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The starters in those five games - Criswell (2), Bello (2), and Pivetta. Criswell with two seems surprising until you remember he’s the “starter” with the fewest IP on the team, and is probably the only one not running in fumes.

“Burnes and Fried”, for the record, would be a great name for a satirical cooking show starring a comedy duo. I’m thinking the type of show where the “chefs” try to make macaroni and cheese, but wind up in the burn unit with molten cheddar in their hair.

Hopefully the Sox do a better job addressing pitching needs this off-season. Or at least don’t just throw up their arms and quit the second something goes awry. They will add Giolito next season, but will he be ready in April? His TJ was in March, and TJ often takes over a year for pitchers. Pivetta could leave. If he does the Sox need two SP at a minimum. Hopefully they haven’t already penned in Priester as one of them. (IMHO Priester should start in Worcester as SP6.) I have my doubts they’ll go all in and sign Burnes and Fried for these roles. They might try and make another move on Garret Crochet, but unless they include someone like Anthony or Mayer, they likely get outbid. Wilyer Abreu won’t get it done here. Free agency has some less appealing names like Flaherty, Flexen and Manaea. That’s more the ballpark I’m expecting here. The Sox might trade from their surpluses at the MLB level. There are not enough outfield roles for Duran, Rafaela, Abreu, and Anthony. Middle infield is even more crowded with Story, Hamilton, Grissom, and Mayer. They could move someone to third and shift Devers to first, but then Casas is displaced, unless they move him to DH. Of course, Yoshida is a tough trade and moving him back to the OF just exacerbates that already overcrowded place. I suppose Casas could be traded, but I’m not expecting that.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/fiskca01.shtml 1984

Wow, that Luis Garcia has been just what Dr. Kevorkian ordered. (Look it up.)

No. “Old Timey” just means we write our posts directly on to the monitor with a quill pen loaded with the ink of a freshly-milked squid.

I admit to being lost and confused right now.

This is tanking at its most extreme. 16 losses in their final 32 games would clinch the worst record in MLB. And that number gets smaller with every Colorado win…

So it was offered and rejected, and the theory was Bogaerts would have accepted it if it was offered earlier?

Defending Henry? Because Sale didn’t pitch for four years? After some team - possibly Atlanta - offered to take Sale’s whole deal and give nothing back, and Bloom was ripped for passing. Yet two injuries later, and Sale was a definite keeper? Because I don’t pretend to know all the negotiations and try to pass off theories and suspicions as facts? I don’t defend Henry. I also don’t judge and condemn on hindsight. I guess I’m just not the same level of insider as others…

Here it is, only August 25th. Roughly 20% of the baseball season left. And the White Sox, with 32 games left on their schedule, find themselves 33 games out of FOURTH place. Yes, the 2024 Chicago White Sox have clinched LAST PLACE before September. How the f*** does a team clinch last place by this date?!? This is a record for ineptitude…

It hasn’t worked out, but Story did show terrific D. Something Kike made us realize the imports of at SS…

I didn’t like the signing, but the pre-emptive strike might have made sense depending on the negotiations. And Story has shown some skills the Sox sorely need. But he needs to stay on the field. But kudos to your 20/20 hindsight. I assume it is because you keep bashing the Sale trade despite Sale having more health concerns than Story had…

Altuve is taller than you think. He just stands really far back in the batters box…

While I’m sure Bogaerts was open to an extension, we don’t know what his demands were…

A .691 OPS for a $26mill player who couldn’t keep his position is not a good sign…

It would look better if he actually pitched…

Bogaerts is having a rough year, too. .691 OPS and already moved off position. But hey, only 9 years left! And did you believe the Sox knew they wouldn’t sign Bogaerts because his contract would be too big orb they didn’t want him at any price?

Yes he had a 7 ERA. He also pitched on 3 teams and got divorced in that timeframe. I suppose it’s also possible he had a ligament issue at that time. He has a a fairly good-sized career of not being a 7 ERA pitcher. It was a one year deal. If he opts out, the Sox make a QO, which he likely rejects since it was roughly the same size as the option he rejected. If he does accept you get your second year…

If Giolito was the guy with 140 IP and Sale had 0, I think we’d all feel differently about this deal. And given both of them from 2020-2023, that was the far more likely outcome…

They signed Story year before Bogaerts left. The two played together for a season. I don’t know if they didn’t want Bogaerts or they didn’t want him at h his expected contract. I only know that they are closer to him and his demands than I am, and that Bogaerts’ agent (Scott Boras) is not a guy a player hires when he wants to give a hometown discount…

Maybe they shouldn’t, but he’s not as hopeless as this board portrays. His similarity scores by age do include Pablo López and Kevin Gausman, which would be terrific if that trend continues. Of course they also include guts like Jason Dickson, who had a minimal career cut short by injury…

The Red Sox probably disagree with you and think they have two very good ace candidates in house already in Houck and Bello. They will need one starter plus depth for next year. And they have both infield and outfield crunches. But if you want a top tier starting pitcher, expect to have to deal from the set of Mayer, Duran, Casas and/or Anthony. Packages headlined by Wilyer Abreu won’t cut it. And no you can’t add in additional players to make it work, unless one of those players is Mayer, Duran, Casas, and/or Anthony. But expect one starter and hopefully some depth. Next year’s bullpen already has Hendriks, Fulmer, Whitlock (please, please, please leave him here), Kelly, Winckowski, and Slaten penciled in. A lefty or two and some depth.

The Sox do trade hitting for pitching. That’s how we got Winckowski, Paxton, Sims, Garcia, Wingenter, Weissert, Fitts and Sandlin. And probably a few others…

The notion of spending some huge amount on pitching just isn’t realistic. Hitters are flat out safer investments…