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Then Chris Sale should be on there?

You in mid-season form and it's not even February. He's wearing sneakers throwing off a mat lol.

I don’t disagree with this, but it continues to be incredibly frustrating that they put all their eggs in the bounce back basket. Like, hey assholes, you know you can make internal improvements AND add more players from the outside to fill holes, right? No? You’re just gonna count on everyone staying healthy and bouncing back? Okay then.

They weren’t going to pay 7-10 million for Duvall. With that said, the Sox aren’t serious about contending for a title. This roster has so many holes it’s ridiculous.

It’s why I don’t think we need to see him in Charlotte. He’s going to destroy that league and not improve on the things he struggles with

I distinctly remember reaching a point with Jake Peavy where I never wanted to hear him talk again until he actually went out and pitched successfully. I am approaching that point with Joe Kelly. You wrote a book about pitching? Congrats, maybe it would help if you were able to pitch.

The reality of the situation is quite simply that the Sox need Luis Robert to play 140+ games and be an elite talent. If he misses significant time again in 23, the Sox aren't going anywhere.

I wanted Duvall. The value saved in keeping Colas down for a bit would have helped pay the bill. Marisnick was necessary cover for CF but still feels like a 5th OF. Even if you want to give Eloy some run in the spring and maybe not completely shut the door on him playing you are still short an outfielder if you aren't calling Colas up on opening day. Frustrating that the budget is so tight that we will either start the clock on a kid that has 240 ABs at or above AA... or you are starting the season with essentially a 1/2 and a 5. Brutal.

I'm going the White Sox way. All the $2 dollar guys and pocket the 5 I got left.

oh, i'm not naïve to that. It's just crazy to me that's where were at. I set my expectations as a sox fan pretty low and Marisnick as my 3/4th OF is even lower than that. The rest of the offseason will just be 1 - Hahn speak, "always looking to add, comfortable with the men we have in the locker room" 2 - Fluff pieces. Colas ones have already begun. The next ones will focus on Sheets and his "professionalism" and work put in on improving his defense. How he takes it seriously. They'll note his improvements throughout 2021 Reality will be when Robert strains his flexor something or hamstring that during BP or stealing a base. Next thing you know our outfield is Billy Hamilton in CF and Sheets in RF. Colas will chase pitches and low and away, MLB pitchers will feast on it and Colas will be back down in AAA. We are now in a situation where Sheets is in a slump too but we have to keep playing him because he's our only option. He's batting .206BA, but occasionally he hits a long homer or two and we get excited. Until he gets hurt for a stretch .... we now have Hamilton in CF and Reyes in RF. We are 36-40 and it's June. We are thinking to ourselves .... if only we signed an actual outfielder for $4mm. Oh well, there's always next year as we drink a $14 Modelo on the way back to our cars we parked for $27.

Be ready for the “But what did you really expect them to do? This off-season has been pretty good, they were never going to spend money, be happy” crowd to come in and tell you you’re wrong. Shame on you for thinking they would try and actually act like a contender.

Our OF depth is absolutely atrocious…no one to blame but Hahn when one of our three OFs goes down and we’re forced to use a 1B or AAAA types out there. IMO, this is such an obvious roster flaw that Hahn should be fired if/when an injury happens.

Ain’t it a touch passive aggressive to post a comment to a public forum then object with indignation and contempt to people for simply responding to it asking for clarification

Not a surprise since mid season but Colson at 39, Colas at 89. https://www.baseballamerica.com/rankings/2023-top-100-prospects/ BA has done a pretty good job adjusting to the realities of pitchers, but still I feel like if someone offered me straight up Elly De La Cruz for Matthew Painter I'd take De La Cruz. I knew Jack Leiter struggled last year but didn't realize how much he'd fallen to not even be a top 100 guy and was ranked 7th in Texas system? Crazy.

He’s been working with som pretty advanced things. I wouldn’t be too nervous. He wouldn’t change if it didn’t make him better. BTW, they had Eloy on MLBN today. He looks good. Yonder Alonso was interviewing him. He looks 70 lbs. lighter than Yonder.

