Jake

Nimmo's homer was hit on the second slowest swing to produce a homer since they started keeping track lol

As for what we saw from Thorpe's arsenal in MLB, the changeup was basically as advertised. Generated a nearly 40% whiff rate which is fantastic for any pitch, but especially a changeup and especially a changeup being thrown as often as it was. That's basically Devin Williams level of whiff-on-changeup and he was having to face batters multiple times a game. The rest of the mix was pretty suspect with the other offerings generating really, really low whiff rates and getting hit hard too often. Some of that was command and sequencing, some of it was surely inherent to the pitches he was throwing. He had started using his slider more right before the injury and that pitch was looking pretty useful for him. But that would be the big question mark for him — what does he use around the changeup, how much does he use his fastball, whether to use slider/cutter/sweeper as the glove side breaker, etc. Many guys never figure those things out, so it's tough to say whether he will or would have. Not to mention that many guys lose the shape on some of their pitches post-TJS so I'm very curious to get Statcast data on what he's throwing in 2026.

You'll have to ask Drew. His statement at that time indicated that his elbow was very sore after that excellent third-to-last start. Tried pitching through it the next two times through and it didn't work. Then bone spur surgery, then TJS coming back from the bone spur surgery. The bone spur was surely there to some extent before, but I don't know how much he felt it in the time that he was pitching adequately because I can't ask him. I doubt he faked the whole thing just to try to get Soxtalk off his back about two bad starts though.

And just to be clear, back in 2024 when he was not yet scheduled for any kind of surgery, Thorpe said when he went on the IL that his elbow was hurting him in his last two starts and he had tried to pitch through it. Nobody is required to look at that and crown him the next Cy Young as there was plenty to nitpick during his healthy run of starts. But his numbers really got killed by those last two starts when, by his own admission, he was pitching through elbow pain that ultimately stole 2 seasons from him. Maybe he'll never recapture his old self, maybe his old self was always going to run into a buzzsaw even if healthy, who knows. But I wouldn't rule out that the one-time widely acclaimed prospect might actually be good.

I can't root for the Cubs. Screw em

Your classic CF/DH combo

Isn't it an artificial surface? So it would be rubber kicking up? I might be talking out my arse.

Got those scrubs Teel and Colson out of the lineup so we can finally get some offense

Finally got a clutch hitter batting cleanup! Get Trevor Richards hot

I think in the 8th and 9th everything is a crew chief review, although the teams still ask for them

Venable outmanages Schumaker

Yeah any significant amount of tearing ends his season and probably eats into next season. But less tearing means more optimism for whether he comes back at 100%

FWIW, complete vs partial would be relevant for recovery. If it's a complete tear there would be a legitimate concern that he would never catch again, at least not at a high enough level. At best would probably extend his recovery past next season.

If it's a complete tear it's really obvious from the manual examination. I'm not sure about partial tears. But they never announce anything until they get a picture of it

While my gut feeling is it's close to the worst case scenario, you really can't even go a day without a second catcher so I think Quero would be coming up no matter what, even if they thought Teel was going to feel okay after a few days

Best case is moderate ankle sprain I think. He caught a throw at the plate, reached back to tag the runner, and his foot kind of stuck under him. Didn't look horrible but he never put weight on it after that and the trainer was clearly examining the achilles area.

Yeah I think they were trying to take some very explicit inspiration from that. Trying to make sure nobody gets hurt, nobody games the rules, and the game doesn't turn into a trainwreck all at the same time.

Decided to check and Sox's bullpen catcher is one Bennett Markinson, a 23 year old who is a year removed from playing for Northwestern. I'm sure he'd clear MLB's bar for readiness. Man Soo Lee on the other hand may have been a smidge too old when he was with the Sox but he had a hell of a pedigree!

Just learned recently since it's something that came up in the collective bargaining (they wanted to make some minor tweaks to it and make it permanent after it was originally conceived during COVID). I wonder whether all the teams even know.

In case you're wondering, MLB rules allow the bullpen catcher to be used as an emergency catcher so long as MLB has approved the bullpen catcher as being sufficiently able-bodied and experienced in competitive baseball. Not sure if the Sox bullpen catcher qualifies. Can only use the bullpen catcher for this if both catchers are removed from the game due to injury or ejection. You are expected to pinch hit for the emergency catcher if he comes up to bat but you can continue to use him on defense (losing your pinch hitters as if you had subbed them back out).

You can thank me for speaking that double into existence

They increasingly are treating Grant like a normal reliever as far as not being super protective of his arm

Romo since May 4th, or in other words excluding his first 5 games of the season: .112 AVG, .170 OBP, .214 SLG Since May 20th: .091/.141/.167 (72 plate appearances) Since May 31st: .061/.113/.082 (54 plate appearances) Since June 14th: .036/.100/.036 (30 plate appearances) Pitchers, the last season that pitchers batted: .108/.147/.137

Never realized how much Ben Peoples had the build of a 14 year old

I would give Quero starter's reps in the near term.