caulfield12

Well, on the plus side, we have 2 of the 4 leading MLB RBI guys since 2014 in EE and Abreu??? That said, Castellanos was really on a tear for most of last season, and seems to have extended it. Guess they're saving their money for Joc/Springer, haha. Does anyone have an update on Mazara, btw?

That was a really nice throw from Robert. Right on line. Set up well for that one.

Castellanos is on fire for the Reds so far in the early going. Jimenez defense killing the White Sox again. At least he's not injured?

Who do we hate today, Delmonico? Can't be Madrigal so far. That 2-0 pitch to Abreu was out of the zone low, really changed that at-bat, then somehow swung through a hanging slider that he obviously wasn't expecting there. We'll take 2-1, eventually they'll get that key hit with RISP.

https://www.mlb.com/news/the-white-sox-deep-cuban-connection According to this article from Scott Merkin, there have been 20 in White Sox history. Yonder Alonso and John Jay are two more with Cuban roots, along with Carlos Rodon. Odrisamer Despaigne last year pitched for the White Sox. Jose Canseco would be yet another. Norge Carlos Vera, the teenage pitcher you mentioned. Of course, there's also the present pursuit of Oscar Colas, as well as Yoelkis Cespedes. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/09/sports/baseball/white-sox-cuban-players.html "and on multiple occasions in 2014, the team used four Cuban players in the same lineup — Abreu, Alexei Ramirez, Dayan Viciedo and Adrian Nieto. No other team had done that in 45 years."

I'm not sure why ESPN had an article from FEB linked to their current game story about yesterday. You would think they just MIGHT write some new material on Eloy Jimenez over the course of 5 months, and considering yesterday's performance and his overall hot start out of the gate the first 10 days of the season. They definitely wouldn't include a link that old if he was still a Cub.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story?id=28725750&_slug_=white-sox-eloy-jimenez-hopes-improve-solid-rookie-year

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/who-are-best-mlb-players-to-watch-in-2020-fernando-tatis-jr-mookie-betts-headline-2020-all-fun-team/ Robert, Moncada, Anderson, Tatis, Jr. make "MLB ALL FUN" team

Robert not getting fastballs Luis Robert led off for the first time in his Major League career Saturday night, but if the first seven games were any indication, fastballs from opposing pitchers still were not going to be prevalent. According to Statcast, Robert has seen the second-lowest rate of fastballs at 32.7 percent with a minimum of 50 total pitches. He also has seen the fifth-highest rate of sliders at 39.8 percent. “I definitely was expecting that, because pitchers knew that I have quick hands and can get to the ball pretty fast, pretty quick,” said Robert through interpreter Billy Russo. “They were going to try to attack me in a different way. “But everything looks good. I don’t think there’s anything else I need to change. You make an adjustment. I definitely was expecting that, and I was prepared.” Robert hit leadoff during his off-the-charts 2019 Minor League season across Class A Advanced Winston-Salem, Birmingham, and Charlotte. He started smiling before the question was even translated for him during Saturday’s Zoom when asked about being comfortable hitting No. 1. “My approach is the same. Just be aggressive,” Robert said. “Last year, I was the leadoff and I had very good results. There’s no reason for me to change.” “For me, it's actually an opportunity,” said Renteria of Robert leading off. “That window has opened, but this is not a set-in-stone position for him right now. I want to see how he does tonight.” www.espn.com

Watch out for the Perkins’ waitresses... MLB stares into the abyss: Challenges of playing through pandemic may become insurmountable https://www.yahoo.com/sports/mlb-stares-into-the-abyss-challenges-of-playing-through-a-pandemic-may-become-insurmountable-023000417.html

First time in MLB history the first four hitters in a line-up were Cuban-born. Cool fact of the day.

So much for the Heuer to the rescue storyline. Doesn't get Starling, probably pulled. Managed to escape the game and only give up 1. That will help build his confidence that he managed to get out of it.

But he hasn't died!! They can't prove it was COVID!!! You know, the sad thing here is NOBODY really cares that much about Eduardo Rodriguez, other than Red Sox Nation. Now if it was Mike Trout, or Trout's newborn baby, that would be the end of the season.

The perfect ending to this half-inning would be Madrigal finally getting his first big league hit. Eloy Jimenez with a career high 4 hits. Leury ties his career high with 4.

Yelich has been one of the worst players in baseball in the early season. Please, no reverse jinx, lol.

Run #10, base hit #20. White Sox definitely can score runs in a bunches, no doubt about that. Junis will be the real test tomorrow. Fortunately, we get him coming off the Covid-19 protocol, so he's unlikely to last more than 3-4 innings, especially if it's warmer/more humid.

Robertson was still overpaid for what we got out of him. He was paid like a Top 3-5 reliever in baseball. We got something like #8-12. He wasn't terrible, but he wasn't exactly underpaid or "extracted value" by any stretch of the imagination, not like James McCann last year. 19 hits for the White Sox, somehow none for Madrigal. Don't think that will happen too often in the future. At least hope not.

Well, Grandal took a LITTLE bit of the stress out of the 9th inning. JUST LEAVE HEUER IN THE DAMNED GAME.

Why can't they just stay with Heuer? Managers always have to overthink these late inning situations. Colome if it's a 3 run lead. Then you run out Ross Detwiler with a 4 run lead, but he's not comfortable pitching in the 9th inning...at least that hasn't been his role. Then you have to pull Detwiler and Colome's coming into the game already under high duress.

Interesting usage of the White Sox best reliever here by Rick Renteria.

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/profile.asp?ID=202239 And it's not exactly like Alec Bohm has completely destroyed MiLB, either. Plus, "Where would he play?"

Pretty much every Cubs' 7th inning stretch by non-baseball personalities, especially the NFL people and random celebs.

"Professional career. The Chicago White Sox selected Fry in the third round, with the 77th overall selection, of the 2014 MLB draft." Making determinations on high school pitching....an incredibly challenging area for the White Sox for 30 years, by order of Jerry Reinsdorf. The White Sox have also never (until recently) wanted to deal with Scott Boras clients, additionally. I can't think of any high school pitchers who have done well. We drafted Jason Stumm and Kris Honel high and they were complete busts. Same with Spencer Adams, more recently. Ironically, Gio Gonzalez is probably the best counterexample of a high school pitcher succeeding, just not with the Sox.

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/profile.asp?ID=144206 Look at Merrifield from 2010 to 2013 in the minor leagues, he wasn't even close to being an 800 OPS guy there through age 24. Four seasons of major struggles. It wasn't until he turned 25 that he really started to emerge as a hitter.

It's just a miracle he's even in the big leagues with two TJ surgeries so early in his career.