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Sogard as the starting 3b? I mean, at least play Story there. Story has a large set of issues, but one of them isn’t that he’s a step down from Nick Sogard. I think it is time to push Story to 2b and Mayer to SS, which is far from an original solution. Durbin is just going to have to hit, because the Sox really don’t have anyone between him and IKF for 3b. Unless they can somehow figure out a way to get Braiden Ward into the lineup (which I’m sure is not on the radar)…

Clearly the White Sox, who made that choice and undoubtedly had other offers for Crochet…

For the bench role, I prefer the versatility and defense from IKF. Durbin has only played one position in his MLB career with a couple smatterings at 2b and SS. Granted he wasn’t going to play much 2nd in Milwaukee without something going wrong. IKF is the better and more versatile defender, but what he isn’t is a viable platoon option, which is how he is being used. If Durbin has a higher ceiling, he’s probably better used as a starter, preferably at 2b, with Mayer moving to SS. The issue for this isn’t IKF; it’s Story. DFA IKF in order to bench Durbin, and who plays 3b? Monasterio? Romero? Sogard? Cheng? Resurrect the bloated corpse of current free agent DJ LaMahieu? Ironically the best available 3b at that point might be IKF. Or possibly journeyman Emmanuel Rivera and his Mexican League .769 OPS. But all he really brings to the table is the best beard in MLB. Seriously. It is so perfect it looks like a CGI beard…

And since this is a Duran thread - he is not hitting RHP. It's not "roster construction", or having to DH (he has 11 PA as a DH, none since March 31) and not even switching to CF on occasion, something he has done a lot the last couple years. And all this speculation about him needing to play regularly is just that - speculation, Duran is hitting lefties pretty well (.739OPS), so roster construction doesn't seem to be impacting him there, And 20 of his 88 PA have come vs LHP, Interestingly, he has only 3 Ks in 20 PA vs LHP and 20 K in 68PA vs RHP. Big issue. RHP in general has killed Duran this year (.505 OPS) Duran also has a .238 BABIP vs RHP. Last year it was .347. The year before it was .352. The reason for the low BABIP? I'm glad you asked. Duran has seen his LD% from from the 18-25% range down to 6.9%, and instead he seems to be hitting more ground balls, which are successful for hits about 1/3 of the time as line drives. He also has a career high pop up thing going on, but that could be nothing at this point in the season. Barrels are up, but hard hit% and EV are down. It's like he is just above or just below the ball. So Duran has become a groundball machine that is struggling to hit RHP. He's been doing better since being dropped down in the 6-7 spots in the order, but I doubt there is anything to this. He needs to hit more line drives vs RHP. Maybe keep him away from Fatse?

Who knew Tristan Gray was the one that got away?

Bello was an odd choice to lock up because he was never an elite prospect and never ranked by any scouting organization anywhere, which is really weird when you consider the same cannot be said about Henry Owens and Trey Ball. Move Bello to the bullpen and keep Tolle in the rotation…

Dombrowski eould be useless here. His powers come from being able to soend lots and lots of money, which Henry didnt want to do anymore. And it’s not like his Phillies are any better right now. They started out 6-4 and are 2-14 since, and have dropped behind the Mets, who’ve had their own 11 game losing streak already. First division ever with two 10-game losing streaks in April?

The big issue with this team is a CBO who tried to build a lineup for “run prevention” and a manager who clearly doesn’t give a s*** about that. Fire them both. I’m almost positive Cora is trying to get Breslow fired anyway…

So the difference between “great super utility player” and “can’t be DFAd fast enough” lies somewhere between an OPS of .452 and .412….

Hamilton wasn’t a bad player. Most people that wanted him gone was so “Cora wouldn’t be able to keep starting him.” Thats just bad logic. If that was indeed the issue, Hamilton is not the problem. Cora is…

1. Hes only moved Devers and Sale from your list of MLB talent. Pivetta left via free agency, which happens. 2. From your minor league list, he’s only moved Teel and Yorke. Well, he moved Fitts, but he also acquired him in the first place…

Cora clearly agrees since Duran has not DH'd since March. Maybe playing every day helps Duran, but his funk started very early this year and he’s been their worst offensive outfielder all season. At what point do you prioritize putting your best lineup on the field over trying to get certain hitters going?

