How to get back in this thing

tims4wins

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I guess it's where you draw the line. I'm not drawing the line of demarcation at any one point in the calendar per se. Instead, I'm categorizing where the quality of their competition falls and how the Sox measure up. Did they start winning because they got hot or was it because they were playing a cupcake schedule? And if it was just because they got hot, why did they suddenly get hot? Obviously, Story turning it around carried the team for a stretch but why did he suddenly get hot?
The start of this run was 2 games vs Atlanta (1-1 split), 3 games vs Texas (2–1), and 3 vs Houston (2-1). Atlanta are the defending champs. Houston are the defending AL champs. Texas is a mediocre team similar to the Sox.

They definitively did not get hot just by playing bad teams.
 

jon abbey

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Also even the worst teams win a third of their games and any sweep is an achievement, especially on the road.

You can only play/beat the teams on your schedule, it’s pretty clear that BOS has been playing a lot better since their 10-19 start, 17-8 since then. Their run differential was indeed an early tell that they had a good chance to turn things around, as some here mentioned at the time.
 

Sandy Leon Trotsky

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I don’t think we have enough information to know whether your point that the Sox lose to good teams and beat bad teams is at all true.

May 10 is as good a date as any other to pinpoint when the Sox started turning their season around. On May 9 the Sox were 10-19 and had lost five straight, and seven of the last eight, including two of three to Baltimore. To that point in the season they had lost to good teams and to bad teams. In other words, they pretty much lost to the teams they were playing regardless of their quality.

Since May 10, theSox have gone 17-8. These are the series they have played, with opponent’s current winning percentage, and series result:

Atlanta .508 1-1
Texas .472 2-1
Houston .648 2-1
Seattle .444 4-0
Chicago .481 2-1
Baltimore .411 2-3
Cincinnati .340 1-1
Oakland .357 3-0

In other words, since the turnaround, the Sox have pretty much beaten the teams they are playing regardless of their quality. Let’s hold off on making determinations about the ability of the Red Sox to beat good teams until they’ve had more opportunities to do so now that they are playing well enough to beat *anybody*.
So 100 wins is still on the table if they keep playing at the same pace since 5/10, yeah???
 

jon abbey

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Someone tweeted this in a Yankee-defending context and I thought it was relevant here, not my numbers but not doublechecking them. Also with only five teams over .500 in the AL at this moment, the other ten teams are not interchangeable, so a bit silly, but FWIW.

============

Records vs teams over .500

Yankees 10-6
Blue Jays 15-15
Rays 7-6
Red Sox 9-13
Orioles 16-21

Twins 6-9
Guardians 6-12
White Sox 11-14
Tigers 9-21
Royals 6-14

Astros 6-6
Angels 7-13
Rangers 9-15
Mariners 11-19
Athletics 6-18
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Edit: James Paxton news seems a bit scant lately. Saw something on 22 May about playing catch from 60 feet per Chris Cotillo.
Edit: None of this is "new news" - just adding some data to speculation on when the rotation might improve.
ESPN reporting that Paxton is throwing from 120 feet and scheduled to start throwing off a mound next week.

Sale remains on schedule to throw a bullpen on Tuesday and start facing live batters next Friday.

Red Sox vs. Angels - Game Recap - June 6, 2022 - ESPN
 

Rovin Romine

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Trending in the right direction. . .4-0 thusfar brings them above .500 for the season. The sweep of Oakland was nice, but the road trip now has the feel of a huge opportunity. Every win here needs to be considered against the upcoming harder schedule. Don't let up!

If the Sox become miraculously red-hot (e.g., "Story - The Sequel") and go 10-0, they'll stand at 34-27, and a 90 win target (likely a solid postseason chance) in the remaining 101 games would require 56 wins (.554):
10-0 - .554
9-1 - .564
8-2 - .574
7-3 - .584
6-4 - .594
5-5 - .604
4-6 - .614
3-7 - .624
2-8 - .634
1-9 - .644
0-10 - .654


This is the set for the more modest 87 win target, which is maybe? a 50% chance of making the postseason. Hard to factor as more teams will be trying to win late in the season:
10-0 - .525
9-1 - .535
8-2 - .545
7-3 - .555
6-4 - .564
5-5 - .574
4-6 - .584
3-7 - .594
2-8 - .604
1-9 - .614
0-10 - .624
 

streeter88

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ESPN reporting that Paxton is throwing from 120 feet and scheduled to start throwing off a mound next week.

