77 Hitmen

Have him throw out the first pitch!

.....if you guys can figure out a way to access that stadium.

When I was a kid back in the late 70s, the fact that Nolan Ryan could throw 100 mph made him a freak of nature. In fact, I want to say he was in the Guinness Book of World Records for throwing a 100 mph fastball. Pitching has changed big time.

....with such a move likely hurting the Cubs being the added bonus.

.....and we have a bidet in the clubhouse now!

At least out by me in DuPage, it'll look like this today and then the sun will come out 15 minutes later and eventually it gets stormy looking again.

Hopefully the weather is good at game time. Some huge storms going through the area now and some more expected later today.

But some of the ones that do turn out - hoo boy! The Sox have made some epically stupid trades of prospects that really turned out. Another example is that total douchebag that the Mets traded to the North Siders. Does this mean I think the Sox should have a cowardly approach to trading prospects at this year's deadline? NO! But there's a ton of weight behind some of the 2 to 3 that do turn out. Getz has his work cut out for him this week: help put the Sox over the top while not becoming Kenny 2.0.

Yep, in 1999 with Boras demanding a higher signing bonus. Then the Scrubs drafted him the following year.

Wow - I was tempted to try one next time I'm at the ballpark. If so, perhaps I should make sure to get one early before they sell out.

Only 75-85% joking? How would Lackey help them for this year's stretch run?

Wow!

Fair enough. I still think they need to be thinking long term when making deadline trades as this franchise is only just coming out of a wreckage of the last few seasons. Lots of difficult decisions for Getz to make in the coming days.

I agree. I don't want them to buy to the extent that they're giving up high-ceiling prospects like Bonemer and Carlson. Many of the Sox players who had a great first half seem to be coming back down to earth. I don't think we're one good catcher and one starting pitcher away from being pennant winners. As much as our catchers suck, they haven't been the only problems with our offense the last few weeks. Please don't pull a Kenny Williams and trade away future All-Stars with go-for-broke trades that don't put us over the top. That doesn't mean I'm all for "prospect hugging" and never trading anyone in our top 30 for serviceable veteran players - like you said, the situation is very nuanced. It's great that we've gone from 100+ losses to first place and debating how aggressively we should be buyers. That's terrific progress in just one season, but there's still a lot of work to do. Also, if the Sox do get a pitcher and catcher and go on to win the pennant this year, people are welcome to pin this post and ask me to eat crow in October.

Since the ballparks in Houston and Seattle are now over 25 years old, I wonder if there have been recent advances in innovative design and materials for a retractable roof stadium that could provide for both an open view of the skyline and access to the river? The Sox would probably need a little more protection from the cold for early season games than a T-Mobile Park design would provide, but they don't need to necessarily make the place totally climate controlled to 72 degrees all summer long like in Houston. Just day dreaming as there's still a few hours to go until first pitch tonight.

Very interesting. Yes, it's all totally hypothetical, but it does make a retractable roof look at least technically feasible on that site. I guess we'll see. It's not a certainty that a ballpark gets built there at all let alone whether Ishbia is willing to bankroll several hundred million $ more for a roof. Any roof would really have to retract in such a way that makes the stadium look open air when it's not raining or cold. If they're going to end up with something that looks like a warehouse like in Texas and Arizona and blocks out views of the city, then people aren't going to like it.

Yeah, the Amtrak property looks too narrow to me for a MLB stadium. Ishbia no doubt has engineers and architects involved that can see the same constraints if he's this far into the process of buying that land. So yeah, my guess is that they are in discussions to purchase part of the BNSF/Metra property or the "air rights" to build over part of that property. They might need only about 100 ft or so of extra width to fit a ballpark there.

Arrowhead Stadium has already hosted a number of major concerts. It doesn't look like KC is too small for huge acts like Beyonce and Taylor Swift. https://www.concertarchives.org/venues/geha-field-at-arrowhead-stadium

. .

Yeah, I expect we're in for a slew of rage-bait posts if Gonzo finds success in Pittsburgh since it'll be a couple of years before the verdict will be in on this year's draft class.

This is why I'm very leery of trading guys like Bonemer and Carlson. I get that we can't fall in love with all of our prospects such that we're failing to make moves than could put us over the top now because prospects and future pennant chances are never guaranteed. But, I don't want the Sox to go back to the Kenny Williams non-stop "go-for-broke" strategy that shipped off future All-Stars for players that didn't help us in the end.

I doubt the grid structure of the ETFE roof is going to be nearly as unnoticeable as depicted in the renderings. Is that a B-2 bomber flying overhead? They're not building a $3B dome for only the 10-12 Chiefs home games a year (half of which are probably being played in good outdoor weather). It's all about being able to utilize this kind of facility year round for things like mega-concerts (Taylor Swift, etc.), NCAA tournaments, and the one Super Bowl that the NFL will award to them for fleecing the taxpayers in such a grand fashion. Here's the complete set of their renderings (six images total): https://fox4kc.com/sports/chiefs/first-renderings-of-new-kansas-city-chiefs-stadium-revealed/

Very well summarized.

I'm no fan of Jerry Reinsdorf by any means, but do you seriously think that they'd only have a $120M payroll if the CBA forces them to do so? In this decade alone, they've already gone over that amount 4 times. Ishbia is paying down the team's debt and team revenue is going to increase with the boost in attendance they're experiencing. That doesn't mean I think it's a sure think that they'll keep Mune beyond next season, but let's not make it sound like his departure is basically a done deal.

Is it me, or does the artificial turf at Globe Life look pretty ugly on TV?