"The Kids Can Play"

Totally agree! Moncada is always looking like a injury waiting to happen when he runs hard down the first base line.

We are now talking semantics. The bottom line regardless of the terminology, some of the players could be stretched out better.

The bigger problem is why are the Sox having so many muscle related injuries? Tim Anderson out on DL earlier with hamstring, Adam Engel still out with hamstring, Lance Lynn out with trapezius muscle, Luiz Robert with Hip Flexor muscle strain. These are all muscle related inquires that are due to a possible lack of proper and extensive stretching routines. Maybe Hahn should question the pre game stretching of the team under TLR and what involvement do these two Sox staff people have: Allen Thomas, Director of Strength & Conditioning and Ibrahim Rivera, Assistant Major League Strength and Conditioning Coach for the White Sox.

Rick Hahn would crazy to trade Eloy. Eloy is a generational talent that not only can produce 35-40 HR's & 100 plus RBI's a year as a .280-.300 hitter, but he is huge motivational and positive attitude player the team dugout needs. The Sox miss that energy and enthusiasm that Eloy brought to the team last year. Without Eloy the team doesn't seem to be having as much fun as last year.

If the Sox want to win a World Series then they need to have the attitude they are good enough to beat anyone...which they are.. and definitely our bitter rivals Cleveland. Btw, why cant we beat Bieber? We lead the AL in BA. OBP, and OPS. AL BA Sox .267 1st to Indians .209 13th AL Runs Scored - Sox 124 runs 1st to Indians 90 runs 14th Plus we have a better team ERA.

Let's assume hypothetically Mercedes and Vaughn have great rookie years for argument's sake. Eloy is an obvious starter next year. Then to solve the dilemma, why can't they work daily with Mercedes in the off season to refine his catching skills to be a starter. However worst case Yermin can't catch...so be it, then Yermin to DH and Vaughn and Eloy in the outfield with Robert. It might be a weak left and right outfield, but the hitting power and potential is pretty damn scary. Plus Robert is a glove glove CF who covers more ground than most outfielders and could make up some of the slack/weakness for the other two.

I agree and it's great to see Cease have such a dominant game. However in my imo, I think the last few starts of Kopech and knowing management wants Kopech as a starter soon, was a huge factor in waking up Cease. I am quite certain Cease realized if he continued to struggle as a starter, then Kopech would eventually replace him and Cease would then head to the bullpen.

Then maybe the solution and plan for Katz should be to get Crochet in the off season to learn from Kopech in how he gets more spin and rise on his 96 mph fastballs. I agree with you that Kopech's 95-97 mph fastballs have nasty movement and rise and why they are so hard to hit. I also agree with you that Crochet needs to strengthen and refine his secondary pitches.

Why is there all this rationalizing and defending for Grandal? Going into doubleheader today: BA - .122, OBP - .283, SLG - .286, OPS - .569 . There is nothing to justify on Grandal. Almost every starting catcher in baseball is batting better. His stats are the worst on the Sox for the starters. At the time it seemed like a good free agent signing, but today it's horrible signing. The Sox need to move on and trade him regardless of how little they get for him. We can live with Zach Collins. Collins is not a whole lot better...but definitely better and definitely a better fielding catcher. It's sad Yermin Mercedes isn't a more capable catcher.

I have been making comments with substance. Obviously you don't agree with them. Plus I never made sarcastic comments to you so don't make BS comments that aren't true. Regardless I am out of here. I just found this site and thought it would be fun place to be part of, since I am a long time loyal die hard Sox fan. I guess I was wrong. I don't need this crap. It's the first time I've been to a chat room/message board where the admin person has an attitude and needs to attack people! Goodbye and enjoy your life southsider2k5 being a jerk!

I guess you haven't looked at the numbers! Grandal - 8 HR's in 46 games 161ab's, .230 avg vs McCann - 7 HR's 31 games, 97 ab's and .289 avg. For me if I can sign McCann and trade Grandal, that is my wish. Defensively McCann is just as good too.

I didn't say I thought he was one of the best. Look at the numbers, which catcher had a better offensive season? If he is actually viewed that way by others, that's even better, maybe we can get more for him.