Sale remains on schedule to throw a bullpen on Tuesday and start facing live batters next Friday.

Red Sox vs. Angels - Game Recap - June 6, 2022 - ESPN
Hahaha- so he’s a week behind the schedule they quoted the last time they reported on him, which was May 28.
In that report, Ian Browne said Sale “could be on a Minors rehab assignment by the week of June 6”.
So let’s adjust accordingly and say he might be back with the team by July 1. Hope we keep winning…
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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Apparently the answer to my question about bullpen roles was Cora deciding to let the starters throw complete games.

I can't say I saw that coming. Given the shift to short starts and dominant pens (which the Sox don't have) this is a pretty good inefficiency to exploit.
 

BringBackMo

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Hahaha- so he’s a week behind the schedule they quoted the last time they reported on him, which was May 28.
In that report, Ian Browne said Sale “could be on a Minors rehab assignment by the week of June 6”.
So let’s adjust accordingly and say he might be back with the team by July 1. Hope we keep winning…
The deal Dombrowski gave to Sale seemed bad at the time and has aged poorly from there. So, yes, bad decision. But there is nothing remarkable about a rehab process being fluid in nature. Setbacks happen all the time. Get him as close to healthy as possible and give him the best chance to make a meaningful contribution when he returns. If he’s ready by mid-July that would still mean maybe ten starts (though I wonder if they’ll consider using him at the back of the bullpen instead). Anyway, I’m of the opinion that anything positive out of Sale this year should be considered a bonus, so I think the best approach is to give him all the time he needs.
 

tims4wins

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Apparently the answer to my question about bullpen roles was Cora deciding to let the starters throw complete games.

I can't say I saw that coming. Given the shift to short starts and dominant pens (which the Sox don't have) this is a pretty good inefficiency to exploit.
3 CGs in the last couple weeks is remarkable and absolutely out of nowhere; especially considering who has thrown them. I honestly never thought we'd see a CG again in this era of baseball (maybe slight hyperbole, but it would take a perfect storm to make it happen... and now it's happened 3x).
 

DJnVa

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3 CGs in the last couple weeks is remarkable and absolutely out of nowhere; especially considering who has thrown them. I honestly never thought we'd see a CG again in this era of baseball (maybe slight hyperbole, but it would take a perfect storm to make it happen... and now it's happened 3x).
The rest of MLB has 7. lol
 

Archer1979

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3 CGs in the last couple weeks is remarkable and absolutely out of nowhere; especially considering who has thrown them. I honestly never thought we'd see a CG again in this era of baseball (maybe slight hyperbole, but it would take a perfect storm to make it happen... and now it's happened 3x).
It's almost like Cora realized that the strategy of handing the game over to the bullpen after the starters go through the order twice doesn't work that well when the bullpen is having a hard time going through the order the rest of the game. Analytically, I can see why Cora had that strategy, but, damn... he was burning through arms to get to/through the ninth. Turn the non-opener games into quasi-opener games all while risking that, as someone posted much earlier, you increase the risk of pitching a pitcher who was going to have a bad night.
 

A Bad Man

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Quoted after the game, Cora points to a specific strategy in handling SP early in the season:

“I know we get criticized sometimes with our pitching program early on in the season, taking care of pitchers and taking them out early,” Cora said. “Like we tell them, the reason we do that is to save bullets and to be ready when it really matters. That’s when we can be creative in October and September using starters as relievers, and just being disciplined early on is paying off right now.”
 

BaseballJones

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Quoted after the game, Cora points to a specific strategy in handling SP early in the season:
That's great. But it costs games early in the year, and every game matters. If you don't make the playoffs because of some dumb-ass April loss then having those starters ready to roll in mid-October, when the team is playing golf, doesn't help.
 

