*Official* 9-30 Staring down the abyss; TB 6 SOX 2 Postgamer

[Soxman219]

Worst. Sports year. Ever. What a choke-job. They quit.

[WhiteSox5187]

Originally Posted by Dan H

Not only being flawed, but lacking an identity. Because of the cost of contracts to Peavy, Rios, and Dunn, and their bad years in 2011, the Sox had little flexibility in the off season. It was hard to tell of Williams felt he could go for it or rebuild. Many baseball experts looked at this team at the beginning of the season and were confused. No one knew what to expect out of these players and they didn't know what Williams was attempting to do. Many fans felt the same confusion.

In the end it was a comibination of older and younger players but not a good comibination. In the end the team fell apart.

It was a roster that was built to go for about 140 games. All their offensive production was coming from guys in their thirties and because we have no farm system to speak of there was no one on the bench who could do an even adequate job of replacing our main guys for even a day or two down the stretch which meant we had to ride guys like AJ, Konerko, Dunn, Youkilis and Rios pretty hard and I think the wear and tear started to show up a lot more for us. The Tigers had to ride their guys hard too but their median age was 27, our median age was 30 and two of our best offensive players were over 35. We just wore down offensively and we were counting on two starting pitchers who had never thrown over 160 innings in professional baseball before.

[SCCWS]

Originally Posted by WhiteSox5187

It was a roster that was built to go for about 140 games. .

I would say more like 100 games. This team has basically struggled since the All Star break. But I agree they overused too many veterans who limped home.

[WhiteSox5187]

Originally Posted by SCCWS

I would say more like 100 games. This team has basically struggled since the All Star break. But I agree they overused too many veterans who limped home.

To be fair, they had no choice. No one on the bench could contribute, you can't pin your hopes on the likes of Jose Lopez and Ray Olmedo down the stretch.

[SCCWS]

Originally Posted by WhiteSox5187

To be fair, they had no choice. No one on the bench could contribute, you can't pin your hopes on the likes of Jose Lopez and Ray Olmedo down the stretch.

I think we all agree. Our bench looked like the rejects on Animal House during pledge night.

[ShooterMcGavin]

Originally Posted by WhiteSox5187

He's been bad of late but I still think it's because of those bone fragments in his hand and wrist. He is going to have surgery in the off season to remove them.

http://espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/story...surgery-season

I appreciate the info. For a surgery that has a recovery time of only 4-6 weeks, it's too bad Konerko didn't have the surgery two years ago.

I don't believe this Konerko statement, "I don't feel it has impacted anything I've done this year..."

[ShooterMcGavin]

Originally Posted by WhiteSox5187

Detroit could do some damage. I know that their defense sucks but they have a pretty good 1-2 punch in Verlander and Scherzer (assuming he is healthy enough to go) and Fister isn't much of a slouch either. Plus their offense is good. They COULD do some damage but they have to be near flawless.

I agree Detroit could do some damage in the playoffs. They aren't like those division-winning Twins teams we battled in recent years that had no chance in the playoffs.

[SoxSpeed22]

Rick was appointed to GM just in time to have to answer some serious questions about the direction of this team. One thing that is certain is that more depth is needed and Robin is going to kick himself plenty for the way he managed in September.

[central44]

Originally Posted by SoxSpeed22

Rick was appointed to GM just in time to have to answer some serious questions about the direction of this team. One thing that is certain is that more depth is needed and Robin is going to kick himself plenty for the way he managed in September.

I can accept the second part as long as he treats it as a learning experience. For a first year manager with no experience, this hasnt been a bad job--just a terrible way to close out the season. Hopefully in the future, we don't see any more of this.

I do wonder what changes they make going forward. The Sox can't afford to rebuild unless they want fan support to trend even further downward. The fans will come to the park after sustained success, and it seems like the only way to reach that point would be via a free agent spending spree. Not sure if I see that happening though.

[central44]

Originally Posted by Soxman219

Worst. Sports year. Ever. What a choke-job. They quit.

No kidding. The 2010 NFC Championship game kick-started a miserable era of Chicago sports. I can't speak for everyone, but the Bulls, Bears, and now Sox have all let me down in crushing fashion since that day. Only the Sox through ineptitute though--at least the Bulls and Bears were hammered by injuries.

And I doubt Cubs fans have much to be happy about either.

[JasonFrasor54]

What happened to the offense this last month. Wow. So frustrating to watch a team that can't hit.

[tstrike2000]

I guess one way to look at it is I'll be saving money by not having to go to the store to update my 2008 Division Champion hat.

[Frater Perdurabo]

Originally Posted by central44

No kidding. The 2010 NFC Championship game kick-started a miserable era of Chicago sports. I can't speak for everyone, but the Bulls, Bears, and now Sox have all let me down in crushing fashion since that day. Only the Sox through ineptitute though--at least the Bulls and Bears were hammered by injuries.

The Sox haven't exactly been healthy this year, either. Danks, PK, Dunn, Floyd, Humber, DeAza all have either spent time on the DL, missed chunks of games, and/or had pain or injury diminish their performance. Of course, the Tigers went all year without Victor Martinez.

[WSox597]

Originally Posted by MarySwiss

And even if they get to the postseason, how far will they go? Sure, we're still alive barely, but I predict whoever wins the division is three and out.

I see it this way as well. Neither team has the stuff to go deep if they make it. The Tigers have several good pitchers, not much defense, and an excellent offense. Sounds like they would go deep, but they barely won the weakest division in the AL, if in fact they do win it.

If the Sox had made it, I liked their chances against the Rangers and Yankees, but not against the Orioles or A's.

[KingXerxes]

While it's apparent that nobody is happy with the way this is wrapping up, I wouldn't be so quick to call them "chokes" or "quitters". Injuries hit them as well.

I know all teams suffer through injuries as the year rolls on, but Danks going down for the year was murderous. Add to it the mysterious fall of Humber and you realize 40% of your starting rotation was put on a shelf early in the year.

I'm not saying Danks and Humber would have helped the mediocre offense over these past couple of weeks, but if these two were pitching every turn I don't think the race woul have even been that close. The bullpen looks completly gassed at this point. The offense has been inconsistent the entire year, so while this prolonged slump sucks due to its timing - it's not a complete surprise.

If you look back before Opening Day, a lot of people were saying this team would lose 90-100 games - they didn't and will finish above .500 - the reason we all had a bit of hope is due to Detroit completely underacheiving all year. Personally I thought the White Sox would be around .500, but I thought Detroit was going to win about 105 games this year. I never expected this thing to even be close.

Assuming the Tigers win one more game, it's time to start thinking about the offseason. I for one would like to see a major change in the broadcast booth.



"Mercy - he's still ragging at me"