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Madrigal can't check the boxes at the top of the list, amirite

Based on Schillings' past racist remarks, he is without a doubt, 100% a scumbag. The irony is, thinking otherwise makes one the moron (or bigot if you prefer).

In this case the grass is greener because Engel sucks and Maybin is a passable bench outfielder and if Engel played for another team we wouldn't know about him because he never would have come up. So there would be no virtues to extol

Stop bunting then, dickhead.

🤔...Betts for Collins & Mazara? (yes I know that’s not happening)

Physician, heal thyself!!

Not always. Being a rapist or a wife beater is not subjective. Being an outright racist is not subjective. I personally think Schilling is a scumbag, but not sure what he’s done is bad enough to be banned from the Hall.

There is that EE guy, I think he will want to play sometimes.

What is this, the National League? 8 position players + DH = 9 starting players in lineup.

There are 8 starting players, not 9.

Racists are scumbags. Schilling has said a lot of racist shit. Racism isn't fucking subjective. I'm not going to get into this with you, because I already know your stance on the subject. I'm disappointed that in America in 2020, we still have to litigate whether or not racism is bad.

Cheating is objective, not subjective. Being a scumbag is 100% a subjective opinion. Someone might think schillings a scumbag. I consider anyone that thinks that to be an absolute moron.

First televised game a month from tomorrow.😀

Having a several page debate about the 5th OF is probably the best sign that Spring training needs to happen yesterday.

If Castellanos became Mazara on Defense he's a 3+ win player at our field. Small sample size but so is his time in the OF, his UZR/150 was better than Mazara when he played games in Wrigley and not an airport of a field. He also improved his DRS from -19 in 2018 (his first year playing OF) to -9 last year. Will he ever be a good defender? No, but he seems capable of being slightly below average and giving you around 3 WAR, which is a huge upgrade from what Mazara is.

Funny thing is Covey has a ton of value to rebuilding teams. Guy assures you you're going to lose most of his games he starts.

Sterling write-up on Luis Robert as the #2 overall prospect. Andrew Vaughn is #30, Michael Kopech is #33 and Nick Madrigal is #48. They gave Robert 70 grades for power, speed and defense as a 70 overall.

Cliff Lee is off the ballot already I believe. Lee's problem is he didn't really get started until he was 30 years old. I think Buehrle checks a lot of boxes in the modern era; leading a decade in innings and wins would almost guarantee you a trip in past era's. I would need to do the research, but I don't think anyone who has done that has been left off. Here's a list of players who have led their decades in wins and finished top 3 in IP: 1900's - Christy Mathewson 1910's - Walter Johnson 1920's - Burleigh Grimes 1930's - Lefty Grove 1940's - Hal Newhouser 1950's - Warren Spahn 1960's - Juan Marichal 1970's - Jim Palmer 1980's - Jack Morris 1990's - Greg Maddux Every single player on that list is a HOF'er. Mark Buehrle would be the first one left out, and it would be a joke.

The thing about Schilling is this. Racism is not a political opinion. Sending out memes and tropes that disenfranchises and advocate violence against the media, muslims, and the LGBTQ community is not a political opinion. Doing that sort of behavior is morally wrong and against what freedom in America stands for. Yes, Schilling has the right to express his opinion, but racism and attacking various minorities is wrong, morally wrong. And there is a morals clause to getting into the Hall of Fame. Schilling should never get in.

Yes I do hate the Padres. But I hope they do this. Mortgage the future by trading their top prospects for a 1 year rental. And then Mookie walks next offseason. Is this the move of a maverick gm or a desperate gm?

It's big news because Hahn didn't have to be so blunt about Mazara. He could have said we believe in him and hope that he can make that positional need go away.

C’mon! That’s a Boylen-level quote

May 1st for Madrigal looks good. Sox in Colorado April 29, come home, off day on Thursday the 30th where Madrigal can workout at the park in relative peace to get a feel for the place, and then debut Friday night vs the Orioles.

Edwin Encarnacion is on the team... The Abreu deal is awful.

sure but then people would complain about not not having a MLB 1B. 18mm and 3 years is a good price for a productive hitter. They could have signed other but no one appreciably better than Abreu.

Nothing new here, no means no. If you want to survive who but you looks out for you? I doubt Daryl will answer anything of substance. I never understood hanging out in bars even when my brother owned a local hot spot. Another prob is that 'friends' do these things as often as strangers. We condemn the criminal behavior of not respecting women. Only cowards do these things.

I think I'll make that my signature to humble myself whenever I speak confidently against someone else's opinion... "Well Ray Ray, you thought only 8 position players were playing at a time in the AL for like 3 seconds."

He was suspended for 50 games for a banned stimulant, which I guess is better than a hardcore steroid or high.

Romine, that crappy guy they just signed.

It would also take the Cubs sucking for a long while, and the generation that grew up on free superstation WGN games to become disillusioned + the Cubs network flopping, and Wrigley pricing itself out of being a cash cow tourist trap. I will be happy with a long run of Sox playoff appearances and being on post season television screens and Sox Park being filled every fall. There are enough eyeballs for the Sox to be a draw w/o having to overtake the daily wrigelyville frat party.

