80 games? Good grief.

[Lake Shore Drive]

We can all but kiss Castillo's season goodbye. Wow, that's a lot of games, especially if it's a first time suspension. I didn't find anything that said it was not his first offense. Whew, what a hit to our roster.

 

[navamind]

We can all but kiss Castillo's season goodbye. Wow, that's a lot of games, especially if it's a first time suspension. I didn't find anything that said it was not his first offense. Whew, what a hit to our roster.

80 games is for first offense

 

[richig07]

Kevan Smith isn't a bad option once he gets healthy.

Another free agent signing by Hahn that appears to be a swing and a miss.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

80 games is for first offense

Didn't know that, thanks. Wow, they've really gotten tough on this issue.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

Kevan Smith isn't a bad option once he gets healthy.

Another free agent signing by Hahn that appears to be a swing and a miss.

Don't ballclubs do their own testing prior to signing a player? If yes they do test and he tested clean back then, you'd have to think this guy is as sleazy as sleazy gets. If they don't test then the clubs get what they deserve. This includes our team as well.

 

[richig07]

Don't ballclubs do their own testing prior to signing a player? If yes they do test and he tested clean back then, you'd have to think this guy is as sleazy as sleazy gets. If they don't test then the clubs get what they deserve. This includes our team as well.

They go through physicals. I don't think that includes a drug-test. You're drug tested along with everyone else randomly. If a player knows when/where he has a drug test, it defeats the purpose. It doesn't take long to flush that stuff out of your system.

 

[idseer]

not that it matters, but catching is the one position the sox have needed since whatsizface ......... and then this.
there was a time in my life ... i was about 60 .... i thought i'd never see a white sox championship and there was no reason to believe i ever would. then 2005 happened. so at least i would not die never seeing it happen. i say this now because i'm quite sure i will not see another one. the ownership of this team has puked all over its fans and i see no let up as it will go to reinsdork's kids who will believe the same stupid shit their father believed ... that the most important thing is loyalty.
the sox don't know how to do anything right. from personnel judgement to talent evaluation. they took forever to understand that guillen was hurting the team, that ventura was clueless right from the start, that kenny williams (the same fool who fired tony larussa and hired some one with worse judgement then himself) was the dumbest GM in sox history, that paying old, over the hill slugger strikeout artists (and pitchers) at the expense of your farm system and other important players was ignorant and that lying to your fan base will always catch up to you and cost you dollars at the gate.
not that this team couldn't grow into something good, mind you. there is potential. but, there's always been potential! it just that the brain-trust on our team of choice WILL manage to fuck it up anyway.

so, who really cares that once again we have no catcher? we don't have anyone to pitch to a catcher anyway!

face it sox fans. somehow, someway, we have all done something terrible in our lives to deserve this outfit.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

Well id, I'm sure you feel you got that pent up frustration off your chest!! Every so often we frustrated, yet diehard Sox fans need to let off some steam.

 

[idseer]

Well id, I'm sure you feel you got that pent up frustration off your chest!! Every so often we frustrated, yet diehard Sox fans need to let off some steam.

yeah, every once in a while it just bubbles up. ... it's all true tho!

 

[richig07]

The struggles that our pitching prospects have had with command is both troubling and inexcusable. Even Kopech at the lower levels of the organization.

Lopez is the only youngster who resembles a legit major league pitcher. From a raw talent standpoint - he pales in comparison to those who look like they couldn't shutdown a high school lineup.

Rodon looked dominant last season for a good stretch, but can he stay healthy?

You know who also struggles with command? Quintana. Taught to pitch where? Our organization. Cooper and company still get credit for him. However, he started on a downhill trek last season on the southside and has yet to right the ship up north.

Sale is the only tangible thing Cooper and the organization can hang their hats on over the last decade. However, let's face it... Chris Sale would have become a force in the big leagues if this forum made up the White Sox staff.

We need an overhaul of everything coaching/managing in this organization, before we squander the talent we have completely.

On the same token, we all need to calm the hell down. We wanted a strip down and rebuild. This is what it looks like. Be careful what you wish for.

Not sure I'll watch much until Eloy and Kopech make their way up. Probably Lopez/Rodon starts and flip the game on for Moncada AB's. Other than that, just check the box score to save yourself the headache.

How many runs have we given up in the first inning this year? I swear to you. We HAVE to be pacing to OBLITERATE that record. It's not that we lose which makes it intolerable, I knew we'd lose this year. It's that these games are over SOOO quickly.

The defensive/mental miscues also go back directly to managing/coaching. Losing is acceptable during a rebuild. Your young players lacking basic fundamentals of the game is not.

Have you seen our catching recently? Good god, I thought Navarez was bad. This Alfredo Gonzalez guy must have stolen a professional baseball player's identity. It's utterly laughable.

