hogan873

This is nothing more than a guess, but I wouldn't be surprised if Lucroy makes picking the backup catcher a tough decision. On a side note (and I didn't want to start another thread for this), remember that the Sox signed Tim Beckham to a minors deal? Any chance he makes the roster?

I read an article about a town in South Carolina that had extremely long wait times for the vaccine so the mayor called in the manager of the local Chic-Fil-A, and he was able to organize the check-in process and got wait times down to 15 minutes. Governments should think like this and utilize people who know how logistics. Imagine having an Amazon logistical manager running the vaccine roll out. Or FedEx, UPs, etc. Or, hell, a Portillo's manager.

We may still get there. I'm not sure there is enough supply to do it yet. Maybe once the J&J vaccine is approved there will be enough supply to set up sites.

Yeah, it was one of the last ones. I remember telling my son that Kopech was hitting 100 with ease. And it does seem like years ago.

It was a weird feeling last year watching the last spring training game or two, knowing some sort of shutdown was coming. Little did we know it would change everything. I equate those last few games with the end of life as we knew it. Now we'll get to watch the spring training games knowing there's light at the end of the tunnel. I'm actually pretty positive about the future. I think we'll see limited attendance early in the season (May?) and close to full capacity by late August/early September. And we'll look back at spring training 2021 as when things really started to look better.

Hector gained a lot of attention when the Sox were pursuing Machado because he did have good information about what the Sox offered. This year, though, has been rough for him. He's swung and missed more times than 2011 Adam Dunn. The Sox may have had an interest in Cruz, but it seems that it either wasn't serious or there wasn't mutual interest. It seemed logical to most of us that he would end up back with the Twins, and sure enough.

A work stoppage prior to the 2022 season seems likely right now. Regardless of who is truly being more unreasonable, both parties are going to be seen as the bad guys from the fans' perspective. All we can hope is that they get to work immediately and hash out an agreement.

Um...

Really nice analysis, and I agree with most of what you said. This team, even as it stands now, should be the favorite for the division and will be a contender for the pennant. I'd still like to see more stability in the rotation, but a big Rodon rebound and a potential bargain bin project working out (Folty) could make the rotation one of the better ones in the AL. The bullpen is easily one of the best in the AL, especially with the guys they can use in the later innings. Lineup is solid. I'm one of the few that didn't mind the Eaton signing...maybe because he's the "devil we know", but he'll definitely be better than Mazara. And with an Engel platoon, RF could be a strong point for the team. I would still like to see another bat added. Bench is decent, but I agree the catcher position looks much weaker. And as far as coaching, TLR is what he is, but he'll be a better decision maker than Renteria. I'm very happy with the Cooper being replaced. These young pitchers need a different voice, and Katz should bring that.

I wish there was a free agent tracker that would use the terminology we use here and separate the pitchers into those categories. "Here are the TOR pitchers, followed by mid-rotation guys, then the dart throws, and finally the trash heap."

So he ended up with less money on a worse team. Whoops.

Instead of who wins more games, the Crosstown Cup will be decided by whose $7MM outfielder is less shitty.

Meh. Overall, Eaton is probably the better hitter. Joc will be strictly platooned, while Eaton will get more playing time. Still not a bad deal for the Cubs. Schwarber got $10MM from the Nationals. They replaced him with a similar hitter with better defense for less money.

Yeah, confuses me, too.

3000 hits is a very aggressive goal. He'll have to be really good for a long time, and a lot of things will have to go right for him. But, I like the fact that he's setting goals for himself. I'd rather him talk like this than set very achievable goals or not set goals at all. I get it, show you can stay healthy, play a full season, blah blah. But I'm happy to have a guy like this on the team.

I get it, and he's obviously pretty good at it.

You don't seem to put much faith in Bob's comments. ?

Scrappy little dude like him could do it. It would be quite the feat, but not impossible. Love the confidence, though.

Did he not get any offers from MLB teams better than 2/$17MM? Or did he prefer to return to Japan?

This team as it stands right now is really good and probably the best in the division. What's really frustrating is that the team is a starting pitcher away from being one of the best in the AL*. Whether we want to believe Nightengale's tweets or not, the front office has never given us a reason to be hopeful of going that extra mile. And I suppose that all comes from the ownership and the willingness (or lack thereof) to spend money. *Keep in mind that the starting pitching is one injury away from being in trouble.

Well, if the Sox fed info to Nightengale so he could tweet what he did in order to temper enthusiasm in their fans, it worked. Well, it did more to piss off fans, but the result is the same: We're convinced they're not going to spend another dime.

To say the Sox spent $54 million on Hendriks is ridiculous. Signing Cruz (or any DH) would affect the 2021 budget, to which $11 million is allocated for Hendriks. Nightengale sucks, feeding info from the Sox or not.

There probably isn't a person who isn't high on him. Sorry if my post seemed to question if he's good. My point is, regardless of whether he makes it to the Sox in 2021 or 2022, I can understand the team's reluctance to sign Cruz to two years. But, should the Sox sign someone to be the DH for 2021? Do we believe Vaughn will be in the lineup at some point in 2021?

I think so. It seems like many believe he could be up at some point this season. I'm not necessarily disagreeing. My point was asking what the Sox actually think about him.

That lineup hits 220+ HRs without breaking a sweat.