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Your unwavering defense of Grandal is nauseating. You do realize his batting average in a Sox uni is .219 right? I’d be more surprised if his career batting average with the Sox ends up in the .240-.250 range than the .200-.210 range. I’m sure you’ll cite some WAR numbers proving how great he is but if you actually watch the games and his play you realize this is one of the most overrated players in fangraphs history. And that’s not an exaggeration.

Since there is no gamethread today, I will get the following out of the way: C'mon Dylan, throw strikes. Why does Jose take so long to heat up. Is LaRussa asleep again? Madrigal, WTF?!???

Lol, if I actually watch the games? GMAFB. I've watched literally probably 95% of all White Sox action since Grandal put on a White Sox jersey, and 80%+ over the last decade plus. Your problem is you just thought Grandal was a different type of hitter than he actually is. Career stat line: .239/.348/.443 2020 stat line with Sox: .230/.351/.422 2020 + 2021 Stat line with Sox: .215/.348/.398 In 2020, Grandal was literally the exact same guy he always has been. Just like I said. He doesn't hit for average, never has. Yes his shitty start to 2021 is weighing down his Sox average a bit, but I guarantee you he'll be in the .230-240 range at season's end. HE HAS 30 2021 AT BATS. THIRTY! Expecting a .240 career hitter to come in and suddenly start hitting .280+ isn't very wise. Grandal is frustrating player to watch in the batter's box. I get it. He strikes out a lot and isn't going to get a ton of a base hits. HOWEVER - The guy has an elite eye and OBP tool. He has power. His hit tool is below average. He is an above average defensive catcher. Add it all up, that is one of the best 3 catchers in the game. Don't like? I don't know what else to tell ya. I came into the Grandal era knowing what kind of player he was - therefore, I defend him from the clowns that constantly say he's suddenly terrible. He's the exact same catcher he has always been - and guess what - its a damn good one. Agree to disagree like we've done 100s of times on the topic, but the numbers are clear as day. Sorry you don't like numbers.

My God, do we really need this thread every other day?

Fathom

Oh give me a break man it was a good play by any standard.

It’s actually nice to be on a little island with your own group in the seats and not tripping over other people. Feels pretty normal once you settle in. Surprised at how loud the limited capacity crowd gets. Kind of love it, really.

I believe many fans have been unrealistic since the rebuild started. The hype around Kopech was absurd when he was called up, and he hadn't thrown a major league pitch. And I don't believe Vaughn will be good right away, and it will harm his development if he is rushed. The Eloy injury exposed this team some. It's too early to pass judgment on this team, but it is not too early to be concerned.

It is amazing how good of a breaking ball hitter yermin is. He has a. 460 wOBA against breaking balls this year. He does that super early leg kick but then has great balance on the rear leg. That makes him very hard to pitch to.

Weather looks fine to me. Think Boston is just afraid of us.

I think the major issues aren’t the OBP, average, and strikeouts... that was kind of expected. He is what he is. It’s the defense. Don’t really care about what the defensive metrics say, he was billed as an amazing defensive catcher. But I’d argue his pitch selection, blocking balls in the dirt, constant contact interference with the glove, and general lackadaisical effort on plays outweighs his supposed great framing skill.

Yep. It's unfair to expect young guys to be great after 50 to 70 games played for their careers. It's going to take time to develop and is why I said probably, which does not mean certainty. Madrigal has played in about 40 games and fans are pissed at him because this season has big expectations. We need Vaughn who hasn't played above A ball to be good right away, even though he's played in a handful of games. Because of our season expectations, we can't afford to be patient with him and give him time to develop.

All that certainty from about 7% of the season played. Outstanding.

A guy like Burnes is always within an area of need

They should bust balls about the mask.

Abreu and Anderson can share it.

Been to 3 games. It's live baseball, there is zero to complain about at this point for me.

Cease is cleared of COVID and will pitch tonight.

One really good thing our scouts and analytics departments targeted the right players in Burnes and Musgrove. Just too bad we didn’t capitalized on it.

Yeah it wasn't super difficult to get there as he was playing deep already and the ball was hanging up a long time but the wall was well timed.

We really need a "I'm pissed about this loss and want to spout off" thread. 1/162 fellas. Act like ya 'been there before.

I'm retired, i got nothing else to do but watch baseball and CNBC!!!

I LOVE THIS GUY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wrong thread my bad

Its just good health. He said his body hasn’t felt this good in a long time .

That's pretty ironic given all we heard out of NC State was how much drive he had with his lower body. Don Cooper was a fucking disaster the last few years. There is a lot of evidence he was actively preventing higher velocities and wanted no part of any sort of bio-mechanical approach to pitching. "Stand tall and throw first pitch fastball strike" might have worked for Matt Thornton and others but guys need more these days.

