Rounding_Third

Lucroy looks fantastic at bat. Very "hitterish" and in command of the strike zone. But was pretty rusty defensively. He was one of the best defensive catchers in baseball before his disk started affecting his game in 2017. Hopefully, he works that out in the next few weeks.

If you truly follow through, that's sad. Don't quit, take a looksee next week. It'll smooth out. The closer they get to April, the truer the ST games.

Could have been a good reason. I'll take a speculative stab that he may have been scheduled for 2 innings. I think his pitch count was around 40 when Tex rolled the 1st inning. Then they probably asked him how he felt, replied "good" but then he continued to struggle and his pitches mounted. Oh well, shit happens.

lol I'm sure

I'll leave those decisions in the hands of the coaches. If they think its best to not let a guy exceed his pitch count or not bring in an unscheduled pitcher in a particular inning, so be it. Pitchers are on strict regiments this early. Geesh, its just the 1st week of ST games; get over it! If it bothers you so much, don't watch.

That's just it, there isn't enough pitchers. They're doing their best to deal with covid. So many of these pitchers haven't pitched competitively in 2 years and since then have probably not really thrown that much compared to a normal season; majors or minors. As guys get more innings and/or toss sessions, it'll smooth out.

Nice post. Was about to say the same about ST rolling over innings. Not a big deal. No one needs to get hurt now. Come April, will be a distant memory.

Me too. Looking forward to see his PA's; hopefully a free & easy swing.

If their Kopech plan goes off without a hitch, I think he'll get his allotted starts a little further into the season. I'm very curious as to what his pitch/innings limit will be. Everyone's got an opinion and it seems the consensus is around 120-130 innings. With Crochet, I think the jury is still out with coaches as to what's the best future for him. Reading & listening to some of the comments by Stone and others, It seems to me that this year's plan is pen only in order to better analyze him while still contributing. At Tenn, he was used primarily as a reliever and his numbers as both SP & RP were mediocre and innings a little conservative. I think the Sox staff is still trying to discover if he & his arm have the ability to endure starter's innings. With no minors experience, I wouldn't be surprised they'll be very cautious and keep his innings well below 100.

He spoke of 8 & 9 man rotations this year for all teams. Said we're not going to see many 200 inning starters due to limited innings last year and Sox will need pitchers with options. Sox 40 man has 7; 1-4 & Rodon, Lopez, & Flores. We'll see how the latter 3 perform in ST. Kopech might get some starts later. Crochet pen only this year. Other SP's including McClure & Kobat could improve their rankings and callup pecking order with good showings. After 1-4, nothing's for certain.

Only 1 other 6 inning game today. There were a bunch of 7's, 2 8's, & 2 9's. WTF!

Stone talked about how they'll be a lot of pitchers used this year; lots of temp callups. 2 guys that may be part of that, McClure & Kubat both showed some nice stuff. Can't wait their next appearances.

Man, I completely forgot about that 1st Sale tantrum. So funny now.

You can think the K-C and wish it all you want. Its not happening; already announced their plans. Strategically, its a bad way to manage innings. It's much more negatively impactful to the team as a SP role if one or both struggle or has a problem. Also, there is no commitment that their long term plans with Crochet is as a starter. There's a decision to be made. He's been in the pen virtually his entire career and there's seems to be a good argument to keep him there. He may throw too hard to be a starter. He may be suited at the back end of the pen. Also, they don't have a long reliever if not Kopech. Tagging him as such gives him the chance to occasionally start as well. Mike Minor's injury history is pretty different. Yes, he had shoulder issues for 2 years but no elbow/TJ and then rebounded . Rodon had shoulder/bicep then shoulder again for 2 years then elbow/TJ then shoulder again over span of 5 years. Much much more damage over 2 1/2 times the duration. Also, the two teams involved, KC & Tex were nowhere near WS contenders at that time of Minor's rehab & recovery & return. They could afford the risk. I hope Kopech has "dazzling stuff" too. Our different here is you penciled him in for still "dazzling" as a given even after TJ surgery just because he had it before. That's a bit of a rush to judgement for me. We'll see! I'm much more cautious as is Katz and the entire org. It's one of the "ifs" for me because it's unknown until he works some significant innings. He may need to reinvent himself a little; become more of a pitcher and less of a thrower. The bullpen is the great place to manage and tweak (if needed) him for a year. It may take that long until they're all confident, including him.

