CentralChamps21

TA finally out of the leadoff spot, but how much longer does he stay in the #2 slot? He has a worse wRC+ than everybody except Zavala. You could argue both Elvis and Remillard should play over him, but at least he should be batting 8th-9th when he does play. He's provided essentially no value to this team this year. Maybe demoting him will wake up some other guys.

When you factor in defensive value, Robert doesn't have to be nearly as good a hitter at those two in order to be more valuable.

Maybe, but the data suggests that a team being that successful with an OBP that low is an anomaly, and not something you can really count on. It seems like the Sox have spent the last 18 years trying to recreate a team that was in many respects fluky in their ability to both score and prevent runs given the underlying metrics.

Their OBP is last in the league. Not a lot of guys on first to begin with.

This isn't a new problem. Even the 2005 team was bad at getting on base (22nd) and taking walks (25th). They were mediocre in GB rate (12th lowest). Maybe having an ex-player who had a .269 career OBP and a 4.5% walk rate be in charge of assembling a team isn't the best idea.

Miazga and Ferreira have no business wearing a USA uniform. Watching the US B-team is not enjoyable.

There is a private military group called the Wagner group, headed by a Russian named Prigozhin. They had been fighting on Russia's side in the Ukraine war. They had been getting increasingly frustrated with how the Russian government and military was running the war. Apparently they've snapped and now turned on Russia. I have no idea whether they have the firepower to actually overthrow Putin.

They gone

So to me there are two questions to that play. The first is whether or not the rule was applied correctly, and the second is whether or not the rule is reasonable. It does seem to me that the rule was applied correctly. I don't agree that the throw "clearly" beat the runner as the runner had started his dive by the time the ball was in the glove. It's also clear that the runner was angling for the foul side of the plate and that's the side where the catcher set up. The runner had to change his path to avoid a collision. As to whether the rule is reasonable, I think not. I don't think that kind of play should be considered a violation, although I don't know how you tweak the rule to fix that.

Firing anybody isn't going to help until there's new ownership. I don't think Grifol and the coaching staff are telling the players to swing at so many balls and hit the ball on the ground so much. At some point the players have to be accountable.

I'm not looking at any data, but he seems to do much better starting an inning as opposed to coming in with runners on base.

So what's the best lineup if everybody is healthy? I'd say: ARobinson-Ream-Richards-Dest Adams-McKennie-Reyna Pulisic-Balogun-Weah Hate leaving Musah out but who do you replace?

How long until there's talk of Mexico being removed as a 2026 co-host? US probably needs to get a few backup stadiums (stadia?) in line.

If Anderson, Jimenez, Moncada, Grandal, Benintendi didn't all have their heads up their asses and were performing like they could, the Sox could have lived with Colas struggling while learning to hit major league pitching. As things played out, they had to get reliable (even if only vs RHP) bat out in RF.

Grandal and Giolito are the only guys with expiring contracts that anybody is going to be interested in, and neither would get a huge return. They're kinds stuck trying to win with this group and hoping people revert back to the mean.

Alcantara (R) 2-5, 5.07 vs Kopech (R) 3-5, 4.33 MLBN today for the out of towners

Benintendi and Vaughn have been less bad at getting on base than everybody else.

I'd also get TA out of the top of the lineup. Top four should be Benintendi/Vaughn/Robert/Burger

For me at this point, Burger is the very day DH and Eloy/Sheets are a RF platoon.

Perez (R) 3-1, 2.75 vs Cease (R) 3-3, 4.63

Gets the leadoff walk that our regular leadoff hitter never, ever gets.

Only way they do 4 divisions of 8 is if they break up the AL and NL and do a full on geographic realignment. Central teams will absolutely fight having division opponents on the west coast. SD, LAD, LAA, SF, OAK(LV), SEA, ARI, COL HOU, TEX, KC, STL, MIN, MIL, CHW, CHC NSH*, DET, CLE, CIN, PIT, ATL, TB, MIA MON*, TOR, BOS, NYY, NYM, PHI, BAL, WAS

JR and other owners of teams in the Central time zone fought for years to get out of divisions with west coast teams. They aren't going to go back. It will end up being 8 divisions of 4, just like the NFL.

2023 edition of lots of guys falling short. 2023 OPS compared to career: Anderson -132 Benintendi -90 Jimenez -86 Moncada -77 Grandal -72 Vaughn -21 Robert +9

AQI now below 200: https://www.airnow.gov/?city=Bronx&state=NY&country=USA