The White Sox filled their right field vacancy by making a long-awaited Craig Kimbrel trade, otherwise focusing on signing Kimbrel’s replacements rather than compensating for the departure of Carlos Rodon.
Major League Signings
- Kendall Graveman, RP: three years, $24MM
- Joe Kelly, RP: two years, $17MM
- Leury Garcia, IF/OF: three years, $16.5MM
- Josh Harrison, 2B/3B: one year, $5.5MM
- Vince Velasquez, SP: one year, $3MM
- Total spend: $66MM
Options Exercised
- Craig Kimbrel, RP: one year, $16MM
Trades and Claims
- Acquired OF Adam Haseley from Phillies for RP McKinley Moore
- Acquired OF AJ Pollock from Dodgers for Craig Kimbrel
- Acquired C Reese McGuire from Blue Jays for C Zack Collins
Notable Minor League Signings
Extensions
- None
Notable Losses
- Carlos Rodon, Craig Kimbrel, Ryan Tepera, Cesar Hernandez, Zack Collins, Brian Goodwin, Billy Hamilton, Evan Marshall, Jimmy Cordero
After a disappointing ALDS loss to the Astros, the White Sox kicked off their offseason by exercising their hefty $16MM option on reliever Craig Kimbrel. The righty had struggled after a crosstown trade in which the Sox paid the high price of Nick Madrigal and Codi Heuer. The White Sox seemed intent on trading Kimbrel all along, and at the time their choice on the option seemed related to having given up Madrigal for him. As I wrote in December, “[White Sox GM Rick] Hahn has gambled that whatever he gets back will be better than just paying the $1MM buyout on Kimbrel and spending the money in free agency.”
At the time it needed to be made, the Kimbrel decision involved some financial risk for a club that has never been willing to run a payroll near the first competitive balance tax threshold. Days later, in what seemed a related choice payroll-wise, the White Sox declined to issue a one-year, $18.4MM qualifying offer to lefty Carlos Rodon.
Especially with the benefit of hindsight that the White Sox would make no major commitments to their rotation, the Rodon decision must be read as the club thinking that the southpaw accepting the qualifying offer would have been a bad thing. It’s hard to say whether Rodon would have accepted. He was one of the game’s best pitchers through mid-July last year, but lost velocity and was handled carefully after that due to shoulder issues. Rodon went on to sign a two-year, $44MM deal after the lockout with the Giants that allows him to opt out after the first year if he reaches 110 innings. Rodon’s market would have been different if he had a qualifying offer attached, due to draft pick forfeiture.
In granting righty Lance Lynn a two-year, $38MM extension last July – similar to the contract Rodon would eventually sign – it might be that the White Sox felt they could choose only one of their 2021 aces. That’s only true in that owner Jerry Reinsdorf decided not to set a payroll that would accommodate both. So, the White Sox received no compensation for Rodon’s departure, while Lynn had knee surgery earlier this month and isn’t expected to make his season debut before his 35th birthday on May 12th. The second half of the season will determine whether the White Sox made the right bet: Lynn will be a big factor in Chicago’s rotation, and we’ll learn whether Rodon holds up all year.
According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the White Sox showed “strong interest” in Justin Verlander before he reached an agreement to re-sign with the Astros on November 17th. That would’ve been a reasonable way to fill Rodon’s shoes, but competition for Verlander was fierce and the Astros were at the top of his list. Most other top free agent starting pitchers signed prior to the lockout as well, and the White Sox weren’t rumored to be interested in them.
Otherwise, the White Sox made a pair of free agent strikes before the December 2 lockout. They gave out a pair of decent-sized three-year deals, adding setup man Kendall Graveman and retaining super-utility man Leury Garcia. The Graveman signing laid groundwork for the eventual Kimbrel trade, ensuring the team would remain strong in the late innings behind top closer Liam Hendriks. Garcia garnered a larger commitment than expected, but would end up as part of the team’s second base solution.
