Red Sox trade for Chris sale

[GGGG]

http://www.southsidesox.com/2016/12/7/13866922/chris-sale-trade-start-of-painful-admission-transition

I think this article does a decent job of capturing my feelings on the trade.

So is what you are saying that you are upset because the trade signifies the very failings of the organization and that the major players in the organization are still those who are tasked with fixing it?

If this were any other team but the White Sox, Williams and Hahn would have been out on the streets too.  That is what would frustrate me the most, and what frustrated me rooting for the Selig-era Brewers and the Kohl-era Bucks.  Lack of accountability.

[🏀]

Sox fan checking in. I think trading sale/quintana/frazier/abreu/cabrera/robertson is absolutely what the sox need to do. Take whatever you can get, be bad and draft high for a few years. As far as this trade in particular, I think it was a fair trade both ways. Problem is in this market the sox should have fleeced somebody. I think they needed to get another top 5 organizational prospect from the bosox.

More? They got 3 of their top 8.

Did you see the Nats offer?

[MerrittsMustache]

Winning the World Series in 2005 was obviously a tremendous accomplishment but that team was basically pieced together just like Kenny's other teams and happened to get scorching hot late in the season. Including the postseason, they went 19-3 over their last 22 games. The offense was very average and while the pitching staff led the AL in ERA, it had the largest FIP differential in the league. That team also finished 8 games better than their Pythagorean W-L. Dustin Hermanson had 34 saves and a 2.04 ERA and played only 6 more MLB games in his career. Cliff Politte had a 2.00 ERA and a sub-1.0 WHIP. He was out of baseball after 2006. Neal Cotts had by far his best season until 2013. Bobby Jenks was a waiver claim who closed out the WS. Everything just fell together perfectly for that one season, but you could tell at the time that it wasn't sus t a inable.

Unfortunately, Kenny never really accepted the fact that that team was flawed and that his team-building strategy wasn't going to work for sustained, consistent winning so he kept doing what worked in 2005.

Look at the Sox win totals for the 10 season after the WS:
90, 72, 89, 79, 88, 79, 85, 63, 73, 76

They've been all over the board. Kenny's teams are seemingly built with little margin for error. They can't afford to have any of their main guys have a down year or they're done. When the cast-offs have good years, they win 85-90 games. When they don't, they lose 85-90 games. Regardless, they generally don't make the playoffs (1 appearance since '05).

[Pakuni]

Winning the World Series in 2005 was obviously a tremendous accomplishment but that team was basically pieced together just like Kenny's other teams and happened to get scorching hot late in the season. Including the postseason, they went 19-3 over their last 22 games.

That team went wire-to-wire, leading the division from Opening Day and never spending one day out of first place. They were up 10.5 games by the end of June, 14.5 at the end of July. That was ahead of a Cleveland team that won 93 games that season.
For comparison's sake, the Cubs this year were up 11 at the end of June, and up 7.5 at the end of July.
Not sure whether it was your intent to dismiss that team as one that just got hot at the right time, but they were the best team in baseball all season.

I don't disagree with much else you say, but really, what's the point of pointing out that some guys played about their average during a championship season? Isn't that always the case with every team in every sport? Isn't that pretty much necessary to have a championship season?

[MU82]

That team went wire-to-wire, leading the division from Opening Day and never spending one day out of first place. They were up 10.5 games by the end of June, 14.5 at the end of July. That was ahead of a Cleveland team that won 93 games that season.
For comparison's sake, the Cubs this year were up 11 at the end of June, and up 7.5 at the end of July.
Not sure whether it was your intent to dismiss that team as one that just got hot at the right time, but they were the best team in baseball all season.

I don't disagree with much else you say, but really, what's the point of pointing out that some guys played about their average during a championship season? Isn't that always the case with every team in every sport? Isn't that pretty much necessary to have a championship season?

Going into the season, the Sox were not expected to be legit contenders. But they got off to a great start and everything you say is right about them building a huge division lead and never trailing.

They did have a major slump toward the end of the season, however, and Cleveland pulled within a game or two. The Sox looked like they were gasping for air. But then they held off the Scalping Savages, won their last several regular-season games and surprised most by sweeping the defending champion Red Sox in the ALDS. And the rest is history.

So, you are right about the Sox going wire-to-wire and building a huge lead. And Merritts also is right about the Sox getting scorching hot late in the season.

Ozzie's decision to let his starters throw one CG after another in the ALCS still ranks as one of the gutsiest moves made by a manager in recent years. I have little doubt that La Russa and Maddon are far better managers than Ozzie ever dreamt of being, but I also have little doubt that each would have used a bunch of relievers in all of those games. Maybe for better, maybe not.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

That was such an interesting pitching staff. Mark Buehrle was obviously a stud, no real surprises there. But their other three starters Garland, Garcia and Contreras all had pretty unexpectedly good years and each one threw over 200 innings.