Eminor3rd

From what I've read, Gonzalez is a great pick for the White Sox. His core hitting skills are very advanced, meaning has a chance to become a major leaguer without player development actually helping him learn to hit. Seeing people say he needs to add/grow into power, and I can see him benefitting just from an MLB weight training regimen, which I trust our staff to be able to execute. Also, he fits our team's profile of a SS that no other team think should stick there, so my guess is they plan to keep him there and replace Anderson.

The less he knows them, the better. In fact, it might be the secret to his success.

#WhiteSox

Yeah, he's a special kind of piece of s%*#. There's a reason why every team he plays for fucking hates him, and that is a good illustration.

You're going to have a great time. I got a chance to see the same two teams there in... 2016? It's not actually a great venue, but it IS a classic. And there's lots to do nearby ahead of time -- there's basically a mall/low-key theme park built around it. Not sure where you're seated, but have fun watching the oendan for each team in the LF and RF stands. The cheers you hear on TV don't do it justice. Based on yesterday's box scores, it looks like you're lined up to see Tomoyuki Sugano vs. Trevor Bauer. Sugano is kind of the Kershaw of NPB -- was the best in the league for several years in his prime, but is in his mid-thirties now and has had trouble staying on the mound. When he's right, he's a control artist who sits low 90's and will command four to five pitches in an outing. One thing I always thought made him so tough is his slider and his splitter actually tunnel really well together but just break opposite directions, about 45 degrees diagonally down to either side. Other Giants to look out for: - closer Taisei Ohta, aka "Taisei." He's got really nasty stuff and could definitely be an MLB prospect one day, as he jumped directly to the full-time closer role as a rookie last year, meaning he'll be in a good position to rack up service time before he gets too old. - OF Yoshihiro Maru. Also getting up in age but won a couple MVPs with Hiroshima and is still an OBP machine. - SS Hayato Sakamoto. "The Derek Jeter of Japan," is arguably the GOAT SS in NPB. Has been super famous his whole career. Also getting oldm has been sidelined a lot this year for injuires and some sort of offseason media controversy. Not actually sure if he's active right now. - CF Lewis Brinson. Was also hurt, not sure if he's back. - Again, (3B) Kazuma Okamoto is the main stick. Other BayStars to look out for: - Again, Shugo Maki (2B) is the franchise, Toshiro Miyazaki (3B) is having the career year - Keita Sano (OF) is a great all around hitter - Taiki Sekine (OF) was a rule 5 guy and is having a storybook late-ish career breakout this year - Both Tyler Austin and Neftali Soto have been really good for this team when they've been healthy Grab a Bento box and soak it in.

Agreed, Yoshida was a great get for Boston.

Yoshida was always going to outhit the other two, he’s got a really special hit tool to pair with his solid pop. Problem for the Sox is he’s another defensive liability. You can handle a couple of those on a typical roster, but the Sox have already painted themselves into a corner where they just can’t afford that type of player.

