Guest: Dan Szymborski, FanGraphs
Do you remember the Chicago White Sox 2019 ZiPS preseason projections? Well, we look at those and compare to how the White Sox players actually performed with our best friend of the podcast, Dan Szymborski.
Dan shares which performances in 2019 are actually legit and will carry on into 2020, and why Eloy Jimenez gets a “C” grade for his rookie season.
We also look at the current MLB postseason races as the Wild Card standings get tighter. We’ll play The Good/The Bad/The Ugly to recap the White Sox and Angels series, look ahead to the final Royals series of the season, and answer your questions in P.O. Sox.
After listening to @SoxMachine live last week, I wonder why two players weren’t called up: Basabe and Mercedes. Maybe they’d be worse than the average RF or DH, but the floor is so low, why not give them a chance to see what they could do? (Especially since Basabe IS on 40 man)
— Gucas Liogito (@GucasLiogito) September 8, 2019
The Cubs might trade Kris Bryant. I wonder if this is partly bc they know he won’t sign when his contract is up, since he has been bitter about his service time manipulation. Do you think the Sox might be putting themselves in a similar situation with Luis Robert? #POSox
— David (@DavidImbordino) September 8, 2019
I was listening to the radio broadcast on Friday and Andy asked the question that I thought has a lot of possible answers: who is the MVP of the team this year?
— Patrick (@pmgerbs) September 9, 2019
Presented by SeatGeek ($10 off first purchase with promo code SOXMACHINE) and Wix.com.
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Great podcast. Dan is always a blast.
Dave Dombrowski fired by the Red Sox. I say it’s time for a White Sox re-union. Though the WS lack the prospect depth for a Dave Dombrowski style team building
and ownership spending habits.
Yeah, Dombrowski’s m.o. is “go big or go home,” leaving the White Sox only one option.
Go big would require: RF, 2 SP, and maybe DH/C/1B (depending on confidence in Collins, McCann and re-signing Abreu).
You have $70M plus Vaughn, Dunning and a lot of meh to trade. Maybe throw Madrigal in their and sign a 2B. Tall order for sure
…go…big?
With the current payroll (probably less than $50M with arb players), even Reinsdorf will give him $60-70M to play with. But yeah, probably right
I am pretty confident Dombrowski will do more with those 60-70 million than Hahn would do with 100 million.
That’s my view but would he rather wait for a real team to have a vacancy? Probably
But he’d do less than what Cleveland and Minnesota are doing so that’s still a 3rd place finish at best.
You are probably correct….we are so behind in modern baseball times. Afterall, the White Sox are the Blackberry of baseball.
I recommend reading the article on The Athletic, but this tweet sums up why Boston fired Dombrowski.
No matter how they spin it, they fired Dombrowski because they had to pay the luxury tax and didn’t win a title this year.
They’re 17.5 GB of a Yankees team that weathered what ought to have been a catastrophic run of injuries. They’re 8.5 GB of a Rays team operating on a shoestring budget.
Firing Dombrowski seems to say that Red Sox owners have a pretty good handle on sustainable success not being achievable with an extractive business model when the Yankees can match them on payroll and beat them on player development; and the Rays can beat them on player development and outsmart them when acquiring marginal talents.
I’m shocked, SHOCKED to learn unnamed sources in the Red Sox organization talked trash about someone on his way out of town.
The White Sox FO is no different
Joe Sheehan points out that before Dombrowski sacrificed all to build up the Red Sox and the Tigers, he had a reputation for development and appropriate frugality in Montreal, Florida, and the early days of Detroit. He says he should go to a team with an emerging core and a good farm system. He identifies San Diego and the Sox as teams that fit that description and might be prompted to make a GM move.
That’s foolishly chasing a resume rather than skills. There’s little reason to think that the approach he used to build up Montreal and Florida 2-3 baseball epochs ago are viable today.
Yeah, the Sox do have a deficit in their ability to execute their outdated model. But the model is itself a problem and Dombrowski isn’t the guy to fix that.
It also ignores the fact that Jerry has no intention of firing anybody.
Why would he? They’ve won more games this year, negotiated a better TV deal, and per game attendance is up 10% year-over-year.
When good news are bad news
yep. Read the room.
Jerry is getting what he wanted. Getting what he expected. I would assume he’s a happy guy.
The minority owners are happy too
I’m afraid Boston will poach Hahn away from the Sox. THEN what?
I get the impression that rather than going for broke in his old age (you can’t take it with you), Jerry is setting it up as a profitable investment for his kids (you can will it to your kids).
I don’t think it will happen, but it’s plausible. He promotes Rick to a new position and brings back someone with a long history with the team and a track record of success. That’s a totally Jerry move. I don’t see him setting the wheels in motion in order to hire one of Luhnow’s lieutenants, but it’s plausible he could do it for Dombrowski.
If he stopped being a jerk and let Kenny leave as he wants to. Retire Howard Pizer, it’s probably time(79?). Move Rick into his spot. I could see it going this way. If not, this is the deal till Jerry sells,(or dies)
That seems unlikely in the short-term when he already let this front office handle Hostetler’s move, promote his successor, and terminate Lisle.
I think Pizer’s a spry 77, which gives him about fifteen more years or so if we compare him to members of the board. Lee Stern forever!
You just tipped your hand on my big offseason plan — hire Kevin Goldstein. He’s already in DeKalb!