Jose Abreu

Day-to-day with a sore back

Anything to the left of full-blown fascism is communism these days.

I wrote a much more detailed explanation in December, but I'd argue that the defensive concerns are overblown. Our only bad defenders are at the least important positions (1B, LF, RF). Tim Anderson is the key, like you said, but I'd hesitate to lump him in as "bad" since he was good in 2016 and 2018, and looks really smooth so far. Either way, the plus defense at premium positions in CF, C (huge upgrade there), 3B/2B, and ideally SS is more than enough to outweigh poor defense at 1B/LF and, to an extent, RF (although Mazara isn't that bad) IMO.

I don't get this trend. The only way I see the Sox being "really bad" (which, to me, is <25 wins) is if there are a ton of injuries/covid cases. Even if the young guys struggle, this is still a mediocre team at worst, when healthy

Man, Guerrero is getting pummeled

Do you think it was intentional? I thought he just flat out missed it

I think part of that is also that the grades on Robert's defense are way too low. Nothing against Franco, but having watched Robert's defense for years now, I don't get how anyone can think he's an average/typical defender. Yet, his scouting grades are typically uninspiring

Not to mention, if he's really *that* rusty, this lineup is so stacked that you could just shift him from 2 to like 7/8 and let him ramp up. Like you said, his worst days would still be the same or better than the best of Cuthbert types

Moncada also just posted "I'll be back soon" on Instagram

It has definitely set us back a few decades in terms of political progress.

I love how his MLB ERA is always used as some knock against him as if he didn't have a 0.82 ERA before his final start where he was visibly injured (my overall point being that ERA, or any stat, over such a small sample is meaningless)

Full recap with game log and video highlights: https://www.soxon35th.com/2020/07/13/results-from-mondays-white-sox-intrasquad-scrimmage/

I'm already having nightmares of us trying (and failing) to bunt runners over from 2nd to 3rd in extra innings. Or even worse, doing it successfully and then striking out. Seems inevitable

I know they’re meaningless scrimmages but Tim Anderson hitting a bunch of home runs all of a sudden could be an interesting development

Off Rodon

I thought "For those who said Yermin can't play third:" was serious but I guess it could've been tongue in cheek

I can tell baseball is back because there's a new movement annoying me. During the first part of the offseason, it was all the people who wanted Adam Engel to platoon in RF because of a flukey sample against LHP. Now, it's the "play Mercedes at 3B, how bad can it be" camp. If it's true that Moncada has COVID and is asymptomatic, then chances are he's back within a week from now and (hopefully) Mercedes goes back to DH/C

All good. I understand why my posts might come across that way. It’s just a phrase I see tossed around in here a lot that bothers me, because it includes a bunch of implicit historical assumptions that I believe are wrong. And I say this as someone who used to believe it myself. But again, I agree with your overall point and the specifics you laid out, and didn’t mean to pick on you specifically since I know it’s a common saying

Yeah, I don't have a problem with anything you said in your plan. My issue is just that the idea that there is a "middle ground" that is always right is extremely historically tone deaf. If that were really true, slavery would still exist today, white men would be the only people allowed to vote, etc. Not to mention, the U.S. doesn't really have a "middle", since the area between conservatives and liberals is still extremely to the right of the global or true middle. That said, I agree with your overall idea, but I believe that phrases such as "the truth is always in the middle" and whatnot are extremely reductive and historically false

Deploy might have been a better verb, but employ also means "make use of, use, utilize" so I'm not sure why you're trying to pick grammar fights. Words have multiple definitions

So weird that it's already out. Hopefully these games happen because for once I actually really like the outlook. And opening on the west coast will be a nice change from rain/snow postponements

I’m not actively looking to replace him, just think that moving Vaughn doesn’t make sense if it’s to a position where we have a superstar locked in for 6 years.

Man, if I had a nickel for every time this adage has been incorrectly employed in this thread. Especially given that what you're arguing for isn't really "the middle"

But does anyone remember that we even extended Aaron Bummer a few weeks later?? Because I forgot until today.

That's what I've been thinking too. Can you imagine the difference between what is basically a guaranteed 95-110 wRC+ bat in Madrigal being replaced by the sky high ceiling of Vaughn? The defensive drop-off might be worth it at that point