Roki pitches for Lotte. Best pitchers typically throw on the weekend, unless their schedules get really messed up by weather or injuries, which does happen to some guys over the course of the season. Last I heard, I want to say Sasaki was on Sundays, though it changes a lot because they baby his arm. You should be able to lookup probables on pacificleaguetv.com and just use browser translate. By all means, if you can see Sasaki, do it. You should be able to lookup probables on pacificleaguetv.com and just use browser translate. Seibu, the team matched up against Lotte Thursday, has a couple interesting arms too — Kona Takahashi has apparently asked to be posted this offseason. I’ve never been high on him, but he has improved a ton by going to Driveline the last couple years and definitely has the body for upside. Kaima Taira has some of the best raw stuff in the league, had been a dominant closer but made the switch to the rotation this year and it’s working. It’s unfortunate that that random Orix July 4th game is a Tuesday, because Yoshinobu Yamamoto would be just as fun to see as Sasaki. Sasaki is the bigger arm and bigger show, but Yamamoto is coming to MLB this offseason and he’s going to carry a ton of hype, much more than the average import. Every bit as much as Tanaka did, by my estimation, and I think he’s in for a similar contract, at least. For future reference, Orix plays in the Kobe/Osaka region somewhere, if you go again. With that pitching rotation thing in mind, that Baystars/Giants weekend series would be a good bet to see a good matchup. Yokohama’s starting pitching has been good all down the list, but there’s talk of Shota Imanaga possibly getting posted this offseason, and Katsuki Azuma could be a name in the future to make the jump as well. On the position side, Shugo Maki is the main guy to watch, a young star who’s gonna be good for a while, and Toshiro Miyazaki is the narrative, a veteran who is having a career year and has been flirting with .400 all season. Also, depending upon how you feel about it, that’s where Trevor Bauer pitches, though I have no idea when his day is. He’s mostly struggled so far, but peppered in a couple strong outings recently. Giants ace is Shosei Togo, a lanky kid with swagger beyond his years. Kazuma Okamoto is having a hell of a year at the plate. He could be a big league hitter but will likely never leave. If you go to one of the others, let me know and I’ll give you info on whatever teams you’ll see. EDIT: Btw, Lotte plays in Chiba, which is right by the airport, in case you can time a Sasaki start with your trip in/out of the country.

I'm sorry, I know it seems melodramatic, but I sincerely hope they trade no one, honestly not even expiring contracts. I really think the only chance in hell there's ever a wholesale change in leadership is if the franchise totally craters. At this point, I'm willing to sign up for it, no matter how long it takes and no matter how deep the hole -- because the alternative is an eternity of knowing damn well the team isn't good enough and will only ever win again if every hand turns up aces like in 2005. And I'm being honest here, not vindictive or edgy: I've lost interest in this team. I'm not even watching the games anymore. It isn't to "penalize" the team or "send a message," it's just purely from totally losing hope and interest, and preferring to do other things. I click on SoxTalk almost every day, by rote, out of habit, and 90% of the time I bounce without viewing a single thread. Like I almost can't believe it as I type it, but I'm not sure I would even give a s%*# if they ripped off a 20-game winstreak and suddenly looked like a lock for the playoffs. Maybe I'm wrong, but right now I just can't imagine it. It's like my subconscious has moved on. I'm just done with them. For literally the first time I can remember, the White Sox have ceased to be a part of my summer. I'm now wondering if it's possible that this fucking clownshow of an organization has somehow snuffed out this candle for me. And if so, what an achievement that would be -- I've been a fanatic most of my life, and I understand the swells and troughs of a competitive window. I'm patient and entertained by the process itself. It's just -- after this many consecutive years of being, overwhelmingly, a source of frustration for me, my brain feels like it's finally becoming trained to search elsewhere for meaning. This is truly EXCEPTIONAL incompetence, well beyond what can be expected even through luck. For a long time, we could root for signs that they were going to learn, change. adapt, improve, etc. We know now, after seeing them finally get the chance to do it totally right, with all the time and support they need, that, beyond the shadow of the doubt, they cannot. This is who they are. This is what they think works. They gotta go. Doesn't matter what it takes.

Sale, immensely.

He did well on the trades, but I think there’s evidence that even the gems from those deals suffered from the infrastructure they came into. With the one major exception of Giolito* — all of those prospects are, essentially, the same players they were when they were obtained, with the same flaws, just with more experience and practice. If they hadn’t targeted players that were already just a step away from the big leagues, I can’t imagine it would even look like they won those deals. All of the secondary pieces have amounted to the same pile of nothing that every non-first round prospect that Sox have drafted has, and the “no-doubters” have become the talented but frustratingly inconsistent and overall disappointing major leaguers that every first rounder the Sox drafted has. You’re correct to point out that they don’t have the same level of currency to deal from, but ill just add that even if we could be sure that they would get the most fromwhat they have again this time around, I don’t think we want those new players spending even a moment in this toxic farm system. *One could also argue Cease, but until we see evidence that he can reliably harness his command in the long term, I’d argue that the season he had last year was always in the realm of possibility; the result of the stuff he always had plus an extended streak of good location. The type of season that’s a 90+% outcome for a player like him, and every year a handful of players pull out that 90th percentile without necessarily raising their floors.