You overlooked JR and the answer to why less of anything dealing with the Sox is always Reinsdorf. We have 2 recent examples of it right in front of our noses and yet we have some on the board still bringing up Wilder and preferring Leury over Andrus and being fine with Marisnick as the 4th OF and talking about sunk costs. The Sox one have 1 DSL team when the clear majority of MLB teams have 2. With a large IFA class you can't roster and play and develop that many guys. If you draft 20-25 guys a year instead of 10 that's an extra 10-15 guys. Over 5 years its an extra 50-75 guys that can become a superstar . And there are plenty of example of guys who signed for a pittance in the IFA market that have become stars in MLB. Reinsdorf always wants to sink as little as possible into developing minor league talent. That's just the way it is. On the 26 man roster he sets a hard cap of what they will spend with no regard to going the extra mile to insure the team is capable of handling key injuries. Winning isn't the priority . If it was they'd be investing more in the minors, player development and the 26 man roster. Duvall is a perfect example. He's 34 and we keep hearing excuses from water carriers that oh well Duvall went where he can play the most. BS.He's 34 and the opportunity to earn more guaranteed money is always the key incentive when you have people to support for many many more years of their lives . Even people who have made millions of dollars cannot afford to give up $2M extra when they may have grown accustomed to their big houses and living the life of a rich baseball player. When the well runs try before you turn 40 that extra money means so much more than being a starter. Contracts with incentives are all well and good but a team controls your playing time and your ability to reach those incentives as do injuries. The whole reason Andrus got DFA'd was because the A's didn't want him getting AB's to guarantee him more money. It's Reinsdorf, it's always been Reinsdorf ,so expect less not more. It's not Paddy it's Reinsdorf.

Historically remember JR doesn't believe much in the minor league system and has gone on record as saying he doesn't believe in paying for "potential." With that being said there are only a limited number of ways to procure talent, since he doesn't seem to think developing it is the right way, maybe he should start signing quality free agents... Oh wait...guess that's not the right way either! ?

They are absolutely not irrelevant. They are sunk costs, yes, but those sunk costs like Leury, Diekman, etc are definitely relevant in the realm of budget allocation.

would love to hear someone argue that Leury's contract doesn't matter.

I don’t think I agree with this logic. You’re right that we can’t survive most of the important players getting hurt, but we can survive one or two if there’s a backup plan in place, so it makes sense to have plans for as many vulnerable areas as possible. What’s attractive about Duvall is that he covers many contingencies at once. Not only for both Robert and Benintendi, but also as a weak-sided platoon for Colas who could conceivably take over entirely if Colas isn’t ready, but who could also be relegated to the bench entirely if Colas breaks out.

I think it probably goes to a different type of structure in Cuba around the professionals than what is seen in MLB.

"Hey, what about me??"....

Jerry would be so proud.

if anyone wanted to laugh at another bad Mets fan trade proposal

I think they believe that Sheets can cover RF for 30-40 games. I hate it, but its obvious that's the strategy. There is really nowhere else to play him unless the really put Eloy in RF.

Again, no one asked you to add the comment that you "have not been a big baseball fan of Liam" and YOU decided to post that in a thread about him being diagnosed with cancer. Given his performance on the field, it's entirely reasonable for someone to ask you "why" you haven't been a fan of his performance. Now you're playing the victim and saying people are piling on. It seemed like a simple question, that came from your original comment.

If that’s your concern, why mention the fact in the first place. Just seems odd to declare yourself “not a baseball fan” of one of the best closers in baseball

In general the Sox have made some good hires. I don’t love the whole offseason but from a hiring perspective I like it. Player acquisition - they are relying too much on reversion from the mean and need to deploy more resources on the club.

I'm not sure getting rid of his short arm action is the right thing to do. It was the thing that made him effective because the release point made it hard to pick up the ball out of his hand. He also threw harder with the short arm action vs. his long arm action prior. I'm sure there's people way more knowledgeable than me advising him, but Lucas decided to bulk up last off-season and it didn't really help him.

Seems good if it has him touching 753 mph

This looking for a starters role is sooo overplayed in arguments by fans. Just because he went to a team where he might start the season as a starter doesn't mean he also didnt go to the place that offered him the most money. Money talks and bullshit walks. A 34 year with a chance to make extra millions when he may have people to support besides himself for many many more years is what talks and I'm hearing a lot of BS. The facts are that the Sox don't care about going the extra mile and every extra dollar on the payroll matters when you can't suck it up for $10M guaranteed for such a vital role. They have Adam Engel types all over this team in too many important spots ! Just a lot of excuses being made for the Chicago Cheap Sox.

Hernandez is rumored to be 500k, so that brings the total down to that 2.4M area. And yes there are several teams that have multiple DSL clubs. Assuming I counted correctly, the Sox are one of 11 teams to only have one DSL team. I believe it to be incredibly dumb and short-sighted given the potential return they could get from being able to roster/play more talent.

