Jack Parkman

We don't know how bad he'll be. If Giolito continues to be durable and eats 190 innings at a 4.25-4.50 ERA that is still a 5th starter. I'm not expecting the light to completely come on, but, based on improved stuff I think worst case he puts up a 4.75 ERA this year and best case 3.90. People forget how many runs Renteria cost him sending him out there for an extra inning when he was obviously done. He had a bunch of 6 IP 2ER or even starts turn into 6 IP 5 ER starts because they sent him out there for the 7th, he let in a run or two with guys on base and the shitty bullpen allowed all of his inherited runners to score. Renteria's poor management made Giolito look a lot worse than his season actually was. It wouldn't surprise me if Renteria cost him 1.5 runs on his ERA just because of poor managing. I think that Renteria cost him AT LEAST 1 full run last year, and probably closer to 1.5-1.75.If his ERA was 5.10 or even 4.95 it wouldn't look nearly as bad. There were multiple games where he gave up 1 or 0 runs thru 6 or 7 innings and Renteria threw him back out there for an extra inning, while having thrown 95+ pitches, and had way to long of a leash for him. He'd let him give up a run or two himself while leaving 2-3 runners on base and they'd all score. You wouldn't know that if you didn't watch most of his starts though. His April and May were, in fact, bad....but the rest of the season didn't need to be as bad as it was, and RR left him out to die way too many times.

I'll admit I was working with old data, and I know what Keuchel does and doesn't do well. I just don't like the guy as a pitcher. Also, I know my pitching. I don't need anyone's validation to tell me otherwise.

That is an awesome pickup that Giolito was working on his breaking balls. I'm still somewhat optimistic about Giolito this year given his velocity has returned. His ST results have been awful, but the stuff is back, which is good. Even though I'm getting more than frustrated with his results in spring, I'm willing to give him until at least the ASB, if not until the end of 2019 before writing him off like most have already done.

Read what fangraphs has to say. It isn't particularly nice. Yes, I realize that Keuchel has been an extreme ground ball pitcher. I'm not dumb. I just don't think pitching to contact is sustainable in this day and age, and the metrics tend to agree. https://www.fangraphs.com/statsd.aspx?playerid=9434&position=P&gds=&gde=&type=6

1. When any pitcher's best pitch is a sinker in this day and age, It makes me believe that they're not long for MLB. You can thank the Launch Angle Revolution for that. Low pitches get kilt. Sinkers are about to go the way of the knuckleball. They're an endangered species, on its way to extinction. Dylan Covey has a wicked sinker. How's that working for him??? 2. The bolded is not a good stat, actually quite the contrary. If you face a lot of batters, that means that you're giving up a ton of walks and hits. What you want is a guy who pitches a ton of innings and faces relatively few batters for the amount of innings that he's pitched. THAT is the sign of a good pitcher. Baserunners are not a good thing. 3. Keuchel lost velo, but got some back over the last season and a half. You don't know what you're going to get from him, especially with no spring. You add all of these up, and it shows me a guy on the decline who is about to blow up a la Shields. Thanks for making my argument for me.

I hope not. Dan Bernstein is my favorite host on the radio. It would be a dark day for Chicago sports talk if he got whacked. He's helped make me a better fan over the years.

Idk what to make of Kris Dunn. He's confusing when he has games like tonight.

I disagree, and apparently it seems GMs are more in line with my thinking. I wouldn't be surprised if he is given anything but a minor league contract this year, if anything at all. He may have thrown his last pitch in MLB. Not to mention the dude is always injured.

Keuchel would be every bit as bad as Giolito, if not worse. Hard pass. I'd give the starts to Giolito 7 days a week and twice on Sunday. Keuchel sucks. He has all of the same red flags that Shields did before he went off the deep end. I'd be shocked if Keuchel signed more than a 1 year contract. If the Sox signed Keuchel to a 4/60 tomorrow by August you'd be b****ing about how stupid they are for signing Keuchel when his ERA is north of 6 and his pitches are flying out of GRF. Starting Giolito accomplishes MUCH more for the Sox than wasting money on Keuchel, even if all Giolito does is prove he can't pitch at the MLB level. At least they wouldn't waste anymore time on him. Adding Keuchel accomplishes nothing, and is actually counterproductive to what the Sox are doing. I couldn't give two shits about veterans contributing to wins in 2019. If they win, it better be because of Moncada/Eloy/Anderson and Rodon/Lopez/Giolito. If they win games because of Abreu/Alonso/Jay they better be shipped out PDQ, because that is also counterproductive.

