caulfield12

4.82 ERA out of the #5 spot in the rotation isn't the reason that the Sox are foundering on the shoals.

20-25 homers with GG defense up the middle and athleticism has particular value in today's game.

Burger has definitely improved on the defensive side the last 7-10 days... with consistent playing time and repetition/comfort level.

Never see that Ramirez at bat out of Sox hitters...

Wouldn't have been a homer in a phone booth. Cesar Hernandez Curse continues.

Great patient/professional AB there from Colas.

It's like Billy Hamilton leading off in 2023 because he's "fast" and used to be an occasional threat five years ago...or even in 2021.

Grandal not waiting for a ball/strike call... had a big issue with HP umpire Tumpane's competency in the past.

Robert was more obvious because he deliberately decelerated and pulled up at the end... but Jimenez was never close to full speed. Painful to watch.

Bench Sheets as well.

Why wasn't Eloy also benched????

See St. Louis Cardinals this year...

Will defer to Ptac on this one... pretty ridiculous now that more info is coming out that some are questioning Robert's parents? Why aren't we questioning Hahn's or Daryl Boston's as they don't seem to be taking care of their players very well... or demonstratiolng any empathy with one of the two key franchise players... the other being Cease. There doesn't seem to be a language or cultural misunderstanding issue here with Grifol and Montoyo... they can communicate fluently in Spanish. Just one more flashing warning indicator of something rotten to the core operationally. Frankly, it wouldn't be shocking to hear Robert and Boston have less of a relationship than Robert and Benetti.

The problem is 27 teams are better and we're actually tied for that 28th spot with KC. No let up. The Reds? Not on the road right now.

The problem is 27 teams are better and we're actually tied for that 28th spot with KC. No let up. The Reds? Not on the road right now.

https://www.sportsmockery.com/chicago-white-sox/when-is-eloy-jimenez-going-to-fight-luis-robert-jr/ LoL. Now we have "mock" evidence after the last week that he's going to fight Jimenez, fight Sheets and definitely has an issue with whichever teammate (seemingly Jimenez again) ratted him out to the coaching staff about his purported sore hamstring.

It seems the clubhouse "informant" was Eloy Jimenez... although Sheets would have been another solid guess based on their interactions this week. Certainly wouldn't have been Haseley...or Benintendi... or Colas, already dealing with his own struggles and adding CF duty wouldn't seem to be Priority 1A for him.

Four years as a coach there doesn't override his time as a manager with the Blue Jays...not to mention that Miguel Cairo was almost invisible during his time with the Sox...same with Jerry Narron. In fact, Montoyo has been so impactful so far that Luis Robert didn't even know his name yet after nearly two full months around him. What's nonsense is assuming that he's imparting the Rays' Way as a bench coach when we should actually be hoping and praying Chris Getz DIDN'T absorb the Royals' losing ways, nor Dayton Moore's idiosyncratic personal beliefs and evangelical/born again proselytizing.

"Hence, this moment is bittersweet among Royals circles because this is the second-straight year where Grifol seemed like a top candidate for a managerial job, but just fell short. Last year, he seemed to be a finalist for the Royals job (whom I preferred as Ned Yost’s successor at the time) as well as the San Francisco Giants position, but instead, the manager jobs went to Mike Matheny and Gabe Kapler, respectively. Grifol is one of the most underrated coaches not just on the Royals staff, but perhaps in all of baseball, especially when it comes to his ability to work with and connect with Latin American players. Jorge Soler, Salvador Perez, and even Adalberto Mondesi have all credited their success in some way with the Royals due to their work and relationship with Grifol, who often works out of the spotlight and behind the scenes. While it will be nice to have Grifol on staff once again, especially with more and more Latin American players making their way to Kansas City over the next couple of years through the farm system as well as trades, his inability to land a MLB manager seems a bit unfair. While he doesn’t have managerial experience at the big league level, which seemed to hurt his candidacy, many MLB teams have succeeded with managers recently who didn’t have MLB manager track records on their resume either. In fact, take a look at some of the managers of clubs who made the postseason in 2020 who didn’t have MLB manager experience before they took over their current club... " "Despite this tidbit, when it came to filling jobs this off-season, clubs either went for familiar names, even if those candidates had either been out of the dugout for a while (La Russa) or their previous tenures were shrouded in controversy (Hinch and maybe Cora). And that kind of “risk averse” hiring may not be good for the game as a whole, especially when there are candidates like Grifol available on the open market." https://royalsreporter.com/2020/10/30/pedro-grifol-may-still-be-on-staff-next-year-and-why-thats-good-for-the-royals-but-bad-for-baseball/

