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You're close. Rock the baby guy is actually Luis Garcia. I believe he'll be pitching on Sunday. The new rules turned his old wind up into a balk though, so he scrapped it.

Is Valdez that annoying “Rock the Baby” wind up guy? Or is thh huh at Uriguidy…

I'll take things we probably don't want to hear from anyone other than Romy and Aaron Rowand for $400, Alex. Certainly not from LRobJr.

Hoping to get the day off work tomorrow. Would love to spend tomorrow watching opening day, not driving in the rain...

Wishful-- Fully healthy team, that can make a deep run in the playoffs. Realistic(Sox fan for 30 years, I'm pessimistic LOL)-- they'll probably hover between 5 below, and above .500 all season teasing the fans and eventually stalling for at most a wild card and an early exit in the playoffs...if they even make it.

Want: ROY Expect: solid rookie season claiming RF for good. Need: competent defence, staying healthy, and lefty power from the bottom third of the order.

Could anyone have imagined in 2020 - when the "window" was just opening and all of the young talent was just beginning to brew- that this would be a very typical prediction by both fans & writers three years later? When most thought this team would be on the cusp of a WS? Depressing...

So what team will pick up Leury? Play ball baby!

Yes it would and I know I made a long post about his hitting but Believe it or not I want to expand on it. There's one reason why Judge had a historic season. He's a big strong guy who was, in the past ,inside outing the ball trying to go the opposite way to take advantage of the short right field porch or reaching on outside pitches to try to do it. 2021 his walk rate was a career low 11.8 %. 2022 his walk rate went back up to 15.9 % . That's what happens when uyou hit bombs. They don't want to throw you strikes. Last year he pulled 95 balls compared to only 59 the previous year . In other words why have a big strong guy doing something that lessens his power ? It shouldn't have taken him until he was 30 years old to figure that out but it did. Colas is not as tall as Judge. He's actually around 5"11 but he's built like a tank and the best LHH power prospect they have had in a long time playing in a home park that is very conducive to LH power and they are teaching him to go the other way ? Lift and pull when your power bat is capable of hitting 450 ft. bombs . Lift and pull some bombs maybe then you can improve your walk rate. Teaching him to go the other way is just encouraging Colas to swing at outside pitches. Just look middle in and mash . I'll give pitchers props who can consistently hit the outside corner . If you get behind in the count , sure look to go oppo but if you are ahead 1-0, 2-0, 2-1, 3-1 ,don't try to go oppo just because you get a pitch away . Take it. Draw some walks. You can't get ahead in the count unless you take pitches. You can't take walks unless you take pitches. You hit more HR's taking pitches getting ahead in the count. Pitchers make plenty of mistakes. Learn, turn ,burn .

I've watched some Sox highlights and it looks like Colas (as well as Vaughn and Moncada) are going with the lift and launch stroke. Being that is how hitters are supposed to hit now, I'd expect those 3 guys to MASH a lotta home runs. The ball certainly didn't look dead on the home runs I saw hit on replay this spring. So please Mr. Colas and the others, go ahead and lift and pull to the tune of 40ish homers and when you have two strikes just try not to hit into too many DPs.

An OBP over ~.310 with above average defense in RF would be a great outcome for him

The trade-off: That'll remove about 450 players from baseball, but at least it isn't being done immediately and when you break it down, it comes out to 3 roster spots per team.

Don't do it Romy:

I think that was Sheets that gave him a big hug in the hallway? Gotta love that.

I seem to recall reading somewhere that Ozzie disliked Anderson and didn’t think he was a real major leaguer. Is that true?

https://abc13.com/opening-day-astros-2023-framber-valdez-when-is-houston-justin-verlander/13006304/ Mr. Quality, that's who. Framber Valdez, the left-hander from the Dominican Republic who set a Major League Baseball record with 25 consecutive quality starts last season, got the nod to start in his second straight opening day game, the club announced Friday. While 'Stros fans now know who will get the chance to set the tone for a championship-defense season, the rest of the rotation order remains a mystery. As of Friday afternoon, ESPN mentions no probable starters for the four games after the March 30 contest against the Chicago White Sox. The "Worldwide Leader," though, currently has a probable rotation of Cristian Javier, Lance McCullers Jr., Luis Garcia, and Jose Urquidy. McCullers, however, is out indefinitely to start the season with a reported forearm strain. It's not yet known who will fill in for McCullers for the time being, but fan sentiment places that responsibility on Hunter Brown, who debuted last year. White Sox pitcher Dylan Cease, who finished second to Verlander in last year's AL Cy Young Award race, opposes Valdez."

See Anderson, Brian...2006...in theory. Until the pressure to hit his weight at least got to him.

Anderson Vaughn Benintendi Jimenez Robert Moncada Grandal Andrus Gonzalez Benintendi should not bat 3rd but Grifol has thrown him in that spot all spring training long. Colas won’t play, I think they strongly hinted at that today saying he would play a lot this season but not decided on tomorrow just yet.

I love that his mom was happy and then states something along the line of you better work hard to stay there. Keep the man grounded.

I need 135-140 games out of the kid. No expectations set on the guy except to stay healthy and play. Expectations are low as every prospect the Sox run out there seems not able to make it an entire season to show what they can do (Eloy, Robert, etc)

Sooo when does this game thread turn into a s%*# show 🤣 let me say it before @fathomdoes….Fire everyone Time to get the fanboy out of me….Colas bomb incoming game one

91-71 win ALC win over Mariners in DS lose to Astros in CS

Isn't the Thursday before Thanksgiving essentially the same as saying one week before Thanksgiving?

I expect him to stay healthy, and if he does that, I don’t care about his numbers as long as they are above 2 per162. the rest is honestly gravy. I expect much more from our established players. Moncada needs to return to form, Robert needs to turn back into the Nintendo stat machine he looks like when healthy, TA needs to get back to setting the tone, Vaughn needs to take a giant step forward at his natural position, Eloy needs to mash 35-40. If that all happens, Colas can just be in the mix with adjusting to the majors

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/35998626/minor-leaguers-mlb-reach-tentative-deal-historic-1st-cba Minor leaguers, MLB reach tentative deal on 1st CBA, sources say 10:22 AM CT Jeff PassanESPN Minor league baseball players and Major League Baseball struck a tentative deal Wednesday on the first collective bargaining agreement between the sides that will more than double player pay, sources familiar with the agreement told ESPN. The deal, which will last for five years, comes after a rapid and successful effort last year by minor leaguers to unionize under the umbrella of the Major League Baseball Players Association and follows previous gains in housing and pay. The pay increases at each level are significant, according to sources, and will pay players in spring training as well as the offseason, outside of a dead period between the Thursday before Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. At each level, the increases will be: AAA: From $17,500 per year to $35,800 AA: $13,800 to $30,250 High-A: $11,000 to $27,300 Low-A: $11,000 to $26,200 Complex league: $4,800 to $19,800 The deal also will include the reduction of the Domestic Reserve List, which governs the number of players a team can roster outside of Latin America, from 180 to 165 starting in 2024. The union, which does not include players at teams' Dominican Republic complexes as part of its bargaining unit, fought MLB's efforts to reduce the reserve list during the lockout last year.