tsak31

Any word on who is starting pitcher?

Has Kimbrel arrived yet?

Yes!!!

Nice depth move. Is he related to or friends with Bauer? 😀

If picking up a RF means we have less to spend on pitching, then I’d say roll with what we’ve got in RF including Mazara. He looked a bit better down the stretch, and he may have also been impacted by getting no summer camp since he had COVID. If it still seems like we need to fill a hole in the lineup, then we could pickup someone before the trade deadline. Put all resources towards pitching this off season.

I was expecting them to throw at Contreras there. Why not? Wake this team up!

Any word on Grandal? I think he was supposed to catch in a B game yesterday but didn’t hear anything. I’m just anxious to see if he was healthy enough to play and get in about three innings as they were planning.

Any word on how Grandal looked in the B game?

I also believe Stoney though, so now I don’t have my hopes up that this might be happening.

I would classify him as good, not great, but good. I’ll take good coming off the bench. He has decent speed, decent power, decent defense, decent OBP, etc. Not exceptional in any but the bat would be better than any other we’d have coming off the bench. He has also shown the ability to get very hot for periods of time where he can carry a team, and I don’t think Engel or Garcia have that type of impact. I would like to see them take a chance with Puig and upgrade the bench.

I’m thinking 40+ HRs for Eloy and Edwin, and they’ll be lighting up that scoreboard at GRate often!

It’s strange that they don’t have anything about the opening ceremony on the SoxFest schedule on the Sox website, but I’ve seen a few other things such as this mention 3:00. I’m going to go early and hope for the best. Go Sox!

I ran into Frank Thomas at my son’s little league game last year, and he took a picture with my son. I printed out the picture and hope we can get Big Hurt’s signature on it.

I haven’t been to SoxFest in a while and am bringing my 9-year-old son this year. I didn’t see a time or other info about the opening ceremony. Does anyone have information on this and any suggestions on what time to arrive to get seats for the opening ceremony? Any other advice for SoxFest? Can’t wait and my son is very excited.

Donaldson can put up a year or a few years like he did in 2018 and we’ll all be glad they signed him. Second highest contract to someone his age. We’ll see. This is high risk and very un-Twin like. This might boost them this year if he stays healthy but this could hurt them big down the road and when we are at our peak. Here’s hoping and Go Sox!

Not trying to compare Abreu to Donaldson. Donaldson is better, sure. Abreu is the team leader, mentor, etc. I want my team leader to be motivated and know that we want him around for the competitive years of the rebuild. This impacts other players around him that he mentors too. It’s more than just throwing money at him when we didn’t need to. It’s about creating a positive team culture, and they think Abreu is a big part of that, and without that you don’t win. A lot of you are under estimating how important this is especially with a young team.

Yikes that is a lot of money and a lot of years for a 34 year old. This makes the Abreu contract look even better for one less year and almost half the amount and he’s the leader/mentor of the team.

I agree with this and like the Abreu extension. There is something to be said for keeping the face of the franchise and clubhouse leader happy. It sends a great message to the rest of the team. I like to think that him knowing he’ll be around during this team’s peak window to compete can only help with his and the overall team morale and is better than having your leader on a one year contract and unsure if he’ll be around. I believe the extension had as much to do with his production (which has been great) as with building team chemistry. With so many new people, team chemistry and the ability for this group to gel together quickly is going to be key.

We’d have a couple of great beards then too between him and Keuchel.

Do you think the cubs would be willing to trade Kimbrel for mostly a salary dump and maybe a mid-tier prospect or two? Missing spring training and half the season seemed to really hurt him, but he still had good strikeout numbers, is still only 31, and could be a good bounce back candidate. Not sure if this is at all a possibility or would be of interest but might be worth the risk, and it seems the cubs want to get under the luxury tax threshold.

I understand both sides of this debate, and how some people might prefer Castellanos over EE. I don’t understand how anyone would be disappointed or complain if we were to get EE. Either way it is a huge upgrade and adding another professional hitter to this lineup. Adding EE provides 40-50 HR and 100+ RBI potential in the middle of the lineup for the next year or two (if the club option for 2021 is part of the deal). It is a low risk move that also keeps things flexible for the future. Castellanos is a solid hitter also but might constrain them a bit financially and defensively a bit down the road. Neither involve giving up prospects and getting either is making a statement and makes the team better. This lineup will be fun to watch!

Just got excited after Kinander, Hector, and Stoney’s tweets that it might actually happen today.

So is anything going to happen tonight? I’m supposed to be spending time with family but can’t stop looking on the message board!

Just speculation but my theory (or maybe Christmas wish) is they already have an agreement in place and are just waiting till father’s funeral and giving some time to make it official (somewhat based on Hector’s comments and smoke the other day).

Whoever DHs whether it is another signing or already in-house option (McCann, Collins, Etc.), this lineup has player improvements in 5 of 9 positions (Grandal, Mazara, Madrigal, Robert, whoever DHs). Add to that another year for Moncada and Eloy to mature, the returning AL batting champ, and our veteran leader/all-star first baseman. Nice!