caulfield12

That ball on ESPN Gamecast looked like a homer to center by DeShields, lol. If HE hits one out, all bets are off. Is this the night the Danks/Rodon duo get off 1-9 on the season and move to 2-9 in their starts? 22-1 for the rest of the staff, crazy time!

That ball almost made it to the Rangers' transgender RR down the LF line. (Just kidding, The Gregster...) Does anyone feel safe with this lead, with either Rodon or Carroll? Me, neither.

I was actually at that game...living in Kansas City at the time. Except I think he threw 16 consecutive balls. The Royals were terribad at that time....but they had DOS CARLOS (Beltran/Febles), Dye, DeJesus, Randa, Sweeney, a really impressive collection of young hitters. Berroa, not sure if that's around the time he beat out Godzilla for ROY.

Shades of Miguel Asencio... We'll take it. Avi gets a second opportunity to break the game wide open.

Probably smart not to challenge Melky right now and try to get the K with Lawrie. One run lead is kind of meaningless at this point.

This game MIGHT be over by midnight...

The Aaron Nola thread will get some more shelf life, so there's that... Indians shut out the Astros in Houston, 5 1/2 GB, Detroit and Royals both 7 1/2 at the current moment. Royals will probably be sitting Chris Young and adding Dillon Gee to the rotation...for at least one start. Medlen got hammered again tonight by the Yankees so they actually might have to replace two starters (w/ Duffy/CM-Wang/Almonte).

By my count batters are now 44/145 for a .303 average against Rodon this year. Pretty crazy. Came into the game with a 1.51 WHIP, which is obviously higher. Can't believe he's at 1.43 for his career.

Ausmus also going with the walk Harper strategy. Zimmermann has 3 RBI's but failed this time, two outs and runners on 1st and 2nd, DET clinging to 1 run lead. Had a chance to tie the score in the 8th but Ramos was thrown out at home on a relay from Romine.

Rollins must have been reading SoxTalk the last 24 hours. Three hits in a row now.

When did the delay officially begin?

Fwiw, Santana was still reaching 94-95 MPH in his game against us. That said, Nolasco's probably the one they want to give up.

So Carroll will come in if the game is resumed...? What's the normal amount of time they would allow a starter to sit? No longer than 1 hour, 1 hour 15 minutes...tops, seems to be my recollection, also depending on weather conditions (freezing cold in April, etc.)

If the Texas gun was actually down, that means Miguel Gonzalez was actually throwing 92-95. That would be pretty hard to believe, giving the main reason the O's cut bait with him was diminishing velocity.

QUOTE (knightni @ May 10, 2016 -> 05:02 PM) Actually, Atlanta would send the Sox 5 mil. Umm...okay. Seeing as they just reported a $36 million loss, not sure if Liberty Media Braves group would agree with sending even MORE money out. They still have to deal with the Olivera contract on the books, to name just one. Then again, just biting the bullet and dealing Freeman and/or Markakis, at this point, it won't matter much either this season or next. One would think, though, they'd like to have a few recognizable names to open their new stadium.

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/mlb/kansa...le76795062.html Yay, more "negative" KC Star articles to pacify Rabbit.

Maybe we should put Jewish star armbands on them to help with the identification process? Same thing we would do for any admitted Middle Eastern terrorists/jihadists/suicide bombers (not professors doing math equations on airplanes) to more immediately identify an imminent threat in the bathroom... This is reminding me of the scene from Borat when he brings the African-American prostitute to the "white traditional churchgoers" dinner party somewhere in the deep South and tries to make them feel uncomfortable.

Unless you consider essentially benching Avisail Garcia for the rest of the 2016 season "not upsetting chemistry." Nova and Pineda might be of more interest, but too early to assume the Yankees are going to sell off pieces in a firesale...Miller and Chapman would be priority target for most contenders as well. Plus, the Yankees are not just going to give Gardner away. It's definitely going to take some pieces Hahn doesn't want to trade.

Honestly, just throwing a bunch of names into a list isn't going to impress the Braves. Engel, still, at this point profiles more as a 4th outfielder than a sure-fire MLB starter. Hawkins is a bust. Danish looks more like a reliever. Adams is the main player they'd be interested in, but, since he's from that area of the country, I would think their local/regional scouts already have a good feel for whether they believe he has what it takes to make it as a starter. I can't see JR taking on $25 million in salary commitment for an aging Markakis (to send Melky to DH and bench Avi) AND sending even more money to ATL. I can't even remember the last time we sent $5 million to another team (maybe Linebrink to Atl?) The Sox are likely to ride Miguel Gonzalez as long as they can...just like Latos. There's no pressing need to overpay for Markakis. One interesting note would be adding another Colombian pitcher in Teheran to the rotation. You'd have the two winningest Colombian pitchers in MLB history together, fwiw.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ May 10, 2016 -> 10:38 AM) This is what I am waiting for. He needs to trust his stuff and challenge hitters more. I think he is either overthrowing the ball or trying to be to fine or maybe both. The guy has so much talent though If he was overthrowing or trying to throw it through a brick wall, you would see his FB velocity at 95-98. This version is more emulating the Sale "pitch at lower speeds with more command and contact" version. Maybe he tends to either lose his control (mechanical issue) and/or gets hesitant about throwing strikes when he gets hit around so he starts to nibble at times. Obviously, when he's getting ahead in counts and has that slider in the back of hitter's minds, he can be a nightmare for opposing teams. Of course, some pitching coaches would argue that "trying to overthrow" will lead to diminished velocity and poor/er mechanics, but I'm not 100% sure that's what he has been doing.

