CaliSoxFanViaSWside

So you think one of Wolkow, Braden Montgomery, McLain and Zavala will be a starting OF on Opening Day next year ? I'd make a bet on that. I'm always game for taking opposing view points on what seems to be an a longshot.

I'm wondering if he didn't punch something or someone. They scratched him before the game a couple days ago and gave that reason. But I was thinking how many pregame drills use runners that can result in a collision at 1st. Probably just letting my imagination run wild. Lineup was probably made a couple hours before the game started .Still seems odd though that he'd be released. They need hitters.

I wonder who you're talking about.😋 I wouldn't call myself a massive fan , just thought he deserved more consideration than he got . I just like to try to identify guys who don't get much recognition. The stats speak for themselves and I think it was their AA pitching coach John Ely who was on the McGuffey podcast raving about those guys.But apparently even at 26 yrs old they'd rather save the younger guys for the 2nd half after trading as many of the veteran relievers with decent 1st half stats.

It might be . There aren't many double headers during the regular season and walking 23 in 18 innings not likely to happen with the pitchers on the 26.

Did you drop your homemade bobblehead ? Maybe it was a VooDoo doll instead and you caused the broken thumb !

Apparently the Sox weren't going to spend over $5M on any one player unless incentives warranted it.

Damn when the hell did that happen ?

As a GM I think winning has to have place among your top priorities so you pick up vets who have proven track records with recent hiccups that made them affordable rather than just hand jobs to kids who struggle at AAA. Apparently wins do matter to fans too because I haven't stopped hearing about last seasons disaster. 110 losses would have been considered a disaster too but once you set modern day records for losses it drives the point home that there's no reason for that to happen if you can help it even if it was a Murphy's Law situation you should still have enough talent to avoid that kind of situation. Plenty of fans are thinking they will be worse than last year . That shouldn't be allowed to happen under any circumstances so if you think it'll be a 110 loss season things could go horribly wrong once again you're right back there. You don't want to give the impression that improving or not setting more futility records isn't important just because it's a rebuild. If you can't force the issue facing AAA pitching there's no reason to play in the big leagues. It's just odd to me when the fans past war crys were the Sox ruined Vaughn and Crochet and called up prospects before they were ready that now the script is flipped and it's "let the kids" play even though they've done nothing to warrant it except get older .

I think he has to show he can hit AAA pitching and stay healthy otherwise what does he have to offer?

Not sure why you bolded what you did. Iglesias didn't play much SS last year and the Sox would've likely had to paid more for him than they did for Rojas if they had signed him at the same time. Pretty sure the whole reason Iglesias lasted as long as he did was because no one wanted to meet his price at his age despite hitting well last year playing mostly 2nd and 3rd. Sox probably checked on him before Rojas. I actually advocated for Iglesias early in the off season because he probably still could play SS better than most still here vying for the position and because being a Cuban vet who learned to become a better hitter later in his career he might've been a good influence to help Robert who has run out of Cuban teammates.

He better start off hot then because there's a good chance it'll take longer.

Drury was pulled from yesterday's game because of a hand bruise.

Next round of cuts thread inexplicably closed .So maybe put it here when the remaining guys get cut ? Wasn't Colas sent down ?

You never know what you get but you have to try. I'm not sure you differentiated between who was a shitty vet and who wasn't. All I heard this off season was fans crying about how Getz didn't improve the pen. I guess that remains to be seen and all the injuries to a lot of our youthful depth is hurting the cause but pitching does have a market more than bats. It seems fairly useful that he picked so many veteran arms on the cheap. Some young arms he gave up for veteran arms might turn into useful position players. It's always hit and miss working in the fringes. Either you end up giving up someone you regret or you make the other team regret it. So far there's not much to regret on either side of these minor trades that everyone makes a big deal about because of the process. It's all just howling into the wind. The sound gets lost most of the time. I'll admit a lot of what Getz is doing is on the job training. He's made mistakes but some things are working and he's hired outside the organization and Crochet was a major win. I don't think he's had a bad 1st full year. Maybe a solid C grade considering JR isn't giving him much to spend unless infrastrure rebuilding is a lot more expensive than I think it is. I think the initial costs are higher than the maintenance costs so we'll have to wait and see what bears fruit if he's around long enough to see the fruits of his labors. I like the initial returns on the Bannister hiring. The efforts of the FO seems a lot more collaborative. I'm looking forward to seeing how Braden Montgomery and some of our draft picks like Bonemer,Antonacci, McLain,Saucke and Hagen Smith do. Bergolla will be a good follow too as well as Zavala,Meidroth,Wikel-man Gonzalez , Jacob Gonzalez and Colson Montgomery.

You could say the same thing on a lesser scale for now about Bergolla. Kid looks like he knows what he doing on the diamond.

I think it's fairly normal. The closer you get to opening day the less you want to risk injuries against young pitchers with iffy control or all the other numerous ways to get injured . Robert played yesterday got 2 hits.Dont want to tempt fate too much with him. Drury was originally in the lineup. They pulled him before the game started. Judging by the amount of low minors kids from both sides that started coming into the games it was probably agreed upon by both sides to let some kids play who they both brought into camp.

3 up 3 down Sox win !

Phil Fox pitching the 9th for the Sox . 22 yr old ACL RHP 5'9".

Busenitz finally replaces Suter on the mound and promptly gives up an RBI single to Zavala, his 2nd hit of the inning. 8-5

Nishida just singled in another run . 7-5 now. 35 yr old Brent Suter throwing 86 MPH 4 seamers.

Sox kids put up a 4 spot so far in the top of the 9th to take a 6-5 lead. Not a lot of familiar names except Zavala.

I'm going to have to resist the idea of shitty vets that aren't good enough to return anything. You never know what you can come up for a relief pitcher especially LHRP. Look how that A ball SS Bergolla has hit in ST since they started using him. They picked him up for Tanner Banks. He's got hits, a few doubles a bunt hit, played the position well. Seems like a real savvy baseball player. We'll see how he does in Birmingham but if what he's done in ST so far is any indication along with what he did in A ball he's a likely .300 hitter who can also draw some walks at a premium position. Getz said they scouted and liked him because of the Phillies overtures into Crochet.

No but Shane made the team but his role hasn't been defined yet but 5th starter seems likely right now. Between how Smith, Martin, Cannon and Burke pitch or health, Wilson will likely get a chance to start at some point.

I was thinking yesterday about making a thread about Shane Smith. Then I thought "eh feel good stories around here these days aren't worth posting. I'll just get bombarded with the guy hasnt even accomplished anything yet. Why are you slurping Getz and Bannister ? However, it would be cool to see if he can stay healthy and accomplish unexpected things in the coming seasons. I'd have to read the Rule 5 thread again but it's not like anyone expected much. Personally I think the majority thought they'd take a hitter but in light of all the TJ surgeries and questions regarding Thorpe that they made a pretty good pick.

Perez 4 scoreless, 2 hits, 5 K, 1BB. Just aced Tim Anderson on 3 straight pitches .He didn't swing at any and all 3 called strikes . Sosa flys out to mid warning track in CF .