LogansDad

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That's great. But it costs games early in the year, and every game matters. If you don't make the playoffs because of some dumb-ass April loss then having those starters ready to roll in mid-October, when the team is playing golf, doesn't help.
It goes the other way, too, though, doesn't it? If you blow up a SP's arm in April and he can't pitch in August/September, then I think you are losing a lot more than the alternative. This year, especially, I have no issue with them stomaching a few tough losses early in order to get the SP's more ready for the rest of the season.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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It goes the other way, too, though, doesn't it? If you blow up a SP's arm in April and he can't pitch in August/September, then I think you are losing a lot more than the alternative. This year, especially, I have no issue with them stomaching a few tough losses early in order to get the SP's more ready for the rest of the season.
You could also make the case that at least a couple of the tough losses some might attribute to the deployment of the pitching staff can be blamed on the severe lack of offense in April. I'm loathe to get too worked up about pitching strategies in a 2-1 or 3-2 loss versus a 10-6 type loss, and they had a few more of the former (9 losses so far holding the opponent to 3 or fewer runs) than the latter early this season (5 losses scoring 5+ runs). Flip even just three of those low-scoring losses, and they're 31-24 and practically dead even with the Jays and Rays.
 

BaseballJones

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It goes the other way, too, though, doesn't it? If you blow up a SP's arm in April and he can't pitch in August/September, then I think you are losing a lot more than the alternative. This year, especially, I have no issue with them stomaching a few tough losses early in order to get the SP's more ready for the rest of the season.
I get what you’re saying and in general I’m a long term view kind of guy. But man this season was ALMOST completely lost in the first 29 games.
 

scottyno

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I get what you’re saying and in general I’m a long term view kind of guy. But man this season was ALMOST completely lost in the first 29 games.
How can a season have been almost completely lost in 29 games if after less than another 29 they're already back in playoff position?
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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They’re in the last WC slot, hardly a sure thing, because they decided that opening the year 11-19 was a-OK with everyone.

May I remind the court that with nearly four months remaining, a playoff spot is hardly a sure thing. It would be if they had played better and weren’t a billion games behind the Yankees and had to concede the division already, but alas.

The beginning of this season ensured they’d be scrapping for their playoff lives at best. That’s no way to go through a year, especially with this payroll.
 

scottyno

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I'm sure he has me on ignore, so he won't even see this, but if instead of starting 11-19 they had started 15-15 or whatever an "acceptable" start would have been the playoffs still wouldn't be a sure thing. We know this because they started much better than that last year and then still had to fight just to get into the playoffs in September. It's also ridiculous to assume that their record right now guarantees they'll be fighting for their playoff lives in September, they could easily be 5-10 games up or 5-10 games out by then.

As is, they're favored to make the playoffs according to bref, and a slight underdog on fangraphs because fg for some reason really really loves the white sox and expects them to still win the division.
 

Rovin Romine

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The 10 game road trip is now 5-0. Last night was a skin of the teeth win against a snake-bit team. . .but it counts.
If the Sox become miraculously red-hot (e.g., "Story - The Sequel") and go 10-0, they'll stand at 34-27, and a 90 win target (likely a solid postseason chance) in the remaining 101 games would require 56 wins (.554):
10-0 - .554
9-1 - .564
8-2 - .574
7-3 - .584
6-4 - .594
5-5 - .604
4-6 - .614
3-7 - .624
2-8 - .634
1-9 - .644
0-10 - .654


This is the set for the more modest 87 win target, which is maybe? a 50% chance of making the postseason. Hard to factor as more teams will be trying to win late in the season:
10-0 - .525
9-1 - .535
8-2 - .545
7-3 - .555
6-4 - .564
5-5 - .574
4-6 - .584
3-7 - .594
2-8 - .604
1-9 - .614
0-10 - .624
 

tims4wins

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Jul 15, 2005
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Hingham, MA
Back to back 1 run wins (including an extra innings win) feels like the early season 1 run and extra inning losses are beginning to even out a bit. Now a more normal 6-8 in 1 run games, although still 2-6 in extras.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Pen deserves some credit for holding the Angels down so the bats could come back. Sawamura, Davis, Houck, and Strahm combined for 5 innings with 1 H, 2 BB, 7 K, and 0 runs. There were a few games in April/May where they did the same only it was in a loss because the offense didn't come through. Good to see them covering for each other. It's how win streaks continue.
 

pk1627

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Trying to think of when the playoffs were a certainty in previous years in early June. Maybe 2007 and 2018 when they led wire to wire, but even those years there was intense SoSH fear that the dreaded Yankees were better.
 

joe dokes

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They’re in the last WC slot, hardly a sure thing, because they decided that opening the year 11-19 was a-OK with everyone.

