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But regardless of what you think the chances are of it happening, is it a waste to use Taylor in a game that another pitcher subsequently loses? What if using Taylor as an opener reduces the chances of your starter getting bombed? And what if that in turn reduces strain on the remaining pen arms in a way that improves their performance? A scoreless first inning in a game is worth ~5% win probability for the home team. A scoreless 7th with a one run lead is worth ~9%. So sure, the latter leverage inning is "better" in a vacuum... But the first situation is guaranteed and the second is not. The first also comes against a known set of batters, while the second does not. The impact of the extra WPA from the later leverage situation becomes more marginal the less reliably you are able to get to it. So how likely are the Sox to be in late innings with a lead, and does opening with Taylor improve those odds? How much more valuable is going from 69% to 78% win probability once in a series compared to going from 50% to 55% twice in a series? I think those are interesting questions to consider for this particular roster at this particular time, so I kind of dig the experiment. I already gave most of my thoughts on this in the other thread, but think it's at least feasible that Taylor as opener both 1. decreases the odds of your starter getting lit up and 2. simplifies later bullpen deployment, both in ways that are potentially more impactful to winning than waiting for the team to already be in a late lead situation to begin with. Also, if they want to increase his workload, he'll be pitching some "waste" innings either way. This isn't exactly a team with 70+ save opportunities up for grabs right now. Having him open a game certainly seems like less of a "waste" than him coming in down 4 because "he just needs work" while team is in a skid.

If you ran a business as poorly as JR has run this one, you'd probably have closed a long time ago. I hope he's losing money. He's earned it.

I have to imagine when Ishbia takes over he's going to clean house with people like Boyer.

I hope you keep the honor for a long...long time.

No, assuming your best pitcher is a reliever, and especially a non-closer, you want that best pitcher to go against the best hitters. The opener guarantees that. Saving him later in the game does not. This is even more true when you have a closer pigeon holed for the 9th. This is who Taylor has gotten out as an opener: George Springer Jesus Sanchez Vlad Guerrero George Springer Davis Schneider Vlad Guerrero Gunnar Henderson Pete Alonso Adley Rutchsman To be able to shutdown some of the best players in MLB is such a massive advantage no matter when it happens. This way guarantees your best vs theirs

He's been playing a great 3B so far before that play

Quero really needs to start catching the throw from the outfield.

The sun being out or it being dark out makes a huge difference in how it feels.

Getz has a crippling addiction to mediocre left handed relief pitchers

Jaden Ivey unintentional savior?

Here's the problem; we have been talked in to the idea that THIS is how you attract companies (not just sports franchises) as a community. Every city of a reasonable size, and every county and state have Economic Development teams whose entire existence is to hand out incentive packages in the form of tax incentives, and other cash prizes, to businesses to "attract" them to move into a community. Companies use this communities against each other to improve these dollar amounts and awards. Even the trillion dollar plus market companies like Amazon engage in these games to get themselves more subsidies. Look the myth of the welfare queen is out in popular culture, but there is no bigger welfare queen in America than the billionaire. Sports team owners are no different than Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, or any of the other CEOs out there getting paid by taxpayers to make their billions somewhere else.

Can’t wait for Teel to return!

We'd still be playing if not for Hays blowing out the hammy

Well that inning ended with a loud long armpit fart

Large language model, a la ChatGPT. Because obviously no actual person would make the mistake of trying to have a productive baseball discussion about baseball decisions on a baseball forum, of course. Maybe one day I'll learn that it's much easier to just go around having the same two arguments in every thread while spamming negative reacts instead.

I wish Quero was a good catcher

Yep. Like I said, the same complaints exist for most MLB attempts at kanji merch. MLB should have an interest in correcting it given their clear desire to expand global reach, but they have also just been poor overall at holding Fanatics to quality/consistency standards in any number of ways in recent years. These are about Imai's HOU City Connect: It's a recurring issue that's not in the hands of Sox staff. Or, you know, maybe it's just Getz personally cutting out all the characters poorly league-wide I guess.

I don't get how this is different from basically any usage of any reliever? Was it a "waste" for him to pitch the 7th in MIL because the team gave up the lead in the 8th and lost? Is it poor non-usage to save him for higher leverage and then have a different reliever put the game out of reach? If you're judging "good usage" of an arm by the unknowable results of future innings, then the start of the 9th or extras with a lead are the only situations that don't rely on hindsight. Otherwise, "What if he pitches well but then you lose the game?" is just baseball.

There's no time like the present...

Thanks. Didn't know appreciate that

Fegan's article about Shane Smith working on things Inside the White Sox's effort to get Shane Smith back to his All-Star form - Sox Machine

The f*** it isn't. The vanity projects of an Elon Musk are everywhere for the world to see. Same with Bezos. You might WANT to notice it, but it is there.

https://www.forbes.com/teams/chicago-white-sox/?list=mlb-valuations Sox lost $40 million on paper last year. I will guess that this will be the last year of "losing" as they will have their TV contract in place again for a full season, and have cut pretty much every cost possible, and are one of the cheapest payrolls in all of MLB. The wild thing is that if you add up the six years of losses, that adds up to $212 million, according to Forbes. Note that the team is now up to a debt ratio of 8%? I used to doubt these numbers a lot more, but if the Sox weren't losing money, why would they have an operations debt for a guy like Ishbia to come in and pay off? The other number of note is the $239 million revenue number. Sounds like a lot right? The hapless Miami Marlins, last in MLB team value, had a revenue of $320 million, or essentially the entirety of the Sox payroll MORE than the White Sox. The Sox are last by a LONG SHOT in total revenue. The closest to the White Sox is Tampa, who didn't even play in an MLB stadium last year, but still brought home $290 million or almost 20% more than our Sox. Even the A's brought in $320 million. If you want a mark of how badly the Sox have been destroyed under Jerry Reinsdorf, there it is.