If I was anybody but a handful of guys on this team... it'd be hard to even consider myself a major league ball player. Every time I put on the uniform, I'd have a voice in the back of my head telling "yeah, but... this isn't REALLY major league baseball".

 

[idseer]

....... We need an overhaul of everything coaching/managing in this organization, before we squander the talent we have completely. .......

you know why that won't happen? say it with me .... LOYALTY!

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

I haven't had the (dis)pleasure of watching all that many games this year. I'm out here in Vegas, so for the most part I only catch them when they're on MLB or ESPN, which is not very often. But I diligently read the online articles/websites and from I've been observing based on such is that what has to be far and away our biggest weakness at this point is our bullpen. Yes, the starting pitching and pretty much most of the lineup both on the field and with the sticks also bite weenie. But our pen really really really blows. The past couple of years Hahn & co did a yeoman's job of putting together a very serviceable pen, but when he traded away the core of that group last season, the replacements have been beyond substandard.

 

[richig07]

I haven't had the (dis)pleasure of watching all that many games this year. I'm out here in Vegas, so for the most part I only catch them when they're on MLB or ESPN, which is not very often. But I diligently read the online articles/websites and from I've been observing based on such is that what has to be far and away our biggest weakness at this point is our bullpen. Yes, the starting pitching and pretty much most of the lineup both on the field and with the sticks also bite weenie. But our pen really really really blows. The past couple of years Hahn & co did a yeoman's job of putting together a very serviceable pen, but when he traded away the core of that group last season, the replacements have been beyond substandard.

Yeah, but that's expected. A good bullpen isn't making this team close to a contender. The pen is always the last part. You're not going to spend on the pen when you don't have the key parts. A really good looking living room is useless if the house doesn't have a strong foundation.

The bullpen has actually been respectable since Fry came up too. Rondon and Jones have been respectable (Rondon one really bad outing).

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

Yeah, but that's expected. A good bullpen isn't making this team close to a contender. The pen is always the last part. You're not going to spend on the pen when you don't have the key parts. A really good looking living room is useless if the house doesn't have a strong foundation.

The bullpen has actually been respectable since Fry came up too. Rondon and Jones have been respectable (Rondon one really bad outing).

Oh I agree in part, particularly when you explain the lion's share of a team's payroll will not be allocated to the bullpen. But don't underestimate the importance of the pen in this day and age. It has never played a larger role in a team's success or lack thereof than it has the past decade. And its importance continues to grow. I don't have all the stats in front of me, but I think a fair guess would be that the pen has blown at least a dozen leads already this season, and we're not even at the halfway point. I think it has improved of late as you mentioned, but it's still overall a bottom five BP. Until we fix this, our beloved Sox will continue to be a 90-100 loss ballclub.

 

[richig07]

Oh I agree in part, particularly when you explain the lion's share of a team's payroll will not be allocated to the bullpen. But don't underestimate the importance of the pen in this day and age. It has never played a larger role in a team's success or lack thereof than it has the past decade. And its importance continues to grow. I don't have all the stats in front of me, but I think a fair guess would be that the pen has blown at least a dozen leads already this season, and we're not even at the halfway point. I think it has improved of late as you mentioned, but it's still overall a bottom five BP. Until we fix this, our beloved Sox will continue to be a 90-100 loss ballclub.

You'll be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn't agree that the bullpen is EXTREMELY pivotal for teams competing into September and (of course) October. I certainly understand that.

I'm just saying that for any team destined to win 60-75 games. It's not moving the needle, so you save the cash and wait to address it until the core pieces are in place. If our bullpen is good and gets us 7-10 additional wins, we're still toast - by QUITE a good distance compared to where Cleveland will wind-up. It'd be like a 3-4 win NFL team without a QB paying for a star WR. Ya know?

If our young core begins to pan out and makes us an 80-85-ish win caliber team. Suddenly those wins the bullpen can net you are huge. But until then... wait it out.

IF we do figure this thing out, the bullpen will absolutely be addressed and in a big way. Until our young guys are giving us life, it's a moot point though. They have to get up to the big leagues first to do that. Most our major prospects aren't.

 

[MikeMed]

Im heading down to Chicago to see my Brewers play........1st time on the south side.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

Yours is one of the teams that I'll have somewhat of a hard time rooting for my Sox to win. We're certainly not going anywhere for at least a couple more years. Of course I could never openly root for the Sox to lose, but if we're going to do so, might as well be against a division rival to the Evil Empire. You may have heard the old expression, the second favorite team of any White Sox fan is the team presently playing the Cubs.

While our ballpark is not all that glitzy and funky like many other stadiums, including your team's, I do think it's a great venue to actually watch a ballgame, with great sightlines just about everywhere. Enjoy.