caulfield12

If only we drafted Kyle Schwarber over Carlos Rodon, we'd have made 2-3 playoff appearances already. Baseball is such a fickle sport. A year ago, Devers looked like a beast and Benintendi was scuffling. Those two players, along with Moncada, have been debated against each other since 2016, and now we have what looks to be the best of all three, but he might end up being overshadowed by Luis Robert and Eloy Jimenez because those guys are both so dangerous. Nice problems to have. And that doesn't even count Vaughn, who's the equivalent of adding Robin Ventura from OSU. Great job, Jace. Royals are on the cusp of being back in the ballgame right now...Merrifield's pretty much the ONE guy you don't/can't let him beat you in that line-up.

Let's not get so carried away with anything that happens against KC. They suck. The Royals and Tigers are obviously teams that we need to be going 7-3 or 8-2 against this year. For now, the NL Central (especially Cincy, StL and Milwaukee) doesn't look so formidable. The AL East looks even better than expected with the Blue Jays arriving earlier than expected, and the AL West is a bit weaker without Trout, but I never thought the Rangers had enough offense and their pitching couldn't possibly repeat the over-performance from last year. Even if we only beat Cleveland 1 of 3 and Minnesota 1 of 3, it's almost impossible not to be right around .500 unless the pitching staff just completely falls apart.

In that sense, David Eckstein is a fairly good comparison. He's certainly not Chone Figgins. He's quick, he runs well enough, but it's similar to the way that Carlos Sanchez was a stolen base threat in the minors. He's always been known as a smart/heady/grindy baserunner, and players that are 5'7" are always going to have their legs wheeling in one hundred directions but never going to be covering ground like a Robert in just a few strides. Use Kris Bryant as an example. He's definitely far from fast in terms of pure speed, but he's the best baserunner on the Cubs, you'll almost never see him make a mistake rounding bases, especially coming around 3rd on the way to home. Jose Valentin, perhaps the best baserunner in White Sox history (after Fox/Aparicio), but he was nowhere near as fast as Ray Durham, Rudy Law, jose Cruz or Lance One Dog Johnson.

We'll know this is a different/new White Sox team if they can complete the sweep tmrw and take out Jacob Junis, who we've struggled with like he's CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Johan Santana or Brad Radke. Btw, is there an update on Nomar Mazara? There was talk all week like he was joining the team for sure this weekend.

I'm not even sure Frank Thomas had THAT easy a power...he more muscled up balls like that, or top-handed, tommy-hawked doubles into gaps posting up on one foot. Robert just reaches out and he has so much leverage with that extension and wrist strength, the ball just flies off his bat with minimal contact.

And considering being forced to watch Carlos Sanchez for roughly 3-4 seasons, 2 games of Nick Madrigal struggling certainly is far from the end of the universe. Trade him, Fernando Tatis, Jr., just struck out TWICE in a row!!!

Considering we are leading 7-0, this is the most ridiculous overreaction, perhaps, well, maybe ever. On the plus side, it keeps everyone from feasting on "Abreu is washed up, EE is washed up, Grandal's a major disappointment..." 4-4 at this point in the season is not a tragedy. We're still in the pole position for the 7th spot out of 8 in the playoffs, and we've lost Anderson for awhile, but the Angels might never get Trout back.

Let's not forget that Yoan Moncada didn't exactly set the world on fire for 1 1/2 seasons with the White Sox. And it took Eloy Jimenez 2-3 months to get his feet underneath him. They have enough offense right now, they just need him to play solid, fundamental defense and stabilize the infield with Timmy Anderson out. Obviously, he can't be putting up an OPS of 550-600, but they can live with 650-700 out of that position with all the other hitters in the line-up.

They were never going to trade with Madrigal as the centerpiece for Betts...they already had Chavis that could play over there.

Just have a feeling that Robert's really starting to feel comfortable now. As far as Nick goes, he definitely needs to get that first hit so he can take a breath and relax. It's not like they are going to take away his starting spot and give it away to Danny Mendick or Goins, realistically.

The Cardinals are considering a pause in their schedule to put some distance between the positive tests and their next game, two sources with knowledge of the team's discussions said. UPDATE: Cardinals will not play Monday in Detroit. They will have a four-game series there in Detroit instead and it will start Tuesday. There will be a doubleheader Wednesday, and a game Thursday. The Cardinals will be the home team for two of those games. stltoday.com

Way too many opportunities to put away this game wasted. Need Cordero to get a big out here or the Royals will be right back in the game with momentum on their side.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/player/batvspitch/_/id/36056/jakob-junis Jakob Junis gets the start tmrw for KC. EVERYONE has struggled in the White Sox line-up against him, OTHER than Eloy and Yoan.

All things considered, they can afford for Abreu/EE to fade...but they need for Grandal to continue to be a 3-4.5 fWAR contributor. With Collins and Vaughn and perhaps Jimenez for DH/1B, they'll be fine. That said, it's WAY too early to give up on anyone. Remember how many MLB players in the last five years that signed in May/June struggled in those seasons when they didn't experience a normal spring training? That's likely to be the case for a number of the older, veteran players.

This ties the mark from 1968 of six Cubans in a starting line-up for an MLB game. 52 years have passed. Robert, Moncada, Grandal, Abreu, Soler, Bolanos

Well, if you can call any ball going out to CF or RCF by a RHB in a big league park a cheapie, sure.

Dylan Covey Phenomenon. Of course, if Starling makes that play, it's only 1-0. Bolanos belong as a reliever, with the two pitch combination. Unless he could develop his curveball or change, he just doesn't have enough speed variation to last more than once through a line-up because everything he throws is hard, hard, hard.

These are the games when hitting becomes contagious and they put up a series of crooked numbers. Perfect weather for the ball to carry, just a LITTLE bit cool for this time of year, though. Normally in 90's instead of low 80's.

Bolanos seems like he's a bit intimidated by the names on the back of the jersey. Wow. Easy power. Just kept going and going and going. Thought for sure Starling was going to catch it. Great try by Bubba, local KS kid. Looks like he mistimed that one, then managed to knock a double over the fence.

Guess calling out Grandal worked, haha. Gotta go with those pitches instead of trying to pull anything. Great opportunity here for EE to put another 3 spot up early. Doesn't want to give in and throw him a FB cookie over the plate. Shades of Miguel Ascencio there. WP.

Abreu off balance with that swing. Definitely seems like it's taking guys like Abreu, EE and Grandal longer to get going. Somehow, that doesn't apply to guys like Nelson Cruz and Josh Donaldson.

Bolanos is another Cuban, undoubtedly faced Robert many times... 95-99 MPH fastball, only question is how many innings he can give you? 3-4 would seem to be the max, unless he can pitch efficiently, which is challenging for someone who relies on raw stuff but no command/control in the strike zone. FB/SL combination his two best pitches.

He was acquired to pretty much play everyday...the reason we shouldn’t be hearing Delmonico’s name at all, just Engel as the backup. Btw, five games already today cancelled due to Covid or weather. Ouch.

Comments like those will surely save the travel and tourism industry, as well as Boeing. Btw, if the new C-919 being built here in China doesn’t crash the first 2-3 years of domestic use, 30-40% of the world aircraft market share will be lost to Boeing and Airbus.

That’s a lot of pressure, let’s see how he responds to leadoff first. He’s obviously a confident player, just not sure this is the right move. Moncada and Robert are surely the two most talented in the line-up, but both are 25-30% K guys. Vaughn is the long-term answer. Has to be the best pure hitter in the org.