nrockway

that's exactly what I take out of it lol. the "family dog" that will rip a toddler's face off for looking at it funny.

I think it's close between Soto and Robert for the third first team spot. Soto's offensive numbers aren't significantly better (aside from the fact that walks 4x as much) but Robert is far and away a better defender at a premium position. Soto is one of the worst defenders in the league, can't completely write that off.

probably not best practice to trade guys at their lowest value though. same with Tim. perhaps the same with Cease. there's really no point unless Bummer is some clubhouse cancer.

IDK, Bummer has been pretty good before this year. Throws 4-5 different pitches and has a unique left-handed arm slot. Relievers like that don't grow on trees. I don't get why he was 'untouchable' in trades but I think he's worth keeping around. He's super unlucky this year, frankly. Check out how his FIP compares to ERA

Bummer's first HR given up this season. that seems notable. not a bad pitch either.

I guess my thinking is more derived from the fact that pretty much every baseball fan thinks both Central divisions are a joke. I could look up the statistics on how both Central divisions have performed in terms of W/L over the years, but it's not easily accessible without doing the analysis myself and I already spend too much time writing sports forum posts, but I recall that the Central performs demonstrably worse than the other divisions in the aggregate. I feel as though W/L is a better determiner than World Series Though, regardless of division or W/L, the disparity in payroll is absurd and it strikes me as unfair that some teams have 300 million dollars of wiggle room to spend on free agents -- so then, how much can they spend on front office staff to live in a desirable area like Florida or California? This applies to less desirable coastal cities like Baltimore who essentially just so happened to strike gold in their farm system (and won't pay them) or Tampa. Still, the bottom payroll franchises are big jokes and, aside from a few franchises like Washington, they're not rebuilding they're actually trying to win. Salary cap feels like a no-brainer idea...maybe it isn't all regional but I feel like the perception people have of the Central is the same perception people have of the Midwest in general. It offends me! Great song I've never heard by the way, thanks for sharing. Makes me feel prideful, there really isn't a finer place!!!! only issue is they're driving SOUTH to reach downtown

Houston is basically Chicago with a shoreline. My argument doesn't apply to Chicago, it actually makes the Sox and Cubs look even worse. DFW is where the Sox will move once Jerry dies. That metro area can handle 2 teams better than Chicago will be able to.

Speaking of promotional dates, I'm really bummed I missed that Italian heritage night. Not because I have Italian heritage but because those were some really cool hats they gave away.

This is an excellent idea (especially adding back Montreal...otherwise I'd pick Charlotte before Nashville ?) but I think you run into the same problem with the Midwest division. I don't think it's a popular opinion, but I'd probably prefer to see all the divisions (regions of the country) represented on a regular basis than strictly the "best" teams which are probably the teams that are based in financially-sound, more appealing (for whatever reason...weather, money, things the midwest can't offer) markets. I think a salary cap begins to address that. It's an "owner-friendly" term but I bet it would be better for the sport and could be balanced out with a million different concessions to give to the players union. I tend to think arbitration and delayed free agency is the big thing for the players union to go after. My thinking is that this regional disparity exists more in the MLB than in other American pro leagues. I only watch basketball aside from baseball, but the financial parity in the NBA is pretty great (even if the product gets worse year by year) and the incentives given to players to re-sign long term with their small market team are unmatched by other leagues as far as I know. Look no further than how the Nuggets perform relative to the Rockies. Prudent drafting and trading (good management) won them a championship because they were able to pay more than big market teams to keep Jokic and their other free agents around -- while still being able to go out and sign effective players with limited cap space. The Nuggets won because Jokic is an all-time great but you also have to give a lot of credit to the organization for finding him in the second round and then building an effective team around him, despite injuries. The Bulls and Nuggets made similar trades around the same time with the Magic for their big time pieces and the Nuggets got their championship starter for scraps while the Bulls mortgaged their future for a guy who simply wasn't good enough (even if I like Vucevic). I think you see in the NBA that you can get lucky and win by having the #1 pick in a strong draft or you can build a contender through effective management. Either way, the parameters are pretty much the same for each team. If an NBA owner wants to act like John Fisher or Robert Nutting, the salary floor means he has to pay up regardless. Then the matter of a 'cheap' owner vs a regular one becomes a matter of if they're willing to pay the luxury tax rather than if they're willing to fill out the major league roster with MLB-caliber players. In an MLB-type environment, Jokic is probably playing for the Knicks or Lakers. The Knicks should be like the Yankees but they're constantly mismanaged and are constantly bad; as it should be. The NBA's financial system seems to work pretty well, but it's not one-to-one because one player in basketball can be the difference maker between a struggling team and a championship contender. Still, the best teams tend to perform well regardless of where they're based. Watch for Oklahoma City and Utah to be championship contenders for years to come This post became sort of rambly and off-topic, but I guess it lends credence to the fact that the Sox are a lot worse consistently than they ought to be. Under the current framework of the MLB, there's basically no excuse for a Chicago team to be outperformed by all these other rustbelt cities in the division. It's doubly true for the Cubs, the team that the majority actually likes, but they won a WS recently so they get a break.

