that with the recent string of bullpen moves.

Feels like just throwing darts at the wall.

Pitching can't possibly be better now without Crochet, Houser, Perez, Civale, etc.

Davis Martin has really been great so far, but the back end is a total mess and Shane Smith has just disappeared.

If Getz means guys like Romo Peters Hill and Kelenic (and not Braden)...well more power to him I guess.

Or it's Jacob Gonzalez next because he played on such a dominant CWS team?

Sounds like Gonzalez coming up.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/standings/_/sort/winpercent/dir/desc/view/wild-card

Sox tied with two others 1/2 game back for wc

Central all teams within 3 1/2

Edited yesterday at 04:13 AM1 day by caulfield12

How about we just spend money and sign some pitching to go along with the young encouraging offensive players next year

11 hours ago, BigHurt3515 said:

How about we just spend money and sign some pitching to go along with the young encouraging offensive players next year

Given the labor situation I'd be very surprised if JR allowed Getz to do much of anything regardless of how this season turns out. And once the lockout starts on December 1 teams will be unable to do anything anyway.

I took Getz's comment about winning players to be about character, personality, that kind of thing. Wants to be careful not to bring someone in who ruins the vibes or sets a bad example for the young guys.

1 hour ago, Lip Man 1 said:

Given the labor situation I'd be very surprised if JR allowed Getz to do much of anything regardless of how this season turns out. And once the lockout starts on December 1 teams will be unable to do anything anyway.

Eh, he doesn't really need a reason. Though maybe it helps with the propagandists.

7 hours ago, southsider2k5 said:

Eh, he doesn't really need a reason. Though maybe it helps with the propagandists.

Alliteration is awesome.

panickans vs. propagandists

Although one word is too close to a political part for my liking…well, of course that was Ron’s intentionality