Unless 45% of their fans in Chicago can’t access their games and they’re eliminated from the playoff race before the ASB. Then things could change a bit more rapidly...especially if they trade Bryant for a sub-par return.

I don’t think any White Sox fan would be clamoring for Adam Engel and Leury Garcia if they were on another team, but that’s just my opinion.

Before his past 2 months with the Cubs... was castellanos more than a 8 million player? I think he has no market.. He's probably valuing himself as a 20 million and now hoping to get 15 and no one is biting.

I dunno, Yolmer himself telling kitekrazy's brother that he is no longer with the white sox is Sox Speak for he isn't coming back imo. Things could change but seems like they moved on

Is it me or does Steve Stone come off as extremely condescending on Twitter?

I tend to agree that Castellanos wouldn't be the best use of resources, but also I don't think the logjam is as problematic as you imply here. When everyone is healthy: Adam Engel optioned to Charlotte Starting OF of Eloy, Robert, Castellanos. Mazara takes a 2-3 games a week from Castellanos and Eloy, mostly against RHP. He takes another game a week in RF when you shift Castellanos to DH. EE at DH 4-5 games a week, Castellanos and Grandal/McCann when you rest him (at his age, we probably don't want to push EE for 140+ games anyway) You also can move people around to give Jose one game off a week. That is when everyone is healthy. As soon as one of Robert/Eloy/Castellanos/EE/Jose gets an injury (which seems likely), you shift it all around. The only disadvantage is you are losing Adam as a late-inning defensive replacement. In a really healthy season, maybe his defense is worth more wins. But if any of those 5 guys misses significant time (or if someone like EE hits the age cliff) having both Castellanos and Mazara makes you a MUCH deeper team, and would obviously be worth more wins.

I will agree to disagree. Castellanos is better than Mazara and Mazara would be a better 4th OF than Engle. There is no rule that says we can't have too many bats.

This is one thing I will always like better about BA than some other publications- such as FG. It's bad enough that no one ever gets an 80 grade, but if you're not even going to give out 70 grades either thrn what's the point of having tiers like that? It's stupid. I understand scouting errors on the side of caution, but stick your neck out there for guys you really like and slap some 70's on them.

Am I crazy for thinking that if Sammy Sosa doesn't draw a walk, Mark Buehrle gets somewhere around 60% of the vote? Note: Not saying that's right or just, just baseball writers are dumb.

You guys joking? Konerko wouldn't be a HOF'er if he was a Yankee; that's nuts. If you guys want to go to bat for someone who is ABSOLUTELY deserving, who will likely be overlooked, it's Buehrle. I've been pretty vocal that for a career, I use bWAR over fWAR for pitchers - for season to season, and projections I'd use fWAR. Buehrle falls right around 60-65th all-time, which is borderline and plenty haven't gotten in from that tier BUT, accomplishments really do matter. Buehrle was the best fielding pitcher of his generation, he threw a nono and a perfect game, had a dominant post-season run, and was the most durable pitcher in the modern era. He lead the league in wins and IP for a decade. Buehrle is a unique case, but imo he's a HOF'er based on all the intangibles and achievements.

Exactamundo. Instead, Konerko is off after one ballot and Jeter is near unanimous because Jankees. I'm not even saying that Jeter isn't a HOF, because he is. He was a great offensive SS. I'm saying the near unanimous vote is ludicrous. Same with Rivera.

Schilling did not advocate violence against any group (except arguably as a joke towards journalists). Schilling tweeted that there are clear comparisons between EXTREMIST muslims and nazi's (which there absolutely are) and that many people are uncomfortable with laws that allow men into women's locker rooms which is not an avocation of violence towards either group, and further, is not at all morally wrong.

you cant throw out claims in a false virtue signal on a baseball message board and just assume people will accept your claims of schilling trying to incite violence. I on the other hand can call you brainwashed because I have proof based on the fact you think having American first opinions makes someone morally inferior to someone else. why do you care how rhode island spends its money? well deserved

Aren't all of his bats "barely contacted" ones?

Thats not even close to being true. You make the HoF in your 30's. Look at his fWAR, he had a couple of his best seasons during the end of his career. Again, 66 WAR is borderline HoF territory. The dude put up 79 and was still dominant late in his career.

That author is a LOSER anyone that gets up in arms over things schilling has said, things that a significant percentage of the population agrees with, is an over sensitive douche.

Cobb would still be a first ballot guy. Especially since his “reputation” is more or less bullshit.

I don't quite get why mlb is so high on vaughn. Vaughn is a good prospect but his mlb.com ranking must be mostly on his prospect pedigree. His first pro year was good but with an 832 ops not outstanding. That is ok for his first year but when I rank a right handed college 1b top20 ish overall I want to either see him absolutely destroy lower minors (1000+ ops) or ideally perform at upper majors. If he rakes in AA next year I can justify a top20 ranking but for a lower minor only college guy imo the rank is a bit aggresive. This is nothing against him as a prospect, he has the potential to be a plus first baseman in the majors, just saying I have not seen enough to rank him top30 yet.

Schilling accumulated 79 WAR over his career. Borderline guys are around 66. He is a no doubter but unfortunately he hurt the poor baseball writers feefees with his politics, which have nothing to do with Baseball.