They said during the broadcast yesterday that (now) 7 of their 8 wins have been during day games.

We already have a game thread. And there's  a "That's a Sox winner" thread from yesterday that's four pages. 

Just examples of how we just WANT and enjoy some wins. We want to be excited; we want to be proud of the team that we have followed for years and years. 

Dammit, just give us something, SOMETHING; not the worst team in the history of MLB. 

What was that emotion I felt when Vargas hit that home run yesterday . . . . .  Joy!!  Actual joy!

  I just want to feel that more often. Can't this organization just give us that a little more often?  Just a little something (hope?) to get us to 2027 and beyond?

56 minutes ago, vilehoopster said:

We already have a game thread. And there's  a "That's a Sox winner" thread from yesterday that's four pages. 

Just examples of how we just WANT and enjoy some wins. We want to be excited; we want to be proud of the team that we have followed for years and years. 

Dammit, just give us something, SOMETHING; not the worst team in the history of MLB. 

What was that emotion I felt when Vargas hit that home run yesterday . . . . .  Joy!!  Actual joy!

  I just want to feel that more often. Can't this organization just give us that a little more often?  Just a little something (hope?) to get us to 2027 and beyond?

Quero, Sosa, Baldwin, Meidroth, Vargas, Burke, Martin, Cannon, S. Smith, Vasil, Ellard. That's starting to look like the team going forward. Nothing to get all that excited about, but sure a nice base to add top prospects to. 

1 hour ago, WestEddy said:

Quero, Sosa, Baldwin, Meidroth, Vargas, Burke, Martin, Cannon, S. Smith, Vasil, Ellard. That's starting to look like the team going forward. Nothing to get all that excited about, but sure a nice base to add top prospects to. 

Don't forget Bryan Ramos. He is a real prospect. His little nagging injuries can't last forever, can they? Oh yeah, and Payton Pallette.

8 minutes ago, zisk said:

Don't forget Bryan Ramos. He is a real prospect. His little nagging injuries can't last forever, can they? Oh yeah, and Payton Pallette.

Sure. Those are the guys who will be added to the ones listed. I don't see this core as world beaters, but it's a nice, home-grown bunch who can put up winning seasons while they either add in free agency, or start trading the guys in arbitration, a la the Tampa Bay Rays. 

3 hours ago, vilehoopster said:

We already have a game thread. And there's  a "That's a Sox winner" thread from yesterday that's four pages. 

Just examples of how we just WANT and enjoy some wins. We want to be excited; we want to be proud of the team that we have followed for years and years. 

Dammit, just give us something, SOMETHING; not the worst team in the history of MLB. 

What was that emotion I felt when Vargas hit that home run yesterday . . . . .  Joy!!  Actual joy!

  I just want to feel that more often. Can't this organization just give us that a little more often?  Just a little something (hope?) to get us to 2027 and beyond?

Not when scrooge McDuck is your owner

3 hours ago, vilehoopster said:

We already have a game thread. And there's  a "That's a Sox winner" thread from yesterday that's four pages. 

Just examples of how we just WANT and enjoy some wins. We want to be excited; we want to be proud of the team that we have followed for years and years. 

Dammit, just give us something, SOMETHING; not the worst team in the history of MLB. 

What was that emotion I felt when Vargas hit that home run yesterday . . . . .  Joy!!  Actual joy!

  I just want to feel that more often. Can't this organization just give us that a little more often?  Just a little something (hope?) to get us to 2027 and beyond?

I think it was mostly @chitownsportsfan just wanted to get ahead of making a game thread in case he got busy today.

2 hours ago, WestEddy said:

Quero, Sosa, Baldwin, Meidroth, Vargas, Burke, Martin, Cannon, S. Smith, Vasil, Ellard. That's starting to look like the team going forward. Nothing to get all that excited about, but sure a nice base to add top prospects to. 

Man I just can't put Sosa in that group. He's at almost the same numbers he finished last year at (after being hot for the last month of 2024 or so), so it's not like that hot streak carried over. He also seems to make a completely boneheaded play once every other game. I'd rather play him than Vaughn or any of the other complete stiffs on the roster, but he's the odd man out once Tauchman, Slater and Rojas are back.

2 hours ago, WestEddy said:

Quero, Sosa, Baldwin, Meidroth, Vargas, Burke, Martin, Cannon, S. Smith, Vasil, Ellard. That's starting to look like the team going forward. Nothing to get all that excited about, but sure a nice base to add top prospects to. 

If we managed to accumulate a zero war starting line up, that would be a huge step forward.  We don't need superstars yet to do that much.  But these kid have to keep playing.

10 minutes ago, almagest said:

Man I just can't put Sosa in that group. He's at almost the same numbers he finished last year at (after being hot for the last month of 2024 or so), so it's not like that hot streak carried over. He also seems to make a completely boneheaded play once every other game. I'd rather play him than Vaughn or any of the other complete stiffs on the roster, but he's the odd man out once Tauchman, Slater and Rojas are back.

