nrockway

Do you also disagree with workers comp? The guy got injured at his job and has protections as an American citizen. God help you if your employer forces you into a potentially dangerous surgery so you can get back to work quicker.

10 minute walk, southsider. sounds like you're getting banned.

hey soxtalk, so when are we running "the mile"? sounds like 8 minutes is the marker to beat. Or 10 if you're walking.

Gosh, I’m just thinking….i don’t have a body like that. Eloy specifically looks great. Dude is a hunk, my opinion is unchanged regardless of what he says about his momma. He says nice things, bonus points. I don’t work out. But it clearly takes work to produce that body. Thus I think they spent all their time lifting weights instead of swinging a bat. I think there’s a meme on this forum about this. Probably should’ve been focusing on other things, ie swinging a bat. I’m wondering about Lenyn…he’s looked nice over the last ~100ab I’ve seen him take….but the “development path” seems similar to Eloy: lift a ton of weights, then learn how to play baseball. Perhaps one should come before the other.

I think Ozzie made a good point once upon a time: you can’t pull fat. I don’t think these guys aren’t working hard enough, I think they care very much about what they do, especially the aforementioned players, but I wonder if they’re working on the right things. What do I know, I’m not in my best shape, but I don’t think I’m going to get injured running the bases — and I’m a fair amount older than Eloy. I think if he was lying, his employer might’ve realized it. Might’ve said something. It’s a bit of money on the line. I wonder why they paid Vaughn $6mil or whatever. I think some players don’t work hard, just not sure you could say it about some of the recent Sox. Seems like they’re all trying their best, just that their best isn’t good enough. It’s a good life lesson.

If Eloy wasn’t in shape, I’m the fattest mother fucker who ever lived. Guy looks like a Greek god.

I dunno if you can really tell what's in a person's heart, maybe Rendon's, but I never got the impression that Moncada was just milkin it. I think you have to just feel sorry for both him and Eloy. Fell sorry about ourselves, the joke is ultimately on us, but I don't think I have any reason to question his desire. Maybe he ate too much candy. Then again, these players seemed to get hurt a whole lot less when they weren't constantly lifting weights and were subsisting on a diet of beer, chewing tobacco, steak dinners and sunflower seeds.

Joey Batz just became Joey Ballz. This is the baseball sojourn we didn't ask for; but desperately needed. Also, wondering about the 'flexor strain' vs a torn UCL. Both of these things relate to the elbow, right, but I'm not even totally sure what the difference is between a tendon and a ligament. The UCL injuries seem more damaging than flexor ones, I can recall Skubal missing extended time in 22-23 for a 'flexor strain', but people seemed to think 'thank goodness it isn't his UCL' (which he previously had surgically repaired/replaced). I guess I'm wondering: is this just a prelude to TJS or is it unrelated? Do we just assume every pitcher will get Tommy John surgery and...might as well just give 'em a new elbow while he's already missing time with a less intense elbow injury?

Good for him, that's awesome, these 'video reveals' are always touching. Wouldn't have been my pick though. I figured it was Cannon's job to lose -- and it seems like he did lose it -- but then my second choice would've been the veteran Perez who has produced some nice numbers this spring and is, well, a veteran. Third choice was Martin, pretty neck and neck with Martín, but he's barely pitched this spring, is he injured? Anyway, I think going into the season that none of these guys particularly shines above the other, so maybe it's cause for optimism that Burke comes out of no where to get the role. Maybe he didn't come out of no where, he was awesome last year in the short time be was with the MLB club.

I already replied in part to this post, but I find the extra information interesting. I do "tutoring" with exclusively Chinese students. It just worked out that way, I'm not trying to appeal to them specifically. But I'm saddened that the books we may have been assigned to read are no longer part of the curriculum...including Toni Morrison. I'm like "you're cancelling her too?" My impression is the Chinese-American students want to read these books and they're both excited and challenged by it. I suppose you work in China, I have an opportunity to go to Taiwan -- and there's some interesting baseball stuff going on there that could be worth writing about.

