bmags

Billy Hamilton is uber playable vs. lefties, and has a 26 wRC+ against Righties.

so, looking at splits...after you get past our core guys who maybe tony doesn't want to move around the heart of the order...there aren't many great options, so lamb isn't horrendous. But Mendick in a small sample size has been better against RHP than LHP. But if you still aren't comfortable with Mendick in the OF...I see how you get here. Hamilton is unplayable vs. Righties, so Garcia has to be CF. Abreu out means Vaughn needs to be 1b. So anyway, I'll actually say this isn't the worst decision, but I'd rather play Mendick in LF and also just do TA Moncada Mercedes Grandal Eaton Madrigal Vaughn Mendick Garcia

Obviously Lamb will hit another homer. I think he should play against righties, eventually he should get up to career norms, but this 2-hole stuff...especially with his 30% k-rate this year, is just so dumb.

Sox Fans: PERHAPS IT WAS THE MENTAL HEALTH ANGUISH OF BEING ASKED TO THROW A BASEBALL AT A WHITE SOX PLAYERS HEAD

I'll own it if I'm wrong but I think sox fans are way in their own heads about this and there will be no retaliation and this guy was brought up because he's dominated the minors and they had a reason to do it today for unrelated reasons.

Dang this guys ERA numbers are crazy good but he only throws 90, apparently has a great change. Sounds like a guy that would destroy previous sox teams...but this ain't your blah blah

I actually do like it too, and do think it makes the game more fun, I just don't think the same "online shame pile-on" that is used (rightfully) against voices in baseball that think retaliation is good should be applied to people who just don't like players breaking unwritten rules/celebrating. And it does feel like it's treated similarly.

?

It's okay for people to say "I don't like showboating or bat flips". It's not okay for them to throw a 95 mph fastball at a player for doing it. We've largely reduced the throwing at players for batflipping, and people have carried the same energy into people just saying "I don't like it". People can dislike it!

why wasn't it groupthink when every catcher was in the two kneed stance? So the one knee is better at controlling the run game but is 3% worse on past balls. Not 50% worse, 3% worse, and it may open more players to being competent at catcher. Seems fine. It has been extremely hard to find competent catchers that can maintain offense for multiple years. If this makes them slightly worse at receiving but provides better offensive longevity and framing and controlling run game, then that's probably a gamble teams should make.

gonna post this again - not a word from the twins players about Yermin, just about all of them disappointed they are playing like crap.

Here's what is actually a bit annoying to me though. The pendulum swung really hard from "it's insane that baseball allows pitchers to potentially ruin a hitters career because he celebrated a home run" to shouting down anyone that doesn't treat any showboating or "against the hidden rules" hit like this as a positive good. If the Twins hit Yermin tomorrow, that's bull shit. But like, I mainly just want Madison Bumgarner to not hit batters anymore...but I don't need him to be like "YAY I love your spirit!" if someone bat flips him. Maybe I'm confronting "the conversation" too much, but it is getting a bit ridiculous that on twitter and here there are 500 "nobody should be mad at Yermin" to ...anyone being mad at Yermin. Maybe we won that conversation and should just let it be at this point.

Glad we found the enemies who were against Yermin hitting a home run: The White Sox. Sorry I'm out on this. This is the most manufactured sports talk radio story I've ever seen.

dan hayes article from yesterday - only quotes from twins about how twins are disappointing, not a word on the home run https://theathletic.com/2595870/2021/05/18/were-not-very-good-right-now-twins-sink-deeper-after-ugly-emotional-loss/

I will say I think there is more backlash to a backlash for Yermins home run then there was actual backlash. Seems like everyone was ok with it except the announcer saying he didn't like it, but that was hour 4 of a beat down so I give them a break.

Vaughn being an okay outfielder is an incredible development but especially paired with Yermin being an incredible DH. Just get healthy boys.

https://www.milb.com/scores/chicago-white-sox/2021-05-18 Back in Action. Reylo on the bump for CHA. I guess we don't get pitchers ever anymore for the others.

BTW this reminds me - remember when the best part of our seasons was when we'd get to see Matt Davidson go in and dominate pitching?

He can throw faster, that's an "eephus" pitch, sometimes pitchers will break out an incredibly slow, softball-like pitch like that to mess with hitters timings. It can make the hitters look very silly if they don't expect it. But position players have been doing it a lot recently when they pitch so I'm not surprised Yermin was ready to just destroy it. But yes, had the eephus pitch made Yermin swing wildly and miss, everyone would have laughed. But crush it for a home run and everyone feels sad for the poor pitcher.

They'll look for a "catalyst" to jump-start them, so they can point to it and be like "when we stood up to those big mean bullies playing baseball when we were trying to just lose like clowns, we really were able to get back to 8 games back".

for the record, I agree with this. I didn’t think those announcers saying “I don’t like it” is that big of a deal. Imagine hawk on a call, he just wouldn’t like Sox being embarrassed and takes it out on anything.

I missed that homer when it happened and now I love it. It really does remind me of like your uncle joining in the kids stick ball game and crushing a ball of little timmy

Not so sure, next up would be that one guy we signed right? You know the guy...

Setting a good example for my board children. Tonights Lineup:

The laziest .399 OBP in the biz ?