That has nothing to do with COVID that was the plan for last year.

Was there any more room in the row? You or the guy shoulda moved maybe. I couldn't sit next to a stranger like that in the age of COVID and it's just kinda creepy.

I don't like these digital tickets. I've collected every ticket I've had for the last 50 years. I have the collecting gene. I was at every home game so far. I've been a season ticket holder for years. I've even paid extra money for the hard tickets the last few years. I would have liked the tickets for all of the games i attended this past week. In particular the ticket to Rodons no hitter.

That double hook dh is the dumbest shit...

The FEMA vaccination site in Gary still has tons and tons of openings for Pfizer. It's a federal site so Illinois residents are eligible.

This team can compete for the division, but playoff success probably isn't happening this year. Half the lineup still has growing to do at the plate, the defense is iffy, and we have no money or much prospect capital. Everything will need to go right and we'd need to be completely healthy to win a series. No room for any type of error.

When anti-vaxxers were refusing the measles vaccine, the people they're putting in jeopardy are themselves, and the occasional person who can't get the vaccine. Seems plausible to tar and feather them because it's far away. Antivaxxers refusing this vaccine are putting both themselves and everyone else in jeopardy. 40% of the population being able to get this virus, even in certain areas, means it will do a fine and dandy job of transmitting, creating new surges, and potentially creating variants that are more likely to break through the vaccines. If you want to tar and feather them again, fine - but at some point we do need a strategy that gets them to put the shot in their arm, and tarring and feathering doesn't obviously get us there. Also worth noting - vaccine passports are allowed and people are ok with them for measles. You're reporting that in most states if you want to register a kid for school, or travel internationally.

The way my GF and I get along these days, social distancing is fine w me !

Sox are 3rd in MLB in starter ERA. I'd much rather have that as a foundation and bullpen/hitting/defensive issues to address than the opposite. It may be next week, it may be June, but Vaughn will eventually figure it out. Abreu will heat up. Mercedes will of course cool down but I still think he can put up an OPS over 800 for the full season. Engel will be back and will help. There should be no panic. There should still be optimism, but concern in a couple areas is also justified. I'm very troubled by Foster and Crochet right now.

Vaughn whiff rate on fastballs so far: 36% Robert whiff rate on fastballs last year: 36% Collins whiff rate on fastballs last year: 39% League average whiff rate on fastballs: 16% To be fair to Zack and Robert, both of them have brought their whiff rates down on fastballs to around 22% this season. SSS though. I believe Vaughn will get better, it's not easy to play a position you've never played as a rookie. But he's gotta start hitting more fastballs.

I went opening day. Lines were easily avoidable...there were none in the bathroom. Some for food and beverage but I never felt overwhelmed.

Ah yes, because this 100% just started in the past few years and not the entirety of human history.

I guess the one thing that I have heard that I don't really care for is the moving of fans from the lower deck to upper deck. I purchased lower deck seats on Seat Geek, some really good seats, and I don't want to be pushed to the upper deck. And I guess I understand why they might have to do that, but still. Everything else I'm fine with.

L-O-L. .136 AVG + .321 OBP. 5 BB to only 9K's. This is the post of someone who hasn't played baseball since coach pitch. Vaughn hit ropes ever since the La Russa old man mind games benching - to ALL sides of the field. It's been 3 weeks of a season - Kid is a ball player and is a sleeping giant. Wait until some of these balls start finding gaps and Vaughn is up to .250 AVG + .400 OBP...

If the Bears can't move up to 14 and get a QB (Lance/Jones), they should move down to 31 or so and then try to get Trask in the 2nd/3rd. I don't want to make the #1 pick a CB after they foolishly released Fuller due to cap issues.

When do the games start counting?

The Fenway wall will be fun this weekend. Eloy might have put some dents in it w his body.

this team goes as the weather does. it's gonna be ugly until mid/late May

I do not think we have seen enough Vaughn yet to conclude that he is better than anyone out there. Let's withhold judgment on him as a hitter and as an outfielder until we see more of him. TLaR is giving Vaughn the chance to prove himself.

OP is almost certainly a poppysox duplicate account.

Phil Humber pitched a perfect game. I always liked Rodon more than most, but it was time to non tender him when he was non tendered. His current form is extremely encouraging, but he has a history of things falling apart one way or another. Hopefully this time is different, and his career takes off, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Strikeout 5.5% (Madrigal's career rate) of the time and you're going to have a lot of streaks where you regularly bat above .300.

Cowboy Joe West awarded $500k in a defamation suit against Paul LoDuca. LoDuca claimed Billy Wagner told him Joe was giving him an extra 3 to 4 inches because Wagner let Joe use his car. Turns out Cowboy Joe never umpired a game with LoDuca catching and Billy Wagner pitching. LoDuca told this lie on a radio show. What an idiot.