nrockway

Maybe part of it is that there's less interest in the team and fewer fans are tuning in, but this just seems to be the way things are going. Why have a thoughtful, knowledgeable journalist when you can have a former pro athlete interview his buddy about what his favorite Nike shoe is. I reckon that's what people want to watch/listen to/consume these days, morons they've heard of that used to be good at the sport they like who have nothing interesting to say. Gen Z athletes are also wimps for only wanting to answer softball questions from their friends about their various sponsorships. Roger Angell could never have a career in 2024.

Pilfering the NL Central

Don't know what rule changes you could actually institute. A pitch over 100 mph is a ball? No more giving "max effort"? I guess this is what the MLB recommends: Doesn't seem particularly helpful. Rather than have a rule that says starting pitchers 'must' pitch 6 innings (delusional), why doesn't the MLB come up with its own version of Pitcher WAR that can be tied to arbitration payments and likely to free agent contracts? Correct me if I'm wrong, but the current WARs don't reward pitchers for going deep into games. A strikeout in the first inning will be worth as much as a strikeout in a pitcher's 7th inning of work. Yes, you can potentially rack up more WAR by throwing more innings, but there's something useful about a pitcher that gets outs deep into games that isn't adequately recognized. Fangraphs makes a 'leverage' adjustment for relievers, there should be something similar for starters. Will pitchers regulate themselves if there's a statistical and financial component to 'not giving max effort'? Couldn't hurt. Youth sports is the bigger issue to me, I feel somewhat sorry for millionaires blowing out their elbows and shoulders, I feel worse about the kids who will never play professionally. Especially the Latin kids because they're obviously being fed drugs from a very young age and MLB turns a blind eye to it. What if scouts aren't allowed to report the velocity of players under 18 to teams anymore, else face a fine? That seems unlikely and like a wonderful incentive for even more corruption. Gotta do something though, I just don't know what MLB could do. Wouldn't mind seeing more two+ inning relief pitchers though, interested to see what "regulate the availability of pitchers on a roster" might mean.

right! more than moderately annoyed, that guy rocks.

He kinda sucks at hitting and doesn't really fit anywhere except center field. A good team probably wants a better-hitting first baseman and they have PCA to play center. Perfect fit on the Yankees, I love this for them, they look to be a better team despite losing Soto. Think the Cubs definitely could've gotten more than a reliever/salary dump though. I'd be more upset about not retaining a lot more of his salary (they gave Yankees $5m) to get back an actually good player. Maybe they spend it on a player. Unlikely. Why am I getting the feeling that Yoan Moncada will be their starting third baseman?

also, Brewers catching coach guy strikes again!

I forget who they dumped to keep Chuckie, but I remember being moderately annoyed.

Five more years of "Rate"! Why didn't they rebrand to something smart like "The Winners"? It's just good marketing. I would probably buy insurance (or whatever they sell, I haven't figured it out) from "The Winners". They might change their logo to a thumbs up too. Still sad Wintrust didn't win the bid. Like Rate, I don't totally know what they do, but the name inspires confidence.

That's my thinking too, but I think he comps a little bit to Imanaga and his (although flyball heavy) 92 MPH fastball in this regard. I didn't think Imanaga would be any good for that reason, that he was already giving up a lot of homers and it was only going to be worse facing MLB players at Wrigley. His HR/9 was pretty bad but the rest of his peripherals were great. Fewer walks than in NPB, similar K rate. However, Imanaga struck out 9.4 batters per 9 in NPB compared to 7.7 for Sugano. Sugano is also old and his past couple seasons have been around ~6. That seems fairly significant and might suggest he won't be fooling MLB players. Senga and Yamamoto actually improved on their K rate in the MLB, but then they already had the 'big stuff' reputations and were striking out 9+ guys per 9, but they are also in their athletic primes. if I was an O's fan, I'd probably prefer Corbin Burnes. Doesn't seem like a great fit for them, they need star pitching, seems like a better fit for a team that might want to dangle him at the trade deadline a la Fedde. But yeah I think what you say is right, a pretty good 4 or 5 that might turn out to be a little bit better. I'm excited to watch him pitch.

Pretty clever. He'd probably get an Imanaga type contract if he came over before he's 35, I might've thought the Sox could be in on this type of signing. Does his groundball-producing "stuff" and his 92mph fastball translate to the MLB? I wondered that about Imanaga and he was excellent, though trending the wrong direction after an incredible start to the season. Maybe the 15-year vet with 1900 IP takes a step back though.

Good post, mostly agree, I like the bit about the spectacular gymnast. I'd quibble with the bolded a little bit. I don't see it, why'd they re-sign Clevinger? Signing him once, maybe you get the benefit of the doubt (they knew), but twice? and he makes like one start? hmm. It actually seems to contradict what I thought was a well-established policy, I feel like we were always whining that the Sox/Bulls wouldn't go after knuckleheads with star power, then they go out and sign Clev twice. He's not even good. You could say something similar about Josh Giddey, regardless of whether or not the allegations against him are true. He's radioactive, OKC wasn't re-signing him and other teams didn't seem interested in trading for him, despite being pretty talented and young. Seems to me that the Reinsdorf teams had a change in ethics and it didn't even help the teams win games, actually they're as bad as ever. I bet we're thinking about if Deshaun Watson can hit a curveball.

