2013 Season Final Thoughts and Some Positive Thoughts

[Brian26]

A lot of good came out of this season. The end result looks brutal on paper, and the journey was as painful as ever. However, many positives came out of the season.

The Sox now know where they stand at catcher. Neither Flowers nor Phegley is the answer. You know what you have in both guys, and I expect the Sox to go after someone over the winter.

Quintana proved that 2012 was not a fluke, which places him now as either the #2 Sox starter or a valuable trade piece.

The Sox escaped from the remainder of the Rios and Peavy contracts, freeing up money immediately and for the future.

The Sox, whether by accident or careful planning, acquired Avisail Garcia who looks like he could be a stud in the lineup for many years to come.

The two Cal kids came up and looked like they are actual baseball players that know the game.

Rienzo and Santiago showed promise at time as starters. Purcey and Webb could be solid contributors out of the bullpen.

Jordan Danks surprisingly played some ball in the last two months and probably secured himself a role and gave the Sox some flexibility in deciding what to do with DeAza and Viciedo this winter.

At the park, tickets were cheap, bathroom lines were non-existant and promotions were good, so it was a fun year to go to games minus the general product on the field.

Despite the obvious flaws and questions that remain, did I miss any positives?

[jamokes]

The White Sox were the third worst team in baseball. You're drinking waaayyy too much kool-aid to put any positive spin on this year. The Cubs tried to be bad and we were worse. Dunn was a terrible pick up.......Paulie is over the hill........sorry but we are a long way off and considering the Indians have a real manager and the Tigers are one of the best teams around, we're in trouble for a few years.

Now really, do you trust the Sox upper management?

[Brian26]

Originally Posted by jamokes

The White Sox were the third worst team in baseball. You're drinking waaayyy too much kool-aid to put any positive spin on this year. The Cubs tried to be bad and we were worse. Dunn was a terrible pick up.......Paulie is over the hill........sorry but we are a long way off and considering the Indians have a real manager and the Tigers are one of the best teams around, we're in trouble for a few years.

Now really, do you trust the Sox upper management?

I trust Hahn in the rebuild mode more than I trust Kenny. The Dunn and Rios pickups did not work. Peavy was questionable. Hahn's job is to clean up the mess. The Sox were terrible, that is not up for debate.

The point of the thread is to highlight any positives that came out of the season. You thought there were none, so thanks for participating.

[DumpJerry]

The starting pitching was generally pretty damn good.

There are some young position players (A. Garcia, Semien come to mind) with some good promise in the short term.

There have been many teams that went from worst to first in one - two years time.

[roylestillman]

Not necessarily a positive thought, but something that I saw today that put things really in perspective. I was sitting up in the 300 level today and as we were leaving the game, this family was walking toward us in the concourse. One guy was pushing what I assumed to be his mother in a wheel chair. She was not real elderly, but she looked quite frail. She was also crying her eyes out. It sounds awful, but all I could wonder is if her health was so bad and that she wanted to make it a point to attend the last game in case it was her last game. I can't stop thinking of it since.

For all the griping we do on this site, I still feel lucky to live in a major league town. I feel grateful for all the memories I've had with friends and family over decades in both the old and new park. I'm also grateful that I will never figure out why this game drives me crazy but keeps me coming back.

OK, if anybody wants to cue the A. Bartlett Giamatti essay feel free...

[Mr. Jinx]

I trust the Sox will get their scouts polo shirts next year.

[amsteel]

Originally Posted by Mr. Jinx

I trust the Sox will get their scouts polo shirts next year.

#PoloImpact
#TheWilltoWearPolos

[chisoxfanatic]

I posted this on Facebook, and I might as well post this here too. While this was the first year since 1993 that I did not attend a game, I'm very happy that this team at least didn't hit the century mark in the loss column.

[SoxSpeed22]

At least we have some decent things to work with.
Our overall nucleus got a lot younger and there are less big contracts on this team. Overall, management did what they were supposed to when it comes to rebuilding. There are still a lot of changes that need to be made though. They might be able to be a near-.500 team if they clean up the baserunning, defense and little things.

