WestEddy

Okay, back to ignore you go. Your misinterpretation trolling's too inane to even try to deal with.

I'll say what I wrote, and be done with it. You could just say you don't really know how to read, and leave it at that.

I'm talking about the week around Memorial Day, making evaluations about whether C. Monty would be moving towards Chicago, or they decide he needs the full year in Charlotte to cement his changes. Nobody is suggesting Monty will try a new swing, then go straight to the bigs.

My guess is that Sunday, May 25, or Thursday's off day on May 29 are both great preset deadlines for the Sox to evaluate what they have in Vaughn, their RF solutions, Sosa/Vargas, Colson at AAA, their collection of catchers, the pitching rotation, etc. That gives them a nice chance to see if Fletcher and Elko's hot couple of weeks are real, and whether whatever changes they've made are sustainable at a higher level. Same goes or C. Monty, whether he moves towards the parent club, or gets a 6 month lease in Charlotte.

Guys who the Front Office couldn't scream "GTFOH" loud enough: Orlando Cabrera - told that if he accepted the QO, they'd bench him Brett Lawrie - phantom illness Adam LaRoche - Drake Javier Vazquez - No TWTW

This is a weird headline, as the people here who seem to know have mocked me for even suggesting that fans wanting a player promoted could ever translate to a small bump in ticket sales.

I believed they retained Vaughn in the off-season, as he's an acceptable, replacement level 1B. They could have saved a couple million by seeking out a Rowdy Tellez, or reasonable facsimile, but they know what they had in Vaughn. With the way the Sox unceremoniously let TA and Yoan walk, I doubt there's any inner-politics over keeping Vaughn on. If Vaughn came out and raked like June of 2024 (.337/.371/.561) for a couple of months, he's a valuable commodity. They're probably also threatening the Twins for 4th place. I'd imagine they're giving him until Memorial Day to do anything. That's a fair 1/3 season sample size to make a decision. I agree with you that they could cut him now, and nobody would care. As I've said, I was ready for them to move on this last off-season. I'd imagine that if Elko's exhibiting a new approach, they'd like to make sure it's ingrained, and he's not going to start expanding the zone after his first three 0-5's. Believe me, I want him on the Sox as much as everyone here. I just think there's a strategy that goes beyond an owner or GM unwilling to admit a mistake, or even dumb, blind optimism.

I find them audaciously ugly, like the '77 collared tops, or the 83 softball unis.

They're not keeping Vaughn on the major league club because they're afraid for his psyche. Yes, there's the 1:3 pedigree, but there's also that reservoir of immense, untapped talent. I'm all for a swap of Vaughn for Elko right now. Dalbec earned the same shot that Elko did, so they'd have to DFA Amaya, or even slap Slater or Varland on the 60-day IL. But I do understand that the org isn't all that sold on Elko as a a long term piece, and that they're going to let their plan for Vaughn play out to the end before they make any move. And even then, there might be a few guys in front of Elko to fill Vaughn's spot.

I would think that Vaughn has the month of May to pull his s%*# together and hit. If he does, maybe he's gone in trade, if he doesn't, then they take a hard look at Elko. I don't think Vaughn is so overpaid that if they DFAed him, another team wouldn't take a flier for the $4.5M that they'll catch his hot month. I have no idea what this narrative is you're trying to establish about minor league players becoming disenchanted with their life choices because of the bottlenecks of talent that they've competed in from 9 years old on. The ones who are so easily demotivated were weeded out in Freshman year of high school.

Got it. Vaughn was supposed to be veteran ballast that supported the .450 OPSes of guys like Sosa and Vargas as they got their footing. I thought they should have left camp with an Elko/Colas platoon for 1B. Sosa would suffice, also. I like the idea of Elko, but I think that in the long run, and short run, pitchers would figure him out, and he'd almost look like Vaughn, a league average hitter at a position that calls for increased production.

I'm chilly willy, dude. Sorry for the mix-up.

I guess for as much as an infielder whisperer that Ron Washington is, he can't increase ballplayer IQ.

I'm not sure what you're arguing. You seem to be implying that there is a fan craving for kids to play at pass/fail, but it's a joke that the fan craving would turn into foot traffic. In which case, who cares what fans want? You guys are clearly saying fans won't show up if they get the players that online influencers are telling them they want.

Isn't that what an organization should be doing with their top talent? Are they supposed to let him languish at AAA for 3 years, striking out and putting up .150/.280/.300 slash lines until they DFA him? Colson's a prospect. They're backing him off for one on one help at the complex. I'm not sure how you feel they should proceed.

Did they run this by his agency coaches?

Just assume that I'm constantly creaming in my pants. All day, every day.

Sosa's defense has actually improved to "middling". He ranks at the end of the middle third of 2B with 60+ PAs. I think his absolute ceiling is as a 2-WAR utility/DH. Of course, when better players come along, he should be pushed out. I think he would be a more productive 1B than Vaughn. A Meidroth/Sosa double play combo works for a rebuilding season. As he gets a few years older, he might have enough power numbers to cover LF adequately, again, until Wolkow or someone pushes him out.

Sosa's young, can hit at some level, and as he ages, he's going to add power. I don't ever see him as being above an average major leaguer, but he's certainly a guy who can play 1B, LF, or DH until they bring up somebody to knock him out of his spot. Baldwin's the only one who seems to be at or below replacement level. I don't know exactly how positional WAR works, but B-R might be dinging him for moving around and not building up a body of work at a single position so a miscue doesn't count against his time at that position as much.

Sure. Those are the guys who will be added to the ones listed. I don't see this core as world beaters, but it's a nice, home-grown bunch who can put up winning seasons while they either add in free agency, or start trading the guys in arbitration, a la the Tampa Bay Rays.

Looking at FanGraphs, Miguel Vargas is tied for 8th highest fWAR among qualified 3B. (tied with Manny Machado at 0.6 fWAR.) He's also ranked 9th best defense in the game right now. If you have a 2-3 fWAR 3B, really just based on his defense, so far, that's a win. If the hitting is real, you have a keeper that you maybe even start talking about an extension at some point soon. He could certainly be a place-holder for Colson or Caleb Bonemer. A 3+ WAR place-holder is nice.

Tim Elko was picked in the 10th round of the 2022 draft. His bonus was $35k. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Tim Elko knows what he is and isn't becoming "alienated" by waiting for Vaughn to fail out, get injured or be traded.

For Robert, yes. Vaughn has only settled into this slow ramp-up last year, and now it seems to be his norm, going forward.

Prove you wrong about what? You want "young" players starting, results be damned. You have 5 positional starters with less than 2 years' service time. You have 4 starting pitchers with less than 1 year's service time, and 5 relievers with years of cheap control. That's 14 players you could be watching for the next 4+ years that Getz has put together for you. You've gotten exactly what you've been screaming for. Prove yourself right.

I would also imagine they've sat him down, mapped out what they want to see from him, and have given him a rough timeline of what could possibly happen if he met his marks.