nrockway

hot tip I recently learned: there's a Chrome app called "Reader Mode" that bypasses the Athletic's paywall (it doesn't work for every site). You just have to click on the extension before the site loads the paywall. reading the interview, I think he offers some pretty interesting insights but they're not really about the White Sox organization. He felt that he was entitled to a bonus from the club, and maybe he was, and that's why he concocted this scheme. The other interesting nugget, I guess, is that he alludes to it being a poorly-funded operation. I think what's interesting is his life after prison, how he's basically been kept out of productive work because he's a felon. It makes sense that Dave Stewart couldn't get him a job in the MLB, but US laws also prohibit him from going to Japan or even Canada to work, where he says he has connections. There was this disgusting article written by the Tribune in 2009 (and now unpublished, credit Wayback Machine) mocking him that he has to earn minimum wage. There is evidently no redemption for "criminals" including the ones who don't even do anything that bad, they steal some money from a baseball team and morally bankrupt buscones, (not Latin kids like the team claims) and now they're done for life. Defrauding rich people is truly the most heinous crime imaginable.

last time I was at a Sox game, I bought one of those cooler beers and did self checkout. cool concept, easy enough. I pay for it and crack it open and the employee starts yelling at me that it's his job to open my beer. what? no it's not. why would I want some stranger's unwashed hands opening my drink? that's ridiculous. I also think it's demeaning to the employee, what are you my servant? I can do it myself, buddy, thanks. I relayed this perspective to him and he didn't agree and I felt he was more belligerent than someone at their job should be. bad vibes at the Cell last year, the two other games I went to involved a fat fan shooting herself and drunk idiots heckling Dylan Cease through 5 innings.

it is sort of about velocity because apparently he has to have perfect command every outing in order to not give up 7 runs. if the fastball is in the zone, it's getting crushed, it's that simple. that needs to change. does that mean adding an extra MPH or two? maybe, but I lean more toward "stop throwing a 4 seam fastball". does a sinker play off the changeup in the same way? I have no clue, but what I do have a clue about is that his fastball is in fact a problem and it was a problem when he had a great debut.

his last start, he gave up three hits which were all fastballs (two 4-seam, one cutter). The four-seams were in the same place, right down the middle, crushed for doubles, whereas the cutter was below the zone and just a nice hit. looking at his statcast chart for this start, four of the six hits he gave up were 4 seam fastballs in the zone. half his pitches were 4 seamers for some reason and he only generated one swing and miss. very different than his last start where he relied on his changeup, so yes control was clearly an issue (5 walks). but it seems to me that if he can't control his changeup, he's totally useless. even if he can, if I'm a hitter facing him, I'm only sitting on a fastball (and striking out because I'm terrible but you get the point).

right, but he also has a .341 OBP at AA, something that seems to me to be a translatable skill if you give him more than four at bats. He also has the speed to potentially be a good center fielder if you let him practice, get over nerves, actually let him start instead of come in as a sub in the 8th. my only point is that he's a pretty marginal player, but he has some useful tools and there's literally no point in keeping a guy like Maldonado over him if you're selecting a catcher anyway. Billy Hamilton is the easy comp, a career 66 OPS+ hitter who managed to be a useful ball player for about a decade. personally, I was surprised they added him to the 40-man roster even if they needed an injury sub. he's "old" but he clearly still needs a lot of polish in the minors. The Sox have time to see if they can polish him into a useful player, and maybe he makes it through waivers. His defense was tragic, but he's fast enough to turn into a good outfielder with proper coaching. What is Grady Sizemore doing for this team anyway? because all of the outfielders not named Luis Robert are terrible defenders.

the issue is that his fastball sucks, right? I'm not watching beyond the two innings I've already watched, but seemingly 99% of the time he throws it, it's a 92mph meatball right down the middle of the plate. if he only threw it on the edges or out of the zone, fine, but he doesn't. maybe he's trying to but can't command it. I bet he'll get sent down to AAA because that seems to be the pattern: AA->MLB->AAA. But it's probably good to find out how bad of a pitch his fastball is against real hitters. edit: sure glad I didn't go to this game.

So was Jackson Holliday, they're not cutting him. The point is that baseball players have the potential to improve and Ellis improved over last year by a pretty significant amount. It's not like I compared him to an actual good player, I likened him to Nicky Lopez, which is a potentially useful bench player. An outfielder with range, a .333 OBP and speed is an asset. Whether or not Ellis would turn into that, I dunno, but I'd rather he be on the roster to find out than any one of the dozen guys who can't be traded and won't be here next year. Maybe he's about to get popped for gambling like Popeye though.

that's too bad. I bet a team picks him up. I guess I thought he would be a better defender and could be a solid utility outfielder, Nicky Lopez in the outfield but with speed. seems short-sighted. and in part infuriating that they're selecting a catcher and not DFAing Maldonado...

this is the sort of win that strikes fear in the heart of bee guy and the arizona diamondbacks

buddy, we can't read your sign. "the bees r chase"? that doesn't make any sense, bee boy

personally I appreciate all the disparate perspectives on this board! I usually agree with caulfield though. Particularly good discussion when politics starts to seep into sport (like this thread) and you get some fun takes. It's a good message board. Go Sox.

Gotcha. It sounds like you agreed with me hence my reaction to the laugh emoji which I interpret to mean “you’re an idiot”. Although I don’t think there’s zero interest in baseball, they just might not know it yet. They sure do like cricket in that part of the world and baseball is just a better version of cricket.

What’s there to laugh about, whats funny?

It’s a cool 99 degrees today (relatively speaking) and I’m at elevation! Phoenix is ok, I prefer the weather to the Midwest frankly.

Was thinking about going to one of these games this weekend but Chase Field is such a clusterfuck. I don't want to drive there and park or pay $200 for a ticket to watch the Chicago White Sox. Shout out the Cell or whatever it's called now, easy to get to, easy to park, cheap tickets.

ketel marte fooling the cameraman has been the most entertaining part of this game.

What difference does it make if it’s an Arab billionaire or an American one? I reckon the issue with European soccer isn’t that it’s Arabs or Muslims buying teams, it’s that it’s a new influx of big money and that’s never a good thing. I’d bank on Chinese money building baseball parks in America before Arab.

5 runs in 4 innings. Nasty Nick is looking the wrong kind of nasty. What happened?

I wish they would at least offer a team-friendly extension before shipping him out. He's a special player, arguably more so than Robert, who should still be good in six years if he doesn't get seriously injured. The potential for serious injury is why you trade him I suppose, but I think it's worth the risk to keep him at the right price. Whether or not he'd sign for that "right price" is another story but I'd like to at least see the attempt made.

I don't see how this affects Albert Pujols.

He did most of his work in the MLB age 30+, including winning an MVP. He fell off a cliff at age 36. I sort of agree with the sentiment (don't sign a free agent 1B this offseason!), at the same time 1B/DH is exactly where you stick aging guys because they can't play the field anymore. It's probably just as fair to say that 30+-year-old athletes don't age well.

That was hilarious (and the edit makes it that much better) but he was genuinely a better outfielder than I was expecting. Personally I prefer a player who dives for no reason than one who refuses to dive for a ball he can actually catch. Heart, hustle and muscle or something.

DeLoach down, Oscar stays. Interesting.

anyone else just picturing Kopech scrawling the word "interest" in, like, comic sans font? or maybe a diagram of how much interest his bank account has accrued. I can't believe anyone is interested in him as a baseball player though.

I saw the news and my first instinct was "smelly old socks" but of course this is notable enough for its own thread.