Jose Abreu

Correct, and not to mention, it doesn't matter at all. One guy could have a pregnant wife, an immunocompromised family, and still choose to play. That doesn't make another player wrong for opting out with some, or even none, of those circumstances

Assuming health, I like how we can know this to be the case even if he hits like .235/.270/.370 for a bit because at that point he'd basically just be a better Engel (last year's SSS aside)

My last Opening Day thread was in 2016, a 4-3 win in Oakland. Let's ignore the rest of that season, we want good vibes here. I can't remember the last time I actually expected us to make the playoffs. No matter how/if we get there, these next few months will be fun. Buckle up

31. Would've said 34 before today's rule change. Expecting lots of parity

Hahn hinting that his rehab stint could begin as soon as next week

Ideally, Detwiler never throws a pitch this year. I think we have enough "innings eater" types in Gonzalez, Lambert, etc. Not to mention, having 11 relievers means you probably don't need to scramble to eat innings often anyway

11 AM CT, IIRC

Remind me, have you always vocally liked or disliked Collins? I distinctly remember you having a strong opinion on him but don't recall the direction.

And then a great AB from Grandal. What a nice player

That's 3 or 4 stolen strikes in 2 innings, 3 of which were strike 3. So cool to be on the other end of this for once

Exactly. It's even my favorite of the 3 teams. Assuming the season goes as planned (which is admittedly far from a given), I don't think this champion will be looked back on 20 years from now any differently than its surrounding champions

Part of the problem is that we don't know it's a 1-week issue, and I definitely am not fine with the idea of Engel/Leury in RF for more than a few games here and there

You're right on CF but Holt is also a much better hitter than the rest. .340 career OBP, >.360 the last 2 years.

Probably not, once you factor in their arms. When it comes to speed/range/highlight catches, I'd imagine they're pretty similar.

Cameron Maybin, Brock Holt, any of those guys who signed for peanuts would look great on our roster right now

You are the Manliest Man™, and that definitely has nothing to do with whatever is going on beneath the surface. There are plenty of fair critiques one could make of Benetti but this one is a hilarious way of projecting your own issues to the world

Agreed but do you really think they'll do that? I think they'll just go Engel in RF and Leury at 2B. Which is far from ideal, IMO

The most annoying part of the broadcasts is Garfien if anything. Not when he's filling in for Stone, but in his typical role. I like him on podcasts, I just don't think his style translates well on TV, and he doesn't really offer anything interesting

Tim Anderson

Thanks for this. I know it's a weird season but I feel like a lot of guesses I've seen are way overshooting the amount of wins the best teams will have

I get it, especially the Royals part, but FWIW, Berrios allowed 18 runs in 34 innings (4.76 R/G) against the Sox last year, while Giolito allowed 9 in 25 against the Twins (3.24 R/G), and 7 of those 9 runs came in 1 start. To be fair, 7 of Berrios' 18 runs were unearned, but nevertheless, we've at least put up a fight against him, whereas Giolito owned Minnesota aside from 1 bad start.

But the Twins should be, who are on the road, and facing an even better pitcher who happened to shut them out in his penultimate start against them?