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Good lord....

Pitch recognition is key. If you look at how quickly your brain has to process the release, attempt to recognize the pitch and to fire off the swing process its amazing that humans can hit 100 mph fastballs. You work on mechanics during your practices. You practice your mechanics with your tee work, your front side flips. You use hittrax to see the result of that. You use live batting practice to work your swing with athleticism. I think with hi speed video and technology we can tune mechanics more in practice so its just doing it in the game. Some parts of the game haven't changed. With all of the technology around I am sure that pitch tipping or other human tells are even easier to exploit. Good coaches can help identify this and help with how to exploit it. There is a quote about the Twins approach to Chris Sale who had a tell and how it helped them exploit this against one of the tougher pitchers to face. We as an organization should almost have a team dedicated to scouting us internally from an adversarial point of view.

Great thread. It reminds me of how many people criticized Hahn about the Sale trade when Moncada was struggling in his first year. "We should have demanded Benintendi...blah blah blah" The hindsight bias that exists on this message board (and every sports message board in the history of message boards) is so ridiculous at times. Bottom line: We had three great cost-controlled assets, and Hahn got a great return for all three. In addition, the extensions we gave them prior to that made them such a valuable trade chip. Hahn deserves a lot of credit for those trades.

Just finished it. It was very well done.

The changes you outline are enough to compete in 2020 IMO. People tend to forget that 4 positions in our lineup were virtual black holes. Robert, Madrigal, RF and DH makes this a fun lineup. We will have much better pitching for most of the year with no additions...just the returns of Kopech, Rodon and Dunning . A couple of serviceable starters makes this a very respectable team. Cole is obviously much better than the 2nd tier pitchers we discuss here. JDM is better than a serviceable DH. I see the floor as a competitive fun team to watch with the ceiling being a trip to the WS if things break right. Fun offseason gonna start soon.

It gives the impression that the Sox are trying, which is in contrast to what most of their fans believe. If the Sox were serious about signing Machado, they would've out-bid San Diego.

They were cheap ways to lube up Machado's ego. Who cares about those signings? They weren't ever gonna be here for more than a year anyways. The front office went to the extremes of their comfort levels of what they'd guarantee Machado knowing they're going to have a few players (Moncada, maybe Robert) in due time that are due for similar pay days. If those incentive + incentive years kicked in and they owe him the extra 100MM he's more than likely dominating, so it'd be a good problem for them to have. He wasn't even *that* good this year and we'll see how he ages. There's a lot more they can do with that money than dump it all on one player. Key is ya know... actually spending that money in the next 1-2 years. If November through March doesn't render 3-5 really good players (and I'm not talking about Cole or Rendon) then we have every right to freak out. Losing out on Machado sucked, but I don't think it's worth talking about 9 months later. It is what it is and there's still a path to contention without him

Give me a friggin break. This man has own the Sox for 38 years and has exactly 5 playoff appearances to show for it. With his ever-changing metrics we've been in a perpetual state of rebuilding since he took the keys from Veeck. Meanwhile he and that cabal continue to laugh at us all the way to the bank. Hell yeah he said it. Ironically, Reinsdorf stopped trying to follow his own advice years ago. The Chicago American League Ballclub Inc is exactly where he wants them to the glee of his investor$. And he must in absolute heaven over the charade he has going at the UC.

Releasing a low ball offer to suppress a market in negotiations is a classic strategy - business 101. Making a "fake" 350 million dollar offer with the assumption it'll be rejected is the opposite of business 101. No one makes a 350 million dollar risk to "gain support from fans."

A front office isnt leaking a fake peak offer when an agent and player knows the truth. Players talk. Agents talk. This isnt a home game of "Bullshit."

No playoff innings on that export. I'd have to link a few data sets. I can do it at a later date.

Seeing the release off the fingers is nearly impossible - that is the hardest thing to read. You're better off finding the dot on the ball out of the hand. Pre-pitch sets are a big part of it. I always felt that when sale got angry he sped up his fastball delivery, with his arm and body, and it seemed noticeable. In general, how you manage your hands inside the glove and the location of your hands are usually the two easier ones to see. If you can pick up abnormalities at a younger age you really really benefit because a lot of kids dont even look for that.

Similar to golf. If you're thinking about mechanics instead of something more general (say tempo) on the 1st tee you're fucked. I like him more based on that interview. Seems charismatic, which is a large part of the battle when you're coaching MLB level talent.

Hire Torii Hunter to be a video analyst on pitchers tells or keep him in the dugout. Plouffe said him and Molitor were the best at it. Isn't that Thome in a Sox uniform in the background and also some Sox painting? Wonder why the Sox stuff . He was never in our organization as far as I know.

Many times fans are no angels, and I can't stand some of the idiocy. The troubling thing is that the relationship between the fans and this organization has been bad from the start. The angry sides feed on each other, and there has been a constant bad and negative aura around the team. The atmosphere was rancid after the White Flag Trade and has never really recovered. Both sides don't understand each other. I never thought Reinsdorf and Einhorn got a good feeling of where the fans were coming from, and sometimes fans thought the organization could spend money like Steinbrenner. Some fans also didn't realize that baseball economics were changing when the Reinsdorf-Einhorn group bought the team. The organization didn't understand how frustrated the fans were by the losing and how cynical they had become. At this point, there needs to be some kind of peace-making. Fans need to accept this organization for what it is because it won't change. The organization should realize that there are still many loyal White Sox fans who only want the team to win on a consistent basis. But the organization needs to take the lead. These public squabbles have been going on for nearly 40 years, and they are counter-productive. The team still struggles at the gate, and the fan base continues to erode. This crap has to stop. That is, if the organization truly wants to have a bright future for the franchise. Right now I am totally frustrated by the fact that the same mistakes are being made. Tell Stone to stick with the color and let's move on.

