Southwest Sider

Rodgers makes this game look so easy sometimes. Packers get the last laugh again. Time to move on.

This is incredibly depressing news. You gotta look for some kind of silver lining. As Sox fans, we had a small hope that we'd be a dark horse contender next year, but that likely was not going to happen anyway. By all means, it doesn't seem like Kopech will need much extra development at the Major League level. He is developed, and when he returns and is at full strength and locked into his pitching, he should be able to pitch at a high level. Next year was only a small hope for a contending year, but 2020 is where we still look to get started. Adding him to the mix of what is hopefully a budding contender will be nice. But yes, it absolutely blows to lose that service time. It is still better for it to happen now than in 2020 or 2021 when we are really looking to win a championship.

I don't think you can single out Robert and start giving him the special treatment. That, in of itself, would create resentment in the Sox minor leagues. Any acts to increase the livelihood of Sox (or any teams) minor leaguers should be extended to all minor leaguers of that level. In other words, if Eloy Jimenez in AAA started getting the special treatment, you would need to give it to all AAA players. If Luis Robert in single A got the special treatment, you would need to give it to all A, AA and AAA players. And it is at that moment that it comes down to cost. The cost has to be significant to hire nutritionists that can cater to each player, chefs to prepare the meals, classier room and board than the typical 5 players crammed into a 2 bed room apartment. And so on. Let me be clear, I agree with you 100% that these players all deserve a better lifestyle and at the very least to feel like they are part of the lower-middle to middle class. It is absurd that players that we are counting on to be ML contributors are subjected to this kind of garbage. I want the best for Robert, and the best for all of our prospects whether they are top prospects or not. You never know if that one guy is out there that gets on track because his nutrition is top notch and not Taco Bell. So what can the Sox do? I have to imagine that, as every ML team is a business being run by business people, if they have ever examined the possibility of doing such a thing, that everyone agrees that the financial risks outweighs the possible benefits. That one guy who could get on track with top notch nutrition would be a rarity, where the top prospects still shine whether the conditions are garbage or not. The other issue is that there is absolutely no pressure to change this status quo at all. Business decisions, risk and reward can all be offset if the Minor League players find a way to unionize. We can sit here and discuss that the Sox should do X, Y and Z things for the minor leaguers until our fingers fall off, but will that ever be enough public pressure to make the change? At the end of the day, they need to find a way to unionize to gain these benefits that they deserve. The problem is, I guess, that all these players are tightly holding onto that dream of making the bigs. Jeopardizing that by publicly trying to unionize could lead to that dream being destroyed. Would you want to be part of the few who are bold enough to begin making waves about unionization and risk potentially being viewed as a liability by MLB organizations? I would commend the Sox if they made the change, but it's not like that would help them field better minor leaguers. The draft is what the draft is. Most players are going to sign, occasionally you may be able to convince a college-bound high-schooler to sign because of your awesome treatment of players, but that would probably be another rare scenario. On the other hand, perhaps they could exploit a potential market inefficiency on college-bound high-schoolers with a tactic like that. ? I know I'd be more tempted to forget college if I knew I got drafted by a first-class organization. The odds of getting drafted by them again are very low! That said, I have to imagine every scenario has been hashed out, talked about, and at the end of the day the MLB teams still arrive at the safe decision of not making the huge investment. I hope to one day see a change for minor league players.

Really cool to see Gio pitch well. Now finish this year like this and carry it into next year. It'd be excellent if we can count on him to be a rotation piece for us.

Thats pretty disappointing considering the crowd showing up tonight. Thanks Ricky.

If weather isn't an issue, yeah. A couple brews and some burgers on the mini-grill.

I haven't. I may have considered it because of how special this game is, but man tailgating by yourself is boring. I did do that one while I was waiting for some people to show up.

Finally got someone to go with me.I have tons of Sox fan friends but they are all busy or working tonight! So my girlfriends dad is coming with me. He's a Cubs fan, but it's all good at least I got someone.

It doesn't hurt to dangle him and see what teams will offer. If you can get an offer of at least 2 top prospects, it behooves the organization to really think about pulling the trigger. While we do want to compete in 2020 and 2021, the ultimate goal is long term sustained success. Rodon can indeed be a part of the short term success, but his being traded could ultimately be a boon to the goal of long term sustained success. That said, I find it unlikely the Sox will receive an offer like that this offseason, so he will not be traded. If there's one thing we can trust about Hahn and his staff, it's that they will not trade a player unless they find the return to be acceptable... even if they want to trade the player. I can't imagine that they are chomping at the bit to unload Rodon, given your excellent argument against trading him. And given his very recent injury history, I doubt any team would want to part with multiple top prospects based on a couple months of great pitching. The earliest I could see Rodon being traded is trade deadline 2019. Waiting until then gives the Sox multiple advantages. 1) Rodon can continue to establish himself and his value 2) Rodon will still have incredible value (2.5 years) to other teams at this juncture if he doesn't get injured or fall on hard times. 3) We are relying (for better or for worse, those arguments don't matter here) on Giolito and Lopez to be significantly better pitchers next year. Should they prove capable as starters in our rotation, Rodon would theoretically become a bit more expendable. Additionally, Kopech will be with the Sox and the end game for him is #1 starter. 4) Teams are sometimes a bit more eager to trade top prospects when playoff berths (and consequently, a World Series) are on the line. With the bevy of pitching prospects the Sox hold, if the scenario above plays out and the Sox receive an offer that is very hard to refuse, I can't blame them if they accept. It would mean that we are just adding to the elite prospect mix of Jimenez/Kopech/Moncada/Cease (et al) that we are all very excited about.

