caulfield12

We can always have an "offense-first" catcher like a Piazza (granted HoF numbers, but you get the idea) and then have a defensive replacement to back him up...worst-case scenario.

Personally, I'd much prefer to get Fulmer out of the game right now and leave his statistical line where it stands. That would be a huge moral victory, especially after giving up 6-1 and 9-4 leads against the A's his last time out.

Well, if I can doom Puig...I can do the same thing to Tatis and Ohtani, right? It's sort of like Ron's threads that always have the opposite effect in real life, or the infamous ST jinx, except in reverse.

As far as Zavala goes, look how long it took Tyler Flowers to finally become a fairly competent all-around MLB catcher. It's not an overnight process.

I'd probably take Skole's bat over Palka, but it's irrelevant in the overall scheme of things. The question is what kind of numbers would you get combining Davidson and Delmonico at DH? That would seem to be the most viable option, all things considered.

Moncada got screwed on that call. Unhittable pitch. At least one more at-bat, at least.

Fortunately, Gamel and not Endy Chavez or Franklin Gutierrez is manning CF for the M's tonight... Engel is just FRIED mentally. The weird thing is that you look at those offensive numbers, other than Avi and Engel, you'd think for sure we would be a .500 team. Then you have to start factoring in fundamentals, 4 starters, the bullpen and fielding, lol.

Thank god for this game...nice to see the offense break out again, especially Moncada. Not even that upset about Avi.

Leaving Engel up is a pretty clear example where the struggles are bleeding over to other areas of his game...doing no good having him struggle, and it's going to get someone injured when he tries to do too much to make up for his offensive ineptitude.

What did Engel do that time? According to MLB.com, best fastball has been 94.7 and 94.8.

Collins is the minor league equivalent of Adam Engel, or the last 2-3 years with Beckham on the Sox...just waiting for something to change or a light to go on (or back on).

Well, it is the end in the sense that Rodon has just as much, if not more, importance than Giolito. He's either the anchor of the rotation through 2021 or he can be traded for useful rebuilding pieces. If we get neither out of him, that's another $15 million per season we'll have to pay in free agency unless Kopech, Hansen and Cease can all make it as quality starters. We know the historical odds of that happening with pitching prospects is approximately ZERO...obviously, we also have Lopez/Dunning and 2018/19 collegiate draft picks to throw into the mix as well as FA's.

Making plans around MLB contributions from Charlie Tilson seems foolhardy at best...

Out-homering Tatis, Jr., for the entire season from 2 at-bats... The minors will be a lot more fun to follow when we get Hansen and Robert back as well. Everything still quiet on the LuBob front?

https://sports.yahoo.com/baseball-strikeout-era-better-worse-050031337.html The Strikeout Era in baseball is upon us...Moncada and Avi mentions, Davidson escapes notice. Jeff passan article.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/22/opinion/big-economic-ideas.html?rref=collection%2Fissuecollection%2Ftodays-new-york-times Fortunately, policy experts have begun working on those solutions. One possibility is a federal jobs program, putting people to work earning $15 an hour on vital projects like infrastructure and child care. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who seems to be eyeing a presidential run, favors an ambitious version called a federal jobs guarantee. Another option is a strong response to growing corporate power and consolidation. The Open Markets Institute and Roosevelt Institute have sketched out new antimonopoly policies. Other economists are talking about something called wage boards, where companies and workers would negotiate over industrywide pay. Such boards already exist in New York, California and Australia. On health care, there are proposals to open Medicare to people younger than 65 (which could also reduce health spending). On child poverty, two senators have proposed a $3,600-a-year annual allowance for children under 6. On education, states and cities have created free pre-K or community college. And to help pay for it all, experts are studying how best to raise taxes on the wealthy — who can certainly afford to pay more. The details will be important. Done wrong, any of these ideas could fizzle. They could make people lose even more faith in government. Done right, though, the ideas could mimic the grand successes of government: Social Security, Medicare, the military, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the highway system, public universities, medical research and a Defense Department project that became the internet. It’s time to dream big again.

Who is Scott? Don't recognize that name...