This is where I am. The franchise, I think, will be better served by doubling down and failing even harder, so as to increase the chances that it becomes untenable to retain current leadership. We shouldn’t want this group to have any involvement in the next window whatsoever. Unfortunately that may mean digging a deeper and sadder hole that we’ll all have to experience again.

Miggy f’ing with Hanser trying to make him think he’s gonna steal lmao

The Apple TV broadcasts are a s%*# show from a production standpoint. And they literally extend the inning breaks for more commercials.

Just a defensive clinic here tonight

I’m a little lower on Murakami than consensus, for a couple reasons: 1. I think he’s at his absolute peak right now, maybe he holds it for another several years, but he’s a classic old player skills guy: perfect plate discipline/true slugger and I just don’t think he has anywhere to go but down. 2. he’s not actually a third baseman. Yeah he’s playing there now and he’s not a total disaster, but he’s a 1B/DH over here, and that’s only going to become truer as he ages I think he’s absolutely going to be a major league hitter, but I think there’s a good chance it’s as a 2-WAR first baseman. We’ll know more in a couple years. But who knows, if there’s one thing the Sox like to collect, it’s 2 WAR first basemen.

It’s obviously too late at this point, but it’s almost like the white sox don’t even know you’re allowed to trade players. I cannot fathom the thought behind developing 8 interesting first basemen at the same time, and trading none of them while allowing yourself to field replacement level players at several positions.

Come on man, I know there’s a lot of reason to s%*# on this front office, but let’s be fair here — you don’t go into a season expecting one pitcher to end up injured. No could have seen that coming, it’s not like teams can realistically plan for that kind of randomness

He'll fit right in

Fucking jesus

No. Even if they play at 90-win pace the rest of the year, they’ll still finish below .500.

At this point I hope this team moves to Las Vegas before the A's do.

I legitimately have no idea.

What it comes down to is that it just is NOT that difficult to draft and develop a 2WAR corner outfielder. Free agency is a fine way to improve your roster, but in terms of dollars, it’s by far the most inefficient method available to teams. Invariably, teams are going to end up with a hole or two to fill with average players, and so the premium is worth it to pay to complete the team. But if you find yourself spending the bulk of your budget building your roster with veteran role players through free agency, there’s just no way you can stretch it to the point that you can ensure you can also make sure you have depth, extend your stars, make aggressive deadline moves, etc. The $/WAR number is a curve with a bump in the middle; there is surplus value to be found on both tails: cheap bounceback candidates on the low end and superstars on the high end. You never want to be in a position where you need to buy at the middle of that curve if you can avoid. Bizarrely, that seems to be the White Sox actual plan. Or at least they seems to be pretending that those players in the middle actually belong on the high tail. Better franchises focus on developing the types of players that end up in the middle, and if they can do so in sufficient number, they can focus their free agent spending on the tails. You want BUY 26-year old Manny Machado instead of relying on being able to develop his equivalent out of the spoils of two or three trades. Between this tendency to buy Benintendi-types and the fetish for signing veteran relievers at their peak market value, the White Sox FO seems malignantly obsessed with spending money in the least efficient way possible. It’s frankly embarrassing that this group is led by an Ivy League business grad, because the consistency of this tendency just defies explanation.

Just expiring contracts. The only solution for the franchise is for the front office to get fired when the window closes. That’s assuming the FO is still committing themselves to their dumbass roster strategy of having the bulk of its significant players all playing the same, low value defensive position. If not, they could at least entertain the possibility of moving under-utilized value for different value in places they need. But, you know.