Jake

Seems like nobody bothered asking Venable post-game about whether he thought Tauchman was playing at less than 100%, whether he considered a pinch runner, etc.

I'd say you have to send him if he had even 30% chance of scoring. If you have any shot at a run there you go for it rather than bank on this team producing another hit.

Honestly, I don't really blame him for not going back. He was going to be pretty far from the base by the time he realized what was going on and you were going to need to deal with the other runner going back too. Basically by that point you're toast and just hoping the throw goes to the backstop

Right now, I don't really see the point in talking about Getz being fired. On the terms of his hire, he basically cannot be evaluated (of course we can litigate his hiring but it's pissing in the wind). All that being said, I do wonder under what conditions might Getz be fired? I don't see any realistic way he gets heat this season, even if another record gets set. Could he be allowed to let the team be just as bad next season? It might be hard to avoid if you stipulate that the Sox be a bottom 3 payroll. For now, it feels like all he has to do for at least the next couple years is not have all his acquisitions completely and utterly flame out in the minors and avoid any serious drama in the clubhouse etc.

It's a player with some history of good play, who has shown some signs of being back to that old level, and is currently on a minor league contract in extended spring training. Nick Maton is your everyday DH, the team is batting under .200. Do not overthink this, nobody is blocked, dudes are getting hurt every day, and it's a long season. This is a chance of a solid player who you might flip at the deadline if things go well and a hedge against having to play Tristan Gray or Bobby Dalbec or something.

Crochet was a massive risk for the Sox to hold onto and equally large risk to give a 9 figure contract to. A starting pitcher with significant injury history, limited experience, and relatively close proximity to free agency had to go. Will the players we got back be amazing? Only time will tell. I think it's pretty clear that the in-the-moment market value of those players was pretty high and so I see it as a good sign that Getz was able to get them. Also, as far as winning the trade is concerned, the stuff Crochet does today would have just not been that useful to the Sox. If he had a bad year for the BoSox, yes that would be relevant to the discussion. But him pitching well right now is kind of table stakes. Will be hard to evaluate until years down the road when these prospects are either in the big leagues or not (if not, probably a dark sign for the White Sox side of the trade).

I accept that explanation for the first 30% of K rate, just don't buy it for the rest.

I think it's hard to say from here what should be done with Colson. This isn't a case of a guy going to a new level and playing horrifically. He had a disappointing year last year, but it was nothing like this. So you know it's not a case of him hitting a wall that he doesn't have the talent to break through (in the sense of: we know he has the talent to strike out less than half of his plate appearances in AAA). If you buy that, then the question is why the huge regression? Health? Yips? Some other kind of mental issue? Change in swing/mechanics/etc.? Hard to see from my perch here on the internet which of those things is going on. Things like a demotion could make some of those problems worse while potentially fixing some others. As for Teel, I'm not pushing the panic button. But this is why you put him in AAA rather than break with the team. You're going to get scouted and people are going to try to exploit your weaknesses. See if he can work through it. His brief time in AAA last year was just so-so anyway. Quero is a similar case and similar reasoning for keeping him in AAA to start the season, but you can see how his game was always bound to be a bit less boom or bust. But he may well see his numbers decline soon too (if he keeps up the 1.000 OPS for very long, I guess we'll find out just how patient the Sox plan to be).

Have been scratching my head about how it is that Korey Lee had a such a great spring and was immediately relegated to a platoon role. Thaiss doing his job pretty well made me inclined not to complain much but Lee continuing to hit still makes me wonder. Weird miscue at home plate today notwithstanding

Very different end results, but I thought Martin looked horrible in his first outing. I'm not going to call this one good, but he at least has gotten a few swings and misses and found his four seam shape again. Optimistically, I hope he's learning his own arsenal a bit better. Downside of all the tinkering he does with his pitch mix is it can leave you without a good idea of what you should be throwing.

Thinking further on this, Martin's 4-seamer also has a lot less armside run than usual today. Makes me wonder if he had been working in sinkers in the past but they weren't distinct enough for Statcast to pick up on it. Today's sinkers have near-identical spin rates to his 4-seam which would make it more likely that they get mistakenly grouped together.

I definitely had the feeling of "accepting this job is a serious hit to anyone's credibility." But I'm okay with him so far, you're just not going to look brilliant if the team stinks. And I assume he might learn a few things along the way.

Taking a peek at Martin's pitch metrics... He's continuing to go with a very changeup-heavy approach but also mixing in a sinker that he can't throw for a strike. That said, nothing he's throwing has been in the zone much today and he's been fairly wild in the zone too. Velo is down about 1.5mph across the board. His 4-seamer has 5 inches more induced vertical break than his long-term average today; in other words, a ton more rise than normal. Very different pitch. It's really the only pitch that hasn't hurt him today, despite lowered velo. You could see as that nightmare inning went on he started to realize that pitch was one he could trust more than the others. Overall, the *average* exit velo given up by Martin today is unremarkable but he just can't throw a strike so he's given up some very hot contact when it mattered. Hope he can take something useful from the outing (and that the dip in velo is because of the cold).

I'm not totally convinced they're much better than the alternative, but seems like they wouldn't be the exactly the same either. So...who knows? Hitters need help and this would be a fun innovation to embrace if it gives hitters a few percentage points boost.

Really feel like Colson might be cooked. Hope that it is ultimately a mental issue that he might be able to rally back from.

Lots of foul balls (which is counterproductive when they are above the zone and he could be taking for a ball)

From my research last year, Vaughn has a very high rate of swinging at high fastballs, not a very high rate of missing them, but rarely gets a positive outcome

Sox and Angels have equal xBA today, but Angels have 8 hits to our 2. Would be nice to get a friendly bounce or two soon.

Likely to be a lot of games like this throughout the year. No hitting, pitching keeps it tight, but isn't quite good enough to hang on

Brutal luck to start this inning

I'd prefer Baldwin to start at SS, fwiw. Also, who came in to relieve Thaiss at catcher in this game? Because the wheels are falling off back there.

Of the 4 members of the rotation, it's hard to for me to understand how it wasn't more deserved by any of the other 3. But I guess it doesn't matter

Lenyn had some pretty rotten batted ball luck last year and has been looking hitterish for a while now. I thought his play last season earned him a spot on the '25 squad but it seems like he's making his case in the spring too. Not sure where he'll play but we have 3 infield spots unaccounted for...just stick him in one and call it a day.

I'm not necessarily against Taylor as a guy to fill out the roster/organization, but the fit with two other veteran outfielders added in the same offseason — along with the fact you have tens of millions invested into 2 of the 3 positions already — makes this confusing to me. Want Dominic Fletcher to have to earn a spot on the club? Great, that's fine, he really struggled at the dish last year and some underlying metrics are bad. But this kind of freezes him out when you give all these guaranteed contracts to old guys with limited upside. For this last spot on the bench, I'd prefer someone else kind of marginal *like* Fletcher who might give you years of value if he takes advantage of the opportunity.

By now, I really dislike the idea of trying to trade Robert. I would be shocked if the Sox could get a good offer for him right now and the only thing he costs the team right now is money, which is something they shouldn't be tight on. If he comes out blazing hot, then trade him. If he doesn't, try to rehabilitate his value with the knowledge that if he isn't living up to expectation, then the years ticking off his contract becomes a value-add. Rebuilding is all about going for upside. Why sell low on a player who clearly has extremely high upside?