February 25, 201610 yr Long time lurker, first time poster. To the guy who said the Sox are the only team going to the playoffs in Chicago this year -- is that supposed to be a troll post? If it is, I like it, because I, like many of you, hate the Cubs and would love to see them not make the playoffs. With that said, that organization is in pristine condition right now and I would be willing to wager every single dollar to my name that they make the playoffs in 2015.
February 25, 201610 yr QUOTE (gosoxgo2005 @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 09:56 AM) Long time lurker, first time poster. To the guy who said the Sox are the only team going to the playoffs in Chicago this year -- is that supposed to be a troll post? If it is, I like it, because I, like many of you, hate the Cubs and would love to see them not make the playoffs. With that said, that organization is in pristine condition right now and I would be willing to wager every single dollar to my name that they make the playoffs in 2015. No team ever swept in the league championship series has ever made the playoffs the following year. So we have that.
February 25, 201610 yr QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 09:14 AM) We also had a historically bad position player group. Frazier & Lawrie are nice upgrades, but we're still relying on too many players to rebound/improve next year. Melky, LaRoche, & Avi combined for a -2.8 fWAR and we haven't added one player to push them for playing time. Saladino and/or Rollins are likely an upgrade at SS, but the question is how much? Same goes for C. Our team is better and I think we can possibly contend as is, but a lot of things would have to go right, including near perfect health from our pitching staff. Adding a guy like Jackson just makes too much sense, as he provides more value to the team than his indivual WAR contribution. He allows Eaton to slide over to RF, improving the OF defense significantly. He also allows Avi to start the season in a bench/platoon role pushing LaRoche and possibly Melky for playing time. Honestly, I don't know what Hahn is thinking if he doesn't add another OF, because this division is very winnable with one more move. They did upgrade crater size holes at 2B, SS, and 3B though. Catcher is an upgrade offensively as well barring health. They had an all time bad offense and only finished 5 games out of .500.
February 25, 201610 yr QUOTE (gosoxgo2005 @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 10:56 AM) Long time lurker, first time poster. To the guy who said the Sox are the only team going to the playoffs in Chicago this year -- is that supposed to be a troll post? If it is, I like it, because I, like many of you, hate the Cubs and would love to see them not make the playoffs. With that said, that organization is in pristine condition right now and I would be willing to wager every single dollar to my name that they make the playoffs in 2015. I think it's mostly "wishful" thinking.
February 25, 201610 yr Author I get the point about RF being a great place to target an upgrade, but all the ink devoted to it has been absurd. The Sox were worse at 3B, 2B, and DH last year, and offensively were also worse at SS and C. Plus, LF seriously underachieved, as did quite a few of the pitchers.
February 25, 201610 yr QUOTE (VAfan @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 02:31 PM) I get the point about RF being a great place to target an upgrade, but all the ink devoted to it has been absurd. The Sox were worse at 3B, 2B, and DH last year, and offensively were also worse at SS and C. Plus, LF seriously underachieved, as did quite a few of the pitchers. Many of those positions were addressed. LF, there is reason to believe Melky will be better, and addressing another RF also in a way addresses the DH position.
February 25, 201610 yr so of all the weakness on positions, the sox are going with RF and DH not being fixed. those 2 have high hopes. but the dh position is really a valuable position that should have been improve, barring that, then the OF'er needed to be improve.
February 26, 201610 yr I'm not sure anything can/could be done anywhere else that makes a significant impact to the overall success of the 2016 team. Looking at what was left availability/talent wise and the makeup of the current roster and moves that were made (or not made) up to this point everything seems to makes sense. Probably (and financially?) a different situation next year but we should all be used to the current "motto" at this point. This team is constructed similar to years past for better or worse (in recent years worse) BUT the front office does afford themselves some flexibility in years moving forward. Have to think they are hoping top of the order (Eaton, Melky) can do enough to set the tone for a better protected middle of lineup (Abreu, Frazier) and.....s***, even I don't want to talk about the rest of the lineup. Nobody should be shocked about where they stand today though. In all honesty, they made their major move they thought could impact the other bats (Frazier). As Jimmy Rollins once said, "don't stop get it get it."
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