RagahRagah

Eaton looking good with the stick.

Nick on base. Keep your head out of your ass, kid.

Who the heck is Nick Williams?

I'm in a bar so no go, my dude.

@EloyJenkins, I just tuned in soooooo let's see how it goes!

I am Nick's biggest fan but I would have packed his bags myself to send him to Milwaukee for Corbin.

Like I said, this happens. People are not machines. Give the kid the benefit of the doubt FFS. And to some of your points and to add to mine, he was injured last year. Sometimes it takes a while to become comfortable again, stop being tentative and get back into a rhythm. Yes, even with fundamentals.

That was MY argument, lol. I was harsh on the Lynn trade because they weren't optimizing what they were getting. I agree with you. However, that is a separate issue from Madrigal and Robert. You wanna blame the office for that? ...Ok. Fine. But Madrigal getting the hate he is getting and being expected to be great right away and not experience growing pains and anxiety is silly, and that ignorance is all too commonplace now. The anger is misplaced.

The flaw in my argument was making them seem like they didn't play well enough. They did. But from day 1? No one had them as even a shot to be in the playoffs IIRC. Point is, there are higher expectations here. We didn't go into the 2005 season thinking WS. That came later after establishing how good they were. I also don't believe they ever played this bad, certainly not out of the gate. And this bad stretch began at the end of LAST season. Plus, sure it's only a week and obviously I'm a proponent of giving it time. But the way this team has been playing and the way the ownership has been handling them? That's not a week. That's a decade plus and arguable the majority of time they've been in existence. Being optimistic is hard if you're being thoughtful.

You're not wrong. But a team being that caliber should not rest heavily on 1 or 2 specific guys. Tim and Eloy got injured. That's not the fault of Madrigal and Robert. If anyone is to blame it's the team for not providing depth. The rules on players don't change simply because the organization said something that quite frankly is obligatory whether it is true or not. What else are they gonna say? Nick and Robert are likely going to need some time to reach their potentials. It shouldn't be shocking. Doesnt matter what the team says about their "window."

Not at all. I'm just illustrating the difference between 2 different types of teams. We have a lot more talent than the 2005 team. I don't believe there is any question about that.

You didn't absorb a single thing I said. That has fuck all to do with Nick Madrigal as a player individually. Or Robert for that matter. People are people, not machines. They have anxiety, worries, pressure. They generally take time to adapt to new things, especially at a professional level. Prospects rarely come up and immediately look great, let alone look like their ceilings. Your response is akin to that of a meathead boomer.

How so? The Cubs were on paper and on the field an excellent team that look poised to make a push from the beginning. I think my point is being missed here. What I am saying is most teams that win it all look potentially able to do so upon construction. There are rarely big surprises. The 2016 Cubs were not a surprise. The 2005 Sox were. The 2006 Cardinals were.

Baseball fans seem to have forgotten the human elements of things, obviously pertaining to baseball. Write someone off as quick as possible. Most players take a while to learn, adjust, calm themselves and develop. People who expect prospects to come up and be machines right off the get-go are so tiresome.

They were both anomalies. There is a clear parallel. You know damn well I'm right.

If you don't know the difference between teams that generally win the world series vs. teams like the 06 Cardinals it's because you're simply not paying attention. Having some luck is one thing. Being a total anomaly of a team is another. If you're really saying you can't see the difference you have to be lying to yourself.

There is a clear difference with the vast majority of teams who win and you know it.

Except that team was largely lucky (many people here even admit that) and didn't have close to the talent this team does.

Because the rebuild was handled by same management/ownership that drove the team into the ground. And that is the very root of the pessimism.

If the Sox are ever truly going to be a great team, stupid stigmas like that have to be overcome.

No, lol. Huge difference between 1 guy being bad and a whole team. But more than that, I made a lot of an analysis about this team and why I felt they weren't going to have as good a year as people thought. But I still gotta try to have SOME positivity.

True. Unfortunately, so far we've played REALLY bad more than good. Hopefully just jitters but I am worried it is more than that.

True. But there's every right to be angry when you look at this team on paper. We shouldn't be this bad.

Now right now they don't appear to be.

Can't be lucky either.