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Blink twice if you're being held hostage

Watch that number skyrocket when the old man finally goes...it all starts at the top

You got to know when to hold 'em, and know when to Grifold 'em.

Lots of Train song to choose from on YouTube . But I saw this one that was a minor hit for Albert Hammond in 1974 and it's been forever since I heard it.

Are you suggesting this is “good news”? I am 100% excited for Crochet to make the transition to starting, but that doesn’t mean that I think the way we’re going about it makes any sense. This dude is going to have a very strict innings limit and it’s very likely this won’t work out health wise. Having him spend the first 45 days of the season in AAA and gradually work up his innings makes much more sense to me. First, it helps protect your bullpen to open up the season. Second, it claws backs a year of control which is very important in the event he wears out in June or July. This transition should be treated like a multi-year process and to me that justifies a short stint in Charlotte. But look, if you want to get overly excited about Crochet being the first pitcher in baseball history to make his first ever major league start on Opening Day in their fourth major league season then more power to you. It just feels like the org is putting lipstick on a pig to create some fan interest. And again, I will be right there with you cheering him on come Opening Day and hoping this all works out great (and making me look stupid), but IMO it does feel like we’re taking a typical White Sox short term approach to developing him into a starter.

"The entire situation made the organization look inept and dysfunctional." This could be the catchphrase for the last 10 years at the White Sox.

This is the nastrini train sir

Why exactly should I have any confidence at all in Ethan Katz when basically I haven't seen anything positive in terms of big league pitching performance since the sticky stuff ban started?

The Athletic surveyed fanbases for 2024, unsurprisingly, Sox fans are nearly last (Rockies are #30). Last year they were #23, in 2022 they were #9. Clearly, Pedro inspires greatness! Awesome decision to keep him!

The White Sox were worse than the A's?

Keeping Pedro, in house GM hire, 100 loss season. Such an inspiration this org is!

“Let me ask YOU a question. Do you have a billion dollars for my new stadium? No? Well, I wouldn’t have paid Michael Jordan $60 million dollars, much less this Jordan Montgomery fellow!”

He started 6 games as a freshman at Tennessee, 6 games as a sophomore, and 1 as a junior going 3.1 innings, so there really is no history of being a starting pitcher.

The Sox deserve no benefit of the doubt til we see something good happening. This offseason was disgusting. Since letting Burger go for nothing, everything's been negative for good reason. Actually since the hiring of Grifol.

Like Hahn's constantly mentioning of all the FA's he finished 2nd or 3rd with, lol...had the seat at the table, etc. Won the AL Executive of the Year, so he can't possibly be THAT bad, can he?

Choo Choo this is the train to get aboard for Nastrini [x] Tremendous Stubble [x] Does not give up runs [x] Hat fits well [ ] Cy Young Will he get there?

I’m with you. I think at some point I’d prefer to be like the packers and live on later round receivers…but what separates edge and WR is good edges hit FA but only decent WR2s may hit the market and then get WR 1 money. OT though is tough, they also don’t become available.

Padres are going to trade Cease at the deadline for a better return when they are out of contention.

Solid Flunking grade. Thorpe was the centerpiece? or a 19 year old outfielder? Minimally one major league ready position player that filled a hole would have justified a trade for our Ace pitcher. If Thorpe makes the starting rotation this season and pitches well for us, then the trade will look better.

I heard Kopech hit 100 mph in his last outing out of the pen. Interesting will be if he can get the slider he had in 2021 back. He might just be built for the bullpen.

Fisher has done worse things, but JR wins through longevity. We've had 40+ years of suffering...

The Sox org is allergic to using the term 'opener' but that's essentially what this will be. I still think this has more to do with desperately trying to pump fan interest and sell a few more OD tix than it does win a game or a pitcher's development as a starter. Best case scenario IMO is that he pitches well as an opener every 5 days and is flippable come the deadline.

Why do we care about protecting the bullpen? Honest question, as I might be missing something. The way I look at it is that either... Our team is so bad that it won't matter if our bullpen is taxed. It's a lost season anyway, so why worry about the bullpen? Or... We do care about the bullpen, because there's always an outside chance we could compete in our division. And if that's the case, then I'd want Crochet making his starts in the big leagues to start the year.

Dude, you’re getting way too upset about this. People are mocking a non-story. It’s not a big deal.

How is it a “fun development” though. He’s simply the only option that’s been on the team. We have no ace and we don’t even have a #1 starter by any decent team’s standards, so you go with the guy who’s been on the team the longest. You are correct that it’s a lost season. That’s why the reactions are mostly people who just don’t care. The ones getting upset or defensive are likely just doing it as a coping mechanism due to the repeated failures of the franchise. The people upset about it are Randy Quaid in Major League. The people who don’t care are all the empty seats around him.

I'm gonna call Nastrini, Quero, Leasure, Eder, Bush and Lee the Hahn-core..

You are not alone. Fan interest in White Sox baseball seems to be at an all time low. Just like David Gilmour, a lot of Sox fans have become comfortably numb.

Just heard on the radio that Crochet hasn’t pitched 4 innings in a game since college.

I get all that but you send him to Charlotte to work as a starter, you may never see him again. I know Ray Ray thinks injuries are random, but this guy was hurt before he was drafted, and has been hurt every year he's been in the organization. Now "stretching him out" and throwing more pitches is the supposed answer from the same people who would call for a managers head if he let someone throw 130 pitches in a game. Makes no sense. He's going to get hurt, probably pretty soon. As long as they realize he's a reliever starting and don't try to do too much with him at least at the beginning, fine, whatever. But really, a closer pitching 55 innings a year is what he should be.

