CaliSoxFanViaSWside

Because when all players suck it has to be the manager and coaches fault because of well just because ! And when players are good it's the player's natural ability. Sometimes the player won't listen to coaching or the player listens but the changes won't work/takes too long or a player doesn't feel comfortable after making the changes. Or the player will just never take the next step because of injuries piling up or the natural progression from thrower to pitcher or AAA star to MLB player takes longer or never happens. A coach can suggest try choking up a 1/2inch or try a short/longer/lighter/heavier bat and a player could look at them like they are crazy and say cmon now that's little league advice.

Maybe it was a rhetorical question but it was actually the last game that he had a hit to the left side. He put one in the hole between 3rd and SS .

Thanks for changing the title. As usual all the wild hot takes come early and the more reasonable ones come later. I did come back to thank you and to say just how strange the internet is to have someone start a controversy just by suggesting that if TA said he hated this place ,they wouldn't blame him. I don't know if that's the tweet that started it. It seemed like the tweeter knew that's not what he said but only suggested that if he said it he would be right. How that got turned into he actually said he hated this place, I have absolutely no idea. But then to see people arguing that it made more sense that he said " place" rather than " pitch clock" based on the game situation blows my mind. Dudes you're arguing that something made sense to be true from a starting point of something wasn't even true to start with just to pile more controversy onto a player who really doesn't need falsities created to his already controversial persona. We get it. The Sox are in a very bad place and TA hasn't been the TA of 20??- 2021 for a while, but really ? This never should have become a thing. It's literally putting words in someone's mouth and attempting to argue that it could be true because of how you think that person must be thinking because you'd be thinking that way if ,instead of being a fat slob on the couch watching sports and fantasizing of being him, that's exactly what you would say, instead of pass me the cheese dip. SMH.

When he hit his 9th HR a few days ago I incorrectly called it his 10th. 1/2 hr. later when I realized it, I re-entered the game thread to correct myself. When I saw that someone had already corrected me. I responded that I was getting ahead of myself and that he would hit another one later in the game. That prediction failed but he did hit another one the next day for his 10th and the day after that for his 11th.

I hadn't heard that . I know I read that Burger really liked whatever it's called and brought up that it wasn't available for road games. I wondered if that's been resolved ?

Thank you kindly although I was tempted to say he'll get injured some time around the time Eloy is due back, either slightly before or slightly after. But at least that would give us another 3 or 4 weeks of Robert. Maybe Eloy can come back sooner. Was good to see him in the dugout yesterday.

I was perusing the fWar leaders and it seemed only a week ago that Robert was at 1.1. Now he's at 1.7 after a scalding last 2 weeks. That's 14th in all of baseball. The only thing preventing him from winning AL player of the Week award 2 weeks in a row was Anthony Rizzo. Marcus Semien is 4th with 2.1 Surprises: Yandy Diaz 5th 2.0 Emerging as a big talent the last couple of years with the Rays since they acquired him from Cleveland in December 2018. He's now 31 years old. Jonah Heim 7th SH Catcher TX. 1.9 . Could be 1st half flash in the pan or just another late blooming catcher. I once suggested that the Sox trade Zach Collins for Heim before the trade deadline in 2021 when they both sucked. James Outman Dodgers unranked LH Rookie OF 17th 1.6 NL Rookie of the Month for April . Most of you know how much I wanted him on the Sox from the 100 times I mentioned him the past off season.

Bryan Shaw has pitched the same amount of innings as Hendriks and given up nothing. I wouldn't be surprised if the Sox found a place for him on the 26 soon too. Hendriks' been getting hit hard which is understandable so I wouldn't put any expectations on him to be instantly good.

Just should've signed Correa and moved Tim to 2nd base.

