nrockway

If he goes back to not being able to hit, he still has value as a utility player and it’s only two years to eat the contract. If he doesn’t suck, it’s a good one year deal to buy time for their young outfielders to come into themselves and compete for the NL Central in the mean time. There’s some risk with this contract of course but I don’t think it’s that much. Far less risky than giving an injured Benintendi 5 years at any AAV.

that's white sox baseball right there!

he came close his other two at bats...3 at bats, 10 balls. meaningless observation? probably. but after that walk I'll now be keeping track.

I think in 2 at bats he looked at 6 balls. I'll take it.

who cares about throwing strikes when you have a pickoff move that slick?

another potentially nice play by Ramos but probably should've held onto it. I guess you don't really expect a guy to score from second on a groundball to third, wild baserunning.

what a play!

I think the goal of this game is to see what kind of range and arms the outfielders have.

lol

Go Sox!

“62 acre parcel for sale”

Some guy posted some pictures of him and his grandkids at camelback ranch on a different Sox group and it seemed like moncada was the player most interested in chatting with the kids and high fiving them and such. I thought it was cool. I don’t think he’s an unlikeable guy just because he sucks and we thought he’d be good. Kopech on the other hand…

I definitely think this team will be better than most fans think and almost certainly better than last season. I wouldn't rule out a .500 record. A lot has to go right though, the "bounce back" guys have to actually bounce back. Eloy, Benintendi and Moncada have to play at a level that they're probably still capable of. The young guys from Vaughn and DeLoach to Eder and Nastrini have to show something. I think there's such a wide range of potential outcomes for this team that it makes me genuinely excited to watch them this year. well, until we have 30 losses by May. More than a winning record, I'd just hope that several of these guys can play themselves into semi-valuable assets and be consolidated into an actually useful player or two.

that confused me too. I thought maybe they had just recently changed it so Jean Baptiste Point du Sable Lane Tech.

it's definitely amusing that a fatty snuck a gun into a baseball park and shot herself with it. it sounds like a bit from a European sketch comedy show mocking America but reality is often funnier than fiction. I choose to believe this is what happened even if there's conflicting evidence. Also, I was at this game sitting in left field a few sections over from where this happened. didn't hear a dang thing. I find this whole story very strange because I tend to think I would've heard the gunshot, the park wasn't that loud and I wasn't very far away, but maybe fat rolls are the perfect silencer.

this was an incredibly stupid remark that made me not want to read the rest of the article. i'm slightly offended too. "breakout relievers" is a silly thing to write about anyway. the "breakout relievers" are probably treading water in AAA or are currently failing as a starting pitcher. I think this article would've been more entertaining if all of the choices were starting pitchers, Michael Kopech for example has a promising career as a setup man.

I see your point but I think Berroa's floor is as a multi-inning reliever and that he still has the ability to start. I believe the M's moved him to the bullpen last season because he couldn't control the ball and evidently lost faith that he ever will be able to. otherwise, his stuff is meteoric. I think you have to bet on his upside. I'm starting to feel like a fool because I've said this about all the pitchers we've signed this offseason, but maybe Bannister and co can do something for him that the Mariners staff could not in terms of getting the ball over the plate. There clearly seems to be a plan on the pitching side of things and I'm somewhat optimistic that it will produce fruit. Regardless, there are a ton of exciting young guys on this team to watch pitch and maybe one of them can become an ace and 2 or 3 of the rest can join a MLB rotation. Frankly, I dunno what the Mariners really get out of this deal. Yes, Santos is a high quality reliever, but their assortment of moves this offseason come off as a jumbled mess. Are they trying to save salary or are they trying to win? if they're trying to win, to my eye they're doing a really bad job at it.

I like this deal, I dislike the other one. Time to read through all the comments so that I can change my opinion 5 more times.

I kinda hate this. Mena has some legitimate question marks but I think he's on the whole he's impressed at a young age. I guess I like Berroa better if you consider these deals in summation, but dang, I would've rather just rolled out Colas I think.

All those guys who "called out" the toxic environment were seemingly the ones who helped foster it. I'm thinking Lynn, Kelly, Middleton specifically. All three guys are older than 30, veterans who have been around a while. They were supposed to be the ones to lead by example or be vocal in the way they displayed only after leaving the team. Yet rather than behaving like leaders, they whined that there were none; but only after they were out of the organization and wouldn't have to back up their words (which they wouldn't be able to. they're all garbage at baseball, the phantom napper wasn't tipping their pitches.). The way they left seems a little cowardly to me, like they were trying to blame their terrible play on forces beyond their control rather than take some accountability for their individual performance and for the culture of the clubhouse. Compare that to Gio, who probably got shafted the most by this team, and isn't trashing his former teammates or the fans. I think a part of the reason he got paid like he did is that he's a consummate professional and doesn't look for excuses or to blame others. Gio tried to actually lead his teammates, albeit maybe not so successfully.

I haven't watched those movies, but isn't the premise that whichever team first signs five failed first round picks, half of their losses poof out of existence?

he also hasn't played there in years. I think this is who gets called up to DH when Eloy is injured in early April.

Always thought Cease should be traded for a package built around a middle infielder, of which Baltimore didn't have any to trade besides Poortiz (not considering Holliday), so I'm not all that sad about this. Still, wish Burnes went to a team that wasn't there to potentially drive up Cease's asking price. Good get for the O's though. I think we're finding that Cease needs half a season to up his trade value in order to return something along the lines of what the Reds got for Castillo. Castillo's season prior to the trade (2021) wasn't lights out, similar to Cease. his 2020 wasn't that hot either. But he was incredible the first half of 2022 and I'm enough of a homer to think Cease will return to form next year. I don't think he has to be traded before Spring Training.

hmm, I have no real opinion on this structure, but it sets off conspiratorial alarm bells that a single entity would privilege certain markets or even fix games. for example, does a Yankees vs Dodgers World Series increase the share price more than a Royals vs Reds Series? I suppose corporations don't have a legal duty to maximize shareholder value, but it's still ostensibly their duty. I suppose that isn't the case with NASCAR, but then again I know nothing about NASCAR.

I get the feeling that it would be worse for the sport if the teams were publicly traded. profit really becomes the sole motive when you're talking about that many shareholders, though of course there's also more transparency and money to build a stadium without relying so much on the taxpayer...or even to pay player salaries but I wouldn't hold my breath. I don't know if the GM would be held especially accountable for team performance, I imagine an individual's investment in a team would be bundled with everything else he's investing in and that the team's performance would not be highest priority so long as the investment is performing. then again, as far as I can tell the Braves are the only publicly traded team in the MLB (I believe the Indians used to be) and they seem to be doing something right.