Yeah I know it's early... I'll forget tho. Taylor Opening again.

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!

Let's go Branden.

No, they remain the worst. They would have only gotten a second rounder in this deal

Oh, and I'm sure there will be people in the local media like Paul Sullivan or talk radio blowhards who will continue to take pot shots at any new Sox ballpark because it's not the Cubs and not beloved Wrigley. What people say online? Heck, people on social media are complete assholes about everything. But, if the Sox build a new ballpark that is well-designed and in a location that has more things around it that'll attract more fans AND the Sox start fielding a more competitive team, then what "people say" online or in the media isn't going to kill its success.

The crazy thing is, if he had ACTUALLY invested in this business, he could have literally doubled his final selling price. The reports were in the two billion range for the previous shares. The Padres are rumored to be in the $3.4 BILLION range. The Sox SHOULD be in that area, even with splitting Chicago, there is nothing the San Diego market that should be better than the southside. Its ridiculous, and he SHOULD be called out on this.

Hot sheet 4/6. https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/ranking-the-20-hottest-mlb-prospects-hot-sheet-4-6-26/

"Don't do what I did"

His first 3 games were all in left.

Meidroth's changes (if that's what we'll call them) aren't looking promising so far. I don't know if he's trying to sell-out for some kind of power (although his swing speeds are the same), but it's greatly impacting what he used to do well. His overall contact rate is down 10% YoY, which puts him in the top 15 biggest drops so far. We still need another 25ish PA's to really say it's indicative of an actual change, but he's going to have to have a great stretch to get that number back to being great. His 23.5% K rate is also up 9% over his previous mark. Bring up Antonacci!

.The owners of the Rays have given the government a deadline of April 15, 2026 in regards to the funding of the proposed new stadium. It will be curious to see what happens if the government does not come up with the money. Seems like most cities don't want to spend money on these new stadiums. That being said, Orlando is willing to build a new baseball stadium and i would think that is where the Rays will eventually move.

A) I was focused on younger guys B) I forgot. But I think of him as a guy who will be up this year and therefore will be off the list soon. These 4 are the next top of the system.

I dont know what it is. I'm not going to.pretend I've researched the reasons why Bannister feels the way he does or try to explain it out of my ass. I will never overestimate my lack of ability to talk about the techical or the mechanics of hitting and pitching. My expertise about baseball if I have any, is that it requires patience and a certain detachment separate from your fandom to keep things in perspective and analyze situations. Of course my general attitude about the Sox is that I want them to succeed and I tend to focus on the small steps they are taking in a very bad situation and that there is real progress being made. That doesnt mean I think everything they do works but I dont dwell on it or let the past color my observations . Too many fans see patterns of destruction but all teams make mistakes with personnel and the amount of personnel decisions that go bad is directly related to how much you invest in them. The smaller the amount the more likely they are to not have much impact. This is why theres so much dumpster diving . JR isnt willing to invest in the future of the team anymore unless he can see a net positive like with Murakami likely to bring in a certain amount of revenue . But we havent heard anything like what Houston did before they signed Imai with the Astros building the relationship with Japanese Industrial Firm Daikin Comfort Technologies first . This helpef facilitate the Astros deeper entry into the Japanese market, assisting in the scouting and signing of Imai. It appears the Sox or JR never had the foresight to do that before signing Murakami. Hopefully having a real owner who's focus is not solely domestic based leading to hiring inexperienced front office personnel who know little about building international relationships will change once the Ishbia's take over. Make no doubt about it this is big business and we've seen enough of Jerry treating the Sox like a real estate holding for tax benefits. Maybe we all need to be brought up to speed. This is how the big boys do it.

Fun series - let’s keep it rolling!

They did it again today. Benintendi is really getting in the way. Hopefully by June or July they can just move on from him.

Did you hear the good news? That's our Sox of Guadalupe

The White Sox made a bunch of good plays on defense this weekend. Absolutely wonderful to see.

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

Man we still play so much better at home. Hope they can improve in the road soon.

Tied for the 6th best record in the AL

Sosa in....Sox win. Undefeated at home.

Good thing the Sox had Leasure, their best reliever, available to get that high leverage out in the 7th and take care of business in the 8th today. Just to be smug, I’m gonna post in the thread for today’s win also.

On a positive note, Portland is currently out of the lottery with 4 games to go. It won't happen but 2 top 15 picks in a good draft and a good chunk of cap space could make the GM job look pretty good to someone new.

If 129 WRC+, 3.3ish WAR per 162 isn't tearing it up, I'm not really sure what the expectation for Meidroth is. The home run is doing some of the heavy lifting but those aren't numbers that make you lose your starting spot on a bad team.