Yeah, when the mouthpieces for the organization call out the fans, it's either an explicit order from the top or implicitly understood as what the top wants. Given its thin skin, I think that it would be best for this organization to significantly cut back on its verbal interaction with fans. I haven't listened to the postgame shows in a few years, but remember the absolute idiocy that Chris Rongy had to deal with when they went to the phones. And he would eventually (and understandably) get frustrated and push back. It wasn't a good look for either the fans or the organization.

The Sox dont need another low average high power bat coming over from the NL. They dont exactly have the world's greatest track record there. Schwarber has improved nothing since his first big league season. Why do I want to acquire a guy who has made no advancement in 1884 big league plate appearances? Better yet, why would I trade assets for that when I can acquire players with similar skill set for free? Also, who cares that he's 27 when he only has 2 years of control?

How do you assume he can play first base if he's never played there? All I can say is I'm glad you're not the GM of the White Sox.

If the Sox are going to go stop gappy in RF I'd want them to check in on Joc again.

What do others think of signing Rendon and moving Moncada to the OF? I get we don't want to keep shifting Moncada, but he could be elite in the OF. Our offense would be absolutely dangerous. Sign Rendon, Wheeler, fill in the gaps and call it an off-season.

The reality is, when you match the Nats and Dodgers, one could argue the Nats rotation is just as good, their offense is better, and their bullpen is better. The Nats also played great down the stretch, so I'm not surprised they beat the Dodgers. I am surprised that the Dodgers still trust Kershaw as much as they do in the post season.

The Sox fans who are infatuated with Schwarber are the same ones who are begging to take on Heyward's contract. It makes no sense.

Are any of them 27, left handed and coming off a 38 home run season?

For two expensive years of Schwarber, yikes...there are plenty of similar bats you can just buy.

He came up as a catcher. He doesn't have the hands or feet to catch at the big league level but he certainly has them to play 1B and the reason he doesn't play there for the Cubs is Anthony Rizzo. I'd offer Lopez and Bummer.

"We have to take our walks, we're last in walks." Sounds familiar, I like to hear that. Sounds like he is a no frills straight to the point coach.

I'm trying to plow through the 5th season of Breaking Bad right now before El Camino comes out. I'm hosting a watch party at my house Friday night. I'm pretty damn pumped.

2013

I don’t think it’s a total crap shoot. Winning the most games doesn’t mean you’re the best team, especially with 76 division games, injuries etc.

I think the only person to say this is greg

Didn't we learn anything last offseason? Signing Anthony Rendon isn't up to Rick Hahn. That's above his pay grade.

People are obsessed with this. So annoying.

Then you are completely unfamiliar with, or choose to totally ignore, the FO’s long-running record of futility. Why is it so difficult for you to reconcile fan sentiment where it stands today with all of the incompetence demonstrated the past two decades by this FO, the same FO who would have been relieved of their duties a long time ago by anyone of the other 29 clubs. The negativity you see today is a cumulative effect of all of the losing witnessed by our fan base as a result of this front office. The only thing to make that negativity dissipate is to FINALLY start winning again. It’s not enough in the least bit to be content just because the team is in the stage in the rebuild where the FO said it would be right now. That’s just a stage in a rebuild - it’s NOT winning White Sox baseball. Not yet, anyway. Plenty to be optimistic about, no doubt, but still plenty to be skeptical and even negative about; again, anchoring to the FO’s record. It’s up to the FO to change the fan base’s perception of them.

No real reason to be depressed Jack.It's just baseball. I'm as big a Sox fan as there is out there and they mean a lot to me but in the grand scheme of things the best I can do is say sports is a long time hobby. that I really don't spend any money on being a California Sox fan. I hope for the best like many others and have had many complaints about how the have run the franchise and the rebuild, But in the end all I have is my hopes . I didn't need one more quote from 18 years ago to establish what I already knew. Hoping for the best but it's not like I haven't been disappointed with the Sox before in the last 45+ years of my life. It comes with the territory. As an aside. I wanted to mention this at some point but never quite found the forum to do it. My older brother organized an impromptu family reunion and got the Sox to agree to let my 85 yr old father throw out the 1st pitch on the DH games scheduled for Sept. 27 as part of a 4 generation of Sox fans reunion at the ballpark. Amazingly I was able to go as were all 4 of my brothers one of whom lives in Maryland and another in Michigan. I saw many relatives I hadn't seen in a long time including 2 of my father's brothers, my older brothers kids, all my brothers and an adopted niece I had never met since she was adopted 16 years ago Also amazingly I got my daughter who lives in the Bay area to go and also my son from Arizona though all his flights were cancelled or delayed and by the time he finally got there I was gone. The Sox also comped the tickets for around 20 of us. It was a wonderful time even though the games were rained out and my father was very happy to see us all and get on the field and Danny Mendick caught the pitch and gave Dad an autograph on the ball. I bring this up because these are the things that matter most . The fandom can create moments like this or the random World Series win or memories of going to games with the old man when younger and even fiascos like the Disco Demolition game I attended with him and a brother. To put it all in perspective the results are secondary to my fandom .

That hasn't been the case since the 2017 draft