In no universe should you drop the cost controlled 25-year-old for 3 injured guys over 30 that are on 1-year deals.

26 minutes ago, Quin said:

In no universe should you drop the cost controlled 25-year-old for 3 injured guys over 30 that are on 1-year deals.

Cost control doesn't matter if he's not good, which in over 600 ABs he hasn't been. He'll need to hit better than a .650 OPS with bad defense to keep a starting role, even over injured 30+ year olds on 1 year deals.

It's not like his advanced stats are that great, either. If his BA and SLG lined up with the expected numbers on Baseball Savant he'd be solidly productive (probably a mid .700s OPS), but there's not a lot supporting that in his batted ball data. He doesn't barrel a lot of balls or hit them hard, likely because he swings at literally everything - 1% on chase %, and that's been a trend his entire career.

Edited May 2, 2025May 2 by almagest

12 minutes ago, almagest said:

Cost control doesn't matter if he's not good, which in over 600 ABs he hasn't been. He'll need to hit better than a .650 OPS with bad defense to keep a starting role, even over injured 30+ year olds on 1 year deals.

It's not like his advanced stats are that great, either. If his BA and SLG lined up with the expected numbers on Baseball Savant he'd be solidly productive (probably a mid .700s OPS), but there's not a lot supporting that in his batted ball data. He doesn't barrel a lot of balls or hit them hard, likely because he swings at literally everything - 1% on chase %, and that's been a trend his entire career.

Slater just had a sub-.600 OPS in 2024, Rojas was .641 in back-to-back years, and Tauchman is 34-years-old and hurt himself running the bases (sound familiar?).

If we're including Vargas in the future group due to a hot streak after being one of the worst in baseball for a year+, we might as well include Sosa because he's been on a streak of hitting the ball hard (I wish I could pull the numbers they ran during a game this past week).

39 minutes ago, almagest said:

Man I just can't put Sosa in that group. He's at almost the same numbers he finished last year at (after being hot for the last month of 2024 or so), so it's not like that hot streak carried over. He also seems to make a completely boneheaded play once every other game. I'd rather play him than Vaughn or any of the other complete stiffs on the roster, but he's the odd man out once Tauchman, Slater and Rojas are back.

Sosa's young, can hit at some level, and as he ages, he's going to add power. I don't ever see him as being above an average major leaguer, but he's certainly a guy who can play 1B, LF, or DH until they bring up somebody to knock him out of his spot. 

38 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

If we managed to accumulate a zero war starting line up, that would be a huge step forward.  We don't need superstars yet to do that much.  But these kid have to keep playing.

Baldwin's the only one who seems to be at or below replacement level. I don't know exactly how positional WAR works, but B-R might be dinging him for moving around and not building up a body of work at a single position so a miscue doesn't count against his time at that position as much. 

Despite the lazy idea behind them, I'm looking forward to seeing the new city connects. I can imagine liking them from a change of pace standpoint the first couple times they were them, but getting sick of them pretty quickly once the novelty wears off.

19 minutes ago, Quin said:

Slater just had a sub-.600 OPS in 2024, Rojas was .641 in back-to-back years, and Tauchman is 34-years-old and hurt himself running the bases (sound familiar?).

If we're including Vargas in the future group due to a hot streak after being one of the worst in baseball for a year+, we might as well include Sosa because he's been on a streak of hitting the ball hard (I wish I could pull the numbers they ran during a game this past week).

Rojas had 2 years before that in the mid .700s, he was much better in 2023 after being traded to Seattle (.720 OPS), and he still put up 2.2 bWAR last year due to his defense.

Slater was looking decent before his injury and was much better after moving to Baltimore last year. He was also a pretty consistent ~110 OPS+ guy for SF in 2021-2023.

Assuming Tauchman comes back from his injury alright he should be able to post a 100 OPS+, which when platooning with Slater is just fine, and much better than they'd likely get from Sosa.

I also think you're discounting how BAD Sosa's chase rate is. 1st percentile means he's either worst or second worst of the 168 qualified hitters in MLB right now. He'll never be any better than he has been if he doesn't fix this (probably worse), no matter how hard he hits the ball when he's actually swinging at barrel-able pitches.

22 minutes ago, almagest said:

Cost control doesn't matter if he's not good, which in over 600 ABs he hasn't been. He'll need to hit better than a .650 OPS with bad defense to keep a starting role, even over injured 30+ year olds on 1 year deals.

It's not like his advanced stats are that great, either. If his BA and SLG lined up with the expected numbers on Baseball Savant he'd be solidly productive (probably a mid .700s OPS), but there's not a lot supporting that in his batted ball data. He doesn't barrel a lot of balls or hit them hard, likely because he swings at literally everything - 1% on chase %, and that's been a trend his entire career.

