Chicago White Sox

He’s going to get promoted in the not too distant future. He’s been nothing short of dominant this season and Winston Salem isn’t exactly filled to the brim with guys blocking him at the moment.

Quentyn thinking he could free a dragon was just plain stupid IMO. It’s very clear to me that GRRM didn’t have a great way to bridge the first three books to whatever end game he had in mind. Books 4 & 5 both have way too much filler.

Amazingly well done episode but was expecting significantly more deaths. Theon & Jorah were the only two characters of any importance to die, which is fairly surprising to me. Maybe my expectations were way too high.

So is Gamora alive? I guess don’t get what happened to the past version of her after Tony’s snapped his fingers.

Wasn’t the point to create an obstacle and force Tony & Cap to have to travel to another time period?

And Zack Wheeler ?

And playing great D in CF.

Glad to see Lopez dominate today!

And Colome starts the inning with a four pitch walk...fuck.

Out of the remaining pitchers in our pen, who has the best swing & miss stuff? Now that we’re up three we should be going for the strikeout record.

You never know with this front office, I’m just saying me personally, I’d trade those guys in a heartbeat if I could get a decent a prospect back for them. IMO, it’s the right course of action when you have a bad team and tons of financial flexibility to replace them in the offseason.

I think they have to move Colome & Herrera at the very minimum. We have a ton of financial flexibility and can replace them in free agency next offseason.

He’s going to be a nice little trade chip come the deadline.

The Royals wouldn’t like it, that’s for sure.

No offense, but this is just ridiculous. There is zero reason for him to spend his entire 2018 season in Winston Salem. If you took out his last two games which were clearly impacted by his return from injury, his K rate would be ~18% which is insane for a guy putting up a .400+ ISO.

Did they cut one of the Charlotte OFs?

Durability is still a concern with Burdi, but One Dog’s post was citing the general panic because Burdi wasn’t 100% back in terms of velocity right from the get go. Seems like Burdi is getting close to where he was based on the latest reports.

Pretty sure they just said Burdi got up to 99 MPH in a recent rehab appearance, but let’s not let facts get in the way of unwavering negativity.

Lopez is a fucking stud. Finishes the day with a negative FIP.

I’m with you, time to call out these trolls for what they are.

Yeah, that’s definitely the problem. But maybe come June it’s easier to find a home for Abreu or Alonso.

I’m suggesting calling him up and letting him focus on hitting, which means making him a full-time 1B. Everything we’ve heard is that Collins is a poor receiver and if true I think we’re getting to the point where that isn’t going to change materially. What does look promising is how his bat is responding to the juiced ball and a better hitter environment (he’s currently sporting a 150 wRC+ in AAA). If he can figure out a way to be more aggressive with two strikes he could be even better. I really want to see what we have in this kid offensively and that may mean abandoning the catcher experiment.

I like you’re thinking here, but would propose something a little different. As much as Cole would be the ideal ace to lead a young staff, I think it’s a pipe dream at this point. Instead, I’m going to propose we sign Zack Wheeler, who should come considerably cheaper (due to his injury history) but can still be a ~4 win pitcher. And instead of Castellanos, I think we should sign Marcell Ozuna. With all the AA OFs currently struggling and Eloy looking ugly AF in LF, I think we have to add one established OF. Ozuna makes the makes sense to me because of his age, arm (allowing him to play RF if needed), and power profile fitting well at the Rate. Add those three guys and here’s how things could look the next two years: 2020 (OD) 2021 (OD) Moncada#, 3B / Moncada#, 3B Anderson, SS / Anderson, SS Jimenez, LF / Jimenez, DH Abreu, DH / Collins*, 1B Grandal#, C / Ozuna, RF Ozuna, RF. / Grandal#, C Collins*, 1B / Robert, CF Sanchez#, 2B / Basabe#, LF L. Garcia#, CF / Madrigal, 2B Rotation: Wheeler, Kopech, Cease, plus two of Giolito, Lopez, Rodon (if not traded), Dunning, & Lambert. I honestly think that 2021 roster looks legit and Robert, Madrigal, & Basabe (or another OF prospect) should be up at some point in 2020. The biggest wild card here would be Collins at 1B, which is why I’d like to see him called ASAP to help see what we may have in him. Also, all else being equal, I’d prioritize Witt & Abrams over Vaughn. Let me clear here, I’m 100% for BPA, but I don’t think if things are close we should go with Vaughn because of proximity to the majors. I personally love Witt and think he’d be the ideal selection either way.

Collins is definitely the one guy this could definitely apply to. Part of me really wants to say fuck it, call up Zack right now, and make him our full-time 1B immediately. Grandal will be a free agent next year, won’t cost a pick, and likely would be a much better handler for a young staff. If we’re prepared to go big there (the money has to be spent on something right?), it makes it much easier to move Collins to 1B. Regardless, it’s clear as day that Collins needs to make the same adjustments that Moncada did. As fathom can attest, he too often takes strike three looking and that can be fixed with a more aggressive approach in such situations. To his credit, Steverson worked with Moncada on this and it’s clearly paid dividends. I’d like to see the same work put in with Zack and clearly these adjustments won’t be happening in the minors. If it takes failure at the major league to force such changes so be it. But the reality is a slightly improved Collins could be a dangerous left-handed bat for the middle of the lineup (cue Lillian) and that’s something we’ll definitely need in the near future regardless of position. Let him use a lost season to take his lumps and better set us for a 2020 run.

Nice games from Curbelo & Stiever. LuGo will a solid performance, but man are those AA prospects really struggling. Fegan had a pretty scathing comment about them in a recent article. At least Adolfo’s BB rate is up significantly so far (14.1%), which is a promising development.