JoeC

Depends on your view of manufacturing. If you want to REALLY get into it, you'd say that at that point you should sell off your expensive, MLB-level assets and replace them with freshly-minted MiLB graduates from your "factory." Like what chitownsportsfan said, there's a lot of wisdom required in baseball in addition to pure athleticism. Not that other sports don't have the cerebral component, but these cerebral battles in baseball happen on such a controlled level that it's hard to get by on talent alone... that, and because it's so controlled, every little weakness is exploited. The closest analogy I can think of in professional sports off the top of my head is an NHL goalie... and that's even a stretch. There's a really good reason that NHL goalies peak later compared to their position-player peers. They have to be mechanically damn near perfect, and none of the gazillion split-second decisions they make every game can show even a glimpse of those weaknesses. Drop your blocker hand a couple of extra inches when going down in the butterfly while moving toward your blocker side? Good luck eliminating that habit through every possible position shift. If it pops up in a game, NHL shooters pick up on that stuff and exploit your upper blocker corner and five-hole at will, the same way young MLB hitters and pitchers get exposed. Make a guy go into a "sink or swim" situation too quickly, and he might figure out a way to swim, but he'll probably develop other bad habits / holes along the way in his game that'll just then get exploited later. By then, you're a physically more mature player, and those habits are just harder to break... and the next thing you know you end up as a filler for Steve Stone in the booth for a (should-be) last-place team by the time you're in your mid-30's.

The train left the station without you last August, Pedro. Everyone else here has already been left behind.

Different sports. Gymnasts peak even earlier. Marathon runners peak later.

2024 is a lost season for the big league team. Skip a hand of blackjack and take $25 and put it on 85+ wins. You're likely out the $25 either way, but at least this gives you some minor, long-shot sliver of what might turn into hope for like... the first couple of weeks of April.

It's not a matter of "no pressure." The minor leagues should be looked at as a factory - not a warehouse.

The problem is that if Montgomery hits .111 or .200 at this level, he is likely going to develop bad habits that will ruin his growth for the long term. Give the kid time to actually develop in the minors (sounds like it won't take long), and let guys like DeJong struggle and be themselves. You won't do harm to the kid who actually matters to the long term success of the team.

"You forgot to say 'away' again." -M. Bluth

Well there's been exactly one championship in each home ballpark since they moved to town from St. Paul in 1900, so we're about due for a new ballpark before we can win one again. It's just math.

In short, the media has moved on to the next hot story.

Defensive efficiency will be solid, and that's probably the one and only area where this team will be better than average.

Spring Training doesn't count.

Depends on your definition of "ballpark."

I see what you did there.

I think it's more believable / useful as a team stat than as an individual stat.

Thanks - figured that was still the case, but wanted to see a more comparable case study myself (without having to go through the effort to Google it... who can be bothered with THAT s%*#?)

Just out of curiosity, do you happen to know if those aforementioned studies were done on broader-scope developments like The 78 (or projects like Truist Park)?

My point is that Colas has been so bad that, even if this guy is somehow “worse,” it’s really hard to have that production be meaningfully worse. Like, the difference between a .600 OPS and a .570 OPS from the corner is not really going to matter.

How is this guy possibly worse than Colas?

There’s a stadium funding transparency joke in there somewhere, too, but I am too braindead right now to think of it.

I should add… other teams are reaping the benefits of developments and neighborhoods centered around the ballpark. The Sox have their parking lot revenue, thanks to Jerry’s 1970’s-modern economic model.

The economics of baseball have changed. Guaranteed Rate would be a great ballpark in its current configuration in the ‘90’s. It’s still a good place to watch baseball. Fact is that modern day ballparks are a full experience, and the inside of the ballpark is just one part of the experience. Say what you will about posters who lament the loss of tailgating possibilities like THAT is going to be the death knell for baseball on the South Side, but it is indicative of the way the modern fan “consumes” baseball. It is this economic and competitive reality that is driving this “need.”

You mean... even more of an albatross.

too soon?

You just defined Soxdom in a nutshell

Or would he be entombed under the dance floor?