greg775

Man. This is crazy. He's a star and can't play right now. He got hurt last year too didn't he? Lot of injuries in baseball. I hope the Sox addressed all the hammy injuries with their trainer. Sox players hurt hammies too much.

I kind of like Rodon. I wonder if Dallas is toast or if he can return to old form. He was so bad he wasn't even on the postseason roster as I recall.

Sox finally have way more talent than anybody in the division so maybe the Sox can dominate the division for years to come. I think the pitching is mediocre though no doubt the Sox have several everyday stars, superstar types. Hopefully Sox can catch fire this season or next in the postseason and win it all, but no way is this team dominant.

I haven't posted much on the war. A couple of things that concern me greatly. a.) I am sad for the people of Ukraine. I read that Russians are shooting folks in the capital city who ignore the checkpoints and try to keep walking through them. I also read that the safe haven spaces for people to walk through ... Russians are actually shooting people trying to get out through the cease fire pathway out of the country. ... I also read the stores shelves are empty and people in the bunkers or their basements truly are at the point they are going to starve and have no water. In short these are crimes against humanity and Russia leaders must pay. b.) Putin. I am concerned that at his age he doesn't give a bleep. And if he deduces he's going down, he's going to go down actually bombing the USA, nuclear bombing the USA, perhaps some European countries, too. I'd like to ask the international experts on here if you share my concern that we actually could die soon because of Putin sending nukes our way. If he hits the button(s) to nuke our cities is that it? We never developed a system to thwart the nukes out of the sky have we? Do any of you share my concern that a nuclear assault could come at any time? I am worried about Putin yes I am. I am worried about our preparedness to respond to any nukes he throws our way. In conclusion I think the current situation is a lot more scary than I'm hearing on TV. Joy Behar has more to worry about than her European vacation and Covid. How she's not stressing about possibly nukes in NYC is beyond me. This is 2022 scary stuff, not minor stuff like facemask mandates. Yes I would love if some of you could ease my concerns about nukes.

I've been thinking about this as far as offseason plan thread ... the Sox need to move Eloy out of LF and make a decision. Either he's DH or trade him in a blockbuster. Look, the guy is not an outfielder. He's going to get hurt out there. He just is. That leaves DH or 1B. I can't imagine Eloy even being 1/2 as good as Jose as a defender at first. If I thought he could play first effectively at this time I "might" even suggest Jose be the new DH the rest of his career. But I truly think Jose is a better option at 1B. As much as it pains me to say, Sox need to convince Eloy it's in his best interest for a long, long, lucrative career to be DH. l ask the stat lovers on here and the eye testers both ... I think we would HAVE to agree Eloy should not see the outfield again. I love having Eloy on the team but it's silly to trot him out to the OF where he will get hurt and cost the Sox a lot of runs when heathy. He's not an outfielder as much as it pains me to admit.

Excellent. The shift has gotten me so close to abandoning my baseball fandom. It just disgusts me so badly. Love your idea.

These two are beautiful ideas. Excellent! I'd say second foul ball after reaching 2 strikes. They'd be forced to put the ball in play rather than trying to hit a bomb. You need to send this to a baseball writer to write about.

Is this true? If the owners want to break the union there will be no season. It's already upsetting that it's late February and we're not enjoying spring training games. Are the players down there working out on their own?

It's interesting that in 2022 a dictator is allowed to dictate, i.e. start a war. Do the Russian people, the zillions who live in Russia really want to blow Ukraine off the map? Do they really want war? How can one man be so powerful? Would the people of Russia rebel against Putin? I'm sickened by the start of this war. From what I've read and it's dangerous to read stuff it's been suggested Russia's army is not exactly rolling over Ukraine. Could Russia be defeated?

It's such comedy what it costs to park, eat and drink at a game. Owners should just keep increasing what it costs for parking, a burger, beer and tickets. 50 bucks a beer ... fans would still buy it. 150 to park. Fans would pay it. 30 dollars for a bag of peanuts. For sure they'd pay it. 20 bucks for a bottled water. The ones who go to the games will pay anything. Just make it laugably outrageous. Let's see in my scenario two hot dogs, one beer and a bag of peanuts would be about 120 dollars. Those who can't afford it just never consider attending a ballgame anymore. I've been told many times there are deals to be had. Secondary market and/or deals on the nosebleed seats. Yes the high prices frustrate me for the quality of baseball played today. It's glorified home run derby, with a lotta strikeouts in there, too. And cutters galore from relief pitchers who rule the game.

