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Ricky will still pitch him next week

He should leave a flaming bag of shit on Ricky's porch for ruining his arm.

If the Sox play .600 baseball, that gets them to 97 wins. That's a LOT more than the projection systems have them winning. So this prediction is highly optimistic. But then I'm pumped about the Sox this year. How did I arrive at .600 baseball? Pretty simple. I think the Sox can win 2/3 of the games started by their front three starters - Giolito, Keuchel, and Lynn. And they can win 1/2 of the games started by whomever fills in those last two slots. Combined, that's 3/5, or .600 baseball. A few things in support: 1. Sox have the best offense in the AL, or are at least neck and neck with the Yankees. Projection systems seriously underrate the Sox offense. 2. Sox have best bullpen in the AL, which will help them win a lot of games. 3. The Twins won 101 games in 2019, and this White Sox team is better than that Twins team. I will grant you that this is not a scientific analysis. I'm not going to go into WAR or look at all the projections by Steamer, or PECOTA, or anyone else. This is purely my gut sense of where the Sox will end up at the end of the regular season. I also think we'll win the division by 4-5 games.

We all saw Eloy make some bad plays where he went into the net on the foul line and also going back on balls hit over his head. Eloy has promised to improve his defense this year. Eloy has speed, is tall , has a decent reach, and has shown some athleticism. Left field is the spot for a player like Eloy that can hit for power but may not be a top defensive outfielder. He will be sufficient there for many years unless he gaains weight and loses his speed. Eloy is my favorite player on the White Sox. I love the guys positive attitude, his demeanor, and his clutch hitting. He is what Ernie Banks was to the Cubs in the 60's.

Spring Engel is a freaking legend.

Debating whether to stay up late Eastern time to watch Vaughn hit twice.

Thank you for this freezing cold take, my drink had gotten warm and this saved me a trip to the kitchen for ice.

Maybe it's just the fact that the position is underrated. Nose Tackles don't get enough love. A lot of what they missed when Hicks was out is what Goldman brings you as well. Really hope he stayed in shape.

Eh don’t worry about that, Ace. This is the Bears. They’ll coach him up, it’s called DEVELOPMENT. They’ll get him into Halas, turn him into an NFL QB in short order. Have some faith in these guys........ ????

How about hitting the ball out of the infield at all, not 3000 times but 300 times, of the course of your career? The worst part of trading Tatis Jr for the ghost of James Shields is the unbelievable downgrade from TA and Tatis Jr up the middle to TA and Madrigal. Holy shit what a massive unbelievable downgrade that is.

There is no reason a potential Lynn extension should factor into extending Giolito. Sox should not be moving to extend Lynn or Marshall in my opinion. They have so many guys locked up. Lynn is a deal now and he's in his 30's. All the risk is on the Sox extending him. We have Gio/Keuchel moving forward. Let's see what we have in Cease/Kopech/Rodon/Crochet and evaluate if we want to extend Lynn next offseason. Marshall is so cheap and under control for 2 years. While he's been incredible, he's a crafty righty on the wrong side of thirty with a dumpy body who gets by on his craftiness and incredible sequencing. Why guarantee him more money? To potentially save a 2-3 million if he keeps pitching at this pace? I'll take my chances. Gio should be the priority. Vaughn I want to lock up before he becomes the best first baseman in the AL. Heuer, if something like Bummer's deal was agreed upon, would be great. Marshall/Lynn - let's not get cute. Our owner doesn't spend enough to take unnecessary risks on righties in their 30's with beer bellies. The upside just isn't there.

Not sure if they count but I actually thought Veeck’s Hustler’s Handbook and Thirty Tons a Day were more interesting. Ball Four is still my favorite.

shit lineup tbh

The Fuller move is frustrating, but I'd be fine with moving on from Hicks if it meant they signed Galladay. I really like a Mario Edwards, Goldman, Nichols front. Goldman is reallllly underrated IMO.

Sox game at 8:40 tonight. On delay on MLB Network at 10p. Sox on 30 clubs/30 days on Saturday at 6, or when the Padres/Dodgers game is over.

He's fast in a straight line. Problem is his hips are horrendous and so is his natural ability to judge fly balls. I've said it for awhile now just literally park him 10 feet off the line, 10 feet in front of the track at the Cell. Tell him to catch everything behind him and to his right and to not give a fuck about anything in front of him or in the gap to center. That's the only way he'll be playable there in his career. He also has a noodle arm with a windup that would make Wilson Alvarez blush.