I actually wonder if it's better at the Catholic schools these days compared to public school. I feel like I got a very good public, non-magnet, education in Illinois. I think the Catholic standards might be higher these days. Certainly the public standards are reduced. When I was at public school, the teacher would make fun of you if you didn't have anything to say about...Huck Finn or whatever. Bully you a little bit if you didn't do your homework. Whether or not you wanted to read the book, you felt compelled to so you wouldn't feel like a loser at school when it was your turn to read. Gotta bully the youth a little bit, "b**** you ain't no nerd? -- coulda sworn you was" is a quote I like to think of. I don't think that's the case anymore. Certainly you can't bully your students anymore, you'll get fired, but you also can't expect them to read a book. Their parents are tiktok-brained themslelves. shams charania brained. I forget where I was going with this....go sox

Fair point, but none of those guys is Garrett Crochet, Chris Sale, Carlos Rodon. I only pick the lefties. Buehler is close (though not left-handed....nerd), he's a nice pitcher, who hasn't had sustained success, but is clearly great. Did the Dodgers help him or did he already have it and help himself? I think the latter, but not too sure. Kershaw clearly had it. I also tend to think, with no proof, that the Sox can actually help a pitcher. Carson reminds me of Kopech, two guys that blame all their problems on somebody else. Nothing is ever their fault. Uncoachable, they weren't going to amount to anything. They are two guys who could have long MLB careers with some humility. I think the Dodgers are probably fine with paying Kopech his arbitration amount and I wish him the best...and Carson still might have a MLB career, I'm not sure, I think he pitched for the Angels last year. May and Gonsolin are nice pitchers, I particularly like Gonsolin, but he's essentially just some guy. 99% of the reason I like him is that he's 'some guy' who has had some success. I mean he had a 5 ERA last year, Flexen status, but he seemed fairly important to the Dodgers. Not comparing him to some of the studs that have come out of our system though.

Sox signed a bunch of pitchers and I wrote comments, like, “why we have plenty”. Good idea in retrospect I also think if you’re a pitcher on the cusp, you’re better off signing with the Sox than the dodgers. Nobody talks about how the dodgers can’t produce a pitching staff except with $$$$. Why can’t they develop their own? You have kershaw, an old man who the gm can’t take credit for, and Urias who has correctly been canceled from Major League Baseball.

There was another post I read that said “Anderson was cut” and probably they’re talking about Justin, or whatever the not-so-good lefty on our staff is named, but I don’t think they were talking about Tim. I was worried. Spring training numbers are…..ok. Seems like he’s hitting it the other way and even has some power. Hit a homer. 2 maybe? I think his career is not done especially if he can play all over the infield and the corner outfield. We’ll see, I guess.

My theory is that it’s exclusively for marketing purposes, look at all these eggheads working for us! But it seems like a nonfunctional strategy, it doesn’t produce better work, or larger profits, but it makes it easier to do sales when you have a “team of Ivy League grads”. Too bad those kids have very little to offer the world. Maybe the STEM grads, but who cares about them. They can’t even read a whole book. There was some article I read recently where the Harvard grads are intimidated to be assigned a whole book to read. Couldn’t find the link, I think I read it in New Yorker. More specifically, the entire public high school curriculum for “English” classes has changed in the last decade or so. I think teachers have some leeway on the books they assign, but the list of “recommended” books for teachers has changed dramatically. Nothing earlier than 1980 seems to be the line. They wanted the literature to be “more racially sensitive”’ but they also deepsixed all of the native or black authors who wrote in the 20th century. Important part of American literature, i’d argue every student should be assigned Ralph Ellison or Sherman Alexie. Made an impact on me. No longer part of the curriculum, now it’s TikTok tier s%*#.

Conspiracy theory; they’re not gonna say “southside” [sic], they won’t even correctly read “south side”, and I think they’re testing the waters for a move. At least out of Bridgeport.