QUOTE (chw42 @ May 10, 2016 -> 12:48 PM) So why hasn't Sands been DFA'd yet? The "don't mess with a good thing/manager superstition" thing. Same reason Rollins is still in there and hitting 2nd again. There's a 50/50 chance if we lost that game a Sands move would have been made. Then again, no idea no Shuck has been doing offensively at Charlotte.

Unless you consider Chris Young and Chris Carter good, that would be correct. Obviously, Carter's hitting a ton right now in meaningless games for the Brewers, but has been the definition of a three outcome guy like Pedro Alvarez. You can't just pencil in those same numbers for him at DH were he with the Sox. They've also given up a lot of guys like Harrell, Bassit, Ely, Devenski, Wendelken, etc., that haven't stuck anywhere as starting pitchers. I also remember David Holmberg being hyped by many as a future stud pitcher and that didn't quite work out. The bigger concern has been identifying these guys like Nestor Molina and Matt Davidson, locking in on them...and having it blow up in their face/s. Courtney Hawkins on the draft side. At least they saw some progress there, now with Trayce and Anderson. And Avisail Garcia looked like a bust coming into 2016 and has reversed that trend for now. That's huge for an organization that can't afford to just spend to fix every problem that can't be solved internally.

QUOTE (shysocks @ May 10, 2016 -> 11:31 AM) Which is true today, but coming into the season very few people would have agreed. Let's see where we're at in July and if short is still our greatest need on offense or if Avi pulls the rug out again and leaves us wanting a DH. We can afford to be patient at SS - the only other contender who would be eager to upgrade there is Washington, if the current landscape holds. The Rays and Tigers have underwhelming guys in Miller and Iglesias, but they're also invested in those guys. Texas won't want to wave the white flag on Andrus yet. Espinosa has been terrible there, but Turner lurks. Jurickson Profar's the most interesting name, because the Rangers have to decide if his arm/shoulder will stand up to the pressure of being a middle infielder or if the outfield would be a better long-term home (CF, for DeShields). No idea what the Rangers would be asking for either Profar (or Gallo), but both those guys are currently blocked.

Which right now is running in the $8-10 million of value range. We can all speculate that Adams would get it done...but I'm not sure Hahn is willing to part with one of two pitchers in our system best equipped to be a future starter with two future holes in the rotation opening up next season (and SOME concern about whether Fulmer's best suited for starting). Everyone knows how expensive starting pitching is on the open market, and the available 2017 FA options for pitching are narrowing as we speak (Strasburg deal)...which means the deals that are MOST logical from the Sox standpoint are ones like adding a Nolasco or James Shields and taking on salary. Of course, any deal for pitching that guarantees years into the future carries with it a certain amount of risk. The Twins had Hughes for one year and he was really good. Extension. Not so good since. Nolasco hasn't come close to earning his money. Santana was suspended, which wiped out any realistic chance the Twins had to compete last season. Overpaying for veteran starting pitching can also cripple a team's financial flexibility, especially a 3rd/4th quartile one like the Twins.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ May 10, 2016 -> 01:10 PM) Well it isnt June yet, so we can still sign Desmond It was the correct thought process, at least. Signing Jackson has obviously worked out well, Desmond will be fine and Fowler was the other one it was speculated could go over into the season, and he's been one of the top 5-10 players in MLB so far this season. Obviously THAT won't last, but once those players come off the board, you move to the next best alternatives. The reason I wanted Desmond was not being 100% sold on Tim Anderson. The Rangers have Odor, Andrus, Profar, Alberto, etc. They are a manufacturing line for Latin American middle infielders. Whether we could have given Desmond an attractive enough deal for two years, we'll never know, probably. As it is, SS is the weakest area on our team and I would argue worth a late first round draft pick, but whatever. It became obvious at a certain point that Hahn wasn't going to go there with either Fowler or Desmond. He stuck to his cards, rightly or wrongly, it remains to be seen how it all works out. Even if the pick turns out to be a bust, many will still argue it was the right thing to do regardless.