James McCann: It's Time To Win Now
HAPPY PITCHERS AND CATCHERS REPORT DAY EVERYBODY!!!!!
This is one of my favorite days of the entire year. Last night it was around 545pm and I noticed the sun was still setting just a little bit and we've been #blessed with an awesome winter weather wise, all things considered. Sure, we'll get kicked in the dicks with one last snow storm or polar vortex, but we're sprinting down the stretch. Opening Day is only 43 days away!
And now that pitchers and catchers have reported to spring training, interviews are starting to trickle out and the common consensus at Camelback Ranch is that it's time to fucking go. I spoke with Adam Engel at the end of last offseason and he said that at the end of last year, the clubhouse couldn't be more excited for 2020 and that they're "ready to pop bottles."
Now the White Sox are projected to win 85ish games by most projection models and Vegas:
And that sounds about right to me. But I'd like to direct you all to my favorite White Sox blogger on the planet, our good friend Beefloaf from the bowels of Section 108 of Sox Park. He wrote a fantastic article detailing how a team can sign "okay" talent and outperform projections.
Long story short - projections shmajections. I would like to make this loud and clear:
This White Sox team can win the AL Central
I know what you're thinking:
And you'd have every reason to do so. This team has STUNK for a decade and become completely and totally irrelevant not only on a national scale, but even in their own market, and it's nobody's fault but their own. HOWEVAH - they set out to right all wrongs. This year, 2020 in the year of our lord, they are finally set to win baseball games.
Now don't mistake this as me guaranteeing they are going to the playoffs. Obviously the Twins are the best team in the division until proven otherwise and the Tribe still have a loaded core. But if the chips fall in the White Sox direction then come October we could very well see a Yankees vs. White Sox ALDS.
Inject that into my fucking veins
There are only a handful of organizations, if that, who's core I'd trade with the White Sox, and that's a maybe. Moncada, Giolito, Robert, Eloy, Cease, Kopech, Grandal, Abreu, Madrigal, TA7 and other veteran stopgaps all compose a core that is up there with the best in the game. That's an objective statement. Sure there is still depth issues to some extent, but those can be addressed rather easily.
Let's fucking roll.
Some other minor housekeeping notes:
- James McCann sounds kinda pissed at the acquisition of Yasmani Grandal:
Good. He should be. But ya know what I say? Competition breeds success. McCann was fantastic in his first year with the club and I know from first hand accounts that the pitching staff loves working with him. At worst he's an awesome backup catcher that gets 60-70+ games as a PH vs lefties, Gio's personal catcher and Grandal's backup to keep his legs fresh. At best he lights the world on fire again and forces and issue where Ricky can't keep him out of the lineup. That is great problem to have and as it sits, the White Sox might have the best catching duo in baseball.
- TA7 says "fuck your rankings"
Hopefully he fucks around and wins another batting title
- Ozzie Guillen is swinging by Barstool Chicago HQ today. It's going to be Ozzie just as you know him: unfiltered and unabridged. I don't really get nervous for interviews anymore, but I do have a little case of the jitterbugs to meet him. With that said, go unsubscribe, resubscribe and rate Red Line Radio 5 stars on iTunes, thx
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