What is Going Wrong With the Sox

[southsider2k5]

See? This is the kind of s*** I'm talking about. The White Sox have started 7-10 and people are calling for the GM's head and the manager's head. Why use 2007 and not 2006? Or why not start at 2008? Of course, because you're cherry picking statistics and are trying to prove a point.

 

They're 425-403 since 2006. That's a .513 winning percentage. They're 263-241 since 2008. That's a .522 winning percentage.

 

Instead of having good discussions about the White Sox, let's just propose firing everybody instead because that doesn't make you look like the stereotypical fairweather fan when they're losing. I can guarantee you won't be singing this tune when they start winning.

 

I'm betting by the post totals he won't be around at all if they turn it around.

[southsider2k5]

It still included the extraordinary run, so you can't look past that. And there were a lot of reasons they missed the playoffs...I'd argue that, instead of looking at a 55 game stretch where they were 9 games under .500, to instead look at an 18 game period where they were 8 games under .500 - 5-13 against the team that won the division has a stronger correlation to them missing the playoffs than does a rough start to the season.

 

 

 

A .513 winning percentage over a 5 year period is pretty damn remarkable. I would guess, over the same time frame, there are 6 teams that are better. My guesses are the Phillies, Cardinals, Red Sox, Yankees, Twins, and Angels. It's hard to have any type of sustained success over that period of time unless you have a clear advantage - whether singular or some combination of advantages - in some aspect over every other team. The Phillies have had great scouting and development and have become big time spenders, the Cardinals have had the best player of the generation, the Angels have had money and some player development, the Twins have relied pretty much solely upon scouting and development until recent years, and the Yankees and Red Sox have pretty much been #1 and #2 in spending throughout that time frame (and considering all salary contributions during that time frame, they are certainly #1 and #2).

 

So you can't look at this from a single season point of view because you have to account for some variability and different levels of talent on the teams themselves.

 

And, if it WERE the 5 years of frustration, people would have been b****ing about wanting a new GM and manager in the offseason. I can think of about 1 person on here who was advocating for a new GM and maybe 3 who were advocating for a new manager. This is ENTIRELY because of one 7-10 start.

 

I have seen several, if not close to 100% of the board, who have said that if 2011 doesn't result in a playoff appearance (or at the very least, a great season with a ridiculous amount of bad luck, as in the Sox go 97-75 and lose the division and the Wild Card), then you clean house. I'm on board with that too because, at that point, something has to give.

 

[StrangeSox]

People have been b****ing about KW and Ozzie since at least the end of the 2006 season. It's an annual SoxTalk tradition, just like the FIRE WALKER!, BLOW THIS TEAM UP! and WE'RE NOT DEAD YET! threads

[BigSqwert]

I'm sure this will eventually turn into a Fire Greg Walker/ Don't fire Greg Walker discussion with the usual debate about how much he's really responsible for the Sox annual April batting woes. I'm not sure if making a change would help but i got to admit it seems like every year the Sox offense sucks in April.

And August/September.

[BigSqwert]

Being negative and telling a team they suck is counterproductive.

How so? Is Ozzie making the team read Soxtalk threads at team meetings?

[StrangeSox]

Go Sox!

 

My biggest problem right now is that I was really excited for this season to start, so I'm even more disappointed with the current record. I'm not writing this team off, though.

[Iwritecode]

6 straight games without a blown save.

 

 

That's positive right?

[Middle Buffalo]

I don't want to overstate my value to the team, but I haven't watched a minute of the Sox yet this season. I'm sure once I start sitting back, relaxing and strapping it down, the Sox will, too. So we've got that going for us - which is good.

[Steve9347]

He's not done, but he's some kind of bad right now... something like 14 of his last 21 at bats are strikeouts.

[elrockinMT]

Yeah, I mean, we haven't come up with a better idea for a thread title since this thread showed up in 2005 when that season fell apart. Our lack of creativity is astounding.

 

 

When one player some years back was asked what he attributed the losing streak too he replied "because the other team scored more runs then us." We just need to score more runs. My prediction: WE WILL!

[elrockinMT]

Dunn will get better

[LVSoxFan]

If I were to take the glass half-full view, I would say: hey, at least we had the crappy part now instead of the thick of it (as long as we don't fall too far behind like last year).

 

I'd also point out how teams like Boston and Minnesota have worse records than us right now--do you really think they won't be around come September?

 

But yes first the woeful bullpen losses and now the 2010-style can't-score-a-run games. Tough.

 

But it's early. I will say if we don't pull one out of this series and then go to Detroit and get stomped, then I'll start worrying. Losses to division opponents drive me nuts.

[caulfield12]

Otherwise, you'll have to go into Jerry Reinsdorf's brain and plant the idea that "all in" wasn't such a good idea after all and reverse the Hudson/Jackson, Peavy and Swisher trades (both for good measure).