he plays a lot more than a typical baseball player. do you ever want a weekend off from your job? one should consider how to keep a 26-year-old's focus for the next decade...millions of dollars is apparently not enough for athletes. beyond that, he deserves a fuckin day off. you probably do too.

I don't rule out the Giants. He's definitely not leaving California.

Perhaps true but it reinforces that 'coastal' bias idea that only good (money-derived) things can happen to organizations that happened to be based near an ocean. I think if they did change the playoff format, which they probably should to look more like the NBA, they should institute a salary cap and floor. That doesn't really change the fact that the midwest is a miserable place to play baseball half the season, but I also don't think it's a coincidence that the central division teams are bottomfeeders.

It's an interesting chart and what I take away from it is that Cleveland improved their already good farm while still remaining in the playoff hunt. Can't believe they got Manzardo for basically nothing. I bet that deal existed for the Sox but they decided Vaughn is a better piece. Maybe they're right.

his pinkie is probably fine they're just giving him a much deserved break now that there's nothing to play for. if I was Robert and the Sox were my employer, I'd be pissed they're making me show up to the job site regardless. I think my pinkie needs a bunch of x-rays by a doctor in Hawaii.

I love this guy Milner. He made Harper look incredibly foolish of course he would do it to Oscar. Don't know what his splits are but it seems to me like he owns lefties edit: .532 OPS vs left .724 vs right guess that answers that

Caminero is gonna be really good so let's ignore that one...at least his strikeout stuff looks good. 8 hits, 3 walks, 6 ER looks less good... I think Popeye is a better prospect than his ranking. 45 grade power is dead wrong

Oh I get it and I agree as a fan. I just feel like if a player thinks this way, he's probably a loser who wasn't going to succeed anyway; like it's everyone else's fault except their own. The Bauer mentality -- and yet he still found a way to be a good player while ignoring every coach along the way. I do very much agree that organizations can steer things in the right direction for the reasons you mention, Outman is a good example -- but who's to say whatever LAD's coaching staff is doing is the cause for it? A counterpoint might be that whatever they were telling Bellinger was wrong and unhelpful. I do wonder about the success rate of Sox prospects relative to other organizations or how much of that 'failure' is simply a result of drafting the wrong guys, ie before the development aspect even comes into the equation. Maybe there's a point to be made about turning fringe players into every day ones but the last two first round picks (pre-Gonzalez) seem to be progressing faster than analysts anticipated. Vaughn will probably be OK and 'meet his potential' but might've been the wrong pick. In terms of current players, you could count TA (no longer perhaps), Robert and Cease as examples of successful development while Vaughn, Eloy and others are on the cusp. Eloy is actually really good when he plays and the jury is out on Vaughn but I suspect he'll start hitting for power eventually. I would be curious if someone has done this comparison between teams' prospects over the last 20 or so years because I have no clue how the Sox actually stack up to every other organization aside from the standard DRays or Dodgers comparison...which I bet every fanbase does. It just doesn't seem to me like the Sox are as bad at 'development' as a lot of people say. The problems seem to begin when they join the major league roster. That seems like a greater organizational problem, what has been discussed ad nauseum in the Middleton thread, than teaching guys how to swing or throw. I've been watching a lot of Birmingham games lately and those guys can all take a pitch and not swing at sliders a foot out of the zone -- why doesn't it translate to the major league roster?

