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Generally agree that managers do not matter all that much. Disagree about yesterday. No reason to have used Herrera on back to back days Saturday and Sunday considering the game circumstances. Then not use him when he was actually needed on Monday. Putting the worst pitcher on the roster in when the game in on the line in the 8th is horrible bullpen management and isn't something that evens out in the long run. They have the day off today and again on Friday, those guys could have been used. Even Jones or Burr would have been better options than Covey. The Sox are spending about 20% of the teams payroll this season on Herrera and Colome, and one of those dudes should have been used in that spot. All around horrific job managing the pen by Renteria so far. You won't convince me otherwise.

Now there is a hot take.

You haven't watched any games yet I assume? Moncada has looked very good at third; better than he did at second.

This game was lost when they pitched Colome and Herrera when the game was lost on Saturday. Renteria's bullpen management blows. Why the hell was Covey pitching in a key pressure situation? He's there to be a long reliever, not a set up man. Surely if Herrera is not ready to go, then you put out Jones or haul out Herrera for a 3rd day knowing he has a rest day on Tuesday. I get that he tried to put out Fry and Frare and they let him down but Covey was not the answer. I hope we don't see Renteria in charge when this team is ready to compete.

Our two decent relievers are not going to bring much via trade. Cmon now.

Yep let’s lock this kid up thru 2025 so the young core of Eloy, Moncada, Madrigal, Robert, and June’s top draft pick are all controlled for the next 6+ years.

I'm usually conservative about money matters, but no, I wouldn't take that ever in Yoan's position. Not with $25 million in the bank. If I'm Yoan Moncada, I play out the next season, or several seasons if necessary, and I become willing to talk a 9 figure extension once I've made an all star team, not before. If he does ever break out, he's a guy who could be talking about a long term deal 3-4x as lucrative as the one you just wrote. With everyone else, you're talking about guys who have $2-5 million in the bank, maybe less, so a $25 million guarantee is life-changing money. For Moncada, $25 million is already banked, so you're not giving him enough security with that deal, he can afford to wait until he earns something higher.

Every time a list comes out that doesn’t gush on our guys, this board calls it stubborn or tears down the writers credentials. You don’t have to agree with their evaluations, but they are well-informed, well-thought our opinions based on a combination of industry sources and first-hand looks, and they have the resumes to back their opinions up.

Moncada has looked nothing short of great so far this year at third. He played all of 8 games for Boston, and committed 1 error.

I don't like the switch to third base for Moncada. Lots of throwing errors on the way. The same experiment failed in Boston.

You blame Fry for the lead off walk and giving up the double to Bauer You blame Covey who with the bases loaded (after the Sanchez error) gave up a hit to Moroff and then walks Perez. (The game was still 3-2 to the White Sox after the Sanchez error (who was at fault.) You blame Renteria for choosing to go with Colome and Herrera on Saturday (when the Sox were behind, rather than Covey) You blame Renteria for bringing in Covey to a high leverage situation instead of Jones or Burr. You absolutely feel sorry for Nova who pitched a helluva game and did not deserve what happened in the 8th.

TWO days off between April 12 and June 2nd (2 days off in 52 days) and then TEN days off between June 3rd and July 11th (not including the All Star game as a day off- 10 days off over 39 days) Anyone else think this is really really weird? Especially as August and Sept are really "normal" Dog Days of May, anyone?

Herrera is still recovering from a foot fracture. He has yet to claim that he is fully back to form.

Law commented on Gio in today's chat. http://meadowparty.com/blog/2019/04/02/klawchat-4-2-19/

Also I feel I presented my disagreements logically and in a way that wasnt stating mine was superior - it was simply my view. The Adolfo arm grade and Cease grade were my only big disagreements and I feel I formulated that view respectfully and reasonably - supporting it with evidence. Adolfo can't go from the best arm in the minor leagues to a 50 FV arm when no one has seen him throw post TJ and plenty of pitchers bounce back fully from TJ. I am of the "read them all and use them all as a tool" camp. I tend to give them more respect and credit than the majority of others because I understand how meticulous their process is.

He's at .4 fWAR with a 249 wRC+ and a 16.5% K percentage. A soft contact rate of 7.1%. An incredible start.

I think you can blame Ricky as well. The strongest part of this team should be the Herrera-Colome tandem. That is a backend that would play on many contending teams. That game seemed perfectly set up to use your 2 best bullpen guys in a close game in the 8th and 9th. Isn't that how you draw it up? But they apparently available because they had worked two days in a row. With one of those days, being a situation in which both pitched with the team down 2 runs. Not to mention there was an off day the next day. I can't blame Covey. He shouldn't have been in. Why sign Herrera and trade for Colome if you aren't going to use them in the text book situation for them.