I was thinking about Schriffen last night. He's not very good. I didn't even care about all the times he put his foot in his mouth. Actually I thought it was a little endearing. LA PANTERA (cat sounds) is objectively funny...like why would anyone say that? it's absurd. very amusing. Everybody seems to hate him which makes me like him a little bit. It's the Carlos Boozer effect. However, his issue to me is how seemingly proud he is about his complete lack of knowledge and his reluctance to learn anything about the sport he has a full-time job talking about. I'm reading very much into some statement he made in a Guardians game, he was talking about Kyle Manzardo and got the scouting report completely wrong, then later in the game, when talking about Sox prospects, he said something like, "oh yeah these nerds know so much about the minor leagues. I wish I had time to learn about all that." Dawg, I feel like it's 50% of your job to know that stuff. You have to talk about baseball for like 500 hours a year, you should figure out some stuff to talk about. Maybe talk about the baseball players, maybe pony up for a Baseball America subscription. that Bill VEEEK remark too. Buddy, if you did a modicum of preparation for this great job you have, people would not make fun of you so relentlessly. I'm also convinced he got drunk during that 9th inning rain delay in St Louis.

Seems like a lot of players (that I've heard of, they must be good) to give up for Robert. Pipedream would be to get back Caba and Crawford imo. After we trade Robert, who even has the ability to play center field? Sign some defensive specialist, maybe, a guy like Blake Perkins, but it would be a shame to lose Robert's (theoretical) offensive ability or just swap it over to a less important position. If Montgomery2 pans out, that would be nice, but then the hole in right field moves to center field. Montgomery1 probably can't play shortstop, I'm not sure anyone in the system has the range, but you could give him until 2027 to try to make it work. When he inevitably moves to third (or first), Caba should be ready. I mean, he's 19, so he still has plenty of time to blow it (especially in the Sox system), but his athleticism and defensive ability makes me think he's going to be a gold glove contender for a long time even if he doesn't figure out how to hit the ball. Phillies had a CF prospect like that though, forget his name, but I think they DFA'd him this past season.

I don't trust the renovations, I don't want to pay more for a ticket and a hot dog so that I can enter through a fancy lobby. I wasn't really begging for a "8,500-sq.-ft., interactive LED video wall that can be programmed with dynamic content. This video wall glows like a beacon and is visible from several blocks away." Maybe they should renovate the three point line back a couple feet and then basketball will actually be interesting. Actually I'm looking through the 'renovations' and I hate all of them. absolutely nothing about upgrading the toilets. I'm seeing these self-cleaning ones now, add some of those. "Restrooms have been refreshed with new graphics, finishes and fixtures" though. A gorilla in sunglasses can watch you piss.

Ishbia spent like crazy with the Suns and they ended up a worse team. same thing with Mikhail Prokhorov, except not only were the Nets bad, it crippled the franchise and handed Boston a title. Rich idiots may be rich but they're still idiots. I guess they can pay out $700mil contracts and retain $70mil on trades, but that's more so an indictment on the league IMO.

George Kirby and Jonathan Cannon posted the exact same bWAR, but 4.2 vs 1.1 fWAR, 3.9 vs 0.7 WARP (Baseball Prospectus). Guess we know which website the MLB isn't looking at. It all seems a little (pre)arbitrary.

If Vladdy has a repeat of his 2023 season, I don't think he's getting a contract like this at 27. Wish him luck though.

I think funds would come from the state and not the city, right? I think if the mayor said something like, “yes, we’re ready to pony up $1bil in taxpayer funds” it probably wouldn’t go well during his next election campaign. also, it’s a southern state, you already know they’re going to take money out of ‘Temporary Assistance for Needy Families’ to build it and somehow Steve Air McNair will be involved.

I started paying attention to him because I like his name. with an 80 grade name like Wikelman, he's destined for success. but really excellent stuff, unfortunately he walks 5 guys per 9. Oh you're talking about Jacob. I liked him out of college, felt it was a good pick, but I thought he would be more advanced by now. I think he looks better than Colson at SS at least.

I'm confusing Wesneski with Horton in these posts. My bad. Please ignore.

I’m not so sure. Maybe. But am I wrong that the cubs gave up more for 1 year of Tucker than the Yankees did for 1 year of Soto? I don’t remember what they traded.

Don’t think that’s totally fair. He’s proven to be an elite defender and that he can hit for power. Tucker is a better player to be sure, but I don’t think it’s so far off, especially considering their respective contract situations. However, I can't imagine Robert would net a return like this at the moment, better keep him for now.

Surprised they gave up Wesneski, didn’t think they’d need to add someone of his caliber to the deal for one year of Tucker. Is he that much better than Suzuki?

Watching a rebuild is fun to me. It's the reason I won't watch the Bulls anymore, the treadmill is not a fun place to be. I'm excited to watch the Sox next season if it's just a bunch of 24-year-olds trying to make it in the league and maybe break out. Some guy last spring training, maybe Soroka or Shewmake or some new(bad) addition, said the team was going to impress because it's a bunch of 28-year-olds fighting for their careers. I don't think anybody bought that, but I might buy it when they're rookies and second year players. There's some potential for fun or a surprise when there's players who could break out. In other words, I'd much rather watch Brooks Baldwin play second base than Nicky Lopez, rather watch Ramos than Moncada, Vargas than Eloy, etc. even if it means another 100 loss season. Sports is still fun. Maybe watching it on TV gets old after 70 years or whatever the average age of this board is. Or posting about it on the internet since the day of newsgroups. But its a timeless thing that has been fun and socially relevant since, I dunno, they started recording history.

That'll do, we even got my guy Willkommen. welcome to the team!