Richie

Yeah, if there's not a season until mid-August. We have bigger problems than trying to open at the Field of Dreams.

I was thinking a lot about EE and how he might never a play a game in a White Sox uniform. It would definitely be bad for a team like the White Sox with a young, developing roster. I do not believe the season is entirely lost, though.

"Not take lightly" and tanking your own economy (financially killing small business and working class people everywhere) is a big difference. There's a healthy middle ground. Yet, people took a HAMMER to the panic button.

Nice straw man fallacy, AGAIN. Where did I complain about not watching sports? I am complaining about the economy tanking, people dependent on hourly wages not being able to pay bills and small businesses being pushed to the brink of ruin. Your penchant for dishonestly twisting words is off-putting. I guess I'm selfish because my cousin, the widowed vocal coach single mother of two - called me asking for a loan since she is horrified that she won't be able to pay her bills. Since her clients are deathly terrified of coming into the studio. I'm SUCH a piece of shit, since my buddies who are bartenders and/or own a restaurant are probably going to have to make that call to their family members soon. I can't afford to give that loan either. You know why? I'm a fitness/athletic trainer and I'm worried about my f'ing bottom line. My business has basically evaporated overnight. You are lucky to be so privileged that you (apparently) do not have to worry about these things. A LOT of the real world does. You agree with shutting down the nation, putting people in financial danger and tanking the economy (even if only temporarily). That is the definition of "PANIC". Well, that raises herd immunity, which right now is non-existent for COVID -19 Yet, the flu is still more deadly and prevalent. Again, nobody is saying that measures should not be taken. Also, this isnt the flu. Never said it was. Nice straw man. You seriously need to tune-up your debate skills. It's definitely not the flu. Influenza has been a way bigger problem, for waaaaayyyy more years. It's also a lot more likely to kill you. You think I'm crying over "baseball being gone". That's how utterly and totally dense you are.

Not at all. Doctors in hospitals all over the country have been briefed on a daily basis on this topic for a long time and believe it to be a MASSIVE overreaction. Leaders and people in power (who wish to keep power) make political decisions to calm the masses when they panic. They are reacting to us. They don't have a choice. You're losing your mind - so they'll play it extremely safe to appease you. And no one is saying that there shouldn't be measures taken. However, shutting down the country is an f'ing joke.

Right... Panic, panic, panic. There is a huge difference between advising for preventative measures (I absolutely agree with being careful) and HALTING THE WORLD. Small businesses and many of those dependent on hourly wages will be murdered by what is taking place. And it wasn't necessary.

Nice strawman fallacy. The point is - Why do you suddenly feel the need to shutdown the world over this and not... something like influenza? Which spreads to all corners of the country, infects and kills so many more than this on an annual basis? This is despite the fact that we have a vaccination for the flu. WHICH ONLY 37% of Americans even bother to take annually. Old people and other vulnerable populations are ALWAYS at risk. For EVERYTHING. CONVID-19 is NOT unique in that regard. The H1N1 (Swine Flu) outbreak? Sixty million Americans infected, 300,000 hospitalized. It claimed an estimated 12,000 American lives. Did we halt the world? No. 1,600 have been hospitalized for Coronavirus in the US. 37 dead. WE HAVE HALTED THE WORLD. The difference between 2009 and 2020? Social media controls all of our information and is in our face 24 hours a day in the palm of our hands. Allowing you and the other herds of the masses to be totally sucked into this "PANIC! PANIC! PANIC!" mentality. I have two MD's in my family who are laughing at how absurd this all is. "Oh, no! Tom Hanks has it! Well, let's shutdown everything!". This is all a perfect representation of where we are at as a society. Sincerely, one day we will look back on this and hopefully learn something. This is preposterous.

My lord... people need to relax. It's f'ing pneumonia. Not the black plague. Even IF you contract it (quite the slim chance) you'll be healthy in a couple of weeks unless you have pre-existing respiratory conditions.

This week has been one massive overreaction. Everyone will feel stupid in a couple of weeks and the season will open up mid April. None of this was necessary to begin with.

Well, technically, his value was at an all-time high around the ASB last season. Before he plummeted back to Earth - reverting back to the mean with horrible offensive output in the 2nd half. Other than that, I am not sure when else James McCann would have had value which would compare to this. McCann accumulated a higher WAR in the first half last season than he has in the rest of his career combined.

All this article did was reinforce to me that this is pneumonia + media sensationalism. None of this (no vaccine yet, etc.) changes the fact that the virus simply isn't that threatening. It kills nobody under 50 in the western world and most reported deaths are, in fact, 80+. Only 40% of Americans get a flu shot. Yet, I'm supposed to turn my life on its head because this less threatening virus doesn't (yet) have a vaccine?

This thing is less threatening than a bad flu season and it has people turning their lives upside down. Absolutely unbelievable. The media should be ashamed of themselves. This is hurting people businesses/lives.

I don't disagree with him about Madrigal. In order for Madrigal to be a "star" he would have to hit a near Tony Gwynn like clip. That's just not a likely outcome. I will be quite happy if Madrigal can produce a 2.5-3.0 WAR most years while being exceptional defensively. We don't need every single one of our young prospects to be superstars. World Series contenders need their stapled role players too.

The back soreness combined with this start is discouraging. However, it's March 8th, so mark me down as not being worried yet.

