Crochet speaks...

[77 Hitmen]

3 hours ago, The Mighty Mite said:

I’m not sure how to feel about this as I believe a former employee probably shouldn’t knock has former employer as you never know what will happen down the road. That being said with the White Sox being what they have been the last 3 years we are in uncharted territory with the franchise in free fall and with an owner who deserves all the bad things that have been said about him as they are probably the most dysfunctional organization in pro sports and I’m sure just about any player can’t wait to be traded away from this mess.  

 

I just read the Sun-Times article linked here.  I agree with the general sentiment in your first sentence, but I didn't see anything that Crochet said in the article that was uncalled for or unprofessional.  His response came off as pretty reasonable to me considering what you summed up nicely in your 2nd sentence.  

And unlike some other ex-players who have commented on the state of the Sox organization over the last few years, it's not like Crochet can be told to take a look in the mirror and acknowledge his own underperformance or poor clubhouse chemistry issues in contributing to this train wreck. 

I hope he goes on to have a fantastic career and does well except when he's facing the White Sox.  

[tray]

On 4/12/2025 at 9:00 AM, southsider2k5 said:

This is wild after you spend all day, everyday, screaming that the Sox/Getz can't possibly be responsible for all of the bad things happening.  Great job disqualifying your own opinion.  Again.

Too personal. Be better.

[caulfield12]

“I was aware of the no-hitter since the first batter,” Crochet said. “That’s just kind of who I am, I suppose. A blessing and a curse.”

bostonglobe.com/sports

 

Gets another opportunity against the Sox in Boston this weekend...

[oldsox]

I was aware of the no hitter before the first hitter. What a great pitcher. And we had him. Should have paid him, or at least tried.

[PaleAleSox]

2 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

“I was aware of the no-hitter since the first batter,” Crochet said. “That’s just kind of who I am, I suppose. A blessing and a curse.”

bostonglobe.com/sports

 

Gets another opportunity against the Sox in Boston this weekend...

And then the geek didn't even get a shut out. Pathetic. 

[Texsox]

It's all about winning and losing. Winning and you look great, lose and the don't. No one really wants to be a part of a losing club. 

We know the organization isn't among the elite. We know there can be improvements in basically everything. 

[southsider2k5]

7 hours ago, tray said:

Too personal. Be better.

You are in here calling people names over Jerry's stadium and selling the team.  Have more self-awareness.

[tray]

1 hour ago, southsider2k5 said:

You are in here calling people names over Jerry's stadium and selling the team.  Have more self-awareness.

Your posts too often lack relevance and substance, not because you are not knowledgeable, but because you are consumed with one-upmanship. You almost never just let something go without having the last word and maybe tossing in a personal dig.  If there is any consolation, you are not alone among posters on internet forums. Thus my thought about trying to be better.

[southsider2k5]

8 minutes ago, tray said:

Your posts too often lack relevance and substance, not because you are not knowledgeable, but because you are consumed with one-upmanship. You almost never just let something go without having the last word and maybe tossing in a personal dig.  If there is any consolation, you are not alone among posters on internet forums. Thus my thought about trying to be better.

This is a full confession.  Do better.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

On 4/12/2025 at 5:55 AM, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Weren't you crediting the White Sox for Crochets development into a starter? 

I mentioned it seemed unlikely given that it was off-season changes which are typically externally-driven. 

This quote tells you that Garrett's next step was done outside the Sox purview.

You do everyone in the Sox organization a great disservice if you are trying to say Crochet alone is responsible for his success.

I'd like to recommend all people interested in the process of developing Crochet in the off season leading up to his breakout as a starting pitcher in 2024 go here 

I'd recommend listening to the whole thing but they don't get into talking about Crochet until the podcast is half over.

Just listening to Bannister talk about elite training year round for pitchers, Trajeckt Machines, Tommy John surgery etc. is a must for anyone who wants to really know how developing Crochet was a true team effort.

There is also so much more out there from Crochet too crediting the people in the organization . Might be an interview with Crochet too somewhere in the Baseball Isn't Boring Podcast episodes.

I think anyone interested in being fair has to acknowledge the Sox had a strong role in getting Crochet to where he is right now.

[pcq]

I was aware during warmups I had a perfecto going but that just me. I don't even remember pitching in this place. 

[hi8is]

On 4/12/2025 at 12:54 AM, nrockway said:

That isn't an applicable analogy because this doesn't really have anything to do with the White Sox. Any player could say this about any team and it would still look petty. It's very easy to just say nothing (again, like Giolito, a good guy and a clear leader. let me know when he says something, I might change my perspective. I think Gio has even better reason than the rest to talk trash, frankly). A normal person in Crochet's situation would either say nothing or simply be grateful that he was put in a position and given the tools to go out and "earn" 170 million dollars. Alongside his weird, unprecedented "demand" last season, it makes me think Crochet is kind of a dick. I guess a rich dick now. I still wish him the best and I hope he continues along a HOF trajectory, he's an incredible pitcher. I wish Lance the best too, I just think he's pwning himself and not the Sox and that he looks silly and if he was less of a dick some team would probably still be paying him to pitch. I think he torched his "veteran leader" reputation when he talked all that trash on his way out the door and probably a couple million dollars alongside.

