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Your unwavering defense of Grandal is nauseating. You do realize his batting average in a Sox uni is .219 right? I’d be more surprised if his career batting average with the Sox ends up in the .240-.250 range than the .200-.210 range. I’m sure you’ll cite some WAR numbers proving how great he is but if you actually watch the games and his play you realize this is one of the most overrated players in fangraphs history. And that’s not an exaggeration.

Since there is no gamethread today, I will get the following out of the way: C'mon Dylan, throw strikes. Why does Jose take so long to heat up. Is LaRussa asleep again? Madrigal, WTF?!???

Lol, if I actually watch the games? GMAFB. I've watched literally probably 95% of all White Sox action since Grandal put on a White Sox jersey, and 80%+ over the last decade plus. Your problem is you just thought Grandal was a different type of hitter than he actually is. Career stat line: .239/.348/.443 2020 stat line with Sox: .230/.351/.422 2020 + 2021 Stat line with Sox: .215/.348/.398 In 2020, Grandal was literally the exact same guy he always has been. Just like I said. He doesn't hit for average, never has. Yes his shitty start to 2021 is weighing down his Sox average a bit, but I guarantee you he'll be in the .230-240 range at season's end. HE HAS 30 2021 AT BATS. THIRTY! Expecting a .240 career hitter to come in and suddenly start hitting .280+ isn't very wise. Grandal is frustrating player to watch in the batter's box. I get it. He strikes out a lot and isn't going to get a ton of a base hits. HOWEVER - The guy has an elite eye and OBP tool. He has power. His hit tool is below average. He is an above average defensive catcher. Add it all up, that is one of the best 3 catchers in the game. Don't like? I don't know what else to tell ya. I came into the Grandal era knowing what kind of player he was - therefore, I defend him from the clowns that constantly say he's suddenly terrible. He's the exact same catcher he has always been - and guess what - its a damn good one. Agree to disagree like we've done 100s of times on the topic, but the numbers are clear as day. Sorry you don't like numbers.

My God, do we really need this thread every other day?

Fathom

Oh give me a break man it was a good play by any standard.

It’s actually nice to be on a little island with your own group in the seats and not tripping over other people. Feels pretty normal once you settle in. Surprised at how loud the limited capacity crowd gets. Kind of love it, really.

I believe many fans have been unrealistic since the rebuild started. The hype around Kopech was absurd when he was called up, and he hadn't thrown a major league pitch. And I don't believe Vaughn will be good right away, and it will harm his development if he is rushed. The Eloy injury exposed this team some. It's too early to pass judgment on this team, but it is not too early to be concerned.

It is amazing how good of a breaking ball hitter yermin is. He has a. 460 wOBA against breaking balls this year. He does that super early leg kick but then has great balance on the rear leg. That makes him very hard to pitch to.

Weather looks fine to me. Think Boston is just afraid of us.

I think the major issues aren’t the OBP, average, and strikeouts... that was kind of expected. He is what he is. It’s the defense. Don’t really care about what the defensive metrics say, he was billed as an amazing defensive catcher. But I’d argue his pitch selection, blocking balls in the dirt, constant contact interference with the glove, and general lackadaisical effort on plays outweighs his supposed great framing skill.

Yep. It's unfair to expect young guys to be great after 50 to 70 games played for their careers. It's going to take time to develop and is why I said probably, which does not mean certainty. Madrigal has played in about 40 games and fans are pissed at him because this season has big expectations. We need Vaughn who hasn't played above A ball to be good right away, even though he's played in a handful of games. Because of our season expectations, we can't afford to be patient with him and give him time to develop.

All that certainty from about 7% of the season played. Outstanding.

A guy like Burnes is always within an area of need

They should bust balls about the mask.

Abreu and Anderson can share it.

Been to 3 games. It's live baseball, there is zero to complain about at this point for me.

Cease is cleared of COVID and will pitch tonight.

One really good thing our scouts and analytics departments targeted the right players in Burnes and Musgrove. Just too bad we didn’t capitalized on it.

Yeah it wasn't super difficult to get there as he was playing deep already and the ball was hanging up a long time but the wall was well timed.

We really need a "I'm pissed about this loss and want to spout off" thread. 1/162 fellas. Act like ya 'been there before.

I'm retired, i got nothing else to do but watch baseball and CNBC!!!

I LOVE THIS GUY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wrong thread my bad

I signed up for the extra cost for the hard tickets this year.

Its just good health. He said his body hasn’t felt this good in a long time .

That's pretty ironic given all we heard out of NC State was how much drive he had with his lower body. Don Cooper was a fucking disaster the last few years. There is a lot of evidence he was actively preventing higher velocities and wanted no part of any sort of bio-mechanical approach to pitching. "Stand tall and throw first pitch fastball strike" might have worked for Matt Thornton and others but guys need more these days.

