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Yes especially since caufield is posting non stop

Felt nice about the future Sox until I saw that putrid Nick Shitlicker Swisher tribute on the OF wall.

Now I’m about to crank it

When we called up Baldwin, it seemed like he would be a pretty common archetype: solid glove man who might hit for enough average to stay useful in light of low power and non-elite D. Your standard grindy utility guy. Turns out he was something different in ways good and bad. He's got some sneaky power on the left side which opens up some more upside. But his defense everywhere is suspect. Sox thrust him into an outfield role so it wasn't surprising to see him look bad out there. Sox only did that, though, because of a reasonable loss of trust in his infield defense. He has also shown a propensity for mental lapses on defense too, which is not what you expect from those later-round-college-grindy-utility types. I think it makes sense that the Sox have asked him to focus on the outfield. Despite the bad overall defensive play out there, he has some individual catches that were pretty high difficulty which goes to show what he might be able to do. His issues are on the easier plays — at least the ones that are easier for a real outfielder. Loses balls in the sun and lights, struggles going back, loses his bearings near the walls. Per Statcast, he had -5 outs above average as an outfielder last year. On non-routine plays, it was -2, meaning the larger portion of his problems came on the easiest plays. I think I've seen 3 of his plays in the spring so far. One he made easily, another was a routine catch but he nearly botched it before making a last-second stab at it, and another that wasn't a 100% easy catch but which he misplayed probably due partly to the sun. So from that very limited sample I will say I'm not super confident that he has figured out the defensive side of things. At the plate, I'm not too sure what to expect. His bat speed is much faster as a lefty hitter which contributes to a prominent L/R split for him at the dish. That's where the sneaky pop comes from. At the same time, he has a pretty terrible approach up there. Something I dug up last season after watching him hit: despite an overall chase rate of 37% which is poor but not off the spectrum, once he gets to two strikes he chases 50% of pitches outside the zone with a just-as-astronomical 50% whiff rate. So he's passive waiting for a cookie until he gets to two strikes and then he's waving at anything. He struggles to hit fastballs in particular and chases them upstairs. Some real bust potential there but there's a lot of ways hitters can bust and at least he can say he might run into 20ish homers if things go right. Of course, he's still young, so maybe he can make improvements. Sometimes these guys give you some productive seasons and sometimes they're selling insurance before they turn 30 (sometimes both).

No idea why they stopped playing him there midseason last year. Seems to me the Sox and even moreso the fans have gotten unreasonably down on Lenyn's defense. There's an important distinction between "below average" and "unplayable" and Lenyn is merely below average...with the physical talent to be average at 2B or 3B. Just has to have his head on straight which may be a bit of a pipe dream by now.

Should we make a separate WBC thread? Anyway Netherlands vs. Venezuela is free on tubi, don't even have to make an account. https://tubitv.com/live/613683/fox-sports-on-tubi

I wouldn’t trade Kmet. I think having him and Loveland is a multiplying effect and makes things difficult on defenses and helps Caleb and ground game a ton.

Okay, here's a WBC thread.

Brett has kept the lights on at SouthSideSox since Jim Margalus vacated a few years ago. SBNation keeps jerking the money and rules around that causes periods of the site being a guy sitting in an empty store front reading his phone. Malachi Hayes proposes a series to look at unexpected cogs of the next competitive window. This is the first in a series. ** I may also use this string to post the odd player profiles from SoxMachine, the Times and Trib and so forth. ** The phenomenon known as Brooks Baldwin: Fringe to Foundational? A short series | South Side Sox

Schultz scheduled to throw three innings today.

I understand but that doesn't change the fact like Dr. House was fond of saying, "everybody lies" especially when it comes to owners and their books. That fact of life hasn't changed be it 1994 or 2026.

He hasn't played in a real game yet, but at least there's this?

That was my first thought earlier when I saw the lineup.

Wolkow had a single in the game today, over 120 mph off the bat. Guy has juice.