True enough. Just making a point that AV doesn't have to do a heck of a lot to contribute to 2020 improvement. Hope they lay off him learning other positions. Just let him take his std DH/1B game to MLB and it's long season that he's never experienced. Geesh, isn't that enough adjustment for him for now?

I am in the "Vaughn to MiLB" camp. Have been all along. But I accept that its his DH job to lose. Now I will sit back and root and enjoy his potential & progress. I hope he tears up ST and easily wins his chance. If not, we have a bit of a DH issue but not just that. Hoping for him, too, and what he means to an already scary lineup. I'm confident that, at the very least, he will exceed EE's 2020 which is a very low expectation for him and I expect he will be much more than that. I'm also confident that at the end of 2021, we'll all be able to agree that if EE's 2020 was as good as AV's 2021, we would have won the 2020 Central.

Completely agree with you up to the bold. This is where we part company. Its just a continuation of our previous disagreement. Rodon and Lopez cannot be counted on at all. Rodon is a DL just waiting to happen, When you combine TJ with 3 years of reoccurring shoulder injuries, a bicep and a wrist, a WS contender has no business relying on him with an absolute mess behind him in Lopez. Kopech & Crochet are out of the SP picture and I do favor this Sox 2021 plan for them; suggested it weeks ago before they announced. If early planned starters then they would get shut down too early and leave gaps to fill down the stretch. This way, they are both relative & involved throughout most of the season. Though I do believe Kopech should & will get a handful of planned spot starts like in makeup DH's or top 4 skips which will happen. Once they signed Rodon, they kind of locked into him. I wish they had signed another more reliable innings guy for #5. Once signed, he should be #6, at best. That way, he could have proven in Charlotte that he still has an arm. There are lots of "ifs" & "hopes" and nowhere near the SP depth to cover them. For the record, I was not a Bauer advocate due to $.

Hawks too are fun to watch again. Sunday is Sox, Hawks & Bulls same time. Sweeeeet!

Buehrle didn't; just 1 second half year in pen with 3 July starts then all pen after. For Sale 1 & 1/2 years; maybe extra cautious due to his thin frame & arm. Also was use primarily as closer and setup so maybe he's not the good comparison for Kopech I thought.

Agreed that probably been his plan all along. Imo, the mistake in that is its in trade so its now cap spend + prospects/drafts/cash when it only had to be cap spend for a decent mid level SP FA.

The problem I see with that it then they'd have to plug someone in his slot when he retired for the year and most likely earlier than the current plan. This plan may allow him to pitch all year.

If Kopech has no health issues and get his full innings limit, he'll start in 2022 with unlimited innings. If I remember correctly, both Buehrle & Sale did just one bullpen year.

If I had one, I'd live in it.

I'd bet my Aston Martin that Kopech gets about 6-10 planned starts.

Totally agree with this. Cease has such a high ceiling. And his delivery is so smooth and powerful right through his release and follow through; a great baseline to become an outstanding pitcher. If he can be a steadying force, it will go a long way to supporting the terrible lack of SP depth. If not, he could contribute to a domino effect throughout the rotation. Hopefully, Rodon and/or Lopez can reverse their respective fortunes but history says that's unlikely. That they don't cause TLR/EK to use Kopech more than planned; hitting his shutdown prematurely, assuming he has no physical issues either. Or that it causes 1-4 to pitch on 4 days rest too often. If Cease is also on a pitch/innings limit, he's got be efficiently effective. The rotation will probably have bumps that cause them to skip some starts from time to time. There's currently not enough SP depth to cover it all; particularly down the stretch. And this outstanding bullpen can become overtaxed by dog days. It wouldn't surprise me if the Sox force themselves to trade for even 2 SP's and an RP or 2 by the deadline. There'll be lots of 2022 FA SP's for rent and RH/KW have a solid trade history so that's very encouraging, Hope they don't have to go to that well too early but a real possibility. It's baffling that the Sox meticulously & cunningly rebuilt this incredible team over 4 long years but are potentially allowing a baseball fundamental of SP depth to bring headaches & hitches all season. And if this fumbling causes just a handful of inexcusable extra losses, it could significantly effect the final standings. But ST can also bring many surprises; hoping.... Stiever? McClure? Vargas? Other(s)? ...step up & prove worthy of a next level depth role?