HollywoodTim

right I don't want to hear about what the players wives think and a guy who is following their posts and talking about it socially is loudly immasculine to the point where it is difficult to listen to then some other guy starts talking about his homoerotic dreams? and then other posts pile on, talking about personal insecurities etc it's always amazing how any time a heterosexual male has a viewpoint he must always have these homoerotic inner fantasies or whatever according to all the metros who will criticize him for it

you have no idea what hate and bigotry even are enjoying a masculine viewpoint is almost impossible these days it's good that the opinions of this board are actually not the opinions of general society

Nipples not fat dicks like you I saw the warning but I am going to guess it only applies to me and not the bots from the huffington post like this one

Also please change your gender to female.

His voice is too high and dorky and he uses too many words. I think the best he could do is something like "Gone!" really fast, and then let Stone take over. He needs a "Seeya!" type HR call because the longer he speaks the more dorky he sounds. I have seen a suggestion somewhere about Benetti (see I spelled his name correctly this time) using Hawk's signature calls. PLEASE GOD NO. Just have the producer hit a button and add the replay Hawk call. Or get another broadcaster entirely. Or move him to the radio PBP. I think he would work better with DJ anyway. I don't know the new guy as I haven't had the radio on but maybe the Masur guy could do TV PBP instead.

what the hell does this even mean?

I wish I could upvote this statement more than once. Apparently about 1/4 of the posters in this thread have no actual male friends, or if they do, they're all baristas at starbucks and/or producers for the Ellen show.

If you are a "man" and you are following the players wives on twitter and then quoting them then you are a very special kind of uber-effeminate dork at the very least.

lol it's a hiney bird! 1 left hand hand turn that lasts forever until the drive is no more

I would start Mendick. Otherwise if you start Leury then IMO you need to acquire another true UT guy to take his place, and one who can hit a little bit.

I think Bennetti really eggs Stoney into the puns. When he was with the Cubs or with Farmio or Hawk he wasn't like this at all. I don't mind the goofiness with Stone, but I don't like the "old man" gimmick that he has to play because it's obviously not him. Stoney used to be more of a sarcastic ass, but in a good way. I know his tell-it-like-it-is style got him thrown out of the Cubs booth but I loved listening to him back then when a Cubs game would be on, and when he came to the Sox I was thrilled about it. I would love to see Stoney stick with baseball constantly because he's really good at it. And I would like to see Bennetti use Stoney's baseball mind for better purposes. I mean if I had the luxury of being paid to watch Sox games and put forth questions to Steve Stone about baseball all game I bet I would do something more useful to the baseball fan sitting at home than try to make funny jokes or show off how witty I can be.

Check in here. I can't stand this guy and he's just gotten worse. If he was a pure PBP guy it would be fine but of course he has to throw in all the nonsense. The laugh he makes is cringeworthy and the dropoff in voice on big calls from Hawk to him is like man to boy, really. If there is a PBP man then at least I would love to hear a true baseball broadcast where the only opinions on baseball are given by players, and any banter comes from players, etc. He's just a fan and I don't care about what he has to say. Also he follows the players wives on their social media accounts and then quotes them on air. I don't even follow my own wife's social media accounts. I don't know if it's more uncomfortably feminine than creepy or more creepy than uncomfortably feminine behavior, but it's a lot of both, and it's also cringe time for me when it happens. There's a lot more I can say but I will let some of the other Haters check in. I think there is way too much Bennetti love on this site just like there was way too much Hawk hate and Farmio hate. RIP Farmio also.

1) Mendick was play SS when he had that bad inning. As I said, I think if he's on the team it is as a 2B only with Leury as the UT guy, and basically a multi-position starter. 2) Nobody lauding Madrigal on the broadcasts has said anything about his bat right now, because they can't, because I'm not sure he's dented a single blade of OF grass this spring/summer.

Mendick has some pop and really can't be as bad as he showed last night, especially if he is only playing one position and has some of the mental pressure taken off. And Romine and Cuthbert have MLB experience which definitely counts.

We won't even talk about what Madrigal might have done this ST to beat out Leury because that's too obvious, but what has he done to beat out Mendick, Romine, and Cuthbert? That's not exactly a murder's row. His defense and baseball acumen has been lauded over the broadcasts but I can't see what you'd point to that say he's anywhere near MLB ready with the bat. Madrigal isn't Kris Bryant or Luis Robert or Eloy. He'll be held back because he's not good enough.

I think 35 FV Jimmy Lambert is going to have to make the team. They will need a strong swingman with upside and I think it's his spot to lose. There really is no case to keep Fulmer. Heuer should take that spot. I'm not sure what the situation will be with Gio Gonzalez and Rodon, but I assume at least 1 will be in the pen. My guess the rotation is Giolito-Keuchel-Lopez-Cease-Rodon with Gio and Lambert in the pen, and Dunning in Schaumburg as the first SP up. I think Mendick's kickball game last night is an excellent example as to why he either needs to only play 2B for the Sox or not be on the team at all. They can't rely on him as a UT guy. I think the choice is either Leury as the 2B and Cuthbert as the UT IF or Mendick as the 2B and Leury as the UT. Maybe they all are on the 30 man roster but they won't all be on the 26 man roster. I think also at this point it's a toss up if you take Collins or Yermin. You don't take both. Collins burns service time but gets experience. Yermin is more of the true bench player. Nobody is going to get any better on the peloton in Schaumburg so maybe you take Collins just because you think you have to. Engel is on the team even if it annoys people. It doesn't annoy me and I think he deserves it and is a good fit.