Giolito is starting to remind me of Felipe Paulino. Looks the part stuff wise, until you see how hitters just tee off on the guy. By any normal metric he should be an excellent pitcher(velocity, breaking ball movement) even without great command. He just doesn't fool hitters.

I like the 6 yr deal as it allows them to tear up the options if Eloy wishes to re-sign, with the Sox having them in their back pocket in case they can't agree on an extension.

If you read the fangraphs prospect report on him in 2017 when he got called up you should have been prepared for growing pains. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2017-top-100-prospects/ Note the difference between the PV and FV on his hit and game power tools. That indicates the ensuing growing pains. Don't give up on him too soon.

I don't understand how you could reasonably think this. He's 23. I mean, you could be right, but I think there are way too many guys coming up and being studly right away that it has warped the majority of baseball fans expectations. There is no way in hell that "he is what he is" already. No way in hell. How much better he gets is up for question but I think he will get significantly better. I don't know if you follow hockey, but before Dylan Strome got traded to the Blackhawks, he was widely considered a massive disappointment. Now he's viewed as a future building block for them. The same type of people who wrote off Strome are the same people who are writing off Moncada. EVERYTHING I read about Moncada when the Sox gave him the call up said it was going to take a season or two for him to figure it out, but when it all clicks it will be spectacular. Patience, young Padowan.

Maybe. We'll see. I think the O's are going to take Witt though.

I think it is likely that one of Vaughn or Rutschman will be there at #3 because of how far away the Orioles and Royals are from having a critical mass of talent. I think Witt is likely to go top 2, and it is possible that Witt and Abrams go 1-2 because of that lack of proximity to competition.

What's the point of spring training gamethreads then? While I generally agree with your practicality about sports being entertainment, I think for most of us on this site it is just a wee bit more than that. A lot of us dedicate a lot of our free time to follow this team. That time investment has to mean something, right? Obviously we don't have control over what happens on the field or what the FO does, but....there are times it goes further than simply being mildly annoying. I agree with you on the being miserable just to be miserable thing. It's ok to be pissed for a week or two when the FO lies to the fanbase like they did. It has blown over, and I've moved on. It's like when someone rear ends you. It's frustrating, it costs you a lot of time and you're in a grouchy mood for a while, but it doesn't really affect your wallet because the other guy's insurance covers it.

No that isn't what I meant. I meant giving up zero runs through 5 innings while only striking out one batter is an unsustainable amount of run prevention for the amount of contact given up by the pitcher. You're having problems understanding my posts lately. Idk if it is me not communicating effectively or if you're having trouble comprehending my writing style. Either way there is some disconnect here.

No arguments here. Nice post.

No he had 85ish when he left the game.

Agreed. Striking out minor league filler means nothing.

Yeah. Banuelos was missing bats until his last start. He didn't miss any during that one. That is concerning. That is the one thing I look at in ST for pitchers. Do they miss bats and get Ks?

Of course I realize that. Not trying to complain too much, but I still think missing bats is an important skill. If Mark Buehrle came up today I don't think he'd have a shot. Hitters league wide are too patient. He always used to struggle against the A's, Red Sox, Yankees and other teams built on taking walks and making pitchers work.

As long as you realize it isn't sustainable, sure.

That's ReyLo's 1st K? Geeze.

Just my opinion, but Moncada is just waaay too fucking talented to completely suck forever. I don't know if this year is the year he figures it out, but if not this season certainly next year. I could see him eventually having seasons like Jose Ramirez's 2018 regularly. Yes, he's that talented. Yes, there is swing and miss in his game. When he puts bat on ball, ball go very far.