Look at Ray Ray Run

10th in power jajajajajaja I mean, I see regression, but going from the most prestigious HR hitting team in MLB history to the 10th best power team in one year, after adding Josh Donaldson, is really really stupid.

I'm confused why the Mets are about the Twins; not us. The Twins being so low is baffling, and I'm one of those who isn't buying all-in on last year for the Twins, but 12th is still stupid low.

Mazara is about average, and they have 4 guys who have 60-70 grade speed.

Super confused how the Sox are 7th in speed. Also confused how the team #1 in lineup balance can rank so low. Also, how is it possible that one of the better offenses in MLB history is 12th while the NY Mets are third?

Has anyone heard further info on the Field of Dreams game tickets? Would love to take my old man, and imagine I'll have to buy on the secondary market, but have no idea when they go on sale initially.

The problem is that data really doesn't tell us anything, but for frequency; we don't have count knowledge for example - if they are banging on 0-2 or 1-2 and their OPS is 40 points higher than normal, it's still below average production but better than expected. There are a lot of variables that aren't accounted for in that generalist view; even citing raw home vs road splits takes out a lot of elements of competition and etc.

This is wrong imo. Look at OPS by count - knowing a fastball is coming on 3-0 3-1 is a huge advantage for a batter. It's not a bigger advantage than steroids - that's absurd - but it's certainly a big advantage to know off speed or fastball. Timing and adjusting your hands and staying back are the toughest elements of hitting imo; although I could never hit a slider so I'm bias. The players who don't like to know are reaction hitters they're entire life and they're typically so gifted it doesnt matter.

Everyone can hate dusty all they want, but he's well liked and thought of in baseball circles.

Managers would be lining up around the block to take over that roster. None of them care about the GM.

People think ricky will play yolmer a lot because ricky played him over alen hansen and some other bums. Pretty funny.

I actually kind of like A-Rod.

I have no problem with a woman on the broadcasts; I just think she was bad in general. Men certainly are bias against women announcers for unwarrented reasons - for example, everyone hates on Doris Burke and Doris is fine and she really understands the game and her knowledge is shown. Mendoza was just a players apologist who did this acting as a "friend" to players and not an analyst. She's also a moron who promoted cheating.

Just to clarify this point, as the media is wrongly clarifying what the pilot was said. That relay is given many times a day - according to someone in ATC - and it's not a warning at all. It's merely being said to let them show they're not on radar, so they can't give you any additional information since they do not show up on radar. They are not telling the pilot he is flying too low; they are telling him he's too low to report/show up.

What an embarrassment the Pirates are in general. They should be forced to sell; running a 42 million dollar payroll yet they still benefit from revenue sharing. Comical. A floor scares people, but there should be a revenue sharing floor - in order to qualify for RS, you need to spend a certain amount of money. This would prevent small teams like the Pirates from investing nothing and banking millions.

Why would the White Sox trade Tim Anderson for Nick Senzel? Anderson is under contract for 5 years meaning Senzel only has 1 more year of control and Senzel is only 2 years younger than Anderson

Cooper appears to have been sold this by his own players - like Giolito. That said, all credit goes to Cooper for being willing to evolve with the times and change for the better of his players. Not all coaches - especially not those with the immense track record of Cooper - are willing to evolve. Cooper very clearly is all-in with these guys, and I think it's very clearly going to pay off. I have always felt Cooper was a master of the mental side of pitching coaching - which is one of, if not the biggest, battles pitchers face - and if he can combine that with some sound data analysis it makes him a special coach for these guys.

Looks fantastic guys; nice job. Much better than chicagonow which always felt like a personal blog.

Something interesting from the Athletic article today: Kopech isn't on an innings cap, per se: Rather than the now-archaic idea of a simple innings cap, the White Sox will monitor Kopech’s pitch data for signs of decline and fatigue to decide when to pull the reins on his 2020 season. But it’s also clear they’re planning on tilting his schedule toward a delayed arrival in Chicago, rather than an early shutdown. “He’ll start the season as a normal guy,” head trainer Brian Ball said. “We’re going to try to take pressure back away from him. He knows the plan. I’m not making any announcements but we’re not looking for him to be on the Opening Day roster necessarily. We don’t want to put a lot of pressure on him at this point. We want him to go out and pitch, be comfortable.”

https://theathletic.com/1563110/2020/01/27/we-look-at-the-numbers-every-day-white-sox-tout-technology-usage-in-scouting-player-development/?source=shared-article Another deep dive into the White Sox all-in mentality pertaining technology and data analysis; spearheaded by Cooper and his team. Some quotes from the article; “You have to have evaluation and you have to have technology — we want scouts that can use both,” Shirley said. “We’re trying to define who’s got the best fastball. Who’s got the best fastball command? Who’s got the best fastball stuff? Who’s got the best axis on it? Who’s got the best spin rate, who’s got the most carry on their fastball? This is the stuff our technology pieces are looking at.” “There’s a fallacy going on that I’m so old school I don’t care about the numbers,” pitching coach Don Cooper said. “That couldn’t be further from the truth. We look at the numbers every day. We have the Rapsodo out every day. We have the high-speed camera out every day. Because you want every tool you can have that’s going to help.” But he also reeled off motion and pitch-tracking systems Trackman, BlastMotion, K-Vest and Rapsodo by name. He broke down for fans how scouts use force plates to measure how players are pressing their feet into the ground during their swings, and how the correlation to bat speed has become requisite knowledge for his army of 17 area scouts. Seems like the Sox have caught up quickly, and have likely already passed the Cubs in their analytics department.

I agree hype doesn't always transpire into results, but I just don't think these guys are comparable. Beckham played up the middle and was drafted 8th; Vaughn plays a position that is never drafted that high, but he was an exception to that rule because he is so amazing.

Wow, so Reds gave him an opt out at end of 2020 and 2021.

He was a nice player, but he wasn't a generational bat in college by any means. Vaughn was a generational bat; his sophomore year was better than Beckham's best year despite playing with the new bats and suppressed offense.

Those are two legit good points though; I'll give Steve that. If someone was willing to give me long odds on Madrigal, I'd be willing to bet he breaks camp with the team. If he has a huge spring, I think he puts the pressure on and I think they go for it and call him up.

Who ever said Gordon Beckham was the greatest college hitter they saw? Gordon had a nice junior year, but he wasn't a better college hitter than Buster who was drafted the same year (he wasn't even close) and he wasn't better than Pedro Alvarez that year either. I don't think anyone ever said he was the best college hitter; let alone the best they saw. Vaughn has been in the argument for top 10ish ever. Beckham's junior was amazing, 1323 OPS and he hit 411. Buster had a 1445 ops and hit 463!

Yeah, I don't get it at all. Why sign Castellanos to move Senzel? Senzel was one of your high variance/high upside pieces that could push your projected win total north of what it is. Replacing Senzel with Castellanos/Moustakas seems like a really poor strategy; doing it to get Lindor for 2 years makes it even worse. They should be keeping Senzel unless their internal valuations of him are lower after what they just saw.