If they make the playoffs I'll feel good. If they choke (again), bad.

1 hour ago, Green Line said:

If they make the playoffs I'll feel good. If they choke (again), bad.

But will you feel grateful/appreciative OR angry/frustrated/irritated?

14 hours ago, Paulie4Pres said:

I am hoping this season wasn't a bunch of smoke and mirrors, personally.

Trying to compete using smoke and mirrors was a hallmark of the post-2005 Kenny Williams/Rich Hahn era, so it shouldn't be anything new to Sox fans.

Found it interesting that Ryan Fuller doesn't want guys to have a different swing/approach with 2 strikes. That explains a lot

Edited 15 hours ago15 hr by joejoesox

15 minutes ago, joejoesox said:

Found it interesting that Ryan Fuller doesn't want guys to have a different swing/approach with 2 strikes. That explains a lot

Makes it a lot harder to blame the players...

19 minutes ago, joejoesox said:

Found it interesting that Ryan Fuller doesn't want guys to have a different swing/approach with 2 strikes. That explains a lot

I guess one could argue that it takes a batter out of their comfort zone of the way they are used to hitting, but I can’t say I agree with this strategy at all. We’ve seen too many teams (and within our own division) employ this approach with great success.

I feel good about it. I think we're just seeing a young team running out of gas. Please go sign a starter or two before the lockout.

33 minutes ago, 77 Hitmen said:

Trying to compete using smoke and mirrors was a hallmark of the post-2005 Kenny Williams/Rich Hahn era, so it shouldn't be anything new to Sox fans.

Im not even sure they are trying to compete. If the deadline was an example of Chris Getz trying to go for it, I am extremely concerned.

I sleep a little better telling myself that they know they have a lot of holes and are just staying the course and following a plan and if they end up winning the division and getting into the playoffs, that's great. If not, they didn't expect to be there anyways.

But man, the way this team has been managed since the deadline and the moves they made at the deadline. If that was them going for it, holy s%*#, that inspires no confidence in me that they know what they are doing. That's why I tend to believe they are just happy accepting what happens this year and are sticking to their plan.

3 minutes ago, T R U said:

Im not even sure they are trying to compete. If the deadline was an example of Chris Getz trying to go for it, I am extremely concerned.

I sleep a little better telling myself that they know they have a lot of holes and are just staying the course and following a plan and if they end up winning the division and getting into the playoffs, that's great. If not, they didn't expect to be there anyways.

But man, the way this team has been managed since the deadline and the moves they made at the deadline. If that was them going for it, holy s%*#, that inspires no confidence in me that they know what they are doing. That's why I tend to believe they are just happy accepting what happens this year and are sticking to their plan.

Will be interesting to see what the deadline moves will cost this team in the long run by losing years of control over Mason Adams and Boston Smith. Right now, it sure doesn’t seem like Castillo or Doyle will be very impactful for next season, or additional seasons for Doyle if he isn’t non-tendered.

Edited 14 hours ago14 hr by WhiteSox2023

Just now, WhiteSox2023 said:

Will be interesting to see what the deadline moves will cost this team in the long run by losing years of control over Mason Adams and Boston Smith.

If you want to talk smoke and mirrors, were 32-16 VS. the Athletics and AL Central. Were 43-55 against everyone else in baseball.

I get it, you have to play your schedule beating bad teams matters, but this team is incredibly lucky to not be about 67-79 right now which is about where we all expected them to be anyways.

2 minutes ago, T R U said:

If you want to talk smoke and mirrors, were 32-16 VS. the Athletics and AL Central. Were 43-55 against everyone else in baseball.

I get it, you have to play your schedule beating bad teams matters, but this team is incredibly lucky to not be about 67-79 right now which is about where we all expected them to be anyways.

Wow that is stark. The last couple of years the AL Central got fat off of the Sox, this year the Sox got fat off of the AL Central.

5 minutes ago, T R U said:

If you want to talk smoke and mirrors, were 32-16 VS. the Athletics and AL Central. Were 43-55 against everyone else in baseball.

I get it, you have to play your schedule beating bad teams matters, but this team is incredibly lucky to not be about 67-79 right now which is about where we all expected them to be anyways.