May I remind the court that with nearly four months remaining, a playoff spot is hardly a sure thing. It would be if they had played better and weren’t a billion games behind the Yankees and had to concede the division already, but alas.

The beginning of this season ensured they’d be scrapping for their playoff lives at best. That’s no way to go through a year, especially with this payroll.
They started 7-7 then had a shitty two weeks while the NYY are playing at a 118-win pace. You find me someone somewhere with "RedSox" on his employment page who "decided" that a 4-12 run was a-ok and I will pay you eleventy fucktillion dollars.
 

BroodsSexton

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They started 7-7 then had a shitty two weeks while the NYY are playing at a 118-win pace. You find me someone somewhere with "RedSox" on his employment page who "decided" that a 4-12 run was a-ok and I will pay you eleventy fucktillion dollars.
psst, @Smiling Joe Hesketh. Tell you what, I'll say I was ok with it, as long as you give me fiftyfive fucktillion. OK?
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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They started 7-7 then had a shitty two weeks while the NYY are playing at a 118-win pace. You find me someone somewhere with "RedSox" on his employment page who "decided" that a 4-12 run was a-ok and I will pay you eleventy fucktillion dollars.
There are plenty of posts who think being in the final WC spot right now is just fine, Chaim's got a long-term POV, etc.

They're in that spot because they got off to a horrific start.

Again, it's great that they've started taking care of business by beating up on shitty teams lately; that's what good teams do and there's nothing wrong with that at all. But the start put them in a hole that's going to dictate the entire season.
 

Sandy Leon Trotsky

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There are plenty of posts who think being in the final WC spot right now is just fine, Chaim's got a long-term POV, etc.

They're in that spot because they got off to a horrific start.

Again, it's great that they've started taking care of business by beating up on shitty teams lately; that's what good teams do and there's nothing wrong with that at all. But the start put them in a hole that's going to dictate the entire season.
Somewhere in one of these mega threads, somebody already responded to this point... but they're not just beating up on bad teams. They played poorly against Baltimore and Cincinnati and are beating competitive teams (Texas, Anaheim) , along with some favored teams (Houston, White Sox).

They did play like shit early in the season, and yeah, it put them into a hole that they have been digging out of. The schedule is what it is- perhaps they'd be doing the same against all competitive teams right now. You don't know. But they're not just beating up on garbage teams and they didn't just lose to competitive teams during their horrid play.

I also don't think anyone is "happy" with a 6th place AL finish but it gets you to the playoffs where anything can happen. Anything. JBJ turns into Mike Trout for two weeks. I doubt that the Sox are as bad as they were when they were bad, and not as good as they are recently- but somewhere in between gets you a team that doesn't look as good as Houston, Minnesota or the Yankees, but IMO are every bit as good- even as currently constructed- as the BJ's and the Rays.
I think that they will make the playoffs... but the stretch coming up against better teams will be the most revealing as I doubt Sale, Paxton or any trades will be done until after that. If they can at least go .500 against all that competition then I'll feel better about a 6th place last WC spot. If they look like they did during their losing streak, then I'll be inclined to think similar to you.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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There are plenty of posts who think being in the final WC spot right now is just fine, Chaim's got a long-term POV, etc.

They're in that spot because they got off to a horrific start.

Again, it's great that they've started taking care of business by beating up on shitty teams lately; that's what good teams do and there's nothing wrong with that at all. But the start put them in a hole that's going to dictate the entire season.
Being in the final WC spot IS fine right now BECAUSE of how poorly they started, not because that's the fucking endgame. We all want them to be 10 games up in the division right now, but reality is reality. They're not there. But they are in a position where the playoffs are still realistic. And all they need to do is make the tournament and then maybe good things can happen. We saw that just last year. And pretty much every season in which a wildcard team won the Series. Having the best record or winning the division is certainly advantageous in the playoffs, but it isn't necessary to win it all.
 

BringBackMo

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There are plenty of posts who think being in the final WC spot right now is just fine, Chaim's got a long-term POV, etc.
I'm one of the people who has made such posts and, yes, I very much believe that sitting for the moment in the final WC spot with more than 100 games to play is just fine. I also believe that if they're sitting in that final wild card spot at the end of this particular season, then that, too, will be just fine. And, yes, I very much believe that Bloom has a long term point of view.

