Rounding_Third

high strike fastball every time.

I think he'll be a top 5 AL MVP at the least. Another Sox player may take some of his votes. Defensively, I'll hold judgement until I see more. It sounds like he was extremely driven to improve and keep his LF status vs DH. His catch by the corner to end the Angel game was smoothly routine; last year not so much.

Lol, that's fantastic! Love StL fans! Nice comradery amongst Sox & Cards fans with common foe. Took many a Hawks road trips there and enjoyed & respected Blues fans, too. One year, with many Cubs fans attending, we (8 Sox fans) did a Cards/Cubs game as well, wearing our Sox gear and rooting on the Cards. It was a blowout for Cards and us! Always had so much fun in that town with great fans & people.....especially when the Landing was still around!

Ah but have you ever been there with this kind of team? I've been around awhile and, on paper, its the best Sox team I've ever seen! ...by a lot! Plus, its the type that will enchant many new fans in Chicago and across the country.....as long as they're as good as their ink and I believe they are, They're going to be on a lot of national broadcasts, as well. A lot of offensive records will be challenged if not broken....with a "health" wood knock. Gonna see lots of Sox & Padres caps showing up everywhere. But you're right, there's always a way to get some tix depending on you caveat question (& answer) over cost.

I've been in the "he needs a season in Minors" camp but taking a long hard look at that now. Yes, just 2 games but he seems to be in control of every AB he's had. I don't know if I'm more impressed with the way he adjusted on the HR, pulling his arms in on the inside pitch and keeping it very much fair to straight away LF or the way he's "yawned" at so many "go fishing" pitches from several different pitchers. Said this recently but imo now, his lowest benchmark is just exceeding EE's 2020 stats. At this point, that looks to be a blowout.

Sounds great! Will definitely try to find your guide. A few other "road" parks sounds like a great idea, too. Have a (obvious) sneaking suspicion that even under normal life, tix at Camelback will be tough to get for a few years, especially for Sox vs Dodgers after they square off in the WS a few times. ? Just got to plan for it.

Oh you dawg, sounds like you've been there before. I hope to next year. Never been. Would have tried this year if not for covid.

Would have been nice to see Abreu bat with the bases load. That he ripped the ball anyway was all that really mattered. In my ST fantasy world, it still scored 2 runs.

Lucroy looks fantastic at bat. Very "hitterish" and in command of the strike zone. But was pretty rusty defensively. He was one of the best defensive catchers in baseball before his disk started affecting his game in 2017. Hopefully, he works that out in the next few weeks.

If you truly follow through, that's sad. Don't quit, take a looksee next week. It'll smooth out. The closer they get to April, the truer the ST games.

Could have been a good reason. I'll take a speculative stab that he may have been scheduled for 2 innings. I think his pitch count was around 40 when Tex rolled the 1st inning. Then they probably asked him how he felt, replied "good" but then he continued to struggle and his pitches mounted. Oh well, shit happens.

lol I'm sure

I'll leave those decisions in the hands of the coaches. If they think its best to not let a guy exceed his pitch count or not bring in an unscheduled pitcher in a particular inning, so be it. Pitchers are on strict regiments this early. Geesh, its just the 1st week of ST games; get over it! If it bothers you so much, don't watch.

That's just it, there isn't enough pitchers. They're doing their best to deal with covid. So many of these pitchers haven't pitched competitively in 2 years and since then have probably not really thrown that much compared to a normal season; majors or minors. As guys get more innings and/or toss sessions, it'll smooth out.

Nice post. Was about to say the same about ST rolling over innings. Not a big deal. No one needs to get hurt now. Come April, will be a distant memory.

Me too. Looking forward to see his PA's; hopefully a free & easy swing.

If their Kopech plan goes off without a hitch, I think he'll get his allotted starts a little further into the season. I'm very curious as to what his pitch/innings limit will be. Everyone's got an opinion and it seems the consensus is around 120-130 innings. With Crochet, I think the jury is still out with coaches as to what's the best future for him. Reading & listening to some of the comments by Stone and others, It seems to me that this year's plan is pen only in order to better analyze him while still contributing. At Tenn, he was used primarily as a reliever and his numbers as both SP & RP were mediocre and innings a little conservative. I think the Sox staff is still trying to discover if he & his arm have the ability to endure starter's innings. With no minors experience, I wouldn't be surprised they'll be very cautious and keep his innings well below 100.