World Series 2019 right there! ? I'm gonna go with for the beginning of the year: Rodon Giolito Lopez Covey Free Agent Signing/ Stephens And after the deadline: Rodon Giolito Lopez Kopech Covey/Stephens/FA I don't think they will trade Rodon. I'm not sure if any teams will be willing to pay the price the Sox would want to part with him during the offseason. Gio and Lopez are obviously going to get their chance to improve so I don't see them going anywhere. Covey as well but his leash will be shorter. There will be some FA like Miguel Gonzalez that could compete but I hope Stephens wins the job. Stephens may even get a couple starts in September and become a frontrunner for the job next year.

He has definitely earned a shot next year. Let him and Davidson split DH duty and after some time next year if one is clearly outperforming the other, then go with the better hitter. That said, Davidson is on thin ice with me. This was a prove it year for him and so far he has been pretty bad.

A 90 win playoff team, followed by a great first half would indeed produce results similar to 05 and 06. But they are also results of a somewhat successful rebuild, which I allured to in my post. This would be great to awaken the current Sox fanbase. If the rebuild proves unsuccessful (a big if since I believe it will be successful), it will be bad for the Sox to produce fewer new fans, as well as continue to draw like they currently do. Somehow people got on the subject of casual fans and I wanted to offer my thoughts on what it would take to win them in part of my post, which is why part of my post was about the Cubs. The final sentence, the overly dramatic part, is 100% on the Sox to pull off. Since we're playing with hypotheticals, I don't want to say it's overly optimistic that the Sox will draw better if they have a 90 win playoff season and then a great first half of the next year. Just as I wouldn't say it's overly dramatic that if the Sox fail at this rebuild, then they will have even more digging to do to get them out of this hole they are in, which is basically what I was saying.

Sox actually do hit critical mass and win 2+ World Series. Sox beat the Cubs in the World Series These are literally the only ways the Sox can win over mass amounts of new and/or casual fans. Most of the current generation is fucked. My one buddy at work was old enough to be stoked when the Sox won in 05, but still ended up a Cubs fan. The Cubs have beaten the Sox handily at winning over the majority of the Chicago fanbase, and it will take decades to repair the damage that's been done to the Sox fanbase. This may sound crazy, but it might be an absolute must that this rebuild works, for the sake of the Sox future in Chicago. I don't know how sustainable it will be for the Sox to fail at the rebuild and as a result continue to draw like they currently do.

Giolito was fine. Moncada looked good. Bullpen looked trade-able. Abreu might finally be back. Oh yeah!

I had tickets for this game and decided to check out and see who the likely starter would be, and it is indeed James Shields. Since it seems highly likely that he will be traded, I decided to see who else could start this game. Covey could start it with 4 days rest. Kopech could start it with 4 days rest. Stephens could start it with 5 days rest. I doubt it would be Covey since they will need to make a call-up anyway in the event Shields is traded. My head says Stephens but my heart wants Kopech. How cool would it be to be at his first game? Stephens would be cool, too I suppose. I don't really know the point of this thread. I just wanted to share.

Sox already cashed in on this trend and also Hahn doesn't need to take any notes! He already made a package last year. Rutherford is a really good prospect, despite whether or not some of you have soured on him due to last seasons struggles and his current lack of power.

This is exciting news, one of my good buddies is one of the founders of The Loop Sports. He is a really great guy and so are his co founders. This is a solid team for Futuresox to partner up with. Congrats to all!

?LMAO Benetti. I hope Glynn and Molitor heard that. That was funny as hell.

Bases juiced for Yolmer again

It's really nice to see a guy like Fry make a major leaguer out of himself when it didn't seem like a distinct possibility.

That was a pretty good tag too. Gave him nowhere to go but into his mitt.

"Dealing with postgame spreads involving pizza and burgers has been an adjustment for the healthy-eating Robert. That diet issue won't be as much of a problem for Robert once he reaches the Majors." This quote caught my eye. I understand its cheaper to not have diets planned for each minor leaguer, but you'd think they'd be interested in helping him maintain his healthy eating lifestyle considering they spent 26 million on him.

Wow. Just seems like a really solid night on the farm all around.

Re-reading this, it does seem that people could make the argument that Rutherford is a lottery ticket and Clarkin and Polo are "meh" prospects. Ahhh well. Maybe thats the best we can hope for then. ?

Rick Hahns patience, and if people will play his game. Whether or not the big deals he's made work out, they've all looked pretty good on paper. I don't think he's going to trade him for a lottery ticket and some meh prospects. He was even able to obtain a somewhat decent prospect (Rutherford) for Todd Frazier and a couple of relievers. Rutherford is still a young, unpolished prospect, but was a pretty well thought of first round pick. Additionally, they were able to acquire a reasonable project prospect in Ian Clarkin. Abreu is a better hitter than Frazier, it is plausible to think that an Abreu + good reliever (not Nate Jones unless he turns it around) nets you a solid B+ / A- prospect and a prospect better than Ian Clarkin. I doubt Rick Hahn would settle for any less, anyways.