Rick Hahn’s first post-lockout move was to finish off that second base combo with the signing of Josh Harrison. Through nine games of the season, manager Tony La Russa has split second base time evenly between Garcia and Harrison. Harrison is a righty batter with a modest platoon split, with a 113 wRC+ against southpaws from 2020-21. Garcia, a switch-hitter, is also better against lefties. From 2019-21, Garcia and Harrison sport identical 83 wRC+ marks against right-handed pitching. So for the 70% of the time a righty pitcher is on the hill, the White Sox figure to have a fairly easy out coming from the second base position in the lineup.
On the same day as the Harrison signing, the White Sox somewhat surprisingly moved to further bolster their bullpen with the signing of Joe Kelly. Not only was the team surprising given Chicago’s existing bullpen commitments, but Kelly had exited Game 5 of the NLCS with biceps tightness and still secured a strong commitment. His White Sox debut has been delayed by at least a couple of weeks due to the injury. When Kelly is healthy, he, Graveman, and Aaron Bummer can form a very strong bridge to Hendriks.
After the lockout, the White Sox added only back-end starting pitchers to cover for the loss of Rodon and ineffectiveness of Dallas Keuchel, as Lynn had not yet gotten injured. Vince Velasquez, 29, has longstanding control issues that pitching coach Ethan Katz will attempt to solve. Johnny Cueto, meanwhile, can be a source of veteran innings. The White Sox can still plan a hopeful playoff rotation of Lucas Giolito, Lynn, Dylan Cease, and Michael Kopech. While their depth to cover April injuries to Lynn and Giolito isn’t impressive, if everyone is healthy this will be a fearsome rotation.
The White Sox made efforts to trade for Sean Manaea or Frankie Montas, and Montas remains available. According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the Sox “nearly acquired” Manaea from the A’s before the Padres closed the deal. Nightengale suggests the A’s have sought Andrew Vaughn from the White Sox for Montas. If nothing else, these rumors suggest the White Sox know they’re a bit short on pitching depth, especially with Keuchel’s struggles last year and Kopech’s likely innings limit.
On April 1st, the White Sox finally found a match for Kimbrel, sending him to the Dodgers for AJ Pollock. This was a strong move for the White Sox, vindicating their decision to exercise Kimbrel’s option. In the 34-year-old Pollock, the White Sox effectively fill their right field vacancy with a player who posted a 135 wRC+ over 632 plate appearances from 2020-21. Pollock’s injury history suggests he’s good for about 115 games per year, so the Sox will be covering his absences with Adam Engel and Vaughn. The White Sox can’t exactly time when Pollock will get hurt, but the goal will be to have him active for the playoffs. The Sox also completed a smaller swap with the Collins-McGuire deal, improving their defense at the backup catcher position.
With Yasmani Grandal behind the plate, Jose Abreu at first base, Tim Anderson at shortstop, Yoan Moncada at third, Eloy Jimenez in left, and Luis Robert in center, the White Sox came into the offseason with a strong core of hitters. Pollock only deepens that mix. Vaughn, the third overall draft pick in 2019, should bounce around between the outfield corners, first base, and DH depending on the team’s needs. Anderson is under team control through 2024, Moncada through ’25, Jimenez and Vaughn through ’26, and Robert through ’27.
In the aggregate, the White Sox didn’t necessarily do much to improve upon last year’s 93-win team. When Pollock is healthy, they’ll clearly be better in right field, and the team won’t have to play Vaughn at an outfield corner. Second base is mostly a wash. They covered the losses of Kimbrel and Ryan Tepera with Graveman and Kelly, but also lost Garrett Crochet to Tommy John surgery. The rotation is worse off for the loss of Rodon, but Kopech and/or a future trade might fill much of that void. But maybe this was enough – the White Sox remain the clear favorite in the AL Central, and Tony La Russa’s crew is a credible threat to win the World Series in 2022.