The Red Sox are quite obviously following the model of the Dodgers, much as the Giants--with their Friedman mentee--appear to be doing. They are working to set up a long stretch of competitiveness sustained in large part by an assembly line of prospects and supplemented by strategic free agent signings. But it takes time to build that assembly line, and that's what the Sox are doing at the same time they are fielding competitive but not championship-caliber teams.

My guess is that you know that this is the plan, and that your true frustration is that you simply don't agree with that plan. And that's certainly more than fine. It's the sort of thing that reasonable fans can disagree about. But it's hardly productive to declare that, because some people around here are OK with competing for a wildcard that we're "a-OK" with the year starting at 11-19. That is not what anyone here has said, and no one was happy about that.

At that same time, 11-19 was obviously not indicative of this club's level of talent. 11-19 was NOT the team that Bloom assembled. 11-19 was NOT indicative of ownership or management punting the season. In any way. Nearly every advanced-metric analysis of the AL East at the start of the season showed the four clubs within a couple of wins of each other. The Sox were built to be about as good as those other three teams, in other words. And many posters here pointed that out all along. The Sox put up a dreadful stretch starting at game 15 (they opened the season 7-7 before going 4-12) in which a number of well-established hitters simply went ice cold all at the same time. That has obviously turned around, and with more than 100 games to play, the Sox are 4.5 games behind Toronto and 3.5 games behind Tampa, with a definitive run-diff advantage over both of them. That is NOT merely because they have been "beating up on shitty teams lately." It has been pointed out multiple times by multiple posters that their hot streak has included plenty of wins against decent to very good teams. The Sox, in other words, are probably about as good as both Toronto and Tampa. If you want to argue that they're a little worse, fine, that's reasonable. The Yankees may prove to be in a different class. We shall see.

My question for you, and I hope you will choose to answer it: Do you think the Red Sox will make the playoffs?
 

bosockboy

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Being in the final WC spot IS fine right now BECAUSE of how poorly they started, not because that's the fucking endgame. We all want them to be 10 games up in the division right now, but reality is reality. They're not there. But they are in a position where the playoffs are still realistic. And all they need to do is make the tournament and then maybe good things can happen. We saw that just last year. And pretty much every season in which a wildcard team won the Series. Having the best record or winning the division is certainly advantageous in the playoffs, but it isn't necessary to win it all.
No more one game playoff either.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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The Red Sox are quite obviously following the model of the Dodgers, much as the Giants--with their Friedman mentee--appear to be doing. They are working to set up a long stretch of competitiveness sustained in large part by an assembly line of prospects and supplemented by strategic free agent signings. But it takes time to build that assembly line, and that's what the Sox are doing at the same time they are fielding competitive but not championship-caliber teams.
One does not become the Dodgers by allowing elite talent to leave, and given that Bloom has not given and doesn't appear to be planning to give extensions to X and Devers, I find the idea that the Sox are working towards becoming the Dodgers completely ludicrous. The Dodgers amass talent, and a lot of it. The Sox seem fine with allowing talent, elite talent, to leave freely. One does not get a long stretch of competitiveness by allowing their two best players, both of whom are still in their 20s, to leave the club.

It's not the Dodgers the Sox are trying to become. It's the Rays. Which given Bloom's background, makes perfect sense.

I know their plan. I think their plan is completely misguided and won't work, because Boston has much more money than Tampa and a vastly different sports environment. Boston should be keeping their elite young players because it both makes them better and because they can well afford it. Tampa can do neither of those things so they let them walk and concentrate on drafting players to play cheap for them for a few years.

11-19 was NOT the team that Bloom assembled.
This makes no sense to me. Of course it was the team Bloom assembled. That is what he put out there to start the season, and that is what they produced. You can argue they were underperforming etc and that's fine, but saying 11-19 wasn't Blooms team is nonsensical. Of course it was. You are what your record says you are. They were an 11-19 team, built by Bloom. Reality always trumps "should haves."

If and only if X and Devers are re-signed to extensions, I will reconsider my stance on their plan. Right now, their actions show neither player will be back. Perhaps I'll be pleasantly surprised.
 
Last edited:

CoffeeNerdness

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Ah, yes, they're trying to be the Rays- the team well known for handing out *checks notes* $140 million dollar contracts. Maybe they only were able to amass that talent because Story clearly wants to be in Texas?