He spoke of 8 & 9 man rotations this year for all teams. Said we're not going to see many 200 inning starters due to limited innings last year and Sox will need pitchers with options. Sox 40 man has 7; 1-4 & Rodon, Lopez, & Flores. We'll see how the latter 3 perform in ST. Kopech might get some starts later. Crochet pen only this year. Other SP's including McClure & Kobat could improve their rankings and callup pecking order with good showings. After 1-4, nothing's for certain.

Only 1 other 6 inning game today. There were a bunch of 7's, 2 8's, & 2 9's. WTF!

Stone talked about how they'll be a lot of pitchers used this year; lots of temp callups. 2 guys that may be part of that, McClure & Kubat both showed some nice stuff. Can't wait their next appearances.

Man, I completely forgot about that 1st Sale tantrum. So funny now.

You can think the K-C and wish it all you want. Its not happening; already announced their plans. Strategically, its a bad way to manage innings. It's much more negatively impactful to the team as a SP role if one or both struggle or has a problem. Also, there is no commitment that their long term plans with Crochet is as a starter. There's a decision to be made. He's been in the pen virtually his entire career and there's seems to be a good argument to keep him there. He may throw too hard to be a starter. He may be suited at the back end of the pen. Also, they don't have a long reliever if not Kopech. Tagging him as such gives him the chance to occasionally start as well. Mike Minor's injury history is pretty different. Yes, he had shoulder issues for 2 years but no elbow/TJ and then rebounded . Rodon had shoulder/bicep then shoulder again for 2 years then elbow/TJ then shoulder again over span of 5 years. Much much more damage over 2 1/2 times the duration. Also, the two teams involved, KC & Tex were nowhere near WS contenders at that time of Minor's rehab & recovery & return. They could afford the risk. I hope Kopech has "dazzling stuff" too. Our different here is you penciled him in for still "dazzling" as a given even after TJ surgery just because he had it before. That's a bit of a rush to judgement for me. We'll see! I'm much more cautious as is Katz and the entire org. It's one of the "ifs" for me because it's unknown until he works some significant innings. He may need to reinvent himself a little; become more of a pitcher and less of a thrower. The bullpen is the great place to manage and tweak (if needed) him for a year. It may take that long until they're all confident, including him.

True enough. Just making a point that AV doesn't have to do a heck of a lot to contribute to 2020 improvement. Hope they lay off him learning other positions. Just let him take his std DH/1B game to MLB and it's long season that he's never experienced. Geesh, isn't that enough adjustment for him for now?

I am in the "Vaughn to MiLB" camp. Have been all along. But I accept that its his DH job to lose. Now I will sit back and root and enjoy his potential & progress. I hope he tears up ST and easily wins his chance. If not, we have a bit of a DH issue but not just that. Hoping for him, too, and what he means to an already scary lineup. I'm confident that, at the very least, he will exceed EE's 2020 which is a very low expectation for him and I expect he will be much more than that. I'm also confident that at the end of 2021, we'll all be able to agree that if EE's 2020 was as good as AV's 2021, we would have won the 2020 Central.

Completely agree with you up to the bold. This is where we part company. Its just a continuation of our previous disagreement. Rodon and Lopez cannot be counted on at all. Rodon is a DL just waiting to happen, When you combine TJ with 3 years of reoccurring shoulder injuries, a bicep and a wrist, a WS contender has no business relying on him with an absolute mess behind him in Lopez. Kopech & Crochet are out of the SP picture and I do favor this Sox 2021 plan for them; suggested it weeks ago before they announced. If early planned starters then they would get shut down too early and leave gaps to fill down the stretch. This way, they are both relative & involved throughout most of the season. Though I do believe Kopech should & will get a handful of planned spot starts like in makeup DH's or top 4 skips which will happen. Once they signed Rodon, they kind of locked into him. I wish they had signed another more reliable innings guy for #5. Once signed, he should be #6, at best. That way, he could have proven in Charlotte that he still has an arm. There are lots of "ifs" & "hopes" and nowhere near the SP depth to cover them. For the record, I was not a Bauer advocate due to $.