They won’t hire you unless you went to Colombia journalism school and only if you know how to write listicles and if you’re active on twitter. once upon a time this was a profession you didn’t need a college degree for. you still don’t, you just won’t be hired. consequently the journalists these days with their graduate degrees strike me as more illiterate and unable to write now than ever before. Just bad at writing. Probably good at studying, there’s sometimes an overlap. sports journalists specifically used to be very good, many of them still are and at least one of them posts on this forum, but every year it’s a new layoff. Mookie Betts and AJ Pyrzynski are taking their jobs and making a fucking mess of it. The only guys who keep their jobs are shills for agents and teams because they get “scoops”, ie they are public relations agents for teams and are told what to say. Boob Nightengale is a good example of this. That guy can’t write for s%*#. He seems slow when he talks. But he does whatever JR asks him to do, that’s certainly a path to a sustainable career. It’s unfortunately the antithesis of journalism. That’s evidently what the people want and will click on ads for though, apparently. I don’t actually believe that, it’s just the only thing available, and we’re dooming the kids.

the missing tooth analogy is very funny but I don’t think it’s fair. Why be pessimistic about baseball

vibes, Bob. vibes exclusively. also the fact that he was rule 5 eligible. it's obviously not based on AAA performance, but who gives a s%*#. A lot of people, seemingly, but they're the same guys who thought Garrett was bad at baseball, so...

It strikes me as tragic. I prefer to watch soft tossers, I prefer it when guys don't destroy their bodies to entertain me, yet it seems like a dumbass organizational philosophy. I also don't believe it. The line about "they're too expensive to sign" should never have been said out loud. Especially because we don't need to, there are several flamethrowers in the system. This article really annoyed me. Well-written and it struck a nerve, so kudos to Fegan as always, keep up the good work.

it's still obviously Colson whether or not he can play shortstop or if he's ready. I know he's ready, I don't think he's a shortstop though. If he doesn't start there opening day, there's something wrong with the organization, that Getz is being influenced by SoxTalk.

saw this on reddit. seems like a bad, dumb, insignificant trend line, yet it also checks out. throw the ball very fast, it tends to work. Dominican teenagers are destroying their bodies in an attempt to throw the ball very fast, I think they're onto something.

That’s an interesting thing to focus on. Semantics. Because they do interviews and talk about all the other guys on the staff besides Thorpe, the “star in the making ” they traded for. Some on this forum thought some cryptic comment Getz made about being ripped off in trades was about Thorpe. didn’t pull it out or no where but it’s also beside the point. Probably didn’t need 3 comments to say the same thing. I like the guy, they should talk to him and about him, yet they don’t. It’s interesting.

Interesting stuff. I can see the logic of "hitters adjust to velocity, so throw the same pitch at different speeds" but then I also wonder if it isn't just better to throw it 100mph every time if you are able. Felt like Crochet was oscillating his fastball, turning up the heat when he needed to, so it seems like a fair approach, but I'd wonder about repeatability and possibly injury if you're throwing the same grip at varying velocities. Not sure how a pitcher would achieve that and be consistent. Side note, wish they could get a chance to talk to Thorpe, or talk to Bannister or Katz about Thorpe. I wonder if the org has essentially given up on him, he's the prototype of "not bringing the heat", he throws a great changeup (2 apparent mantras of the org), yet his complete lack of a fastball will be the death of him.

My mind has changed on public investments in this arena. Pun intended. In principle, I don’t think liberal society should be giving handouts to business in place of handouts to regular people. However, the environment has changed where municipalities can actually derive sustainable revenue from “ballpark districts” when done right. Minneapolis and St Louis are good midwestern examples. You might prefer the state take a cut and have some decision-making over the process. You might demand of the owner who wants a new park to build some public assets, I imagine a new sox park could have a free or subsidized sports complex and create some opportunities for kids. Again, in principle, this seems wrong to me. The democratically elected government should do stuff for people, they shouldn’t be coercing Jerry Reinsdorf to do stuff for people. He’s just some guy and we didn’t vote for him. Unfortunately, this is the environment especially in Illinois.