I love dinging the management for things they haven't done yet either. Sound logic.
 

mikeford

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I'm sure he has me on ignore, so he won't even see this, but if instead of starting 11-19 they had started 15-15 or whatever an "acceptable" start would have been the playoffs still wouldn't be a sure thing. We know this because they started much better than that last year and then still had to fight just to get into the playoffs in September. It's also ridiculous to assume that their record right now guarantees they'll be fighting for their playoff lives in September, they could easily be 5-10 games up or 5-10 games out by then.

As is, they're favored to make the playoffs according to bref, and a slight underdog on fangraphs because fg for some reason really really loves the white sox and expects them to still win the division.
I mean, it would be slightly more of a sure thing because if they had started 15-15 instead, they'd be in the 1st Wild Card, not the 3rd. Other teams would have to outperform them going forward instead of them needing to outperform others.

15-15 wouldn't have had them winning the division but it wouldn't be NOTHING.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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Ah, yes, they're trying to be the Rays- the team well known for handing out *checks notes* $140 million dollar contracts. Maybe they only were able to amass that talent because Story clearly wants to be in Texas?
$140 million is much less than X will get in his next deal. I suspect their plan is to let X walk for the picks and move Story to SS. Voila, they've saved themselves a great deal of money. Like a big-market version of the Rays.

My larger point is that it's inaccurate to say they want to be the Dodgers. LA traded for Mookie and Turner, signed Freeman and Tyler Anderson. They've constantly added elite, expensive talent from outside the organization AND have developed a ton of their own players. The Sox want to do a lot of the latter. But LA also keeps their home grown players, and I'm not sure the Sox are willing to go that far yet.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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I love dinging the management for things they haven't done yet either. Sound logic.
I'm dinging them for the current contract statuses of X and Devers. Which is a choice the FO has made. I believe letting either player go would be a major mistake. Letting both go would be catastrophic. We'll see.

The luxury tax threshold was the excuse they gave for trading Mookie, and to the best of my knowledge the threshold issue is still around. So we'll see.
 

bosockboy

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$140 million is much less than X will get in his next deal. I suspect their plan is to let X walk for the picks and move Story to SS. Voila, they've saved themselves a great deal of money. Like a big-market version of the Rays.

My larger point is that it's inaccurate to say they want to be the Dodgers. LA traded for Mookie and Turner, signed Freeman and Tyler Anderson. They've constantly added elite, expensive talent from outside the organization AND have developed a ton of their own players. The Sox want to do a lot of the latter. But LA also keeps their home grown players, and I'm not sure the Sox are willing to go that far yet.
They let Seagar walk and there’s no guarantee they resign Turner.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Jan 23, 2009
20,676
Maine
I'm dinging them for the current contract statuses of X and Devers. Which is a choice the FO has made. I believe letting either player go would be a major mistake. Letting both go would be catastrophic. We'll see.
Last I checked, those players are both under contract for another 2-3 years. The fact that X has an opt-out is the result of the previous GM, not the current one. So you are in fact dinging them for something they haven't done yet. Bravo.
 

joe dokes

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Jul 18, 2005
30,236
This makes no sense to me. Of course it was the team Bloom assembled. That is what he put out there to start the season, and that is what they produced. You can argue they were underperforming etc and that's fine, but saying 11-19 wasn't Blooms team is nonsensical. Of course it was. You are what your record says you are. They were an 11-19 team, built by Bloom. Reality always trumps "should haves."
If the season ended after 30 games, OR if ANY 11-19 or 4-12 stretch at ANY time during the season disqualified the team from the rest of the season you'd be right. Since none of those things are true, you are not.
 

CoffeeNerdness

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Jun 6, 2012
8,712
I'm dinging them for the current contract statuses of X and Devers. Which is a choice the FO has made. I believe letting either player go would be a major mistake. Letting both go would be catastrophic. We'll see.

The luxury tax threshold was the excuse they gave for trading Mookie, and to the best of my knowledge the threshold issue is still around. So we'll see.
So, they're again unlike the Rays who signed up Franco to a $180 million dollar contract to keep him around into his 30s? So you're actually advocating that they should be more like the Rays?

As far as I've read in what's been reported they've engaged the player's agents in negotiations. Until they sign elsewhere and accurate details get reported on how those negotiations went we basically know nothing.