You.....telling someone else to relax?

I’m excited to not be tactically out-managed pretty much ever again. If it happens it’s probably a tip-your-cap or rolled-the-dice-and-it-worked kinda moment. Should be refreshing.

Haven't had a chance to post since the Dalton news became official. I saw someone pages ago say that all the Pace haters are getting their wish and will be happy with what's happening because the Bears won't be good next year. At least for me, that's totally wrong. I'm not happy because we just wasted another year. We should have blown it all up instead of whatever it is they're doing. 1) There is no guarantee that Pace gets fired after this year. I don't trust George at all. This is feeling like a Cal McNair-Jack Easterby situation without the media fanfare. I don't know what Pace (and Phillips too) has done to pull the wool over George's eyes, but we're getting screwed because of it. The fact that they would not address Pace's contract in the presser scares me into thinking he has much more time than we think. I really hope I'm wrong. 2) I was adamant about wanting to start the rebuild THIS offseason and that's why I hated the decision to bring back Pace. So no, even if it things blow up and everyone is fired and we start a rebuild next year, we just wasted a year. Some people will try to be optimistic and point towards development of young players as reason to watch the games. I agree with it to an extent and by the time the season rolls around, my dumb brain will start to get excited about football and will still watch their games. But really, there's only a few young players we can actually be excited to watch develop:. Roquan is already legit, so I don't include him in this, though of course he could continue to get better. We know he's Pro Bowl caliber. Kmet, Mooney, Mustipher, Daniels, Johnson, Nichols, whoever we draft this year (assuming Pace doesn't trade away every pick to move up 1 spot and take some player who would have fallen to 20 anyway)... who else? I guess Vildor and Shelley could fall into that category now that Fuller and Skrine are gone. It's not like we're loaded with young (age 25 and under) talent. On a related note, I love Jaylon Johnson the player. My problem with him is that he can't stay healthy, and I fear that he never will. He had multiple shoulder surgeries in college and had another shoulder injury last year - he wasn't on the field when we needed him most. Do we expect him to all of a sudden stay healthier against much bigger and stronger competition? I hate to say it, but I don't even count on him. He'll be a Jason Verrett-type. Super talented but never finishes the season healthy. Worst of all, even if we hire a new GM, I fear nothing will change because of it. The ultimate problem is George McCaskey. He just doesn't get it. When Chris Ballard interviewed with the Bears, he supposedly knocked it out of the park, but proposed a lot of organizational changes that he felt the Bears needed to make. And that's ultimately why he didn't get the job - George didn't feel like anything needed to change. And now look at the job he's done with the Colts. He's made a few mistakes (as does every new GM), but he's learning from them. Pace has been on the job for almost a decade and still can't figure it out. Also, I'm tired of hearing (usually in the media) about Joey Laine being a cap expert/guru. No. Do you want to know what's easy? Restructuring deals and kicking the can down the road to create cap space until you eventually have to pay the piper and end up in cap hell. You know what's difficult and actually deserving of being known as a cap guru? Structuring deals so that you don't end up in that position.

I think the Sox will have to battle against the Twins to win the division. I think on paper they are a better team. A lot depends on the growth of Cease. The Twins have a lot of young talent coming up also. I think the best team in the division probably wins about 95-96 games. The Royals are increasing their talent level, the Tigers will be much better, and the Indians are still going to be competitive. The bottom of the division isn't as soft and will become more difficult going forward. I think the Sox will play well against other bad teams outside of the AL Central. But it would take leaps from Cease & Rodon/5th Starter to put them in 100+ win territory IMO. But of course if the back 2 in the rotation pitch like #3 SPs or something then sure, we could win 100+ games. We're probably the clear-cut best team in the AL if that happens.

Love the optimism. IF they stay healthy and win 65-70% of their division games, I think 95-97 is obtainable. Health is crucial though.

Ironic as none are scramblers!

Tommy Mace threw it good again last night. Up to 97 and really commanded his breaking pitches. He's moving himself into the top half of the 1st round.

The brutal truth is the Bears have not been much of a franchise since the mid-80s. They have an exceptional year here and there, and that is about it. It is getting harder and harder to have a real interest in this team. All you can say is they're better than the Lions.

I wish I could buy puts on the Bears.

