nrockway

then write a better one. this ain't it.

The hater is an abstract construct that exists in all of our minds, especially in the minds of professional athletes and evidently commentators. Renowned poet Soulja Boy once rhetorically asked us (thinking men), "got a question: why they hatin' on me?" He famously followed up with, "if haters want to hate, they'll get shot like a free throw (swoosh)". Who is "they"? Who is the "hater"? He isn't a real person. He's an idea. A motivational tool. An imagined enemy. The hater is whoever you want him to be.

You don't remember that time Jesus got rung up on a pitch a foot off the plate? I think that's where the 'turn the other cheek' bit comes from.

He looks unstoppable if he can clean up the homers against righties, for now he's approaching LLL territory*. Pretty amazing that he just doesn't walk guys anymore. All the homers are from right-handed batters though. Coming into this game, lefties are slugging .063 against him while righties slug .487. Not ideal splits. *left-handed lance lynn

what is there to look at? my vision isn't that good.

regardless of haters, why was he so mad about the rain delay? that was so weird. then he sounded unhinged three hours later.

Maybe. I bet there's room for a 2B/1B type. Who will DH when/if Eloy is gone? India's already locked up next year at $5m, control until 2027 (one more year than Kopech). I don't know what one could really expect to get for Kopech, to me it feels like pretty fair value and, on the surface, sensible for both teams. I think Noelvi Marte comes back from his suspension before the deadline, where does that leave India? Would be great if Gonzalez/Montgomery/Ramos actually turned into a respectable infield. But can you really have too many middle infielders? I thought you liked Preller!

I don't know why this is news. I wonder if Agrest can remember a time when he was an actual journalist. This reads like a pearl-clutching blog post from a guy who, naturally, lives in Wilmette. You can read into what he chooses to criticize, quoting a rapper, pride in the South Side. Interesting. I certainly I read into it. There was a post in another thread about the 30 and younger crowd being bored with this team, then you have a bunch of old guys whining about the sort of lingo that young people use. Get over it.

I like how Schriffen says he doesn't have the time to keep up with baseball players' stats. Interesting. I thought that was like half the job.

I'm 35 and under and not bored

I think if they were going to trade Robert, it should've been this past offseason. That was probably the height of his trade value unless he returns and plays out of his mind the rest of the year. Still, one less year of control. Might as well keep him now. I'm still on the "Kopech for India" bandwagon. Rearranging the deckchairs for both teams probably, but both guys have talent they've underperformed. Maybe a change of scenery helps.

Do you think they should've called up Colson to play 3B or Sosa again? I'm not like "fire Getz" because he didn't sign some 40-year-old to be fourth string 3B, but I agree that I would've expected him to go to AAA first. I think he should've started the season there frankly. I don't hate this move though, only that there's nothing to lose playing Sosa for an extended period.

I don't think your typical fan knows who Bryan Ramos is. He isn't selling tickets. I'm actually fairly surprised by the reaction, I thought it was pretty well agreed that Ramos was getting called up this year. Pipeline seemed to think so. Maybe not this early in the season after his rough start. But it's probably a good thing to get an extended look at him at 3B before the coming offseason, see if he can actually play or if they need to sign somebody. Is he being rushed? Maybe. Prove it.

He fits with their team right now but I wonder if he's Ha-Seong Kim's eventual replacement. Does seem a little odd to have a 1B/DH tandem that might combine for 20 home runs.

I thought he might be called up this season but it feels like there are better options ahead of him at the moment. Is Sosa just done getting chances?

well yeah those people were always morons (or brainwashed more likely), I'm making the point that 'social justice' tends to be a left-wing arena, ie expanding rights for the poor, strengthening worker protections, improving the environment etc. but now it's a corporate one. Nike and Disney are the arbiters of social justice and individuals can virtue signal to their peers what their political opinions are by the products they buy. If you didn't like billionaire Taylor Swift's new record, you're a misogynist. I've genuinely been called a racist because I said I didn't like Beyonce's music (I prefer Kelly Rowland). I wonder how much that company made off those signs that say "in this house we believe in science, women's rights are human rights, etc". I remember in grad school, some official from the mayor's office gave a presentation to my class about what the city is doing to support social justice. This woman says, "We at the city DESPISE CAPITALISM that's why we're going to give away public money to black and female real estate developers instead of white ones to build million dollar condos in black neighborhoods that nobody can afford". Then go look at Columbia University and you see trust fund 'socialists' beating up/kidnapping black maintenance workers to pwn the Israelis. These people genuinely have worms in their brains and their actions in the world are the opposite of what they think in their head they're accomplishing. To me that's worse than Cletus in West Virginia voting for Trump because he's never met anyone that didn't look like him. Political ideation is now entirely based on patterns of consumption. Is the material world any better than it was a decade ago? I think it's worse.

There’s nothing political about it. Bud Light needed a gimmick because nobody drinks their s%*# beer anymore. They tried something provocative that would give them a ton of attention, positive and negative. Frankly this is the purpose of “social justice” in 2024. That period started I think when Kaepernick signed a deal with Nike and a bunch of sweatshop employees started making $80 “black lives matters” shirts for wealthy liberals to buy. But I digress. It’s very very different from having pride in where you’re from. It’s not immediately political just because it’s the south side of Chicago, though if Schriffen wants to make fun of lakeview YUPs, I’m here for it.

Well it’s no skin off my back if people don’t wanna watch the Sox, I just wouldn’t call it a boycott and judge other people for choosing to attend a game. I think “tinkers cuss” just entered my vocabulary and I’ll be using it at every opportunity, context appropriate it or not.

That’s true but a different scenario. Also seemingly not very effective, if the A’s end up staying in Oakland it will be because they’re incompetent and couldn’t secure funding for a park in Vegas. Also, A’s fans are boycotting because they like their team and want to keep watching it. I guess the White Sox fan would boycott because they don’t want to watch the team.

I wish people would stop saying this because it isn’t true. Sometimes we just enjoy attending a baseball game because it’s a fun activity and we don’t even think about Jerry Reinsdorf. Personally I wouldn’t let some bozo executives dictate my life and the things I enjoy, you’re not changing anything by “protesting” a bad team, the state is paying Reinsdork regardless. It’s kind of like the logic of boycotting businesses who support policies you don’t like. It doesn’t work and you’re only punishing yourself. I think our friend South Side Hit Men has good rationale to ”boycott” the team, signing a sex offender who might help us to win 50 games instead of 48. I’m pretty disgusted by that, but I don’t see the point in punishing myself. I like the White Sox regardless of who the owner or GM is, that’s probably not going to change.

I agree and it's the difference between pitching and throwing: having a brain. Some guys think too much and perform worse because they get in their own heads, I don't think that's the case with Kopech. I think he just doesn't know how to pitch and is unteachable. I was thinking the other day about how in pretty every sport, front offices fawn over cream of the crop athletes that jump 45 inches in the air or throw 100mph at 15. They're 'oozing with potential', only they'll never grasp the mental components of the game which is ostensibly just as important as the physical part, presuming you meet whatever baseline is necessary to be a pro athlete. Meanwhile, you have executives that think players won't last because they're "too smart". then again, look how well drafting a Berkeley guy has gone for the Sox.

He needed a new pitch. I thought Bannister and co were teaching everybody sweepers though.

You've just described every form of media and news outlet from the New York Times to Breitbart; though I think they've abandoned print for TikTok instead of Youtube.

what a bone-headed idea it was to wave Maldonado home. one out and the heart of the order is up, let's have the slowest guy in existence challenge Correa's arm.