FWIW - My sister is an M.D.. She says that hand sanitizer isn't the way to go here. It's a virus. It's not spread by bacteria. Anti-bacterial hand sanitizer won't help you. Wash your hands and your face constantly. For what it's also worth? She says the panic is way over-hyped. She just purchased a round-trip from Charlotte to Detroit and back for 75 dollars to visit me towards the end of the month. She's loving how cheap airlines are right now and has no fears. Says virtually every mortality has been 80-85+ in age. You're more likely to die from the flu. If it's good enough for her? I'm good as well. 500x more intelligent and educated than this guy.

He's 6'5 with an absurdly wide frame. There's a mountain range of territory to pack muscle on a body like that. Also, nobody puts only 70 pounds in muscle alone. Your body needs fat to support that. You will naturally accumulate fat as you pack on muscle. A 6'5 guy gaining 70 pounds is like a 5'10 guy (average) packing on half of that. It's not that insane, at all. Weight/muscle gain is relative. It's funny... all of these people talking about how they know "the majority of MLB/NFL athletes take steroids!" on the internet. I was a D1 athlete, played independent pro ball and now I'm a trainer. I teach athletes how to train for a living. Yet, I've never seen steroids. It's very taboo... especially among athletes. If you're doing that, in 2020? It's with a belly full of shame and behind a closed door. You are not in the majority. Not in the f'ing least. I was accused by people of taking steroids in high school simply because of my size. It was ALWAYS either the lazy prick athletes who half assed their weight training and ate like shit. OR... it was people who didn't even play sports... many could have but would rather smoke pot. It was always the kids who couldn't or didn't want to do it. You know... the "I would have gone pro if I didn't hurt my knee" kind of guys. That's what you sound like when you talk about the majority of NFL/MLB being juicers.

We agree on catcher being extremely important. That is for certain. Towards "McCann being a capable 2nd catcher" - I would agree. He is a capable 2nd catcher. However, him regressing back to roughly his career norm (.226/.281/.413) production wise at the plate in the 2nd half should serve as a huge red flag. I tend to believe that he pulled that 1st half totally out of his ass. I think he is a capable, but very expendable, 2nd catcher. To be clear - I am totally fine with keeping him aboard. Young staff, doesn't hurt to have two veterans like Grandal/McCann.

I plan to continue living my life. Just as I did through swine flu, etc. I hope others do too.

I was having a conversation with a couple of real "cynic" White Sox fan types. They were doing their usual moaning and groaning about how the sky will eventually fall on our dreams... blah, blah, blah Then, one of them said that they couldn't believe how high White Sox fans had their expectations set. Talking about how the whole fan-base is sold on the 2020 White Sox being the 2015 Cubs, etc. I really took issue with that. Are we feeling some optimism for the first time? Sure, and I think we deserve it. However, I told him that I really just think White Sox fans expect us to "not suck" finally and make a little noise. "Be competitive" and then MAYBE if things fall right? We get into the post-season. I think this board is big enough to get a sample-size of White Sox fans. Of course, perhaps it doesn't take into account the casual fan vote. However, I've heard casual fans that range across the board with expectations. Some are stupidly optimistic and some just think "We suck because we have sucked... blah blah blah". So, what are YOUR personal expectations?

Is there a point where... if we can't trust Zack Collins to be even our 2nd catcher by now - why are we still keeping him in our plans? If somebody not named Grandal has to catch 80 games. I don't think it's asking very much of Zack Collins to produce at the minimal level that James McCann has over the course of his career. If he can't do that by age 25? I mean... Outside of one (BABIP inflated) half of a season in 2019. McCann is a guy with a 2.8 career WAR over 4 1/2 Major League seasons. Who also isn't fantastic behind the plate. I suppose that I am just not valuing McCann to the level that a lot of the board seems to be valuing him at. I would take it that the reason being is that you want your 2nd catcher to be plus (or at least serviceable) in the defensive department. That is fair.

I agree. I suppose that I should have said "IF someone is willing to bite on his production from last season - go ahead and do it." I don't know if an MLB organization would be willing to deal us anything of value. There's a good chance that you are correct and that nobody would.

Yeah, I don't think all that many people get it. Mike Trout isn't just "the best player in baseball". He's pacing to enter himself squarely into the GOAT conversation when this is all said and done. I doubt anyone will ever pass Babe's 182.4 career WAR record. Trout would need to average a 10 WAR over 11 more seasons to do that. That's not happening. However, I think when you account for the difference in eras. There will be an argument. Of course, he needs to stay healthy. For whatever reason - "GOAT" conversations don't happen that much in baseball relative to NBA or NFL. Probably stems from how baseball has created such a "mythical" aura around their legends. Trout will enter into that. He just needs to stay healthy. I hope he does. He's unreal to watch.

JD Martinez didn't break out until the latter portion of his 20's either. Right now... Mike Trout: 72.5 career WAR / 65.4 7yr-peak WAR / 69.0 JAWS Average HOF CF (out of 19): 71.0 career WAR / 44.5 7yr-peak WAR / 57.7 JAWS

I don't see it happening. I would like it to happen, though. McCann has had one really good half of baseball in his career and it was incredibly inflated by his BABIP. Then, he returned to being the #2 caliber catcher that he is. He's a poor hitter and okay defensively. I would trade him while he has value.

Whoa. What the hell? We just fleeced Yoan. lol I'm not complaining. I just... feel bad.