Record Date: 5/2/2022
Guest: Ryan Herrera, CHGO
Rundown
Intro: Vince Velasquez’s surprising performance
8:05: Dylan Cease reaching another level of performance
18:42: What to do with Dallas Keuchel?
27:34: Any signs of the White Sox offense waking up?
36:21: Cubs preview with Ryan Herrera
64:34: P.O. Sox
Only been a fan since 2019 so is there any comparisons to the April the 2022 sox had to the infamous May the 2016 sox had that you mention sometimes. Thanks guys!
If the baseball gods gave you a choice which would you pick: Sox turn it around, get healthy and enter the playoffs the team we expected OR They miss the playoffs and the team under goes a FO change ala the Bulls. To be clear, in this scenario JR also hires the baseball version of Karnisovas (KARNA-SHO-VAS), they don’t promote from within.
The pitching is coming around, but the offense still seems mostly listless. While he hasn’t been the hitting star we might have hoped the last couple seasons, is it possible we’ve underestimated the importance of Moncada in the lineup, given he’s a RHP killer and is one of their few patient hitters? Personally, I can’t wait for his return.
Bonus P.O. Sox Questions (Exclusive for Patreon supporters)
Can you rank these events in the order in which you think they will occur: A) Ramos to AA B) Sanchez to start at second for Sox C) Dallas DFA’d D) Cueto starting for Sox
Is there any scenario where the Sox are sellers of what is considered their core players (Anderson, Moncada, Jimenez, Robert, Vaughan) ?
Considering how different the ball is this year how effective are expecting batting stats at predicting future performance? Eg: should we expect the Sox to positively regress or is this a new normal?
Sox reach .500 — pick a date….
The White Sox have a brutal schedule between now and July 4. They play the Yankees (7 times), Red Sox (6 times), Blue Jays (6 times), Rays (3 times), Astros (3 times), Angels ( 3 times), Dodgers (3 times), Giants (3 times). That’s 34 out of the 56 games against teams that are likely to be contenders this year.
But after July 4, they have 84 games left barring rainouts. Of those 84, 4 are against the Astros (at home), 3 at Seattle and 3 at San Diego. The remaining 74 are against the Central (53 games), or against the Rockies, A’s, Rangers, Orioles or Dbacks (21 games). The 2nd half of the schedules is incredibly soft. Let’s hope they are at leaast close to .500 by July 4th.
Going by the Sox current winning % against the AL three divisions and if they go .500 against NL teams, their final record should be around 68-94.
I don’t think this is realistically their fate but they need a serious turnaround and soon.