hogan873

For the first time in quite a few seasons, pretty much the entire team is likeable. And they all seem to like each other. This still isn't a competing team, but they are a much more enjoyable team to watch.

I thought winner threads were not allowed, and celebrating improvement was banned. Anyway, solid win. Martin looked really good, and the bullpen didn't collapse. Specifically, Newcomb and Dominguez did what they are supposed to do. Drew Romo is already much better than McGuire, and his three RBIs were the difference. Nice to see Colson hit a bomb off a really good pitcher. And props to Antonacci for taking one for the team.

Not quite. He hasn't gotten hurt yet.

If the Sox win two series in a row, but Soxtalk doesn't acknowledge, did they actually win? Nice win yesterday with Benintendi being the unlikely hero. Great pitching from start to finish. Martin continues to look good, Taylor was firing, and Dominguez didn't screw up.

We've probably seen enough of Colson to admit he'll never have a high batting average, but we've also seen enough to know he has insane power. So far, he's shown that last year was not a fluke. He's on pace for about 40 HRs, and that's giving him 550 plate appearances. The biggest question mark is still health. He's stayed relatively healthy since coming up, but the back injuries prior are concerning. I like the Seager comparison (with a lower batting average) as a complete package since he plays pretty good defense.

It's very early, but to look at their record and say that'll be their winning percentage for the season is short-sighted. Since the 1-5 start, they're playing almost .500 baseball. There will be plenty of ups and downs, winning streaks and losing streaks, and they most likely won't play .500 ball down the stretch. But 70+ wins is looking more likely than another 100 loss season. The Sox are doing something they haven't done in quite a while - hitting a lot of home runs. They're 6th in the league, powered by Mune and Colson. On the flip side, they're 23rd in runs. And to remember that they've hit three grand slams means they need to score more runs in other ways. The starting pitching has been surprisingly decent. Adding Schultz was nice, and to see him pitch well is refreshing. Both Kay and Fedde have been serviceable. The bullpen stinks. On paper, this was one part of the team that didn't look terrible, and they've been...bad. I expect to see a lot of shuffling of deck chairs as the season progresses. So, no I don't expect this team to contend or even finish at .500. I do think they're better than last year, possibly much better. They are definitely more fun to watch, and they should be more fun as other young guys are added.

Murakami has pretty much been as advertised. Huge power along with lower batting average and decent defense at 1B. His eye at the plate is really good, probably better than expected. That has kept his strikeouts lower and his OBP pretty high. If he can keep this up, the Sox could have their first 40+ HR guy in a while. And if that's the case, he will be getting a lot of attention from other teams in the off season and next season. I would love to see the Sox extend him, but as others have mentioned, as long as JR is involved, it's a long shot.

Doubtful. There would be arguments about Harper's hair (is it perfectly quaffed under that helmet?) that leak to Harper, and his performance plummets as he focuses only on his hair. Wheeler would pitch well, but his wife leaves him to move to the east coast. Soxtalk implodes when Wheeler has one bad outing. He quits baseball, and inexplicably sends a shoutout to Drake LaRoche on his way out the door.

Right. There was a lot of money spent on the wrong players in the past (remember the friends and family plan to woo Machado?). But in the past few years, the purse strings have been very tight.

The Sox could have hired one of the best GM candidates or a schlub from the street, and the overall results would be the same. There is almost no money afforded a GM to do anything meaningful. From what we've read, JR had to be convinced signing Mune was a good idea, and they signed him for a bargain. Granted, an experienced GM would have done better with some trades, but the Sox just didn't have much to offer aside from Cease and Crochet. The Cease deal was really bad, but the Crochet deal looks better, with the true value still to be seen. No one really liked the Vargas deal when it happened, but he's turning into a solid piece. Regardless, I would be beyond surprised if Getz has a job once Ishbia takes over.

Surprising but not necessarily unexpected. I think it's a good move to let him go down and work on his command. He's lost something with his fastball, and he needs to find it.

