Jake

I'll admit the only thing that keeps me from constant ranting and raving about it is that I don't have a promising suggestion for who should be taking his job

I just don't see the upside with Burke. He has a good rising fastball, but the velo isn't very good which limits how much he can get out of it. None of his other pitches have either a good shape or get good results (his curveball is a big breaker, but it seems a good curveball doesn't get you anywhere these days). On top of that, he has zero command. So what's the point? Normally a guy who is so strike-challenged has something else going for him besides he's got a pitcher's body and has "mound presence."

FWIW, entering today Quero ranks 12th out of 64 catchers in throwing value, per Statcast. Not sure he had any chance to get the man on the three steals today. The high throw was obviously a bad throw, but not clear to me a good one would get him. Incidentally, Burke generally rates well at keeping runners close but not looking good today. His fellow Massachusettan Mike Vasil ranks 2nd to last (or worst on a per-batter basis) in MLB at stopping the run game.

Should have observed my usual policy of not watching Burke starts

Smith got screwed by his defense that inning but he's got nothing right now. Finally used his changeup a few times against Busch and got what he needed. If he isn't feeling the changeup then he's dead meat because none of the other pitches are very good

Smith apparently isn't willing to use his changeup today (only thrown 3, just one was in the zone) and you can see why the Brewers weren't interested in hanging onto a version of Smith without a changeup

No point extending a rookie pitcher IMO. High probability that his arm is cooked before he reaches free agency

Tough luck season continues to for Vaughn

swing change swing change swing change swing change swing change swing change swing change

Castro has had some pretty big fluctuations in his K rate over the course of his career. Not sure what has driven that. Some shifts in his velo too (95.5ish early, then up to 98ish average, dropping down to 94.5 last year. He's around 95.5 in AAA in 2025). The slider is his best pitch despite the big velo and run on the sinker. Changeup heavy approach to lefties and it has generally performed okay to good. Sinker has been the trouble spot for him but is probably a pitch he needs to grab strikes. Last season he started mixing in four seamers and they got crushed; he hasn't thrown any in AAA this year.

Seems like the most likely explanation here is Capra is a more prototypical bench player than Amaya: plays multiple positions (including a few reps in the OF) and is a fast runner. But I assume Amaya could play 2B/3B, we just don't ask him to since he's the best SS defender on the team. But he's not a great runner. Move probably doesn't matter much either way. Capra had one great year in AA following the COVID season but otherwise hasn't shown much upside.

I've been watching one thing for Colson. Today was his first AAA game without a strikeout all year. That's the kind of progress I want to see from him, especially since it seems pretty clear by now that most contact is going to be very hot as long as he gets to it.

Astros cheating was pretty bad although it was more of a matter of degree than kind. Manfred's response on that was notoriously weak as is (arguably) his handling of the Rose situation under political pressure. This is Rob "just a hunk of metal" Manfred, after all. Not sure how Hall voters will look at it. I suspect the veterans committees will take a dim view of gambling and steroids for the time being.

It never seemed clear how Workman would be able to stick for too terribly long once the team got healthy. Of course, there's no guarantee the team ever would/will get healthy enough to push out the last marginal guy (hello Amaya and Palacios). Sox grabbed the kid to take a look and see what happened. He proved untrustworthy in the field and the infielders all got healthy. Goodbye to Mr. Workman, hope all works out.

Did the Sox "deserve" to win? I don't know, these games tend to turn on very narrow moments. But you're supposed to win some games like this. Last year's team basically never did. Winning your coin flips now and then is how it's suppose to go. Even better when a lot of young guys are involved in the key moments.

Selig told Pete he'd remove the ban if Pete would admit his guilt, stop gambling, and not do gambling endorsements. That was too much to ask for Pete. Manfred made a similar offer. I suspect that Hall of Fame voters will pass on letting him in and I won't lose sleep over it. Major ethical lapses that affect the integrity of the actual baseball games should get the absolute highest scrutiny.

I used to really dislike Harold based on mostly seeing him on draft night, but once I got full access to MLB Network he grew on me a lot. It helps when you don't hear his extreme positivity for young players as most of what he says

Don't really know what they see in him. Righty with a slow fastball and secondaries that get hit just about as hard as his heater. No real track record of success in the minors. As minor league starter, never averaged 5 innings a start and even that short leash wasn't enough to make his numbers look very good. Control appears to be an issue.

Soxtalk has been a great thing in my life and Heads is a big part of what has made Soxtalk great. Terrible for him to go, and so young too.

By my count, Colson is 3 for 17, all singles, 2 BB, 4 K in the complex league.

Hahn drafts chicken s%*#, Getzy turns it into chicken dinner!

The commitment to Palacios has been one of the biggest headscratchers to me. I assume he'll be gone when Tauchman returns but I'm still surprised we haven't tried running somebody else out there. I'm not surprised they have left Julks down there though as his Statcast metrics look bad.

I was pretty surprised to see that he was playing in games. I had assumed he wouldn't see pitching faster than about 65mph coach tosses for at least a week and a half or so.

They'll have to re-score that play, giving the E to Taylor is heinous. Timing on that play for him was tight so he had to barehand it while on a full sprint. Not a play for him to be proud of but the E (and blame) for that play is all Meidroth.

Could raise the question about Booser coming in to face 4 out of 5 right-handed batters as well while the prospect righty who has been getting high-leverage situations had only thrown 3 pitches.