WestEddy

Baseball games are the best way to spend time with my nephew and his kids. Sorry, I won't be boycotting my family just to support a bunch of cranks who hate everything, anyway.

I like all of Getz's moves except Maldonado and don't see the point of Moustakas, but if it keeps Sheets off the team, I'll allow it. Pedro Grifol could just sit in the team bus during games, and I really don't care what he has to say, at this point.

Is there a blog or message board Reinsdorf reads where he might actually see the vitriol?

And if you think that me suggesting that the next step would be to try Thompson as a reliever, then teach him a knuckler is "ripping" on him, you're way more sensitive than I am.

I say that Thompson's lost all prospect momentum, because nobody who evaluates Sox prospects considers Thompson to be an important prospect to pay attention to anymore. Perhaps you can put out your own top 30 so we can marvel. You don't seem to be able to sense when somebody's making a joke. That's too bad.

Who's ripping Thompson? He's lost all prospect momentum, and now he's a project. He's not bad. He's just not standing out from the guys behind him. I'm not alone in that assessment, either, as he has fallen off of pretty much all prospect evaluators' radar. you keep ignoring that. You also seem to ignore that, all things being equal, a left-handed pitcher has a bit more value than a righty due to rarity. You think the Sox have too many, already. I just find it weird that you don't think an organization ever gets to trade a player until there's no possible way any other team can see him as useful. Maybe there were still some fixes they could work with Scott Ruffcorn on. I think they cut bait there, too soon.

He did in Kannapolis. I guess he forgot everything Chris Getz personally taught him when the Cubs meddled.

Sammy Peralta, one of 6 lefty relievers at AA or AAA.

Matt Thompson is no longer a "prospect", as we use that word. He has quietly slipped off all but one top 30 lists. So, Getz is at a crossroads with Thompson. Do they now start working with him as a reliever? And when he still can't throw strikes, teach him a knuckleball? Then when that doesn't work, try him at 2B? Or they can deal him as a change-of-scenery candidate, or possible reliever, and get some value for him. And yes, a AAA lefty who is getting good reviews in his sick stuff is definite value. It's about resources. They have limited pitching coach resources at each level, so they can either work with Thompson, yet again, on figuring out anything that will get him to throw strikes more consistently, or they can use those limited resources on the wave of 5-7 guys right behind Thompson who already throw strikes and have a lot more helium in their own prospect cases. This move is completely in line with the rebuild. The last 3 trades brought back 4 players, each with 6 years of major league control.

squeeze bunt RBI by Remillard after Stassi triple.

Nice, fast 2 innings by Deivi Garcia.

Radio broadcast at MLB.com https://www.mlb.com/padres/video/sd-cws-spring-training-audio-91076

That's great news. I believe they were targeting the All-Star game for his return. Maybe they're not using the 60-day IL on him for a reason...

Horn is closer to the bigs, and is left-handed. Whether you choose to recognize that as a plus or not is meaningless. the Sox just watched Horn pitch up close last Friday, and probably saw a pitcher who was workable. Thompson sure looks like he stalled out, Rick Hahn's empty praise aside. I certainly wish Thompson and Mena well. I cringe at the guys who call players "hot garbage" and such. I seriously don't know if I'm not getting a inside site joke, or something. I remember the online blow-ups over at SouthSideSox when Jim Margalus ran it - over the trade of Jake Peter, or cutting Jordan Guerrero, two guys who brushed the bottom of the top ten for truly awful White Sox prospect lists back in the early-mid teens. You're advocating for never trading or cutting anybody except for 6 years of a sure-fire, can't miss #1 prospect who is 22 or younger. We all need to have dreams, but that's not really the way baseball works. MLB now has an organizational limit on players, and I'd rather the Sox concentrate on catching the 17-year-olds with stuff and working with them instead of pounding their heads against the wall with a guy who hasn't really clicked in 4 minor league seasons.

To me, the funniest part of all of this is the pivot from calling Mike Elias some uncomplimentary names for not wanting to jettison multiple top-20 in the game prospects for Dylan Cease - to prospect hugging on a guy who is getting passed on the depth chart by pitching titans, like Chase Solesky. Left-handed relievers are a commodity.

Bailey Horn isn't a starting pitcher. Through injuries, failures and a glut of DFAs at the end of ST, I'm sure they'll be okay.

It's really a chicken and egg situation with drafting vs. development, with a side of KW/Hahn jerking the top picks around by rushing them to the major league bullpen ahead of schedule. The organization is developing pitchers, with guys like Chase Solesky and Christian Mena even passing Thompson to AAA. They have a group of guys right behind him in Kohl Simas, Jonathan Cannon, Tyler Schweitzer, Connor McCullough, Josimar Cousin, and Juan Carela. They still have Eder, Nastrini, Bush, and another 3-4 veterans to keep fresh at AAA, where frankly, they don't have the innings at AA or AAA to fart around with this guy anymore.

Matt Thompson's already in Rule 5 territory. The whole league had a shot to nab him for $50k, and took a pass. And depending how MLB handles the 2020 COVID season, he could be a minor league free agent after this season.

I guess they're still not a full week into games, but it's weird they have as many catchers as pitchers at the game.

They have Davis Martin waiting for a 60-day IL, too. I liked Smith-Njigba. He passed through the 8 worst teams twice. Fangraphs seems to think he's a AAAA player. He just doesn't seem to be well regarded.

And it's not a lot of bullpen-only lefty arms for a team with horrible reliever depth in the high minors to sift through in spring training.

And here we go with the digging in to the point where Bailey Horn will be the worst pitcher in all of baseball history in about 4 volleys. Matt Thompson was going nowhere. We've established that. Getz grabbed an interesting lefty arm that he probably knew pretty well. The NRIs are either going to force the issue, or they won't and will be let go at their particular deadlines. I really don't understand all the hand-wringing over one 40-man roster spot. Declan Cronin bounced around a few times. There will probably be a few days at the end of ST where everybody's DFA-ing dudes, and only the cream of the crop will get grabbed. If Horn is so problematic, he'll easily wind up in Charlotte.

I didn't see him making the team this year, honestly. Touki does the same thing, only better.