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I agree. I find it hard to believe baseball owners don't insist on regular negotiations. It seems like sports teams are the only people not worried about COVID and its potential impact on attendance. There are so many reasons to not go to MLB games. I know you can get good deals on nosebleed seats and if you do due diligence can get great seats on the secondary market for reduced prices the longer you wait til gametime, but in general, tickets are very expensive and "many" people with a brain simply refuse out of principle to pay those prices for concessions. That leaves parking, which strips the wallet of 50 bucks or whatever they charge. My point is Covid is still raging and at some point "most" people are going to get used to NEVER purchasing a Sox ticket again. Watch it on TV. However if they settled negotiations now, baseball would have a fighting chance to market itself up for the 2022 season.

What an icon. In this day and age of societal turmoil, I think EVERYBODY would agree Betty White was a national treasure. I would think EVERYBODY in America loves Betty White. Rest in peace, Betty White. Your 99 years were truly appreciated by many.

I missed the news on Roland Hemond. He's one of those people nobody has a single bad thing to say. Rest in peace. By all accounts he was a gem as people wrote on this thread.

Will the Sox really move? Seems to me if they have a decent team their attendance is fine and last time I checked Chicago was a huge market compared to SAT.

Traditional -a.) O Holy Night. b.) silent night, jingle Bells Novelty - I wish it was christmas today, SNL Jimmy Fallon and others

He's a great player, but signing a guy for seven years seems silly and dumb nowadays when 33 is ancient for a player much less 38.

Good post. The trend is obvious as seen in the postseason by old guy LaRussa even. Starters aren't going to be pitching to a batter a third time. Four innings will be a long outing. Thing is, baseball is going to ruin what made it so charming. Pitchers going deep in games. Batters having high batting averages, different categories for pitchers and hitters mattering. Now an RBI is laughed upon. It's HRs or Ks. That's it. Let's just change the game completely. Have a home run derby every night and score it for six innings, then play the final three innings of "traditional baseball" and call it a night. Figure a way to get the derby part of it done in 90 minutes. The three innings will take an hour. 2.5 hrs total. Still a little long but OK.

Wat do you guys mean? The games I watched, the starters went 1 to 3 innings max. Time has come for all teams to do this all season. Only relievers. You throw as hard as you can (with biting sliders) for an inning or two and give way to the next. Why pay starters? Their job responsibilities have changed drastically from the days of Bob Gibson to now.

I know I'm a broken record, but it seems silly to me to pay starting pitchers much money when the "goal" appears to be five solid innings max from a guy. It's all about relievers, baby. I wonder if a statnik GM will have the guts to go with an opener for 2-3 innings and follow with relievers the rest of the game in the not so distant future. Really no need to let a pitcher go past five anymore, cause if he gets hit the third time thru the order it causes a fan eruption comparable to a mild earthquake. I know we're trending this way; when is it gonna be the new normal? Opener goes two, followed by the parade of relievers and hence the 4 to 4.5 hour nine inning game? p.s. This means no way I would pay rodon a batch of bills.

Thanks. Very interesting. There are a few points in there I can see management saying no to. Like the draft picks regarding compensation and the luxury tax issue. Thank u.

Bob Dole, a war hero, I salute you. Bob Dole, one of the greatest Kansans of all time, I salute you. And Bob Dole, a man from an era in which some politicians actually worked across the aisle to get deals done for the betterment of America, I salute you. (Now of course if you are on one side and work to help the other you get followed in parking lots and malls and airports and yelled at by political zealots). I doubt there will be many if any in the future willing to work with both sides so Bob Dole, thank u for your service and for all you tried to do and may you rest in peace. https://www.sdstandardnow.com/home/at-98-bob-dole-reminds-us-of-a-time-when-republicans-and-democrats-could-work-together

With my ever-declining interest in baseball (except for my interest in the Sox; I used to follow all teams a bit, but no more), I have a question to ask. Usually when work stoppages were threatened I had a strong feel for what would happen. So what will happen with this one? Are they close? Is there one issue that we'll have to wait until June to get resolved so no baseball til June or something? What's the hottest issue that's holding things up. I guess I'm wrong but I would think the owners would not want a stoppage during the Covid era. Seasons can be canceled at any time for Covid reasons for gosh sakes. These owners need to play ball as much as they can so the cash registers can ring from parking, concessions, TV contracts. Thanx in advance.

It'd be nice to be Leury. He stays with the Sox and is paid millions. Great by anybody's standards except pro players in various sports. Obviously he likes playing for the Sox. He actually doesn't need any more cash than he got to be set for life, so have some fun Leury and try to win a ring or two. Sox can't afford to fade quickly from the playoffs next season lest they be considered the new Twins.