Regarding what players think about the Sox generally, why I think Sox players specifically are making this noise -- you think these players don't see the same stuff we do and are influenced by it? how could Crochet have perspective on how other teams operate relative to the White Sox? They're glued to their phones more than we are. How could he know how the Red Sox operate, he's been there for a month. For how historic a landmark it is, the facilities at Fenway are obviously not better than SoxPark and Henry is objectively a bigger piece of s%*# than Reinsdorf is.

 

anyway, I think the thing to take away from this is that these are fundamentally criticisms directed toward Kenny and Hahn...and that Crochet is probably bitter that Getz didn't kowtow to his bizarre demand, even the getz haterz seemed to appreciate his hardball approach to that nonsense.

Words.

[hi8is]

17 hours ago, southsider2k5 said:

This is a full confession.  Do better.

I have long felt bad for the admin team. It’s a shame ya’ll can’t use the Hall of Fame List.

Keeps it much better and hell, you would have been able to avoid years of my poop too.

[hi8is]

15 hours ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

You do everyone in the Sox organization a great disservice if you are trying to say Crochet alone is responsible for his success.

I'd like to recommend all people interested in the process of developing Crochet in the off season leading up to his breakout as a starting pitcher in 2024 go here 

I'd recommend listening to the whole thing but they don't get into talking about Crochet until the podcast is half over.

Just listening to Bannister talk about elite training year round for pitchers, Trajeckt Machines, Tommy John surgery etc. is a must for anyone who wants to really know how developing Crochet was a true team effort.

There is also so much more out there from Crochet too crediting the people in the organization . Might be an interview with Crochet too somewhere in the Baseball Isn't Boring Podcast episodes.

I think anyone interested in being fair has to acknowledge the Sox had a strong role in getting Crochet to where he is right now.

Best post in this thread.

[Kyyle23]

1 hour ago, hi8is said:

I have long felt bad for the admin team. It’s a shame ya’ll can’t use the Hall of Fame List.

Keeps it much better and hell, you would have been able to avoid years of my poop too.

Ha!  I don’t know if I ever would use that list even if i wasn’t an admin.  how else would I know that tray is calling someone a liar about where they live because he doesn’t like their opinions on the Sox? Can’t find that kind of entertainment everywhere, and then as an added bonus we get his thoughts on billionaires so honestly what’s the hall of fame list even for 

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

2 hours ago, hi8is said:

Best post in this thread.

Thanks. At the beginning it's interesting to hear him talk about the splitter and how all the best Japanese pitchers throw it. I haven't noticed too many Sox pitchers throwing a splitter. Maybe one will master it .

[caulfield12]

12 minutes ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

Thanks. At the beginning it's interesting to hear him talk about the splitter and how all the best Japanese pitchers throw it. I haven't noticed too many Sox pitchers throwing a splitter. Maybe one will master it .

• White Sox Shane Smith has a new sinker. He broke it out today, exclusively versus Alex Bregman the second and third time he faced him. The shape looks good—93.5 mph with ~7.5” vertical break 17” arm-side movement, more arm-side than the average sinker at slightly below average velocity. I’d expect this pitch to be used more on the inner third versus other righties, especially to set up his slider down-away to righties. Smith’s four-seam is still somewhat of a limiter, relying on off-barrel contact in-zone for his overall level of success. He’s been aggressively locating the pitch middle to either handedness. The success of that pitch is where my concern lies from a full-season POV, but if the White Sox get ~1.5 WAR out of his arm over ~130 IP, it was a smash of a Rule 5 pick. 

• https://lancebroz.substack.com/p/rays-joe-boyle-splinker-white-sox-shane-smith

Edited Tuesday at 11:32 AM by caulfield12

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

25 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

• White Sox Shane Smith has a new sinker. He broke it out today, exclusively versus Alex Bregman the second and third time he faced him. The shape looks good—93.5 mph with ~7.5” vertical break 17” arm-side movement, more arm-side than the average sinker at slightly below average velocity. I’d expect this pitch to be used more on the inner third versus other righties, especially to set up his slider down-away to righties. Smith’s four-seam is still somewhat of a limiter, relying on off-barrel contact in-zone for his overall level of success. He’s been aggressively locating the pitch middle to either handedness. The success of that pitch is where my concern lies from a full-season POV, but if the White Sox get ~1.5 WAR out of his arm over ~130 IP, it was a smash of a Rule 5 pick. 

I did say in another post that I wasn't up to date on what Shane Smith has been working on. Again for all those who crucify Milwaukee in hindsight you do the Sox coaches a great disservice by thinking it's a just a Milwaukee screw up. There are a lot guys with good arms. One new learned pitch, one new grip can change  your whole arsenal or improve your command , spin rate, sequencing.

A sinker is a bit different than a splitter.  Maybe some coaches use the words to mean the same pitch. Hard to know unless you really get a good explanation. I'd put it on my list of things to talk to Bannister about . I do remember reading that somewhere.It just hadn't " sunk" in yet. 😋 It's like when you study. For it to stick in your memory banks you either have to make a mental note of it, take notes to reread later,  or just the fact that you write it down reinforces the memory . Where did you get that from ?

