Halfway point of the season at the halfway point of the year

[Lake Shore Drive]

39-42

Any Sox fan think we'd have this record at the halfway mark when the season started? I'll confess, I didn't. Not that I thought it would be much worse. I guessed we would win about 70 games this year, so divide that in half and we're looking at 35 wins today. But I also thought it wouldn't be shocking if we approached the 100 loss mark again either. So many unknowns, so many questions. And unfortunately, one of my concerns has panned out - that the pitching would be our achilles heel. Take away the pleasantly unexpected rise of Lucas Giolito, who was pitching a gem today before rain shortened his start, and we'd be hanging around with the Royals and Tigers. Gio aside, our starting pitching has for the most part been disastrous. Our pen hasn't been much better, altho Colome has made for a solid closer and Aaron Bummer is evolving into one hell of a set up guy.

On the O side of the equation, it has looked much more promising and primarily the reason we're as close to .500 as we are. We're still on the lower end of the rung in the league with runs scored, but at least we have some guys on the team who can smack the ball around. Steady, consistent hitting from Abreu, who is 2nd in the league in RBIs, along with vast improvements from TA and Moncada have kept us in many games. James McCann has been far and away the most pleasant surprise, and not just with his bat, but the way he handles the pitchers as well, especially Gio. Can't say enough about the all purpose play of Leury Garcia, both with the bat and glove, whether its handling center field or filling in at SS for Anderson while he's on the IL. And of course we're all encouraged so far by the hitting performance & power of Eloy. He's been a bit spotty, at times looking like a raw rookie, but at other times like a seasoned vet.

All in all, not a great half by any stretch, but an encouraging one to say the least.

 

[richig07]

Yeah, the black hole which has been the bottom of our lineup is responsible for bringing our team stats down to the bottom half of the league. However, 1-6 (when healthy) is pretty rock solid. It's not "great" but it a can be a pain in the ass to navigate for opposing pitching. Leury is pacing for a 3 WAR at the top of the lineup, McCann has been a godsend and pacing for just under a 6 WAR. Moncada and Tim are having breakout seasons. Eloy keeps getting better and better. I suspect we see him have a big, big second half. While Abreu's average is down, but he still should hit 35-ish HR's and drive in 100-110 runs.

We just need a couple more pieces. A couple potential ones are not too far from a call-up in our system. I highly suspect we'll bring in outside help as well this winter.

We're pacing for 78-84... I think I projected 75 wins. So, it's a slightly better pace than I expected, but within the same realm. We just went 7-8 during what may have been the most grueling stretch that we'll see all season. Not only that, we gave at least 1-2 of those losses away in Texas and Boston.

The staff is what it is. It sucks beyond Gio. Cease coming up makes things far more fun to watch, though. It won't take much to improve upon the rotating door of #5 starters we've been trotting out. I would have liked to see Cease have some more consistency in AAA - but if they were willing to rush him. He would have been up a while ago. I suspect they really believe he's ready to develop at the big league level.

Would love to see us make a run at Gerrit Cole this off-season. Gio, Cole, Kopech, Cease, Lopez... not a bad way to go into 2020. I think Rodon moves on for a fresh start elsewhere. Which is disappointing. I got excited each time he would go on a dominant run, but it's time for the marriage to end.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

I'm with you on Cole, even Odorizzi, but more so on Cole. And Reindorf has the $$$ to go against anybody. Our payroll is one of the lowest in baseball, so we definitely have the room to bust a move.

 

[Jiddy]

39-42 is amazing considering our team ERA is 5th worst in the majors.


Hell, they even performed admirably in June, which for sure looked like it was going to be a death march.

We should be doing backflips right now. Sadly, an actual backflip would probably end me...so that's a hard pass.

