FoxForce2

This. Since his day as a draft choice, the memo pad entry on Collins has been - some bat potential but not really a major league catcher. I guess he had the character to try to become a catcher, it just didn't work out. But somewhere in his time with the Sox, his bat skills lagged resulting in underperformance in his area of best talent. An indictment of the Sox development process? That would be a deep dive and not something I'm ready to get into in any great detail. One thing I would say about it, I'm not too crazy about the Sox insistence on putting all their eggs into so-called 'Major League Ready' baskets. I still get the sense that AV is still in OJT mode. Do the best programs really do business this way? Do they really mistrust their own farm systems to this extent?

Sure. I like McGuire and Collins was a drag on the roster. Still interesting to see him slotted cleanup on that team.

That's a bold statement. Competitive yes - the best, no. Even on paper, the starters and fielding are either questionable or outright weak. As for the hitting, without specifically citing players, the Sox have been a ground ball hitting machine that has underperformed in run scoring since the break last year. Until this team can start hitting with RISP they're a paper tiger. I mostly agree with your Keuchel take. He needs to be on a more defensive oriented team to provide best value. But even at that, his best value doesn't approach his contract number/condition.

I realize it's a one-off, flash in April, but did anyone notice that Collins hit cleanup for the Jays last night? Who woulda thunk that?

SoxTalk needs to bring enough popcorn for everybody.

So tell us the bad news.

DeJong a couple of nice plays at short. Was responsible for all 3 outs in the inning.

I'm watching the Cards - Mets. Just tabbing through here to share in the misery.

On a brighter note, the DOW was only -809 today.

This team is making all those people that were ranking them in the top 5 in power rankings look really bad.

You know - a smaller pic would be appreciated.

Roman Senator: "Spartacus and his army of slaves are marching on Rome! We must convene a committee immediately!" A Young Julius Caesar (deadpan): "Yes, by all means, a committee..."

Sounds like a pretty smart guy. I have to wonder what Lau and Hriniak would think of all this.

Warren Buffett has Geico and Coca-Cola. JR has TLR. Do the arithmetic.

I don't get it. Was Ventura in some kind of 'being fined' situation? I'm all in favor of Ventura as a person and a baseball kinda guy - I just never saw how he was a qualified candidate as a manager in his tenure. His hiring was one of those things that made me go ----- hhhhmmmm.

But who? Not very long ago, He Who Shall Not Be Named was the 'hair apparent' (sic), as the immediate future in the Sox plans for manager. Maybe there are some inspiring young talents in the organization, I don't know. I'm not being snide here, but do you have any names in mind?

Even if TLR were to step down at this point, the Sox would almost certainly go with a 'Company Man' - IMO the worst of all possible worlds. This organization needs fresh blood in more than a few coaching,scouting, and management positions

Yeah - forgotten is the operative term here huh?

The problem with replacing TLR with Ozzie would be that OZ might get the team all fired up and his off-the-wall managing style could drive the team into the WS --- and then we'd be stuck with him for 2023. LOL! I love laughing at my own witticisms.

Right now, neither do we. If even that.

If you're talking about mid-season tanking resulting in a high draft pick, that would be tough to do considering the contracts involved. We wouldn't be able to trade enough talent to bottom out. Now, selling to get prospects would be a different story, but that would entail throwing up the white flag if we were still in contention, which in turn is still the most probable of cases considering the strength of division. But sure, JR does have a track record of running the white hose up the flagpole.

Did TLR realize it was the bottom of the tenth? It may have been a case of pick your poison, but at least you'd have had the force in play.

Pitch Godoy like he's Buxton. Pitch Buxton like he's Godoy. Dyslexia much?

The Steinbrenner, Martin, Munson, Jackson 1977 Yankees clubhouse/dugout wasn't exactly a 'Let's All Sing Kumbayah' atmosphere - in fact, most would think that it was a toxic set-up. However, for that team, at that time - they had a winning chemistry. They were a team - just not in a traditional sense. OTH the 1979 Pirates were literally singing 'We Are Family' and rode that momentum to a World Series win. The Pirates ballpark was an intimidating place to play when the crowd got into that groove with the team itself. Obviously, Willie Stargell going all Big Daddy didn't hurt. The point being, these were *teams*, regardless of differences in tone and character. I don't see that so far this year. Abreu's early spring training statement was almost negating, it wasn't far from declaring a non-commital position. Pito has been the leader of the Sox for awhile and getting a not necessarily all-in signal from him is puzzling. The center hasn't held. Maybe we need to bring Billy Hamilton back into the dugout and get some rock-paper-scissors going again.

Hey! The Twins RF just made a nice major league play. He's not hobbling around now - what's up with that? Is this a new trend?