The Kids Can Play

Btw, I was talking about the numbers for ARod during the Seattle days which was from 1004-2000. He was with Texas in 2003. Yes I stand corrected and made a mistake and he did start using then in 2001-2003, I looked it up and I found where he stated he started them in Texas and not NY. He said the pressure of being able to live up to the largest sports contract ever signed, was the pressure and motivation to start using them. However ARod's first 7 years in Seattle were huge HOF numbers minus the steroids. Again go check the video on his size change. Back in your wild west days, all you have to do is go watch You Tube videos of Bonds and compare it to the days when he played for the Giants. I'm sorry, but it's a fact you can't say that lean and lacking mass, if you are doing heavy steroids, Just compare their sizes. ARod and Bonds were so much significantly thinner and still put up MVP numbers. Don't forget Barry Bonds was a super thin player back in his Pirate days and stealing 50-60 bases a season besides wining two MVP's

Speaking of charity work, I wish the Sox FO did a better job informing the fans which Sox players do charity and community work. When Liam was a finalist for the Roberto Clemente award last year, they highlighted all his charities and work with kids. For me personally, it was very touching to watch and discover his efforts. I have always enjoyed knowing when any of my Chicago Sports teams' players do these type of volunteer and charity work. I think MLB and the White Sox should be promoting these ventures way more than they do. If the Sox are doing it, which I'm sure they are, then they are doing a horrible job marketing it. It shouldn't be some big secret. I know I could go google the Sox players and see what charities they do, but it shouldn't have to take that. I could be wrong, but I bet I'm not the only Sox fan here who enjoys hearing about their work with unfortunate or sick kids. I love seeing videos whether it's the Sox, Bulls, Bears or Hawks players. With all the negativity we debate about these Sox players, it would be nice to know of when they do good things outside the game. ESPN used to televise that "Make a Wish Foundation" stories showing famous athletes making unfortunate kids' dreams and wishes become a special day in the their life. I don't know if ESPN still does that.

Of course we will never know and it's all speculation, but I disagree with you and feel ARod, Bonds and Clemens you didn't mention, would all be in the HOF if they didn't use steroids. If you recall early in ARod's career before steroids, when he was thinner, he was putting up big numbers as a SS in Seattle. ARod admitted he didn't start using steroids until the Yankees. Likewise Bonds won two MVP's before steroids when he was much thinner and a quicker player. Clemens as well had amazing numbers prior to doing steroids. I do agree with you that Palmeiro and Sosa would not have been that good without steroids.

That's extremely awesome. I hope he does well for us.

A lot of people before last night probably didn't know much if any about Luis Robert and now they do. That first round showed everyone he has as much power as any player in baseball, evidenced by the 484 foot HR, which was the furthest hit of the night. Keep in mind this is an exhibition contest and a total non-reality of home run production during the real games. It's strictly for the fans and by no means a true measure of a home run hitter. Case in point, Mookie Betts struggled last night. However Betts is as good of a home run hitter as anyone in baseball this year being tied for 3rd with 26 HR's along with Robert and Alonso. Keep in perspective, Guerrero Jr. has only 13 home runs this season. Big deal he wins a HR derby.

I appreciate and get your logic to wait until next year and hope he rebounds and then his trade value goes up by the 2024 deadline. However if he doesn't get better and it's same crap again, then the Sox are trying to trade TA with more negatives next year. GM's will now have to decide next year, if they really can turn him around. My point is, by this deadline, a GM might might let one bad year go and think, ok the Sox are losers and we can get him corrected. This was just one bad fluke year. However two years in a row and the doubts are much more magnified on TA. I would rather trade TA now and get some prospects. There will always be one team out there that feels they can turn him around. We've already seen several ex-Sox players get better on other clubs.

All those need to be dealt, but you forgot Tim Anderson. ?

He needs to be traded, even it the FO has to be creative and eat a partial amount of his salary or in a trade not be greedy and take a few low A prospects. Grandal is blocking catchers from a defensive standpoint. I don't care if Perez and Zavala can't hit, at least they can catch better than Grandal. Grandal was never a good defensive catcher, his only decent skill was he supposedly was good at was framing. However at this point in his career he sucks at everything. As the one poster said, we need to clean out the cancerous culture on this team.

You're absolutely right it showed a lot of character. I give him credit for that. On the flip side, let me play devil's advocate. The fact is, if RH would have given his resignation and publicly said what transpired, I think most owners down the road would completely understand how egregious that was for Jerry to override a GM and make the decision to hire the manager. Thus by not having the further trainwreck of the last three years on his watch, Hahn possibly could have gotten another GM job. However as it stands now, he has zero chance to get a GM job without going backwards and accepting a much lower FO position with another team. In the end though, based on all the BS havoc and destruction Hahn created for this franchise, he deserves to fall flat on his face after his Sox tenure.

Mods, can we please stop this post. The comments are starting to get offensive and personal, deviating from baseball type arguments...which is what this forum is about. I've always liked Gio and if he is going through a divorce I feel bad for him. However it's none of our business. It's part of life outside of sports or even our work life. We can complain about several Sox players on this team with questionable ethics and attitudes, but Gio has always been one of the classy guys on this team. I only wish him the best in his personal and professional life.

Not to nitpick but your did LOL! My apology I guess the writer of the article I took it from made a research mistake. I took it from an article that listed all current and former SEC players and their relative schools. Silly me since I don't follow college baseball like I do MLB, I guess I made an assumption the writers' facts would be accurate. The other thing you're missing, my point wasn't only about the SEC pitchers and hitters. I was informing the original poster, since he was claiming the pitchers in college are generally not that good and that Gonzalez wouldn't get away with his swing flaw at the pro level, that actually the pitching is strong in college. Ok so Scherzer didn't play in the SEC, but he did play in arguably one of the strongest baseball conferences at the time and he did put up huge college numbers, which is why he was drafted #11 overall.

