caulfield12

Well, going by the board consensus narrative the second half...it can't be entirely shocking. Does shift the pressure over to Giolito if the offense doesn't show up the rest of the day. We shall see.

Obviously point, need to respond here with at least a run and get back into it...

I guess they only had one catcher, Dodgers’ Will Smith…who they said was the best in the game, and he was pretty low. Would have to look again, but pretty sure no Posey or Narvaez, either. For Sox fans, ironic to hear that #50 could have also been Yelich or Avi.

That’s one of those deals like the Cubs and Heyward…well, he helped win them a WS title, so that can never be completely dismissed. We were fortunate he was both healthy for close to a full year and piled up so many outfield assists and strong numbers in RF on both sides that his value was temporarily sky high.

Just goes to show how Timmy nationally is pretty much equal to the stature (if not ahead) of guys like Lindor, Correa and Seager…whereas Moncada is almost an afterthought to many who aren’t knowledgeable about baseball, especially advanced metrics. Perceptions. It will make Anderson’s eventual contract negotiations before his age 31/32 season very interesting, indeed. Also, the Nationals were idiots for criminally undervaluing Trea Turner.

Especially Anderson so high, but no Moncada…as per recent comparisons. Hendriks, Robert with high ranks, Abreu #30 and Jimenez included, somewhat surprisingly. Also, no Giolito, Kimbrel (not a shock), Grandal, Rodon or Cease. https://www.mlb.com/news/ranking-top-players-in-2021-mlb-playoffs?partnerId=zh-20211004-479280-mlb-1-A&qid=1026&utm_id=zh-20211004-479280-mlb-1-A&bt_ee=gGjeHNbZZ5J7RAm1Rs22t6i94bbTFFXLGt5ej5WJOiSx0eXdE6vmVOz6UFvdh9yz&bt_ts=1633353602461

Top of 8, 0-0 still in the Bronx.

Eovaldi, from fantasy league experience, also has his occasional blowups…Berrios can definitely add on to his FA take or extension from the Jays if he wins that one. Jose’s right on the periphery of being really good, but definitely not great, a bit similar to the White Sox situation with Lucas. And Giolito had that extended 1 1/2 season run of close to dominance. (All that said, choosing to go all in on Buxton over Berrios the logical move for the Twins if you can only go after one extension.)

Phillies at 10, Angels and Tigers at 7 years the three longest postseason droughts if Seattle miraculously rallied. Mariners, of course, at 20 years and counting.

Doesn’t have the will to win. Wish we could pick up Haniger, but probably one year too late now if we pulled the trigger.

Wow, would not want to bet that game. If forced to, would go with Jays because they seem to be playing a bit more freely but then winning at Fenway won’t be easy. For Berrios, any opponent not named the Yankees would be a good thing.

5-1, and let’s go Rays as well, still tied 0-0

Unfortunately, also struck out with runners on 1st and 3rd, no outs, bottom of the 7th, down 2-1 in a do or die game for Mariners playoff chances…and to end the game with two outs and the tying runner on second, bottom of the ninth.

They could have just as easily played Myers at 1B. They were never going to bench Hosmer…they were attempting to trade him. The end result of endless rumors and NOT trading him was the disintegration of the clubhouse and for all intents, the season.

But your argument back then was that his fWAR doomed him to the bench, with or without the addition of Frazier…who turned out to be about as valuable as Cesar Hernandez.

Bochy, Glen Hoffman and Francona…

No, but you missed on your prediction that Hosmer would sit on the bench the last two months of the season…

Pretty sure Fowler sold all his shares to Seidler, could be wrong…

They still haven’t traded their Top 5…Gore disappointed and Abrams is hurt. If Clevinger comes back healthy and they can fix Lamet or Morejon (or Gore), they might be okay. The biggest argument is that standing pat with Patino, Quantrill and Ty France instead of trading Myers or Hosmer would have led to better overall results this year and into the future. On the other side of the ledger, the Musgrove move was one of the better trades, actually. But way way too much tinkering. Secondarily, they have to decide what to do with Pham (likely gone), if Grisham can play everyday and why they traded for Frazier instead of starting pitching at the deadline. With that roster/payroll, trading Machado and moving Tatis to 3b and giving Abrams SS makes the most sense for the clubhouse, positionally, and financial flexibility.

On the other hand, JR “almost” signed A-Rod too, right? If not for that pesky Scott Boras guy and some money.

Is he in the HoF? Does he deserve to be? If Bonds isn’t getting in, there’s no way A-Rod will, because Bonds has a legit argument that his slimmed down first half career was a completely different player, but still Hall-worthy.

Crazy to think the White Sox might end up having identified two players who will end up hitting the most homers in a single season at SS and 2B in major league history. Career-wise, Ripken has the most career at SS, Miguel Tejada second with 307. Lindor was the active career leader entering 2021 with only 138. To me, the real record is Ernie Banks with 47 in 1958 (154 games). Tatis has 42 in just 127, translating/extrapolating out to 51 in 154 and 54 in 162 games. 57 / TEX / 2002 / #3 52 / TEX / 2001 / #3 47 / CHC / 1958 / #14 47 / TEX / 2003 / #3 45 / CHC / 1959 / #14 44 / CHC / 1955 / #14 43 / CHC / 1957 / #14 42 / SEA / 1998 / #3 42 / SEA / 1999 / #3

Seems appropriate to bump this after tonight... We've seen players that collect lots of infield hits have higher BABIP's, but this is pretty extraordinary the last couple of months he's putting up, combined with his batting approach (minus the homers) the first month plus. Of course, he needs to stay healthy for 145+ games in a single season, that's the biggest test remaining. Now the pendulum is swinging back towards Mike Trout again, but fortunately he's been able to ascend to his current heights in relative obscurity, other than his highlight reel homers and standout defensive plays.

Harold, you're really pushing it. At least with Puig in his first two seasons and then Tatis, they put up legit numbers that didn't need to be "massaged" to make reasonable-sounding arguments on behalf of a player. Obviously we'll never know how the likes of Kelenic and Vaughn (from a White Sox fan perspective) would have had their career trajectories transformed by playing a "normal" 2020 schedule. But someone will argue perhaps that player never would have been a star regardless, if Covid completely derailed their career/s. Of course, there are players like Eduardo Rodriguez and Freddie Freeman that are quite fortunate to be alive, for example.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/32293462/vaccinated-nba-staffers-concerned-health-risks-being-exposed-unvaccinated-players-season-approaches