Madrigal still can't even hit the ball out of the infield, and recently, he's been striking out at a pace which would be well above his norm. The Sox could send him back to AA and he still wouldn't have a case for a grievance.

Probably. For us though, I am not saying we should tank, just that we should open up as much playing time as possible for the pieces that matter going forward. Hopefully in 2021 we have a normal season and we'll be ready to win then. That was initially the best case scenario plan anyway: win in 2021 after most of the top prospects have made it to the Majors and gotten enough experience.

I don't personally care about winning this year. I am concerned with getting the young MLB guys who we have to burn service time on anyway developmental time against MLB competition. Winning this 2020 COVID Cup is basically the equivalent of winning the BP Crosstown Cup for like 3 or 4 years in a row. It will always be a lesser accomplishment and have a huge asterisk on it, especially when (inevitably) star players go down and large chunks of the 60 game season get lost. I want to see certain pitchers get innings and certain hitters get ABs.

The rebuild isn't over until the players finish developing. Saying the Sox rebuild is over would be like going back to the Eddy Curry / Tyson Chandler draft and saying the Bulls were done rebuilding.

If it is allowable, I think we need to trade Gio Gonzalez to complete the prophecy and also EE. I would like to trade Keuchel also but no one wants him most likely. This season is way too short to disallow the young players MLB development time. At the very least I think the rotation should be Giolito-Keuchel-Lopez-Kopech-Cease with Rodon and Dunning in the bullpen, but I'd rather there be no Keuchel in it and Rodon take the spot to build offseason trade value or make a case for an extension offer. With the lineup, since half of a season means Madrigal most likely gets a lot of time, I'd like to take out EE's ABs and give them to Collins. I also wouldn't mind trading McCann for a lower level quality prospect if the deal is out there in ST to open up ABs at C. I don't really care about winning short term ATM, I care about the long-term development process, and I think it's going to be too difficult to develop players especially in a short season like this without trading at least a few MLB veterans. Officially on my MLB veteran trade block: Keuchel, Gio Gonzalez, EE, McCann, Herrera, also Colome if Rodon becomes the closer which I think makes some sense if you don't start him, but I think you need to start him.

I think Robert, Kopech and Vaughn are 1-3 in any order. I wouldn't be upset ranking any as #1 or #2 or #3 amongst that group. They are all MLB-ready and look like potential franchise pieces. They are in a tier of their own. Then I put Crochet at 4. I don't buy the #3 ceiling, because if he develops into a true 200IP SP I think he's an ace. I think he's a #3 if he can't work deep into games and he's not a true 3 above-average-pitch pitcher. Kelley is #5 for now. This is where the "elite prospects" end and the "other guys" begin. Then I think there is a group of players here who can be #3-5 SPs at some point in the future. I would rank Dunning first, then Stiever, then Lambert. I think all are more likely to be #4 types. I don't believe Thompson and Dalquist should be ranked in the middle of a group of near-MLB ready guys when they aren't in that "franchise player" type ability level. I think they should be ranked lower than those players who look like near-MLB ready regular contributors. There are then the position players. I would go Madrigal, Collins, and Basabe next. All are really close if healthy. I think the second tier of position players and second tier of SPs can go in a lot of different orders. I'd go Madrigal, Dunning, Collins, Stiever, Lambert, Basabe probably. Madrigal has floor but not ceiling, and is really the surest MLB contributor bet in the group even though if I'm the GM he's on my trade block. Then there is the next level of mixed-bag position players, like Yermin who has a shorter ceiling but is MLB ready, and Rutherford who is starting to trend in a better direction but should still be treated like a probable bust, Sheets who might not be able to hit MLB pitching but has power and can walk, etc. Adolfo may never be healthy. Luis Gonzalez needs to continue to rebound, and in a way that shows some pop. You can really arrange these guys in any order. After those guys I would rank Thompson and Dalquist among some other guys like Bailey and Sosa, etc. Thompson and Dalquist would top that 3rd tier of interesting guys who need to develop and advance a bit closer to be worthy of ranking among the near-MLB ready players.

I think Theo made some moves with the Cubs (specifically the Gleyber deal) which he wouldn't have made under other circumstances, but did due to all the pressure on the Cubs to win the WS. The next time around in that scenario, I don't think they make that move. Also they really didn't have the kind of Sale/Q/Eaton/DRob+Kahnle package of talent to dump (and Abreu also which was never done) when the new regime took over, so I think the Cubs started with less and were under pressure to empty the cupboards a bit faster. Overall I think they have done a great job obviously, I mean they won a WS and have been division champs mostly and legit contenders every year. We are hoping to equal that and it's absurd to hope to better that. We can't try to better it until we get at least 1 title first. But anyway, in a game built around pitching that always favors pitching (provided Manfred is kept under control) you really can never have enough, because you can never have enough backup starter, back-end relievers, or trade chips.

This 2021 draft will be the last under the current CBA. In the new CBA, I certainly hope there is the addition of tradeable draft slots. Also I think the overslot/underslot crap should go away. Everyone gets slot, no more and no less, and you can trade the slots. Make it easy. Bump up the values in the 2nd round so it's not such a precipitous drop pick to pick from 1 overall to the end of the 2nd round.

Why is it that I can say fuck but not b****?