Well, we saw them sell off Sale, Quintana, Semien and Eaton when they maxed their payroll last time. Can’t wait to see what this group brings them back in trade. Seems they are already at their limit, so if this group doesn’t do it, time to trade it all while they still have value.
If Giolito tells them he’s dead-set on testing FA, there’s a small (very, very small) chance they trade him next year, but if there’s one thing that FO is good at, it’s over-estimating their chances at a title, so I think they’ll keep him. Maybe they’ll be smart enough to give him a QO so they at least get a pick, but who knows?
As for the rest, no, they’re all safe for this year and next unless Hahn and co make another ill-fated all-in trade to address an area that was already a strength by turning a formerly covered area into a weakness.
So, what you’re saying is they had Sale on sale? They sold Sale… on sale seemingly.
This might be the ultimate “apples and oranges” comparison. The White Sox cashed in those players because they were “mired in mediocrity” with a team that had solid top end talent but little depth behind it and in their farm system. The current team has more elite talent at the top that was acquired with some shrewd trades, better drafts and two significant adds via international free agency with the holdover signing of Jose Abreu and later Luis Robert.
Are you saying that the current team differs? Solid top end talent with little depth behind it certainly sounds like the current team. They couldn’t afford to add talent this year. As the young core get salary increases, that depth will get even thinner. This year, or maybe last year, was likely their peak due to payroll restrictions. No more top talent coming up, and no money to spend. The division will be better next year, but they will be worse. Mediocrity coming soon.
The current White Sox are much better than any of those former clubs when ownership and the front office was content to consistently reload or retool virtually every season. This team is deeper with a lineup that includes former or future All-Stars at virtually every position aside from perhaps 2B after they regrettably unloaded Nick Madrigal last summer.
As formidable as Chris Sale and Jose Quintana were at 1-2, the current rotation is twice as deep with Lucas Giolito, Lance Lynn, Dylan Cease and Michael Kopech assuming good health. The White Sox present bullpen is light-years ahead of any recent former ones at both closer and with its depth.
The White Sox bench is also deeper. The only area they currently lack in might be their farm system which is currently being replenished due to all of their graduates who find themselves on the White Sox active roster or on those of other teams as the result of trades.
@stymeedone
I hope you’re just trolling, otherwise this has to be one of the dumbest comments I’ve seen on this site, and that says a lot.
They have the Central wrapped up for easily the next 3 or 4 years, why would they sell off when they have a playoff spot waiting for them each of the next 3 or 4 years?
Why is Harrison taking ABs away from Burger while Moncada is out? Makes zero sense especially when Harrison sucks.
Doesn’t make sense benching Vaughn, either, even against righties. Let him take his lumps while he works on his splits. Without reps, how will he improve?
It makes perfect sense when you consider that the Sox hired perhaps the worst manager possible.
Clearly you’ve never seen Mike Matheny manage.
I still can’t get over the madrigal/kimbrel trade. Guys like madrigal are so rare today, great bat to ball skills, great eye and you traded him for basically a 35 yr old injury prone outfielder!
I think they picked up Kimbrel last summer to help try to win the World Series. Didn’t work out, but they went for it.
I didn’t think they were a closer away from winning a WS, They had kopech in the ‘pen. In my opinion they were, and still are a front line starting pitcher away from really being a serious contender.
Last year they knew they needed bullpen help and got the best arm available, and it cost then a struggling reliever and player that was done for the year. Had it worked out, it would have been absolute brilliance, but u fortunately Kimbrel completely crapped down his league with the Sox
Considering the guy they were stuck with was a reliever who’s not a good fit if he’s not closing, that OF is actually a significant improvement.
But I hear you. I hated that Madrigal trade at the time, and that was when we thought Kimbrel would remain excellent. Doubling down by picking up his option was a mistake, too. Throwing good money after bad. Pollock is a nice player when healthy, but I think they could have done a little better.
How.much better is Pollock from Vaughn, the player he replaced in the lineup? Unless you think Vaughn is a platoon player, best suited to DH, it was not a good fit. Hahn just covering for the Kimbrel mistake.
