35thstreetswarm

I don't disagree with adding Heuer, and I'm excited about him. But if you're asking who I'm more comfortable with at this moment I'll take Cishek's proven MLB track record over a few good preseason outings any day of the week .

Herrera is one thing, but they signed Cishek this past offseason to pitch in high leverage situations. Don't think it's time to throw him overboard before a single game has been played.

So what happened? I thought my computer froze but it was just the game thread. Any reactions from those fortunate enough to watch it?

Sox/Cubs preseason game will be aired on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball. Pretty cool that we'll be part of what is basically the national "return to sports" broadcast.

Yeah, neither do I. I'd get that sentiment if we were running 8 rookies out there with huge upside and no track record. But other than Robert and Madrigal (who may not even be on the OD roster) most of our "young talent" actually has multiple years of MLB experience, and we have a good number of grisled vets as well, including several new additions.

And how rusty is he really likely to be compared to the others? I mean, if he's asymptomatic it's not like he's in a hospital bed. I'd expect he's staying in shape and maybe even taking BP. And it's not like these others guys have been together for months. Sure, it would be better if he'd had a week and a half of extra practice and intrasquad, but the difference between his situation and others' is just not that great.

I think if that happens they get the WC (which is my prediction), so not too heartbreaking. 35-25 is the equivalent of 95 wins. I think they start choppy and make us all lose our hope/minds, then really catch fire carried primarily by Eloy, the forgotten superprospect. Robert and Moncada gain steam as the season wears on and we end the season as an offensive powerhouse paired with inconsistent starting pitching. Win WC, lose to Yankees in first round. Lots of hope heading into 2021.

Wondering if this will shift the prevailing mood of soxtalk fandom toward what I expected (annoyance that the most exciting piece of our rotation is now gone in an already disappointing season) and away from what it has seemed to be ("I just hope he finds love")

Godspeed, Michael Kopech. May you continue to enjoy the complete and borderline cultish deference and goodwill you somehow managed to earn over your four mlb starts.

Agreed, but they just contribute to the bad juju I’m sensing from this situation.

Me too. Rumors floating around Twitter that he’s hanging it up scare me.

I know it's subjective, but to me there has never been an easier decision in history. *Even setting aside the controversy*, replacing "Indians" (an unoriginal, uninspired, dumb nickname shared with a million other teams, most of which have already dumped it) with "Spiders" (a historically significant, unique, interesting, cool nickname that presents limitless design and branding opportunities) is a no-brainer. I would actually be sort of jealous of a team called the "Spiders."

https://case.edu/ech/articles/c/cleveland-spiders

Just read in the Athletic article on Rodon something to the effect of "with Kopech sidelined indefinitely with a personal issue" Rodon's return will be even more important. Is that just unnecessarily ominous phrasing or is there some sense that Kopech is going to be out for a while? (Understand Covid could be the issue, though it sounds like he was not in Chicago when those positive tests were administered). Edit: just answered my own question by going on Twitter and seeing that there is rampant, alarming, but wholly unsubstantiated speculation about Kopech's situation. Hope he's OK, hoping for the best for him and the Sox.

Drove by the park yesterday and was very happy to know there were baseball players inside it. Hoping we get some extended coverage of scrimmages, etc. Starved for baseball action.

Until we know more can we change the title of the thread to something less alarming? Perhaps "Yasmani Grandal enjoys gummi bears"?

It is, you would have just chosen to spend part of that nest egg on cars, million dollar houses, expensive clothes, jewelry and other assets. Of course it's easy to blow through $8.5 million quickly, and it's possible for anyone to live beyond their means. But you can be rich without having the ability to buy anything and everything you can imagine. My point (as I know you know) is just that you are in fact set for life with $8.5 million in your 20s using any reasonable, objective measure that takes into account the whole range of incomes and human experience. If being more "set" than over 98/99% of people isn't "set" then the category kind of has no meaning.

Just modest interest on an 8.5 million nest egg, say 4% a year, is 340,000 a year—close to the top 1% of all US incomes. That’s before even digging into a dollar of your multimillion dollar principal. Plenty of people put their kids through college, live in a nice house, and pay for sports, etc. with much, much less.

To put it in perspective, that averages out to over $193,000 per year (in *after-tax* income) for someone working steadily from age 21 to 65. And that doesn’t even take into account the time value of money.

Exactly—this is great for us. We also play zero games against the (likely/projected) top teams in MLB.

Maybe. The cancellation of the season because of a second wave would, too. But let's see how it plays out.

All this talk about asterisks is overblown. Does anyone discount the '99 Spurs title? The 2013 Hawks Cup? The 1995 Devils Cup? Better question - does anyone even remember that those were shortened seasons? Most do not.

This. I get to watch my favorite game again. That makes me happy. With all that's happened in 2020 I can't imagine summoning the energy to get outraged over changes to the rules and parameters of a baseball season. (Especially when those rules and parameters are ever-changing, essentially arbitrary and designed only to create fan enjoyment anyway - it's not like they're handed down on tablets from god)

I thought we had a separate armchair epidemiology thread? Anyway, psyched to see this team finally play together. Have they revealed anything at all about scheduling, even in principle? I'm imagining it will be heavily weighted toward in-division games? That would be a real advantage for us. Will interleague games be mostly regional (i.e. playing a lot of NL Central teams?)

I'm not falling for anything. I'm actually agreeing with you that this is the negotiation dynamic the owners are trying (and likely succeeding) to create.