I’m not going to lie - that guy is me: you may not be able to tell from some of my posts the last day or so - but that is me. I am trying to find silver lining for how they can pivot and look smart - but it is really hard. I am the type that can turn lemons into lemonade in almost any situation. I literally have to do that for a living - when something zags - you pivot your strategy realign and optimize your path. But it feels like pace has just kept driving himself into a bigger and bigger ditch.

I'll add one more, to the category of "Things No Person Has Ever Said, Ever:" "Nick Madrigal is the kind of physical specimen and accomplished hitter whose offensive profile can expect to hold the line or only gradually diminish as he ages and becomes less physically capable." A list of the 3000 hits club is a list of guys who have a whole of lot of things Nick Madrigal doesn't have *now* as a young guy and certainly isn't going to have 10 years from now. Back when he was drafted, before I ever saw him, I was optimistic based on what I'd read people say about him. I thought maybe he could become a 15-20 HR guy. If Madrigal is a 15-20 HR guy then Leury is good for 25 per year, and Eduardo Escobar is probably hitting 50. Whatever you have to do to the bats and baseballs to make that happen, that's what needs to happen for him to get to that point.

Keuchel is such dog poop. I've laughed every time someone mentions the whole 'the white sox have 3 cy young finishers' or whatever comment they love to make when talking about our pitchers... keuchel is going to regress hard and it won't be pretty

Needs? This narrative is so dumb. Why would the Sox trade collins for a dime on the dollar just to be nice? Having a catcher with upside around is a huge plus. Giving him away for nothing makes no sense.

The 2005 DVD set includes the clinching game from the ALDS, ALCS, and all four World Series games I believe.

You mean MLB (not the MLB) is protecting the companies that actually pay them money for advertising? Bauer is a whining baby.

With the crunch I would just keep Vaughn down a couple weeks and collect the extra service time year. Collins actually has a higher OPS than Vaughn (1063 vs 905) this spring so just give him the DH job, let lucroy back up and use those two or 3 weeks to decide whom to keep and then you bring up Vaughn in late April and get rid of one of lucroy or Collins. And if Collins and lucroy both really suck you bring up Vaughn a little earlier and if they both really do well you wait for super two. Collins raking is the perfect excuse to service time Vaughn and just going by roster crunch and 40 man status this might be the best decision anyway.

As far as evaluating catchers defense, some of it cannot be quantified with stats. For example, consider how comfortable each pitcher is with the game calling and receiving of a particular catcher. Because of that, I think the starting staff have some say in the matter, even though they might make their opinions known privately through the manager and coaches. Some pitchers like Giolito have not been shy about who they prefer to throw to. Unfortunately, McCann is gone.

Yup 18 or so spring training PA seals the deal for Vaughn. Spring training narratives are a hoot.

The closer a young player gets to FA (6 years vs 5 years) and the better he performs, the more expensive the back end of the extension becomes, and the less likely there are extra TO years after the arb period. Right now the Sox are certainly looking at 2 years control and maybe trying to bargain for 3 years control after FA. But if he comes up and rakes this year, now maybe it's tough to get 2 extra years control, impossible to get 3, and maybe they'd have to settle for 1. If the Sox put him on an extension early, they won't be paying him as a superstar in arb, but if he isn't extended and does perform like a superstar, then the back end of the arb process is way more expensive and they'll also be forced to pay more money in the FA years. Any time you sign a player for millions of dollars and multiple years, you are betting on a lot. Of all of the kinds of players to bet on being great, Vaughn tops my list. He's a much safer bet than Sale was, safer than Q, safer than Eaton, safer than Moncada, safer than Robert even. You can't make a MLB contract without potentially getting burned by it by at the end of the day the best time to pay players is at the younger ages when they are hitting FA still in their primes. I'd love to see the Sox extend Vaughn and even if it's an "overapy" a bit, because my guess is that an "overpay" in an early extension still will be seen as a substantial "underpayment" in 2-3 years time.

I picked Collins should be and Lucroy will be. TBH, I hate how we handled Collins. He should have been given all the opportunity he could get when we had a crap team to see what we had in him. But now? He cannot catch well enough. Hitting? I think he could hit but with Abreu/Vaughn we dont have a spot for him to DH and play first. In the majors he would simply be riding the bench mostly. Had we given him opportunities to prove himself a few years ago we would either know he was not going to cut it or be able to have upped his value to then trade him for a need. Instead, here we are with him being useless in the majors as the team is constructed. Just have him play in the minors and see what happens down the line (injuries or a trade involving him). Same could be said for Mercedes but at least he wasnt a first round pick like Collins.