Balta1701

He hasn't yet?

Ditto. 488 was my distance guess.

Updated post 1. Big series for the White Sox this weekend. Take 2/3 and you clinch the tiebreaker against the Rays. Take 1/3 and the tiebreaker falls to division records - the Rays currently have an advantage there, but the Rays will have more games to play against their division rivals upcoming. Get swept and the Rays clinch that tiebreaker, and move 7 games ahead in the standings on top of it. Sweep the Rays and the White Sox are 1 game out of the #1 seed with the tiebreaker in hand.

So, while Grandal has been missing and that is a big loss, I'm surprised by the drop in OBP. Looking at it, guys who are contributing to that and why: Cesar - we just had a thread about him getting on base, but now he's down to a .315 OBP/.197 average in August. I don't know him well enough yet to have full confidence this will recover, but I also don't see why it won't. Abreu - .342 OBP in August. I think by including July 26-30 you're including a 1 for 20 stretch for Abreu that makes his numbers look worse than they actually are by selectively including a bad stretch. Brian Goodwin - .318 OBP in August. Andrew Vaughn conveniently is at .423. I have a solution to suggest. Jake Lamb - .294 OBP since returning from the IL. I have a solution to suggest. Luis Robert - .412 OBP since returning from the IL. I am disappointed he has not hit a ball 488 feet yet. Tim Anderson - .304 OBP in August. .304 batting average. You read it right, he's hitting .304, but hasn't taken a walk this month. Yoan Moncada - .190 average, .299 OBP in August. Here is a guy legitimately struggling. Ok, summary - some of this is luck. Abreu and Anderson are hitting, but their OBPs are weird over that stretch. Cesar is genuinely not hitting that great right now, nor is Moncada. Giving them extra time off moves a bad player like Mendick or Lamb into the lineup, but that could be justified if it helps them get out out of the doldrums. They may also get out of it on their own. That's one we can think about as something someone needs to solve. Tony LaRussa needs to play a couple of his favorite platoon guys less. Get Grandal back, and you replace a bottom of the barrel OBP with a high level one. That's my outline.

I don’t think that’s quite right. Spotrac has 6 even before you count the extra costs like health insurance and leveling out contracts that go into the luxury tax number https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/payroll/

Last time I checked he was 40 feet tall and covered in gold, but that was a while ago.

Guys, you are ignoring a gigantic Scott Boras shaped elephant in this discussion.

If there’s a deal done without a lockout, my first post in the thread on it will express complete shock. My question as of now is whether it will bleed into the season. They can go like 3 months before a lockout starts costing money.

Andrew Benintendi just gained the white Sox a game on the Astros

Is he ok?

Apparently after the first week where pitchers were dropping their pants the bumps decided to start moving guys to the dugout first.

Maybe his belt? It did fly at them.

I have to imagine that “throwing your belt at the umpire” will be a suspension either way.

His belt was clearly thrown over the railing, so hopefully it wasn’t he got caught, hopefully it was his extra dumb version of him dropping his pants?

yeah let’s hope he was just pissed about the check?

Whoa, Lynn is getting the foreign substance suspension.

That's exactly the kind of team that should claim him.

My guess is still you'll see Boras do something really unprecedented with Rodon's contract, like a huge vesting option early in the deal or something like that, to get a team to give him #1 starter money.

Updated in post 1. The Yankees have caught the Red Sox after 2 wins yesterday - the Yankees have a percentage lead on them but different numbers of games played. As of now, that would be a play-in game. The Yankees have been on fire, winning 7 of their last 10. However, the Rays have been fully keeping pace with them, so the Yankees have stayed basically stuck 5 games back of the Rays, while the Red Sox have faded over the last month. The A's have lost their last 2 games, but Houston is losing a fair number of games right now, so the A's haven't fallen far back. The White Sox have also closed ground on Houston for the #2 seed. in the NL, the Braves have opened up a quick lead, and Cinci is slowly making up ground on San Diego. The Giants just won't stop winning and are just nuts.

Correct. If he finishes 55 games and passes a physical, the option is triggered. If he does not finish that many games, the white Sox can choose between picking up that option and paying a $1 million buyout.