Leaderboard

Can you imagine how often Ricky would have used Cordero if he could've brought him in and out of the game?

Robert had no issues hitting mistake breaking pitches. It was the high fastballs and sliders way out of the zone that he had issues with.

Obviously he was better last year. Moncada forgot how to baseball and Robert was a rookie. I'd much rather have a difference maker with some speed up front.

People get way too caught up in spring training stats. Here are the Sox stats last year after a similar amount of games. Carson Fulmer was a star. So was Cheater Cuthbert and Nomar Mazara. Not so good.? TA, the ALMVP, Eloy http://www.thebaseballcube.com/topics/spring/stats.asp?Y=2020&T=7

You know what I like about Len Kasper? He’s not Jason Benetti. The worst thing about the Sox right now is the shit TV announcers. Hopefully the radio feed matches up to the video enough to enjoy it live, otherwise I’ll watch on mute.

Who says he needs to have “FU money” to make a choice like this? It’s not like he’s emptying his savings account. He’s still working and making a good salary; he’s just making a career choice and balancing financials, lifestyle, and personal preference like millions of people do every day. Nobody is obligated to maximize their salary at every minute of their careers, for their “heirs” or anybody else.

The last month he was missing anything and everything, including hangers.

Eh he was also fouling off good pitches to hit after the first 40 or so games, he got in between, can't have that happen this year.

From what I’ve been reading about a week ago, he has been. And he thinks he solved it a little at season’s end

Engel or any other current mlb bench player would probably extremely dominate if time machined to 1910 simply because pitchers threw like 83 instead of 95, it is like facing division 3 college pitching (and most pro players would probably hit 400 at the d3 level). However of course he also wouldn't be as good if he grew up with 1910 training methods and nutrition and if he had to work full time in the off season like many players at the time did.

To be fair there are about 50 humans on earth that can lay off that pitch...but yeah, he needs to be one to be elite

It was like 85% that low away slider

If Engel played in the same parks with the same bats and same baseballs, he would be a mediocre player. And if Adam Engel in high school tried to play at the MLB level he never would have made the cut, and rather than be developed in a very long and detailed process, probably would have gone on to work in a factory or in some mine somewhere. If the Adam Engel of 2021 could get into a time machine, go back to 1917, play in a game the same way as every one else, then at the end of the game get back in the time machine, go home, eat 2021 food, take 2021 supplements, train on 2021 equipment with 2021 trainers, etc., and repeat this process for an entire season, I still don't think he's a great player. You guys are really overestimating Adam's strength and physical capability and underestimating the weight and constitution of the old balls and the size of the old stadiums they used to play in. Go try to hit spitballer or knuckleballer or sinkerballer throwing something that's probably closer to a fishing weight than the balls of today, without these new bats that make everything go father, with all the added challenges of extra OF space and extra foul territory. I mean come on. It's not called "the dead ball era" because players weren't strong. And in terms of physical conditioning, Adam Engel is probably in the top 10% or so of the league as it is, and guess what, he's a still platoon player now. People were strong back then, too. He doesn't have elite HR power or bat speed now, and he still wouldn't then. IMO (to make ron883 happy) I think Yermin could maybe be a star back then, with the time machine scenario I laid out for Engel.

Oh come on man, Engel would easily be a star. He would be in better physical shape than anyone on the field by a LONGSHOT. The average fastball was probably in the 70s. These guys worked in factories in the offseason. There was basically no such thing as "training" in any meaningful context related to athleticism. The extent to which all of these guys abused alcohol DURING the season may, if anything, be understated. Not only was the league not even racially integrated, but nothing even remotely close to the network of youth baseball training existed in any form whatsoever. The talent pool form which these guys were selected was maybe 10% of what it is now. The level of biomechanical knowledge that the average random High School coach possesses today would be practically science fiction then. Was nutrition and diet planning even a thing? The LIFE EXPECTANCY of people was probably at least 10-20 years shorter on average. They were selling cocaine a corner stores. It wasn't totally clear that the moon wasn't actually made of cheese. None of this is to take anything away from those old-timey players -- everyone should be judged in the context in which they exist, it's only fair. But you put anyone from the early part of the century in today's game, it would astonishing if they could even crack a 40-man roster. There's a reason why athletic records continue to be broken. Progress is made, and the gains pile up quite a bit over several generations. Now, you take a Ty Cobb and make him born in the year 2000 and give him access to elite baseball training from age 12, maybe he's still a Hall of Famer. You take Adam Engel and make him born in 1890 and work on a farm in upstate New York until he's 24 and then have him take a train to the city to join a baseball club and figure out how to make a living while barely literate, and maybe he's still a scrub.

I want to do this to the Angels on national tv during opening weekend.

Why? A much harder baseball, much bigger fields with more foul territory to yield flyball putouts, fences much farther back so HRs much more difficult, and still RHPs throwing the ball. Adam Engel is an easy no. He's so far been a platoon player with power but not massive power who can crush diminished stuff inside of a smaller ballpark without much foul grounds, but as a guy with a lot of K and flyballs in his game, I'm not sure why anyone would think he'd be some great bet for success. I mean there are probably a lot of guys in today's game who won't make the HOF in the modern era who maybe could have in an earlier time, but Adam Engel definitely isn't the kind of player that makes that list. Did you put thought into that? Are you trying to make the statement that today's athletes and players are so much better that basically all of the legends of the past should be viewed as something like bench players or AAAA types in comparison?

No.

Putting the time as PST? Reported

Theres literally no coorelation....like...at all.

The corporate world is an not a friendly place. I retired from a place after over 22 years. At the 21-year mark, management threatened to fire me. When I left on my own a year later, the organization head refused to acknowledge me in any way and refused to wish me luck as I walked out the door. Wasn't all that pleasant. Fortunately for me, I have other professional pursuits, and I have had a productive retirement. I don't know what Coop has to look forward to if he doesn't have baseball.

I never understood the staying power of Giangreco. Anybody can say something stupid, but he should have known better than to say something like this in this political climate. Maybe he just couldn't help himself. Something tells me he was a pain off camera as well as on. Regardless, I won't miss him.

Kawasaki is an extremely hilarious dude Watch some snippets here Imatitating Bautista homerun celebration On mastering English language https://youtu.be/Jm9bEizIGBE

Tony has brought an amazing energy to the team. He's turned out to be the perfect fit as manager so far.

Just noticing that everybody is up in the dugout for a spring training home run

There are dozens of rule changes they could experiment with to shorten the game, but if they're serious about it, I hope they understand the actual root cause of why games are longer now: A generation of hitters has been taught to "be selective," to only swing at "good" pitches, and to take a lot of pitches in general and work deep into counts, with a walk being seen as a very good outcome for an at bat. These days, the worst thing you can do as a hitter isn't strike out, it's swing at the first pitch and make an out. There's an emphasis on getting the pitch count up. Meanwhile, a generation of pitchers has been taught that a "power arm" is the best thing you can be. So pitchers train and develop with a focus on increasing velocity, even if it means sacrificing control. Which in turn leads to a generation of MLB pitchers who throw really hard and have spotty control, which means more balls, which means more total pitches thrown. The interplay of these two things is the root cause of longer games, not all the tangential stuff (like pitchers throwing over to first base or mound visits).

If the Bears give up the farm, get Wilson, and still suck, who cares? At least they will suck with a good QB for once.