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this game is over Madrigal: hold my juice box

Even Yermin asked not to pitch to Grandal

The haters have piped down.

We had all the boomers whining on the west coast 9pm start. Now all the zoomers whining 10am too early.

It didn't look good the second after they made the trade.

Now that Yermin is a two way player and has proven his pitching skills, his salary demands have to be higher

Man, I was so looking forward to a morning baseball game to distract from work. Now I'm hoping for some work to come in to distract me from morning baseball. Lol.

Madrigal is having a better start to his career than Pedroia or Altuve

Nick Madrigal is a very good young player. He makes contact and puts the ball in play and makes things happen. What do you judge a player by anyway? Home runs exclusively? Madrigal reminds me of Nellie Fox

Where Nick was drafted is somewhat irrelevant at this point, but it comes up all the time. Its akin to what you paid for something is somewhat irrelevant once you own it -- all that matters is what it is worth now. We can debate until the cows come home if Madrigal was a good pick with #4. But its pointless. He is here, and he is the 2B. You can not like him because he doesn't have a huge ceiling due to his skillset, but not liking him because of where he was drafted is silly. I still feel like Madrigal is great fit for this roster. We have a ton of free swingers and guys who K a ton. He adds nice balance. I was expecting better defense and I've been hard on Nick at times for his lack of defense so far in MLB, but he's looked much better recently and still feel he's the perfect complementary piece on this roster.

I think from a pure winning standpoint position player pitching is not used enough. With a 6 run deficit in the 8th your win probability in an even match up is about 0.5%. Such a comeback does happen but basically it means you Win less than 1 in 100 of such games and saving the pen 99 times is probably worth more. There are other reasons to not do it like paying people in the stadium and people watching on TV, basically the quality of your product brand, but from a pure winning perspective teams are probably not tanking enough. I wonder if a team like the Rays which has no fans anyway will do that one day and radically tank games with big deficits using position players. That would probably cost you 2 wins over the course of a season but it would allow you to use your pen much more aggressively in the remaining games which would create extra wins.

If we get to the bottom of the 9th i'm gonna go with a big no on that one dawg.

I'm gonna say it, even though I don't want to. Mercedes had a way better inning than Gio.

Pretty soon the entire staff is going to prefer pitching to Collins

Learn to count

If anyone ever gets the opportunity to attend this game in the future, I highly recommend it. There's something unnatural but thrilling about being at an 11am game, like drinking a beer in the shower. The game start time is timed to get out when a bulk of the runners are approaching the finish line. You leave the stadium and walk a few blocks to join the huge crowds cheering everyone on, just a really fun all-around experience.

Yeah, its early so records don't mean much. But the teams the Sox have played are 37-21 in games not against the Sox.

I think that there are people on this earth that are a cut above when it comes to drive and determination. When you are a pro athlete, especially a ball player, you're already in that elite pool, then you try and separate yourself. IMO the same drive and emotional capabilities that led Kopech to throwing 100, to TJ, and to sitting out -- have led him back to this point. I respect the fuck out of that man. It makes me emotional. One day you are on top of the work, the next your forearm is dangling from your elbow and your celeb wife is saying I ain't having no more and COVID is there and there you are. You either shrink, you acquiesce to your weak self or you channel that whatever into becoming a fucking stud at your profession and in life. It's inspirational stuff. This mofo didn't just come back from TJ, he came back with his off speed stuff fully developed, he came back with the attitude that the TEAM is first and that's what matters. Fucking eh, this is the stuff life is about.

Let's keep the win steak going, if for no other reason then so we can keep up these super informative starts to the gamethreads.

A 64 win catcher? Bill Shoemaker was also the same height, and a bonafide legend. Book it. Stats need not apply if it is a player we like. 12th out of 25 qualified second basemen in "turning over the lineup and getting on base".

Yeah same. If only they had some sort of system where they could take clips of the high points of the game and clip them so we could just watch those. Maybe they could even use some sort of social media platform to distribute said clips. hmmmm, maybe a start-up idea?

Any idea if the Sox have started negotiating a long term deal with Mercedes to buy out a couple years of free agency? I’d love to see him retire in a White Sox jersey but I fear we won’t be able to keep him past arbitration years unless we get something done soon.

Well yeah that tends to happen when you stop making hate-able mistakes every game.

These hitters don’t like to see MenDick coming at them

It's also a good thing the season isn't 17 games

Personally, I think it would have to be between Jerry, Kenny, Ricky, or Tony. Jerry's instilled the family culture that makes this organization run top to bottom, Kenny's assembled a WS roster as a GM, Ricky's built a well-oiled machine, and Tony's a God of the game. All have a case to be the "face of the franchise", which is why I prefer a Mt Rushmore to accommodate all 4.

At what point is the Grandal CERA thing no longer SSS? Or do we just continue to downplay CERA as some fluky stat not worth paying attention to?

Again less about results today and more just him being a two-pitch pitcher. Just not ready for them to pay him like an ace while he has a few years left on his deal. Some on here were acting like not extending him was the worst thing ever.

It's one game. Take a step back.

Jake Lamb needs to go after this game. He has 0 value.

Vaughn should play rest of the game for Leury. Let him get more reps in a game you likely use. Also wouldn’t mind an early replacement of Collins for Abreu.

must be nice to light money on fire for enjoyment 😂

Lucas didn't have any outings like that with McCann catching him.

Every pitcher is going to have a dud. Chalk it up to early game, lack of command, w.e but he's the Ace of this staff and he's gotta be better than this

go fuck yourself

lmfao 🤡 gonna be 6-0 before the inning is over edit: 6-1, inning is so bad I forgot we even scored in the first

Robert now hitting .297

This is just silly, especially if anyone remembers Nick's only strikeout this year: the third strike was waaaaay outside the strikezone

Exactly. Shocking.

A good way to get a manager to like you is learning how to play 6 positions. Not his fault that is needed so often.

Going to get my super serum shot at 9:20 and should be back in time for first pitch

It's a hollywood script but it's definitely not like yermin's. Drafted > Popped for PEDs > Breaks hand punching teammate > Gets traded > Dates Reality TV Star > Says his elbow hurts after call-up > TJ > Public Breakup > Dates Disney Star > Public Breakup > Sits out season > Attends in-person playoff game > Starts season as a dominate reliever despite dip in velo I mean what is the awesome narrative? Despite making questionable decisions his entire adult life, Kopech has managed to be a very effective pitcher for over 10 innings?

They should have traded this loser when they had the chance.

I hope the middle of the movie includes an ass whooping of the Yankees in Iowa.

Yea a few people didn't like that he seemed farther away from the plate but I actually did. If he is too close to the plate he's chasing outside pitches off the plate. You back him off the plate and those pitches look too far away to swing at. Also closer to the plate and you get jammed too. Ideally you want Robert extending his arms and getting the sweet spot on the pitches. It forces him to use CF and RF more while still using his quick bat to turn on pitches on the inner half and down the middle. You have seen him using right and right center a lot more . And right now we need hits and contact from him.

Is Ozzie still calling Gordon Bacon?

I agree with Jack, though. Abreu is the lead by example guy, the elder statesman that shows kids the ropes and serves as the foundation. But Tim is the on-field/dugout leader that is going to get the team AND the fans fired up. He's my Mr. White Sox.

If you don’t think Yermin can still be a superstar into his 40s, you obviously haven’t been watching him. Why let him walk and play the final 10 years of his career for another team? Don’t you want him wearing a White Sox hat when he’s inducted into Cooperstown?