Jake

Something I've observed is college grads feeling very much confined by the things they studied in school when they look for work. You can use college to learn a trade or specific set of skills/knowledge that translates clearly into a career field, but you don't have to. But if you do take a route in your studies that doesn't automatically qualify you for some specific profession, you have to disavow yourself of the notion that you need to find work in your major field. You can do a lot of things with a degree in philosophy, but you probably won't work in philosophy. But you should have learned to be a thoughtful, critical, and communicative enough person that you can go into an organization and really prove your worth. I see many of my peers feeling trapped by their degrees, but the vast majority of jobs out there aren't looking for a specific college major, but they do care about whether you could graduate from a reputable college. My older sister graduated from college with a degree in English, loved her experience, and felt that it made her more prepared for the working world. What did end up doing for a living? Being a regional supervisor for a home furnishings chain. Indeed, they didn't have classes in that, but she got herself a job and started looking for ways to move up the food chain. That's not to say everyone will manage to do this or that finding a job is easy, but you do have to broaden your horizons a bit. Another challenge I tend to see people facing is geography. If you live where your parents live, that might not be where the jobs are. If I moved in with mine, I might be able to use the fact I know people in town to find decent work, but it would be far from a guarantee...it's a place where the number of jobs is going down, not up. For a lot of people, that might be the sneaky problem with having to move back in with family.

Time for Sox to get rid of all the #VoteJRoll stuff on their social media

Is anyone here familiar with contract law? I'd be curious whether a person who is highly intoxicated can have their agreement to a contract invalidated.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jun 10, 2016 -> 11:14 AM) Hadn't though of that you're right. He can't even have an "agent" yet just an "advisor." I thought I had heard about the NCAA changing up those rules recently. Am I wrong about that?

Pretty exciting stuff, to say the least. I am very fearful that Anderson is not ready for this level, or at minimum we might have wasted the chance for him to develop into a more patience and higher contact hitter. If he has the talent and gets enough of an opportunity, he should be able to work through those things at this level. We'll find out. On a lesser note, I wonder whether veteran FAs will begin to look at the Sox differently after seeing us repeatedly cut guys like Rollins, Latos, and some others in the recent past. On one hand, they get their money regardless, but on the other getting released like that mid-season is a possible death knell to an aging guy's career.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jun 10, 2016 -> 11:45 AM) Playing time- does Saladino start more or does Anderson? Is Anderson being used more as a PH/pinch run? You won't see Saladino at SS except when/if Anderson has a rotten run at the plate

They should probably wait for Saladino to outplay Rollins before getting rid of Rollins

What I would really like to see from Anderson before he comes up is a somewhat extended stretch where his walks go up and strikeouts go down. He's not at full "sound the alarms" level right now, but (for lack of better term) in all probability he has little chance to be more than an average hitter if his plate discipline doesn't improve. And, as we know, it's really hard to improve those aspects of your game in the major leagues. If he's walking 3.5% and striking out 22.5% (roughly) in AAA, you typically expect both of those things to get worse in MLB. They could bounce back and improve over the years a major leaguer, but that requires him to hit well enough to overcome never walking and not making much contact.

I seriously doubt that Morneau has some real animus towards the Sox that would make him not want to come here

I would definitely be in the camp of people suggesting that you evaluate the trade solely based on its merits, not on what other trades for other positions you wish were made. We could have used an SP, though perhaps not as much as a DH or SS or CF or RP. But it's really hard to get a competent SP via trade without parting with a lot of talent, so it makes sense to jump on the chance to do it when presented with that possibility.

Your reason is Jerry Sands

Latos seems like a guy who might be able to turn into a really effective reliever

QUOTE (raBBit @ May 31, 2016 -> 04:59 PM) I am not sure which video/GIF you're referring to. While your analysis is correct, I looked at much more tape than what I posted in the article along with scouting reports from last year. He's always been on the 1st base side and really, it makes sense given his lack of size thwarting him from getting a good angle on the ball. It worked a lot better with his mechanics from last year. This year, that placement is exacerbating him opening as you're alluding to. He's got some work to do for sure. Thanks! Strangely enough, Bell and Perdew aren't of the opinion his mechanics are different so it's questionable. He surely looks different to me. I did the non-lazy thing and just looked at actual photographs of his position on the rubber at Vandy and W-S...and yes, regardless of where he might be in that video (it's hard to see), he definitely is on the 1B in all the old photos. The irony is that if he's going to start striding open or more neutral it may no longer be the ideal place on the rubber.

