chitownsportsfan

I'm not a big believer in the "gravitas" argument for managers but hiring Girardi would immediately signal that the Sox aren't messing around anymore. Similar to the Cubs hiring Madden when he was available.

This narrative should probably be changing based on recent events: Matt Davidson looks like a solid DH, or at least worthy of a 25 man spot on most rosters FA signing Castillo has continued to show why he was underrated, putting up a 115 wRC+ so far, among the best of any MLB catcher. Palka, while he can't field for shit, is putting up a 129 wRC+, granted sss Moncada's early success And as you mentioned, Eaton and Abreu. Sox have quietly done a pretty good job of bringing in cheap hitters. It's the historically awful pitching that is the problem, and help should be on the way there.

Everybody knows I'm a huge Yolmer fan. Don't want to crow too much but I long predicted he's be a solid regular and a useful supersub at worst. That said, at the end of the day I root for laundry. If the Sox can squeeze a desperate club into trading two "B-" type prospects and another "C+" type out of Yolmer -- do it. Keep adding depth to the system. Yolmer is a nice 2-3 WAR player and is starting to get more expensive in arb. If they aren't going to trade him I'd want them to buy him out of arb and make sure he's a Sox through 2023.

His upside has always been Ramirez with more speed. His downside has always been a poor man's Ramirez, again with speed. It's a great comp, they have incredibly similar skillsets at SS. Fangraphs has him at +3 runs with the glove this year, and with a wRC+ of 88 he's at .8 fWAR, on pace for a solid 2.2 fWAR season. He's developed pretty nicely this season, but I still want to see more power. Too many times he's up there just trying to make contact. His approach is better but when he swings too often he's not fully committed. His next step will be to become good guess hitter with two strikes instead of just being in protect mode. Too often he gets jammed or otherwise gets himself out on hanging breaking balls on 2-2 and 3-2 counts.

As a fan located more than 2K miles from Chicago this has about zero relevance. Does it even have relevance to people in Chicago? According to what SS2K hinted at -- apparently not.

You seem to equate "doing it right" with the extra year of control and nothing else, on field production be damned. That's not good logic. Staying down too long will hurt their development, extra year of control 8 years from now or not. "Doing it right" is going to mean making tough decisions not on rote arbitration timetables but on the entirety of the rebuild, including player development and readiness during the critical 2020-2023 years.

Winner!

hawk lives, apparently.

He's been slept on his entire career except by a few prospect hounds and Sox fans. I've been on him for awhile, he was a favorite of Larry's at SSS as a prospect and his lines down there were always strong relative to his age. Then he came up for that cup of coffee at 22 and sucked balls with the bat but that glove was so enticing. He most sucked his 2nd year with the bat but the glove still was intriguing (and still only 23). Well now his bat is around league average and his glove is as good as ever. Oh and he's only 25. The sox actually produced Semian, Anderson and Yolmer in a three year window -- that's not bad. If they did that more often they'd not have to ever do a full tear down.

Yolmer is the guy who you tell your son to play the game like. Just such a fundamentally sound player. Wasn't trying to do anything there but sit offspeed and flick one into RF.

yea I'm done.

There's no reason to be putting the stress on his body in a throwaway season. Save the steals for when they are actually trying to compete.

So is this place.

Dee Gordon officially on the DL, broken toe. The Yolmer to Seattle talk can really start up now. Not sure the Sox would even be interested in anything they can offer though. Flipping through some of their preseason minor league rankings -- that is a shitty farm they have. Might be the worst in baseball. Only two guys in their top 10 I'd think the Sox would have interest in are Evan White and Julio Rodriguez and both are B- types at best. I'd take those two guys for Yolmer but I'd be happier if they threw in that Sam Carlson kid. I have no interest in Kyle Lewis. I'd be surprised if Lewis ever plays a MLB inning. His knees seem shot already.

Robert back in full game action before June is a pretty good outcome for that injury. Must not have had any setbacks. He should be out of the woods now, presumably he's been swinging a bat full bore for a week or so now.

It's astounding to me that a MLB player could be that bad at defense in his mid 20s. Watching him it appears that he has never taken a fungo in his life. Was he a 1B or what?

Things seem to be going a little too well for Rodon and Hansen. I'm knocking on a lot of wood.

I believe the origin of that thought were his comments about Sanchez and how he was "lazy" at times behind the plate. Obviously the youthful Yanks preformed well under him, including Sanchez. I'd be thrilled with Joe as manager. He's a bit old school in his tactics but he's so solid everywhere else.

Moncada is top 5 in defensive runs saved on Fangraphs for 2B. That he's already a top defensive 2B is pretty amazing. He's been good overall with the glove since he game up, some youthful mistakes aside.

Yea exactly. Asking Yolmer to get a hit or put the ball in play somewhere to drive in a run was not like climbing Everest here. The suicide squeeze should be reserved for much more daunting odds.

He's going to be a 3B when he realizes how much the teams are going to pay him to play there. They aren't going to pay him to play SS, his feelings aside.

Yea the speculation is just speculation but as a topic of conversation -- I'd be all in on Girardi for next manager. GOOD GOD HOW DO I GET OUT OF THE RICH TEXT BOX.

The bunt last night was awful and so was the IBB, here's how Jim put it: Monday’s game was the latest example of Renteria’s bunting proclivity getting the best of him. He called a suicide squeeze for Yolmer Sanchez with the runners on the corners and one out while trailing by one. Sanchez couldn’t bunt fair on a pitch out of the zone, he ended up striking out, and the Orioles closed it out two batters later. It’s been a while since individual game results felt relevant enough — and since so many weird decisions were made — that most of the recap was spent dissecting them. It’s fair to revisit them with the manager’s reasoning in mind, even if Renteria made too many questionable calls to get asked about every single one. He did cover a few of them, though. Here’s his rationale for the bunt: And here’s his rationale for issuing an intentional walk to Manny Machado with nobody on and one out: And a little tidbit on Joe Girardi:

Yea after TA made that long throw across, think it was in the 3rd or 4th inning I thought "it seems like TA has made all the routine plays and a few of the tough ones lately" and obviously the metrics now back that up. He's been solid. His bat has fallen off though. That said, he's still a decent starting SS if he can OPS 700 with average or above average defense. Obviously you'd hope for more in his prime but that would be a good floor.