hogan873

Colson could be one of those guys with a low-ish BA and big power numbers. If he's a perennial .240+, 35+ HR, 90+ BRI player with decent defense, I think we'd be pretty happy. As others have mentioned, his health is probably the biggest concern. One significant back injury and he's a flash in the pan.

At this point, I don't think there's a doubt the Sox will pick up the option. My guess is that they will try to trade him but still not settle for a pennies on the dollar return. Because of that, I see him being on the team next year. If that is the case, and Robert continues to play like he has recently, he could be traded at next year's deadline.

Certainly seems like Smith is the real thing. The fact that he's learning and adjusting his use of pitches is encouraging. I'm sure he is tiring, and the Sox giving him some rest looks to have helped. He should only get better moving forward.

I don't completely dislike the proposal. I realize any serious realignment would most likely put the Cubs and Sox in the same division, but I'm not a fan of that. And as far as expansion teams, I imagine one would be either Nashville or Charlotte but not both.

He looks very uncomfortable at 1B. His best defensive position is 2B, and he's bad there. Someone had mentioned giving him an OF glove and seeing what he's got, but I don't know if he'd be any good out there either.

I had everyone in my family enter the lottery. Only my wife got picked to "have a chance to buy tickets." She logged on when she was supposed to and went from queue to queue for an hour before being told it was sold out. I got an email the other day saying there were some last minute tickets available and to "CLICK HERE!" to have a chance. Clicked about a dozen times and got the same message saying to try again later. I did see the tickets were $40, which is pretty reasonable. If they keep doing this and keep the tickets fairly priced, this Bananas thing will last a long time.

The fact that it was nearly impossible to get tickets tells you that a lot of people agree. They are a blast to watch, and I hope to one of these days get to see them in person.

Yeah, Tucker at least has a longer history of being an impact player. PCA's slump is probably an overcorrection. He's definitely not as bad as he has been, but I doubt he's as good as he was. Still a good player, but not the savior of Chicago sports. And you're right about if those guys were on the Sox. They'd be ranked much lower.

Seeing PCA at #7 is crazy considering he's had about 3/4 of a season of success. Makes me wonder if Colson's improvement and MLB promotion had happened at the beginning of the season if he'd be in the top 100.

I keep waiting for Vaughn to fall back to earth with a thud, but that may not happen. I truly don't believe he'll keep up this type of production, though. Regardless, he was not going to play like this with the Sox. Maybe it was a wakeup call for him being sent down, maybe it's playing on a (very) good team, maybe, maybe, maybe. As was mentioned before, we can blame the coaching staff, but guys like Montgomery, Teel, Quero, Meidroth, and Sosa have worked with the same coaches. All I know is, I'm tired of seeing fans cry about not having him on this team. He sucked with the Sox, and he would have continued sucking. Glad for him to be successful in Milwaukee, at least for now. But good riddance.

I've seen others note it, and I agree, that his swing reminds me of Corey Seager. It's amazing how much power he has. I imagine he'll have his ups and downs and suffer some slumps, but as someone else mentioned, he could be the new superstar for the Sox.

Sosa is a success (so far) of giving someone a chance and letting him develop. Offensively he's becoming very effective. He still struggles defensively and should never set foot at 1B again. Hopefully he can become a serviceable 2B with continued exposure.

Been there a few times. Really nice park and not a bad day trip.

My son and I are trying to hit at least one park a year, and we went to Busch Stadium last month. Beautiful stadium right in downtown with a ballpark village around it. Great views of the city and the Arch from inside. Wide open concourses with many, many options for food, drinks, and souvenirs. And the best part was getting into the park. No massive lines you have to wait in for a long-ass time. I hope the Sox build a new stadium downtown with great views. Making it awesome on the inside with concessions, fan-friendly stuff, etc. would be great, too. But regardless of if and when they build a new stadium, they need to fix the entry into the park. No other stadium I've been to is anywhere nearly as bad as getting into The Rate.

Yeah, the back issues are a bit concerning. He'll probably blow a disc stretching today since I'm typing this, but he's been healthy since coming up. That's encouraging.

I don't know if the Sox promoted Colson because they saw enough improvement at AAA or because they figured he needed another challenge. Whatever the reasoning behind the promotion, he's been great. Confident offensively and defensively, hits the crap out of baseballs, and is hitting for a decent enough average. I really thought he was a bust, especially after seeing his only moderate improvement after the AZ stint. Time will tell through the rest of this season and into next, but he could be the answer at SS and/or 3B for a while.

I'm fine with keeping Robert, especially based on what type of packages were traded for other outfielders. I would imagine the Sox will pick up his option, and that's probably more certain if he continues to play like he has over the past month. He does seem to be re-energized and is having fun. Maybe the young guys playing well is having an effect on the clubhouse. As far as Getz's comment on spending over the winter, I think we can agree they will. The question is, how much and on what? Will it be another $20M on 5-6 trash heap veterans and schlubs? Granted, the Slater and Tauchman signings worked out, but let's not talk about the likes of Rojas. Or, will this team actually go out and get a big, or even fairly big, name free agent? The day they sign someone like Schwarber or Tucker is the day I believe they're going to be serious. They have a great young core that is exciting and has a lot of promise. Wasting that by continuing to operate like they have would be a great disservice to the fans and to the players. I suppose time will tell...

Safe to assume Mead is on the 26-man? Maybe (hopefully) a Rojas DFA.

Pretty solid return for a guy who was sitting on his couch two months ago.

Neither does Bruce based on the fact that he misspelled two names.

It might be his value in this market. The Bader and Mullins trades set the market for outfielders at the deadline. He’s more valuable than those returns, as are Bader and Mullins.

No, many say that but would be pissed with any return.

He didn’t trade Robert for trash, so I don’t think he’s been master-classed at all. This board and most Sox fans would have exploded with fury if he traded Robert for a Mullins-like return.

With what teams got for Bader and Mullins, there was probably quite a few phones hung up on both sides. There's likely no way the Sox got any decent offers for Robert.

Yeah, just keep Robert at this point. These returns for outfielders have been less than desirable.