MackowiakYakYak

Weird to think it’s better to have a runner on first than second but I agree even more when you include the possibility of getting thrown out

Agree with this completely. Think back to the playoffs last year when Abreu chased everything because he was caught in the moment trying to pick up his RBIs. Now he’s walking at a career high rate this year and I could see him maintaining a better BB% as he realizes he doesn’t need to be “the guy.” Probably gets better with his discipline when Eloy and Robert come back and give the lineup more power

The point is that relievers have good years and bad years not necessarily extreme volatility within a season. (Although one or two bad outtings can make an ERA look awful) If you trade for a guy that has good feel for his pitches that year and his underlying stats look good then it’s not as volatile

Without any science, the opposite seems true. A higher mound let’s the pitcher use the momentum in his lower half to create more velocity. Pitchers would still be going full intensity but might have to use more arm to maintain or recover their velocity. Velocity would still be king especially for young relievers that might give up their arm for the chance to reach the majors

It’s not an excuse. I think he’s been a very average (at best) coach so far, but it offers the possibility that he could be better.

Most of Madrigal’s mistakes look like problems with his head. Now is when coaching matters and someone needs to figure out how to calm him. He obviously has the ability right now to be better than a replacement player and a decent regular, IF he is able to start playing his game.

From my very low level coaching experience it sometimes takes a few games to feel on top of everything at the start of a season. I’m wary of TLR but I’ll give him another week or so before saying his brain can’t keep up

Collins passes the bare minimum eye test on his catching ability, at least for me. We will see how well he does stealing strikes, calling pitches, and managing runners, but he doesn’t look out of place when he’s back there

That sounds like a dark timeline. I believe in Lopez’s upside as a 3/4 if he really finds it, buuuut we’ve got Lynn, Cease, and Kopech who will all hopefully be better than an improved Reynaldo

What are the odds in any given series that a team could skip a lefty starter? If his spot is up for game 1 of 3 then you’d have to pitch him, right? So do you extend his rest two days if he was supposed to pitch game 2 of 3? That’d mean you’re resting your starter for 6 days instead of 4. Pitchers are finely tuned machines physically and mentally, and I don’t think throwing off a 180 day routine starters get in would be worth it for maybe 1 run in a game. So I doubt teams are going to mess with rest days outside of the last game in a series, maybe. Also, it needs to be considered that you need a pitcher to throw instead of the starter being benched. You aren’t going to start a guy on shortened rest for this. You don’t do that during most of the regular season. So you’ve now got a 6th starter you need to find to put in your rotation. The only difference would be with new call-ups or spot starts. No way a team is going to call up a AAA lefty to pitch against our team if they’ve got a similar righty they could call up. But how often would a team have the flexibility to choose between equally talented righties and lefties? The opposing team is usually going to feel much better about one or the other.

If this is roughly a code for worrying about age divide and race relations, to say it incredibly crudely, in the White Sox clubhouse then I agree. I hope TLR gets everyone on his side. It’s the Sox decision and nothing is going to change, so might as well hope for the best

I was going to say Jose started slow even though it was a warm month. It’s more about getting his feel and eye back than the warmth

What have the attendance regulations been in Illinois?

Amazing how quickly they’ve fallen. The Cubs still have some players you might pick because of their name and past but thats a team that could finish 3rd or 4th in the worst division in baseball. If we learn nothing else from the Cubs it should be that you can’t sustain success without good, young pitching. If they developed good relievers then they wouldn’t need to pay a few of them $5m every year to fill out the staff. They wouldn’t have been desperate to trade for Aroldis or sign Kimbrel. And of course the amount of money they had to spend for their rotation.

It actually ends up being a lot of small arms but we notice the quantifiable 99mph

MLB is staying with 26 man rosters right?

Anyone count the number of spins on that curve? We need to get that thing up to 3,000 rpm anything less and Katz should be fired

I bet it was a significant part personality and Eaton being a former Sox player. It has the smell of the way the Sox created teams in the past

I don’t think the growth in salary is the right way to think about it. Absolutely yes players are getting paid more but they are in a business that has boomed and requires quality over quantity in labor. The more interesting question might be what percentage of their value are the players taking home? What percentage of league revenue ends up going to the players?

FC Barcelona is having the elections for the team’s president right now. I don’t know the exact details of the process but it sounds like anyone paying dues is allowed to vote.

He’s had three seasons after turning 25. One bad Covid season and two good normal seasons. Before that he had a good rookie year and a bad follow-up to that. 3 good years vs. 1.3 bad years C’mon man. He’s not what the Cubs thought he’d be but he’s still a great bat with bad defense

For anyone questioning the dollar amount, what do you think Schwarber is worth? He’s got a great bat, hits lefty, and will be a 2-3 WAR player most years.

The 6th Commissioner has it right. We don’t need every piece of life turned into a commodifiable asset. We let a single man or a boardroom control the prides of our city. I mean all we have to do is look at Cleveland for what bad teams can do to a place. Our own city applauded the death of a man because he held our hockey team hostage. Private individuals owning our sports is questionable but when they do it while concerned about ROI and asset growth it’s ridiculous. I only want to ever care about how much an athlete is making when they put a salary cap on the league where players get the majority. What has someone like Nutting in Pittsburgh done to deserve any profits from continuously fielding one of the worst teams in the league? Having initial capital shouldn’t be the qualification for getting to run a piece of American history.

I don’t understand Madrigal hate at all. I’d much rather have him over a power-first bat at a similar OPS. I’m hoping his 60-grade fielding and 70-grade speed show up at some point, but he still has great lead off potential. If he doesn’t make it there then he’d be one of the best #9 hitters in the league. A perfect skill set to move runners already on base or take an extra base on a Tim base hit.

Am I the only one that didn't know this guy by name? I recognized the voice though. Anyone self-describing as fat is welcome to me. The city needs to return to its roots and make Chicago fat again