hogan873

His performance so far, extrapolated out to about 590 plate appearances, puts him on pace for 63 HRs. Obviously, he's not going to hit 63 HRs in a season, but 35+ is realistic. Along with improving (and already good) defense, he'll be a very valuable player. Of course, it's all about health, health, health.

Yikes, I haven't been paying much attention to how he's hitting, but .200 since August 8 and .170 since August 16. We've seen this show before.

I feel that someone could start a thread about how puppies are cute and make you smile, and it would devolve into hate and name-calling and a huge fight about the state of the Sox. What has this team done to us?

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. If Colson ends up being the long term SS, that pushes Meidroth to 2B. But, Sosa has a better bat, so Meidroth essentially becomes a bench guy who can play SS and 2B well. Not a bad guy to have on the bench, and with Colson's health history, he'd be pretty valuable to play 3-4 times a week between the two positions.

No matter where Sosa ends up being used, keeping him far away from 1B is crucial.

I was obviously talking about in regards to the team. You read way too much into that sentence.

Yeah, he's at 1.7 WAR, and he had a pretty bad start to the year. He's on pace for about 16 HRs and 37 2Bs, with an improving glove. And again that's including his bad start. Definitely not a bench player

Honestly, I'm tired of the negativity. No one, at least no one who wasn't delusional, thought the Sox would be contenders this year after an absolutely dismal 2024 season. We were hoping for moderate improvement and a possible light at the end of the tunnel. I think what we're seeing is beyond expectations, and not just in the record. They're going to win upwards of 20 more games than last year, but that doesn't tell the whole story. They're doing this with a lot of young players that will be the future of this team. How long has it been since we've seen this? They have Quero, Teel, Meidroth, Montgomery, Sosa, Baldwin, Vargas, and now even Mead performing every day, making this team exciting to watch. Add to that veterans like Robert and Tauchman playing well and fitting in with the youth movement. And I'm not absolving Getz of anything, although he made some seemingly good moves recently. Time will tell. I think a lot of this team's success is due to the coaching staff. Venable and his guys have done a great job with a now very young team. They know they're not contending, yet you see a guy like Vargas stretch two single into doubles last night. You see Robert and Montgomery with special handshakes. You see smiles, high fives, and guys just having a lot of fun. We didn't see any s%*# like this the past few years. So, I'm fine with seeing posts about how much better the Sox are this year than last. Sure, the bar is low, but why can't we be excited about what we're seeing? I'm tired of being pissed about my favorite team. I'm tired of being negative. Those who wish to remain negative and always look at the dull side of life - go ahead. I'm done with that.

Robert seems to play better in a good environment. As the Sox have added young players from the minors, and those guys have injected life into the team, he has been playing better with a lot of effort. If the Sox pick up his option (a no brainer), and he is not traded, we could see this version of Robert for an entire season in 2026.

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.