The Kids Can Play

I wouldn't say crazy, but seriously confused! The original Sale trade was to get a #1 overall prospect in MLB. It was not to get a consistently injured player, who you get to project production based on a select two seasons of the six seasons he has played. That is not what the Sox signed up for. He also was suppose to be a 2nd baseman, if he would have worked harder at being a good 2nd baseman, then a former #1 draft pick and potential great player like Jake Burger, wouldn't have to be playing part time or being sent down to Charlotte. I am tired of all these excuses that are made for Yoan, like, "It's still early in the season and he'll get better". News Flash! We are only 44 games into the season. Go check the MLB stats and count how many players are having great years. Great players just play great and get it done! 2022 stats: 59 AB's BA .136 BABIP .158 OBP .177 SLG .254 OPS .431 1 double 2 HR's 2 BB's Career BA .257 I'm sorry, but that is not a great player for a former #1 prospect and a major part of the Chris Sale trade. Btw, if Moncada is playing hurt, then they need to put him on the IL and play Burger.

Totally agree with that. Cueto thus far looks the part and maybe VV can be. Regardless of 5 vs 6, the problem down the road will still be managing the innings of Kopech.

Seems like ESPN finally got something right in regards to MLB!

Actually it's not important whether the pitchers like it or not, if it will produce a World Series championship, I think they would all be onboard with it. Furthermore, the fact a 6 man rotation in MLB doesn't work is for one reason only, which is most teams, actually probably all teams, do not have 6 quality starters. The Sox are unique here.

I'm glad Judge and Boone called out the loser jerk and racist Donaldson. The fact Donaldson even tried to BS everyone with his warped excuse that it was an inside joke, like there are buddies, is a slap in the face to any baseball fan's intelligence!

It isn't for one person. Lynn is coming off knee surgery. Additionally in the 2021 playoffs, Lynn was hit hard in game 1 with 3.2 innings and 5 runs vs the Astros and looked tired. Giolito was hit hard in game 2 in 4 innings and 4 runs and looked tired. Cease got hit hard in game 3 and only lasted 1.2 innings and 3 runs. How are you throwing off the rotation when each starter has an extra day's rest? Again the six man rotation can only be effective if Cueto and Velasquez can stay consistently productive. Speaking of extra rest, it will be interesting how Cease pitches tonight. He is going on 7 days rest.

Once Lynn comes back, it would be ideal if Velasquez could be consistent and productive like he was in two of his starts. Thus we could have a 6 man rotation to save all the arms. Lynn, Giolito, Cease Kopech, Cueto and Velasquez. The Sox will monitor Kopech's number of innings heading into the playoffs. I realize Kopech looks strong and durable right now, but the season is early and let's not forget he did not pitch in 2020 and only 69 innings last season. As far as Kuechel goes, once Lynn is back, he should never start another game and simply be kept in the bullpen for large blow out losses only. I realize that probably won't happen, but it should. Or better yet, DFA him and eat his money. Oh yeah I'm sorry, I forgot our owner is cheap ass and demented Jerry Reinsdorf and that won't happen!

As far as ERA's, Lauer 2.16 and Burnes 2.26 are solid. However Ashby - 3.49, Houser - 4.50 and Woodruff - 4.76 are not as strong collectively as our starting 5 rotation: Kopech - 1.29 Giolito - 2.84 Cease - 3.09 Cueto - 0.00 Lynn - ? no ERA yet BTW, Lauer would not be the best starter on the Sox!

That might be true as far as the Sox heavily relying on TA and Robert for now, but that should hopefully change in the future. However my point was not about that. I was just saying Anderson is better than Lindor and has been for the last four years.

Awesome double header win. TA got the last word in NY! I call that poetic justice! Awesome starting pitching from Cueto and Kopech! Glad to see Joe Kelly looking strong and not struggling. Pollack is starting to look like the Pollack we traded for.

Anderson might not be as good defensively as Lindor is, but Lindor couldn't sniff TA's jock strap when it comes to offense. When Lindor signed his 10 year 341 million contract in 2021, he was not one of the best shortstops as far as offense. Since 2019: Lindor '19 .284 '20 .258 '21 .230 '22 .239 Anderson '19 .335 '20 .322 '21 .309 '22 .359 Keep in mind, that nobody has discussed yet, which is the fact TA stays in amazing shape. At 32 yrs old, I think he will still be hitting great! The Sox will not let TA walk if he is still producing like he is now and still in great physical shape.

40th different lineup in 40 games!

That probably is the case for the pitching. According to the offensive numbers though, they were and are pretty good and near the top compared to the rest of the triple A league. The huge problem we all have worried about is the lack of pitching depth in the minors. I do agree the pitchers are awfully bad. I also think we don't develop them as well as other clubs. Additionally, we probably are not drafting pitchers as well either. Keep in mind, our studs Cease, Giolito and Kopech were drafted by other clubs. Lynn was a trade.