To see my team, the White Sox, tank was disheartening. You can win in other ways, yes you can. Tanking is here to stay, though. It can't be stopped.

The people that run it: owners and commish. Owners for thinking the commish's ideas are good.

Baseball just makes the rules as they go along. Sad that they don't even have a postseason plan for this season yet. Manfred is a bad commish and baseball doesn't seem to care that its fans are old and younguns don't like baseball.

Thank you for the kind, yet intellectual and helpful response. I endorse your opinion. I do like what Vaughn brings to the table potentially.

I wish some of the regulars on here, the ones I always disagree with, would post their opinion of ageism in baseball. What ages do you generally accept for a ballplayer in terms of him being worth his salary? Is it like I suggest? 25 1/2 to 28? Those seem to me to be the only ages of players that excite fans? Any player older than 28 is a question mark and anybody under 25 better be in the minors lest he be rushed? To me, Jose is at a perfect age. My guess is most of my board adversaries think Jose is way too ancient to be on the team. Or maybe fans are OK with his age 35 and 36 seasons? Comments?

It seems like today's fans like their players in the window of 25 to 28. That's about it. Under 25 they need more seasoning and are rushed if they come up. Over 29 and they are about toast. Wonder what Tom Brady thinks of all this on the football field. He was pretty good from 38 to 42. Jose's actually pretty good on defense IMO. He's not a sieve at 1B. And he had an off year at the plate for him but again, he's adjusting to trying to hit it out every at bat. He'll be fine. this is sad that pitchers and catchers are supposed to report and we've got this work stoppage. Very very sad for the game of baseball. Both sides are making good dough. Play ball baby.

35 isn't that old in baseball. Will his production go down? Probably but with baseball hitting going to lift and pull and trying to hit everything out, Jose should be able to adjust and have above league average numbers till 41 or 40. Let him play ball.

Do the Sox have plans for Collins or is he considered a likely bust?

I think it's special letting the pitchers bat in one league. Let them go up there and hack.

It'd be nice if the players wanting to protect the integrity of the game meant demanding the owners cut, not add playoff teams and demand the DH to be kept out of the NL and getting rid of the man on second base rule in extra innings. But I suspect the players are out for $$$ more than protecting any integrity.

Maybe there is hope. Maybe I'm not so paranoid about a problem. https://patch.com/illinois/beverly-mtgreenwood/s/i3sqf/chicago-police-carjacking-task-force-expanded-to-24-hour-patrols?utm_term=article-slot-1&utm_source=newsletter-daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter

Expanded playoffs is insane. If baseball does this it's going to be so hard for the Sox to win it all ever again. And so boring with all relievers pitching an inning or two at a time game after game. If baseball expands the playoffs and game after game I have to watch an opener go two innings, then followed by six more pitchers, I'm going to give up on my sport sadly. I am not enjoying baseball right now. For me it used to be compelling.

You'd think these playes are so rich (even the minimum contract is nice) they'd want to get this thing settled fast so they don't lose games. I guess they have to shut up and just trust the union leader as always. The world is so much in chaos right now with viruses and possible wars I can't imagine either side wanting to miss games. Baseball already is unpopular. Any stoppage is just going to lose more fans for a dying sport. Play ball.

Glad to see it then. I wonder how it'll affect staff size and coverage of things like sports. I would assume this nonprofit has different goals as you say. I can't imagine the money flowing thru the newsroom but i could be mistaken.

I think the Chicago media on the print side is kind of a mess. Isn't the Sun Times now owned by a nonprofit? The Tribune has had so many owners. I would guess the formerly great Arlington Heights newspaper has been cut to shreds in terms of staff size. Does anybody even know where the Trib is located now? It's not in the iconic Tribune building anymore. I'm not sure about the Athletic or publications like that if they cover the Chicago teams well or not. Weren't there a few websites that did a good job? As far as the work stoppage, I am old fashioned but I still say with so many problems in the world today (is it just me or is COVID suddenly out of the news cycle? Don't hear much about COVID anymore) baseball is further killing itself if it delays the season til summertime. Just get an agreement in place. Spring training starting on time is important to America's psyche which nobody seems to care about anymore. Woe is us without baseball (at least the age demographic that still cares about baseball at all).