greg775

I do think it's pretty wild the only person that can get away with abhorrent behavior in the day and age of P.C. is pretty much Trump. Anybody else would be fired or thrust out of the public eye if they called another human being Pocohontas like he calls Warren. And Trump does it all the time. Anybody who took his stance on Ford (mocking her at that rally) also would have not survived that evening. They'd have been fired for mocking Ford for her lack of memory regarding the alleged attack. I was all for Trump's attack on PC police during the election but it hasn't changed much. Only Trump can get away with blatant ignorant comments w/out getting fired.

If Eloy as great as we all anticipate, all will be well as the team rebuilds. Sox fans will rejoice and should rejoice. In fact, if Eloy dominates at the MLB level, I'd reward Hahn at that point with an extension. He could be that big a star. If he's blah for some reason, bye bye Ricky. Frankly and I know I'll be buried for this negative comment, all that losing so far has given us Madrigal and Burger? Me no likey. Let's see who we get with No. 3 next year's draft. It better be either a Sale-like can't miss pitcher or another Eloy type hitter not a Maddy or Burger. A lot of you wanted a very very high pick. You got it. They better pick a star, baby.

Good post. Games should never go over 2 hours, 20 minutes cept extra inning affairs. You probably are right about the playoffs as well. Of course I still say baseball's unbalanced schedule is a joke. Playing Minnie, KC, Cleveland and Detroit in the cell 9 times a year is ... yawn. p.s. surprised you didn't try to contact me caulfield when I was gone. I thought we were board pals.

At least I'm too dumb to understand the meaning of his last two posts so if I got beat I didn't feel it.

18 million is probably way too much for him. However if the payroll isn't going up significantly for next season, might as well give him his 18 and Avi his 8. That's 26 million to two players instead of Jerry and his partners. I'd rather see it go to the players.

I guess you don't want to discuss my points on a board meant for discussion. I could have ended my first sentence after the word trouble. Yet it's indisputable it's front office analysts that are talking about opening games with a closer then bringing in an opposite arm pitcher. It is analytics that leads to the youngification of baseball and yes it is analytics that has caused tanking. Hmmm.

I think baseball is in deep trouble because of analytics. Two examples. 1.) The "opener experiment" in which a reliever pitches one inning to start the game or maybe 2 innings, then turning it over to an opposite hand starter if it takes hold is going to kill baseball. The loss of the traditional starter is not good for baseball IMO. Already we've lost the importance of the W/L record. It means nothing now. I think it's going to be even more boring if we just have a batch of guys going 2-3 innings max. The idea of the starter added to the romance of baseball IMO. Going way back, the Bob Gibsons, the Sandy Koufaxes and the Jack McDowells and Fergie Jenkins of the world. It meant something if a guy was 18-6 in September. It meant something if a pitcher could consistently give you 7-8 innings. I think if baseball continues to specialize and decides to go with starter for the first two innings, a reliever for two innings, another reliever two innings, then play matchups the rest of the way will be maddeningly boring and extend games with all the pitching changes. You say we have to go this way cause of injuries? PTATC might be able to tell us if it's unreasonable to expect starters to go 7 innings every 5 days and this is inevitable. Losing the starting pitcher and all the storylines involving starting pitchers is not a positive for baseball IMO. 2.) The idea players are on a fast/vast downhill slide once they reach a certain age is detrimental to the game. Now I guess it's 34 when front offices and fans start to deem players unwantable. 35 is definitely considered ancient. The older ballplayer was a very interesting part of baseball. Pete Rose still playing in his 40s, Julio Franco, Carlton Fisk, Minnie Minoso, etc. It was fun to see Fisk play as long as he possibly could. Having guys wither out of the game from the ages 32 to 35 is annoying and will likely get worse as analytics deem such players unproductive. I love young players, but to make the game as interesting as possible you need both younguns and older guys. I want a mix of them. 3.) Pace of play/umpires/replays: Pace of play sucks. Umpires will not call the strike zone still. Replays are disgustingly boring waiting for the call to be made. A fastball a tad above the belt is a strike, not a ball but umpires won't make the correct call. Umps also have petty problems with teams/players. What they did to Moncada this year was borderline criminal. It's obvious they were purposely ringing him up. It was no coincidence folks. Why were they calling all those pitches outside the zone strikes on him? 4.) Tanking/rebuilding: It's very annoying and boring to have your favorite team become one of the tanking teams. There's something to be said about the old way of doing things and trying to make the playoffs then catching lightning in a bottle and winning it all or making the WS. There's no crime in being a playoff team and losing. Waiting for a tanking team to win is really really annoying.

She is amazing. She's only 21 so maybe she'll dominate the next Olympics again.

Thanks for your comment that you missed me. I got thrown in message board detention to use a Brother Rice term. But it was for more than just one Saturday.

I'd rather go for it in 8A. It seems like when Rice beat Marist and then Loyola it established itself as a team that should be playing for the highest stakes. Maybe I'm in the minority. I wonder if the current Rice students and faculty prefer 7A playoffs just because in theory it'd be easier to reach the state title game.

I never thought baseball would become football where 30 is really old. I guess baseball might go all the way to 32 before the player is deemed somebody to be avoided if significant dollars are being discussed.

I think if we are in the 7A poll we'll be in the 7A playoffs right? I almost want to be in the 8A playoffs for some reason.

That'd be automatic. Visit Vegas every year to see the Sox play there. You could stay on the Strip and easily walk to the Rio ballpark. It'd be indoor baseball though. Annoying.

