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Word on the street is that they are planning on signing Brandon Nimmo’s brother in law and best friend.

The difference between winner's and loser's. Tatis > Shields Machado > Jon Jay and Yonder Alonso Harper > Dallas Keuchel and Yasmani Grandal Wheeler > Lance Lynn Rodon > Velasquez, Kelly, Diekman, and Graveman Cleveland's defense > White Sox playing first baseman in the outfield

I think Washington would be an improvement over Tony, but we desperately need someone who will bring a more modern approach to the role. Ron would be great to fill out a staff, but we should strive higher for our manager spot.

I’m really surprised at how hard I am rooting against Cleveland this series. F Cleveland.

I've never seen a guy celebrate like he hit a walk off homer when his team was still down 1 in the middle of the game.

That's exactly how I perceived the clubhouse. Tony allowed these guys to do their own thing and trusted them to be ready and Tony was very wrong. I think we learned that modern players need a little in your face energy from a manager.

You just did more research and put in more time than the actual front office of this team will put into signing this guy. Kudos.

You haven’t heard it because that is ridiculous

This guy must be having a great time tonight

On game day, I'm not certain. In other aspects, sure. But if that's how low the bar is... what are we even doing here?

Ron Washington would be a substantial upgrade over what Tony La Russa provided the last two seasons

1. Espada 2. Beltran 3. Bochy 4. Grifol 5,432. Washington 6,749,530. Maddon 7,645,980,610. Shildt So it will be Shildt

The long-awaited SoftBank Hawks ace, Kodai Senga, is finally free. There's a TL;DR at the end. After begging his team to post him for at least five years to no avail, he used his domestic free agent leverage last offseason to get him an extension with opts outs every season, and after one year -- to absolutely no one's surprise -- he announced his intent to exercise promptly after the Hawks were eliminated from the playoffs. Senga is NOT the typical NPB import starter -- he's had the best raw stuff in Japan for most of the last decade, rivalled only by Ohtani and just recently by the 20-year old phenom Roki Sasaki. By contrast, his control is not strong. I've had a pleasure of watching a TON of his innings over the last five years, here's my personal breakdown: Summary: He's a 30-year old, mid-sized, true three-quarter right hander who bends the bill of his hat at nearly a 90-degree angle. Arsenal/Stuff: 4-Seam Fastball -- sits 96 - 100, has topped out at 102, and holds the velo well into the late innings. Legit MLB plus Slider -- very bendy, usually relatively hard, high-spin rate, two-plane slider. Gets strikes by locking guys up rather than by deceiving them, also likes to backdoor lefties with it. Think more like a Chris Sale-style slurvy thing rather than a Carlos Rodon-style late-breaker that drops out of the zone but looks like a fastball for the first half of it's trajectory. It's not as good of a pitch as either of those aforementioned comps, but I think it's a pitch that will be plus at times but often play down when he's not locating it. (NOTE: Sometimes he seems to try to throw it soft, maybe this counts as a cutter as I've seen people write that he has one over the years, but whatever it is he shouldn't do it because the slows his arm way down and it just doesn't move a ton, which I've always imagined should telegraph the pitch.) Splitter -- This is his best pitch, it even has a nickname: "The Ghost Fork." This is, effectively, your Rodon slider: goes straight until it gets like 50-60% there and then just abruptly shifts 30 degrees down with a bit of fade. Incredibly effective in conjunction with his hard fastball. MLB plus pitch. Curve -- It's a hard, tight breaking 12-6 that doesn't drop quite far enough to be a consistent swing-and-miss offering. This is effective as a show-me pitch, good for grabbing strike one and for the element of surprise 5-6 times a start, but it's not going to carry any of his appearances. Command/Control: Not good. It's not Nuke LaLoosh or anything, but he misses the glove as often as he hits it, and often by quite a bit. Early in his career he would meltdown occasionally with walks, but it's more "wild in the zone" these days. I'm am nothing even remotely close to qualified to diagnose mechanical issues, but if I was a betting man, I'd wager that a lot of his challenges stem from his pretty extreme "head whack." Notice how violently his head jerks as he starts his follow-through, especially on fastballs: He's crushed the NPB because his stuff has been overwhelming, and even though it's good even for MLB, it's a real question as to whether it'll be dominant enough to make up for the location issues, particularly if he's going to continue to be a starter. I will say, from what I've seen he very rarely HANGS anything, but his pitches frequently end up in places they should not. Health/Durability: He's been nicked up a bit the past few years, but the injuries have been scattered and the serious ones haven't been arm-related (though a couple have been shoulder-related, mostly earlier in his career). The most notable was a freak accident of years ago, he had started the year on the DL for some vague reason, and in what I want to say was his FIRST start back, he got drilled by a comebacker and landed awkwardly on his ankle, resulting in some kind of sprain or fracture that cost him like half the season. Doesn't seem to have had any long-term effect on his stuff. He holds his velo very deep in starts. I've seen him hit 100 in the 8th inning multiple times. Interestingly enough, he was somehow not drafted as an actual prospect (he was picked up as a "development squad player," which is essentially the MLB equivalent of an undrafted free agent) and began his career as a reliever, so he's got relatively fewer innings on his arm than the typical 30-year old NPB ace. Other Notes: For whatever it's worth: A couple years ago, Hawks broadcasts used to show spin rate on every pitch along with velo. It was amazing, and I hate that they stopped. But I used to compare his rates with what Statcast showed, and every pitch was comfortably above MLB average. I am legitimately worried about his control, but I can't help but think that if he fails as a starter, he could be a very safe bet as a high-leverage reliever because you so rarely see a starter's arsenal in that role these days Unlike a lot of NPB pitchers, he does NOT like to f*** around with breaking balls high in the zone. I think this is one of the things that helps him get away with the poor control. If he would have been posted at 26 or whatever when he originally started asking, he'd have been a $100-200m arm with no doubt. At 30 with a touch of injury-history, I think he's looking at a shorter deal but still with some real money because the spin and velo are legit. The arsenal isn't nearly as deep, but the stuff is every bit as good as Darvish/Ohtani when they came over. You never know, but I tend to doubt that there's much that can be done to substantially improve to location stuff, just given his age and the head-whack thing. If you only watch one video, watch this next one -- real good look at the splitter and a close-up of the head-whack at 1:22: TL;DR -- MLB #2 starter-level stuff/arsenal, 7th-inning reliever-style control. I think a LOT of teams will be in at 3 years/$45-60m because he's a very safe bet to be a contributor -- even if he can't start, he can almost certainly set-up or close -- but if some sees something they think they can fix that would improve his control, I wouldn't be shocked if they gave him up to 5 years. The White Sox will, unsurprisingly, not even kick the tires.

