Jack Parkman

Hop aboard the train fellas, it's gonna be a hell of a ride.

Former Hawks goalie Ray Emery drowned this morning. He was 35. http://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/24106449/former-goalie-ray-emery-drowns-swimming

There's a bug with the MiLB scores by affiliation page for the Sox. The scores aren't there.

When they released Rondon

Ricky disagrees.

I tend to agree.

All aboard!!!! Hop on the train people it's going to be quite a ride. Do you send Giolito out there for another batter or two? 97 pitches.

God I hope the light is going on for Gio/Moncada. Would make the 2nd half much more enjoyable. However, the qualifier is that this is the Royals.

Yeah, the Pen isn't needed until Friday anyway. I'd send Gio out there though and if anyone gets on base pull him immediately.

Not that it is super important due to it being the last game before the AS but pitching to contact along with getting outs, is a good strategy after a high pitch count through the 1st 2 innings. He should be able to get through 6 now.

That wasn't a dumb baseball play, that was a hit and run gone horribly wrong.

Borchard. It stood for Light Tower Power.

That slider was disgusting and right on the black. I have no clue why he didn't get the backwards K on that one. More reason for him to go to sinker-slider for a while.

He should go to sinker-slider more if he wants immediate results, rather than the fastball-curveball guy that he was as an elite prospect. He can go fastball-curveball when he he's getting it up to 95-97(which we now know he still has) As he's getting more comfortable with repeating his delivery though, I think the sinker-slider combo is better for him.

I think the light might come on for him next year, but not until June. Both of his breakers are plus and he has an average to above average changeup, but he leaves the damn change high with regularity, like on that last pitch that got crushed. If he gets the change down it would go a long way for him. He leaves it up way to much.

He has good breakers, in fact they're all average or plus but he has zero command of any of them.

On the bright side, Giolito was ahead of everyone.

He was traded for bullpen help from Nats to As.

These foul balls are annoying. 20 pitches and only one out. He hasn't been missing by much and they're making him work.

Yeah, MLB pipeline had a 30 power grade on Albies and he has 20 HR on the season. Fangraphs also had a 30 FV grade on Albies power. You can't really explain that.

Lets hope Giolito keeps his delivery closed and stays over the top more in the 1st inning for a damn change instead of flying all over the place and walking the world. I've been one of the biggest supporters of him, but he can be super frustrating when his delivery gets out of whack, not to mention that he gets lit up like a cheap Chinese Christmas tree. When his arm angle is more over the top he throws harder, which is good. when he drops the arm angle a bit he loses velo. Watch his release point. Despite the fact Giolito a) doesn't miss bats and b) walks a ton of batters the following gives me hope with him: 97.0 IP 94 H. He doesn't give up a lot of hits. it means his stuff is still good, but he doesn't have good command yet. Another thing that gives me hope is when Giolito has his good starts, he gets a ton of ground balls and weak contact. As he gets more comfortable, those weak contact groundouts will become Ks.

Speaking of the Eaton trade, I'm not sure why they couldn't have added Robertson and received Jesus Luzardo as well. Would have been a nice get, even if the Sox had to throw in some cash to get the deal done. Luzardo has skyrocketed up prospect boards and I know there were Robertson/Luzardo conversations last offseason. Knowing how everything played out, I'd bet the Sox could have still traded Kahnle for Rutherford last year as well, as that was essentially that deal.

Could you change my user comment from Doing that little shimmy to Conductor of the Yoan Moncada Hype Train

I think they should do a strict age thing similar to the NHL. In the NHL, exceptional players(those who are in the NHL as a teenager) are granted UFA if their contract expires after age 25(if in the league as an 18 year old) or 26(if in the league as a 19 year old) . If not, if a player's contract expires after age 27, the player is a UFA. It is super unlikely that a player gets to MLB in baseball, so the control should be based on when the player reaches the majors as well. If a player reaches the Majors at age 20 or 21, the team gets a 5 year ELC so to speak with the first year at league minimum, the second at twice league minimum and years 3-5 at ARB. If a player enters MLB at age 22-25 the player gets a 4 year ELC where the first year is at league minimum, and years 2-4 are ARB years. In this case, all players will reach FA or be re-signed by their teams in their 20s. If a player has not reached MLB by age 26 they are granted MiLB FA, and are free to seek employment with a team that is willing to give them a 25 man roster spot, if deserving. Players that reach MLB at age 26 or older get a 2 year ELC with 1st year at MLB minimum and 2nd as ARB, In this case, most MLB regulars will reach FA between age 25-28, with most in the 27-28 Year old range.All of the age brackets are as of Opening Day. Another idea is in ordeer to entice players to stay with their clubs, there could be a maximum amount of money that could be awarded in arbitration. Players would have to take a huge financial risk to get that payday in FA. Something like, you have two options as a player: You could sign a long-term deal when your cheap years are up, or you opt into the "established player under team control contract" ( if you want to bet on yourself) However, if you opt into that, the deal is a 3 year, non-guaranteed 27M contract broken down into the following structure: Year 1: 6M Year 2: 9M Year 3: 12M. Years 2and 3 are team options as well, so if the team deems a player unworthy at that dollar amount, that team releases the player from their ELC at that point and becomes a UFA. At the end of year two if a player and their current club agree on an extension, they can replace the 12M amount with a higher dollar amount as year one of the new contract, as per team and player agreement. This would keep pitchers put fairly regularly, and hitters would be more likely to move around via FA. Either way you slice it, I think it is a better deal for players and teams, as teams know they're getting at least 2-3 prime seasons from a high dollar FA, and players get paid more quickly.

Anyone with more experience: I went to the range for the first time in two years today and found the following: I was crushing my clubs, both straight and far, but not getting them up in the air more than 20-40 ft. I've been messing around with moving the ball forward and back in my stance, and also opening up the club face a little but that hasn't helped all that much. Anyone have a pro tip on how to get under the ball so it has the proper flight path? Thanks, Parkman