caulfield12

Marwin Gonzalez just did it to end the previous inning. Only the Guerreros Jr. and Sr. can/could hit that.

Madrigal really needs to clean up those throws...

Red Sox running Tanner Houck tmrw in the second game...Giolito and Eeovaldi Monday. Wrote manana because it is tomorrow here. Madrigal could probably hit 25-30 homers at the Little K or LLWS field in Williamsport.

Kind of like T-Flow, who came over from the Braves as almost an offense-only guy out of the AFL.

Robert has everything but the homers to show for his improved hitting, but back up to over an 800 ops.

Collins back to hopeless...

Three knuckle curves in a row,...just can’t get that huge hit in these situations to take control of the game early.

More problems getting runners in from third...

Honestly think he’s faster than Vaughn to play LF...now 6 walks against 9 k’s for Vaughn. Madrigal pretty much league average wrc+ and -0.8 for Fangraphs defense. Hit and run gets Vaughn in to third.

JD Martinez would have been the perfect transition/bridge DH for the White Sox, just like Cruz...but that would have cost $$$.

Did he get hurt filming that reggaeton dance video, too? Yankees about to fall to 4 games under...just not hitting.

Collins isn’t swinging aggressively again. More sweeping at or feeling for the ball.

Great, now Moncada’s hurt again...

Frankly, the Pirates and Indians are even more upsetting. The problem is all these guys like Tom Hicks (Rangers/EPL) and Ricketts who are so over-leveraged in other off-the-field endeavors that they’re using the baseball team as a cash cow. The McCourts in LA trying to get access to that massive broadcasting rights money. The Red Sox increasingly become more corporate and less like a family-run endeavor, see the Braves, for example. Otoh, there’s those consistent success stories like the Rays, Brewers and A’s, not to mention the teams in our own division that can manage to do more with less resources. Have never understood why we didn’t hire more front office people from those cost-efficient teams, the Indians/Twins, or even the Cardinals/Astros. Probably a combination of the JR loyalty/stubbornness.

Yeah, really wasn’t thinking through all the transactions that closely. It’s pretty remarkable. Forgot about Charlie Morton, too.

The Mariners are in first...for now. But so are the Royals. The problem is that only the Orioles, Rangers and Tigers look non-competitive, and even the Orioles swept the Red Sox to start the season. There’s a ton of parity in the Al right now, but definitely no super teams. Heck, the Pirates and Reds are showing the ability to play better teams decently...would have said before the year you definitely would be better off avoiding the East and West in the NL. Well, there’s always the Cubs to get us properly charged up.

The Dodgers start 8 hitters at 947 ops or better, and then Cody Bellinger, an MVP-caliber player when healthy. Their pitching might be even better than their offense if they get the good Kenley back to close. But listening to the Yankees’ game now, and seeing what happened yesterday with pissed off fans in NYC, it’s all about expectations. The White Sox have typically had their best seasons (1983, 2000, 2005, 2008...even 2010/12/16 start) when nothing much was projected for them as the season started. Only the 1993-94 and 2006 teams came close to living up to the preseason hype. That’s Sox history for nearly forty years...and all the history 85% of SoxTalk posters are familiar with.

Not sure who is more polarizing, Grandal, Madrigal or Dylan Cease...

The Twins and Indians are unlikely to pull away, but yeah, so frustrating. Hey, at least we didn’t trade Tyler Glasnow and Austin Meadows for Chris Archer, right? Taillon, Cole, Glasnow and Musgrove would run away with the NL Central if they still had Starling Marte and 2019 Josh Bell. We’re raw enough about Montas, Bassitt and Dunning...

Tatis is really forcing things defensively...he made a really exceptional stop in the hole, then threw it away trying to get a putout at second base and it led from a 2-2 tie quickly becoming a 4-2 deficit. Sometimes, you just have to put it in your pocket. But, when you have one of the best SS arms in baseball, these things tend to happen. The other error was being in too much of a hurry to complete a DP. He was one of the best statistically on defense last year, this looks like 2019 all over again. Ultimately, he end up in CF when Abrams is ready...but being out of the action will drive him crazy. By the way, Cronenworth as recently as the last couple of years was considered a legit two way player like Brendan McKay. Quite a nit of legit pitching experience. Very rare the Rays make a mistake trading such a valuable utility guy...that can even hit third in a loaded lineup like that.

Asking price rises by the day...

Tatis is on pace for 54 homers and 189 errors...for this year at least, the Dodgers are just too good, and they’re even playing without Bellinger. It’s going to take Lamet, Clevinger and Gore all pitching at peak in 2022. For the time being, it has to be LA versus the rest of MLB for the 2021 World Series title to get anything resembling a fair bet unless one of Bauer, Buehler or Kershaw gets hurt.

Yermin and Giolito after the most obvious two...

And that’s also due to cleaning up his mechanics and using his strong lower body to alleviate stress on his arm/shoulder/elbow. They’re interrelated, clearly. It’s also why he was able to hit 99 his last inning, as he has never been known for having great stamina in the big leagues due to high early pitch counts.

What about Yerminators?