I was hoping for a break out year from Vaughn this year. There's still hope for that but he's got to boost his batting average by getting more hits which in turn will boost his slugging, OBP, OPS, WAR, wOBA wRC+, etc.. He's probably the best hitter this year with RISP by far so that's something. Unfortunately when he was needed to do that more it didn't happen against Houston . The Sox are facing a ton of RHP. Already Vaughn has over 100 more PA against RHP than LHP which seems like a lot after just 25% of the season. It also seems odd that in 16 games against LHP he is only averaging 2 PA per game . That tells me that any LH starting pitchers aren't lasting very long in the games and some of those PA come against LH relief pitchers but so far ,in that small sample, he isn't producing. Maybe it's bad BABIP luck but I haven't checked his peripherals to check his Hard hit rate against LHP to support my BABIP bad luck theory. His BABIP against LHP is only .217. Against RHP it's .304. For now he's not a problem but rebuilding around him, no. At least he is one of the few Sox players who doesn't have an extensive injury history.

Maybe asshole is right maybe it's not. I think he's certainly being judged hard based on the whole cheating on his wife and baby mama stuff. He gets on Garfien and the fans about how we should all be pulling from the same rope. He's being judged because now more than any time in the past there is fan backlash and meatball takes from every lunatic with a Twitter or Instagram. We scrutinize every incident , even non incidents. s%*# storms must be a b**** to deal with. I feel for them sometimes but then I don't if they are going to be their own worst enemy. Sometimes Tim reminds me of Hahn opening his mouth about parades then blaming everyone else. If you talk the talk you better walk the walk because it catches up to you real fast when things go south and you show that you can't take the heat.

Are people reading his lips and able to make out that he said "hate" and filling in the rest of what they think he might have said ? Even after witnessing him over sliding 2nd base , I realize the guy isn't at 100% but if you can run hard once you make the turn at 1st ( like he did ) what prevented him from running hard to first in order to get a double rather than an out . Run hard from the start and you have an easy double. He got picked off bouncing on his lead towards 2nd the other day. Base running mistakes can be avoided by running hard . Don't bounce , shuffle on leadoffs. Fundamentally TA isn't good. Hustle is just effort and people can see lack of effort especially when replays show you not running that hard to 1st base and then turning on the jets so high that you slid past 2nd base. Leaders lead by example. Tim will never be a leader. He appears selfish in much of what we can see. He shouldn't wonder or be bothered by boos. Sure fans misinterpret things but when the chips are down leaders set an example and Tim's play is not exactly inspiring.

I'm not just praising the Rays for their performance this year. They are in the toughest division in baseball and despite their woeful payroll and attendance they have found a formula that has allowed them to compete year in and year out with the big spenders and they stick to it. They have been to the playoffs 7 times since 2008 in that division . That's quite an accomplishment given how little money they have to spend and is a testament to their ability to develop talent and trade off the talent for new talent. It's only with quality people working behind the scenes that they can pull it off.

The Sox are going to get the extra year from Colas and will keep him down for that reason but it's not the only reason. In the minors Colas is such a good hitter that pitchers should fear him. When pitchers fear you they throw more carefully to you. This should allow a disciplined hitter to get more walks. If he was told to be more selective and if the coaches are drilling that into his head and explaining how not being a free swinger helps you and helping you with the proper thought process in order to accomplish this. Then he should be getting more walks and striking out less in the minors. His goal in the minors at this point should be to draw a walk in 2 out of every 3 games and not worry about hitting. His thought process is wrong . He still swings way too much. Your physical gifts will elevate you to the majors but your brain is what will keep you there. Just seeing MLB pitching is not the cure for a hitter with a bad process. He has to develop the intellectual tools necessary to stop swinging so frequently. That doesn't play in the majors and it's why the Sox hitters don't take walks. The minors league doesn't exist to pad your hitting stats and be a hero to your team mates. It exists to develop you for the higher quality pitchers you will be facing in MLB. If you can't stop swinging at the stuff minor league pitchers throw you when they fear you, you won't be able to stop swinging at better pitches you see in the majors when the pitchers do not fear you because they know they can get you out on pitches out of the zone and induce weak contact. Once you develop that understanding of how to be a better MLB hitter is by making pitchers actually throw strikes to you is when you improve. You have to resist the impulses to rely only on your God given ability. Your head is whats separates the AAA and MLB player. His head still isn't where it needs to be.

