WestEddy

I think a good 4 guys in the starting lineup don't make the team out of camp, but it's nice to see the starters putting up runs instead of our AAA guys against A-ball pitchers.

I agree that Rate isn't "must see". I agree with SS2k5 that it was out of style the day it opened. It's a perfectly passable game experience. It most likely is a bottom 5 (or worse) visit for the non-Sox fan.

And he's under 26. Weird how those three guys in the under 26 listicle thread didn't mention him.

The Giants quietly installed CPAP machines in their bullpen so pitcher could take more restful naps.

SouthSideSox recap by Year of the Hamster: White Sox Results: Battle of league-worsts ends in walk-off bomb | South Side Sox

These kids talk way too fast. It's not like he's bringing twice the info as anyone else, either.

CHGO Podcast.

Yes, I have seen one of these describe it as crumbling.

Well, Merk jinxed it from the outset:

I agree that sitting in Safeco is breath-taking, or the skyline from Jacobs' Field (Progressive Field?) Park rankings are listicles. And most of them are by people who haven't visited all 30 parks. I make the assiduous decision to stop reading the ones that describe parks that have nothing to do with what they purport to be describing. And many of these take lazy whacks at Rate by calling it "crumbling" or "dangerous".

Most of the listicles I see takes swipes at the park that tell me the writer hasn't visited. They describe it as crumbling, dangerous. Newspapers are laying off writers or just closing the doors. Like eHow is going to pay somebody to visit 30 ballparks and rank them? I'm sure most of the criticism comes from people reading previous reviews and regurgitating.

Well, Kelenic ain't making the team with groundouts like that.

Oh yeah. That's ridiculous. Baldwin's a great asset. I think they don't want to nail him down in one single position. And yes, they're stocking up on OF options, the same thing they did in the infield.

The team isn't run by a consortium of commenters. The Sox have a small bunch of 2-year contracts that could roll over into next year if this team plays around .500 ball.

I suppose I give more weight to the way the Sox rolled out Kelenic's signing, and the way they're talking about him. I don't disagree with your take that Kelenic should start the season in AAA and get his mind right out of the spotlight. I just think he's got a real shot to make the team with a strong spring and an air of maturity.

No. You argue that everybody on the Sox is trade fodder, but guys with less control on the Twins aren't. "We know how Reinsdorf operates" and "decades of precedent" are meaningless code for "I have no argument, so I'll keep deflecting". The point, which you seem to want to obscure, is the Sox don't have to experience unprecedented luck in order to get their win total into the mid-70s.

Buxton, Bell. If Kelenic with 3+ years of control is surely trade fodder, then Larnach with 2 years of control must be, right? I'm not sure what you're even scoring, and how it matters. That makes for a nice pre-series writeup, but the games are played on the field. I don't see how comparing position players against each other affects the eventual White Sox win total. You think 75 wins means nothing at all went wrong all year. I've laid out multiple times how I feel that just a better bullpen and a little growth that outpaces the regression could get the team into the mid-upper 70s in wins.

The team wasn't buoyed by pitcher health. Beyond Houser and a very short stretch by Civale, Smith was the stand-out, albeit with a rough stretch in the middle, and Davis Martin got close to major league average production. If a couple of these guys get more consistent, you have a better staff. If you don't, they're probably replaced by better options.

What are you even comparing? Sox are still rebuilding and the Twins seem to be teetering on a complete teardown. Twins will most likely be trading a bunch of those guys this July. I'm not sure how assuming Baldwin would produce at a level he just did for two months in the bigs is crazy talk, but writing an 18-year-old A-ball catcher (Tait) into a lineup and grading him over two 2nd year catchers is perfectly reasonable.

"Track record for decades" is deflection. They have a development staff in place now that had nothing to do with the mis-development of Jason Dellaero and Scott Ruffcorn. Not sure how development in the 1980s impacts anything going on in Arizona this month. That said, I don't care about the Cardinals or Rays. Both have fallen on a lull, and maybe we shouldn't talk about them until they have their systems humming again? Nobody's saying that Baldwin should have his eventual results erased and .300/.400/.500 written into his stat line at the end of the season. Of course the games need to be played. But if we're going to "calm down" and wait until the Sox develop players for 30 years before we can speculate, maybe that goes for assuming failure based on what happened "decades ago".

"Let's have an entire season play out before we even begin to speculate on it" is odd. Nobody really gets on the people predicting a 4th 100-loss season or resetting the loss record to hold their horses until things play out. Why is that? Guessing that a bat-first utility guy will hit isn't really "getting crazy". This same team just played at a 70-win clip from the ASB on, last year. That was a team with injuries, slumps and losing streaks. I'd expect some development, and some regression. 75 wins is based more on a stronger bullpen and development out-pacing regression by a bit.

Baldwin's hit everywhere and just turned in a strong two months in the bigs after mashing at AAA. It's silly to play the "there are no givens" game. If we're speculating, we have to make some assumptions.

Fegan's sox notes: White Sox notes: Chase Meidroth wants to stay grounded, but not his contact - Sox Machine - Meidroth working on leg kick - Lenyn wants to be more aggressive earlier - Burke happy with slider - Mune speed-learning 1B - Bergolla respects dad's game, but wants more "pop"