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I'm sure McKivin played a part in getting Smith over but this is encouraging because for years, the Sox biggest weakness has been pro scouting. Smith becoming a contributing member of the team would be a nice win for the new regime.

The 78 cannot be built on. It’s basically Chernobyl circa 1986.

To be honest, the dream is Ishbia coming in, building a beautiful new park at the 78, and having a couple mega free agents to supplement young core. I love going to the Rate but it’s time for a new, better fan experience in an area that will drive better attendance and lead to higher, more sustainable payrolls.

Really 1 game us a small sample size? Enjoy a good game by young players.

I hope so for the Bears sake lol.

Yes there is. Much like Block 37 staying empty for decades, its a huge plot of land with a complex history and instead of filling it with the easiest project, they keep trying to maximize it with the biggest possible projects in order to make a signature project. Nothing was wrong with Block 37 and yet it was still empty. They keep swinging for the fences in this spot as well, and we all know what happens when you swing for the fences... most of the time you miss.

Enjoy them having a couple of good games but spring training stats mean zip.

He put in the work and made significant adjustments. He's a strong makeup player.

Vargas is giving me hope. Hope is a terrible thing.

As is Vargas. Drury too.

For the Sox to have a chance to win 63 (which I think is possible but doubtful), the Sox need at least three starters better than Perez, which I think is very possible.

We'll se how he holds up. Tons of reliever risk there.

It happens. Heck in my hometown we have a 3 block area which was a hospital for like 150 years. It was torn down in the 90's. If they had just let it go to R1 or R2, it would have been instantly sucked up and built on. Instead they have been looking for something big to re-complete the area, all of the way down to wanting a small grocery store to be an anchor tenant with street side businesses on top of an 8-10 story residential tower building, including some affordable housing. There is nothing wrong with the lot that should have left it empty for 30 years, but their ambitions are bigger than the marketplace has been historically. It's not a vast conspiracy to hoist this property on some unsuspecting sucker, it's just an ambitious goal.

I think a new owner would be like drafting a QB 1-1. It would excite the fanbase tremendously, and would probably increase attendance immediately. There would be a "youre not jerry Reinsdorf" party for a couple of seasons at least. Eventually the honeymoon ends, so hopefully Ishbia is more Peyton Manning than Mitch Trubisky.

Just talked to a dude who is friends with Justin Ishbia. Was told that Ishbia was negotiating with Jerry for the past year to do a deal and that “it’s happening” now after Jerry reached out to him with some sort of proposal. Sounds like it will happening in the not too distant future. Nothing we don’t know other than than the timing.

Shane Smith was on the team due to being a rule 5 and the team sucking this year. May as well carry a talented 25 year old pitcher.

Problem is a ligament is not a muscle where you can directly train it to withstand more forces. With heavy lifting you can thicken ligaments some but not much and it's tough to do on the inside of the elbow. The elbow has an inherent weakness as it has a valgus bend to it where the forearm is naturally lateral to the elbow. This creates a weakness when throwing as the hand drags behind the elbow and the only thing really keeping the arm together is the UCL specifically the anterior bands. We haven't been able to figure a way around that yet. For now it's a reconstructionwhich there are constantly improving surgeries.

Well it was obvious because it was really all that was left. They addressed the secondary, then linebacker and offensive skill position and QB. Both lines were what is left to upgrade. That was the plan and they followed through. I would have reordered it personally but at least the did it systematically.

To put a positive post out I like the situation with our young C and SP. There are some green shoots there. Problem is almost literally everything else but watching good young catching and SP is fun and maybe something we can hang our hat on as the season progresses.

I'm so glad we have such sage old souls here to warn us against irrational exuberance. I always thought that a 3-3 game in spring training meant a player would hit 1.000 in their 540 PAs during the season. Learn something new every day.

But I like good games. I never once said it means anything. Although I hope it does. Hope is a 4 letter word around here.

But why do the bad ones mean so much then ? Mid season form , Same old Sox .Why push back against winning and strong performances ?

Small sample of good is better than small sample of bad. Besides you and I could put SSS on nearly every post for the preseason.

3 rookies did damage today. Teel 3-5 , double , HR 3 RBI , 2 R Bergolla 2-3, double, SF, 3 RBI , 2 R Quero 1-1 1 R Total: 6-9, 2 doubles, HR, 6 RBi, 5 R All 3 hitting . 300+

That's my thing. We all banged our fists on the table that both lines sucked. They made 5 FA/Trades and all 5 were OL/DL. How many times as fans do we watch our team not address key areas that seem so obvious? Was it PERFECT? Probably not, but time will tell. But sometimes doing the most obvious thing is also right...and it seems like that's what they did.