Yep, it’s Machado and Harper. Should be fun. Starts Tuesday.

Naylor is extremely unlikable, holy s%*#.

The knee and shoulder are both joints that consist of bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments, bursa, etc. To claim that the shoulder or knee are just bones is inaccurate at best.

The one time I rooted for an AL Central team in the playoffs was 2016 and that made me feel dirty. Never again. Go Yankees.

What got into Harrison Bader?

Fair enough maybe toxic was too strong of a word. Yet from all indications we have, it was a clubhouse not motivated lacking positive energy as they had during the 2020 season prior to Tony. Which is why Cairo had to read them the "riot act" because he knew the team attitude and effort sucked.

Michael's injuries are not a result of poor flexibility or a lack of conditioning. If you've ever seen the Michael Kopech training routines on video, the issue of him not being in shape and working out hard in the off-season is not his problem. Michael Kopech's injuries have been: 1. A knee which he is having surgery on in the off season. A knee is not a muscle. No workout regime will prevent a knee from getting injured. 2. A torn ulnar collateral ligament in the elbow which he had Tommy John Surgery to repair. This injury only associated with pitchers is tendon and not a muscle. 3. Shoulder inflammation which caused a 15 day IL stint. A shoulder is part of the ball and socket joint. It is not a muscle. There obviously is major concern on Kopech and if he is injury prone. We all should have major concerns on Kopech and he is not exempt from any discussions. The fact is Yoan injuries though have always been muscle related which are directly related to his flexibility and injuries that could be much more preventable that Michael's injuries being prevented.

For once it would nice if the White Sox hired someone that doesn't put them at an in-game tactical disadvantage. 10 years of managerial incompetence is enough already.

I sure hope Rick Hahn's seat at the table keeps him warm while at home watching the stars he couldn't sign lead their teams to post season success.

That’s a pretty low bar. I’m hoping, and that may be too high of bar, that the Sox can do better than that simple goal.

