Greg Hibbard

I’m sure Ron will come up with some way that that play was actually Abreu’s fault.

No, it’s not happening quite often lately. After he was beaned in the kneecap, Jose had a slash line of .333/.538/.667/1.205 over 3 games In the Minnesota series before going 0/5 tonight, but please don’t let facts get in the way of your narrative to destroy Abreu by any means necessary. You honestly sicken me with your agenda.

Every team, even good ones, have something like a 1-7 stretch. But the good teams respond by going 4-0 and getting back on track.

Hahaha Donaldson is on tilt

How does one interpret Collins’ WAR? His bWAR is only 0.2 this season and over the course of his career it’s not good obviously. Is that just a bad metric for his position/playing time? He also is sitting at an OPS+ of 90 for 2021. He doesn’t seem this bad to me.

I just want to be clear - so you feel as though being on base in 5 out of 9 plate appearances and having 1 home run in this series is undesirable offensive production, correct?

In terms of wRC+ / OPS+ / oWAR, or whatever metric you prefer....who do you think will be our premier offensive player by season end? I think it's an interesting question and not a clear cut answer.

You know, you're right. You've been so damned right with every post about Abreu over the past 4 seasons that I definitely trust your eye on Gavin Sheets after a handful of at bats. SOLD.

Considering some of the struggles we have had with say a fifth man in the rotation even being competent in other seasons (2004 comes to mind), I wouldn’t shake up the rotation if I were the White Sox. He continues in exactly the role he has been in.

I’m so upset right now about this. And yet, for some damned reason, all I can think about is all the bad karma Ron has foisted on Jose over the last 5 years. It makes me so damned angry.

I’m so sick of this line. Are we not allowed to have the 2005 World Series?

Did anyone on the Sox have the prescience to look at a damned forecast and consider whether a situation where we wasted lance start on 2 or 3 innings of rain-ball was a good idea?

I think TLR has watched enough of Mercedes bat against right handers to know which handed pitcher he’s better against. This is a manager that often otherwise sets lineups based on making sure left bats vs right.

I’m guessing that Yermin plays when one of the two catchers is off at DH now? Surely Grandal/Collins each need some days off. My other theory is that TLR may be setting him up for failure.

The 2010 Giants went 4-12 at one point in late June of that year. The 2011 Cards went 11-15 in June. The 2012 Giants went 2-8 in late June-early July, and later in July went 1-7. The 2013 Red Sox went 4-8 at one point in August. The 2014 Giants went 22-30 over the entire months of June and July. The 2015 Royals went 2-9 in late May / early June. The 2016 Cubs went 1-9 in early July, and had a losing record that month. The 2017 Astros, Cheating and all, went 11-17 in August. The 2018 Red Sox, a 108 win team, had a 4-7 stretch in August. The 2019 Nationals had an 11-14 April and a 3-7 stretch in July. Every team will lose 7 out of 11, 8 of 10, a few in a row. I'm concerned too, but the fact that we're this good with this many injuries is astounding. Fully healthy, entering this season, I had this team winning 89-93 games. I considered myself an optimist. Even after a 5 game losing streak we are on pace for 99... We will have bad stretches. It is how we make adjustments to those that dictate what we're able to do later this season.

In 1994, Frank was the best right handed hitter I had ever seen. Period.

Thank you. There’s actually a lot of perspective to be gained from taking a step back from the ledge (including what you posted): - every championship team has bad losing streaks at some point in the season. - we are down three starters, Moncada doesn’t feel right, and we have zero depth. - while it sucks to lose 4 in a row to a playoff bound team, we were on the road and they are a good team. I would rather lose 4 in a row on the road to a good team than get swept in Detroit or KC like the Sox do some seasons they are contenders. - we identified a lot of fundamental weaknesses by having this happen in June, well before the trade deadline, when we can add.

Yermin is flying open right now. He needs to go down and fix his mechanics

I know we've all been really hard on him for good reason, but Leury's last 28 days have been pretty good offensively, and his versatility defensively has been crucial to us while weathering all of the injuries. His defense has been good at all positions. I wish he could hit a couple of homers. Crazily enough, he's on pace for a nearly 2.0 bWAR full season, which would mean he was barely starter caliber.

Yes. I’m hoping the trend continues. I suppose the point that I’m making is that his ability to hit triples and homers as frequently as he recently has been has been the only factor that takes him from borderline replacement to 3.0 WAR player.

In his first 55 ML hits, only 8 were for extra bases. If I change it to 8 extra base hits, with the exact XBH distribution he had over his first stretch (6 2B, 2 3B), he would end up in the scenario with .290/.322/.387/.709 through 400 ABs.

I’ve watched a ton of Sox games this season. Look, I’m a fan of Madrigal, and I believe he will be a very solid major leaguer, but I also believe a scenario where he has a 55 hits in 200 AB stretch with 50 singles, 3 doubles, 1 triple, 1 homer and 6 BB is completely plausible. We just don’t know yet what the frequency of his power will be, and that seems to be the key to understanding his potential. If he did those numbers for his next 200 ABs, it would put his overall slash line for 2021 through roughly 400 PAs at .290/.322/.369/.691, which seems borderline to me. Do you agree?

I don’t know what your problem is with me. I’m not against discussion on Madrigal. I’m not against opinions on Madrigal. I think it’s silly to say he’s a bona fide major leaguer or not this many plate appearances into his career and a lot of folks seem eager to do it. I guess I keep an eye out for you to jump down my throat the next time I make a casual observation.

Nope, not at all. I drafted Madrigal in my fantasy league and have started him from day one. I would love for him to succeed. I thought I was pretty clear, but apparently I was not: I’m on the side of “this sample size is too small to judge.” I don’t understand why everyone is rushing to conclusions. Either way.

Pretty hilarious how people alternately bump this thread to “prove their point” either way every 50 or so at bats he has not yet hit a benchmark that is a meaningful sample size either way, folks