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That’s what happens when you draft high schoolers. At almost every high school in the USA, the best player is the SS. Are you suggesting the Sox should instead draft players who lost out on the SS position to another kid? Especially when you remember the position played by high schoolers is irrelevant…

Actually 15th seems high. I mean, they did have a record roughly indicative of league average last year. But given their division, the chances of even making the postseason should be less than that. That’s why I don’t like Vegas odds as predictors of MLB. Certain teams have their odds artificially reduced by the amount of bets placed on them so as to minimize payouts just in case…

Daughter is a huge Cubs’ fans. I plan on going several times already anyway. And I do watch their games with her. Plus the Other Sox are always dirt cheap and never sell out, unless the team is winning, which is not expected this season. Very easy to get good seats even on game day…

It was 30th out of 30 four years ago. 14th might not excite you, but it is a massive step up…

I’m starting to think the Dodgers are stupid. So they’re taking the best defensive right fielder in the game today and moving him to SS why? Why not leave him in RF? Because of Jason Heyward? Crazy thought Dave Roberts - put Mookie in RF, Miguel Rojas back at SS, and bench Hayward. Problem solved. Geez. $300million dollar payroll with no shortstops. That’s just sad…

I do agree with every word here. But I think the overall lack of effort from the front office is still disappointing. And the only saving grace for the FO is there are still a few free agents left capable of making an impact…

But he was born a pauper to a pawn on Christmas Day when the New York Times said God is dead so he dumped his tobacco spittoon on a baby’s head. That actually rhymes better, sadly…

Up next - Lorenzen and German? Let's see how little they go for to other teams...

Stanek to the Mariners. notin favorite Brad Keller (whom notin admits he probably likes more than Keller actually deserves) to the White Sox. I do get avoiding Keller, who is coming off TOS. But Stanek was right there for only $4mill. Is that too much now?

That's my point. There is a rush to add someone to the 40 man, particularly if that someone is a pitcher still in search of a contract...

I agree. Unless his plan is to get the payroll so low he makes his money with revenue sharing, it doesn't make sense. In Chicago, for years the Blackhawks were owned by alcohol distributor Bill Wirtz, who decided to forego any TV deals for his team to force fans to attend games and purchase massively overpriced beverages, figuring that would be more lucrative. Instead it plunged the Blackhawks deep into irrelevancy. It was always a stupid plan. TV deals themselves can generate more money that beer sales. And by allowing the team to be broadcast, it stimulates greater interest. But by not being on TV, attendance plummeted to record lows and there was no one there to purchase all that booze. After Bill Wirtz died, his son took over and got the team back on TV. A couple extremely solid drafts later and the Hawks were the talk of Chicago winter sports and even went on to win the Stanley Cup 3 times. And more important to the Wirtz family, the team became a viable source of wealth again. Fans bought tickets. And once they bought tickets, they did purchase that booze. Fans want winning teams. Nothing excites especially the casual fan more...

They did try to extend Devers earlier, right after Bogaerts rebuffed the 4 year $90mill extension.. They offered Devers a deal similar to the extension Matt Olson received in Atlanta, with the article stating they viewed him as a first baseman long term. Devers did not agree with their assessment...

Also, you can't bring up that you like FIP and then call someone out for using it. Especially when comparing it favorably to two pitchers you have repeatedly called out the Sox for not bringing back...

Never should have been let go in the first place, and is always overlooked among the departed players.

Lance Lynn was right behind him with 20HRs. Is his career over too? (St. Louis felt differently.) And why is Houston wasting time with Hunter Brown, who gave up 17 HRs in that same stretch?

And that is where the moronicness? Moronosity? Moron-ness? Oooh - stupidity! I mean, if they signed Montgomery and Stanek, I think they could be competitive at the very least. German and Stanek? I'm less confident but at least appreciate that some effort was made. But something does need to be done quickly. Opening day is not that far away...

His FIP without the x in 2022 was 4.06. Better than the 2022 FIPs of both Wacha and Eovadi...

As an example of a pitcher whose weak finish did not indicate an injury was forthcoming. Because that's not always what a weak finish means...

Cleavon Little would be proud...

Thank you. It needed that...

You're correct. He did have 2.8 bWAR with the White Sox, but negative bWARs with both Cleveland and Anaheim...

The hard labeling of a 3/4 starter is subjective and therefore pointless. Giolito even in 2023 slotted int second in the Sox rotation using bWAR as a metric. Is it too much money for a #2?

His 2023, like it or not, would have had the second best bWAR among Sox starting pitchers, trailing only Bello. He was at the very least, an improvement...

I can agree with that. Giolito was an improvement, but not a game-changing one. They do still have time and opportunity to make a game-changing signing, but steadfastly refuse to do so. Again, they might not be wild about Montgomery or Snell. But they will need to make some sort of similar commitment in the very near future. And if they are intrigued by either, but are using Giolito's injury to postpone being competitive another year, one has to seriously question the direction and smarts of the decision-making...

Why? If I cited the worst ERA over that stretch, innings are necessary. But his 9.00 says enough and that it wasn’t a full compliment of innings doesn’t exactly help the case. I mean, what’s the defense? “You can’t expect Eovaldi’s weak performance to predict an injury, since he spent much of that stretch out injured.” But if you like, Eovaldi was limited to 20 IP over that stretch. And I strongly suspect he wasn’t limited to that small sample size because he was overly healthy…