35thstreetswarm

Sure, if you just assume your conclusion (that Colas will be one of our top hitters his rookie year) then the decision where to put him in the lineup is as easy as you suggest. The thing is, I think the rest of the baseball world is waiting to see if your conclusion is correct before acting accordingly. There's plenty of reason to think a rookie will struggle a bit adjusting to MLB pitching.

I was fine with this idea when it first came up but it just seems...weirdly-timed now. Kind of falls flat. If these went up at the end of the 2022 season and stayed up over the offseason they would have captured a mood. But with opening day around the corner I think most Sox fans are ready to focus on the new manager and hope the team does well, and this sort of seems to suck us back to a time we'd rather forget. And they'll look pretty dumb if the Sox have a nice start to the season (I know, that wouldn't exonerate Jerry, but come on...nobody wants to b**** about the owner when the team is looking good.)

I don’t know. I have no dog in this fight, just trying to use one thing I do know about (law) to help clear up an apparent misunderstanding about the meaning of a legal term. Carry on.

As it turns out, F the Cubs today and forever

Right—the highlighted language does not show that at all. “Criminal” and “unlawful” are not synonymous terms. Something can be “unlawful” and subject you to civil liability without being a crime. That is the case in a civil conspiracy claim, and the reason such a claim is brought in a civil case rather than resolved through criminal prosecution.

Definitely the most-misspelled country name in the English language. Seems like it's spelled correctly like 20% of the time.

He does kind of have a history of that. Before he became Soxtalk's Favorite Pitcher he was Carlos the disappointing, lazy fatso who hunted all offseason.

This is wrong. Civil conspiracy is a claim available in civil cases in Illinois and just about every state, for example. No crime needed.

That stinks.

In a word, no.

I know it's a cliche, but Eloy really is visibly slimmer. Hopefully that indicates renewed offseason focus and translates into lower injury risk.

It was just a matter of time before a segment of the fanbase turned on TA. I'm surprised it took this long. I just hope he comes out balling this season and shuts everyone up.

Yes, the best thing about spring training is it heralds the glorious time of year when the offseason sport (layman speculation about baseball) gives way to the regular season sport (actual baseball). It's super exciting for most fans. Though I've learned that it can be discomfiting for the more self-serious prognosticators among us to be reminded that they don't know s%*#.

Yes, or general mental health or exhaustion or something. I'm more and more convinced it's 90% face-saving cover for the firing.

"Simplistic questions" are usually easy to understand, but somehow I literally have no idea what you're asking. ? It's like: "Here's an easy one: who ISN'T the White Sox going to rely upon (ala 2008) from those players who Jerry believes are so important to have on a roster supposedly in the top MLB payroll tier (Cohen says hi, not to mention Steinbrenner of the 90s and 2000s ha ha ha), who doesn't have a team-friendly contract, which everyone says is Hahn's specialty (not exactly AJ Preller, even if best case scenario you consider us more like the Brewers - Yelich, Cain, Hader before he was traded, etc. etc.)?? It's a yes or no question."

Yes, agreed. Coddling him and hiding him from the media would be worse. Their hands may be tied in keeping him around, but they don't have to shield him from scrutiny or consequences either.

It is interesting if she really was not the one to first report his behavior to MLB, but only reluctantly participated after they went to her first. Also, I'm sorry but I have to say it: "checking for parasites" from "raw goat's milk?" Chiropractic adjustments? What the what?

PECOTA had the Sox winning like 92 games last year (more than the Astros), and Cleveland like 76 if I recall.

"Pitchers And Catchers Report" will always be the best four words in the English language, and nobody can take that away from me. I'm just going to hope that this group performs the way the 2022 team was supposed to, which would not be all that crazy. I'm also going to take solace in the fact that the small number of fun seasons the Sox have given us in the last 20 years have mostly come on the heels of offseasons that left the fanbase angry or nonplussed about the coming season's prospects. (It's those hype years that kill us.) Go Sox!

True - tough for a casual fan to justify spending extra for box seats when you can usually buy cheap bleacher tix and go sit there anyway if you want. My kids and I bounced around from open seat to open seat almost every game. We sat right behind home plate all the time. Unlike Wrigley you don't have to battle the straw hatted geriatric enforcement squad to get down every aisle

Yes -- I was honestly shocked at the per-seat/per-game cost of season tickets. Even though I knew the secondary market had changed things dramatically I figured I'd get *some* meaningful "volume discount." Not at all. I was paying about $35/seat for lower-bowl tickets, which was definitely below single-game "face value" but above what the secondary market commanded for 70-80% of the games. It was only a bargain for the Cubs series, really.

The last point is the reason why I’ve bought packages. But you can get those playoff options by purchasing a package at the end of a successful/playoff season too, which incentivizes fans to take a wait-and-see approach (which is what I’m doing this year.) Until they sustain winning and actually have regular sellouts, though, season tix will be a tough sell.

In other words, "I don't know either." ?

Oh, it does.

*Your full-season ticket base. It won't capture partial season plans, which are heavily weighted to weekend games. My 20 game plan had like 2-3 midweek games and they were all later, and relatively high profile matchups. I'm guessing the partial-season ticket base is a lot more variable than the full-season ticket base, but really no sure.