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I have a mock draft coming out for FutureSox tomorrow.

The fact that Heuer is probably not even top 4-5 in our bullpen this year is fuckin nuts. Dude is money. Anytime the Sox have the lead after 5/6 im gonna put some stupid high bets on them.

I sold plasma for a while in college, that'll prepare you for a big needle. Which is necessary for the microchip, obviously.

3:05 CDT- Central Daylight Time. Standard time returns in early November.

But all of those disadvantages you listed apply equally to every player in that era, while NONE of the training and physical advantages that Engel has would apply to anyone EXCEPT him. Also, his best tool is his footspeed -- extra OF space would be to his advantage compared to an average player on BOTH sides of the ball. He'd have well above average defensive range like he does even today, and if you're arguing he'd hit fewer homeruns, well then he'd hit more doubles and triples because there'd would be more balls that fall in the OF. We can agree to disagree, but if I'm underestimated the physical differences in the park and the balls, I think you are underestimating the unbelievable difference in training methods (both in terms of athletic training and baseball skills training). Those guys may have been strong for their era, but even a regimen of manual labor is not going to hold a candle to state-of-the-art modern strength and conditioning training and diet. I also think you're underestimating the crucible of being able to hit a 95+ mph pitch, and specifically what it says about the talent of even a fringe 2021 Major Leaguer like Engel.

We got some Andrew Vaughn action. Collins behind the plate, which I assume will be the case to start the season if Grandal is still not ready. Seems he may not be ready. Adam Engel - 1920s HOFer is getting action as well.

I don’t see how Heuer isn’t top four personally

Winning within the division has been a problem for the White Sox for a long time. Obviously, they will need to reverse this trend if they are finally going to win the division after 13 years. Getting beaten by everyone including KC has been a nightmare. Forget the rest of the league. They need to win within their own division.

Does anyone else think Collins swing got better? Imo his load looks a bit more quiet and he also so far has only one K in 19 PAs. It is spring and a small sample but if he can lower his K percentage to let's say under 25% he could be a really good hitter with his walks (maybe even a Carlos Santana type of hitter).

these announcers suck

In this era of political correctness...I'm shocked at the lack of outrage from this forum.

Looks like the Sox are playing 2 men short handed when Nick and Eaton are rumored to be out there simultaneously. People probably think it's a new Manfred gimmick to increase offense.

Solid read https://theathletic.com/2448040/2021/03/14/tony-la-russa-wants-his-white-sox-to-determine-their-own-fate-it-is-about-the-players/

He’s played every game since Monday. You probably just couldn’t see him out there. Alright, that was a low blow. A VERY low blow, am I right?

@fathom ?

I got the J&J shot Friday. It feels a little thick going in to the arm, but pretty painless. I was a little tired yesterday. Took a 2 hour nap and was fine afterwards, so it may have just been a Saturday malaise. Today I feel fine. I can still feel a slight bump where the shot went in, and it feels a little like a bruise an inch or two around, but that’s it.

The 3 1sts is about the max I'd offer. If it was to take Smith, Johnson or both, then it makes trading for Wilson counterproductive.

Agreed. Len grew up with Ernie Harwell so he knows how to baseball. He even kept Steve from being too annoying but still smug. Jason needs to find a truer version of himself and do the same.

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.

Time Traveler Adam Engel probably obliterates the record books in ways that you only see in MLB: The Show.

Wasn’t one of the things about Cobb that he actually tried to professionalize baseball and actually, like, tried hard and trained? Definitely a dude that would have benefitted from modern training/salary

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.

Love this addition. I wish he was on TV. Already this guy with Stone is like 10000000000X better than Stone and Bennetti.

Fun fact: the last 9-inning MLB game to finish in under 2 hours was started by Mark Buehrle and Chris Sale.

Is the length of the game REALLY the problem? On average, NFL games are longer. Personally I think just trying to press fast forward on the game isn’t the right way to attack the issue. The amount of dead time where nothing is happening is what loses most casual fans. Need more balls in play, defense, and activity on the base paths. The “3 true outcome” mentality has been the bigger issue IMO. Not saying it’s wrong or should change, but If we’re talking about fixing baseball viewership I’d start with figuring out how to pick up the action. Not just speed up the same game.

