The Sir

That was the last game I attended. I'd apologize, but I bumped into a coworker there who, to my complete surprise, was wearing a White Sox jersey and was apparently a huge White Sox fan. He ended up going to prison for sleeping with students. So...it was his fault.

Raging at the wealth and skin color of Robert Kraft isn’t going to change the first part for you. On the second part, we disagree, but that’s OK.

Yeah, dumb luck is all over the place. Like some talentless doofus winning the lottery on one hand, while the third founder of Apple sold his stock back to Jobs and Wozniak for a thousand or two and spent his old age living in a trailer. No joke- I met my wife in a chat room. She was creeped out by practically everybody else and was about to log off. If I had gone to take a shit, boom, my life of the last seven years simply never happens. But nope, I was there because of dumb luck. At some point, it’s not dumb luck any more. Life is full of weird coincidences and things that seem fateful, like me and my wife, but we work hard to make this a success. Tom Brady works hard to be the greatest dude to ever throw a football. Might be dumb luck that he got in the door, but it’s not dumb luck that he’s won everything five times in eighteen.

You managed to bring race AND politics into this. Impressive.

Yeah, I think this makes it even better. Dude was a nobody who became the GOAT. Awesome. And if this was dumb luck, look at all the other cases of dumb luck. Wally Pipp giving way to Lou Gehrig, our boys drafting Mark Buehrle in the 39th round or whatever, etc. It might have been dumb luck in 2001, but that ended when he did this again and again and again for two decades.

Again, you’re talking about dumb luck as a rebuttal to me talking about one guy leading his team to the Super Bowl half the years of his career. That isn’t dumb luck. He’s been the best, hard stop. No idea who GarPax is.

So great players should languish on mediocre teams? (Don’t follow hockey, so I’m focusing solely on the baseball example.) I disagree with that. If you dislike how the entire sport of football is set up, I can’t help you there, but if you can get past that, Tom Brady has consistently led his team to dominance his entire career. It is incredible.

Here’s another thought, and it kinda contradicts what I’ve already said, but I think it’s a good explanation (and I’m not much of an NFL fan at all). In the MLB playoffs, for instance, if the Sox aren’t in it, I root for the rare teams. Down with the Dodgers, Red Sox, Yankees, and so on. Those teams are always in it, and like SS said, it’s booooooring. It’s boring precisely because it’s not the same players doing it. Stanton could leave the Yanks, but they’re going to spend their millions to replace him. Sale could leave the BoSox, but they’ll find their ace to fill the hole, and he’ll be one of the best pitchers in baseball. The big spenders will do just that and continue to dominate. Thats not the Patriots though. The Pats’ story is about one man’s dominance which has lasted nearly twenty straight years. That is incredible.

These Patriot teams have constantly surrounded Brady with talent, even if he was always the central piece. It wasn’t a one man show. And can you really call a guy showing up in 17% of a sport’s championships ever (thanks, Strange!) “dumb luck”? Dude has taken domination to new heights.

Man, lots of hatred for success right here. Tom Brady does nothing but win for two decades, whooping the asses of people who were in diapers when he started dominating the sport, and y’all are mad? Haha. I’ll get sick of Patriot SBs when some other team in the AFC has the awesomeness to prevent them.

Correct. Just like Angels fans only remember AJP taking advantage and not that they hit .171 in the ALCS, and their offense was so ineffective that our bullpen was only needed for two outs in five games.

I was telling my FIL the same thing. Playing aggressive for the TD, but isn’t winning the game the end point? Just waste time and kick the damn FG.

Agreed. Pederson has flaws and is soon an FA, but that’d basically be getting him for free. Go for it. How’s his defense? Also, I haven’t read this whole thread. Is this close? Some people are talking like it’s already happened...

Fair enough. I also realize it’s putting a ton of expectations on Eloy. I do feel more optimistic about him immediately producing than any other prospect.

Let’s say we sign Machado, trade for Joc, and add one more starter: Do we still wait two weeks to promote Eloy? It might be short sighted as far as his control goes, but we could potentially contend in this weak division, and two weeks of less production from LF might be a difference maker. Not sure how I feel honestly, but is this even a possibility (that Eloy breaks camp with us)?

I know it wasn’t your point, but just FYI, I’ve sort of stepped down from being the main updater of the one stop super thread. A few weeks ago I’d obsessively scour Twitter for the biggest and best stuff on the whales, but at this point, I’m completely blahssez about it. LevineGate, HatGate, DadGate...what the hell ever. It’ll happen before I go on vacation in March. I think.

Fair enough. Like always, even with a guy with the same issue in MLB a la Moncada, this can improve. If it does, he’s at least a fourth OF, and probably more (especially if he can stay in CF). But more than OPS or any other statistical thing, the Ks are what I’m watching from Luis this year.

Correct.

Really dubious about the 27% K-rate in AA. That needs major improvement if he's going to make it to the top. And yes, I'm obsessed with K-rate. The most glowing thing about Eloy, out of all the glowing things, is his 15% K-rate at AAA. That will play in the bigs. 27%, which will increase as he continues to rise, will not.

Twitter bio says he used to be affiliated with the Jim Rome show. I wouldn't know who Jim Rome is, either, except he once insinuated that a male guest was a woman and promptly got his ass beat by that same guest while still on the air.

Up until several days ago, I would wake up, roll over, and immediately, before anything else, grab my phone to check SoxTalk because it seems like we've done midnight FA surprises often enough in the past. Not any more. I'm going to Ireland in mid-March. I'm excited for that and, as such, I have an informal countdown going for that. I'm lumping this in with it. My 50 days 'til vacay is also a solid countdown on days 'til we have answers for both of these dudes. Whatever.

Eh, I don't think I phrased it well. I wasn't trying to doubt your stance on the Hurt. My main point is that he went through a decline at the end of his career, which other players avoided by taking 'roids. Frank should be in the Hall, they shouldn't. That's pretty much my view on it.

Frank wasn't cheating (I know you said "vast majority"). This is personal to me because Frank made me a White Sox fan when I was a little kid. For years, anytime I talk to anyone about what a great hitter he was, they all point to his imaginary "drop off". Sure, he dropped off from 1994, but 2003 Frank was still an AMAZING hitter. Sure, he could have hit .370 with 94 homeruns and 312 RBIs. But he didn't. He played naturally and went and hit .267 with 42 homeruns and 105 RBIs. And people treated it like he sucked then, because all the other declining superstars were shooting up and playing like deities. No. Hard PASS. Forever.

Until 1999, absolutely. His numbers were insane. Even before 'roids, he was frightening to watch come to the plate. I loved watching him growing up. But he blew it, irrevocably.

Agreed. Which allows the racist assholes from 1910, and disallows the roid ragers of 1998.