Sosa's defense has actually improved to "middling". He ranks at the end of the middle third of 2B with 60+ PAs. I think his absolute ceiling is as a 2-WAR utility/DH. Of course, when better players come along, he should be pushed out. I think he would be a more productive 1B than Vaughn. A Meidroth/Sosa double play combo works for a rebuilding season. As he gets a few years older, he might have enough power numbers to cover LF adequately, again, until Wolkow or someone pushes him out. 

23 minutes ago, Snopek said:

Despite the lazy idea behind them, I'm looking forward to seeing the new city connects. I can imagine liking them from a change of pace standpoint the first couple times they were them, but getting sick of them pretty quickly once the novelty wears off.

I think it's going to make them feel cool and confident and they will hit 4 homers tonight.

25 minutes ago, almagest said:

Rojas had 2 years before that in the mid .700s, he was much better in 2023 after being traded to Seattle (.720 OPS), and he still put up 2.2 bWAR last year due to his defense.

Slater was looking decent before his injury and was much better after moving to Baltimore last year. He was also a pretty consistent ~110 OPS+ guy for SF in 2021-2023.

Assuming Tauchman comes back from his injury alright he should be able to post a 100 OPS+, which when platooning with Slater is just fine, and much better than they'd likely get from Sosa.

I also think you're discounting how BAD Sosa's chase rate is. 1st percentile means he's either worst or second worst of the 168 qualified hitters in MLB right now. He'll never be any better than he has been if he doesn't fix this (probably worse), no matter how hard he hits the ball when he's actually swinging at barrel-able pitches.

They're also injured dudes over 30 trending downwards. They're by definition not in the team's future plans. Them getting injured means they'll have limited-to-no trade value.

Fletcher has also found second life in Charlotte, so that's another guy who might come up and need at-bats. You have the over-30s so you can drop them, not so you can keep them and get rid of younger guys.

23 minutes ago, PaleAleSox said:

I think it's going to make them feel cool and confident and they will hit 4 homers tonight.

Robert or Benintendi...they are the primary "models," along w/ Vaughn.

7 minutes ago, Quin said:

They're also injured dudes over 30 trending downwards. They're by definition not in the team's future plans. Them getting injured means they'll have limited-to-no trade value.

Fletcher has also found second life in Charlotte, so that's another guy who might come up and need at-bats. You have the over-30s so you can drop them, not so you can keep them and get rid of younger guys.

At least nobody has mentioned Julks as an option again...he might receive the same mixed reaction from Getz as pointed Elko/Vaughn questions.

7 minutes ago, Quin said:

They're also injured dudes over 30 trending downwards. They're by definition not in the team's future plans. Them getting injured means they'll have limited-to-no trade value.

Fletcher has also found second life in Charlotte, so that's another guy who might come up and need at-bats. You have the over-30s so you can drop them, not so you can keep them and get rid of younger guys.

I'd be fine bringing Fletcher back up and replacing Tauchman to see what he can do.

I don't disagree that's how you handle over 30 players on your roster when you're rebuilding. I'm saying Sosa has a terrible, likely unfixable flaw in his approach and isn't one of the guys you'd do that for.

38 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

Sosa's defense has actually improved to "middling". He ranks at the end of the middle third of 2B with 60+ PAs. I think his absolute ceiling is as a 2-WAR utility/DH. Of course, when better players come along, he should be pushed out. I think he would be a more productive 1B than Vaughn. A Meidroth/Sosa double play combo works for a rebuilding season. As he gets a few years older, he might have enough power numbers to cover LF adequately, again, until Wolkow or someone pushes him out. 

His defense is improved but he still makes boneheaded plays. He's definitely not going to hit 2 WAR as a DH because he doesn't have the hit tool for it. Maybe as a utility infielder/LF (assuming he gets enough playtime), but even then I don't think so because he makes such poor swing decisions and isn't a guy you'd bring in for his defense (that's Rojas). I also don't think "maybe an alright utility infielder" is a role you prioritize. You can find those guys for cheap anywhere.

I hope he discovers how to not swing at everything and makes me look like a fool. I just don't think it's likely.

Edited May 2, 2025May 2 by almagest

1 hour ago, southsider2k5 said:

If we managed to accumulate a zero war starting line up, that would be a huge step forward.  We don't need superstars yet to do that much.  But these kid have to keep playing.

Shockingly we have some decent starts on the WAR for position players. The only two bums are Vaughn and Amaya, everybody else is at least neutral or positive. Compared to last year that is some small progress. I guess Palacios is under now that I look again, but he should be off the team soon hopefully.

Also, Vaughn is now alone at -1 fWAR as the WORST PLAYER IN MLB.

Edited May 2, 2025May 2 by chitownsportsfan

8 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said:

Shockingly we have some decent starts on the WAR for position players. The only two bums are Vaughn and Amaya, everybody else is at least neutral or positive. Compared to last year that is some small progress.

Also, Vaughn is now alone at -1 fWAR as the WORST PLAYER IN MLB.

One of the only things Soxtalk is united on is "get that bum Vaughn off this team".