He's started 8 out of the last 12 games and at the beginning of that stretch, he was still being outhit by Rollins. Robin isn't going to just quit Rollins cold turkey, it's going to be a continuation of the gradual transition that we've seen so far. It's a matter of fairness to the players involved. And for the love of god, let's not lose our minds over matchups. Rollins has some noticeable R/L splits this year—but not over his career—but he's not the only player involved. There may be a goal here of protecting Saladino against what they expect are tough matchups for him. And, of course, he played Saladino today against a lefty and that seemed to work out pretty well. Let's not sweat the small stuff. Rollins is on track to slowly lose his share of the starts, but he won't lose them all right away. And the starts he gets aren't necessarily going to be tailored to his perceived strengths, but may have more to do with the schedule and what matchups they think work best and worst for Saladino

Hopefully this feels like getting over a mental hurdle for everyone. A lot of pressure should be lifted.

I'm with GS, even though it will ever so slightly reduce the Bulls' legacy. I find that whole squad in Cleveland to be unlikable and I won't cheer for them. Draymond Green wants me to not like GS, but I'm not there yet.

One thing I noticed–in your (excellent and useful) compare/contrast of last year's mechanics with this year's, I think you're wrong about his placement on the rubber. It's always hard to see from these angles, but in the 2015 video it looks to me like he's on the extreme 3rd base side of the rubber. I can't tell where he is in the 2016 video. I think he should be on the first base side of the rubber, especially if he wants to stride closed.

They absolutely don't need to care what the fans think about the management, because the fans will most definitely quit giving a s*** when you win. But you will have to win if you don't want the fans' feelings about the management to start hurting you.

Baffling that you can look at this and think the manager is the problem. s***'s going bad and it is a clearly a very multi-faceted problem

If you're focused on Robin, you're focusing too hard. Pulling Robo and then putting in Kahnle was *very* questionable, but when you're in the position to make those decisions you're beyond the point where managing is your main problem

We would definitely benefit from another starter and his contract dictates you'd have to give up very little talent. Note that it's a backloaded (sort of deal), so $10M last year and $21M each year until it ends. I'm not sure if Shields is the guy, but I would imagine as Hahn looks at deals he's checking out guys that are making a lot of money that he could basically in exchange for eating the contract

They definitely have to look into doing something with Fulmer, but it's not obvious to me whether demotion is the answer. For one, he seems to be getting worse, which would suggest it isn't just the competition. You also want to know that he's actually locating the pitches rather than taking advantage of worse competition. With that said, I'm a strong proponent of the idea that you can irrevocably harm a player by letting him play too badly for too long.

8 walks in May is very encouraging. He's going to always carry a decent batting average, but everything else is in the air. Will he strike out too much? Walk too little? Have enough pop? There are some good signs on all those fronts, but let's get him really dominating the level before calling him up. He's played what, 40 games in AAA? Let's take some time.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 21, 2016 -> 05:00 PM) So Soria this year is getting crushed by righties (.840 OPS compared to .560 by lefties). Jimmy Rollins has an OPS below .500 vs RHP this year, and Avi is at .753 vs RHP. Letting Rollins PH for Sands there is a decision that makes no sense on any level. Since I was feeling curious, I checked Rollins' career numbers against Soria. 1 for 1 with a 2B, probably not a major factor in the decision. Avi was 1 for 7 with a 2B and a K, again probably not something that stood out to the decisionmakers. With that said, Avi's numbers over the past week/2 weeks are not so good while Rollins's are...okay, a tick better than his season averages. With that said, Rollins's struggles against RHP vs LHP is not something that has been consistent over his career, so I'm not sure how much I would be thinking about it

He's getting very hard to watch. Slumping is one thing, even getting worse is one thing, but right now he has some elementary problems. It's not just that it feels like he's being pitched very consistently and predictably inside, the numbers bear it out as well. Nobody sees as many inside fastballs in the league as Jose. But he can't lay off of them and he can't hit them hard. I'd like to see him at least look like he has a different strategy. Go up there looking for inside heat and pound it...or, if he just can't do that, then try to go up there refusing to swing at anything that looks to him like it's on the inside third. Right now it looks like he's up there trying to be able to cover any kind of pitch, but he's only seeing one kind of pitch and he can't handle that one.