nrockway

Fair enough lol

Nasty pitch. Wikelman’s been good though? Out of that inning several batters ago if Mead wasn’t a terrible defender.

Thought this started at 1:30. Missed another Colson bomb and a Chase bomb? Right on time to watch Mead boot one.

I was definitely irrationally optimistic about Colson. Some of the negativity was fair (not 'bum' talk which is baseless and mean-spirited to say about a nice kid). The concerns about his back are still real. I still question his ability to hit a four-seam fastball and his bat speed could evaporate if the oblique continues to bother him throughout his career. The Crochet chatter was a different story. I recall a lot of the discussion was "how can he start, he's only thrown 73 inning in his MLB career across 3 seasons, no player has ever done that and transitioned to a starter". I think was a mis-assessment of the the new ecosystem pitchers find themselves in where there's a very good chance they have a serious injury before they even reach MLB. More subjectively, I think it was a misread of his spirit and desire to be the best.Realistically, it was probably beneficial that he threw so few innings. I read a good point a while ago about pitchers from the Midwest projecting well because it's too cold to play baseball all year round and so they've accumulated less strain on their arms trying to throw as hard as possible with little league mechanics. We'll see about Braden, but the injury talk seemed overblown pre-draft and he has an 80 grade, heart of the city, personality. Same as Wetherholt (maybe not the same personality, I dunno). Wish we could have had both, JJ is killing it. To your second point, c'est la vie indeed. I sorta like the Bundesliga model, the 50+1 rule that states a single entity (person or company) cannot have majority control over a team. Better prior to 1998 when teams were required to be run as not-for-profits. Bundesliga is an excellent league, although stars often leave to go play in other leagues where they'll make more money, so it isn't as competitive as the Premier League or La Liga. Evidently Bundesliga draws the largest crowds on average of the 'Big 5' leagues. Less branding. Cheaper tickets. Not perfect, Bayern has a considerably larger budget than every other team, their payroll accounts for like 25% of the whole league, but a decent model to take inspiration from. Or the Green Bay Packers obviously, a small town that nobody has ever heard of is a perpetual powerhouse. Even England has a ton of cooperatively-owned teams at the lower levels. There could be potential for that in the minor leagues, instead one singular private equity firm owns 45 MLB-affiliates which is just sickening to me. Happy Labor Day!

They skipped his start yesterday in Charlotte, it was Civale's turn to start today, seems like today would be that day. Ellard is now listed as the probable starter and he's never started a game in his MLB or MILB career. Just seems like a weird situation all around. Maybe Clev missed his flight or is hungover or something.

Awesome! So not Clevinger? Or was there another corresponding move I'm not aware of? Wishing Ramos luck. Might be his last shot with the Sox.

Missing @South Side Hit Men right about now.

reminds me: MILB gamecast said Clev was supposed to start for Charlotte yesterday. He didn't. His ass is starting for the Sox today isn't he?

tbh yea I did. he passed the vibe test. Garrett "he's never thrown 100 innings" Crochet passed the same test. so does Braden. Fauske is trending in that direction.

I know what you mean. Looked like he could've been a serviceable starter last year. I'm just looking over the game logs, he started 5 games with Charlotte in March/April, pitched to a 9 ERA with 9BB/9, went to Arizona, came back a month later and had an excellent June as as a reliever. July started off well, brought the 9 ERA down to 4.50 then things really went off the rails starting July 29th. I guess the good news is that a few really, really bad outings are doing a lot of the heavy lifting, so maybe he just needs to be more consistent. But some of the scouting reports say his stuff is just diminished. Pipeline wrote in, presumably, 2024: Then our guy @Y2Jimmy0 wrote more recently: Haven't watched him play this year, so I don't know what his velocity is at. But that doesn't sound promising. I agree with you in that we might "hope" he is just dealing with some injury. But not in, like, a painful way. I'm not sure how else you might account for that.