https://theathletic.com/3761699/2022/11/04/white-sox-pedro-grifol-montoyo/

https://www.royalsreview.com/2023/4/26/23696185/a-new-light-on-the-2023-royals-and-how-it-might-all-work-out Excellent response... "This is a nice positive light, but comparing the Royals to the Rays of that era is like comparing an apple seed to an apple tree. If you were talking about what the Rays did in the mid aughts it might be more appropriate. The record of 68-94 you mentioned is the worst record they had between 2007 and now. That is a .420 winning percentage in a tough division. For one year. The Royals have averaged .398 for 5 years now, and have topped .420 in a full season once. The Rays' 4 losing seasons in a row still averaged a .471 winning percentage. Taking the half dozen drafts at least 6 years prior to the Royals beginning to change things, they drafted 32.1 WAR. During the half dozen drafts at least 6 years prior to 2016, the Rays drafted 254.8 WAR. Now, I realize it was not that high in 2016 because some of those players have accumulated more WAR since, but even if you cut it in half it is a marked difference. I don't think you have to cut it in half though. Heck Evan Longoria and David Price by themselves had 73 WAR by 2016 and have only added 25 WAR since. Does anyone believe the Royals full 2011-2016 draft choices will ever total 250+ WAR for their careers? Or even 100+? Or even the 73 those two players had by themselves? Although rebuilding is more of a distance run than a dash, I will use a dash to make a comparison. The Rays ran a 40 yard dash while the Royals are running a 100 yard dash, and most of the people reading this could have that kind of head start and beat the crap out of Usain Bolt doing the 100. We are not similar to the 2016 Rays, we are light years behind them, and even if we do everything right, we are looking at a long road. They just had to grab a windowsill and lift themselves up. We have to climb out of a fiery dystopian pit like Batman."

Story makes front page OF ESPN "What happened was, last [Friday] night, I hustled a lot down the line," Robert said through the team interpreter after the Chicago's 10th consecutive loss. "Today my legs were a little tired. My right hamstring was a little tight. Then I decided just to play conservative today. ... I think my mistake was that I didn't tell anybody. I didn't tell the manager because I knew if I said something to him, he probably wouldn't let me play." .... Robert was immediately booed after the play. "I understand the decision he made because he didn't know," Robert said of Grifol pulling him. "People that didn't know what was going on, you could think it was a lack of effort on my part. People who know me, they know I'm always doing my best and running hard down the line." According to ESPN Stats & Information research, the Rays are the fourth team in the expansion era (since 1961) to score 10 runs in a game after recording no hits after at least six innings. Tampa scored them all in one inning. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/36324619/white-sox-bench-luis-robert-not-running-grounder

https://www.mlb.com/news/drew-maggi-first-mlb-hit "Maggi... first hit prove you can do anything" Talk about a contrast in dugouts.

Daryl Boston has all of zero excuses remaining. Robert is his responsibility just as much as anyone's as an outfield coach.

Or the lack of trust for the front office and coaching staff since Renteria was canned and they since had a plethora of misdiagnosed or unreported injuries? How many games did Robert try to play through injuries in the second half last year when he could barely swing with two hands but the only other option was Leury or Engel out there in center?