How valuable really is a 36-year-old reliever coming off Tommy John surgery? I feel like there's no real reason to just buy out his contract, I don't care if the organization saves money and they aren't even really saving money, just deferring it. But it wouldn't make any sense to extend him besides the fact that he's a nice guy -- will he be any good at baseball in 2025? I bet Santos will be a better player by then so why are you giving a multi-year extension to a setup man? How'd that work out with Kelly and Graveman?

I think if players are blaming organizations ahead of themselves for not turning them into good baseball players, they probably weren't going to be good anywhere. are Moncada and Kopech all-stars if they play for Boston? Kinda doubt it.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2023/8/9/23825909/white-sox-luis-robert-jr-rising-about-the-rest Looks like Luis is also a leader....leading by example with sweat and jokes

I think the appeal of Ozzie to me is that he's charismatic, speaks both languages and players would probably like him and take what he says seriously. The question for me is what does he actually have to say? ie what does he actually have to offer a baseball team in terms of managerial acumen besides jokes and good vibes? Good vibes would definitely be a step in the right direction though.

I stopped reading when Hahn referred to Middleton as "a former player." What a punk thing to say, it sounds like Human Resources prepares everything he says to the media. He sounds like he's a spurned ex-girlfriend or something. At least call him an idiot and refer to him by name. Anyone with two brain cells know how bad the culture is within this organization is, Middleton didn't need to say anything and the only other person to blame above Hahn can't be fired. OK I finished reading (I wonder which player was given permission to nap ?) and I frankly wonder how Hahn can keep his job after the season. He actually responded in line to pretty much each critique which I find hysterical. Even if they are "reasonable" explanations, the fact that pretty much every former employee of the White Sox has made it known that there are workplace issues relative to other organizations, it's telling. It's obvious when you "read into" their body language and how they communicate on the field. It's obvious when everyone on the team underperforms relative to their average level. There are so many issues with this team that can't be reasonably explained through quantifiable means which to me suggests there's a serious problem with the qualifiable things like 'culture' or 'chemistry.' Even TA said in an interview recently that, basically, he missed La Russa and there's a major issues with inconsistency in the organization. The s%*# flows from the top down and it's not going to stop with Reinsdorf but it could stop with Hahn and Williams. Reinsdorf employees famously have a lot of job security, but I'd be skeptical about Hahn lasting after this season. Gar and Paxson got shitcanned from the Bulls finally and they were more effective than Hahn and Williams.

He looked like such a b**** throwing punches too. Just flailing his arms around. That should be the biggest issue. Also I think he squared up to fight first.

those are the old men that are supposed to be leaders and hold guys accountable, so it makes them look bad. lance probably thinks it's funny that Soto (or whoever) is falling asleep on the job. man, you're 40-years-old. tell him to stop. middleton criticized them for it it seems like with the WBC/spring training remark. I think Giolito tried earlier in the season to be a leader and was rebuffed because there's no expectations from management or even a pecking order and he's also kind of a nerd and not very charismatic it seems like. I think another issue is that half the lineup comes from Cuba. Not Latin America specifically, but there has to be some bond between all of them about all having to defect from their home country in order to fulfill this dream. Probably a deeper bond than one between typical teammates and I feel like you probably have two clubhouses. I've said it several times but the only reason they hired Grifol is because someone in his lineage was born in Cuba once upon a time and so the front office thought he would be the guy to bring Cubans and Americans together as a team. What a stupid idea, I think even the wealthy Cubans are not fond of Gusanos.

Ramirez is such a p****. He talks and looks like a weasel too. I thank TA for remembering how to treat a division rival, they're not your fucking buddies. My only issue is that I don't he actually landed a punch and he kinda just toppled over. Not a great look, but he's also a professional athlete and these guys are some of the worst fighters I've ever seen, so he gets a pass. LOL at "fans" who want to take Ramirez or the Indians' side of things. Pick a different team to "root" for