The worst part about the nickname offered by Schriffen was the lead up to it and then Beckham's "Wow!" If he had just busted out the (lame) nickname without the minutes-long diatribe beforehand, it still would have sucked but not as much.

Nice game for Vargas. It will be very nice if he can continue to improve. With Vargas at 3rd, Montgomery at SS, and Mune at 1st, the White Sox infield could hit 80+ home runs. Which is good considering the outfield will not hit many. Martin pitched okay. Some control issues, but he battled through five innings. Newcomb looked as advertised. He'll be a nice middle reliever who can eat a few innings. Let's just hope he isn't overused. First win feels good. Hopefully it'll be the first of more than 62...

Dominguez walked into a difficult, but not impossible, situation and threw a bad pitch to one of the better hitters in the league. As soon as I saw Yelich pinch hitting, I knew it was going to be bad. Bullpen looks mighty terrible so far, and the starters don't look so hot either. Kay actually didn't pitch poorly, which is at least somewhat encouraging. Offense came to life a bit, and the homers are nice to see. But, man, if you score 7 runs and are leading by 5 late in the game, you can't blow it like that.

My wife and I were going to be in Milwaukee this week anyway (a quick drinking getaway) and decided to grab tickets to Thursday's game. I've only been to one other away Sox game (in Milwaukee), and they lost in dramatic fashion after allowing Justin Anderson to pitch in the bottom of the 8th in a one run game. But Benintendi did homer...before somehow hurting himself. Hopefully my presence will bring them luck. If not, there's always beer. But, yeah, if could be a tough first couple series.

Who do we believe is in right field? Hays, or does he play LF? 1B - Mune 2B - Meidroth 3B - Vargas SS - Montgomery LF - Benintendi/Hays? CF - Acuna RF - Hays/Hill/Peters/Pereira? C - Quero (until Teel returns) DH - Benintendi (for now?) Bench - McGuire, Sosa, Mead?, an OF or two... I assume we'll get news on the last cuts and players being sent to the minors today or tomorrow. I may have missed some moves, but I think all these guys are still around.

I see what you did there.

I seem to have the opposite problem. I can access Soxtalk on my mobile devices only using data. I cannot get on using WiFi. Odd.

It's easy to say this is why MLB players shouldn't be playing in the WBC, but as others have mentioned this could have happened in a spring training game. Hopefully he'll be back sooner rather than later. But, no need to rush him and risk a reinjury. The Sox have two others good options at catcher.

I suspect we'll start seeing guys sent to the minor league camps pretty soon. I haven't been following too closely, but it seems like there haven't been too many surprises. Which means there likely won't be many roster surprises.

But he's never growled upon seeing a great play. In all seriousness, though, you're absolutely right. I watched a few NFL games with him calling the play-by-play, and he sounds like a natural. He's just really freaking good at his job.

You'd think even the folks in Indiana knew what the Bears were doing. They want to be in Arlington Heights, the state wants them in Illinois. The Bears played the game and will most likely get what they want.

It's funny that a Hammond stadium would be easier to get to for folks in the southern suburbs (and maybe even the city) vs. one in Arlington Heights. However, it would just seem wrong to have a Chicago team playing in a different state. I do think the state eventually caves and agrees to the infrastructure improvements for Arlington Heights. The question is, will that be enough for the Bears to pivot back? Illinois is playing a dangerous game and may lose...big time.

I think they'll be a much more interesting team to watch than years past, but being competitive would require a lot of things to go right and few things to go wrong. Depending on our definition of competitive, I guess. They'll win more games and be "in" more games but probably won't approach .500 down the stretch. I do think 70 wins is a realistic target. All that being said, I'm already planning on hitting a few games this year. We only went to one last year and none the year before. I'm definitely optimistic of an entertaining season of baseball.

I'm not disagreeing that the Sox could have signed someone better. But Fedde was signed, so that's what I'm talking about.