Dick Allen

We will see with Collins. Hostetler, and it could have been just lip service, did say he would have taken him 1-1.

It also could be due to weather. Nate Jones was back up to 98-100 yesterday when the temp was about 60. He was 96 most of the time when the games were in the 40s and 30s.

I give credit to the White Sox for drafting Sale, but the fact that he was available was luck. And the guy who drafted him, has been sort of pushed aside, and no one here seems to mind.

I do think one reason they have been more successful with pitchers is volume. In drafts, they seemed to concentrate on pitching for years, thinking if you can develop that, you can trade for bats.

I think they were lucky all those teams passed on Sale. I also think they were lucky Q was basically released as a minor league free agent. I give them credit for signing him, but if they were so sure what he was, they probably would have traded for him before that. So there was luck there. The Eaton trade was genius.

Whille true, these aren't guys right now you can say are anchors for a championship contending team. Still a lot of question marks with all of them. But it is better than what they were producing. I will admit that.

And so far, not overly impressed. The White Sox were lucky they had Sale, Q, and Eaton with their contracts or this really would be a never ending nightmare. Cubs, Astros. Those are best cast scenerios. So many teams are doing this in several sports. There aren't enough good players for all of them to be successful. There are going to be more than a couple of failures. Hopefully, the White Sox advantage of having the assets they had keep them from becoming one of them, or they could have been in an abyss that might take multiple decades to get out of.

I will start "trusting" the developmental team when Sox minor leaguers not counting the guys drafted and developed by other organiztations, can be considered at least middle of the pack .

RR tossed

Upper deck closed

Anderson needs some work on baseball 101

Some team always blows everyone else out of the water when one of these guys becomes available. ARod, Cano, Pujols. It will be interesting to see if having 2 of these guys out there might change that a bit.

I wondered about the start time as well. Maybe it's an experiment. Instead of playing these cold April games at 1 pm, maybe 4 pm more people will show up.

What were the odds that a 5-0 score after 1 inning would be in the Sox favor tonight?

They are running promotions. This week it's 2 beers and a bleacher seat for $22.

The Sox are already 5 games behind their pace last year when they lost 95.

This has been the way for years. The minute anyone has a good week, they need to be promoted, whether it's to high A or the major leagues. If the Sox do it and they struggle, they are idiots for "rushing" guys.

speaking of, never sit in the row in front of the exit aisle on American Airlines. The seat is tilted forward for more exit room. You are sitting like you are about to be shot out of a cannon.

45 degrees, Fulmer on the mound. Should be a huge crowd tonight.

I read that weren't using straws but did see not empty straw dispensers at the concession stands.

I don't think people are complaining much about a rebuild. I think they are complaining that the White Sox seem to be out of most games, with no shot of winning. But there are teams that are worse. I would hate to be a Royals fan. Think about how long they are going to suck. They don't have a heck of a lot to trade and the pieces they do have, the stock is dropping. Danny Duffy has been pretty awful. Sal Perez is starting to get hurt annually and has some mileage behind the plate.

Engel, Tilson, Cordell, none of them ever could have been substituted for Trayce in the Frazier deal. Trayce is probably better than all three, and has more upside than all 3, although he is far from surefire. But they need to let him play and get some ABs.

The Sox found a way to downgrade from Miguel Gonzalez. Watch GarPax. This is how you tank (even though I don't think RH is actually tanking per se for a draft pick)

When even Hawk doesn't think next year will be a contending year, that will tell you this process is still more toward the beginning than the end.

Anything can happen before 2020. Renteria might piss off the wrong person, or someone may see something they don't like, or someone may become available that the Sox can't live without, but right now, I would suspect anyone but RR at the helm then isn't even a consideration.