The White Sox

I do respect fans who remain optimistic like yourself. Believe. me, it's taken a lot to beat me down to this pessimistic wimpering excuse for a Sox fan, just about ready to 'finally' punt it and start following the Royals and Cubs since they appear to 'maybe' have a clue. Cubs more than Royals. ... I wish I could be optimistic but when I see an up the middle combo of Maldo, DeJong, Lopez truly I give up. And to pitch a guy on Opening Day who won't go more than 3 innings makes me puke to be quite frank. I love our optimistic fans like yourself. For years on this board I've stood up for some players hated by others. I never gave up my love for Oz and even in my depressed state I am grateful for 2005. Hell it's tough to beat out all other baseball teams and we at least got one in Jerry's lifetime. .... Have pity on those of us who now despise the current Sox roster and current Sox manager and GM and owner. We don't want to be this negative, believe me.

Good point. I think Garrett is going to miss his playoff start.

I'm guessing that Katz and Bannister are making this call, not really Grifol. Or if Grifol decided on it, that was based on very narrow stipulations. He's probably good to go on an inning/pitch limit, and a game/pitch limit. And they'll increase that as they feel he's able to push it. I swear, everybody believes the same dichotomy the right does about Biden - that he's an ineffective, senile simp who can't even wipe the drool off his own face, but who is masterminding the enslavement of mankind by playing 4 dimensional chess. if Grifol is an imbecile who is only being kept on because JR doesn't want to pay 2 managers at a time, why would they be letting him make key decisions like this?

“Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday’s success or put its failures behind and start over again. That’s the way life is, with a new game every day, and that’s the way baseball is.” - Bob Feller

I will say - seeing these wide receiver contracts - Mike Williams signing for $15M coming off an ACL injury - it certainly makes me want to say just take the darn receiver and deal with the having a couple holes on the dline (its too bad though - cause the Hunter deal could have bought everyone time and Bears could have 100% afforded to do it while paying Keenan).

Mariners turning Kelenic into two TJS during what is ostensibly their contention window is wild, even for that s%*# club. Watch kelenic have 2 WAR and the Ms to miss the 2nd wildcard by a game.

If we can build his value up as a high-leverage reliever, build up value and trade him.

If the Sox started on the road and Crochet started the home opener, this would be a nothing burger. Their actual opener is not really any different. Especially considering they are kicking off a 162 game exhibition season. The debate is really over whether they should give Crochet a shot to start at all. I say they should because three years of a high leverage reliever when there is no such thing as high leverage for a 65 win team is meaningless. Now, I do get the folks who want to claw back a year of service time, but that is a hard argument in the clubhouse when the alternatives in the majors would be, I don’t know, Touki Toussaint and Chad Kuhl? If Touki had been merely bad this spring, I could buy it, but his control has been so bad, it seems that over the winter he lost the concept of “throw.” Starting is Garrett’s dream. It will be fun to root for him as he tries to realize it.

TBH 29 seems too high

As far as getting the extra time back it wouldn't be an issue. It very rarely is and the Sox have valid reasons to keep him in the minors given his injury and starting pitching lack of innings history. I don't think you having a different opinion from me is a big deal. I just want him healthy and want him to succeed as a starting pitcher . If he can actually stay healthy and attain his goal I want his success to be with the Sox and not another team. Of course that's the selfish fan viewpoint. A future with healthy Crochet starting pitcher is better than the future without him. I know he rather be with the Sox than in the minors , stay healthy , pitch well and get to free agency as fast as possible and cash in . I wish him well but I'm not optimistic that your way or my way will ever work if I go by his past injuries. We'll just have to wait and see.

Yeah it’s whatever at this point. Hopefully he can get to 100 innings this year but I honestly doubt he will come close to that.

Bob Melvin/Snell connection from SD over the last two seasons...

The draft pick screwed Snell but he still gets a guaranteed $62 million over the next two years whether he performs or not. If he’s good, he can enter free agency again next year with no draft pick attached.

It absolutely does, but they have a gapping hole on the other end of Sweat, and I don’t know how you fill that spot with a true impact player unless it’s a DE no matter what in the 2nd round. With so few picks, and one already accounted for in a QB, Poles has to execute this perfectly.

This is good because the Thorpe train just got derailed. 🤣

how much use do we get out of this this year

I am very high on Nastrini. The change can really help him, and his best slider is nasty. Boy, do the Dodgers know how to draft and develop players. Remember, he was expendable to them. When he got to the Sox, he pointed out how much easier it was to advance in systems that are not good at development. Hopefully, they learn the lesson and start developing their own Nastrini.

I was also thinking Tanner Banks, although lefty-lefty wouldn't be ideal. Banks, despite the AAAA reputation, has been effective pretty much every season he's pitched in pro ball. He's never had a WHIP above 1.4. He has 100 pro starts. Now his FIP was a tad high last year, I guess because he doesn't have high K totals. And what I like best is that he minimizes the walks.

British A-Levels and IB...pretty standardized cuuriculum that looks at these issues more objectively/historically without attempting to suggest a best or ideal model. But Keynesian is the one that gets the most attention...as well as supply side 1980's Reagan/Bush/Thatcher/Stockman voodoo economics style.