Look at Ray Ray Run

I agree with almost everything you say about player injuries and the true decision makers being the players. That said, it is absolutely the teams job to protect a player from himself. When you're aware of a situation and then see supporting evidence indicating it's negative impact, you need to stop listening to the player and react immediately. That doesn't mean forcing treatment but it absolutely means removing him from the game when you see things like large Velo declines, lesser RPM's, variance in release point. Amazingly enough often times metrics will show fatigue or injury sooner than the person will express the condition.

He was complaining of back issues. Talked his way into pitching. The team proceeds to start him and let him throw lesser stuff for 4+ innings. In my opinion, that's 3 innings too many.

While I agree with most that you said, they should be monitoring things like Velo and react more quickly than they did.

Wrigley is awful. Worst park I've ever been to.

Still a top 3 crazy baseball stat of all-time.

I just hope that number is somehow wrong. Even cutting that rate in half and hes still terrible. Joey votto went like a decade hitting about 5 infield flies.

Crochet is arguably the best pitcher in baseball. The prize prospect they got was in the 40's. They could have done much better had Garrett even shown just what he has through 55 games this year.

You'll be able to take Houser off that list by the middle of June. Smith was really nice. Fedde not nearly as unknown, but a nice sign - looks more like a little lightening in a bottle given his performance since, but still they got something for it so a win none the less. The Sox trading Crochet when they did was a big fail, imo, and I've been pretty clear about that. His value was only going to grow, despite him losing time of control. I'd have kept him, period, but if you were going to trade him you should have done it later as he continues to establish himself as a true league-wide #1.

I think the Bullpen is one of the first areas you can truly see advancements in PD, and it's one reason I'm really down on Getz. It's the easiest place on the field to find undervalued talent. It's the easiest position to convert into success by making singular changes/tweaks and/or converting SP to RP's to maximize. If the Sox can't find any young bullpen arms, why would anyone think they're going to find talent at much more competitive and invested positions?

Some clear measurable changes made prior to that hot stretch. He has a 118 wRC+, and he's on a 3+ WAR pace despite the tough start. The Sox need 3-4 win players desperately, and Vargas is trending in that direction.

Just a little mid-year update. Crochet is the 4th best pitcher in MLB so far, and it's between Skubal, him and Skenes for most valuable arm in baseball. Meidroth has been worth 1.1 fWAR in 33 games with a 111 wRC+. That's a really nice pace and Meidroth might be a 3-4 win consistent performer. He will likely need to find a little more contact authority or defenses will adjust and it will hamper his production, but he's shown enough for me to believe that could happen. Teel has a 127 wRC+ in AAA. Given the Sox depth at catcher, I always found this to be an odd centerpiece. All in all though, Teel has maintained his status and projection but don't believe he's taken any steps up in status. Montgomery has a 143 wRC+ in A+. I think it's clear that Montgomery will be more highly rated come mid-season update than he was pre-season. How he performs at AA will be big for his projection/expectation going forward. Gonzalez, like all other pitching prospects, can't throw strikes. If he doesn't improve his zone control, he will not be worth anything. All in all, I think the winner is still clearly the team getting the generational talent BUT Meidroth will really lift the floor of this trade if he continues on his path. We still need to see success from Teel AND Montgomery to make this a win given the uniqueness of Crochet's skills.

On pace for a 6.6 WAR gain as a position player unit over last year. Problem is that would only bring them to a .3 WAR total for the entire season. Additionally their pitching staff is on pace to lose about 2 WAR YoY. In general they still really really stink.

You "think" elko isn't a MLB hitter long term. We know Vaughn isn't

Think their ERA was 4.5 through may 21st last year.

We're celebrating 16 ab spurts of 250 baseball now... in aaa

Think schultz will be fine but Taylor and Smith have very serious risk at this point.

Finding 4 guys like that in the period is very impressive.

Lighting money on fire with houser. He stinks.

I'm still in the Davis Martin is not good camp, so I'd take any top 100 for him.

Spending a lot on a bunch of littles. Having two good years that end in poor postseason performance. Then completely diving because of a lack of depth and poor roster construction/spending.

It's funny how similar the orioles rebuild path has taken to the White Sox.

Vaughn was hitting BP homers.. that's what we've come to with him.

700+ ops miguel Vargas mania

Show me that elko bump you were talking about. Looked it up: 2 Sundays ago they had 19k+. Last Sunday with elko they had 16.8k.

Sox facilities have been fine. They've lacked some tech and a consistent structure and expectations throughout the org. I've said it before but you could have hired consultants for a couple months to tell you those things. I also am not buying the analytics push. They haven't exactly expanded that team or it's given power in the org. They also haven't hired anyone of prominence in the field.