Edited Tuesday at 11:51 AM by CaliSoxFanViaSWside

[Kyyle23]

35 minutes ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

I did say in another post that I wasn't up to date on what Shane Smith has been working on. Again for all those who crucify Milwaukee in hindsight you do the Sox coaches a great disservice by thinking it's a just a Milwaukee screw up. There are a lot guys with good arms. One new learned pitch, one new grip can change  your whole arsenal or improve your command , spin rate, sequencing.

A sinker is a bit different than a splitter.  Maybe some coaches use the words to mean the same pitch. Hard to know unless you really get a good explanation. I'd put it on my list of things to talk to Bannister about . I do remember reading that somewhere.It just hadn't " sunk" in yet. 😋 It's like when you study. For it to stick in your memory banks you either have to make a mental note of it, take notes to reread later,  or just the fact that you write it down reinforces the memory . Where did you get that from ?

Maybe he has both grips but the splitter is being worked in and just isn’t there yet.  I want to say sinker your finger is on a seam which causes the sharp drop, and the best splitters your fingers are next to but not really touching the seam, and your hand creates that downward knuckle motion on the release, so you get the drop in different appearances.   That would be a pretty awesome couple of tools in his repertoire to go back and forth from if he can master it

[caulfield12]

1 hour ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

I did say in another post that I wasn't up to date on what Shane Smith has been working on. Again for all those who crucify Milwaukee in hindsight you do the Sox coaches a great disservice by thinking it's a just a Milwaukee screw up. There are a lot guys with good arms. One new learned pitch, one new grip can change  your whole arsenal or improve your command , spin rate, sequencing.

A sinker is a bit different than a splitter.  Maybe some coaches use the words to mean the same pitch. Hard to know unless you really get a good explanation. I'd put it on my list of things to talk to Bannister about . I do remember reading that somewhere.It just hadn't " sunk" in yet. 😋 It's like when you study. For it to stick in your memory banks you either have to make a mental note of it, take notes to reread later,  or just the fact that you write it down reinforces the memory . Where did you get that from ?

https://www.mlb.com/news/paul-skenes-splinker-fools-hitters-in-mlb-debut
There’s also now the splinker…splitter combined with a sinker.

 

https://www.mlb.com/news/justin-martinez-splitter-statcast-analysis

Edited Tuesday at 01:12 PM by caulfield12

[zisk]

I don't like hearing our ex players ripping us. If we're honest about it, we deserve it. The Sox are being run like a

beer league softball team. I can't do a damn thing about it, and that is frustrating. For myself I'm stuck being a

Sox fan. Couldn't change even if I wanted to. I just hope I outlive JR.

[vilehoopster]

With all this talk about how great Crochet is and how much the White Sox suck, people seem to be forgetting that if Baldwin (an inexperienced outfielder, especially at Rate Field) catches that very catchable deep fly in RF when there were two outs; if he had caught that, there's probably a 50/50 chance, at best for Boston, that Crochet ends the day taking a 1 to 0 loss, and Boston leaves town being swept. 

Edited Tuesday at 02:45 PM by vilehoopster
mispelling

[Tony]

8 minutes ago, vilehoopster said:

With all this talk about how great Crochet is and how much the White Sox suck, people seem to be forgetting that if Baldwin (an inexperienced outfielder, especially at Rate Field) catches that very catchable deep fly in RF when there were two outs; if he had caught that, there's probably a 50/50 chance, at best for Boston, that Crochet ends the day taking a 1 to 0 loss, and Boston leaves town being swept. 

And he would have still ended the game going 7.1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB and 11 K's. 

Crochet will be in contention for AL Cy Young this season, and the White Sox have the fewest wins in the American League. 

So I ask...

[southsider2k5]

13 minutes ago, vilehoopster said:

With all this talk about how great Crochet is and how much the White Sox suck, people seem to be forgetting that if Baldwin (an inexperienced outfielder, especially at Rate Field) catches that very catchable deep fly in RF when there were two outs; if he had caught that, there's probably a 50/50 chance, at best for Boston, that Crochet ends the day taking a 1 to 0 loss, and Boston leaves town being swept. 

So your flex is that the worst team in baseball didn't hit, and committed a key error to lose a game they didn't have to lose and that is supposed to be some sort of in your face moment?  Dude that is literally the reason everyone is so pissed off.  People have been watching exactly that on the field for years and are sick of it.  I think you finally discovered the point.

[JoeC]

1 hour ago, vilehoopster said:

With all this talk about how great Crochet is and how much the White Sox suck, people seem to be forgetting that if Baldwin (an inexperienced outfielder, especially at Rate Field) catches that very catchable deep fly in RF when there were two outs; if he had caught that, there's probably a 50/50 chance, at best for Boston, that Crochet ends the day taking a 1 to 0 loss, and Boston leaves town being swept. 

So Crochet could have walked off the mound at Rate Field on the losing end of a 1-0 game like he never left Chicago?