He’s much better defensively than Vaughn who gets bad jumps and runs poor routes.
Second base is a fairly easily replaced position. It’s also not as if Madrigal is Roberto Alomar.
Dumpster Diving Ricky!
Too much emphasis on the bullpen, not enough on 2B or their issues hitting righties. Their defense behind the plate is undeniably better with McGuire and if Bummer and Hendriks work out their early issues, it’s still a dominant ‘pen. They also got a better player than I thought they’d get for Kimbrel. Even so, I’d rather they’d declined his option and used that money in FA. Still don’t understand the move for Kelly when Tepera was still available, healthy, and willing to sign for less. Just a bunch of curious decisions.
And once again, the Sox had opportunities to go over-the-top in FA and declined. This team has a chance at the WS if they’re healthy and hot at the right time, but even as a devoted fan for over 30 years, I can’t honestly say they’re loads better than the team that got run over by Houston last year. I hope they prove me wrong.
I agree. The money spent on Harrison, Velasquez and Cueto should have been spent to address other needs.
I’m actually less happy about the money spent on Leury ($5.5M/yr is a lot for a utility guy) and Kelly, especially since they had Crochet healthy and Kimbrel still on the team at the time, and picking up Kimbrel’s option. Combine that money and it’s the annual value of a really nice player, like Starling Marte or Robbie Ray.
@hyrax They throw away money every year on guys like that. It is mind boggling. Leury and Harrison are the same player basically, and neither is good enough to be a starter on a contending team. Harrison was awful after the A’s got him, and is on track to continue that. The Pollock trade was pretty good, if he stays healthy enough to actually play. It seems like the Sox are always getting guys right when they decline, Encarnacion/Eaton come to mind. They will be looking for a 2b at the deadline again for sure.
Pollock will help their OF situation if he is healthy, and gives them a C for their offseason. Prior to that trade, it was an F. And that’s being generous. Kelly won’t even pitch until May, why would they sign him for more money than a healthy Tepera, who had the same numbers and was effective in the playoffs? They continue to do some things that nobody can understand.
Who is the elite second baseman they should have signed instead?
I think getting Kelly put the Dodgers in a greater position to need an arm, which opened the door for a Kimbrel trade. At the time, the Kelly move made no sense. Hindsight, it was a fairly tactical plan.
The White Sox picked up Harrison on a friendly contract to split second base with Leury Garcia while monitoring the development of Yolbert Sanchez in the minor leagues. Yolbert had an impressive 2021 in the minor leagues and he should be up next season to play along with fellow Cubans and former teammate Luis Robert
The White Sox are gambling on good health come the postseason while also figuring to supplement themselves at any area of need by the summer trade deadline. They are also the safest bet of any team in MLB to win their division and secure one of the top seeds in the postseason. I’m betting that Jerry Reinsdorf will open his wallet in order to help in the pursuit of another White Sox World Series title.
You’re a bigger optimist than I am, Aaron. I’m betting he’ll tear apart what little farm they have to chase more guys they don’t need. I will at least give them this: they held onto Vaughn. As the article states, he was requested by the A’s for Montas and he very likely had a bunch of other teams checking in to see his availability. That said, I wouldn’t bet money that any of Montgomery, Veras, Colas, or Cespedes come up with the Sox.
I’d bet that Andrew Vaughn, Colson Montgomery, Norge Veras and Oscar Colas will all debut with the White Sox in the coming years. I don’t see any of them being dealt unless a player like Juan Soto becomes available in a trade within the next year or so. I also believe that Cuban Yolbert Sanchez will become the White Sox core 2B by 2023 or their next “swiss army knife”.
The ChiSox top trade chips will more likely be Gavin Sheets, Jake Burger and any of their other top prospects including Yoelqui Céspedes.
Well, Vaughn’s already debuted, so I can agree with you there, lol. I just don’t have faith in the Sox’ FO to round them into favorites. They were great at gathering talent in the start of a rebuild, but haven’t been so great at putting together the final pieces.