He was making weak contact because he had no plate discipline and swung at everything. Once pitchers know this they exploit it so it will be rare seeing pitches in the strike zone. You can't become a good hitter swinging at pitches out of the zone. Hell, most hitters can't ever be good swinging at pitches in the zone because MLB pitchers have great stuff but harnessing it is the trick. An impatient hitter makes all pitchers better. A patient hitters exploits the pitcher who cannot command his pitchers. Those pitchers have less command, walk more hitters and make more mistakes in the middle of the zone. Quality hitters have a game plan. They usually are patience and do their best to jump on pitches in the middle of the zone they are capable of elevating and barreling. Better contact means better hits. Better pitch recognition means more walks. Pitchers still win the battle most of the time but a better process will elevate you from minor league star to a capable MLB player. You need to be smart and have a plan and be willing to work on your weaknesses and show baseball intellectual growth. Stubborn and stupid rarely results in positive growth.

Plate discipline and recognizing pitches to crush is what makes players above average. They recognize mistakes and pounce on them and elevate them. The more pitches you look at the better your chance of getting a pitch you can crush. Robert, Jr. looks so much better now . He's been crushing mistakes a lot lately. It's just so sad that him and Eloy can't stay healthy for extended periods and play at their peaks together . They have the potential to be one of those dynamic duos like Judge / Stanton or Trout/ Ohtani or Machado /Tatis Jr./Soto. We've been waiting 3 years to see it. If Eloy's going to be strictly a DH moving forward I see no reason to trade him. Theoretically it should improve his chances of staying healthy. However it is just so White Sox or Eloy for him to start hitting again just to be sidelined with appendicitis just as Robert was starting to heat up but with Moncada also sidelined and then followed up by Burger. At least Burger and LH Moncada are back. I'm not sure RH Moncada is back since I heard some say that he's good to hit LH but not RH.

I would normally agree but his biggest problem is pitch recognition and experience. I think we all know he very capable of becoming a very good MLB player. But that won't happen and he'll continue to make weak contact until he stops swinging at everything. He can get away with that in the minors. But surely if he's to get his mind right for MLB pitching ,a walk every other game in the minors shouldn't be that hard to accomplish. We should be less concerned with how he hits in Charlotte and more concerned with his process. If he was told to take more pitches and start making better decisions on the pitches he swings at , I'm not seeing evidence of that yet. MLB pitchers exploit your weaknesses so much better than minor league pitchers plus they have nastier pitches that are faster with more movement. If you aren't drawing walks in the minors with lesser quality stuff from pitchers I don't see how you can do it in the Majors. That's why I liked James Outman. Not only was he big strong fast and a good defender he also had a good eye and seemed to understand that being a good hitter just isn't getting hits on anything they throw you but knowing yourself as a hitter and hitting pitches in the zones where you can do the most damage and not swinging at the crap most MLB pitchers try to get you to swing at. Also high K rates are easier to deal with from players who also have a walk rate higher than around 8 %.

It's also yawn worthy reading about high draft picks and selling off assets this early in the season . Assets should always be traded off ,especially at high value , to bring in young talent. Sucks for fans who hate to see stars leave but necessary to keep a consistent flow of incoming talent. But talent evaluators and developers must be top notch and must be heavily involved with international talent, not just Cubans and Venezuelans. You do your best to imitate the Rays. The D backs, pirates, Orioles all climbing that ladder now. Turn cheap talent into high priced desired talent to obtain more cheap talent. I don't understand why this concept never appealed to Reinsdorf.

If you are counting on offense from a catcher you are doing it wrong. Offense is a bonus . Draft picks should be used on intelligent, big ,strong ,fast athletic players. They have the most upside if you can develop them.

Colas 3/5 , 2 RBI. .429 BA 1.182 OPS, 47 PA

Catchers are a waste of a draft pick unless u have someone like Rutschman available. There are always poor hit, great at handling pitchers/defense guys for semi cheap available. That's all you really need at catcher.

Jim Cordero is pitching for the Yanks and got the win today against the Rays. He was throwing 96-97 .

I'm still doing that although it looks highly unlikely that things will turn around especially without Eloy however long it takes him to return.

You are correct. I got ahead of myself because of the other HR he will hit in this game .

Double digits HR's . How long did it take last year before someone had 10 HR ?