[johnny bench]

Originally Posted by Brian26

I trust Hahn in the rebuild mode more than I trust Kenny.

I too am glad that we got some big salaries out of the way. I am especially encouraged to hear Hahn talk of allocating a lot of those dollars to building the minor league system and beefing up scouting as a priority. Done properly, it's a strategy for building lasting value in place of a yearly high wire act.

[JB98]

The best thing you can say is the Sox seem to have a lot of options. Payroll has been freed up. You've really only got two bad contracts on this team now (Dunn, Danks the older). Last offseason, Hahn was somewhat handcuffed in what he could do. There was just way too much money tied up in a handful of players. That's not the case any longer thanks to what I thought were some pretty good midseason deals. The players who needed to be dealt were dealt.

We did have several younger players make some strides this year: Sale, Quintana, Santiago, Semien, Johnson, Webb, Petricka. A. Garcia is a huge pickup. I think he's a future cornerstone. L. Garcia might be able to help us too.

No. 1 on my wish list is a new catcher. Boy, did the Sox bungle that situation this year. Gotta get some help from outside the organization there.

[Brian26]

Originally Posted by johnny bench

I too am glad that we got some big salaries out of the way. I am especially encouraged to hear Hahn talk of allocating a lot of those dollars to building the minor league system and beefing up scouting as a priority. Done properly, it's a strategy for building lasting value in place of a yearly high wire act.

That's where we are right now. Oddly though, if we were in a position where the Sox were one or two players away, I would feel more confident with Kenny being the guy to go for it, even if behind the scenes. It's almost like the Sox need to get back to point B again, like they were between, say, 2000-2004, before they can even consider looking at point C.

[Mohoney]

In my opinion, the biggest positive to draw from this year is dramatically increased financial flexibility. With 2013 now off the books, the only player who is truly handcuffing this team going forward is John Danks (although Jeff Keppinger's deal makes me cringe, too.) I don't see Alexei Ramirez's contract as being totally unmovable, and I think that somebody will give up something decent for him this offseason, freeing up even more money.

[GoSox2K3]

Originally Posted by Brian26

The two Cal kids came up and looked like they are actual baseball players that know the game.

Rienzo and Santiago showed promise at time as starters. Purcey and Webb could be solid contributors out of the bullpen.

Jordan Danks surprisingly played some ball in the last two months and probably secured himself a role and gave the Sox some flexibility in deciding what to do with DeAza and Viciedo this winter.

At the park, tickets were cheap, bathroom lines were non-existant and promotions were good, so it was a fun year to go to games minus the general product on the field.

Despite the obvious flaws and questions that remain, did I miss any positives?

Who are the two Cal kids?

[blandman]

Originally Posted by Brian26

A lot of good came out of this season. The end result looks brutal on paper, and the journey was as painful as ever. However, many positives came out of the season.

The Sox now know where they stand at catcher. Neither Flowers nor Phegley is the answer. You know what you have in both guys, and I expect the Sox to go after someone over the winter.

Quintana proved that 2012 was not a fluke, which places him now as either the #2 Sox starter or a valuable trade piece.

The Sox escaped from the remainder of the Rios and Peavy contracts, freeing up money immediately and for the future.

The Sox, whether by accident or careful planning, acquired Avisail Garcia who looks like he could be a stud in the lineup for many years to come.

The two Cal kids came up and looked like they are actual baseball players that know the game.

Rienzo and Santiago showed promise at time as starters. Purcey and Webb could be solid contributors out of the bullpen.

Jordan Danks surprisingly played some ball in the last two months and probably secured himself a role and gave the Sox some flexibility in deciding what to do with DeAza and Viciedo this winter.

At the park, tickets were cheap, bathroom lines were non-existant and promotions were good, so it was a fun year to go to games minus the general product on the field.

Despite the obvious flaws and questions that remain, did I miss any positives?

My big positive is the ineptness of management - from the front office to the dugout, has been exposed and exposed early in Hahn's term as evidenced by his poor off-season and reliance on players that didn't belong on a major league roster in key roles. Even if we don't clean house this year, it's only a matter of time before we can turn the page and move on to a front office that knows how to win.