This.

Embarrassing try.

I think if he fails we'll look back on it. But I read it as a guy who was eager to prove he could be in the bigs by beating up on some A ball pitcher, while sox lower level instructors were trying to impress on him that what will prove he can get there is showing he can handle the major league routine. And that it was hard for him to see the value in that (vs game reps) when he was able to do things so easily. So, yeah, he's probably gonna strike out 40 % of the time then we'll see whether he's capable of adjusting.

I shall be attending Kannapolis games this season. Them some fun pitching prospects.

I'm super excited about Colas don't get me wrong, but I'm not sure these quotes paint him in the greatest light? I don't love reading about a need to hold him accountable and about how he's not there yet regarding following a game plan. Perhaps that's something that comes with age, maturity, and experiencing failure? Would love to hear some counterpoints though.

Noticed there is a billboard across the street from Sox Park which reads: We're with you Liam. Pretty nice gesture. Best wishes to Liam.

Not saying I agree with it, but I think people are kidding themselves thinking the 4th OF’er hasn’t already been signed. It’s going to most likely be Marisnick like it or not. Clearly Marisnick, Hamilton and Reyes were signed to battle it out for the 4th OF’er spot…maybe Haseley gets a shot too.

All excuses aside, I don't like you guys messing with my addictions.

The ignore feature rules.

It is amazing. It's why it's hard to figure out what to think of the current grade of our scouting/intl/pd. It actually does feel different, and hopefully that leads to much more success. I think 2018, as Robert was about to clearly blow thru the system, it was rare to get any of our international classes into A+. If you look at like our 2013/2014/15 classes (we'll just uh, ignore that one guy), they were bad in DSL and then awful in Arizona. You'd be pumped about Amado Nunez and then he'd struggle to put up a .500 OPS. Adolfo we kept hoping on and he would barely play for 4 years. Hey this franklin reyes guy sounds awesome whoa 440 ops. Such was life. I feel like that's why Lenyn stuck out like he did. We hadn't seen anyone just hang in there as a younger prospect. The outlier was Carlos Perez ho-hum climbing up the system.

I was really looking for some good Keynan Middleton signing discussion yesterday.

Really good article on the Athletic about Liam and the people he's reached out to since coming to town. https://theathletic.com/4082449/2023/01/13/liam-hendriks-cancer-lymphoma-charitable-work/ Without stealing too much from the article: He's been helping the community in a whole lot of ways.

Modern version he gets a lifetime ban for using synthetic oil.

The injuries to Eloy and Robert have basically ruined the rebuild. They have played in only 57.8% of eligible games since signing their extensions. What makes it even more devastating is how few games they have played together when each was at their best. This cannot be emphasized enough !!! Not even going to try to figure out Moncada at this point. I have compiled this from the 2020, 2021, and 2022 seasons. any games with 1 PA or defensive replacement games I didn't count. Basically trying to get at least 5 innings played together each game. I may have missed a game or 2 but this is very accurate compiled from batting game logs. 2020 was the year they played the most games together. It was only a 60 game season and they played 49 games together. That "year" was peak Eloy. Unfortunately it was Roberts rookie year. He flashed a great glove but still was raw at the plate, .738 OPS. Also unfortunately despite this being the short season it would be the most games they ever played together. Eloy at his best, Robert a rookie and .738 OPS 2021 Roberts break out hitting "year", .938 OPS. Unfortunately his year only lasted 68 games. The torn hip flexor kept him out over 2 months but surprisingly he hit even better when he came back. Unfortunately 2021was Eloy's worst year (55 games played .740 OPS) due to the torn pec he suffered in Spring Training. Only 29 games played together. 2022 More injuries for both. 84 games for Eloy and 98 games for Robert. Once again we saw near peak Eloy. Unfortunately Robert tried to play through injuries and dizzy spells and was barely better than he was his rookie year. This was the singles hitting Robert. Swinging at everything. BB% worst of his career but K% best of his career.ISO 1st time under.200 was .142. Together they only played 32 games and once again couldn't get both at their peaks at the same time. They have only played 110 games together of a possible 384 games in 3 year. Not once where each of them playing their best at the same time. Both at their peak performances together in 140 games would go a LONG way to making the Sox so much better. But injury free years and both at peak performance at the same time has never happened. One of these years maybe that can happen and if it does watch out baseball !

It is statistically impossible.

So human rights is leftist and or political. Cool cool. Seriously, GTFO with that noise.