Two-Gun Pete

The more I look at Cheveldayoff, the more I hate him and the NHL. Here's a guy who us either himself a bigot, by means of hiring/enabling a bigot, or is aligned with bigots, given his history with Aliu. Meanwhile, Bettman/the NHL let him off Scott free. Heres a guy who knew about Beach's assault, and did nothing about it. And yes, Bettman/the NHL let him off Scott free. I wonder what he has on Bettman?

I like that, although I'd like them to sign another RP, and send Crochet down to get stretched out/develop a 3rd pitch. I think that a decent RP signing could net 1 WAR, but I'd like to have more SP "inventory," in case of future injury/ineffectiveness that can pop up.

1. No. This FO never learns any fucking thing, because they're too stoopid. They forced us to wait and watch for seasons, as they tore it all down, and gained cost-controlled youngsters. They then extended some parts of the core; both of these actions were smart, but then they squandered financial flexibility in the stoopid Kimbrel trade, thus shortening the window. 2. Agreed. Part of the problem is that Vaughn/Sheets/Burger/Jimenez all profile the same way; decent bats that can't field a position to a league-average level. There are only so many players like that you can have on your roster. And there are only so many FOs that have an interest in all bat/no field types in trade. 3. Agreed. And this FO should have KNOWN THAT before they traded 10 years of control for 2 youngsters for a closer. 4. No, they won't spend their way out of this, unless (God Forbid) JR is terminally ill. 5. This window will only last til 2024, as Giolito will be a UFA by then. Of course, not getting the year of control back on Kopech didn't help, while not spending part of 2021 trying to stretch out Crochet didn't help, either. For less cash than they squandered on Kimbrel, they could have signed 2 RPs last offseason, so that Kopech/Crochet could have been stretched out/got the year of control back. (EDIT) Actually, with as weak as the ALC was this year, they probably only needed to sign 1 RP to take Crochet's place in the pen, while some other AAAA schmuck could have taken Kopech's place for the ~6 weeks or so for Kopech to get the year of control back. In effect, there are 2 more seasons left in this window, IMO.

That'll be tough, since the state of IL (and other states) have handed the Wirtz family a virtual monopoly in distributing booze. Hell, AFAIK, restaurants arr required to pay their booze suppliers before they pay their other suppliers.

Given this issue, the Akim Aliu issue with the Ice Hogs coach, and a few other things, this organization isn't doing much to cover themselves in glory these days. Now would be a good time to simply fire everyone, blow it all up, and rebuild the entirety of the organization.

Fair or unfair, I'm guess that this means that John Doe thinks his playing career is over. Rich team owners don't like it when some peasant speaks up for himself.

Skimmed the report. Couple things: AFAIK, the only person who said that McDonough said that "he would handle it" was Bowman. No one else corroborated that supposition. So when Bowman makes the bullshit "apology," I gotta roll my eyes at him. The team's "mental skills coach" apparently broke HIPPAA confidentiality laws by naming John Doe to the senior leadership. He also was an asshole in his emails to John Doe. How can he not be subject to legal action, given his licensure status at the time? On balance, really no one comes away looking good. Not the players, nor the coaches, nor the staff. FFS, one could have expected the team's counselor to be a fuckong adult, but no... This is really disappointing.

Indeed. Exactly what did I post that was factually untrue about Burger? In what way was anything I posted unfair to him? Has he been injured every year? Is his defense suspect? And, are we also happy/proud that he made it back to play this year? More than one thing can be true at the same time, and yes, I'm having a little fun with Dick Allen, who wants to accuse me of being something that I'm not.

No, I'm not a "White Dox" fan, but I am a White SOX fan. While we're all proud of the cup of coffee Burger had at this level, the back of his baseball card still showed that he got injured. Again this year. Just the same as the year before that, and the year before that, and the year before that. Yet, he's somehow a key piece of the future? And the fact that Burger can't stay healthy makes me a "small person?" How does that work? While he had his "one season" that he bothered to take care of his body enough to play, what's the overall trend with this player? Also, looking at his fielding, is 10 errors in 65 AAA games "good" in your world? [source] Sorry, but while Burger's 2021 story is a nice one, do you or anyone else here have confidence that he can repeat this, and consistently be a part of a team's future? I don't.

