chitownsportsfan

Look's like the proverbial "fire" has been little under Yoan's ass. As an old meathead, that gets me a little fired up. COME ON KID. Go Sox, this is fun.

almost like they are all young players trying to break into MLB...

Wow, Torres is almost down below 800 OPS, after that hot start he's been bad.

I'm sure a number of FOs have data on exit velocity and spin rate and any correlation (and causation) between the two.

Keeps the hard contact down even at those velocities. I'm not a huge spin rate guy, or at least wasn't coming into this year, but based on the visual evidence so far hitters have a tough time squaring up his fastball, even at 94-95 and down the middle up. When I heard about his spin rate (apparently it's best in the majors currently) it made perfect sense. Lopez throws those 95 mph heaters and they get crushed. Kopech seems to be able to get away with it. Again, I was not tuned into to spin rate before this season and had no idea what a "rising fastball" really meant, but I read some articles on it and it seems to be a thing, even if the ball isn't really rising, just not dropping throws hitters off.

He moved Eloy up to full A and now has him #2 in all of MLB. Sickles puts his work in if he thinks he's #2 in all of MLB (behind Vlad Jr) then that's a pretty damn strong endorsement. He also moved Kopech to a full A, making him a top 8ish overall (IIRC Sickles only gives about 8-10 full As at any given time). Rest of the rankings seem to reflect Sickels' conservative nature. Basabe in particular didn't move up after his strong season.

The only thing positive about Lopez and Gio's years is that they have managed to mostly stay healthy and get MLB innings under their belt. Both should end up around 170 IP this year. Need to see some big jumps in their peripherals next year. Neither guy currently has anything better than 5th starter stuff. That said, the Sox really just need to find a 4th and 5th starter out of Gio, Lopez, Dunning, Hansen, Cover and anybody else they got on the farm or can acquire via FA/Trade. At the top it looks like you've got Rodon, Kopech and Cease starting in 2020 and that looks like a pretty damn good big three on paper.

I saw Fangraphs finally has him at .1 fWAR! He's a shitty 4th OF on a decent club, if even that. Fangraphs doesn't think much of his defense.

I like that it appears he'd rather give up a weak hit (or a solid one) than walk anybody. The 3-0 fastball with the bases juiced that he put top of the zone right down broadway was a good example of that mindset (and skill that allows it). So was the eventual double play on a well placed fastball down. The spin rate is huge for Kopech. Allows him to dial it down to 94-95 for better command and still be successful.

looks like a sweep on paper!

I'm a little worried about his peripherals. They aren't great. That said, his hard hit rate is at like 10%. He might be walking too many and not striking out an ideal amount of guys but whatever he's doing to get them off balance is mostly working. From the little I've observed it seems he's finally got good fastball command on a consistent basis.

Yea it def looks "grand", agree with that. We used to drive by the construction (and the old stadium) almost every day for work, saw it go up in real time. Agree with Citi, Citi is a cool stadium. I like the Jackie Robinson area when you walk in and the views of the city from the upper deck are pretty sweet.

What do you think of NYS? I went a couple of times when I was living in NYC, it's better than the old one in that it doesn't smell like piss and it has a nice video board. Other than that tho it wasn't anything special imo. I like how you can still see the D train through the outfield gap tho, that was a nice touch.

he appears to be a "timing guy" early in his career. for a guy prone to minor tweaks and DL stints that's not a good combo. I hope he can stay healthy and hit a bit here to close out the year. He has had a very mediocre year so far, he can turn it into a solid effort with a good 30 games here.

take that rock bottom!

Great win.

For about 3 months in my life I could touch the rim. I'm pretty short, 5-9 on a good day, fairly long arms for my frame but nothing special. Hit a lot of HR tho. I'd love to be able to dunk, just once, to experience it. Hitting a HR is pretty special tho I would say it's about as good of a feeling as recovering a fumble or an INT.

Well standing o time I guess.

that's his vesting option they reworked his contract for the tank year.

Guys I regret to inform you Fangraphs gives the Sox a 0.0% chance to make the playoffs.

What are the Sox even tanking for? 3rd pick instead of 4th maybe? Guess I could be arsed to look at the standings.

Totally. Renteria is a joke.

His steamer projection: 293 .337 .509 So basically he'd be the best hitter on the team instantly.

They are paying TA like a 1.5 WAR player and he's looking like a 2-3 WAR player, so that's a win.

it's too bad none of these fucking guys can field a lick. I hate to belabor the point but given how easily they have found cromulent DH types the last year it really makes little if any on field sense to keep Jose around given his contract situation. oh well, i'm back to checking box scores on non kopech days but it's nice to see a win. rodon and kopech could be a money one two punch the next few years. carlos rodon coming back and pitching not just decent but very good after his injury scare is such great news for the rebuild. nice to get a "win" there.