Timmy U

Um, why would a contending team want Julio Tehran?

Absolutely. But there are exceptions. Look at Strasburg. He was like a second round guy, but then took conditioning seriously and vaulted to 1-1. If Kelley has projection left from slimming down, that would really enhance his profile.

I wouldn’t expect younger, high-risk, high-ceiling guys to make the list. With AAA starting in April and everyone else starting in May, you really have to limit who’s hanging around the complex. Note that the younger guys who got an invite are mostly big bonus guys. Hence Cespedes and not Bailey. Also, Cespedes and Sanchez are both older. Sucks, cuz I’d like to see them, but it makes sense.

He has to answer two other questions before they give him a shot: Does he hit left-handed and is he breathing?

Agreed. If he was just above .500 for his career would they have fired him? Insisted on treatment? I think they are out of their depth on this one. I liked silence better than this statement.

I will grant you he had a down year in 2020, but I do question the surplus value of a maximum 3 WAR player who derives most of his value against LHP, and makes $16 mil a year. One problem with FA signings is that the signing team paid the most ANY team was willing to pay a guy. Sox could have had him for “free” coming off a much better year and chose not to. Why would they change their minds now?

Eh, he was worth 0.1 WAR and had an OPS+ of 102 last year. And he did almost all his damage against LHP. Oh, and he makes $16 mil a year. I wouldn’t take him for “free” either.

I understand extra year of control, but the reports are he's throwing the heck out of the ball. Managing his innings is going to be the challenge. I do not believe that come Opening Day the White Sox will have 13 pitchers more effective than Michael Kopech. I say, let him throw his 90-110 innings in the majors. Imagine him as a three-inning Opener, followed by three innings of Crochet instead of having a 5th starter. I wouldn't want to face that.

I understand the theory of clawing back a year from Kopech, but otherwise why would you want him wasting a limited amount of bullets in AAA? If he's only gonna throw 90-110 innings this year, don't you want them in the majors?

I love Dunning, but ultimately he was not in the top tier in the Sox’s view. I think they still have Cease and Kopech ahead of him, and they like Crochet and Kelley more as well. Plus, he’s 26. Maybe we’ve seen his upside? It’s a great trade for the Rangers, but I can see why the Sox would do it.

Personally, I live in NYC and a bunch of my friends are Mets fans, so at least I'll get to see James a few times in person a year. If it can't be the Sox, the Mets are fine by me.

TLR wouldn't take the breathalizer. Made the cop get a search warrant for his blood. Then that was .095. Have no idea how quick the warrant was, but one imagines if he had blown right away, it would have been higher. It's just sad in this day and age that the team won't even comment cuz it really seems like they're condoning this behavior.

Here's the answer to Steve Stone's riddle of why it's okay to have an opinion on this: In Arizona, if you are arrested for DUI and continue to refuse the breathalyzer, then you'll have to surrender your license immediately. Moreover, you'll lose your license automatically for at least a year. ... Refusing the test is a violation of implied consent, and license suspension is the automatic penalty. https://monitechnc.com/stopped-for-dui-in-arizona-do-i-refuse-the-breath-test/#:~:text=In Arizona%2C if you are,for at least a year.&text=Refusing the test is a,suspension is the automatic penalty.

I honest to God can not remember ever being this discouraged as a Sox fan — and my Dad had season tickets to the 1976 Sox when I was a kid. If they hire La Russa, I have no idea what I’ll do. Probably just step back from following the team and posting here for awhile. Might switch to following a different team or something. The whole thing just sucks. So glad I stuck by the team through the rebuild so it can be turned over to that divisive, egotistical jerk. Well, I guess thank God they traded Tatis Jr. because no way would Tony have approved of him.

I believe he has said as much due to estate taxes.

If JR voted that way cuz he thinks the guy’s a crook, I applaud him. So little weight is given to moral character in our society, and it leads to a lot of bad outcomes.

The Sox weren’t juicing. Lots of players and lots of teams weren’t. The A’s were at the bleeding edge of cheating along with the Rangers. Also, Astros weren’t the only ones electronically stealing signs. That’s why Manfred sent the memo. The Red Sox were certainly doing it, and people had strong suspicions about the Yankees. I believe Chris Sale had some fairly strong suspicions about the Tigers as well. I am no fan of the Astros, I’m just saying, if we’re gonna be anti-cheaters, those A’s teams were among the worst I have seen.

It just occurred to me that anyone who’s upset about Hinch and cheating might want to look at LaRussa’s tenure with the A’s. That whole team was roiding. I remember McGwire was out for like a year and a half with a foot thing. He came off the DL and after 18 months off he was way better hitter. Suddenly he could get to the high fastball. Everyone knew they were juicing, but baseball didn’t care.

Maybe the Dodgers will can Roberts so they can beat Reinsdorf to LaRussa?

We should have a barf reaction. I don’t doubt this is good info, it would just ruin my fandom. Giving this exciting young team to that sour curmudgeon would depress the hell out of me. I might have to do the unthinkable: start watching the Mets.

Giolito credited Renteria and Cooper for standing by him; the actual changes were suggested by Adam Katz. For the record, I stood by Giolito during that time as well. Not sure if it helped.

I wonder if the change in pitching coach is going to have an effect on this calculus. In recent years, Cooper's record of helping top prospects transition into MLB starters was abysmal. Lopez regressed, and this year when they wanted to fix him they sent him to Zaleski. Cease looks considerably worse than he did in AA. Sure, his ERA was better this year but his peripherals collapsed from 2019 to 2020. I guess you can cite Giolito, but there's no evidence Cooper was involved in that at all. Long term, if they don't get that fixed, it's not going to matter if they sign Bauer or trade for somebody. No organization is gonna thrive if they can't develop their players.

I'm old enough to remember this. There were definitely hard feelings. The Sox reporting of the agent was unusual at the time. I believe Hinch didn't sign the paper allowing them to redraft him out of Stanford. That's why I was surprised he seemed to be the leading candidate. Then I read the report that Hahn worked for his agent at the time, Jeff Moorad. Apparently, this is long-forgotten by both sides now, but at the time it was quite heated.

So? La Russa is very close to Vance Law and would try to get him to come to Chicago.

Good lord. How does he still have a job???