CaliSoxFanViaSWside

Encouraging. I think we see 2 pitches here. The 4 seamer on the inside half and the SL on the outside half. 20 inches of break is a lot but he has to sustain it when he ramps up and throws off a mound.

Unlike you, I thought the Encarnacion decision last year was the wrong approach and I am on record as saying so before and after they brought him in. I understood the move to Encarnacion but I liked the 3 catcher approach which the Sox started with then abandoned because Collins wasn't getting AB's. But that's what I wanted to see last year. If Collin's didn't hit I wanted Mercedes to get his shot. That was based on Encarnacion's age , the Sox contention window squeeking open and the need to see if either Collins or Mercedes bats could play . This year is much different and if Collins and Mercedes didn't get a chance in the last 2 years , I can't reasonably expect to see them getting shots now with the window gaping open. I don't see DH or backup catcher taking priority over another SP so I'm holding off on what happens there until then.

Many are assuming it will be 26 just like the DH in the NL. The problem is MLB hasn't announced either yet. If I am wrong someone please tell me so I can stop saying 25.

Unfortunately you mention 2 guys who may never get a chance with the Sox , Yermin and Collins. LaRussa probably wants a defense 1st backup catcher and 25 man spots are too precious right now to go to guys who can't play defense. If you see one of them moved in a trade I'd expect someone not on the roster now to be acquired and we may see that regardless.

By Shredder or one of the guys hosting the segment ? Grandal was #2 with the Shredder.

https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/video/source-hendriks-white-sox-agree https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/video/mlb-now-on-liam-hendriks-signing https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/video/white-sox-hendriks-agree-to-deal https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/video/garfien-on-hendriks-white-sox https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/video/top-10-rp-right-now-hendriks-x8181 The videos above are about Hendriks that have been on MLB Network since January 12th Below are videos on Grandal in the MLB Top 10 catchers, interview with Crochet , Menechino and and 8 minute segment from Mad Dog Russo on the Hendricks signing and how the Sox aren't the Yankees of course, all in the last couple days. The Sox are a big deal nationally since the Hendricks signing. https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/video/top-10-c-right-now-grandal-x4779 https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/video/garrett-crochet-on-rookie-program https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/video/menechino-on-white-sox-potential https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/video/looking-at-hendriks-to-white-sox You only actually need to click on one of the links and you will see them all listed.

I think it could happen. I've been mentioning a lot of guys in the last few weeks knowing this was coming. Zavala, Sheets, Rutherford, Gonzalez, Adolpho, Cordero, Bernardo Flores,Tyler Johnson,Jimmy Lambert, Burger, Mercedes, Mendick, Burdi and don't forget the Sox picked up Emilio Vargas in November and he appears to be on the 40. That's 14 guys I named and didn't include some obvious trade bait like Collins and Reynaldo Lopez.

There's also the possibility he takes less years , more AAV. He's a different kind of guy so he could do something unexpected. Think along the lines of 3/$100+M

The veteran pitcher and reigning Cy Young Award winner is believed to want a five- or six-year contract worth between $36 and $40 million annually for a total of about $200 million, MLB Network's Jon Heyman reported . What is he is "believed to want" and what he actually wants are probably close to the same. But there is some belief that he could take a creative type contract because he wants to win a World Series. On a side note he also wants to be a billionaire. He said so in the SI article from a few years ago. Bauer also did a Bauer thing getting in a squabble with Heyman shortly after . https://www.thebiglead.com/posts/trevor-bauer-jon-heyman-feud-twitter-rachel-luba--01etv5mtvnb2

. 54/4 =13.5 AAV . I know you're dividing it by 3 but the possibility does exist that he pitches the fourth year or he gets traded making it not the Sox problem.

Yea I'm good . If Reinsdorf had a better track record of showing he cared about the team making the playoffs I'd agree with you but he doesn't so I don't.

Right and all I am trying to do is make people understand what motivates him and how deeply he cares about winning and improving himself as a pitcher. If you are going to make a commitment to him as an investment and want him on the Sox then it's prudent to know as much as you can about him and not make judgments based on throwing a ball into the bleachers, who his agent is or their relationship or his unorthodox ideas . He is going to have to strike a balance between growing as a brand, winning, money and hopefully he understands that there are of people with egos as big as his (LaRussa, Hahn, Williams, Katz and all the other starting pitchers) to convince them that his ideas are about whats best for him without disrupting how others deem whats best for them or the team.

