caulfield12

That's probably because Ron looks like Booger Presley from Revenge of the Nerds.

Deciding what to do with Robert and Cease are the primary considerations at this point. Hard to be optimistic when the Twins made one of the worst FA moves in recent memory (Carlos Correa) and they're still likely to end up in first place. Hard to be optimistic when the Guardians have hung in there for most of the season down 2-3 of their best/veteran pitchers (and traded Civale ostensibly for a 2024 piece)...yet they still have one of the top-rated farm systems and almost everything has gone wrong with their bullpen and "clutch hitting" that possibly could compared to 2022. And even the Tigers are on an upward track...heck, Witt Jr. has looked like one of the best young players in baseball in KC, their equivalent of Luis Robert, Jr. (At any rate, hat's the sign of a really strong organization...look at how many first rounders the 49ers have lost, mostly due to the Lance acquisition, and they've still managed to work around all those hits to their potential talent pool. In the same way, the Twins' minor league system has covered for the falloff from Correa, especially on the pitching side.)

You would think the Sox might be better off choosing a pitcher who hadn't just experienced a TJS...since we've already struggled developing pitchers in the most pristine of circumstances. All we have to do is look at the divergent results between Kopech and Cease post surgery. What's the approximate percentage of pitchers who don't make it back to previous form, somewhere between 30-35%??? 40%??? That said, Clevinger has gone through 2 TJS and that used to almost be considered a "death sentence" in terms of the careers of starting pitchers.

Knowing the Sox, they'll probably use it to uproot anyone who is honest enough to question the ruling cabal...in Keynan Middleton whistleblower fashion.

Baghdad Bob in charge of this one?

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/mlb/miami-marlins/article278218297.html “He's evolving as a player,” said assistant hitting coach Chris Johnson. “He knows his strengths. We call it tunneling, he's trying to work on his tunneling. Really focusing on one side of the plate or the other, or wherever he's attacking that certain day. Maybe we could use Chris Johnson at the big league level since Burger's the only hitter other than Robert to progress the last two seasons? Maybe Hostetler wasn't as bad as claimed? "But come on, this? Where Burger, having started the season in Triple A for the third-straight year, is off to the best start of any hitter on the team? Where every fan conversation centers around making sure he’s in the lineup (and ideally, higher than eighth), and the team is preparing offensive centerpiece Eloy Jiménez to play more right field to accommodate him? Who exactly expected this right now? Two hitless games in the past two days have dropped the 27-year-old Burger all the way to .271/.330/.667; a 166 wRC+, or 66 percent more run creation than the league-average hitter. It’s the best wRC+ of any MLB third baseman with over 100 plate appearances. “To watch what he’s doing on the field, to say that I don’t get emotional and choked up about it is a lie,” said Hostetler, now a special assistant to the general manager focused on pro scouting. “It’s happened multiple times. I’ve been at a game where I’ve had our game on the radio and on my phone I’m listening to it, and he hits a home run and I let out a big yell, and a group of scouts are chuckling at me.” “Sometimes I sit back and I’m like, ‘Whoa, this is really cool.'” Burger said. “I could write a whole book about how cool it is. I think that’s why I feel a little more comfortable because of what I went through and how hard that path was. If I can conquer that, then it makes everything a little easier." https://theathletic.com/4539081/2023/05/23/white-sox-jake-burger-breakout/

https://sports.yahoo.com/reds-call-up-top-prospect-noelvi-marte-as-team-battles-for-playoff-spot-down-the-stretch-165150045.html

Also, five teams within one game for the final 2 NL Wild Card spots…

Every pitcher for the Sox this series has given up at least 1 or 2 runs (or more)… Yikes.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/don-t-know-talking-mlb-170000961.html Wander Franco married…has two kids with yet another woman

Julio Rodriguez and Luis Robert going to be battling it out in CF for many years to come…

And yet he's the second most dangerous hitter with Eloy out. At least statistically.

Well the Tigers are seemingly fixing Torkelson...

Whereas Burger has feasted on big game pitchers recently. But didn't Vaughn get to Aroldis Chapman twice?

Aka the CO license plate unis

Remillard Sheets Thompson must be one of the worst benches in recent Sox history...

Colas not exactly busting it down the line…

No way JR would authorize it…Alex Rios was the last of those types of risks.

That’s even more depressing and oppressive.

Giveth and taketh away. Going to be a long game.

Elvis HoF 2028

https://www.mlb.com/video/chris-bassitt-in-play-run-s-to-elly-de-la-cruz Amusing to watch look of disbelief on faces of two Jays’ fans in a season of red

Tough loss with the defense and Robertson collapsing after holding a lead for so long. That last WC spot will come down to the wire with four teams fighting and now the DBacks suddenly surging with their own young/exciting/talented team. (Noticed Stone Garrett is playing well recently as well.)

2016 sucked too with the 23-10 start and then collapsing and then the Shields trade quickly going awry...but they finally chose a direction most of the fanbase agreed with in light of the KC and then Cubs successes.

Twins Brewers Royals Cards famous for these hot stove league appearances as well. Of course a lot of those smaller Midwest towns have been hollowed out of relevance. Look at the team radio networks from the 1950s through 70s compared to 2023.