And McDougal

As good as that book is, it’s from 1994, which is a period of time that doesn’t represent the current economic model well at all. The TV bubble began to form soon after that, right around the turn of the century, leading revenues and salaries both to shoot up rapidly. The Braves we’re an early outlier prior to that time, with their unique shared ownership with TBS, an extremely lucrative situation that was a competitive advantage, particularly in the fact that it allowed them to effectively capture a drastically larger fan territory than any other team in the league (in terms of geography), which coincided nicely with their extended competitive run. I want to make it clear that I do not think the owners deserve “sympathy,” and I would never suggest that they aren’t doing very well with their investments. I would suggest, however, that the economic balance between the players union and the teams (which is subtly but important different than “owners”) may actually in a pretty good/balanced place. The players union has done an incredibly good job of ensuring that the players are getting about as much of the pie as they can without destabilizing the teams and toppling the business model entirely. This shouldn’t stop either side from continuing to fight aggressively, if only to keep the other in check. But in general, I don’t think fans should put much stock in any of the narratives they are subjected too, because that’s all they are: PR leverage points designed to manipulate the fans into supporting someone who isn’t really taking their own interests into consideration at all.

The majority of teams owning their own broadcasting networks AND with significant investments in surrounding ballpark villages/entertainment districts are making a killing. See Braves/Atlanta. But that's only around 12 teams. And that's not even counting gambling/casino money through partnerships. The huge expansion of MLB Intl, such as Canada and Japan as well as the huge growth in the WBC. Mexico will eventually get a big league team, too. (But sure White Sox, KC and Twins are struggling...although the Tigers are hardly hurting if they're up to $230-240 million in payroll. The White Sox are down $35 million on RSN money from all available reporting. But eventually, that will get evened out as every team becomes part of Disney+/ESPN so the overall value of the package per team will certainly increase.) And comparatively NBA valuations are REALLY exploding. StASmith was fighting with Zion's defenders again online and cited the $2.95 valuation of the Pelicans as #29/30 in the NBA. Padres are right in the middle of the pack and they will fetch around $2.5-3.0 billion.

I'm sure that these millionaires and billionaires and Fortune 500 companies that are involved can easily take on debt and do so for a very, very long time. Reminds me of when Lamar Hunt owned the Chiefs in the early days, it was reported he lost a million dollars one year. His father H.L. Hunt, who was extremely rich from oil and gas, was asked about this and he said, (paraphrasing). 'That means he can only lose that amount of money for another hundred years...' And again as was documented in the book The Lords of the Realm by John Helyar it's hard to take any numbers owners produce seriously given the way they and their accountants can manipulate them. Only one team has to produce and open their books, the Braves, which they recently did, and those numbers showed they were making a fortune. I'll have more sympathy for owners when they allow their books to be examined by certified independent forensic accountants and their like. If those people say they are losing money and badly then absolutely I'll have to rethink my position.

Noah's numbers were the best thing about today over and above a well played win.

This is great - really excited for the classic.

That survey also reported the fans blame the owners for the situation. You aren't going to see a salary cap, the MLBPA will die on that hill before they ever agree to it (and rightly so in my opinion...)

Am headed to Boise Saturday morning for the Big Sky Postseason Basketball Tournaments aka "Starch Madness" and because of that I'm going to post several days of This Day In Sox History news, notes, facts and factoids ahead of time for those who are interested. March 6, 1914 - The White Sox returned home from their around-the-world series of exhibition games against the New York Giants. The Sox went 24-20-2 on it but the added 46 games took their toll when the regular season began in late April. For the year the Sox would end up in sixth place, 30 games out with a record of 70-84-3. Each of the three previous years, the White Sox were better than .500, at 77 or 78 wins — and 1914 would be just the third losing season in franchise history. Among the players who participated in the exhibition series was Jim Thorpe, regarding as the greatest athlete in the world at that time because of his Olympic success. The ship the Sox returned home on? None other than the Lusitania. March 6, 1959 - After the courts ruled in his favor and denied petitions by members of the Comiskey family, Bill Veeck and his partners, including Hall-of-Famer Hank Greenberg, officially bought the White Sox. Veeck owned 54 per cent of the team. At the introductory press conference Veeck jokingly told the media that “You can have 54 per cent of the coffee!” It would be a remarkable first year for the new owners with the White Sox taking their first pennant in 40 years with a record of 94-60-2.

His velocity was apparently down a couple ticks with us in the minors vs. what it was in his final season with the Yankees when he was Minor League pitcher of the year.

Kelenic with 2 nice catches and a 3 run HR (111mph, 419)

To be fair, low fastball velo has always been part of the scouting report for Thorpe even though some had wondered if he had more in the tank. I don't know how far off his norms he was in terms of velocity. I do think it's reasonable to think that his poor command in MLB might have had to do with his elbow. Of course we'll get to find out more about what he can do before too long.

Billy Carlson is probably with the big club according to the transaction page.

