SCCWS

Watching this edition of the Red Sox, the growth of Benintendi (who came to the majors w Moncada) and Devers (who was trailing him by 2 years in the minors ) tells me that Yoan needs a "growth spurt" in 2019.

Sports trends on changing. I was never a golfer because my friends and I played softball into our late 20's. Now that I am retired, I spend winters in Florida. I was amazed at the number of golf courses when I started going. In 10 years, there has been a drastic shift. At least half the gold courses in our town have closed because simply there are not enough 55 and over residents who golf. A recent survey found 10% of winter residents golf on a regular basis. They may be better having hockey leagues w the number of canadians who winter in Florida.

I live in New England so I don't have a feel for it. But I know the Red Sox have a ton of corporate tickets. Do you work for a living?? How many vendors offer tickets to fans in the workplace. That is a sign of how popular corporate tickets are. I can tell you that back around 2003 I was in Chicago on business and LaSalle bank offered to take me to a Cubs game so I knew they had corporate tics. Teams that have a lot of corporate tickets do not experience the ups and downs of attendance. You are a board moderator. Do the White Sox post turn-style attendance or ticket sale attendance?

I think it could depend on Sale's health. If he is sub-par, then I think the series could be a 6-7 game dogfight.

I have posted on this site several times ( maybe too many) , that a key factor with the White Sox attendance problem is the lack of corporate ticket sales. Those seats are not affected as much by wins/losses as the walk-up crowd. Big market teams sell a lot of corporate tickets not counting the boxes that are sold. I think it would be interesting to know how many corporate tickets the Cubs sell versus the White Sox. I would bet the number runs 5-8,000.

Putting the title of the thread aside, the topic is meaningful. Rebuild or no rebuild, the FO should be reviewing all the coaches performance at the MLB level as well as the minors. Losing 100 games does not mean someone should get fired. But being in a rebuild, should not mean everyone gets retained. The organization should have some objective and subjective criteria to judge their employees. In addition, someone above the FO should be judging the FO staff as to their performance.

The number of relief pitchers who are consistent year in and year out is limited. especially set-up guys. Thinking guys in the lower-mid minors will make good relievers is way too optimistic. It is interesting that we see starters in the playoffs coming in for 1 inning relief appearances.

I think 2 years is too soon. Some prospects arrive ready to play and some take a while. Going into next season, are you confident that our MLB rebuild pieces( Anderson, Moncada, Rodon,Gio. Lopez) will be solid players? Anderson continues to show improvement and he has over 1,500 AB. Moncada, Rodon Gio and Lopez all had roller-coaster stretches this season. I think Rodon jumps up a tier next year but he could also drop back based on his last month. Eloy looks like he will be a star when he arrives but after him most of the pieces will probably take 2-3 years at the MLB level to develop like Anderson has. I think a good example is the Boston outfield in these playoffs. Betts is a stud in year 4. Benintendi continues to get better in Year 2 and Bradley who may have been the most hyped in the minors is just starting to display his offensive talent in year 5.

Perhaps diehard fans is the correct term. There are people in New England who revel in the Patriot success. But some of them sat for 20 years watching mediocre teams in dumpy stadiums. Cub and Red Sox fans waited a long time for the success they have these days. I think the difference is the times. There are so many options w curent media trends that fans are not as patient as the 1960-1990 fans. Now fans who relocate can still be up to date w the happenings of their team and watch all their games. I think in the previous era, a lot of fans took on a new allegiance to the are they moved to since they couldn't keep curent w their childhood team.

Absolutely agree. The record may be bad but we need to see individual improvement but realizing what the coaches have to work with.

Kind of ironic. I spend the winters in Florida and am amazed at how poorly the Rays draw. Yet all the talk last year was of a new stadium. But I did see an artcile recently that the Rays TV ratings were very good. So many senior fans who won't go to the ballpark but won't miss a game on TV. I guess the bulk of the ads are for medications instead of beer.

Not exactly the same but another factor for small hitters- small hands http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/19201739/dustin-pedroia-do-anything-different-small-hands

I think we as fans overlook the advantage of leaving a ptcher down in AAA rather than thinking they should fill the 4/5 rotation slot. We saw Fulmer and how his poor showing in the majors has hurt him. I would rather have Shields back than just rushing a young pitcher only to see them not ready to pitch in the majors. Some players will bounce back but some really struggle to make it back when they fail miserably in their first season.

I do think the fans will return w success on the field. But sports attendance has changed since the days when the sox could draw 2 Mil. Overall baseball attendance continues to drop at a steady rate. Oakland had a good year but saw attendance drop. Boston had one of the greatest years in their history but saw a decline at the gate. It is not only baseball. College basketball despite all the hype it receives is also on the decline w attendance. Obviously the options for fans to see games is affecting attendance but Ithink the White Sox will have a major hill to climb trying to bring back big fan numbers. Hopefully their rise will coincide with a Cub drop and they can attract the casual fan. I have said for many years that the White Sox do not do a good enough job selling corporate season tickets which can insulate to some extent down years on the field.

My guess is that Machado stays w LA. Yankees and Dodgers may be players in the market: New York and the Dodgers are set to reset their base tax rates from 50 percent to 20 percent of the amount over next year's threshold of $206 million. That would put them in better position heading into a free-agent class that includes Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Josh Donaldson and potentially Clayton Kershaw, who has the right to opt out of his deal with the Dodgers. http://www.latimes.com/sports/mlb/la-sp-baseball-notes-20180912-story.html

Agree and the kid the Dodgers selected a few picks later was a bust. So we did good. But I wished they had passed and took that gawky Judge kid the Yankees took at #30..................................

He has above average range but also makes an above average number of errors. So his DWar makes him pretty average. Obviously errors is not the greatest stat but his number on total chances is one of the highest % in MLB.

He pretty much made the Yankees look hapless

It can be in some cases. Yankee and Red Sox management both must be under the assumption that broadcasting experience is the best training for a future manager as Cora and Boone have done pretty well their first year. Then again maybe you and I could win w those rosters.

I like Anderson . He improved at the plate but I wouldn't said "huge strides" . His walks went up but in all honesty they were pitiful last year. His power numbers jumped up but his average fell 17 points. Strike-outs improved as well. Overall his OPS jumped to 687 from 679 so it is progress. Funny watching Semien the other night, the announcers talked about how his defense has improved so much. I immediately thought of Anderson and that we should be patient w his defense. His D-war jumped this year so he is getting there.

Or some of the decent starters were not decent.

In fairness, injuries are caused by numerous factors including bad luck. I think the training staff has to be evaluated on players not being in shape, not recovering well. misses diagnosis etc.

FWIW--During the Red Sox/Yankee broadcast last weeknd, the crew was talking about the job Alex Cora has done. They noted his ability to relate to the players in the clubhouse. AJ praised Ozzie for the same qualities. Unfortunately, his commenst got cut a little short at the end of an inning when it looked like he was going to add more about Ozzie as a manager.

He played a limited number of games at 3B in minors and majors and struggled( understandably). Hahn moved him back to 2nd after the trade and he obviously prefers 2nd. Moving him to 3B should be a last resort.

That is a 20 game improvement. With no Kopech, I think that is a stretch. Now we are in a lousy division but I think 10-12 game improvement would be good.