nrockway

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.

90% agree, but I'd put Robertson on Venable.

agreed. our man is lost in space to be sure. actually, I completely forgot about DeLoach. also, the duck dynasty guy is apparently named Will Robertson. another thing I forgot about.

Not good. Bad even. Saw this a couple days ago (also below), not May 1 but I guess June 15. I thought it was funny that the Sox and Mets had the same record -- then the Mets went 3-1 and the Sox 0-4 (it says 3 days ago, but I'm pretty sure it's like 3 days and 20 hours). "Fartacus" probably didn't make that post to highlight a Sox vs Mets rivalry I've made up, maybe more so that the Ugly Sox have been very good and the Giants really bad (Red Sox 3-1 and Giants have won 5 in a row however. Devers is still really good but I digress). Can't imagine the winning percentage improving from here on out, although the schedule is fairly easy. All the call-ups we expected are here, the pitching staff is depleted, guys are injured and probably being rested. Glad Tauchman finally got a day off, but where's Robertson? Rest Benintendi, never play Taylor again (he's fine but pointless), get Fletcher and Julks back up here. Give those three outfielders a shot and we have a better understanding of what to do next offseason (probably cut all of them).

Very true. I think the system is showing something but it hasn't actually translated yet. I think they won't deepsix Shirley for that reason. I like the top selections this year, but ultimately, who knows.

Why is Doval pitching?

can Korey start?

Can't wait to see this umpire scorecard. These calls have been so biased. Guy wants to go home.

ouch

The Sox have more hits than the Yankees yet the score is 10-1. WTF

I was thinking that Palette is the next guy for a call up. Not exactly good in AAA, but worth a look maybe. Still hope for Burke and Cannon. Burke was fine this season, haven't watched these Charlotte games, but maybe he and Cannon are trying new things. Altavilla is finally back so I bet he's up soon. I'd just try out all of those guys and see what happens.

Bonemer and Antonacci look really good at least. But good point. Both have been on the Sox radar for a while though, right? So can you credit Shirley with the selections?

lol I was just thinking that the baseball gods saw that post I wrote and told me to go f*** myself. It can't get any better I don't think.

Totally. Seen enough Elko.