Podcast: Resetting the 2022 Season

Record Date: 7/21/2022

With Jim under the weather, James Fox joins Josh in recording this podcast episode.

  • Over/Under 41.5 wins for White Sox post All-Star break.
  • Most important position player and pitcher in the last 70 games.
  • Cleveland series preview.
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As Cirensica

Thanks for this good podcast Josh/James and for filling in for Jim.

dwjm3

The volume of quality content on this site is truly remarkable. It certainly is appreciated.

soxygen

So much to agree with on their podcast! Great job pitching in, James.

I think this looks like a team that will win 85-87 games, and the division will be decided by a combo of Sox rotation depth (can Lynn recover/step up; can Kopech hang; can the team find another source of innings) and whether the Twins can acquire at least one useful starter and at least one useful reliever. If we win the division, I would anticipate that we will be swept out of the playoffs, but I’m sure Dylan Cease will have something to say about that.

The only point I’d raise in objection is that I don’t actually think Davis Martin is likely to be much of a step down from Lynn at this point, and I don’t think Lynn needs the work as much as he needs extra rest. So, if it were me in Tony’s seat, I’d be doing everything I can to give Lance extra days and delay the reckoning on Kopech’s innings, in part because I don’t have a lot of optimism that we’ll be able to swing a deal for a starter due to the limited supply, high demand, and a poor farm system.

Somewhat tangential, I’d love to see an alternate reality in which AJ Preller is the Sox GM. You can imagine him making a half dozen trades to really shake things up. I don’t know if that would be better, but it sure would be more interesting for you guys to produce content on and for us to read.

Last edited 1 year ago by soxygen
mrridgman

He’d make more (maybe better) deals, but we’d have to live with the slimeball effect, as well as the JR/TLR influencing.

dwjm3

I’d be more interested to see what Cleveland’s front office would do with our payroll. They are hanging close to us with a 50 million dollar payroll.

Jerry ignores the fact that there are so many people out there that can better allocate his money because he wants to have a seat at the table.

Last edited 1 year ago by dwjm3
soxygen

Cleveland is always able to do so much with so little. That would also be fun.

To me, the Sox seem like a team with so many mismatched parts that you kind of need someone who isn’t afraid to trade to sort things out, but that doesn’t always work any better (or worse, for that matter) than standing pat.

As Cirensica

I have a feeling the White Sox are gonna win 90 games barring any extraordinary injury from a key player. Just a lot of games against the Royals, As, and Tigers. As the season develops, those teams will tryout rookies and other AAA players when roster expands, and the White Sox will be playing at full steam and intensity.

upnorthsox

I must have missed it, when did we start beating the Royals on a consistent basis? I’m not against happy talk but this whole easiest schedule narrative is a bit hard to swallow when the 12 game vs the Royals are considered something akin to auto-wins

As Cirensica

I am not saying those games will be automatic wins, but in case you haven’t notice, the Royals are a really bad team. They are bound to trade Benintendi which will weaken them further more.

A full and healthy rostered White Sox should win most of the remaining games against the Royals.

soxygen

Yeah, I don’t see the August schedule being as easy as others do. For example, in my decades of watching the Sox I have seen some really tough KC-Texas road trips. If I’m not mistaken, we actually had a season implode on one of those trips a few years ago!

August also includes a stretch with 22 games in 21 days, including a 4-game series at home versus Houston followed by 3 in Cleveland, a quick turnaround for a makeup game in KC, followed by a trip to Baltimore. With no off day. So I think we will need to just cross our fingers and hope everyone holds up through all the heat and travel.

Last edited 1 year ago by soxygen
jorgefabregas

Fangraphs has integrated the fresh draftees into the team prospect list. I think they might have done some other minor shuffling too. https://www.fangraphs.com/prospects/the-board/2022-in-season-prospect-list/summary?sort=-1,1&type=0&pageitems=200&pg=0&team=chw

jorgefabregas

Before they had done that, the White Sox were number 29 in their org ranking. After the draft, they’ve moved all the way up to number 28. https://www.fangraphs.com/prospects/the-board/2022-in-season-prospect-list/farm-ranking?sort=-1,1&type=100&pageitems=200&pg=0&team=&filter=&pos=

metasox

If this update is largely just the impact of the draft, considering where the Sox drafted and number of picks, moving up even 1 seems ok.

soxygen

This must be draft only, because they had moved us up from 30 to 29 just a couple of weeks ago following a pre-draft update.

a-t

No, there’s some updates on prospects in the minors too, though not extensive; Longenhagen described the changes as “low-hanging fruit”, no writeup yet. For the Sox, the changes are Montgomery (45 to 50, now #82 on FG top 100, #1 in org from #3) Sosa (40 to 45, #3 in org from #14), Norge Vera (40 to 40+, #7 from #11 in org), and Dalquist (40 to 35+, #26 from #13).

Last edited 1 year ago by a-t
metasox

Do they usually do a more comprehensive update around end of minor league season?

a-t

FG has in the past but currently they only have one full-time prospect guy (the long-suffering Longenhagen) and I’m not even sure they have part-time prospect coverage at the moment. He has been super busy covering what is usually the work of two full-time writers, so he finished the team top 30ish lists just recently and then the draft ate up a lot. He said there should be some writing on the updated guys next week.

HallofFrank

It’s not the impact of the draft. FG made several other updates, like bumping up Montgomery, Sosa, and Vera. They had made moves a few weeks ago, bumping the Sox to 29th. But looks like they made a few more.

In fact, the jump was in spite of the draft. The team they leapfrogged was Houston and they added more talent (45, 40+, 40, 35+, 35+, 35+, 35+) than the White Sox did via the draft (40+, 40, 40, 35+).

metasox

That makes more sense given the draft pool

Last edited 1 year ago by metasox
Joliet Orange Sox

Sox activated Grandal and put Robert on IL retroactive to July 19.

I see that Fegan has some quotes from Hahn regarding Eloy. Do you know if he gave any more of an update on Robert? Unexplained lightheadedness can be scary.

Never mind, I just missed it.

metasox

Seems a disconnect in the comments that “symptoms have not fully resolved,” “wasn’t a root cause announced,” yet placement on IL has to do with being inactive too long to be ready before 10 days.

Last edited 1 year ago by metasox
Foulkelore

Well, that’s a bit scary. Not good.

soxygen

BTW, thanks to everyone who posts updates and links, and also to those who added profile pics. We’ve got 70 games to go and are in striking distance of the Twinkies so we might as well all take off our shoes and get comfortable. Help yourself to beers, they’re in the fridge.