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Shirley’s team identified Crochet as a future starter and drafted him. Had nothing to do with possibility of being quick moving reliever. The drafting has been pretty solid overall. They’d benefit from more picks. The system is basically all draft picks because they get so little out of international market. In regards to Cholowsky, he’s been basically the same player as last year and nobody has overtaken him. Would be stunning if Sox took anyone else. As of now.

For once we weren't the team acting the fool. Some pretty good baseball even if the bats still need to get going overall.

Fun is winning and winning is fun.

I like when Sox "first time since..." trivia is positive rather than negative

Wow, a sweep of the AL Champs, keep it going against the O’s.

You don't mess with the Pope's team on Easter Sunday !

Actually feels nice.

Zavala and Gonzalez restoring some prospect shine with good starts so far.

A sweep and shutout on Easter is no coincidence. Now that we have the pope on our side, it's obvious that Jesus Christ is on our side too. The Sox are building something special. With Jesus on our side, I think the Sox may truly be able to surprise people and steal the division this year.

WE ARE SO BACK!

Sox: best team in the AL?

He's got plus zone contact rates and max EVs to pair with the foot and bat speed. I think he's a small tweak and a hot streak away from surprising people.

Part of the Pereira trade. Utility guy who had a huge spring and start to AAA. Rays named him the best defensive player in their system a couple years ago and he has a little bit of pop (18 HRs last year, 2 in spring, 2 for Charlotte already). One of the more intriguing fringe guys, def worth a look.

Happy Easter everyone 🐇 Go you White Sox !

Do they win a few more games by saving Taylor for leverage spots? Maybe (assuming they want to prioritize that over whatever development path for him)....Though honestly I'd argue maybe they don't, if the starter variance forces Will to scramble with the pen anyway. We've seen those scrambles have a lot of negative domino effects already. Obviously it's impossible to truly know how the counterfactuals play out, but was Taylor going in the 6th or 7th vs. MIL really more impactful than having him in the 1st inning of these two games vs. Toronto? (Not by WPA, for what it's worth) Like if Taylor put up a 0 ahead of Burke's first outing vs MIL, that's probably a more winnable game. Potentially tied in the 6th? Even if not, does Burke simply going deeper mean they have a fresher pen to avoid the collapse in the finale? In that game, Kay was pulled in the 5th to dodge a 3rd AB for the cleanup hitter (who had already homered against him) with runners on. That created an extra leverage spot trying to even make it to Taylor, who was saved for the top of the order in the 7th. Sure, Taylor puts up a 0 there...but the 8th is now in Murphy's hands because they had to spend a better arm on that earlier fire from Kay's third time through. Murphy doesn't have his best stuff/luck in a back to back outing after covering for Burke's short start in the prior game, and now they have to rush Dominguez in...Yelich, who got a free look at Dominguez when he also had to cover an extra inning the night before, takes him deep and wins the game. Yesterday could have played out similarly. Vlad Jr just missed a HR in his first AB vs. Kay, then found the extra distance in the second attempt on a very similar pitch in his next one. But Taylor getting him out in the 1st meant the second look at Kay came all the way in the 6th inning, and another look wasn't even a factor. Venable got to pick his spot to pull Kay (with a lefty up for Murphy, bases empty) instead of the game situation forcing it, because Taylor's scoreless first removed both the pressure for more length from Kay and the looming threat of a third time through. Finding a pathway to the end of the game is a bit easier with this staff when it starts in the 6th or later, and all of the bullpen usage/matchups/leverage stuff becomes more projectable. The pen deployment yesterday felt relatively smooth despite using 6 arms, because there was no emergency need for length or leverage from the starter's exit causing unexpected ripple effects or forcing tough choices. Only one guy came in with runners on (Hicks). Same for the series opener (Dominguez). In Kay's first start, it was 4/6 arms coming in with inherited runners...which made that 4.2IP/2ER vs. MIL feel so much less effective than the 4.1IP/2ER vs. TOR. TLDR: The ability to append any quality inning onto a possibly less than quality start is pretty useful, Taylor as opener just locks it in at the start where Taylor as setup guy requires you to actually make it to that setup scenario first. It seems feasible to me that "How can we get to the 7th WITH Taylor?" is an easier puzzle to solve than "How can we get to the 7th FOR Taylor?" and smoothing out some of that variance could help a lot of other pieces fall into place more consistently. I think Vasil as swiss army pitcher had a similar effect at times last year. But despite all of my yapping, I'm not necessarily saying Taylor will/should exclusively open games from here on out. For this back to back specifically, I think a lot of stars just aligned once he was so efficient in Game 1. I do think being willing to do it at least situationally does have multiple benefits for this roster right now though: Guaranteed innings for Taylor, instead of waiting for leverage chances that may be harder to come by/bridge to Insulating a rotation of mostly unproven arms from third time through penalties Having more projectable/consistent bullpen deployment for later innings (even when that doesn't include Taylor himself) Providing a more natural path to eventual longer outings than trying to force multi-inning holds/saves Potentially helping with "momentum" in games, given an offense that often scores more early than late It's also just kind of cool that they just won back to back games with the same two pitchers recording the first 3 outs and last 3 outs of both games. Has to be a rarity.