Keep Ceddane on CF. Call up Ward for 2b and leadoff. Move Bello to the bullpen. Cut/return Watson.

Jim Hendry? Is that you? The Cubs have won 9 games in a row headlined by mediocre pitching, timely hitting and immaculate defense. They just took 4 from Philly, who played sloppy defense and had extremely weak situational hitting. Don’t sleep on defense. If you do, you put even more pressure on your offense.

This past offseason? Probably that they didn’t want to go with Arias, as he only had 10 games above A ball on his resume. Also they were probably hesitant to deal Mayer and preferred to move Duran, given that OF was their depth and INF wasn’t. And speaking of Duran, where is he in this scenario? And I really doubt Cora wanted to move Story to a weak side DH role, especially after the disaster of trying to move Devers around. Is Harrison replacing Suarez?

Sixth in tax payroll by the same site. https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/tax

I am no Watson fan either, but apparently the team feels differently. If their goal is hard flyballs, they’re failing miserably, sign or not. Maybe I gave them too much credit…

Actually it seems like Cora does prioritize player morale, or at least he acted that way in all the stories surrounding his (un)involvement with Devers. And very likely why Story is still at shortstop, The Rivera thing is a non-issue. Every team does things like that because they demote the player with options. Rivera had an exciting debut, and he will be back. But no team is DFAing an MLB pitcher in April to hold on to a rookie who had one good appearance. That can backfire quickly, badly and frequently. And it rarely leads to public issues, with Tommy La Stella remaining the lone exception (and that was much later in the year involving a non-pitcher). The Sox hitting approach looks like they want to avoid flyballs, which are the high risk/high reward outcome from a batter. Nearly every hitter has a good line drive rate, with the line drive being the safest type of batted ball. But the issue is failing to hit a line drive usually results in a groundball or pop up, and nearly every Sox hitter is high in both of those as well. The lone exception actually hitting flyballs is Mayer. And he doesn’t play everyday. Not every hitter has or wants or is comfortable with a line drive swing. No idea which Sox hitters are or aren’t but it looks like their teams use approach to hitting is “hit as many line drives as possible and hope it works out.” And I doubt every hitter on this team is comfortable with that approach. Bregman stories are all around about his influence as a batting coach. No idea how much truth in them; it’s never been brought up in Chicago, where the Cubs offense is clicking on all cylinders anyway.

Contreras has spent plenty of time showing he is nothing more than emergency catcher. And also that he is the catcher most likely to create an emergency…

Just 3 more games for a win!

1. Nothing will change until they fire Cora. The reason they still have Pete Fatse? Clearly- because Cora wants him. So Cora must go, too. 2. Alonso and Bregman were just free agency for the sake of free agency. No one WANTED Polar Bear Pete. But he was available, so he got way more love than his one-dimensional ass deserved. Spending for the sake of spending is how bad teams get built. 3. Durbin failed to excite me from Day One. I want him to prove me wrong. But so far, nope.

So you think Miami goes for that deal despite turning down better offers involving minimum wage prospects? I’m sure Campbell and especially Bello are tradable, but not so sure for Alcantara. They probably should have at least dealt Duran first and INF that could hit. That was really all they needed to do. Or for Dalton Rushing, which made sense except for their whole “Kyle Tucker Plan.” Well, that and add a RP. And move Story to 2b..

1. He couldn’t field. This much is true. It is. No need to ignore it anymore. 2. I trash him because he wouldn’t help out his team when a teammate got injured. I guess I don’t think his RBI totals or whatever supersede that. 3. Devers is hitting .237 with a .604 OPS. If you’re going to defend him based on his hitting abilities, maybe wait a bit.

Being a critic from day one is bashing. What exactly were you criticizing on day one?

What he meant to say was “Devers was razzed by 5 GoldGloves in Boston” but the meaning got lost along the way…