And incidentally, I agree with you on Sheets being their top trade chip; it’s just that I think a whole bunch of prospects are available because JR would rather spend that capital than come any closer to the tax threshold.
The young guys need to take a big step forward this season.
Reinsdorf has nothing to do with trades. He gives the ok on various financial decisions and that’s about it.
Furthermore, prospects main value comes in what established talent their future promise can purchase. The vast majority of prospects, so called, never pan out.
They have the ownership and resources to contend for quite awhile. As long as their fan base continues to spend their unemployment checks to go to games, they should see an uptick in attendance and beer sales giving them even more revenue to play with the next few years
Nice side swipe, though the accuracy is a bit questionable.
Unlike many other teams the ChiSox have demonstrated a willingness to try to capitalize during their window of contention, imo. Yes, they could always do more, but looking at their team & it’s potential, it’s pretty stacked. Injuries last year to their OFers, one of whom was hitting around .330 if memory serves, & injuries to other key positions, like C, obviously hurt them during the season.
Really interesting contenders though, especially if they could get all their pitching healthy.
Last year, they had a few issues:
1. Far too many GB’s. They were near the bottom third in baseball in HR’s, but had a good offense due to high OBP. They actually had more hits in their playoff series vs the Astros, but so many were on the ground that they were just singles rather than the 2B’s and HR’s the Astros were hitting.
2. They were not good against teams above .500. They were one of the best teams in baseball against bad teams, but then were high-fiving each other and goofing around like they’d actually done something impressive. Against good teams, they wilted.
3. The Astros were a nightmare matchup for them: baseball’s best fastball-hitting team vs baseball’s most fastball-reliant pitching staff. And the Sox didn’t change their game plan.
So the injuries and late fatigue by Rodon certainly didn’t help, but they weren’t the only problems the Sox faced. A lot of potential on this team, for sure, but they have to improve how they play even when healthy to beat the real contenders.
Yeah, that makes sense & in many ways sounds analogous (generally) to the Yanks offense. They just match up poorly against certain teams that can keep them from jacking FBs out of the park.
They either blast HRs and win, or are offensively anemic & lose embarrassingly. I just see a lot more balance in the ChiSox lineup, especially this year, where you have a great 6-or 7-hole guy, like Grandal, but you also have your 1-3 guys, like Anderson, Robert, & Vaughn. They are quite a scary team if they get right.
What you are overlooking, ‘their great 6-7 hole guy’, Grandal isn’t hitting 6-7. He’s hitting 4th. Chisox are just dangerous in the AL Central.
I understand that, and he may be batting there now, but wouldn’t jiminez or Vaughn be the better 4-hole guy when the lineup solidifies? The way I see it the 1-4 (or even 2-5) should be something like Anderson, Robert, Vaughn, Jimenez, or some variation. The you have your 1B too.
Maybe not, but he is a high-OBP, power stroke guy, so reminds me an awful lot of Gallo’s style of hitting now.
Um, maybe because Moncada is out.
Shoot, man, thank you. I completely forgot about Moncada. I knew there was someone else in there at the top I hadn’t seen recently. Yeah, that’s a pretty stacked lineup & my opinion is that when they’re all there that certainly warrants putting Grandal as a 6 hitter (and a good one!) which tells you all you need to know about that lineup.
They’re a fun team to watch though. I try to catch as much of them as I can with the little time I have outside of the Yankees.
I really do like that club though & the ChiSox fans should be really happy with where you all are at right now, positionally.
The Yankees are in a much tougher division, but they are similar teams.
… best of luck
So you feel high fiving and enjoying themselves was the key reason they didn’t succeed against difficult opponents and had they played under more stress and tension the performances would have improved?
I feel they got cocky after trouncing teams like the Orioles and Twins and didn’t take their other matchups as seriously as they should have. Their huge division lead made actual hard work less important. There’s nothing wrong with having fun, but from all the defensive and baserunning miscues throughout the year, I didn’t get the impression that they practiced all that hard.
