Richie

Devers went full ret*rd

Yeah, I mean, who didn't obliterate Giolito last year? I've already cut his career into two parts. I think he's earned that benefit of the doubt.

We'll have to see how true that is when they meet again on the south side. It sucks his one bad outing came against the Cubs, but they do just happen sometimes.

Mookie has looked overmatched against Lucas in each AB thus far.

Another nice thing about Giolito's improvement - when he does give up the occasional HR there's usually nobody on.

Always good to see Yoan swing well from the right side. If Giolito returns to form, we may already be in good shape... but let's see.

I guess that depends on where Cease is at in his development. I might be a bit more skeptical than a lot of people on him right now. I don't think he's this "ready to succeed, big league pitcher" that 90% of this board seems to believe he is currently. I think he's close, but people seem to ignore his issues in Charlotte simply due to the fact that Despaigne, Banuelos, etc. have been so bad. He would have to come up and at least post respectable numbers in order to garner a spot ahead of Kopech in the rotation. We should see him in the 2nd half of the season.

Yeah, I had labrum surgery in college ball. Totally different thing, though. The two pitchers I played with who had TJ felt good after a year or so... and it seems like the majority of big leaguers say the same. I guess I'm just going off of what I've heard. My sister is an orthopedic surgeon, but I sure as hell ain't. lol

He is unknown, but damn if he didn't look sharp in his three outings which preceded the Detroit/injury game. I know, I know... horrendously small sample size and that's a homer viewpoint. I think you have to count on him falling into the #3/#4 range, though. Do we have a choice?

That would seem to be an outlying example and not the norm.

Early on, especially in spring training and April/May? Sure. Outside of missing the time, there's nothing with TJ which should result in command issues. He should actually start bullpens relatively soon. That and spring training will be for "shaking the rust off". Saying he should be viewed as a 5th starter is silly, I'm sorry to say. Outside of missing the full year - Tommy John is essentially a non-issue for pitchers these days once they've completed rehab. The surgery and recovery is truly phenomenal.

Opening day 2020 will be a year and a half removed from Kopech's UCL injury/TJ surgery. Barring a setback, I don't see how he isn't ready to go.

Because Leury is the future CF of our contending window...??? And calling Abreu a bum is hyperbole at its finest.

Last I heard, pitch framing sabermetrics have been a subject of debate for a while. However, if I am wrong about that - I digress. I never watch a game and fall under the impression that McCann is anything but a solid pitch framer. I know his CS% is elite and that his defensive WAR is currently the equivalent to Austin Hedges defensive WAR.

McCann is an elite pitch receiver, blocker and thrower from behind the plate. McCann is 2nd among active catchers in CS% at 37.1. He only trails Yadier Molina who sits at 40% https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/caught_stealing_perc_active.shtml

If OPS was the lone metric to measure offensive output... You MIGHT have a point. However, no... 88 points in OPS is not in a different world, his AVG/OBP are superior and as of yesterday McCann has passed Sanchez in WAR. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mccanja02.shtml https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mccanja02.shtml

Nothing here changes the fact that voodoo isn't real and that Bennetti's commentary has nothing to do with the outcome of a baseball at-bat. He also is not in the dugout or within ear shot of the players. What a shock that a home run or a "wayward fastball" doesn't happen most of the time when he brings it up... They usually happen like every other AB! You can say that you don't like it. However, trying to cement your argument with "it's magically changing the outcome" isn't exactly convincing. And the army abiding by superstition is understandable. The stakes are as high as they could possibly be. It doesn't make it real... but it makes them more comfortable. That doesn't mean a crippled dude in a booth 100 feet away from a baseball game is working magic.

Amen... A-FRIGGIN-MEN Making some cliche'd, tired argument about Reinsdorf/Hahn is so lazy. It takes two brain cells to toss the blame their way for everything. No one is impressed... and we all get it. Not only is no one impressed, but making it your default response to everything isn't even a relevant point of view. Here's an interaction you can find here every day.... *Insert the same argument made in every SoxTalk thread about the White Sox FO* "Well, here's a part of your argument which I must disagree with" "APOLOGIST! APOLOGIST! ALL YOU DO IS APOLOGIZE! APPPPOOOOLLLLOGGIIIIIISTTTT! REISNDORF REINSDORF REINSDORF... HAHN HAHN HAHN... SOMETHING BULLS... SOMETHNG 30 YEARS... SOMETHING SOMETHING REINSDORF AGAIN! SOMETHING SOMETHING NO ONE ELSE WOULD PUT UP WITH THIS! *MORE KEYBORD VOMIT*" "Yeah, I wasn't even arguing with that... I just pointed out that you made an inaccurate and/or silly point in your post." *MORE KEYBOARD VOMIT* "Okay, I give up"

Who the hell is an apologist? Who are you talking to exactly? I think this front office has been HORRIBLE for a long time. "Whoa everyone! Did this guy just b*tch about Jerry Reinsdorf and the Bulls/Sox front office? Watch out folks! We have a real edgy mf'er over here! What a profound and unique point of view! We have never heard this on SoxTalk! This guy just tells it how it is. No BS getting past him! He ain't taking your guff! SILLY APOLOGISTS! Ha!" Not everyone who points out a flaw in a post of yours has some agenda that they're pushing that runs contrary to yours. You said something ridiculous and I pointed it out. It is that simple, sir. You can tell it was a silly statement, because instead of defending it - you went off singing the star spangled banner in response to me.

The "hindsight oracles" need to stop with this... It's so easy to sit here now and say this. Give it a rest. Would ya? Christ almighty. Buster Olney reported all along that the White Sox were Harper and Machado's safety net. It was never their first choice and it was never totally out of the equation either. It went down exactly how it was reported it would if other teams came through with superior or equal offers. There is nothing to indicate that Machado and Harper were sitting around thinking about a Bulls contract that went down in the 90's and ruling out a team because of it. Especially if that team would have had the best offer. "This team gave me the best offer, but I don't want their money because they paid a basketball player... but they cried too much about it 30 years ago!" For the love of god with you people.

We also squandered god knows how many potential rallies. It was a very frustrating series.

Huh? They're 3rd in all of baseball in runs scored. 3rd in runs per game with 5.56 So, actually... you will RARELY win by scoring just four

Yeah, we're going to be 10 games below .500 soon. IMO

No shit... Usually I'm the one telling people that. lol So, no need to inform me. It doesn't mean I can't root for a miracle.