Dodgers finally cool off the Brewers. I wonder if any Brewers fans are actually upset. They did let one get away, but cmon. They were due to lose. I do think LA is in good shape to win the series but that's just me. Wouldn't mind seeing the Brewers win. I have some relatives up there.

Just my opinions. Life would be boring if everybody agreed all the time.

Avi and Abreu did have bad seasons no doubt. I don't deny that and in a perfect world their salaries would be cut, not raised, via that performance. I respect your looking up all the OPS stats I truly do. I will say Sabes does not take into consideration the human element. By that I mean Avi played hurt when he did play and Abreu finally had an off season. In my world, I suggest Abreu's off season 'could' be because he plays for such a bad team. At some point, it's 'possible' again in my world, that a player might finally have a bad year because the team reeks so much. I know traditional stats don't matter much to many of you, but face facts, a few of the guys on this board are older traditionalists. And when I say murderer's row, I am looking at the 'traditional' power numbers. HRs, at bats, RBIs. And the always unpopular eye test. I happen to think Palka's 27 bombs in 417 at bats suggest vast power potential. Ditto Davidson's 20 homers in 434 at bats. Anderson and Moncada have enough MLB at bats that they now are expected to rake starting next season. They both are high draft picks with unbelievable hype/ceilings and they are there now, at that age, to rake. I respect you for calling my murderers row line a "laughable joke," but in reality I do not see why you see it as that silly. Again, Moncada/Anderson ready to erupt at this stage of their MLB careers; Avi/Abreu coming off off seasons in which they also were hurt (Jose 499 at bats; Avi 356 at bats, 20 homers). "Murderers row" may be considered hyperbolic, but so could your other extreme of "laughable joke." Thanks for listening.

I was talking to a Sox fan who went to about 10 games this season. She said the fans love Palka a bit more than we do on this board. I think you downplay my murderer's row a bit. Moncada and Tim all have enough experience that if they are going to be stars, it does start in 2019. Davidson and Palka hit a lot of bombs for their somewhat limited at bats. And Avi and Abreu are above average hitters. Eloy is supposed to be a monster. I think the hitters I listed provide a pretty good nucleus of batsmen. Could produce a lot of runs if we get any pitching at all.

Kudos to Brother Rice for a great season so far. The QB Bean is having a great senior year. He has a favorite target Summers who is a good receiver. Plunkett is a good running back. Both lines appear solid to very good. The team defense is very solid this year. The offense appears to be more balanced and not as sloppy as when the Crusaders were throwing every down the past several campaigns. I've enjoyed watching several of the games on the internet. Those kids play hard and appear very well coached. As a former Rice student I find it weird we are not in the largest class in the state any more. It makes me wonder if it's that much easier to win Class 7A or is 7A and 8A about the same? Finally ... does Rice beat undefeated Montini next week to go undefeated? I see Montini is in 4A or 5A. GO BRO RICE!

Thanks. I was just curious because when I was gone I could read others posts and noticed nobody ever wondered where I was in posts. A weird dynamic for sure. I always notice Fathom disappearing in the offseason. He's an in-season poster.

I think Avi has turned into a pretty good hitter in spite of his low BA last season. His recent injury history isn't good. I just like the idea of keeping him another year for the 8 mill and see how the murderer's row so to speak of Avi, Abreu, Eloy, Palka, Davidson, Moncada, Timmy, fares. If all those guys have mashing type years, is it a repeat of the 77 South Side Hit Men? I can see why some want him gone, though. He does get hurt and last year's lousy start was annoying, though allegedly he was playing in pain. GO SOX!

Not trying to fight my nemesis here, just saying I don't understand arguments in which most of us think a player is not all that great (Avi, though I do immensely like his game) yet the "free agent status" is seen as something worth discussing. Again ... why would anybody sign Avi to anything significant considering all the warts that have been pointed out by Sox fans on this board. Who is going to sign him to some great deal and why would they want him for 5 years, 100 million or something like that? I personally think a healthy Avi is worth 4 years 36 million. Let's pay him that (if our trainers think they can get him on the field). BTW, folks. Feel free to welcome greg back. I can't believe nobody noticed I was gone a while or simply deems me not worthy of missing. GO SOX!

Interesting topic for me considering I saw Freddy Patek at Marty Pattin's funeral service tonight. I remarked to a pal that if you asked 100 people that don't know Freddy what he did for a living NONE would say "he was a three-time all star shortstop." The guy is 5-foot-5 and looks all of it. Sometimes it doesn't matter how big you are.

A reason to keep Avi is Eloy is coming. Eloy, Avi, Abreu with Timmy and Yoan is actually a decent fivesome. Add Machado or Harper somehow? Then you might have Davidson and/or Palka in there as well. The above mentioned fivesome gives you a fighting chance for some runs and maybe an improved ballclub if we can get some pitching and defense. Take away Avi and Abreu and you got 100 losses again IMO assuming no Harper/Machado.

I see no reason to cut Avi over $8 million unless the training staff has deemed him somebody who is not going to be able to produce much in the future because of injuries. He seems like he's one of the Sox better hitters as it stands. Not being able to flip him is questionable. If he's as mediocre to bad as some think he is, nobody's going to give him a lucrative free agent deal anyway.

I love Palka, I really do, but I don't see why we'd just release Avi. Is $8 million really an overpay for a healthy Avi? Sox aren't planning on spending big bucks on next year's roster it appears so what's the big deal handing Avi $8 million? I realize he gets hurt a lot and maybe that's enough reason to just release him. I just don't consider $8 million that big a deal when the club realistically isn't going to be spending much dough (I don't think Harper or Machado are coming to South Side).