I’m with you, Yankee. They are playing for both now and the future. Staying competitive for a prolonged period of time. Not getting locked into these Bryce Harper type deals. That said, they have continually failed to make any strides in areas that have been a weakness for years, and I think that is starting to take its toll on the fan base.
How was Pollock for Kimbrel a win for the Sox?
Had they declined Kimbrel’s option, they could have either issued a QO to Rodon or signed Conforto to balance their lineup. Or maybe kick around the market for a 2B.
It’s a win when you look at it in a vacuum, but not when you look at it from the outside. Best would have been keeping Madrigal. Second-best would have been picking up the option and trading Kimbrel and someone else to the Mets for McNeil or Kimbrel and little else to the Phillies for Segura. Third-best would have been declining his option in favor of FA spending, but there weren’t many great 2B other than Semien, though they could’ve gone after S. Marte. The Pollock option beats keeping him by a mile, but is, in my mind, only the fourth-best of their options.
Not only are you looking at this in a vacuum, but why in the world would the Mets trade McNeil for Kimbrel?
Pollock > Conforto all day. Very happy they didn’t go after Conforto. Rather still have Madrigal though. Panned the trade when they made it. Not complaining about Pollock though.
I don’t blame them for Rodon either. He’s spent virtually half his career on the injured list. He’s great when he’s healthy, but it’s a gamble to assume he will be. Looks good so far for San Francisco. I hope it works out for him. I don’t wish injuries on anyone.
Escobar should’ve been a target for 2nd base. Frazier would have been a nice move too. Knew they’d never be in the market for Semien. I don’t blame them for that either. Especially after seeing what he recieved from Texas. Otherwise there wasn’t a whole lot of 2nd base options that really move the needle.
I don’t know why there’s this pervading notion that they need a potential All-Star at every position. It’s okay to have glove first options at a couple positions (not that their current options at 2nd fit that criteria). Having most of the 9 positions filled with potential All-Star caliber players is just fine.
This is an exciting team to watch. Talent all over the diamond for the most part.
I agree with the poster above. They feel confident in winning the division and will look to solve their biggest need(s) at the trade deadline. Often times what we think a team needs in April and what they really need come August are two different things.
Great hitting talent, absolutely explosive. No depth. Terrible defensive team. Can two of Giolito (post sticky ban), Kopech & Cease stay healthy and develop into top 10-15 pitchers this year and/or next year? That is what needs to happen if they are to win the WS. Giolito is going to the highest bidder in FA and Keuchel & Lynn are on the back heading to the 19th hole.. Their division is terrible so they should roll to the playoffs for the next few season at worst. Nothing but tumbleweeds in the minor leagues. The big guy will have to spend heavily on FA pitching in the future. Tremendously fun team to watch. A few Injuries could torpedo this team more so than the other top squads. Anything can happen in the playoffs.
Not sure you can say they are a terrible defensive team with a gold glove CF, gold glove caliber 4th OF who plays significant time, and a perennial gold glove snub at 1st base. They have deficiencies for sure, especially in LF, but their team defense is largely average.
@donopolis
Absolutely. And all you need is to be adequate on defense as a team. No team has ever had GG’s at all 9 positions in the same season. Manny Ramirez was far worse than Eloy in LF, and things turned out fine for him and his teams (especially Boston).
The Sox are fine on defense. They will have their bad games, but overall I’m not worried about their defense.
I agree. Fielding is their largest deficit, along with baseball IQ.
Is there no one on the coaching staff who can remedy that?
It’s April 19th and people here are behaving as if it were September 19th.
… Addison and Clark is several miles north.
