chitownsportsfan

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.

it's crazy how many hitters the sox have now that can hit when the ball gets deep on them. reminiscent of the kong and dye lineup.

20 days! Today's over under is Yoan Moncada! And how appropriate given his extension yesterday! 2019: 915 OPS, 5.7 fWAR, 25 HR ZIPS: 824 OPS, 3.9 fWAR, 26 HR This is easy I'm going OVER on everything. I expect Moncada to move into the top 10 in average exit velocity, continue to fine tune his right handed swing, and hit something like 290/360/520. Would be SHOCKED if he has an OPS under 850. Among other things ZIPS only thinks he's going to run neutral on the bases. I'd expect him to be closer to 3-4.

Indeed. I wouldn't mind a hard cap it would benefit Chicago most likely.

Is there any chance if the Sox get really good they cash in on a new TV deal? How long does the current one go anybody know?

In an industry that's seen 50% revenue growth over a period of a decade MLB GMs are not going to be handing out many front loaded contracts. Just doesn't make any sense.

I was just quickly looking at FGs depth charts for clubs that were at least in theory contending and had less than 2 WAR projected from their starting catcher. Rangers are one, although it's partially because ZIPS doesn't think the 36 year old Chirinos can catch more than 90 or so games. For various reasons I don't think this rumored trade is going to happen.

A quick look just now and maybe the Rangers but yea.

Honest question has Cishek broke any story as either the 1st guy to report a rumor or has he confirmed any deal before any national guy did? I'm not saying he doesn't have sources but his source could also just be feeding him stuff to see what sticks with the fans, or his source could have a feel for certain things in the org and not others. Just curious. Onto James: Absolutely zero reason to trade a 2 WAR backup catcher for relief help in March. Especially when you've got half a dozen arms in camp that already look capable of a 6th or 7th inning role. Who know bullpens are wild the Sox might have a strong pen this year and will have better use of McCann for 40 games as a strong backup than another swingman type. You're not getting a 8th/9th inning guy of any quality for him anyways.

Ah reading comprehension fail. Must have been that the plethora of top college arms will push the top prep arms down in the draft so those looking for higher upside and more risk might be in a good spot.

I'd suggest moving on it's not worth it and personally I'd like to see you continue posting here there are few new posters in the last few years that stir the drink. You are one of them so we don't want to lose you.

If you're going to ban people for speculating about PED (or for that matter any sort of cheating in MLB/sports) you're not going to have a good message board. This site is quite regressive when it comes to freedom of expression from the posters compared to most other communities. I would suggest if you want to curtail certain discussions rather than banning posters you simply lock threads. There's not much moderation here until the SHTF and then it's imo often over the top. Just my 2 cents on that I'm done talking about jake burger until dude is seen on a baseball field in Sox or an affiliate's gear.

As @Eminor3rd noted his tools are so loud that he's going to produce 3 WAR despite himself any given year. And the Sox have him in his athletic prime. I can see Moncada staying a 3-5 WAR player but I can also see him ascending into a 6-8 WAR player like Betts. If he rips his ACL or core apart yea this contract could stink. But other than that there's almost no way he isn't a solid contributor for the duration of it and likely, much much more.

Yea Vaughn turned into a monster in one of my plays. Eloy rarely seemed to do much. Should be a fun year in OOTP although I will like usual wait for it to go on sale.

Moncada always turned into a monster in the couple runs I made last year. Wonder how he'll be this year.

EE puts up his usual 840 OPS and then the Sox pickup that option and trade him for pitching. That would be ideal.

Also they have gotten way out ahead of any "black swans" regarding the new CBA. A lot of clubs are acting like arb years are going to be cut or generally more expensive. Sox are at the forefront of that.

Playoffs are a crap shoot but making it 3 times in the next 6 years as the division winner would be a success imo. Throw in once as the WC maybe.

How is Jose going to Nancy Kerrigan Andrew Vaughn in the coming 18 months? That is the question.

I'll do Mazara on Saturday in the over/under thread should be an interesting one.

Ha, I felt a bit bad for Ozzie Albies because that was just high way robbery. This is more of "I wanted to be a Sox for life make it happen" to his agent.

He's not hurt, come on. Just be happy they just signed a superstar for 4th starter FA price.

Wow. In hindsight, he obviously switched agencies because he wanted to take a home town discount. That's unreal. This offseason has been a dream just like last year's was a nightmare.