chitownsportsfan

Cease leaving too many fastball up out of the plate and another one driven into right. A really good RF might make that play, but that's not Mazarra.

Grounds out into the shift over by 1st. Pitcher got it in on him.

Moncada hits a changeup 400 feet foul.

I think he did.

Cease comes back from 3-0 to get the K.

Nick grounds out to the vacuum cleaner Moncada who throws him out by 50 feet.

Cease's arm action is a helluva lot shorter this year. Makes a horrible 0-2 mistake tho and it's hammered for a HR.

Sox broadcast pumping up Engel, lol.

I too found CC's comments interesting. He also distinguished between dark skinned AAs and dark sinned Latin guys, which is an obvious point but one that escapes your average white American from time to time.

Yes on the 1st page of this thread I gave mine. Your kid will have a blast. If you get a chance to go to Salt River Fields at Talking Stick do so. They have a really cool kids area. And for the adults they have a great beer selection at reasonable prices.

guess they already sent EE to the Dominican league.

Thanks for the summary. It sounds corny but TA really can be the guy that gets more AA youth playing baseball. His org helps with the money and his personality and play helps with the rest.

Coronavirus is going to be really bad for about the next 6-8 weeks but by mid summer I'd imagine things will have cooled down quite a bit. In a worst case scenario (like the Mariners are potentially facing) they will just play in front of no fans . Mariners will have a hard call in a few weeks if the virus is burning through Seattle. It's ground zero here in the US and I can say from just walking around this and driving this weekend business is getting hammered. Mine included. Just trying to do everything possible to help arrest the spread. Seattle is being proactive we'll see if other cities are as well.

Ah yea good point. If Gio isn't ready I wonder if they use an opener.

They have an off day on the 27th wouldn't Giolito be piching on his normal schedule on the 31st? They have another off day on April 3rd and another on the 9th. In theory you could push back Gonzo until April 4th or 5th I'd think.

Thanks but it's paywalled, care to share a few paragraphs?

well there ya go, lol. I'm ready for real games only 2.5 weeks.

18 days. Wow, that's so close you can taste it. Luis Robert. "La Pantera" ("The Panther") and a well earned nickname at that with a speed and power combo rarely seen in MLB. These types of athletes usually play basketball or football. But he has the skills to match racking up the USA Today MiLB player of the year award last year after doing this across all levels: Hit 328 with a .376 on-base percentage, 32 home runs, 92 RBI and a minor-league leading 36 stolen bases. ZIPS, as you'd imagine from a player that contributes in all areas is excited, and Dan Z did a deep dive on Robert this week that gets one exited. 2019: NA ZIPS: 764, 2.5fWAR 20HR I'm going under on OPS but OVER on fWAR and over on HR. He's only projected for 120 games or so by ZIPS: he'll probably play more than that. I can see something like 250/300/450 with monster +15 or so run defense in CF from the fWAR defensive component and +5 or so runs on the bases as well. I just don't think he's going to hit much more than 250 this year. In his prime? We'll see. For now I'll be happy with a 3 WAR 22 year old CF.

Did you just compare EE to Alonso? You did. Man that makes no sense!

I forgot what happens when the squad is competitive and newer fans show up. This is pathetic. EE is like 8th in the AL for wRC+ the last two years and folks are basically calling for Palka 2.0 to replace him based on 30 spring training PA? Lunacy. GTFO. People should ready this quote: Craig Kimbrel made his first Cactus League appearance this past Wednesday. Afterwards, I asked the Chicago Cubs closer if he ever feels adrenaline in spring training games. “Not like a [regular] season game, no,” responded Kimbrel. “But you’re still excited to get out there, excited to work. It may be spring training, but you still don’t want to give up runs, you don’t want to give up hits. You still try to compete. It’s part of the reason I wait so long to get into games. I don’t want to go out there and try to do too much before I’m ready.” Vets don't care about spring guys. And rightfully so.

Collins isn’t a catcher. At least Chicago doesn’t think so just look how they have built the roster. and the swing man you hypothetically get for him leaves a hole and puts pressure on grandal to catch 130 games. hes not getting traded for a swing man or prospect. And that means he isn’t getting traded, no now anyways, check back in July.

Yea he is what he is. He's a decent closer paid fairly. He's certainly not the elite guy you really need in a "all in" season but this isn't an "all in" season. If the Sox are competing and doing well come July maybe you consider looking to add a closer. Or perhaps Bummer has already ascended to that role. I'm really not that worried about Colome. The worry is the SP not giving the bullpen and offense a chance 2 nights a week.

19 days. Enthusiasm for my thread is through the roof so I'll keep going! Today's O/U is Nomar Mazara! 2019: 777 OPS, .5fWAR, 19 HR ZIPS: 746 OPS, .9fWAR 22 HR Oof. This is a hard one. On one hand the clay is there, the raw power is there and he's at the point where you'd expect a breakout to come, if it's coming. On the other hand you don't get extra credit for being a .5 WAR player from 22-24 -- just look at the projections, which have that baked in. I'm going to go OVER on OPS, OVER on fWAR and OVER on 22 HR. That said -- I'm expecting about 2 WAR at most from him. I can see something like 250/310/480 with mediocre at best defense in RF and he misses 30 or so games with injury. He's Avi to me until he proves otherwise. We shall see. Getting into the harder ones now and only 3 guys done. Sunday we'll look at Luis Robert.

Probably will wait until opening day health status to pin down a final tally but right now I'm going with 84 wins. I don't see enough pitching but it will be an exciting season with a lot of fun rallies and a lot of 7-6 type games.

My god a billion dollar entity being managed by a 10 cent brain.