As long as they're not afraid to make the right moves with guys like Giolito and Fulmer, instead of worrying about the PR implications of perceived failure. A week or ten days ago, it was Moncada when he was down around a 600 OPS. Obviously, they finally cut bait with Hawkins. That's a start, at least. There does come a point with any pitcher where you have to assess the benefits of getting hit around at the major league level..."on the job training," versus a period out of the spotlight back in AAA. Nobody at SoxTalk can make those decisions. We're not psychologists. We can only play them on television commercials/SoxTalk. Most of us were already predicting that Fulmer would eventually end up in the bullpen (how that will improve his control issues is uncertain, maybe concentrating on just two pitches at max effort will do the trick). That wasn't a HUGE surprise to anyone, right? So it's really ALL about Giolito (right now)...whose smooth sailing to end last season probably created unrealistic expectations this year that he would continue a smooth/linear upward trajectory. And maybe Avisail Garcia's downward slide, to a lesser extent. (On the plus side, Lopez has been almost as impressive, control issues notwithstanding, as Gio has been terrible.) One can also hope that the pressure on the front office to bring up Jimenez and Kopech doesn't effect the front office...that the ONLY consideration is readiness for the big leagues. I'm not 100% sure that was the case with bringing Moncada up last year, but what's done is done on that front. BIG PLUSES Davidson and Yolmer...Nate Jones' health Rutherford/Booker/Basabe Dylan Cease/Dunning Omar Vizquel's managing Micker Adolfo (until the last 3-4 games, at least) Zavala's hitting

Rodon isn't a free agent until the 2022 season. His contract goes right through the heart of the rebuilding and into the first two "competitive years" in the window, and possibly three (years) if they add any significant free agents after this season.

Alvarez's upside is a slightly better Saladino...hopefully with the same positional versatility (age is the biggest factor working against him at the moment)

Lip meant Burger, not Bummer. Also, there was another huge red flag that PTAC noticed a long time ago. Rodon was going to have issues both with repeatability of delivery (leading to control issues/inconsistency) and possible injury issues down the line (partly related to his reliance on the slider, the rest...mechanics). Now I don't know who else would have been the obvious pick there (certainly not Schwarber) and we all felt lucky that Rodon fell to us (Aiken/Kolek going ahead of him), but there was a reason his stock had fallen a bit (partly due to boredom at NC State?) He certainly has the talent to be a Chris Sale, TOR starter...but he also has the floor to end up disappointing (White Sox career-wise at least) like Wilson Alvarez.

There are LOTS of reasons to believe in the players we've acquired in the last 2 years. The counter-arguments are also obvious: 1) Misjudging Tatis, Jr., although I think everyone got ahead of themselves to believe a raw 19 year old could basically skip over High A and light up the AA circuit, where the pitching is much tougher 2) A disastrous list of free agent signings dating back to 2011 (Dunn) under KW/Hahn...and a lingering question mark whether he can pull the trigger on the right players when it really counts 3) Hawkins (although KW's pick, supposedly) 4) A plethora of question marks abound with higher draft choices like Fulmer, Collins (the hitch), Burger (positional versatility and general concerns about his size and athleticism) 5) The backsliding of Avi Garcia this year still leaves us without many success stories on the development/sustaining success side of things...Tim Anderson is probably the best example, so far (although still incredibly raw, albeit talent off the charts) 6) The fact that the Nationals were willing to part so quickly with Giolito in hindsight was a big red flag...LUCKILY, it appears Lopez and Dunning will be able to compensate, but we really need 2 of those 3 to do something productive or the trade can't really be considered successful...we can't say this was an "absolute steal" of a trade anymore 7) Moncada is holding his own so far...but he's still more "future/potential" than realized success, and the K rate is 10% too high even though he seems to have a 2.5-3.0 fWAR floor based on defense, OBP, XB power and baserunning alone ? (was supposed to be 9, but this is fitting) Chris Getz is still largely unproven/untested...the W-Salem results so far are encouraging, but is he the right man to put the entire future of a $1+ billion organization's talent development in the hands of...we shall soon see

Greg/WBWSF, this is the equivalent of an “intervention” for a family member with an addiction. A rebuild is tearing apart something you love to make it better or stronger. Any other approach was enabling. Or, if a failure, selling the team and giving someone else a shot.

Dash attempted to rally in the bottom of the 10th but came up just short. Adolfo had a chance for a walk off home run but hit into a force out up the middle, after Rutherford had barely missed tying the game with another double down the RF line. Still no homers, but 7 doubles already. Dash have won three games in walk off fashion under Vizquel, the Booker steal of home and two squeeze bunts. Fun team to follow.

http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.jsp?sid=milb&org=145&ymd=20180422