Baseball seems to evolve in eras. Every change to the game changes the way people approach it and ultimately the way youth instructors also approach it. I can see, over the long haul, maybe the shift results in the development of a different kind of hitter and a different kind of approach. Everyone playing now is in their 20's 30's and 40's. Baseball 20-40 years ago when they were born was a very different game. The reason I love the shift is because it is a natural defensive answer to the offensive challenge which doesn't involve changing the rules of the game. The sport should always be allowed to be played differently in different eras with different datasets so long as the core rules don't have to be adjusted. There's no good argument against the shift IMO that supports such rigid positioning rules. And just from a sports comparison / optics standpoint, baseball has long been chastised for what is really its fixedness, where people watching really have a hard time understanding how talented the athletes can be because they don't seem them moving around enough. People love movement in other sports like basketball and football and that movement is what makes defensive schemes so interesting and makes fans take such a deep interest. The idea of further restricting movement on the field in order to make baseball more "fixed" is a good idea why? It just adds offense, at the further expense of defense. And ultimately it does nothing IMO to make baseball look more interesting or requisite of strategy on defense.

I'm not sure if analytics has much to do with it. Analytics say to shift on defense when playing defense, and (probably) to try not to hit into the shift on offense by BBing, hitting the ball in the air, or going the other way, and maybe with a bunt depending on the type of player. The way I see it, the commissioners office for decades now -- at least-- has had a serious problem with pitching and defense. Nowhere in Manfred's bullshit is anything about raising the mound or increasing foul territory or pushing fences back, etc. It's all anti-anti-defensive nonsense. They want a faster game on clock time with more offense, more home runs, etc. . But a pitching and defense-based game, for me as a fan, is the most appealing form of baseball. I also have an attention span longer than a chihuahua which allows me to still pay attention even if the game exceeds 3 hours in length. I know I am not the only one. It seems, actually, that most hardcore fans -- not necessarily some idiot in a suit in the press box or a kid in front of the tv with a video game controller -- actually prefer pitching and defense-based baseball. With Manfred it's not "missing the forest for the trees" because there is no forest. He lives in the moment, cares only about $$$ now, and short-term objectives as they may be worked or completed now, and doesn't give a shit about the long-term best interests of the game, or the history of the game. He'll pay lip service to topics like minorities and diversity because he's looking for the cash that can come with it. But he's a morally and ethically-empty prick who doesn't know a thing about baseball and doesn't deserve his position in baseball or even being included in baseball any more than any qualified person in baseball history has ever deserved being excluded from baseball. He's a nitwick fuck who can go pound sand / lay face-down under a horny rottweiler and bite MyPillow. But yeah, it's been anti-defense for a long time. Manfred is just making it worse. He's trying to flush the game down the toilet faster than anyone else.

Grandal is a top 3 catcher in the league.

That being said, prior to the last few years, the FO has been exhausting for a lot more than two decades

Manfred sucks. Nobody likes Manfred. Not the players, not the owners, not the fans, etc. I don't know how the most traditionalist game in the world ended up with this Ivy League stiff who is constantly trying to change the game that has been played with the same rules for 100+ years.

Yeah, other than not being guaranteed a roster spot, not eating up millions of guaranteed dollars that could have gone somewhere else, and not being at a position where it would have been really easy to find a better option, it's exactly the same.

Carson Fulmer DFAed by the Pirates

LOL. I was just assuming someone got a little presumptuous on AOC's political rise, but the picture was a bit of a shocker (and not WheatShocker for all those Jason Sudeikis/Ted Lasso fans out there.) Also, she was considered one of the top 3-5 favorites in the middle of 2016 for the Dem nomination.

Heard Kasper last night talk about why he did this, and the guy sounded like he was having a midlife crisis like me - but 17 years later lol. He said he had goals and dreams in his life and that as he got older, he realized he should pursue them now; screw money and etc because he already made enough. He basically used the example that he didn't get to call a world Series game and it killed him; it was his dream. He said in order to pursue dreams - I believe he even just started a band he's losing his mind so much lol - sometimes you need to do things that others wouldn't understand. To be honest, that made a ton of sense to me. If I was rich enough and happy in my life, who cares if I take a 50% paycut if I'm fulfilling life long dreams and goals. This actually made me like Kasper a lot more.