Well, good thing we have 10 games left with the AL Central and 3 against the NL worst Rockies. This team has no excuses with the remaining schedule.

Edited 14 hours ago14 hr by HoosierSox

47 minutes ago, joejoesox said:

Found it interesting that Ryan Fuller doesn't want guys to have a different swing/approach with 2 strikes. That explains a lot

This is asinine.

30 minutes ago, HoosierSox said:

Well, good thing we have 10 games left with the AL Central and 3 against the NL worst Rockies. This team has no excuses with the remaining schedule.

Yep. They control their own fate

30 minutes ago, Bob Sacamano said:

Yep. They control their own fate

Very true.

We can definitely win a series in Cleveland. They're just as bad as the Sox.

6 minutes ago, Green Line said:

We can definitely win a series in Cleveland. They're just as bad as the Sox.

But they have much better starting pitching.

38 minutes ago, Bob Sacamano said:

Yep. They control their own fate

Remember the Sox lead the division. And even if they didn't lead the ALC, they are also currently setting as the 3rd best record of any of the teams eligible for the Wild Card. They need to get severely out played by at least one team in the division AND one team outside of the division.

Essentially you need Cleveland AND Texas or Toronto to go crazy to close this last couple of weeks out, while making sure that if Texas gets hot, the Sox still stay head of Houston too. You also have Toronto and Texas still having a three game series left to play, which makes it harder to get both of them to outplay the Sox, because one of them has to take a least two Ls in that series.

A whole lot of things have to go wrong for the Sox to miss out. Like I said a while back, I don't think the rest of the teams out there are good enough to all outplay the White Sox by that much, in this short of a period of time. I know the magic number is still out there, but the fact we need two teams, not one team, and they have to be the right two teams, and still not lose the lead over the two AL West teams potentially, makes the algebra much harder to knock the Sox out. It is still POSSIBLE, but it is really complex.

36 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

Remember the Sox lead the division. And even if they didn't lead the ALC, they are also currently setting as the 3rd best record of any of the teams eligible for the Wild Card. They need to get severely out played by at least one team in the division AND one team outside of the division.

Essentially you need Cleveland AND Texas or Toronto to go crazy to close this last couple of weeks out, while making sure that if Texas gets hot, the Sox still stay head of Houston too. You also have Toronto and Texas still having a three game series left to play, which makes it harder to get both of them to outplay the Sox, because one of them has to take a least two Ls in that series.

A whole lot of things have to go wrong for the Sox to miss out. Like I said a while back, I don't think the rest of the teams out there are good enough to all outplay the White Sox by that much, in this short of a period of time. I know the magic number is still out there, but the fact we need two teams, not one team, and they have to be the right two teams, and still not lose the lead over the two AL West teams potentially, makes the algebra much harder to knock the Sox out. It is still POSSIBLE, but it is really complex.

While true, they really need to win the division and get the possible first round bye. This team needs a break and they need to be able to set the pitching the way they want.

5 minutes ago, Bob Sacamano said:

While true, they really need to win the division and get the possible first round bye. This team needs a break and they need to be able to set the pitching the way they want.

In terms of best possible path? yes, win the division and stay ahead of the ALW leader. In terms of just making the playoffs, yeah, they have a LOT of pathways for getting in.

27 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

In terms of best possible path? yes, win the division and stay ahead of the ALW leader. In terms of just making the playoffs, yeah, they have a LOT of pathways for getting in.

For sure. Just not very confident going down said other paths haha

7 minutes ago, Bob Sacamano said:

For sure. Just not very confident going down said other paths haha

I wouldn't say I am "confident" for any path as of now...

8 hours ago, Snopek said:

The hell? Teel and Braden are already busts?

3 hours ago, joejoesox said:

Found it interesting that Ryan Fuller doesn't want guys to have a different swing/approach with 2 strikes. That explains a lot

Unbelievable.

42 minutes ago, The Mighty Mite said:

Unbelievable.

To be fair, this is where the quants come into the game. The numbers show that it is better to always swing for the fences than to sacrifice power for contact. This is why teams like the Sox do this. Apparently the numbers bear this out.