"David Sandlin (2-2, 6.29 ERA) is slated to start Thursday for ‌the White ⁠Sox. Despite giving up five runs and seven hits over four innings against Detroit on Friday, the rookie right-hander held Kansas City to one run on three hits over six innings on June 26."

47 minutes ago, PaleAleSox said:

I'd take this problem every year.

Easy to say without context.

It would be a great accomplishment for this team to make the post-seaosn.

However they don't have the pitching to be an actual contender.

I don't think id take that "every year." I'd like to have a chance to actually win in the post season at some point.

https://www.reddit.com/r/whitesox/comments/1wozrbn/burke_should_start_today_not_sandlin/

Great debate rages

Sandlin previous success again KC and:

Having your most reliable starter going G2 of a 3 game wild card series is a pretty well-known strategy and it doesn’t affect the following series.

Well-known strategy? First time I heard of it. Usually, if teams know they're playing in the WCR, they set their rotation up so that their three best starters play (Boston is doing that now by pitching Tolle, Gray, and Suarez against Cleveland). Only teams that are playing for something important would pitch their best starters the final weekend and worry about the consequences later.

We are playing for the division

You can walk and chew gum at the same time.

To win the division, it helps to win today and Burke gives you a better shot than Sandlin. Burke starting today also gives him an extra day off before the WCR in case Cleveland wins the division

Of course protecting the bullpen is yet another major consideration

Burke also provides the highest likelihood of going 5-6 innings at least

Edited 5 hours ago5 hr by caulfield12

Fingers crossed, good luck.

2 hours ago, joejoesox said:

these games/losses are turning me into a psycho, so I think I'm gonna bail on game threads until the playoffs, I wish I didn't care this much lol

I'm afraid to watch the games. I just check the scores.

This season seemed to caught everyone off guard. Way too many kneejerk reactions with players in their 1st year of the bigs.

1 hour ago, harkness99 said:

Easy to say without context.

It would be a great accomplishment for this team to make the post-seaosn.

However they don't have the pitching to be an actual contender.

I don't think id take that "every year." I'd like to have a chance to actually win in the post season at some point.

Post season will not be pretty. It doesn't bother me. Youth will be exposed.

10 minutes ago, kitekrazy1 said:

I'm afraid to watch the games. I just check the scores.

This season seemed to caught everyone off guard. Way too many kneejerk reactions with players in their 1st year of the bigs.

I haven't watched any of these games, only MLB gameday. that Maikel Garcia failure to walk him with a runner on 2b, I was screaming, straight up managerial incompetence/arrogance.

16 minutes ago, kitekrazy1 said:

I'm afraid to watch the games. I just check the scores.

This season seemed to caught everyone off guard. Way too many kneejerk reactions with players in their 1st year of the bigs.

You are afraid to watch the games, yet there are too many knee jerk reactions. Well done.

2 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

You are afraid to watch the games, yet there are too many knee jerk reactions. Well done.

Nope. I meant I don't watch the game but only pay attention to the gameday instead on MLB. I read the gameday forum and that is the where the kneejerk reactions come from.

1 hour ago, harkness99 said:

Easy to say without context.

It would be a great accomplishment for this team to make the post-seaosn.

However they don't have the pitching to be an actual contender.

I don't think id take that "every year." I'd like to have a chance to actually win in the post season at some point.

Have you seen the entire history of this team? Getting into the playoffs with a "smaller" chance to win the World Series would be an insane improvement.

Sandlin really struggles against left handed hitters and when there's runners on base. His splits for bases empty/runners on base are very drastic (.282 wOBA empty, .398 wOBA runners on base). His 49.1% LOB% also means half the runners he lets on scores. I think there's some regression to the mean due for him, but it's very clear that he has issues pitching from the stretch.

I’m guessing the Sox aren’t using Burke today because they are hoping they can clinch a playoff spot and then not use him at all against Colorado. I think they probably figure if they win today we’re in and then you’ll see some odd pitching this weekend and just be comfortable wherever they end up in the standings.

1 minute ago, CBJ03 said:

I’m guessing the Sox aren’t using Burke today because they are hoping they can clinch a playoff spot and then not use him at all against Colorado. I think they probably figure if they win today we’re in and then you’ll see some odd pitching this weekend and just be comfortable wherever they end up in the standings.

I sure hope not - that would be insane. They should be playing for the division, which is well within reach.

1 minute ago, 35thstreetswarm said:

I sure hope not - that would be insane. They should be playing for the division, which is well within reach.

I think it would be insane as well, but they SHOULD be able to handle the freaking Rockies without Burke throwing.

7 minutes ago, CBJ03 said:

I’m guessing the Sox aren’t using Burke today because they are hoping they can clinch a playoff spot and then not use him at all against Colorado. I think they probably figure if they win today we’re in and then you’ll see some odd pitching this weekend and just be comfortable wherever they end up in the standings.

That would be asinine

12 minutes ago, 35thstreetswarm said:

I sure hope not - that would be insane. They should be playing for the division, which is well within reach.

Yeah, he would be able to pitch today and then Tuesday (if even needed) on regular rest.

Win this F'ing game and the it's all right there for you....

You make the playoffs and you really set yourself up to win the division over the weekend.

F it.......win the next 4 games!!!!

16 minutes ago, 35thstreetswarm said:

I sure hope not - that would be insane. They should be playing for the division, which is well within reach.

14 minutes ago, PaleAleSox said:

I think it would be insane as well, but they SHOULD be able to handle the freaking Rockies without Burke throwing.

I think it’s more they believe they can beat the Rockies without him. If they win today and Cleveland loses, it will be interesting to see how they handle this weekend.

3 hours ago, BigHurt3515 said:

Would be nice to get a win and put some pressure on CLE for their game tonight

This is absolutely mandatory. It's division or bust for these guys and they need to play like it. 3 WC games in Houston have a big chance of not going well for us... Texas maybe not so much but still no home games anyway.

3 hours ago, 35thstreetswarm said:

I really don't understand why we're not starting Burke in order to set our rotation for a possible WC round.

I don't know what the hell these guys are thinking. Burke on 4 days rest I guess? Or Kay in game 1?

Of all the bullshit decisions we've seen this year, I think this one takes the cake. Royals are also a tougher team than the Rockies and we need to win to put pressure on Cleveland tonight... "bullpen day" should be tomorrow.

Sort of off-topic and not sure if the topic is thread-worthy (might be?) but has the novelty of every team playing every team worn off for anyone else? Loved the idea and first few seasons of it at first but now? Meh.

At least have it where you face your division more again but the interleague teams you face are every other year instead of every 3 like before. Like face 8 teams one year, one being your inter-league rival, and then the other 7 you didn't face plus your rival again the next year. That brings it to 8 inter-league series instead of 16, with 2 more series going to your 4 inter-division rivals.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by Bob Sacamano

They don't want to throw Burke today so that he can pitch in game 1 of the WC round if it comes to that?

Just now, GreenSox said:

They don't want to throw Burke today so that he can pitch in game 1 of the WC round if it comes to that?

The way Venable was talking it sounds like Burke is going tomorrow.

Basically, "we cant line it up for the WC so we're going with what we got", which I guess would be Burke Martin in game 2 and 3. Would be really, really lame if they got swept and Martin never pitched.

2 minutes ago, GreenSox said:

They don't want to throw Burke today so that he can pitch in game 1 of the WC round if it comes to that?

He won’t be ready