Jake

I think Baldwin shows some natural aptitude in the outfield — he does have the highest-difficulty catch of the year for the Sox — but yeah, he's been the team's worst defender all around the diamond and we'll have to take some lumps with him if we want to see if he can stick in the outfield.

AAA Statcast statistics In case you wondered, Julks is tied for 1st in AAA in wOBA - xwOBA, Elko 6th, Gray 13th

They need some starting pitcher depth in AAA. Seems like the kid has been okay at that level, but basically no upside for MLB besides someone who might be able to make a start or two without completely melting down.

There's probably a story there, whether we end up hearing it or not. He was nails his first 3 outings this season and then got shelled in 3 of the next 4. Seemed like the Sox may have been trying to stretch him out. Per Statcast, his average fastball velo was down by about 2 mph this season relative to last season, which might suggest a health issue...although in his last outing, his fastball was at about last year's average. Was walking a lot of guys. Hope he's okay physically, mentally, and however else. And I hope the Sox were supporting him well.

Was he botching it?

Thinking back to Lenyn going up there and hitting a pitch on the corner for the first pitch of the inning, totally unaware the pitcher was hardly going to throw another strike. He's funny

I mean surely, the worst case is that you'd get a full year of competent play out of both of his friends/family.

It's not good when a player is struggling badly enough that you want to do something drastic like this. Definitely a negative indicator for the future. Sometimes when I see a guy struggling in the minors, you will think or hear that "there's time for him to improve" and other such hopeful things. But I'll wonder, who are the guys who had a legitimately hard time in the minors or had a particular problem and actually rallied back and solved it? Most players who have a horrible season in the minors are just not good and that's that. Saying that a guy is young and there's time to fix it can feel a lot like cope. [Side note: a large portion of the major turnarounds in quality of play seem to be pitchers] So I appreciated Getz mentioning Geraldo Perdomo and Barfield's experience with him in the AZ organization. Perdomo hit a hard wall in AA and was putting up numbers rather similar to Colson there (Perdomo struck out less, but still a lot for a hitter with a lot less power than Colson). Arizona sent him to extended spring for an entire month to work on his mechanics and let him clear his head. And then he went on a rampage, posting a .930 OPS for the rest of the season across AA and a brief promotion to AAA. He even had a strong week of hitting in MLB as a September callup. Given that Perdomo is a completely solid MLB starting SS, I accept that as a nice success story and a sign that this kind of move can work. There's also a warning in there, I think: Perdomo had a horrific first full MLB season the following year before an all-star sophomore effort, so this roller coaster may have multiple peaks and valleys.

He's right there in the lineup that you posted

Convenient

I was an optimist about Murfee, but I think he's probably the next man out (if there's a remotely interesting replacement available).

6 hits <77mph for Brewers tonight, plus a questionably called field error at 61mph. Even the RBI groundout this inning was so poorly hit that it gave them a run instead of being an inning-ending double play.

Brew Crew are some serious luck merchants tonight

You're going to be mad at me, but this name has been popping into my head lately: Andy Wilkins Another one that bubbled up: Dan Black

I appreciate Fletcher hitting 86 on the radar gun. I miss the days of position players letting it rip, that was the only fun thing about them pitching. Although I think Fletcher has a good bit more than 86 in the tank...

So do the rules regarding optioning Rule 5 guys follow them when they get placed on waivers and claimed like this? That is, are the Sox kind of locked into stashing Workman on the bench if they want to try to develop him longterm? Same goes for Vasil I suppose.

Nice job by Urias. Leasure has a very special fastball in terms of the rise he gets on it, only a couple guys in MLB are better. He threw it at the right spot. Leasure throwing 2mph harder today than usual and had even more rise than he usually does. Urias has an astronomical swing and miss rate on high heat...but he was ready for that one and handled it. And seriously, props to him! There's a lot of guys who can look for a pitch like that and still not be able to handle it when it comes. There's a lesson for Leasure though that everyone knew he'd be targeting that spot because he only has two pitches and he can't locate his slider well enough to want to throw it first pitch in an AB like that.

Can't believe you'd say such a thing about a guy with a new stance

Tim Anderson's defensive metrics look excellent this year

Refreshing to have a full team effort loss where you don't solely point the finger at the offense, defense, starting pitching, relief pitching...

As someone who does these kinds of measurements professionally, I would say not to take the exact numbers too seriously in this case. No doubt that the number of people seeing games has dropped dramatically given that so many have lost their ability to do so without taking some kind of "expensive" action (buy new equipment, buy new subscription). But getting a grasp of how many people are using a fledgling streaming service vs. antenna vs. conventional cable are just very different kinds of measurements. Not to mention that with the subscription model, ownership would gladly trade some cable viewers for a smaller number of paid subscribers...not that they are likely to be anywhere near enough of those direct payers to be coming out ahead yet.

Looking at the data on TJS, Sox are clearly in the driver's seat for likely leaders in MLB in 2025. But in the longer term, not much of a trend. They pretty much track the league average. Depending on timeframe, the teams with the most are the Mets, Guardians, Padres, Dodgers, Red Sox, Yankees. Not bad company all things considered. White Sox had 2 last season. Boston had the most with 8.

I won't be upset if the Sox decide to take a flyer, but man I don't see much in the underlying metrics to feel optimistic. Doubt he's someone you can just plug into the MLB team and assume he'll suddenly pitch well. Probably needs a bigger rethink about his mechanics, repertoire, etc. Not sure if he has any MILB options left.

Vargas earns a long leash thanks to great minor league track record, surprisingly strong defense this year, and young age. Not sure how long the leash will be...that depends on just how badly he plays. But I see him getting another month even if it's pretty much an unmitigated disaster.