That said, almost every regular other than Semien and DeAza is around or above an 800 OPS.

 

Yeah, but outside of Abreu and Dunn, does anybody believe any of them can actually finish a season above an 800 OPS? This team is going to have an inevitable offensive slump, and if the pitching doesn't get better it will lead to a pretty bad losing streak.

I liked Peavy a lot. But I hope we bomb him

 

I was a big Peavy fan also, hated it when we traded him.

I was a big Peavy fan also, hated it when we traded him.

Not me, it was the right move. And I like Avi.

 

Cleto can't be the closer. His command is entirely too inconsistent. Hope Webb gets a chance

Not me, it was the right move. And I like Avi.

 

Cleto can't be the closer. His command is entirely too inconsistent. Hope Webb gets a chance

 

Cleto in the 8th, Webb in the 9th. It's not going to be perfect, but better than what's going on now.

Yeah, but outside of Abreu and Dunn, does anybody believe any of them can actually finish a season above an 800 OPS? This team is going to have an inevitable offensive slump, and if the pitching doesn't get better it will lead to a pretty bad losing streak.

 

 

Eaton has a chance. Viciedo, if he can get his OBP up enough. DeAza's done it in the past.

 

The chances of Ramirez, Flowers and Gillaspie all doing it are slim and none, but you never know with younger players like Flowers/Gillaspie. Likely, no. Impossible, of course not.

 

Just like nobody would have predicted Dunn and Swisher would be so bad with the Sox, based on their entire body of work.

Not me, it was the right move. And I like Avi.

 

Cleto can't be the closer. His command is entirely too inconsistent. Hope Webb gets a chance

 

 

100%.

 

The irony is that if that trade was reversed and we now had a rotation of Sale/Quintana/Peavy/Danks/Johnson...we would quite possibly be one reliable closer away from having a very competitive team in 2014 (leading back to the Jimenez/Santana/Garza discussion, unfortunately).

 

Long term, it was definitely the best move...and there's also a good chance over the next month the offensive fireworks will cool off and we'll more realistically assess this team as still being at least 2-4 players short of true playoff contention.

Edited April 14, 201411 yr by caulfield12

Yeah, but outside of Abreu and Dunn, does anybody believe any of them can actually finish a season above an 800 OPS? This team is going to have an inevitable offensive slump, and if the pitching doesn't get better it will lead to a pretty bad losing streak.

The pitching isn't this bad though either. The offense will get worse and the pitching will get better.

It's not that I don't like Peavy, but I never thought of him as a true Sox player. Same as Rios. Just something not there for me.

 

The guys who are on the White Sox team are true White Sox players.

Even Jose Paniagua.

 

 

And Wil Cordero. And Albert Belle. And Jose Canseco.

The pitching isn't this bad though either. The offense will get worse and the pitching will get better.

 

Exactly. If you take a 13 game snapshot of any teams season you will find all sorts of huge anomalies. The fact that this is the first 13 games and therefore these are the "whole season statistics" seems to have a disproportionate psychological effect on some folks looking at the stats.

 

Johnson and Paulino will pitch good games. Flowers won't hit .300.

My TV started going in and out in the 9th inning due to the weather, but it cleared up for about 15 seconds...just enough to see Alexei blast that walk-off!

Why was Hawk absent ?

Why was Hawk absent ?

 

The Masters

This team will level out. Just hope the offense keeps up for the most part. Especially Alexei. Want his value as best as possible.

When was Alexeis first HR last year? June?

When was Alexeis first HR last year? June?

 

It was actually April 3rd, but his second homer wasn't until August 9th when he hit two, one in each game of a doubleheader.

Were there talks of Alexei going through some personal problems last year? If so, maybe he's finally moved past them?

The Semien and Lexi homers were special. That is all.

I still can't believe Alexei is this hot in freakin' April. Great to see.

Did anyone else jizz their pants when they saw that walk off? Mercy!!

Froze my ass off for 6 hours. They said high 60s. Subtract maybe 20 degrees you dumb bastards.

 

Semien damn well better be hitting in the 2 hole for the rest of the year.

Were there talks of Alexei going through some personal problems last year? If so, maybe he's finally moved past them?

 

His father in law died at the end of spring training iirc

Froze my ass off for 6 hours. They said high 60s. Subtract maybe 20 degrees you dumb bastards.

 

Semien damn well better be hitting in the 2 hole for the rest of the year.

 

I agree with you hammerhead. There's no comparison between Semien and Beckham. If we'd just release Kepp, we could make Gordo the super sub and send down L. Garcia.

Despite giving up only one earned run in 9 innings, we're last in the AL in ERA at 5.48.

 

That said, almost every regular other than Semien and DeAza is around or above an 800 OPS.

 

 

It's a fun, exciting but exasperating team to watch. You know they're going to be scrambling all season to figure out what to do at the back end of the bullpen. It's a nice problem to have...in the sense that we didn't even think having a reliable closer would have mattered all that much a couple of weeks ago. Now we're only 1/2 game back of the Tigers, and it's important enough to care about. That's something...baseball matters again, a young team winning games and building their confidence and picking each other up (Garcia injury, bullpen and starting issues galore) matters, too.

 

HOPEFULLY, Webb is the answer...or Cleto. It should be Webb eventually, because Cleto's control is just too spotty and unpredictable to be able to rely on him, but those two have definitely pitched the best.

 

I have no clue what's going to happen with Downs and Veal. They look close to hopeless now.

 

And yes, I do realize we were 26-26 or whatever at the end of May in 2013. But this team has a much more hopeful/positive/upbeat feeling. It's a young team, not one weighed down by so many veterans going through the motions and moping about their business.

 

I would just like to add that if you take out Semien's first two games of the season this is his line .293/.383/.488 with a .384 BABIP 13% BB% 28% K% I think as he continues to progress at the major league level the K% will come down and the BB% will come up a bit. But I'm very encouraged by his ABs and am looking forward to our future of Eaton and Semien at the top of the order. If Micah Johnson develops into a Kenny Lofton type of hitter at the keystone and Marcus and be average to slightly below at SS watch out. 1-4 of Eaton, Semien, Johnson, Abreu really excites me.

His father in law died at the end of spring training iirc

 

He was murdered in front of his house IIRC.