hogan873

The Sox have earned being the laughingstock of the league, and there were a lot of social media posts about the tarp incident. Most were clickbait and/or uninformed posts, and many poked fun at the grounds crew. And I'd be willing to bet most, if not all, authors of the posts never handled an infield tarp in dry conditions, let along during a sever storm with high winds, heavy rain, and fucking hail. Yeah, the Sox deserve mocking, but Roger Bossard and his crew do not.

These bats probably wouldn't be as big a deal if it weren't the Yankees primarily using them. I'm surprised more players/teams aren't using them. During yesterday's game, Steve and John talked a bit about the bats, and they said some players don't care for them. If other teams are really bent out of shape about the Yankees hitting a s%*# ton of home runs while using the bats, maybe they should try using the bats, too. Or maybe, the Brewers just got their asses handed to them by a team flush with power hitters, and now they're pissed. If the bats are legal and will continue to be so, it will be interesting to see if a) the Yankees continue using them a lot, and b) if any other teams start using them.

Yeah, they'll be bad, and there will be losing streaks, but I agree about the offense. We saw at the end of last season what a healthy Benintendi can do. Sosa and Vargas have looked much better, at least through the spring. Robert, if healthy, will do Robert things. Tauchman and Slater should supply some power. And we should see some of the younger guys come up throughout the season.

Venable looks pretty smart having Burke be the opening day starter. I think it was an even riskier move than with Crochet last year. But it paid off. Sure, the Angels are not a great team, but Burke looked good, confident, and fairly sharp. The bullpen looked decent. Murfee may be a great signing, and Booser could be a trade candidate at the deadline. The offense was surprising. Benintendi's hand looks healthy, Slater made a good first impression, Vargas continued his hot start, and Sosa looked great. I know it's only the first game against a meh team, but after last season, we'll take every damn good thing we can get.

Fletcher and Eder DFA'd.

For god's sake. I last looked at this thread yesterday evening, and there's still a damn argument about a guy that has nothing to do with who the thread is about. I can't wait for the season to start later today, and we can argue about how badly the team will suck. Back to the subject at hand: I imagine some team will claim Canario when he is waived later today. Not sure it will be the Sox, but there's really no reason not to.

He only struck out 9 times in *checks notes* 10 at-bats this spring.

You can get tickets for "as little as" $40 (including fees) on SeatGeek. That's reasonable, but compared to $9 for Monday's game...

Dan Altavilla was released.

It looks like Benintendi and Slater should be good to go after their injuries, so maybe just one of Jankowski/Taylor makes the team. The middle infield is seemingly the most up in the air. Amaya, Gray, Ramos, or Maton should make the team along with Vargas (3B), Vaughn (1B), and Sosa (2B/SS). The catcher's spot is set. My guess: Jankowski, Amaya, and Ramos (until Rojas returns)

According to Merkin, Meidroth will be starting in Charlotte. Kind of a surprise.

There's no doubt Getz has done good work on the front office and hired some really good people to (hopefully) steer this team in the right direction. As far as the on-field product, things don't look nearly as good. We all know his hand are tied financially by the owner. The trades have been more miss than hit. The Crochet trade looks, as of right now, to be a potential win. The Cease trade, even before Thorpe went down, looked bad. The Fedde/Kopech trade looked ridiculously bad from the beginning, although Vargas is looking better. But, man, that was a true headscratcher. This season looks to be horrendous from a win/loss standpoint, so we can only hope we start to see good development from the young guys and the beginning on a brighter future. Getz has A LOT of work to do to show he can be a good GM.

The problem is Bolingbrook Nicky isn't alliterative. Maybe Bolingbrook Buntmaster? On a side note, I don't see the fit. The Sox have plenty of (mediocre to bad) options at SS. No sense in adding another.

Things should shake out for the 26-man over the next few days. With Colas apparently not breaking with the club, it will be interesting to see who makes it for the outfield. Benintendi and Robert are certains. RF may end up being a platoon with Tauchman and <insert random RH hitter here>.

Robert, Benintendi, Vargas, Drury, Lee, Vaughn, Tauchman Robert, Benintendi, and Vaughn hit at least 20 Robert hits 30+, but about 20 with the Sox before being traded.

Olympic sprinters look very fit. But in regards to the oft-injured Moncada, maybe endurance isn't the right word. It seems like he and Eloy are not taking care of themselves properly for the sport they are playing. Constantly pulling/tearing hamstrings, tits, and other body parts tells me they are not doing what they need to do to stay healthy. Baseball is a unique sport in which different positions require different levels of fitness on different parts of the body. Think Lance Lynn, Bartolo Colon, etc. However, a guy who should be a power hitter, a decently quick runner, and have fast reaction time needs to be in pretty good shape. I don't know what Moncada's problem is, but it seems like he hasn't made the adjustments necessary to stay healthy.

It seems that many commenting on how long it should take to walk or run a mile have never walked or ran a mile. A good, fast pace for walking a mile is about 15 minutes (I'm not talking about Olympic speed-walking). I do a three mile walk every morning, keeping a quick pace, and average about 15-16 minutes per mile. I'm in my early 50s, so I'm sure younger, in-shape folks can walk quicker. A good pace for running a mile is 6-7 minutes. The world record is just over four minutes. All that being said, judging a professional athlete on how fast they can walk or run a mile isn't adequate. Moncada and Eloy may look to be in shape, but their bodies a constantly breaking down for one reason or another. Maybe they do a lot of lifting but don't focus on endurance and stretching. Whatever it is, these guys don't seem to take total fitness seriously.

Going with 53-56. That's a big improvement from 2024 (with still a miserable record). A lot of things went wrong last year, on top of just being a bad team. New manager, fewer asshats, hopefully more caring and less moping.

Drury's hot spring carries over into the regular season and has a 2023-like season...before being traded at the deadline. Robert stays healthy, hits 20 HRs before the trade deadline, and is traded for a decent package. Penn Murfee is one of the best bullpen arms. Vargas has a nice season, batting .260+ with 25+ HRs and 80+ RBIs. Clevinger is the go-to closer to start the season, pitches very well, and still no team wants to trade for him. Drury, Martin, and Perez are all stars.

I agree he's still not a great hitter. My point was he's better than Nicky. However, I will admit that the last few years of White Sox fandom has made me willing to accept less than I deserve. White Sox are saying, "Here's a somewhat better version of Nicky Lopez for second base," and I'm saying, "Thanks."

And Nicky Lopez has a career OPS of .626.

Eh, he's better with the bat than Nicky. If he bats near his career average, we'll be happy, especially with the plus glove in the field.

Maybe this involves funding for a new stadium.

Yeah...I guess that describes just about every thread.

Greg is actually Greg Ishbia, the little-known sibling of the billionaires.