chitownsportsfan

It's complicated because they are sorta the "lovable losers" of Seattle at this point. They don't really have any assholes on the club and in fact have some cool stories like Kikuchi and Hanniger and Seager but they also are one of the worst run franchises in all of pro sports and their former CEO Kevin Mather made some at best incredibly frustrating comments (from a fan's POV) about how cheap they are and at worst they were mildly racist towards Japanese players -- you know, one of the only fucking good things they have done the last 20 years is that pipeline, why not try and trash it! All that said, nobody really expects them to do much this year or anytime soon and people are clinging to Kelenic as a reason to keep tuning in this season. At best I think some people might be optimistic they could form a decent 88 wins or so club in the future. Their "hot start" was really just flukey bullpen pitching and now that they are 18-18 the warts are showing up. It's a mediocre lineup at best and a pretty bad pitching staff. Defensively they are decent but that's not nearly enough. I'd expect them to once again finish around 75 wins.

That was so nasty. Def one of the best pitches I've seen him make, in a big spot too. Maybe he is turning the corner.

If the Mariners can figure out a way to ruin this guy, they will do it. It's absolutely pointless to bring him up this year, but it appears they are going to do it.

I still can't believe the Mariners gave Evan White 24 million guaranteed. He looks like a guy that will be out of baseball in a few years. -.8 fWAR now in his career and a wRC+ of 56. Just another horrific evaluation by their scouts and staff. At best he was always just going to be a 2 WAR 1B there was nothing in his profile that screamed "buy out this guy's arb years". In fact, not only did they stupidly buy out his arb years, now they almost have to keep him on the MLB roster when he should be demoted to AAA to try and salvage something of his mechanics.

woah I feel old now.

I'm not really sure it's that easy. I don't think Eloy is capable of playing any position in the field other than maybe a really shitty 1B. He can't play LF without hurting himself imo and that severely limits his value. He's basically a 24 year old DH and Yermin for now is on a better contract! Both of them are assets and the Sox should be thrilled with how this "problem" has emerged. Right now I think the thing is to just do nothing, usually these things work themselves out.

The scouting team as well. Vaughn and Madrigal both look like 10 year regulars that will give an average or better performance. That's not easy to find, at any spot in the draft.

The org so far gets a strong pat on the ass. Success has many fathers as they say and these guys have earned it 20% of the way around -- keep it going.

Eh Jose wants to play 1st ever game let him he's earned it, he was show limping at the end there, for the umps and other team more than anything else.

hardly anybody makes that work but I guess it's our year.

yermin's 2 strike gimmick where he holds his powerful bat in the zone for a good half second seemingly seems to actually work. I like it. He is showing some adjustments to the adjustments on him and a part of it is selling out early in the count while using all fields late in it.

I keep saying it but it's insane how much talent this team has. The Twins' radio crew was like "and here is now the Sox' 'mopup' guy Ruiz, who uh, comes out at 97-98 throwing strikes". Andrew fucking Vaughn just keep taking his walks. And Grandal's bat is dangerous, which is why he is rocking a 108 wRC+ despite horrible BABIP luck. And how about that changeup call to Cease in the 5th and then the massive fist bump? Dude wants to win and is contributing, this team has rich man problems.

he's got these boys rolling.

The team collapsed down the stretch last year and choked like a dog. If that happens this year with TLR I'll be the 1st person here ripping him. Until that happens I'm not going to rip him because that's literally the only thing that matters this year. It's like ripping Doc Rivers after 40 games because of his rotations. Wait until the playoffs, if the team doesn't win then, sure, rip him, but these managers are only here for one reason and it's to make the playoffs, however you do it, and then win in them. And Ray for the love of god STFU you're one of the worst posters here and you constantly are super aggro about it. I don't mention you for 2 weeks and all you do is respond to me over and over and over again. You're in your 30s right? That's just pathetic.

I really DGAF about "the most respected reporters in the game" have to say about TLR. Because you know what? Those guys don't know their ass from their elbow when it comes to judging the mood in the Sox' clubhouse. You know what I do see? I see TA dancing and hitting over 300 and playing the best defense he's played in years, probably since the stretch in 2018. I see Moncada smiling, having fun, fucking with TA and rubbing Madrigal's little head and jumping into his pitcher's arms that just threw a no hitter. I see Andrew Vaughn taking his walks, making diving plays in LF and saying himself that it's nice not having to worry about playing every day and having a chance to just watch the vets. I see a journeyman AAAA player that showed up late being handled about as well as he possibly can by his manager (who called him out in the media in a subtle, nuanced way I'd add) and who is the story of baseball so far. I see a team that is near 1st in every meaningful statistical category: pitching, defense, offense. Surely the manager gets some credit for that. Sometimes the particle is both in and out of the box and it's a measurement problem us mere mortals haven't figured out yet. TLR has been bad tactically and some of the credit for how great the Sox are playing goes to him. There's the response you seemed to demand of me.

You're not worth my time it's like asking someone to prove the sky is blue and then when I cite the chemical composition of the sky and why it appears blue to the human eye you then ask if anyone can really define "blue". But since you insist: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/be-cautious-with-lineup-analysis-tool/ https://walkoffwalk.net/2018/03/14/lineup-optimization-will-matter-2018/ https://blogs.fangraphs.com/how-significant-is-batting-order/

Except from all indications he's setting Vaughn up for success and letting the rookie, who has never played above high A, get plenty of rest and film work in between ABs. Look, I'm not gonna sit here and say that TLR is some tactical genius, in fact he's a moron tactically, but he was brought in here to win and so far he's winning. For all the whining about how TA would hate him, Jose would hate him, so far those guys seem to enjoy playing for him. It's a pass fail grade for Tony. His grade will be completed in the Fall.

I'm not your slave go google the shit yourself. It's one of the least controversial topics in sabermetrics.

Tango himself. And since he posted that over 15 years ago pretty much all the research that has followed. At best you're talking 15 runs, as Tango himself said in that thread, "some people consider that a lot, others nothing". It's about one win at best either way. I'm in the "not a lot" category. Get good players, it really doesn't matter how you line them up.

I'm not in a spot to give it the reply it deserved so I gave you a sticker instead.

This nuanced take has no place on the Internet!

I read that before it was linked here that morning it came out, FWIW, didn't really feel the need to comment on it because I thought it was self evident to anyone with a modicum of sabermetric experience and Madrigal's stats pulled up, like frankly most of Fangraphs' work these days. I don't think there is a single modern player that had an ISO under .100 that had more than 4 bWAR season. I dutifully wait some nerd with a BR sub to run the query and prove me wrong (or right I guess)! paging @gusguyman

you got a sauce for that? At best it's usually considered a 10 run difference or so (so 1 win) over the course of the year between the worst possible lineup and the best is my understanding.

I think he's pretty much locked in to 300/340/370 type lines for now. That's not bad and it's pretty useful as long as he's a solid defensive 2B long term. He has a 27% pull rate. That...is just not going to generate much power. Unless he sells out for more power this profile is pretty much who he is. I think he should start looking to pull the ball more starting next offseason. It's too late right now to try and change his approach in season imo.

wow the great minds are returning!