Unless the Sox change their training philosophy my guess is injuries could still occur. It might be a coincidence that so many guys go down. The team should look into all the injuries and decide whether mediocre training contributed to the hurts. Maybe the injuries were all unavoidable but so many guys were out at times.

I like it. He's as good or better than the guy we got from Cleveland last year who stopped hitting in Chicago.

If you gamble in Vegas there's always that one trip you finally get hot and/or hit it big on either craps, roulette or blackjack. Maybe even a slot though I won't play them. I won't tell any stories of nice wins but it's happened 2-3 times of all the times I've been to Vegas. The key then is to finally enjoy the amenities that come with the rare wins. I bet some people on here have stories of a trip or two in which they had significant wins. Overall, if you go many times, obviously Vegas will beat you down way more than you'll beat LV IMO.

I'm not as intense so far this offseason. I'm mad the Sox flopped under Tony in the postseason and the lockout looms and I am perturbed at baseball in general. Sad.

Far too complicated an issue to dismiss completely BA, RBI and saves. Are you saying only HRs matter for a hitter and K's for a pitcher and also velocity? I wish baseball had a do-over. Lets return to 1965 please and repeat it. Current baseball is soo so boring. Ah for the days when a pitchers W/L record mattered. It was neat to see a guy 14-1 and wonder what his ultimate record would be. Or 2-13 for that matter. Would he lose 20 games? Get shut down before then? Now I couldn't name any starter's W/L record on my fave team, the Sox. Just doesn't matter. My interest now only rests in making the postseason and how do we do when the team gets there? No interest in the little things that made up baseball.

I always send a direct twitter message to the Brother Rice football twitter account after significant games saying we alums are proud of their effort and congratulate the players and coaches and thank them for their hard work and wish them continued good luck. I will never criticize high school players who are giving their all and coaches who are not paid much at all. Win or lose, good game or bad, I support them. Would like to see Badke go out with the title. IMO he's done a stellar job. ... p.s. I was watching one of the Rice videos and that pool looks like the same one I used to swim in first hour. Brrrrrrrr. After walking to school in the winter, that was a helluva shock hitting the water first hour.

I watched it. Fantastic game. QB needs to keep running. Serious weapon with his legs. Wheaton North is good. I guess anything can happen in the semifinal game. That's a tough conference. I have good vibes if we play Rita in the final. I'm worried about the Wheaton semifinal at Wheaton. Guys have to play as hard as they did versus Carmel. I will say if Rice doesn't win it this year I can't imagine ever winning it again. Rice is never gonna have a better QB. The kid is that good. The defense is not all that but has a couple studs on D. The offense doesn't have the passing game of the past but QB can throw and oh, he can run. Good luck to the coaches and players is my final take. Basically nothing will surprise me in the upcoming semifinal. p.s. Just my takes. Don't mean to sound like a know it all. I've watched a lot of games on stream and have a few opinions.

Hey Harry ... anyway Br. Rice can beat Mt. Carmel today? I shoulda flown back for the game. I hope the team can get the job done. I am skeptical though. It's tough to beat a team twice.

If baseball survives after a long work stoppage I'd be surprised. I guess baseball has a chance to prove it can survive anything. Think about it. Baseball (using the voice of James Earl Jones in Field of Dreams) ... a.) can't get significant numbers of people under 50 to watch a game. b.) has become exceedingly boring because of pace of play and 4 to 4.5 hour 9 inning games. c.) has no chance for having any more 'stars' in the position of starting pitcher because of the fact 3-5 innings are becoming the norm for a starter. d.) has made it inconvenient to get to games cause 50 dollar parking is too much. e.) has forced fans to feel sad walking past concession stands and beer stands cause 10 dollars is too much for a beer and 8 dollars too much for a hot dog. If baseball survives a stoppage and franchises remain worth gazillions of dollars, then it should never spend a dollar on advertising again. This will prove the increasingly dull game of baseball, one that can't get many people under 30 to consider watching, will have proven it can survive ANYTHING.

Have you seen his stats since he left the Sox? He remains a stellar hitter. I do understand Sheets and Vaughn probably deserve to play and signing Avi would likely ruin their 2022 season if there is a season. ...

I'd hate to trade Sheets or Vaughn but here's a solution. Avi is still young nuff and outstanding. SIgn him and trade Sheets or Vaughn or both. They are good prospects tho. I like 'em both.

I agree with you in many ways about this but on the other hand this is 2021 and some things are worth dying for. Not just letting punks take your stuff. I agree with Shoeless Rob. If there's a chance to fight back it'd be worth it in 2021.