So far so good. Cease is on another level this year. Kopech is looking like a solid #4 on this team. Still a lot to prove. Sox will be getting back Giolito too and he looks like he might have a big year if he can stay healthy. Im not too worried about this team as is. The bullpen is solid no need to worry about that. The only thing about the Sox you can pick at is their 5th starter and 2nd baseman and I’m not to worried about it. I agree with someone else in this thread who mentioned we don’t need a potential All Star at every position because the Sox really do have a loaded team with potential All stars. I wouldn’t mind seeing some of their prospects getting a shot to play 2nd base. Some guys that’s come to mind that look very intriguing Romy Gonzalez, Yolbert Sanchez, and Jose Rodriguez. But I think the team will be great when Lynn, Giolito, Moncada, Pollock, and Kelly are back healthy. I also have hope that maybe Dallas Kuechel will show us more of the stuff he has in his last start. I know the box score didn’t look great but he pitched really well for a 5th starter
I want Rodriguez up now. I don’t want them shoehorning him into 2nd and making him uncomfortable. I’d almost rather have Anderson move to 2B when Rodriguez plays SS and back to SS when Rodriguez is out of the line up. Tim seems to thrive on challenges and doing it this way can be presented as him being a mentor and leader and it being a new challenge for him, rather than saying he has been replaced at SS.
Any remote chance of Keuchel having a bounce back season just came to a screeching halt. A few more clunkers like this will guarantee him not reaching the vesting option for next year.
I know it’s only his 2nd start, but, well, you saw the outcome of today’s game. Need I really say more?
It’s highlighted in even starker contrast by what Banks and the rest of the bullpen did afterward. 7IP and allowing just 1 run, no hits or walks allowed by Banks in 4IP. Shows that it wasn’t their hitters just being on fire, but Keuchel being a dumpster fire. I was thinking before the season that if the Sox were willing to eat about 2/3 of his salary, he could eat some innings and have at least some value to a rebuilding team that doesn’t want to bring its prospects up too early. With a double-digit ERA, though, getting him at the league minimum is an overpay.
Time to vent… against a division rival today, the Sox laid down and were embarrassingly swept by a supposedly rebuilding Cleveland team. Godawful defense from Anderson (must have been saving up his errors for one game) on top of it all (including two errors in one inning) and again the Sox looking over-matched against a team that they should at least be able to compete against.. (never mind Hendriks making every save an adventure so far) .. Oh and our ‘new ace’ Cease? 4 runs in 5 1/3 inning against a rebuilding team.. yeah, wow, amazing… Lets not start on the injuries and how the Sox conditioning staff looks like they only come into the stadium to collect their checks. I have never seen a team act like they have won it all when they haven’t won anything yet, until this club.
Yeah yeah its the spring, and the season just started, ohhh, ‘Injuries’, and this and that oh oh oh,, ‘AND they were on the road too!’…. I’m sure the excuse makers will be out in force again, but this does not bode well. If you are supposedly an ‘All in’ team you better show up and beat your opponents (or at least compete), specifically in your own division against teams you SHOULD be winning against, an ‘All in’ team knows that every game is important as you want to be on top come mid season and not trying to scramble to get back there…….Again this team appears to be lacking the heart to be excellent (or ‘the will to win’, as Hawk used to put it).. I would not be surprised if the Sox don’t make the playoffs, or have to fight for a wild card spot this season, all because Hahn played it cheap with LF, 2nd base, and the rotation…
Once again, the team looks out coached and out managed in the front office… Again I’m sure the excuse makers will be out, but when you find yourself making the same excuses as last year, and all through this year, maybe you’ll realize the issues. Ill finally add that I’m hoping I’m wrong here and Giolito comes back and wins 20 games, and Lynn comes back and wins 15, and Abreu and Eloy figure out how to hit again (and not when the Sox are 3 or more GB from first), and the Sox look like world beaters after this and walk away with the division (like they should be able to do) but I have not seen anything that tells me this so far…Yeah yeah Its early yet, but all too often in past seasons I have heard ‘Its early, don’t panic’ from this org and its players only to see the players playing golf after the season ends instead of being in the playoffs and the org scratching their heads going ‘Gee, what went wrong?”