Agreed. I think Madrigal is a ~2-ish WAR "just a guy" type. In a vacuum, he's not much. But, to THIS lineup, at the league minimum salary, he was ideal. IOW, he was more valuable to our SOX than he would be to other MLB teams. And yes, we get frustrated seeing them scrimp and save and ID/acquire/extend core pieces during the rebuild. Then we get frustrated when they stoopidly trade for a guy who fucks your financial flexibility and who wouldn't (BY HIMSELF) get this team past the trashstros, even if he was lights out. Yes, they can recover, but they made their own lives harder, for no good fucking reason.

This is true. Grandal does everything this lineup needs. At the same time, Madrigal also did a lot of the things that this lineup needed, WRT taking a metric fuckton of pitches, being a pest, and getting on base. I think it was illuminating that the team's record suffered when Madrigal & Grandal were out. We've got enough RH free swingers that suck when they don't make contact already. The other side of the coin is that yes, if you DH Grandal more, what becomes of the pile of DHs that are here? I think this speaks to the lack of flexibility and variability in the roster. Given that we're in the window NOW, I'd rather trade away Sheets or Vaughn or Burger than Grandal right now, if a return is decent. KW & RH have their work cut out for them. Here's hoping they don't shit their pants. Again.

I think that if you trade Grandal, the lineup gets far worse, in that we don't have many OBP-types that can draw walks and work a count. If you an find a positionally appropriate for this roster, LH, OBP type, then I'm on board. We've simply got too many free swinging RH types that are fun when they make contact, but infuriating vs the trashstros.

While I'll add my voice to those who said this was a well-thought post, I don't think it was the bottom line. I agree with Balta, in that this was a multi-system failure: 1. The FO measurably made the 2021 team worse, while reducing financial flexibility for 2022, while erasing the future opportunity to either use Madrigal/Heuer/Pilkington for this team, or for future trades. In sum, they fucked up the short term, mid term, and long term. Even if Kimbrel was "lights out," he BY HIMSELF wasn't going to be enough to close the gap between our SOX and the other contenders, IMO. 2. The coaching staff fucked up the overall season strategy WRT HFA/getting the team hot for the playoffs. They fucked up the strategy WRT setting the rotation for the series, and they fucked up virtually every tactical decision in the series. The bench coach and pitching coach HAVE TO up their "in game" games, because TLR ain't getting younger/better; this is akin to Penn State having Paterno as "head coach" in title, but the assistants did all the work in his final seasons there. 3. And yes, the players didn't perform, in part because of #s 1 & 2. If it was "just" the players, then better players solve the issues, but I don't see this as being the only problem right now. So yeah, the players didn't play. But, the "adults in the room" (FO/Coaches) shit their pants as well. And this is concerning, as we look to the future. Here's hoping that some of this gets unfucked.

I think that's bullshit. To my memory, there's no record of anyone in the FO as having said that. OTOH, when Kimbrel and Hernandez were introduced, Hahn mentioned the multi year control over both as being important. We've got Latin Danny Mendick because they just "had to" have Kimbrel/had to sell Madrigal.

Yes, while you've been thinking about rooting for the cubs, and hating on the 2020 AL MVP, I've been watching the SOX. Burger's fielding remains suspect, based on his history. He also loves his Domino's, and needed to miracle his fat ass into shape this year. Until he consistently proves that he knows what vegetables and cardio are, I reserve the right to assume that he'll continue to work on his BK body.

I think that any worries about Escobar's injuries were bullshit. I think they focused on Kimbrel as being the key piece at the TDL; once it became known that Madrigal was part of the ask, they wanted a guy with control in 2022. And thats how Latin Danny Mendick got beaten out by Leury for postseason starts at 2B, since Latin Danny Mendick has a $6MM option for 2022.

I'd put it at 120. A separated shoulder and a hamstring don't trouble me as much as the fact that he's a smaller guy in today's game playing against bigger opposition than anything Nellie faced. These aren't recurrent injuries to the same part of his body that could/would predict recurrent visits to the DL. Why didn't they take the easy win, and just get him at the TDL? If he were here already, they could have replaced the hated Leury Garcia as the utility guy, OR used him as a starter going forward. Here's hoping that he's available this offseason.

