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Showing posts from January, 2016

The Worst White Sox Players Of My Lifetime: Pitchers Edition

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I didn't originally plan on nearly a week passing between my Worst White Sox Position Players post and the pitcher's version going up, but, hey, sometimes life just works out that way. Fret no longer, though, my friends, for the list is finally here. The worst White Sox pitchers of my lifetime (1981-present) ranked! In order! By bWAR! Relive the terrible memories of hanging curveballs, and 8-1 losses. These were the pitchers who strengthened your resolve as a White Sox fan, and helped mold you into the strong, loyal fan that you are today. Now is the time to give them your thanks.

My Plan For A New Major League Baseball

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If you've been paying attention to anything other than White Sox/Yoenis Cespedes rumors the last few days, you've seen some recent talk about the National League and the possibility of it adopting the designated hitter, possibly as soon as 2017 . There's been talk about it in the past, but essentially that's all it ever was: talk. Now it seems as if it might be a real possibility, and it got me to thinking about an idea I shared back in May of 2014 on a different site. An idea that I've had for a long time, but one I never believed had any real hopes of coming to fruition. Well, if the National League adopts a designated hitter, that's one big obstacle to my plan out of the way.

I Don't Want Ian Desmond

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There is still no resolution to the Yoenis Cespedes Saga, though at this point, most White Sox fans have resigned themselves to the fact he won't be signing with the White Sox. Depending on how you felt about Cespedes all along, this is either the WORST THING THAT'S EVER HAPPENED AND JUST PROVES JERRY REINSDORF IS CHEAP AND DOESN'T CARE ABOUT WINNING, or it's the WORST THING THAT'S EVER HAPPENED. Or, if you're like me, it's just What You Expected To Happen.

The Worst White Sox Players Of My Lifetime: Position Players Edition

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While the entire White Sox fan base sits around waiting for something to happen with Yoenis Cespedes , I figured I'd help us all kill time by continuing what I started last week. If you don't remember, I ranked the greatest White Sox players of my lifetime (by bWAR) in two separate posts; one for position players and one for pitchers. Well, for every yin there must be a yang, and for every Frank Thomas there must be an Adam Dunn . So today I'm continuing the Superlative Series by ranking the worst White Sox players of my lifetime (1981-present), and much like I did with the greatest, players, we'll start with position players. Prepare yourselves for a painful trip down memory lane. We begin with four players who are all tied for seventh place.

An Alternative To Yoenis Cespedes

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On Monday night the Detroit Tigers took everybody by surprise, not because they went and handed out a big contract to a top free agent. The Tigers have made a habit of doing that. No, the surprise was that Detroit signed Justin Upton when they'd typically been more "connected" to Yoenis Cespedes this winter. Which leaves the Cespedes as the last free agent outfielder standing, and as you'd expect, some White Sox fans are starting to hit the panic button. It's not just that the Sox missed out on Alex Gordon and Juston Upton, but that they signed with Kansas City and Detroit respectively, two division rivals. And then there's Jason Heyward , who signed with the Cubs, which probably makes a portion of the fan base even angrier than Upton and Gordon did. So now fans are demanding Yoenis Cespedes. They need their Yoenis Cespedes. Unfortunately, they're not going to get him.

The Greatest White Sox Players Of My Lifetime: Pitchers Edition

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Having already ranked the greatest White Sox position players of my lifetime the other day, it would only make sense that I'd rank the pitchers too, and that's exactly what I'm going to do here. Now, while the top 10 hitters didn't really bring many surprises, you may raise an eyebrow or two reading through this list. That's because I base these rankings on a player's career WAR with the White Sox, and that means longevity can help certain pitchers out that you probably wouldn't consider to be great. As for the time period, as I explained in the position players post, the period is from 1981 through last season. For a full explanation of how all of this works, go ahead and read the intro on the position players post . I'm not writing that shit again. Then, when you're done there, come back here and read this list.

The Greatest White Sox Players Of My Lifetime: Position Players Edition

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As with any franchise, there are a lot of great players in White Sox history. Many of their numbers adorn the press box at US Cellular Field right now, but let's be honest with ourselves. While there have been plenty of White Sox greats, the ones that played before you were born don't mean nearly as much to you as the ones you saw with your own eyes. Yeah, Luis Aparicio was fantastic. His numbers, as well as the words of others, tell me that. But since I never saw him play, he'll never hold a place in my heart like Ozzie Guillen or Alexei Ramirez did. In my mind, those latter two will always be more important shortstops than Aparicio was. And with Alexei signing with the Padres earlier this week, it got me to thinking about the greatest players the White Sox have had in my lifetime, because I had to believe Ramirez was one of them. But where did he rank?

Farewell, Alexei

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It became official on Thursday. Alexei Ramirez signed a one-year deal with the San Diego Padres, meaning his days as a White Sox are over. Even though you knew it was coming when the Sox hadn't worked out a new deal with him after not picking up his option in early November, it's still sad to know it's really over now. I don't know if he was the same shortstop that Ozzie Guillen was defensively, but as far as the whole package is concerned, Ramirez was the best White Sox shortstop I've ever seen. I'll miss his skinny ass.

Just How Improved Is The White Sox Infield?

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One of the side effects of a baseball offseason is short-term memory loss. The winter is so long you might forget about some of the things your team has already done, particularly when you're a fan of a team that was as bad as the White Sox, with so many damned holes to fill. I was reminded of this on Wednesday morning. I was perusing Buster Olney's column at ESPN, and for the last week or whatever, Olney's been ranking the top 10 teams in different areas. The best starting rotations, the best bullpens, you know, that kind of deal. On Wednesday he ranked the best infields in baseball , and as I was scanning the list there was one large surprise. At No. 9 there they were, the Chicago White Sox.

Thoughts On Where Things Stand

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Hello, it's been a while. Between the holidays and my work schedule, I just haven't had much of a chance to write anything here over the last few weeks. Of course, had anything interesting been happening with the White Sox during those weeks, I probably could have made time. But things have been rather dead for a while now. I'm starting to get the feeling they'll remain that way too. That's not to say the White Sox aren't going to add another outfielder to the fold, as I still believe they are. It's just that I don't think that outfielder is going to be Yoenis Cespedes or Justin Upton . Nor do I believe it'll be Carlos Gonzalez in a trade.