I totally understand and respect that. However when I look at most posts here on this board and the responses, it seems when someone disagrees with a post they usually reply with a their reason. You didn't reply to my statement with a specific comment of substance...you just posted some lame sarcastic comment with no explanation. If you would have replied with a mature comeback I wouldn't have stated what I said. The fact is if you or anyone else here doesn't agree with me, that is fine and I can totally respect and take that. However don't reply to someone's statement on here with some lame comment looking to be funny, which you werent. Can you imagine every time you posted something here, others simply replied with some nonsense sarcastic comment and no substance like you. lol

if you read enough baseball writers and websites, Grandal is considered one of the top catchers in baseball. Before the season, the MLB network rated him #1. If a team doesn't have a catcher and they are a potential playoff contender for next year, I'm sure they would trade for him. Plus 18 million isn't going to destroy anyone's payroll if you have no catcher and need one badly. Btw, take a look at the Cleveland catchers, (Roberto Perez - .165, Sandy Leon - .136, Beau Taylor - .048). That seems like one good playoff contender who need some hitting. I'm not even saying we have to get a lot back for Grandal, just something fair. My only point was from the start was we can't keep both catchers and I think McCann is better.

Great point and totally agree!

You can be sarcastic all you want, but I thought the purpose of this forum was to express our opinions. The fact is, whether this is an old ongoing "analysis", it still remains the same that Renteria and Cooper both did a horrible job with their choices on the what pitchers to use and when to pull them....as it has been pointed out on this forum numerous times. Again the question that was raised that I replied to was, What needs to happen that the sox pitching development gets up to speed? I think I answered it correctly. lol

You wouldnt trade Grandal until you officially sign and secure McCann to a contract and take him off the market. Then you trade Grandal because McCann isn't available. My only point here is it would be nice to have both catchers, but not financially wise to keep both. Even when we had both, McCann sat on the bench too much.

I didn't get the announcement that you were the official expert on this chat forum as to what is or isn't funny. Based on your comment, you must be one of those few that thinks our manager did a good job and should keep his job!

Next year's starting rotation could be: Giolito, Keuchel, Kopech, Crochet and the 5th starter, a battle between Cease and Dunning. Keep in mind that provided (and that's big IF) that someone qualified enough to tweak Cease and Dunning in the off season and make them both productive again, then it wouldn't be a bad idea IMO to go to a 6 man rotation. The advantages theoretically would be: 1. We would have a deep enough rotation to get away with it. We wouldn't burn out their arms throughout the hopefully 162 game season. 2. Since our bullpen has many question marks, with a 6 man rotation, you wouldn't have to baby them on pitch count. You could go over 100 pitches each game and hopefully let them go 7 innings, thus only having to use the bullpen for 9 outs. Each starter would be fine with 6 days rest now. We have enough good bullpen pitchers to handle that....without throwing in guys like Cordero, Fry and Gonzalez to lose the game for us. Obviously keeping the current coaching staff, this isn't remotely a possibility. LOL!

He better be fired if we want to win a world series. Ricky RenteLoser doesn't deserve this talented roster Rick Hahn put together. This is the same stage the Cubs were in when they fired RenterLoser to hire Maddon. He has a lifetime losing W-L record. Imo, I don't think the players respect him that much either. Would you if you were playing for him and watch him make all these insanely bonehead moves like he did all season long and in the playoffs? If we as fans can see how pathetic RenteLoser is....don't you think the players see it as well?

I might be in the minority on this and maybe get ripped for saying this, but I would keep McCann and trade Grandal. There are a significant number of teams that adding Grandal to their team would be an upgrade. I think McCann is as good of a catcher defensively as Grandal. Plus I don't think Grandal calls the pitch selection as well either for the pitchers. McCann has proven now for two years in a row that he is a sold contact hitter with some good power. The fact is, Grandall had 8 HR's in 46 games and 161 AB's, as opposed to McCann having 7 HR's in only 31 games and 97 AB's. Do the math...no comparison! More importantly, McCann is a much better contact hitter and hits for a far better batting average. McCann hit .289 vs Grandall at .230. Finally, since we need another starter or maybe a productive right fielder, Grandall would bring in that RF we need, or that starting pitcher or perhaps some excellent prospects to help continue this rebuild and keep it going for future years.

Real simple! We need a NEW manager and complete new coaching staff because Don Cooper is worthless. I am tired of Steve Stone telling us every game when things go bad what is wrong with the our pitchers. It's quite obvious that clueless Don Cooper and Ricky RenterLoser dont see it or know how to change or fix it, with our pitchers who need some tweaks.

1. New Manager, 2. Completely new coaching staff...especially a new pitching coach...Don Cooper is worthless. 4. Get rid of hitters Encarnacion and Mazara. 5. Find a solid DH ( hopefully Andrew Vaughn is ready for that slot) and find a productive power hitting right fielder. 6. Lose pitchers Cordero, Fry and Gonzalez in the bullpen. Other than these obvious moves, the most important move is to get a new manager with an excellent coaching staff. some of our young pitchers are ultra talented and just need a real coach to work on their pitches and mechanics. The same goes on the hitting side. We need to have someone fine tune our hitters so they learn to be more patient at the plate and not swing at so many pitches outside the zone.