I hate it when people assume women can't do it, etc., but it just wasn't good

It’s exciting because it appears they really did address exactly what we all know to be a problem. Right now the only question is whether Jones can hold up. If he is good that line should really be heads and tails better than last season

Yeah that's the thing. Aaron Banks got 4 years and $77 million. I'd honestly rather have Jackson for 1 year at $17 million for a 6th rounder. If he sucks, you cut him next year with no strings attached. If he's good, you can keep him for another year at $17 million. There are older alternatives on short deals like Scherff or Zeitler, but those guys don't have the upside of Jackson.

Uh oh, the dreaded "injury delay" on gameday

ATM the Sox have 3 .300 and 2 .400 hitters in the lineup .😁

Hard to imagine Taylor getting cut as he's guaranteed money. Hopefully he'll open his eyes and swing the rest of ST. Maybe he should get his eyes checked. I would include Sosa somewhere in the offensive lineup.

He won't be cut before Spring Training. I think his only purpose is to give Robert a breather in CF and not kill our defense.

Bergolla hit .300 in A and A+ combined last year . No HR power . 5'9" 160.

Bergolla has the hit tool, no real power. I think it's telling they have Shane Smith in the 5 day rotation in ST. The Brewers did a weird thing with Wilson last year, where they had a 1-2 inning opener for him, then he'd enter and throw 5. Maybe he's that guy.

Tweet embeds aren't working but per Francys Romero, Grandal turned down an offer from the Braves last month and is considering retirement if a better opportunity doesn't come along. https://x.com/francysromeroFR/status/189919495349178786

Sometimes situations work themselves out.

Can't get Twitter to give me embed code. Amaya departed with hip tightness.

They can structure the contracts in a way that take up maybe only 31-32 million this year. They don't have to pay Jackson next year, so they'll just kick the can down the road on some of these signings.

What?

Of course, but it is a sample of 15 baseball games. I'm more impressed by the low number of walks allowed. Because that's all levels across the game, starters, and AA-ball replacements.

Let's see what that looks like when all of the minor league players are off the rosters. It's spring training.

That's quite the chain, 19 years and counting. I wonder what the longest running chain is in MLB? Good to see them starting the Saint.

IMO that "bad neighborhood" perception has faded quite a bit. Yeah, once in a while I still hear people remark that the current stadium is next to "the projects", but not so much any more. The real issue with the current location is the lack of much else to do around the ballpark. That may have been fine in the past, but more and more, teams are finding they need to surround their ballpark with things for fans to do before or after the game to put enough fans in the seats. We've seen the Cardinals and Braves do this in recent years. The Phillies and Mets are now planning to do the same. Is the answer to move the Sox to The 78? That'll be up to the Ishbia brothers, and their billions in fortune, to decide. Maybe they'll decide the current park and location is "just fine" as some die hard Sox fans have said. Even in that case, I can't imagine their plan is to sink all that money into buying the team only keep the team surrounded by acres of parking lots and not much else for the next 30-40 years. So, maybe their plan would be to keep the Sox at the current stadium but see about redeveloping much of the parking.

Dan Hayes was on the SoxMachine podcast last week. What he seemed to imply was that Ishbia used the Twins to push Jerry towards a meeting of the minds.

I’m speculating here, but I really think this comes down to Jerry realizing he doesn’t have a lot of time left and doesn’t want to lose out on a super rich potential buyer with Chicago ties. Ishbia bought a single mid digit amount of shares back in 2021 and it sounds like he had been pushing to outright buy the team for some time. I think he eventually got tired of waiting and decided to take advantage of the Twins opportunity because Jerry wasn’t budging. Regardless, we do know that the threat of Ishbia buying the Twins led to Jerry proposing something to Ishbia and created this first initial domino to make him the biggest shareholder of the Sox. A transfer of control will be happening at some point before Jerry dies based on my conversation yesterday and I don’t think it will be multiple years from now. I fully expect some sort of deal to take place similar to what happened with the Orioles. Just not sure if that’s later this year, next season, etc.

We had a 93 win division championship season in which three pitchers acquired directly from the root of Hector Santiago combined for ten and half war and still have a top 50 prospect today to show for him

Good thing we listened to the fans tweeting immediately after his first outing that they were done with him. Ready to send him back

My dropping MLB.TV has probably gotten through to JR that the time is now.

And they might actually peruse your resume...a new admin.

Doesn't matter the actual velocity. It's if you are throwing at your max too often. One person throwing 97 maybe be throwing with less effort than someone else throwing 95.