Somebody has to pitch every fifth day. Flexen was once an acceptable #5 starter, hopefully last year was just an outlier.

_________________
"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Dude, there's no hope. Nobody gives a shit but JR and his monkey boy. Maybe monkey boy's hot wife.

This is really amazing. The White Sox may feel they can fix some of these guys, but they are filling a roster with the least attractive free agents/trade acquisitions. I'm not sure what they are even doing at this point. They have improved the defense (probably), but loaded up with some of the worst hitters in league. They have brought in 4 or 5 triple-a type pitchers who will probably all be in the rotation next year.

Is this really the quick fix that Reinsdorf wanted?

They have taken a 100 loss team, and made it worse with every move. Unless 90% of the team have 'bounce back" years (not even sure if most of them have something to bounce back to), they could lose 110 games.

Nobody shows up or watches the broadcast, and JR will have the ammunition to move to Nashville and blame the fans.

_________________
"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

So weird. Getz says the he doesn't like the team. Reinsdorf says he wants a quick turnaround or whatever. Getz then goes on to acquire some of the worst players in baseball in mass and will probably trade his best pitcher.

The only part of this that makes any sense is that Reinsdorf wants to cut payroll and the rest will fall out the way it does.

What's yer favorite Japanese team?

Or pick a Taiwanese team and be one of the Last Fans o' that league.

What about me? Koeans gonna Korea. Shin wins his first championship at Home






"We love Asian Baseball!"-Las chicas in Korea

_________________
"Change has come to Amerika"-King Barky

It almost certainly won't be worse. They are not going to lose 110 games.

I'm not optimistic, but I also wouldn't be shocked if they won the division. The team isn't that much different than the one LaRussa led to a 93 win season two years ago.

They will certainly be better defensively. That seems to be Getz's "plan" if he has one. Put elite defenders at the important defensive positions and hope you can get enough offense from Moncada-Robert-Eloy-Vaughn to win some games. It's asking a lot of those guys but it isn't impossible. They've all had moments. (And if you were really going to execute such a plan, the real move was to sign Kiermaier to play center and move Robert to right. Benintendi-Kiermaier-Robert is an elite defensive outfield. But of course, that would have cost money.)

The problem is that kind of plan could work if you have the pitching, but they're relying on too many guys with 6.00 ERAs. A lot of good stuff is going to have to happen with the pitching all at once. Not likely. But if you look at the other teams in the division, none of them has good pitching either.

_________________
General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!

Other than Robert who are these elite defenders he is putting into place?

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Maldonado-DeJong-Lopez-Robert is a solid defensive spine. The problem is, you have to find offense somewhere.

But if you're predicting that they will be worse than last year, I'm gonna say you get more offense out of the new guys than you did from the guys who covered those positions last season.

_________________
General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!

DeJong elite? Come on, none of those guys not named Robert are elite. Maldonado is like 55 years old. Lopez and DeJong are just guys. They are solid defensively but nothing elite.

I do not think they will be worse than last year. I expect a bounce back somewhat. I could even see them contending for a wildcard spot if everything breaks right.

But as you stated pitching is the problem and if they trade Cease pitching becomes even more of a problem.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

What do you mean by "just guys"? That they don't hit? Granted. But Lopez is absolutely an elite defensive second baseman and DeJong is an above average defensive shortstop.

_________________
General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!

Just a guy - Solid defensively nothing more. No one in baseball looks at Nicky Lopez and says he is elite. He is closer to elite than DeJong. DeJong is the text book definition of just a guy. St Louis has had elite defenders and no one in that "best baseball fans in the world" club would ever think of putting DeJong in that category.

They are overall better defensively than last year, that is clear.

But again their season rises and falls on pitching and nothing that has happened so far fixes that problems. So all of this is moot more than likely.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Who do you think is going to win the AL Central? I can poke as many holes in them as you can with the White Sox.

_________________
General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!

Not true. But it's easy to dismiss a guy who just doesn't hit. You're always going to try to replace that guy with someone who can.

Over the last ten years the best defensive shortstop in baseball- and it isn't even close- is Nick Ahmed. You'll probably dismiss him as "just a guy." Okay. He doesn't hit. Which is why he hasn't kept a starting job. That doesn't take away from the fact that he is an elite defender.

You have to decide what kind of team you want to have and see what works. Do you want Juan Uribe or Jose Valentin at short? They both do different things well.

I'm just telling you what Getz's approach seems to be here. Get guys in the key defensive positions who aren't going to kick the ball and hope you can squeeze enough offense out of them to supplement the guys who you are hoping will finally produce the way you thought they would.

They traded Sale for Moncada. They used a high draft pick on Vaughn. Like it or not, these are the guys they thought were good. Maybe they suck. But if they are close to what they thought they could be, this team will probably be a lot better than people think it will.

_________________
General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!

The Twins won the division with 87 wins. 83-88 wins probably wins that division again. Furthermore, do you think the White Sox did enough to improve by 20+ wins? That is truly absurd thinking

I agree Ahmed is an elite defender. Nicky Lopez is not Ahmed. But it does not really matter. I agree with your overall point that this is Getz strategy it seems.

This team will only be a lot better than people think if they get some crazy bounce back seasons from some pitchers or hit the jack pot on a couple lottery tickets that they sign.

It is about all you can hope for at this time.

And you are right there are no world beaters in this division. But I would say the Twins and Indians are still in better positions than the Sox. But it is baseball so some crazy shit could happen and they could sneak out a division title

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I think they got rid of the right guys- Grandal and Anderson. And I definitely think the Sox can win 80 games. And if some things break their way, 85 isn't absurd.

_________________
General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!

Detroit

Holy shit!

I get that it's a lot easier to win with a HoF manager than it is with Pedro Grifol.

_________________
General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!

They will be slightly better. I'd guess this is about a 70 win team, which really would be that hard to do. Sox had a like a .410 win% against the Tigers and Royals last season. Win the same against everyone else and go .500 against those two teams and thats 68 W's.

This is a vastly different roster and coaching staff to what they had in 2021 and 2022. Sox starting pitching as currently set up is in no way, shape, or form up to snuff for an 80-85 win prediction. Simply put, anybody seriously believing this is a dunce or insane. Maybe both.



The Cubs have added zero players to their MLB roster so far this off season. They have only made MiLB moves, so you've got that going for you. Which is nice. You fucking genius.

_________________

I still say 110 losses is more realistic than winning the division.

Look at what they are throwing out there for a starting rotation.... The "new and improved" defense better be amazing, because there will be baseballs being hit all over the place.
With Cease, the rotation sucks. If they trade Cease, whoever the Sox "ace" is, might be the #5 starter on a contending team (maybe #4). Lance Lynn was awful last year, and his numbers were better than Chris Flexen.

Once Cease is traded, this pitching staff will be approaching 2012 Cubs territory.

_________________
"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Samardzija ace!

_________________

If Cease goes before the season, obviously everything changes. But that looks more and more unlikely as potential suitors fill their needs elsewhere. The Sox are asking for the moon and teams dropping out isn't going to raise the price.

_________________
General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!

There have only been 19 teams that have lost 110 games in a season. I'm gonna say a division championship is much more likely.

I doubt Flexen is in the rotation. He may not even make the team. A year ago everyone here would have said Cease-Kopech is as good a 1-2 as any team in the Central has.

_________________
General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!

But then the season happened. This team may have 1.5 MLB caliber starters on opening day.

_________________

I don't expect every guy to have his best season but I don't expect them all to have their worst either.

_________________
General Jim wears Fort Bragg down... to get it!