We are experts in disappointment.

Maybe I’m putting too much in one story but Eloy and Schwarbers careers feel very similar, and Long gets a lot of credit for Schwarbers breakout in WAS. And the Nationals had so many breakouts during his tenure. It is never that straight forward but I feel like it’s worth a shot with how limited we can improve the club otherwise.

Honestly, I don’t how that’s viewed. I always assume the bench coach is 2nd in command in the dugout, but clubs may view it more or less being a lateral move vs. a 3rd base coach job. Washington would make a ton there though.

Something with social security, Jerry gets a discount if he has another fossil on the payroll.

So I’m 100% team Kevin long, didn’t realize he wanted a manager gig. I could be legit excited for Eloy actually achieving his ceiling with Long, which could go a long way to helping this team.

Better than Sharknado.

Wild take I can't believe I haven't seen mentioned yet: Jose went from Jerry's favorite to "out the door" because of his facial hair.

I just don't know why the Sox would even consider another old fossil. What is the point? Is there a lack of candidates under 60?

We need to fire Hahn and Kenny and rebuild. We aren't close to these other teams and they aren't the guys to get us there.

It doesn't really ever rain in San Diego. This is more rare than a snow storm in Texas.

Damn, if only Andrew Friedman had Rick Hahn's ambitions for his bullpen.

It's cool seeing teams that aggressively improved their roster like the Padres and Phillies being rewarded for it.

Uh oh, the hurt feelings train is here. Waiting for the PM.

He might be my favorite potential option, at least based on publicly available information. I recommend reading this (Athletic sub required): https://theathletic.com/3234920/2022/04/07/qa-phillies-hitting-coach-kevin-long-on-his-prep-work-philosophy-and-a-stacked-lineup-thats-as-solid-as-there-is/

Bruce Levine is the TLR of journalism, out of touch and barely cognitive.

Washington was a total disaster from a tactical perspective during his tenure in Texas. Maybe he's gotten better over the last 8 years, but I'm skeptical. I am by no means a Tony guy, but an everlasting memory I have of Washington as a manager is him getting severely outmanaged by Tony during the 2011 World Series. Having Cruz in RF here may have cost Texas a ring. Way too many bunts, being several hitters too late on pitching changes, bad hitters being up too high in the order, etc. Almost every issue we had with Tony from a tactical perspective I remember being a glaring issue for Wash during his tenure in Texas.

I'm sure this time hiring a manager in their 70s, who the game passed by over a decade ago, will actually work out.

Kenny has been involved in everything for 22 years and the organization has never come close to being a consistent contender during that time. This time around, though, I'm sue he'll finally get it right!

It's depressing to think how far ahead they are than the Sox and almost every other organization in baseball. The Astros & Sox may as well be playing different sports.

We all deserve better than this franchise gives us.

Let them have him. The Sox need to construct their roster to win and already have a 1B for the future.

The 20 game plan I've had since 2019 does not give you playoff tickets to every game. You were able to purchase all the wild card and division games, 1 ACLS, and 1 World Series guaranteed. With that said, you were able to buy additional ACLS or WS if there were any available after half and full season ticket holders, plus MLB's seats, sponsors etc. As far as renewing, I was on the auto-renew payment plan so I had to call them Friday to tell them I was canceling. After speaking to my rep., they are offering a 10 seat/game voucher which get's you some benefit's tho not guaranteed postseason seats. After going back and forth he's holding my 3 seats until late November and he's going to give me a call back about my seats. That should give me some time to see what their going to do with a coach which may be enough to get me to renew depending on the hire and his staff which hopefully will be somewhat in place by then.

You must be thinking of some other organization not named the Sox. I would not trust the current GM in any trade situation.

Swag w/o results is just hubris. This org has that in spades.

So they forced him into a below market deal by threatening to trade him. They have dumper player after player this way because their ownership group is cheap af. I know that Clevelands management group is in style now, but their ownership is trash.

I loved tuning in to the Harry and Jimmy show. Truly the greatest duo to ever grace a booth. It would have been wonderful to hear more stuff from them, but there was always a baseball game going on that they had to discuss. Them. Was. The. Days.

Are concession and stadium workers expecting working at the stadium to be a full time job? Most if not all work 81 days a year for 5-8 hours a day, I am not sure anyone going into that kind of job would expect it to sustain them financially. Health care on the other hand should be better