Edited April 20, 2011 by caulfield12

[Milkman delivers]

But when a guy has been stable for 5 years, like Matty, or Ohman, there's every reason to conclude that this is a weird blip.

 

I posted a stat last year where typically Matt Thornton retired somewhere around 77% of the batters that he got 2 strikes on, and this year, he's down around 50%. That's the kind of thing that will work itself out.

 

Linebrink was pretty good before he signed here. You can say the same thing about other players, such as Swisher. Just because they used to be good and had a proven history of performing well does not mean they'll do so this season.

[Harry Chappas]

6 straight games without a blown save.

 

 

That's positive right?

 

First loss was a blown save so you can say that was the starting point. The Sox held a lead in every game until that point and have since lead for a whole half iniing of play the last five games. The triple play may not have killed the momentum of this team but the 6 runs in two innings to a terrible offense seems to have killed any confidience this team has.

 

 

[Milkman delivers]

People have been b****ing about KW and Ozzie since at least the end of the 2006 season. It's an annual SoxTalk tradition, just like the FIRE WALKER!, BLOW THIS TEAM UP! and WE'RE NOT DEAD YET! threads

 

Everybody seems to forget that. Any time someone's head is called for, it's a knee jerk reaction. It's never the culmination of years of disappointment due to the ineptitude and failings of the manager or general manager.

[caulfield12]

First loss was a blown save so you can say that was the starting point. The Sox held a lead in every game until that point and have since lead for a whole half iniing of play the last five games. The triple play may not have killed the momentum of this team but the 6 runs in two innings to a terrible offense seems to have killed any confidience this team has.

 

 

Basically our season has boiled down to a triple play (Alexei), the dreaded A's series at home and letting TB get their first win of the season, all via blown saves...along with Juan Pierre, Matt Thornton, Opening Day offensive fireworks and the amazing comeback versus Soria.

 

It has now been 8 days since Alexei's walk-off homer. Seems like a month.

 

 

[caulfield12]

Everybody seems to forget that. Any time someone's head is called for, it's a knee jerk reaction. It's never the culmination of years of disappointment due to the ineptitude and failings of the manager or general manager.

 

 

Remnants of 2008 and 2010.

 

If we didn't have the miracle playoff run the last week (along with Minny collapse) in 2008 (along with the fortuitous coin flip) and the 26-5/38-13 spurt last year, you're right...it would be hard for even the staunchest optimists to use much more than the Cardinals/Astros/Rockies and the fact that it's the Royals/Indians and not the Twins/Tigers out in first and second.

 

 

[jenksycat]

Remnants of 2008 and 2010.

 

If we didn't have the miracle playoff run the last week (along with Minny collapse) in 2008 (along with the fortuitous coin flip) and the 26-5/38-13 spurt last year, you're right...it would be hard for even the staunchest optimists to use much more than the Cardinals/Astros/Rockies and the fact that it's the Royals/Indians and not the Twins/Tigers out in first and second.

 

Yep, was a miracle run. Not like we were a freak wrist injury away from having an MVP batting 3rd in our lineup that year or anything.

[southsider2k5]

Remnants of 2008 and 2010.

 

If we didn't have the miracle playoff run the last week (along with Minny collapse) in 2008 (along with the fortuitous coin flip) and the 26-5/38-13 spurt last year, you're right...it would be hard for even the staunchest optimists to use much more than the Cardinals/Astros/Rockies and the fact that it's the Royals/Indians and not the Twins/Tigers out in first and second.

 

Summarily dismissing hot streaks is unacceptable. No team is going exactly 6-4 in every 10 games. Any team that wins a division or wild card is going to have a hot streak. There is this obsession with the bad points, and then the good get dismissed like they don't really matter. It doesn't work both ways. You can't just wave away 26-5 and obsess about a bad September in the same breahth.

[The Ginger Kid]

I like what the new guy from the sun times wrote this morning:

 

It’s time to silence the cowbells in the Juice Box.

 

It’s time for somebody collecting checks on a $125 million payroll to step up and hit a three-run homer. Or save a game out of the bullpen.

 

Somebody needs to make a diving play in the field — like the ones these energized Tampa Bay Rays have made in the first two games of this series — and

inject some life into the White Sox.

 

 

[RockRaines]

Less than 3 weeks into the season. If this is a theme going longer than a few weeks, then yes panic.

[Steve9347]

The blown saves really demoralized this team...

Very true, and we lost our best hitter when he was hot and now he's back and ice cold. Things will turn around.

[RockRaines]

All I ask for is if the team starts winning that you continue to call for KW's head since you are basing it on several years of play. If they rattle off a winning streak, you should still be posting these threads.

[mumu]

This is the positive thread that will actually inspire the team

 

The team draws its inspiration from Soxtalk threads? I had no idea.