I mean I'm high on Baldwin as anybody but 50% of the time he's just a utility guy, 20% of the time he's a solid regular, 10% of the time he becomes a borderline star and 10% of the time he washes out of MLB in a few years due to injuries or whatever. The conclusion of the article doesn't really follow the premise, which is that he's an interesting youngish player -- not a foundational piece. Even if he turns into a 3 WAR player, borderline all-star, we still need about 20 more WAR around him to get to 90 or so projected wins. He'd just be a nice cog best case. It was stupid we didn't give him more ABs last year and jerked him around the field. Just park him in LF and let Beni start the year on the IL.

If you ever see her ask her about it. She'll speak her mind.

great breakdown

Another factor: Jahdae or OZ (if he's brought back) will be WR3 and we all know that the iron man was DJ. If any of Rome, Burden, or Colston have to miss games - Kmet is gonna come in handy.

I agree with this. I would be ok with Hendrickson cause it is cap space - but no more than 2 years (and what would be more like a 1+1 type of deal). Quite frankly if I could deal JJ I would too. It will take some time but keep pouring draft picks into the team - this time more on defense. Note: If there was a market for Swift I’d trade him and get 2 years younger with a few of the current crop of FA backs.

Jack Drees and Bud Kelly. Brings back childhood memories.

It was generally rated the best changeup in minor league baseball.

Meanwhile, Steve Stone takes entire series off and avoids west coast trips altogether.

I will be honest, it might have gotten him in the door at the beginning, but it is no where near why he is one of the best in the business. I can't think of another person in sportscasting who has the versatility that he does. He sits down in three different sports and sounds like he does any particular one of them all of the time. He's sits down with different partners and sounds like he has been on the air with whoever it is, forever. He has a light touch, and is perfectly willing to get his partner engaged as much as possible. Dude is one of the best in the business.

I'm pretty lenient on this team but letting him go was worse than losing the most games in baseball history.

I sure hope he’s more than a 3 WAR player

Any word on how they ingressed or regressed?

The only way you dump Benny is if you take on another bad contract in return. If he was a free agent, what kind of deal would he get? Looking at his offensive numbers and adding to it he is borderline unplayable in LF for a team with aspirations, would he even get a true major league deal? Dude is a replacement play who can't play defense. He doesn't hit enough to hide at DH or 1B. Cut him and move on. He's a waste of space for the White Sox.

.....and for those who don't want to watch the video, here is how he groups the MLB ballparks: Cathedrals: Wrigley, Fenway, Oracle Park, Dodger Stadium, Petco, Camden Yards, PNC Park Modern Hits: Truist Park, Comerica Park, Target Field, T-Mobile Park, Citi Field, Coors Field, Rogers Centre Safe & Basic: Busch, Yankee Stadium, Citizen Bank Park, American Family Field, Nationals Park, Globe Life Field, Progressive Field, Great American Ballpark, Daikin Park, Load Depot Park, Kauffman Swing & Miss: Chase Field, Sacramento ballpark (temp home), Angel Stadium, Tropicana Field, Rate Field

Here's a new MLB ballpark rankings that just got posted. One thing I like about this review is that he groups the ballparks into four categories: Cathedrals, Modern Hits, Safe & Basic, and Swing & Miss. That seems like a much better way than to argue which park is 17th or 23rd, etc. I don't think he's listing the ballparks in each category by best to worst in that group. The other thing I like is the Google Earth 360 view of each stadium. Sox fans who have a huge chip on their shoulder about Rate Field should probably stop at Tropicana Field and not watch the end of this video. Cardinals fans might not like that he puts Busch in the Safe & Basic category, either.

The Tribune says the soccer stadium will be 101 feet tall. At modern ballparks, the top row of the upper deck is usually about 100 feet above the field. So assuming that the baseball park is built on the same grade as the soccer stadium, they shouldn't block each other. In the architectural drawings, it looks like they've already decided to sacrifice the left field view in favor of the double deck seating and the scoreboard -- which almost certainly will be bigger in real life because it will be surrounded by ad panels (and hopefully topped by pinwheels if they have the good sense to put them atop the scoreboard where they belong.) The main view will be behind center field toward the lakefront South Loop high rises.

I assume you meant to type south part of the lot. Looking at the rendering below, it doesn't appear to me that a Fire stadium would block much of the skyline view. I don't imagine the soccer structure would be any taller than the top of the upper deck of the Sox stadium and most of that view is blocked by the scoreboard in LF with a Mets player on it. And yeah, it'll be up to Ishbia. If he wants to privately finance a new stadium there, it'll probably get done. Only time will tell if that's what he wants to do.