I haven’t read this article yet, but their top prospect list last year for us was complete garbage and the opposite of well-informed. Just because they write for Fangraphs doesn’t mean they should get a free pass if it’s clear they didn’t do their homework.

That was Opening Day 2017. I was there too. The Sox handled that entire situation so poorly. But I ended up getting to miss two days of school because of it and I had better seats the second day because no one was there, so it was worth it. Haha.

What would it take to lock this guy up thru the 2025 season?

Moncada has looked fine at third if not elite defensively. Once he learns to stop double clutching and making better throws, he should be an elite defensive 3rd baseman

Seems like they always have these built in off days so they can adjust for weather related issues but they never actually adjust anything. Looking at the forecast, I would rather they just announce the home opener is moved to Friday so I can adjust my PTO to that day. Same crap happened a couple years ago where we showed up, they let everyone buy concessions for an hour then postponed it.

I park exactly there as well. Plenty of parking - especially because nobody's at the games.

Guys I think Eloy is gonna be good. Gonna take the bold stance now while it’s contrarian. Would like all credit.

He is a Marlin.

"Never proven to be dependable" is a good description of 80% of the White Sox's current roster and probably 75% of the players who have played for Rick Hahn, total, over the last 6+ years. If you want guys to be dependable you have to work them at some point. And like it or not, putting Covey in yesterday wasn't the set of moves that will make them lose games - it was the $44 million spent on dreck last offseason, and the sacrificing of several years to come in order to build the strong 2015 and 2016 rosters.

If you're not supposed to pitch Covey, why have him on the roster? There was a good point made earlier, the game was probably lost on Saturday when they used Herrera and Colome, making Herrera was unavailable, so Renteria, who I am no fan of, was stuck. He brought in Fry who many here have said is basically elite. He was bad. If he brought in Jones, everyone would have complained. I don't know how many times I have read on this board Covey may make a pretty good reliever. Well, not yesterday, but they aren't contending for a WS so it's worth a try to see what you have.

Yesterday was the first time the Sox, Cubs, Bulls and Blackhawks all lost on the same day since Saturday.

Because we knew you would. Reverse psychology'd. Soxtalk 1, Ray Ray 0

Wrong. If somebody takes part in a hate crime, it can and will be proven and they will go to prison a long time. Each case is an individual case. I still have confidence in the United States of America.

Welp, thats it, I'm sold.

Evidently there are some similarities between Hunter Bishop/Christian Yelich's approach/swing etc.

But what about Kevan Smith?

Rebuild now ends in 2023?

The good news is the Cubs have looked worse than us and will garner all the negative headlines. I think they have 6 errors today.

I hope the plan is to win, and win now. Without that attitude the future won't matter.

They should make another sector for game threads and keep them in date order regardless of recent post. The game threads can be one like this thread that includes pre-game, in-game, and post game comments all in one thread. The date should be included in the subject. At the end of the season there should be (in date order)162 threads for regular season, plus maybe the all-star game,plus the spring training games,plus hopefully the postseason when the Sox make the playoffs. =)

I was being a bit sarcastic but at some point winning is more important than another top 3 draft pick. And I’d also take Tatis Jr. and Machado in our infield over Madrigal but Hahn blew those decisions. If you give him credit for a losing record so he could draft Madrigal, don’t forget what he messed up as well.

Ugh. This is so ridiculous. Why would anyone expect a 21 year old rookie to be a finished product? Maybe being on the roster all year last year will help him be better this year, and in the future.

I thought that too, but then the reaction by everyone at CPD (and the City) doesn't make sense. Supposedly Johnson and the lead investigator were never given a heads up about this before the decision was made. And they've been pretty pissed off since. You would think if someone was covering for them (or the City) they would be getting a heads up. Also, CWBChicago was able to get a response to a FOIA request within a day, meaning someone at CPD told the FOIA officers to get that paperwork ready to go immediately, before the court could revise the order sealing the file. So the CPD wanted their investigation materials out there.

Most of us recognize that the key to being able to hit outside pitches is to hit to the opposite field. If a hitter tries to pull an outside pitch, by rolling his wrists over, it usually results in a ground ball. Anderson has recently learned to go the other way and it is really helping. Given the strong tendency of defenses to employ the shift, the outside pitch is the most productive out of the strike zone pitch to learn to hit. The hole, which those defenses open up, on the opposite side of the field, provides an easy base hit. I'm confident that Moncada has the ability to become a proficient opposite field hitter, but it does require a different mindset. Hopefully, he is working on developing that approach.

Just to make sure I understand how spring training works: If you are good, it doesn't mean anything. But if you are bad, it means you are bad. Is that accurate? (My hopes certainly are not high for Giolito, but I just want to make sure I understand how spring training results work)

His utter failures and calls for a disaster of a rebuild resulted in a 2 fWAR. That's perfectly fine for any young player's 1st full season.