Looks good for both teams, but who can really say? Crochet could get injured, Montgomery could bust, etc. All four players performing at the major league level would make it a big success...but Crochet is one of the best pitchers, if not the best, in the league for a while if he doesn't get hurt. I think as it stands, both teams got what they were looking for. I liked it at the time and still do. Really like Teel, but didn't love getting another catcher because Quero might end up a better hitter and neither guy looks like an elite defender/game caller. Plus Korey Lee is more than serviceable as a backup. I liked Mayer and obviously Anthony as the 'big' piece. Getting Anthony would've been a huge steal whereas Mayer probably would've been an overpay (Kyle is at .779 OPS in 205 PA, Mayer at .674 in 136 and keeps getting injured). I might've wanted Bleis too, but he's had a really tough year, .550 OPS at AA. Getting Braden was awesome and I don't think Boston knew what they had with him. Still could bust, but I think he's going to show out like his brother from another mother, Colson. Wanted to draft him in the first place. His injury was overblown and I think we got a steal there. Meidroth and Gonzalez were basically just 'some guys' but really nice tertiary pieces. Meidroth has been up and down but has been better defensively than expected and still looks like a potential leadoff hitter. At worst, utility infielder who puts the ball in play and actually looks very good at both SS and 2B. tbh, I don't think it would have been crazy to send him down at some point or even start him at AAA next season depending on how spring training goes. His command of the strike zone hasn't been as good as advertised. Wikelman has also been pretty good in limited time. He's looked better in MLB than in the minors which is interesting. That seems true of several Sox players. I think he'll start striking more people out, his stuff looks good, but the walks are a little scary. All in all, I like the trade and I'm happy Garrett is doing well!

Iriarte walked 3, gave up 3 runs, out after a third of an inning. his ERA is up to 6.92. What happened to him? 33 walks in 40.1 innings is brutal.

Vasil is a keeper. Him and Shane were such great pickups off the scrapheap.

Not if Lenyn has anything to say about it

Oppor had a good month. 5 ER in 6 starts, 23.1 IP (1 in his last 13). 11.95 K/9 to 3.85 BB. 1.92 ERA.

Totally bonkers that Colson will probably end the season leading the team in homers. This pace is incredible. I hope they move him to third base sooner rather than later to help preserve his health.

What would be the projected payroll next season without Robert? Benintendi at $17mil, Steven Wilson at arb-2, then 24 guys making under $800k? What is that, about $40mil? Maybe a few veterans to bump it up to $50mil? That would be unprecedentedly low. Minnesota seems to be in pretty dire financial straits and they'll commit $47mil alone to Pablo Lopez, Buxton, a retained Correa. Could've actually gotten something of value if they traded Lopez and Buxton. It would look really bad if the option wasn't picked up and Robert played like he did the first four years of his career, 6 WAR per 162 games. Even if he only plays like 100 games, that's about 4 WAR. It doesn't look bad at all if he sucks and eats up some payroll. Not like there's a salary cap. It isn't our money. Also Bob Nightengale is perhaps the worst writer in baseball. What "executives" did he speak to and did they actually use the word unfathomable? The guy has been on a trolling spree lately too. Nonetheless, the operative phrase is "just so they can trade him next summer". Yes, it would be very dumb to trade him in a few months. It would be smart to let him play out the year or at least to the deadline and see what happens.

Checks out, but why not just cut him after his previous start? He's scheduled to pitch tomorrow.

uh....what Kind of weird, right? What's the point? Is he just a clubhouse douche like I seem to think he is?

Well said. I think in retrospect, to your last paragraph, you're totally right. They're doing some big real estate projects even further south, along the Green Line '43 Green' just came up and the second phase is already completely leased. Unsure if it's actually open yet, if it is, just recently. Some of the newly built townhomes around it have sold for over $800k in the last 5 years. Have to imagine there's even more potential 10 blocks north from a developer standpoint. Makes me wonder why JR didn't see this potential, but then again, he's involved with Wirtz in that huge development project around the United Center and it's probably not feasible to do both. Might be a big opportunity for Ishbia as you say. I'm definitely biased, but I'd love to see some Sox-centric development at the site and the state's involvement could garner some nice concessions for the community (like a much-needed grocery store). I might speculate that some kind of 'ballpark village' could spark something across the expressway at the site of the former Stateway Gardens which is still mostly vacant (but well taken care of) 20 years after its demolition. Pretty sure CHA still owns that land, put the grocery store there as well as affordable housing, finally follow through with the broken promise to replace the housing lost from the demolitions. Seems like a situation where everyone can win: developers can profit, the state and city have a new source of revenue, regular people have a more livable community. I don't hate the idea of the 78, you're right about the current park's design flaws, and it would be nice to finally do something with a huge site that has been vacant since the 70s. My opinion is that it's just kind of low-hanging fruit at the current site but I don't know what changes they could make to the current park to make it more 'imageable' without demolishing it and building again. Even something like orienting it north-northeast toward the skyline could go a long way which is probably impossible, I have no clue. Also no clue why they didn't just do that in the first place, the MLB preference is to face it northeast. Something to do with keeping the address at 35th and Shields I guess?