Interesting stat, but I never said the SEC had the most HOF players or only one in. My point, which is still a fact today as of 2023, the SEC has the most active players in major league baseball. Although with the heavy amount of players the SEC sends to majors yearly continues for many years to come, logically and mathematically speaking, the SEC should start getting some players in the HOF.

Thankfully Seattle didn't. I agree the Sox would have screwed him up. Keep in mind if you look up the staggering numbers Ichiro put up in Japan and it was with that same awkward swing.

Like maybe as good of a 10 year period of all time and probably a future Hall of Famer? Don't forget he was a several time all-star and batting champion in Japan before he came to the Majors, so his age was against him starting at 27.

I think your prognosis is harsh and premature. Let's actually slow the jets and let Gonzalez go through the minors before you call this guy a bust and wasted draft pick. From your comment: You can get away with that against horseshit pitching and swinging a metal bat but big league pitchers would absolutely destroy him on the outer half of the plate. You realize you are talking about the SEC which is probably the top college baseball conference. They have arguably produced the most, if not close to the most lifetime major league players. These horseshit pitchers from this SEC conference have produced the following pitchers, just to name a few who seem to have made the transition of horseshit pitching in college to the majors: Max Scherzer - Missouri Dane Dunning - Florida Kevin Gausman - LSU Sonny Gray - Vanderbilt Alex Lange - LSU Aaron Nola - LSU David Price - Vanderbilt Your comment: Swinging a metal bat but big league pitchers would absolutely destroy him on the outer half of the plate. The following players have played in the SEC using that metal bat and somehow made the successful transition to the major leagues just to name a few: Pete Alonso - Florida Alex Bregman - LSU Walker Buehler - Vanderbilt Dansby Swanson - Vanderbilt Christian Walker - SC Bryan Reynolds - Vanderbilt DJ LeMahieu - LSU Nathaniel Lowe - Miss St I appreciate your harsh negative review of Gonzalez, but I could counter easily and list extensive reviews of people who do like his chances and potential. It's not like he was doing this in some mid major baseball conference. Btw, your final comment about it's an awful way to draft. Actually it was a very smart and safe pick. SS is a premium position. Since he can play SS, he can play 3B or 2B in the future. Plus if he is good and we don't need a SS, 2B or 3B, then he is a valuable asset to possibly trade. The fact is, the Sox haven't had many good left handed power hitters that could also hit for BA for many years now. It's nice to see the Sox tried to address that need. None of us know if Gonzalez will make it, but nobody knew if the above mentioned players from the SEC would make it either. Let's have this debate in a few years watching this dude either fail or excel in the Sox farm system.

Hmm good point, how did that work out?

I vividly remember Frank Thomas wining the home run derby and hitting that home run in the All-Star game.

I been watching a ton of video on Gonzalez and I don't see why some here are so negative on the pick. I've seen several videos showing his range and arm strength at short. IMO, it's impressive. Plus I don't give s%*# on his swing that many seem to criticize. I'm sorry, but the exit velocity on his hits and home runs is major league level. In the worst case scenario, if the Sox were to switch him to 2B with Montgomery at SS, how great would that be to have a 2B with power and BA with a good glove. When is the last time we ever had that type of 2B in a Sox uniform?

That's fine with me, because we haven't had a 2B in how many years now! LOL

I totally agree with you. There is more excitement waiting for Schultz, Montgomery and some of the other Sox bright minor league potential stars to make it to the majors, than waiting for this present Sox ML roster to do anything great.

Schultz's start was very impressive once again, going 3 innings which was his longest start thus far. I know it's only 5 starts and it's only low A, but OMG, the stats are absolutely ridiculous: GS IP H R ER HR HB BB SO WHIP AVE 5 12 1 0 0 0 0 0 16 0.17 .027 I know you never want to rush a talented pitcher, but at some point Noah needs to go to Winston-Salem this season. When the Sox drafted Chris Sale man years ago, they moved him up through the minors very quickly. I'm not saying Noah Schultz is Chris Sale and I get that you were advancing a 3rd year college player versus a high school senior. However the fact is, Schultz has officially proven he can pitch well at the low A level, so it's time to move him up to the Dash. Then again, it's not surprising why the Sox organization has such a horrible farm system and major league roster.

Knowing there are health issues, which we are not privy to, maybe this pick is a back-up plan for SS. Then again, if both make it to the majors. that's a nice problem to have. Plus one of them could bring a nice return of talent in a trade.

If he returns to LSU then this was a stupid pick. If he stays and we wait patiently for his recovery, then maybe it could be something special. Then again that's questionable task based on our flawed player development. I've seen videos of him prior to TJS and he looked pretty damn good. One source said when he last pitched at that Cape Cod league, he was quite dominant. Of course one has to question the logic and risk of going back to LSU. If he just got drafted fairly high with the Sox#2 pick and overall #51, it might be wise to pocket the salary and bonus money signing, because there is no guarantee he will go back to LSU and have greater success. However in worse case scenario he gets reinjured and struggles, then his draft stock will fall big time. I would hope the Sox know what his plans are and didn't make this pick throwing the dice.

Here is where the intimation came into play. That senile old man went behind Rick Hahn and complained to Jerry about what he wanted or didn't want. If you or anyone else were the GM and you had someone always back stabbing you and going behind your back, I would think that could be seen as intimidating...since your hands were tied and you couldn't fire the POS senile manager.