I dont know if Madrigal is quite THAT fragile, but his size and history are definitely against him. I think that, if healthy, his OBP skills alone could be worth 2 WAR, over ~120ish games a season; Leury gave us exactly 2.0 fWAR in 123 games. But, his health is a question, and I also don't like that he can't play anywhere other than 2nd. His (and the rest of the starting IF's) inflexibility are why Leury continues to exist as an important piece in this roster. If possible, I'd like Escobar to be signed here, but it sounds like Milwaukee will want him back next season.

Agreed that it was dumb to make Kimbrel the keystone to the TDL. I also agree that trading away a ~2-ish fWAR 2B at the league minimum was stoopid. But I disagree that Madrigal could/would become a HOF baseball person. I wouldn't mind trading Moncada, IF they had some idea that Burger could become a 2-3 WAR 3B, AND that they could score a major return for him. I just doubt that these imbeciles could pull off such a trade, or that Burger wouldn't go back to shoving Domino's Pizza down his hole.

Agreed. They should back up the truck, and sell anything and everything that's not nailed down. This team ain't going anywhere this season, so they might as well sell everything they can.

Look, the pitching coach is more than just a "mechanics technician." Especially with an ancient alkie as manager who is without his lifelong friend as pitching coach by his side. There's the in game tactical angle, insofar as keeping Alkie Tony from doing colossally moronic things. Such as moronically running out a rookie, on the road, vs a tough trashtros lineup, after he'd just pitched the day before, in a game you HAD TO WIN. Ya know, like a CNA has to keep a watchful eye over the nursing home residents. Or in-game, keeping Grandal from calling 10,000 fastballs in a row. Or in-game, helping the pitchers find the strike zone, instead of letting Lynn, Giolito, Cease, and Rodon walk the yard. Again. Or in-game, not letting Lynn throw 74 of 76 pitches as fastballs, leading to another curb-stomping by the trashstros. There's also the strategic angle, where a pitching coach has to help Alkie Tony setup the pitching staff for the playoffs. Or helping to figure out how to use BOTH Hendriks and Kimbrel, BEFORE the playoffs start. Katz's job doesn't end when he unlocks a player's mechanics. A pitching coach and bench coach have MORE responsibilities with a geezing geezer as manager. So far, they've sucked at the in-game roles, and have let Alkie Tony fuck up royally. A year ago, with an inferior roster to THIS year's roster, heads rolled for perceived coaching fuckups. This year, despite epically bad coaching and managerial decisions that contributed to losing both HFA and the ALDS, we're supposed to be happy we took another humiliating curb-stomping? Sorry, but I can't feature that. If it was OK to launch Renteria and Cooper for shitting their pants, when you see more pants-shitting from this years coaching staff, they should be fired as well.

WRT Katz, what is he really good at? Is he good at helping the pitchers hold the runners, or do they do a shitty job at it? Is he good at helping Alkie Tony manage the bullpen, or did he help turn a 71.7% chance of winning game 2 into a loss by running Crochet out there? Does he know how to help manage a bullpen with 2 old/expensive closers, or did he let Kimbrel suck out loud all year, without taking action? I think Katz has some skills/strengths, but there are some real weaknesses that he has. And with a geezing geezer as manager, both the bench coach and pitching coach need to up their games.

You bring up am interesting point: IF Burger can actually play 3rd at an MLB level, what would Moncada bring back in trade? Not that I would do it, because up to this point, I've considered Burger to be a fat, useless, worthless piece of shit who has squandered his potential eating and not bothering to get his cardio. But if (and that's a big "IF") Burger can play 3rd, Moncada could fix a lot of self-inflicted damage that this moronic FO has done this season, were he traded for a decent return.

It won't be the case. This FO is so stoopid that they can't even adequately manage the payroll effectively. Im convinced that if they had LAD's budget, they'd spend through THAT like crack whores needing a rock. So, for all the Madrigal haters, him at what, $700k to give us ~1.8fWAR, vs Hernandez at $5MM to give us ~1.8fWAR is a big problem. Similarly, Heuer at $700k vs. Tepera at $5MM. $1.4MM vs $10MM for similar production adds up. And the cascade of events leads to desperation moves like re-signing Eaton, instead of having just a tiny bit more money for a REAL contributor. I agree that an abject lack of flexibility in this roster is a problem. And its also a reason why Leury simply can't be let go, just yet.

And this is ONE reason (of out a few reasons) why it was moronic to trade away two youngsters for Kimbrel.