That has nothing to do with COVID that was the plan for last year.

Was there any more room in the row? You or the guy shoulda moved maybe. I couldn't sit next to a stranger like that in the age of COVID and it's just kinda creepy.

I don't like these digital tickets. I've collected every ticket I've had for the last 50 years. I have the collecting gene. I was at every home game so far. I've been a season ticket holder for years. I've even paid extra money for the hard tickets the last few years. I would have liked the tickets for all of the games i attended this past week. In particular the ticket to Rodons no hitter.

Is there some reason why Luca$ can't go for the second game on Sunday? He'd be on N ormal rest there, Rodon would be on normal rest on Monday, Lynn would be on normal rest on Tuesday.

I went to Tuesday night's game by myself and they sold the seat right next to me to a total stranger. That was the last thing I expected after the big to-do and the self-backpatting they've done about their social distancing, sectioning off the crowd, and zip-tying of seats. I won't be going back unless I go with others, I don't want to be made uncomfortable like that again.

That double hook dh is the dumbest shit...

This team can compete for the division, but playoff success probably isn't happening this year. Half the lineup still has growing to do at the plate, the defense is iffy, and we have no money or much prospect capital. Everything will need to go right and we'd need to be completely healthy to win a series. No room for any type of error.

IMO Vaughn needs at least one season in the high minors to refine his hitting and fielding. His talent is too raw to develop at the major league level. In comparison, consider how long Mercedes has had to develop his hitting skills. The reality for Vaughn is that Engel will soon return and Mercedes has sewn up the DH spot for the foreseeable future.

The way my GF and I get along these days, social distancing is fine w me !

I guess the one thing that I have heard that I don't really care for is the moving of fans from the lower deck to upper deck. I purchased lower deck seats on Seat Geek, some really good seats, and I don't want to be pushed to the upper deck. And I guess I understand why they might have to do that, but still. Everything else I'm fine with.

I don't remember where he hit in the lineup for his other teams, but to me the two bolded facts taken together make him a guy who should be hitting in front of your best run producers and not behind them. His OBP tool has less value when you're hoping for Vaughn and Madrigal to drive him in after he walks.

I believe we call that a "game thread"

Jake Arrieta?

this team goes as the weather does. it's gonna be ugly until mid/late May

The hyperbole around any Madrigal discussion is annoying as hell. For me, perhaps for others but I'll speak for myself as someone who's been critical of Nick: Nick Madrigal has been assumed to be a low ceiling, high floor player, he has not shown the floor to this point. In his limited big league experience Nick has proven to possess 1 real skill (beyond his 1 assumed ability: plate coverage/K avoidance) and that's hitting singles, he's clearly very good at it, he has not proven, through his play on the field, much else. This does not mean he can't or won't be a plus defender or baserunner or hit for any power at all, it just means he has not done it yet in the big leagues and has in fact shown the opposite of those abilities. He very well may be very good. I badly hope he becomes a very good baseball player, that would kick ass for the team and Nick seems like a good guy, I'm just not going to assume he'll get there. That's all, I do not have enough faith in Nick Madrigal's abilities to presume it'll all come together in the end. It's really hard to overlook a sub .100 ISO (around .030 for his career right now) when he's not doing the other things well. He has not played near enough to make a true determination on his future IMO, it's just, his draft pedigree and the hollow .340 batting average he put up in 29 games and 103 AB's is doing a lot of heavy lifting in discussions around here.

In a spot in my life where I don't play many games anymore so I know that if I buy a new gen system, I'm buying a $500+ dust collector. I'm so glad other games I want are still coming out on Ps4: Spider-Man Miles Morales, MLB The Show 21, Resident Evil 8.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/carlos-rodon-white-sox-cleveland-no-hitter-mlb-024941925.html Looks like is really credit the change in mechanics (getting a lot more drive forward with the legs) as the reason for his success and growth in confidence in terms of putting less stress on the shoulder and elbow...a muscling up or arm pitcher rather than incorporating the full body swinging forward.

Lmao wtf. That's not this works

Phil Humber pitched a perfect game. I always liked Rodon more than most, but it was time to non tender him when he was non tendered. His current form is extremely encouraging, but he has a history of things falling apart one way or another. Hopefully this time is different, and his career takes off, but I wouldn't bet on it.

I would say the soxtalk posters evaluating pitchers based on peripherals, stuff and improvement did a better job than the “if you remove their best starts they aren’t that good” evaluators

So Tony La Booza doesn't want to play Yermin now ahead of Lamb, after 2/4 days off...great. Just great.

If you want what's best for the team the only way to make up for the Eloy loss is to have him in LF and Yermin and Collins get DH AB's. Hopefully in the 5/6 months Eloy is gone they can muster up a decent OBP between them all and around 10+ HR's.