Probably not the answer he'd like to hear but maybe something like... Trevor we know you are a student of the game. We know you love baseball . We know you believe that how you have trained is well researched and data and analytically driven and you know how your body responds better than anyone. We value your input and are very interested in how your techniques could help the White Sox organization. We will do everything we can to accommodate you and make all our starting pitchers aware of of your ideas and would love to have honest and open discussion between us all .Ethan would love to hear your ideas and we'd like you to talk to him first after this initial discussion with you.

I know a certain amount of you won't read the SI article but another thing was how Bauer helped Clevinger so much that during one game against the Sox in Chicago that Francona said something like the radar gun was hot and Bauer and Clevinger laughed about it. There was also a quote about how Bauer helped advance how Cleveland used data and training. I have seen quite a few here envious of how Cleveland has developed pitching and Bauer is instrumental for some of that.

I'm comfortable with anything that gives the Sox a chance to win a World Series in the next few years. I don't care about Jerry's money or winning 2 World Series or competing a long time. There have been so few World Series wins in team history that having 2 in 25 years would be enough.

There was a recent thread about the use of the pine tarish like substance that pitchers use to increase spin rate. Here's an excerpt from the article about Bauer and that substance. He says, “If I used that s---, I’d be the best pitcher in the big leagues. I’d be unhittable. But I have morals.” He reveals now that he did use Pelican for one inning last year, the first of his April 30 outing against the Rangers, as some statheads had sussed out. He threw nine four-seam fastballs, and they averaged 2,600 revolutions per minute, about 300 RPM higher than normal. Then he stopped, and his spin rate dropped to its standard 2,300 RPM for the remainder of the game. He felt as if he had proved his point.

https://www.si.com/mlb/2019/02/19/trevor-bauer-cleveland-indians-training-tools-twitter-controversy-cy-young If you want to know more about Bauer this SI article should do the trick.He is a unique guy. Others might call him weird or odd but I like him.

It was August, 2018 when Abreu hit Bauer with a line drive.

That's not the question with the Sox. With the Sox it's how do we add to the team to improve it while pretending we have this long window of competing so we can convince our fans that we are so poor that we can't afford to be a juggernaut. Usually that means not coming within $60M of the top of the payroll scale for any given year. I think most of the owners love how Covid has given them an excuse to not spend money and cut expenses and suppress labor and operating costs.

No problem . Thanks for your opinion.

If you were a free agent you are the one ultimately responsible for the choice of team you go to. The agent works for you not the other way around.

Did you watch his latest video ? Yes you have to subscribe to his youtube account but you can always unsubscribe. He isn't making demands. He brings up things that are important to him , how he wants to grow his brand, how he wants baseball to grow,and what would make him happy. He doesn't care about the size of the market. He does care about winning and made it clear he doesn't want to play with a rebuilding team. He was happiest playing in a World Series. He wants honest communication with those in charge of him, more of a partnership than I'm the boss you are the employee type of thing. He thinks he can learn from others and others can learn from him. As an example he brought up how the D'backs didn't want him working with weighted balls and he did. Now everyone is working with weighted balls. He thinks he is at his best going every 4th day but he doesn't want it to disrupt his team mates routines and offers suggestions on how it could work.He specifically brought up how young pitchers on innings limits might need periods of rest. He brought up how certain guys might be better going every 6th day. He uses a ton of data and maybe things he uses the Sox aren't using and perhaps he can learn some things that the Sox are using that he isn't. He seems pretty open minded and is asking the team he chooses be the same way. Again he wants to be heard and if the Sox and his team mates are willing to hear his ideas and have an honest open discussion about it maybe that's enough , maybe its not. He said the Reds were very open with him and he enjoyed his time there. It doesn't seem like an impossible task to get along with the guy and treat him the way he would like to be treated. The Sox could always contact the Reds and ask them how they handled his ideas.

My takeaway is definitely Nagy. They didn't allow Trubisky to be bad. They didn't allow him to do anything .

Bears down by 4 with plenty of time at the end of the 1st half 3 straight runs. NO up by 18, 7 minutes left in the game and still throwing it.

Is this where the Bears give up and allow a long TD run ?