Regardless of whatever scandal or controversy existed with Wes Helms, how about the fact Helms isn't a good manager and his record proves it. In the 2021 season, Charlotte finished with a W-L record of 47-81. They scored 585 runs and gave up 718 runs for a (-133) run differential, which was the worst in their league. This season in 2022, they are off to another bad start with a 16-24 record and -35 run differential. The offense isn't that bad this year. In their 20 team league, Charlotte is 4th in runs scored and 3rd in BA at .259. What is horrific is their pitching. They are last in runs given up, last in ERA of 5.73, most HR's given up at 66 and tied for last in BA against their pitching at .262. Maybe Hahn needs to revaluate all the coaching being done at all four levels, as all four Sox minor league teams are under 500. So regardless of why Helms was fired or put on leave doesn't matter. Maybe he isn't cut out to be a manager. I am sure the Sox can find a better manager! For that matter, they better fire the pitching coach too. The bottom line is; either the Sox suck at drafting and signing international pitchers, or our minor league coaches suck at developing pitchers!

We need Abreu, Grandal, Moncada and Pollack to start hitting and helping Anderson and Robert. We can't always expect Anderson & Robert to go 5-7 with 6 RBI's of the total 7 runs scored like yesterday. Get some pride and toughness boys and give the Yanks some serious payback for those last 3 losses of that 4 game series.

I totally agree with this assessment as it is clear they are playing too tight and mentally in a wrong place. This dysfunctional and mentally confused Sox team is what you get when the owner decides to correct a 36 year mistake and hire an over the hill demented manager. It sickens me to watch TLR in that dugout with his lethargic managing. TLR brings zero enthusiasm, leadership and motivation to these players. I also agree if they hired Ozzie, he would at least get the guys fired up and playing looser. It will also be nice to bring Frank Thomas in as well, and lose Menechino, to get the offense performing better. The irony is this team played looser and were having way more fun with better results under Renteria. I was totally in favor of firing Renteria at the time, but heaven forbid, I didn't think the idiot owner would make the manager's selection and override Hahn.

Thank you Jerry for bringing in TLR to manage this potentially great team! Additionally, thank you TLR, for bringing your buddy, the "yes man" and genius hitting guru Menechino to make this great potential team hit so well and be near the bottom of the league in all the key offensive categories!

That's because we have the genius demented HOF'er manager, who is always the smartest person in the room!

"They just need to put together more quality at bats and that's 100% on them". Yeah you have a great point, Reinsdorf can save a lot of money and have no coaches, especially a hitting coach. Hell, who needs a hitting coach? Not our Sox...they should just let all the players take turns being the hitting coach. We can start today with Leury Garcia and tomorrow we can assign Grandal. Yep, that will do it.

Agreed it's on the players, but it doesn't mean TLR has to play the worst of the worst! Why not Moncada at 3rd, Vaughn in left, Engel in right and Sheets DH as stronger potential lineup?

Great win! Awesome pitching gem from Cueto for his first Sox outing. Robert is once again the stud on the team. Btw, TLR was being ripped on Twitter for batting Vaughn 9th and his BS justification and reasoning for it.

Another outstanding genius lineup for the first game by our genius HOF manager! 2nd - Pollack .192 4th - Abreu .200 5th - Grandal - .176 7th - Garcia - .200 8th - McGuire - .140 9th - Harrison .149 I guess this squarely puts the pressure on Dylan Cease to pitch "lights out" in order for the Sox to win game one.

Very true about Luka, but the Chicago teams also need owners who are tougher, more fiery and intelligent like Mark Cuban, as opposed to Jerry Reinsdorf and George McCaskey who both lack any of Mark Cuban's strengths!

Agreed Menechino sucks. However before you fire him, I think the first person that needs to be fired is LaRussa. He is a huge reason the team is struggling! It's painfully obvious this demented manager has failed miserably in bringing to the team that needed energy, fire, fundamentals and motivation. TLR's daily managing mistakes, such as horrible lineups and when to pull or insert a pitcher, is so glaring and why the team needs to get rid of him. It's a pitiful shame to the players and fans that senile Reinsdorf doesn't see that and can't admit he made a horrendous mistake.

I totally disagree with you on that initial contract. Eloy crushed it in the minors both at Birmingham and Charlotte and thus was rewarded that type of contract. Keep in mind it was only 6 yrs/43 million. The contract is escalating over the 6 years. If Eloy comes back this year and finishes the year strong, the 7.3 million this year will be well worth it. Plus if Eloy stays healthy next year and has a great year, the Sox paying him 10.3 million next year will also be worth it and he'll only be 26 yrs old. Btw, Hahn pulled that same logic with Luis Robert. Hahn signed Robert prior to 2020 spring training after Robert tore up the Sox minors, where he was named 2019 Minor League player of the year. Robert signed a 6 yr/50 million contract right from the minors like Eloy. I don't think anyone here would say that Robert's contract was a terrible. Most importantly, let's keep things in perspective, one of the initial rebuild moves was the Jose Quintana trade for Cease and Eloy. I think its quite obvious we are winning that trade by a landslide!