Frankly, I wish the Bulls would tank and bottom out. They have been incredibly hard to watch since the Jimmy Butler trade in 2017. Had some hope when they went all in in 2021, signing Ball, DeRozan, trading for Vucevic, but it was a complete bust. Since, they've just doubled down on the treadmill. Since Karnisovas took over, they've traded draft picks for mediocre veterans, drafted busts with the picks they have left, re-signed those busts/mediocre veterans to massive contracts, mishandled the two good players they got back from the Butler trade. They have an average winning percentage of .475 or a record of 39-42 over the last 5 seasons. Good enough to keep selling out the United Center, you have a 47/53 chance of seeing a win if you attend a game, but really just garbage, un-fun basketball that doesn't make the playoffs and with nothing to look forward to (besides maybe Matas Buzelis who will very likely not be the star we want him to be). The only good player left on the team is a holdover from the previous front office. Watching these Sox losses sucks but I'm really enjoying watching the young hitters grow. These games are still semi-enjoyable and many of the rookies are producing and getting better. Colson looks like a franchise player. Braden might join him. Teel and Quero look great along with others. There is reason to be optimistic about the minor league players. We're losing these games because of scrub veterans, the difference between the Bulls is that the young guys are actually producing, could get even better and scrub veterans aren't being signed to huge deals they underperform. The key word there is could, the guys could also bust the same as Moncada, Eloy, Kopech, Madrigal etc. But at least there's something to be optimistic about. I'd be tuned out watching Birmingham or doing something actually productive if I didn't think they were entertaining. I think that's the difference between the Sox and the Bulls. I dunno about the Bears, don't really watch football, but Caleb Williams seems a lot worse at it than Jaden McDaniels.

The past several times he's come on, I've that video of that Raptors fan yelling "NO, IT'S TYLER ALEXANDER, NOT THIS GUY" stuck in my head. Or Rudy Gay, whatever.

We might actually win this one. Also don't want to jinx it

Doesn't seem like it. I came here to post about how Stone just said he experienced "premature exhilaration".

The 'ballpark district' (the mallpark) is seemingly the correct model at least in terms of mutually beneficial public-private partnerships (not correct if you deplore a culture of consumption, but that's a different story). Every team is basically doing this nowadays in pretty much every sport. They don't just build a new ballpark, but an integrated system of hotels, restaurants, condos, offices etc. Real estate development is a profitable business and why shouldn't sport franchises get into the game especially if the public might subsidize it? I think the logic of 'public investment' into ballparks has changed because of this model. It might actually generate tax revenue greater than the investment. It can be a good source of urban development as far as the public is considered aside from a billionaire making a bunch of money. Mark Rosentraub seems to be the foremost expert on this topic, for a long time, and his analyses of "does the public get anything in return for their investment?" have evolved in light of this model. Here's a short blurb he offered in 2015 about it: https://www.marketplace.org/story/2015/08/13/sports-arena-investment-or-subsidy Since 2015, we've seen some pretty good examples of it. It works well in San Diego, St Louis, Minneapolis for sure. I seem to recall reading that the suburban sites in Atlanta and Arlington are not great examples of it. So I think the debate for the Sox is the current site or 'the 78' and not the suburbs. I prefer the current site for a variety of reasons, but the notable thing is that the land adjacent to the park (the parking lots) is publicly owned (by Illinois Sports Facilities Authority) and it's essentially a blank canvas to build upon. The team and the public can simply work together and not have to deal with ROOSEVELT CLARK PTNRS (the landowner of 'the 78') or any other private entity. The parking lots comprise roughly 70 acres of land which is a larger area than the 78. It already has a CTA stop and easier expressway access. The surrounding community is not as wealthy as South Loop residents, but the area is gentrifying on both sides of the expressway and I have to think there is demand for retail, restaurants, amenities etc that didn't necessarily exist when new SoxPark was built in 1991. Certainly, some formal analysis should be done. There's almost certainly demand for it at the 78, but the public investment would probably be larger if they're going to build a transit stop and I'd wonder what the return on that investment would actually be. For the Sox, I don't know why they would want to cut into their profits by involving another corporation. However, the land is almost certainly more valuable at the 78 owing to its downtown proximity, you'd likely get a lot more tourists and north siders visiting. From a 'social' standpoint, the key thing to me, I reckon some other entity will eventually develop the 78. It isn't the Sox or nothing. Some developer could just build a bunch of condos and be done with it. There could be some kind of 'research center'. They could just build a mall regardless without an 'anchor tenant'. Turn it into a big, wooded park is my thinking. That would probably do wonders to adjacent property values and be a really nice oasis near to downtown. Whereas if the Sox move from their current site, what is really going to happen to all that now vacant land? It probably just gets added into the City's "Dollar Lot" inventory or some such program. Vacant lots that are not exactly being gobbled up and developed on the South and West Sides. It would be a massive blow to the community to simply add dozens of acres of vacant lots and it would also be a contradiction of city and state investments into the region. It would be bad urban planning, simply.