chitownsportsfan

It's been a long week and I'm looking forward to this game. Lopez better not fucking blow up my viewing party in the first two innings like he's prone. Just throw strikes dude if they hit a HR make it a fucking solo HR not a three run bomb.

Moncada was thrown into a pennant race at age 20. Robert is 22 and will be entering a relatively pressure free environment if he comes up this fall and the Sox are like 60-65 and too far back to realistically make a run at the Wild Card. I think he's ready but I really don't see much problem keeping him down until next spring. At worst you delay his development at the MLB level a couple months. At best you allow him to continue to build confidence, take a cautious approach to injuries (if any occur), and get ready for a big offseason with hopes to make the club out of Camelback next March.

Absolute coup for the yankees. Frankly the Sox should have kicked the tires if this is all it took. One thing is for sure when the Sox are contending it will not be difficult to get an veteran slugger at a corner spot should their internal options not pan out. These guys are almost valueless. Jerry Dipoto is a bad GM, Hahn should try and do more deals with him. The Mariners should not have had to pick up that much salary. The did the same thing the Jay Bruce trade. They picked up that much salary and still only got a C+ type like Phen back. If that's the return you should just be patient. But patience is not in his vocab. The Mariners are going to be horrible for 5-6 years and they are selling their fans on competing in 2021. Good fucking luck. They have every spot on their roster outside maybe C, RF and SS and DH that will need filling with an average player or better should they want to compete in 2021. They have 4 rotation spots to cover. An entire bullpen. They have a middle of the road farm and no MLB assets other than Hanniger (which would open a hole at RF) to trade. And what would Hanniger even get? A couple good seasons under his belt but a major step back so far this year. Would he even get two "B" guys back? Two back end top 100 guys? Maybe. They are fucked. And they are lying to their fans with a straight face about competing in 2 years and how this is a "step back to take a big step forward". I say it all the time the Mariners make you feel good about being a Sox fan. They are horribly run and spit in their fans' faces all the time. They are lucky they are in the laid back PNW. There shit wouldn't fly in almost any other city.

I like the details in the reporting on the suspension: he argued that the substance was taken accidentally and wasn't part of an effort to improve his performance illicitly but decided not to appeal anyways. Just serve the suspension and STFU.

Not a good sign for Leury. Might be a long ass day for "I never throw a ground ball" Reynaldo Lopez with Cordell in CF flanked by the hapless Eloy and the mediocre at best Tilson.

In some ways this is going to be much tougher than the initial tear down. The Sox were basically the prettiest girl at the dance when they had a fire sale on prime So Cal beachfront property in the form of Chris Sale, Adam Eaton and Jose Quintana. They had plenty of suitors bidding against themselves and could pick among many different options. Now they are in a position where they are going to have to be the chaser. They will most certainly have to fill out the roster by trading prospects in the next few years. I don't really trust Hahn to trade the right ones either. Maybe KW can offer some input into that he rarely seemed to get burned.

I think we all know eventually it will be a robot zone but there's an "emotional IQ" element in the transition phase we need to be...respectful of? One of the problems is that the tech is probably still too expensive to try it out in the minors (where problems like hurt ump feelings could be addressed) and you know MLB ain't paying for it in the Indy leagues.

I actually had the same thought last night. Ump calls it, but if it's so bad in pitch trax (like missed by a good inch) the ump gets like a little shock and changes the call. Kidding about the shock part. Maybe.

Right. TA, love him, great player, turned into a borderline star so far this year but he needs to be 6th long term. Or maybe 7th. The worst hitter should be 8th and hell it might be Madrigal if things keep panning out prospect wise.

trap door under the mound opens.

Obviously it will take a generational paradigm shift in how sports are officiated but things are moving in this direction. Look at the XFL with their "eye in the sky" official -- something originally proposed by Dan Rooney a decade ago. The NFL is finally considering it. We already accept (easily I'd add) that replay is dictated by a central office thousands of miles away from the game so why not every call?

Totally. If the Umps think losing one guy behind home plate every night is bad just wait until baseball proposes all umping is now done by one man per game via video in NYC.

He's a bit of an asshat but he is a former pro scout that puts in the time. And he's said nice things about us lately.

Keith Law thinks his timing mechanism means he'll always be susceptible to off speed stuff. He could be correct but you could say that about most MLB hitters facing 95mph gas all game long. In 5 years we might not even see more than a dozen or so 300 hitters in all of MLB.

Rutherford

If Ricky is around and bunting in those guys' primes we got a problem.

Yea that was the hardest decision I had making it. If Robert can hit for a high enough avg and OBP yea put Madrigal down and Robert up.

He's put it all together offensively. Even starting to become a bit of a threat from the right side, at least if nothing else he's not an automatic out and isn't as susceptible to a lefty reliever late innings. In June, granted super small sample size, he's at a 10.5% BB rate with a 21.1% K rate. If he sustains that the sky is the limit.

Not going to worry about posting a lineup ROS this year as it will have holes anyways. Long term here's my ideal lineup. Madrigal (280/360/380 30/38SB) Moncada (280/350/500 10/15 SB) Vaughn (260/360/480) Eloy (300/350/550) Robert (260/310/490 20/25 SB) Anderson (290/320/500 35/40 SB) McCann (270/340/400) Tilson/FA/Madrigal (if they find someone better for leadoff) My god we could be loaded in a couple years. Astros like lineup.

disciplined? The ump union will probably want to give him a raise. their response to the machado ejection was bush league. right now one of the biggest problems in MLB is the ump's union and I'm more often than not a union guy.

need to go to robots. the tech is pretty much mature at this point they have a 3D zone.

Not sure how much faith you can put in a mid season STEAMER projection but they project 263//307/435 wRC+ 97. His preseason ZIPS was 236/312/341. I think you're right. He's ready for MLB. He's proven it the last couple months. But I doubt Chicago will call him up before next spring. Just doesn't seem like the way they are doing things now. Maybe if he signs an extension things will change.

130 wRC+ after last night. 2.3 fWAR. Run positive defensively. Other than a couple minor injuries and maybe some lack of development as a baserunner this season has been a smash hit for Moncada and really puts him back on a path to superstardom in his mid and late 20s.

One problem the White Sox have is that until reinforcements arrive you've basically got three automatic outs (or singles) at any given night 7,8,9. Makes it so Moncada and Leury don't see enough chances with RISP.

I don't think anybody is sure Rendon can cover 2B long term. Furthermore I wouldn't trust the Sox' scouts to be right either way on it. It would be a risk but it might be one worth taking.