Eminor3rd

No-hitter failed.

Tank Commander James Shields is on the hill to force the White Sox toward playoff contention through sheer force of grit & willpower. Plutko attempts a no-hitter.

What Dam was saying is that the numbers from last year actually show that he ISN'T much of a different guy. The ERA was the only thing that was low -- none of the peripherals supported success at all. He was "good" last year in almost exactly the same way that Shields was "good" that year with the Padres before we got him. The reason many of us felt excited this year was because it appeared that his velocity was significantly up this spring, and that he had lowered his arm slot (which is commonly done to increase velocity and horizontal movement), so it looked like there was evidence that he was unlocking some potential. But none of those things stuck once the season started. His stuff is just like it was last year -- hammer curve that he commands inconsistently paired with a below average fastball. He'll have some good starts when guys are hitting the ball at defenders, but there's nothing "under the hood" that is suggesting any sustained success.

Basically I just mean that if he needs to change something mechanically or with his pitch movement, I think he should do it in the minors. If's it's a matter of practice and refinement, then he should stay up and work on it. I agree the curve looks great, but most guys that have good curves get their swinging strikes out of the zone with it. His problem is that it's his only serviceable pitch, which makes it easy to lay off.

I watched half of it -- He was 90-92 after about the second inning. He walked four batters over five innings. His 7.00+ ERA went up a bit.

I agree. To me, his stuff just isn't MLB-quality at this point, and refinement of his command won;t change that. I would think they'd want to try some mechanical changes that could unlock more velocity or movement, and the place to do that is definitely the minors.

WHERE'S OUR GAMETHREAD MAKER?! THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T WIN GAMES GUYS

Puzzling for me is the sudden jump for Adolfo. Yes, he finally started hitting a bit, but the arm injury is still very much a problem and very much unresolved.

Generally, yes, every reliever should go. I'd keep Jace Fry though -- without a track record, his value will be limited, and he's got five years of control remaining. We do need MLB depth pieces going forward, and he's got some upside too.

How can this possibly matter at this point.

Eh, in this case it has very little to do with the White Sox. You have to remember that the vast majority of affiliates (including the Barons) are independently-owned businesses that are merely contractors to the MLB clubs. Unless it affects the facilities or upsets the player development squad, the MLB teams generally couldn't care less about anything the affiliate does to operate. In the case of milb.tv, MLBAM has been trying to grow the product and is essentially selling the idea that it's an important brand-builder to each of the affiliates for years now. For a handful of the larger clubs, it is, but most clubs only get a handful of viewers a night (like literally 5-10). The lion's share of that small pool of revenue goes to MLBAM, so there is very little incentive for a club like Birmingham to invest in an HD broadcasting rig that will never pay for itself. Most likely, it'll get upgraded when enough of the existing equipment wears out.

FWIW, at Winter Meetings, Nathan Blackmon said at his presentation that MLBAM is prioritizing working with all low-definition teams to upgrade feeds to HD. On the other hand, MLBAM is the slowest company I've ever had the pleasure to work with/around. Everything they do comes out about three years later than they plan. Also, the new equipment must ultimately be purchased by the Barons, so if they haven't taken their feed seriously to this point, it isn't likely they'll change any time soon.

He would look great there, but thanks to the hard slotting system, we can't offer high upside HS guys enough to buy them out of going to college. It's the same problem everyone faces, essentially unless you have a ton of compensation/comp balance picks to play with.

Jenista! Jenista!

https://www.mlb.com/draft/tracker/undrafted

The Greyson Jenista dream is still alive

Madrigal will take slot; our best hope is that a college arm falls to us. Any high profile HS that falls that far is going to want more money than we can give them, I would think.

He'd just go to school

Royals/Rays are gonna mop up most of the exciting stuff, I fear.

Shocked that Weathers went ahead of Liberatore.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yes, because they figured KW would win. They were very transparent about what was going on, and you don't make statements like they did unless they actually knew something.

That podcast also has them all but directly stating that KW wants Singer an everyone else wants Madrigal.

I see where you're going here, but I think you can get a Miguel Gonzalez type for 2-3m on a one year deal.

Idk man, I mean what if he had workouts and stuff all day? What if the call for him to travel came on short notice? There's all kinds of reasons that people are late for flights, some are good and some aren't. I don't think you have nearly enough info here to hold it against him.