Huh? Gavin Williams is a first rounder who throws really hard and has missed time with arm problems. You do have to spend some draft capital on pitching.

Sweeping the AL World Series representative at home would be pretty nice after that road trip

https://www.mlb.com/prospects/stats/affiliates?teamId=145&date=04/04/2026 https://www.mlb.com/milb/scores/all/all/whitesox?affiliateId=mlbcom-milb Cannon AAA, Murphy AA Happy Easter!

Tanner Murray the unsung hero with that great play with 2 outs and bases loaded and Murakami with the great pick.

Nope.

Acuna flashed a nice glove and nice wheels! Much needed strong outing from Davis Martin

The Pope's team with the holy trinity for Easter weekend! Took 100 games to get a sweep last season lol 1.93 ERA/1.00 WHIP for the series with 22 Ks against just 9 walks

Clearly a ball but was called a strike earlier

is someone holding the CF camera by hand? jesus, getting motion sickness

Sox continue to be the better-managed, more fundamental team. Get used to it folks!

You're never getting Acuna at home there, but thanks for throwing through

I can't stand these damn family interviews, ugh

Keep playing Sosa idiots.

Sosa taking some vicious swings today

Mune has done really well on tough hops at 1B so far.

it's a third cup of coffee, but don't you worry, the sacramental blood of Christ will be flowing.

Sox were 1-5 and the starters had been sucking. He started both games and the Sox won both. Maybe that move + plus home cooking settled down the team. Why would you be resigned to him not starting ? He still just 23 . You might be right but you might not be. We still need to see him pitch consistently well in whatever role they put him in . I just want to see more Sox pitchers putting up zeros.

I wonder if using Taylor as an opener has anything to do with winning. Sox don’t seem to care about that. I think it is a way of grooming him to go back to starting, which would be a good thing. It will hurt less if/when Berroa comes back.

The problem with that argument is that it treats high-leverage moments as inevitable, when they could actually be the result of earlier pitching decisions. If a weaker pitcher gives up runs early, that could be what creates a high-leverage situation later. Using your best reliever in the first inning can prevent that entire situation from ever existing. Look, I’m a big math guy. High school math teacher actually, so I love this discussion. I’m not saying using Taylor in the first inning is for sure the right move. I just don’t think it’s obviously the incorrect move like you do.

Hey now that’s a series

I just said that? I showed that there are odds it ends up being the best place, but those odds are much smaller than the odds that it's not. Therefore, it's a bad usage of him. You aren't guaranteeing you don't use him in the most optimal spot, but you're stacking the deck against it. Additionally, the only way for the 1st to turn into a high leverage situation with him starting is for him to create it. Meanwhile, bringing him in up 1 to start the 8th is already high leverage without any situation being created. I'll add, there's a reason no other team in baseball is using their best reliever as an opener and it's not because getz is smarter than them al.

Why is later in the game more important than the first inning? A run is a run, regardless of when you score it.

Makes no sense.

Colson and Murakami. These will be common causes of wins this year.

Of course. My bad. For some reason I was thinking it was a four game series. Maybe because game one was potponed.

Just bad luck for Toronto, having to play the Pope's team on a holy weekend

Bro they'll still win the series.....

They won the series, thats what I meant

I think he means Sox won the series regardless of tomorrow's outcome

I’m loving this. And we didn’t have to listen to Schriffem. Was he suspended?

Suck it, Toronto!!!

Repurpose those t-shirts. Scrape off everything after "South Side Sam..."

Hell yeah. It's you and me on the Antonacci train, Ray Ray. I got shot down for suggesting he's a top 10 prospect in the system. Nobody has been more bullish on The Chairman of the Board than I have. The guy is going to be good.