WestEddy

The only thing we'll get in a Clevenger trade is not paying him the final $1 million of his contract. I'd be surprised if they even got back a AAA utility infielder for him. At this point, I'm pretty numb from the first 4 games. I don't like Clevenger, and don't want him on this team. But if signing this lunkhead creates a softer landing for Nastrini, and creates any stability in the rotation over the course of the season, fine. I can just ignore him, and hope he's availing himself of the support MLB has promised to help him grow up. I'm disappointed in the Sox for going this route. Zack Greinke and Johnny Cueto are still unsigned.

I don't really think Clevenger makes any difference beyond pulling 50 innings away from the bullpen (meaning he pitches 150 instead of some lesser dude's 100), keeping Nastrini out of the majors for a month, and maybe making eventual decisions later in the year easier (ramping down Crochet, trading/cutting Soroka and Flexen). With Eloy possibly down, they need a bat.

And seriously, when the Sox don't set their loss record, will you be summoning all of the a-holes who predicted that to tell us why they were so wrong?

Yeah, I said our bullpen could be good. It just strikes me that if we took one from Detroit and lost by one today, everybody would be saying small sample size.

Well, I was doing pulmonary tests at Rush, so I was only observing the game on CBSsports. Maddening. I'm not sure what rip cords I'm going to pull. I'm a White Sox fan. I had an uncle who was a Chicago Cardinals fan. He fucking hated the Bears. When they moved to St. Louis, he became a Packers' fan. I'm a Sox fan. It's a slog. I'm sad about Clevenger. Maybe if the Sox are so irresponsible, they'll make him throw 210 pitches in his first start, and he will morph, and have two left hands on his tally-whacker, and nothing on his shoulders. Then he'll seek out and rape Trevor Bauer. Then all of baseball's troubles will be over.

Cousins also had a few years of control, and an option. It just looks like roster crunches, right?

Eloy was 2-11. I'll take my chances with Lenyn Sosa catching fire.

Knights finally win, 6-2. Sosa, Colas and Chuckie look good.

The offense does. Maybe Grossman will eventually replace Eloy.

You were arguing that no pitching matters unless you see it in the official stats. I never did anything but laugh at that.

4. Wander into other conversations arguing with anything to prove ... something. Oh, wait. That's you.

I've been watching since 71. Most times, yes, they suck.

I brought up Schultz as an example of a different way of ramping up a pitcher. It wasn't hard to understand. Schultz's and Crochet's programs are different. They're different pitchers with different issues. Crochet pitched 54+ innings 3 of 4 years, then was drafted. I would imagine if he hit 100 innings in June/July, they'd ramp him down to 3 inning opener on a 5 day program, or something less. Or pull him once through the lineup with tougher lineups. I don't know. I would think Getz would be calling Grifol into his office as soon as he lets Crochet throw a 120 pitch complete game. Grifol is a horrible communicator, let the clubhouse get completely out of hand, but I think it presses the edge of credibility to think that he's going to kill a pitcher trying to go 21-50 instead of 20-51. That's great that most of the board is concerned about Crochet. I don't think that concern is reflected in making up insane counter-arguments to just dig in and argue a faulty point.

Okay, Baghdad Southsider. LOL. All your rehab inning are belong to us!

If I want to have an intelligent and fact based discussion, you're probably not on the list.

And I'm pretty much saying the same thing over and over, to correct the BS strawmen that keep coming up.

I keep coming back to wondering why you even root for this team. If they're such colossal failures, why are you named after them? Are you one, too?

Different pitchers are different situations. I would be more concerned if they had a cookie cutter response to every pitcher in the organization. You would too. Crochet just went through a full year of rehab. Schultz had been "pitching" at high school for about 3 years.

The difference in what? At this point, I'm really not interested in going around with a person who is merely arguing just to argue. Seems like you're now admitting that Crochet actually threw baseball to live hitters in game play more than the 25 innings he threw between the majors and minors last season. You could have done that 4 pages ago.

You're right. You're not watching me twist myself into a pretzel.

Defend? I guess I defend because I don't see the point of the senseless attacks. I asked before, and CWS dude tried to derail it, do you feel they're bringing Noah Schultz along responsibly? Sounds like that's the exact program they're doing with him. So I don't see how you would have no confidence in the Sox pitching department when they're doing the very thing you describe on a young, inexperienced prospect, hitting the pros right out of high school. So the guys who you must feel are bringing Schultz along responsibly, have made a different decision in regards to Crochet, and you have no confidence in them to make that decision? I don't get it. The clock's ticking on Crochet. They have 3 years to develop him as a starter. Dropping him back down to AAA for a season might not sit well with the union or agent, regardless of what Crochet said he'd do.

What name did I call you? Perhaps you want to be called "Baghdad Balta", and you're sad because you don't warrant the attention? I am stating that you are ridiculous person. You can't concede any part of any argument, either. Because you need to win, you will not admit that Crochet threw any baseballs outside of game play between his TJS and spring training of this year. It would be easy enough to just toss off a "sure, he's probably been on a comprehensive, monitored throwing program..." but that is a bridge too far. He has thrown zero pitches, and for anybody to even suggest that he's thrown in games that aren't indicated on the back of his baseball card is now a conspiracy theory. If you don't find that notion ridiculous, you're just proving my point. And now that your silly argument is emitting smell of death, you switch to tedious claims of being called a name when you weren't. Crochet will either be injured this year, or he won't. If he is, you can crow about it and high five all the other nay-sayers and claim you were right. If he doesn't, you'll still claim to be right and call it lucky. The chances are that Crochet will get injured, because he's gotten injured every single season he's pitched. If he's so fragile as you're afraid he is, he should probably break down during his second start. If not, maybe the problem all along is that he wasn't being used enough. Who knows? I'm pretty sure you don't.

I have read the 90-100 innings. I don't remember where. I don't see the issue with him pitching half a season as a starter, then getting ramped down, or whatnot. I believe he's been injured every season he's pitched. So if he gets injured again, it's not going to be some great "AHA! I told you so!!" moment. Just letting Crochet pitch in any capacity is "just asking for trouble". Crochet has stated, and maybe the team agrees with him, that he'd do better with a regular 5-day program of throwing instead of the chaotic up and down as a bullpen reliever. So if they're going to do the unthinkable, and allow him to continue to pitch, why not do so in a more orderly fashion. He would throw just as hard in minor league games as he would in major league games. Nobody has been able to explain why, if you have a very good pitcher like Crochet, why you'd want to bury him in the minor leagues and not let him pitch because he might get injured. Every single pitcher might get injured while pitching. And Crochet threw as many pitches as he did in his final spring training game.

I suppose when your entire waking hours are spent spouting pearl-clutching nonsense, you have to make up quotes to give some semblance of cred to it. You know what? You're right. No baseball player should throw a baseball until 4 full years after his TJS. You are a ridiculous person.