 

[podsox]

No I figured their starting pitching would be absolute trash. It is. Almost shocking they have the record they have

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

No I figured their starting pitching would be absolute trash. It is. Almost shocking they have the record they have

Well there's no arguing that the Sox are not going to make a living on 7-5 & 9-6 games as we did yesterday. And even tho it was against the lowly Tigers, I nonetheless like the way this team just doesn't give up. But we need pitching, especially starting pitching. Hopefully Cease will show that he belongs in the starting rotation. We're going nowhere if we have to wait every fifth game for Giolito for a realistic chance at developing into a playoff caliber ballclub.

 

[richig07]

Well there's no arguing that the Sox are not going to make a living on 7-5 & 9-6 games as we did yesterday. And even tho it was against the lowly Tigers, I nonetheless like the way this team just doesn't give up. But we need pitching, especially starting pitching. Hopefully Cease will show that he belongs in the starting rotation. We're going nowhere if we have to wait every fifth game for Giolito for a realistic chance at developing into a playoff caliber ballclub.

Reynaldo Lopez currently does not resemble a Major League pitcher and that's very disappointing. He has slowly devolved as a pitcher since arriving. Not the other way around.

His starts are so weird. He seemingly has things together for 4 innings or so every trip out there. Then around the 5th inning his command just disappears ENTIRELY.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

Reynaldo Lopez currently does not resemble a Major League pitcher and that's very disappointing. He has slowly devolved as a pitcher since arriving. Not the other way around.

His starts are so weird. He seemingly has things together for 4 innings or so every trip out there. Then around the 5th inning his command just disappears ENTIRELY.

I'm with you. If Lopez doesn't get it together real soon, as in his next couple of starts, the Sox should consider either sending him down to get rewired or perhaps turning him into our long reliever, especially being as you stated, he's solid for a few innings before going into total collapse.

 

[craigk217]

Reynaldo Lopez currently does not resemble a Major League pitcher and that's very disappointing. He has slowly devolved as a pitcher since arriving. Not the other way around.

His starts are so weird. He seemingly has things together for 4 innings or so every trip out there. Then around the 5th inning his command just disappears ENTIRELY.

Reminds me of a Gavin Floyd with runners on.

 

[richig07]

Reminds me of a Gavin Floyd with runners on.

It's a good comparison. Like Floyd, maybe he can't pitch out of the stretch.

It just seems like in the 4th or 5th of every start of his... it's a leadoff walk and then the fuckin merry go round begins.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

I'm with you. If Lopez doesn't get it together real soon, as in his next couple of starts, the Sox should consider either sending him down to get rewired or perhaps turning him into our long reliever, especially being as you stated, he's solid for a few innings before going into total collapse.

Took me a while to find my above quote. I think we all agreed that the first few starts from Lopez post-all star game would likely cement his future standing with the team, if not outright seeing him with another club. While he hasn't been perfect, he's probably had his best batch of starts overall since joining the Pale Hose, and once again figures to be a key element to our starting staff in upcoming seasons. Like Giolito has done, what Lopez now needs is to establish some form of consistency, not these long stretches of either super hot or super cold performances.

 

[Jiddy]

Took me a while to find my above quote. I think we all agreed that the first few starts from Lopez post-all star game would likely cement his future standing with the team, if not outright seeing him with another club. While he hasn't been perfect, he's probably had his best batch of starts overall since joining the Pale Hose, and once again figures to be a key element to our starting staff in upcoming seasons. Like Giolito has done, what Lopez now needs is to establish some form of consistency, not these long stretches of either super hot or super cold performances.

As much as I wanted to trade him, he's turned it around nicely.

However, this Detwiler dude should be shipped in a box to Abu Dhabi Nermil style.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

As much as I wanted to trade him, he's turned it around nicely.

However, this Detwiler dude should be shipped in a box to Abu Dhabi Nermil style.

I'd like to think that Detwiler, Covey, etc are merely stop gaps until our rotation has been clearly set. I'm not sure these guys are even BP material, let alone starters. We still have a ways to go to establish our pitching staff.