Two-Gun Pete

Ok, I cant for the life of me understand why England, at home, as favorites, chose to cede as much possession and territory as they did. I also didn't agree with the order of penalty takers for England. Their nerves were on full display, and I thought the last few takers were going to miss for sure. That aside, congrats to Italy, and WOW, what a tournament!!!

Why does it have to be one or the other? TB are in contention, and they have a top farm system. LAD are in contention, and have more talent than the SOX. The Houston Assholes are in contention and have more MiLB talent than the SOX. Smarter orgs can do both contend, AND have talent in MiLB at the same time. The other side of the coin is that when posters pine for big ticket items in trade, like Gallo, it means that it ain't gonna happen, because there ain't anything to trade away.

I dont know if it was an upset, TBH. Brazil have now lost a Copa, an Olympics, and a World Cup at home now in recent years. I think that this win will get the stoopud media to stfu about Messi and his play with Argentina.

@Bazox: While I think that England were a deserving winner over the Danes, I also think that Sterling's dive was never a penalty, and was shameful that he simulated in such a way. Best of luck to Three Lions today. I think you'll have your hands full with the Azzuri. I've said it before, but if you're a casual soccer observer, we're seeing some of the best stuff right now. Better soccer than at world cups and olympics, IMO.

Sure. Being SELECTED to the ASG helps them during contract negotiations. Does wasting their time actually PLAYING in the stoopud ASG help them at all? I doubt it. They've already got their due and their recognition, which is being SELECTED. Risking injury and/or ineffectiveness by playing an unnecessary game is fucking stoopud; For pitchers, giving enemy teams more video to study, and enemy coaching staffs chances to overuse you, and enemy players more chances to observe you/get you timed is country-dumb.

I wish our guys would decline as well. At least, the guys that have already gone to an ASG. The ASG matters as little as the pro bowl. It does exactly jack and shit to help this team win this year. In a season full of injuries for the SOX, I don't want to risk any more unnecessary chances for IL stints. In a team that can ill-afford any decline in performance from the pitchers, I specifically don't want them exerting themselves in a stoopud waste of time like this. I'd rather have all SOX rested and ready to go for the second half. I'd rather have the pitchers throw pitches for OUR team, not some stoopud all star team. While I hate the asstros with the FIRE of 10,000 suns, I also think their players made the right choice.

Ok, so given that the re-injury occurred 7/6, 9/1 would put him at ~8-ish weeks out from the injury. If his recovery goes well, perhaps he can join Charlotte around ~9/10, which can give him a week or so down there. Then, if that goes reasonably well, he can easily be back for the last 2 weeks of the regular season. All this team has to do is to stay afloat, while Grandal recovers. As an aside, if Jimenez rejoins the roster around the end of July, then Robert in August, and Grandal in September, that would be a big boost to this team's post season chances.

So, looking at the schedule, the SOX have played 86 games so far, leaving 76 left to play. Of those 76, you've got: MIN 7/19-21, and away 8/9-11 KC away 7/26-29, home 8/3-5, & away 9/3-5 Scrubs away 8/6-8, & home 8/27-29 Shittsburgh 8/31-9/1 Texas away 9/17-19 I'm counting 27 games vs what looks like 2nd Division competition. Add in 7 vs Cleveland, 6 vs Detroit, and 2 vs Cincy, and thats another 15 games vs less-talented/"middleweight" teams. And who knows which teams may collapse after doing some selling, or if injuries creep into other rosters, or underperformance occurs for some of the opposition? There could be other chances to skip starts here and there. I think by picking & choosing favorable opponents to skip starts, the SOX can keep Rodon's/Lynn's/Cease's IP total to around ~160ish by the end of the regular season, if they wanted to do so. Whether that's enough to balance regular season performance and postseason readiness is another question.

Yeah, I know. I've been reeeaaaally trying to give the whole "stoopud southerners" stereotype a rest. But then, those Forrest fucking Gump and Gomer fucking Pyle motherfuckers down there keep giving the rest of the world ammo. But, you're exactly right. This isn't doing any of us any favors to keep this thing going any longer than it has to. With the news from Pfizer about a booster, I'm wondering if the world is spiking the football before crossing the goal line on this pandemic. (Yes, I know Greg, the booster news wasn't on your preferred networks. )

Exactly this. They have like ZERO impetus to give gallo away, unless they're offered a moronically high value package in return. As a fan of the SOX, I don't want this FO to be morons, and trade away a fuckton for gallo. I dont think that Texas will give him away, unless they know something about Gallo that the rest of the world does not. I also don't think that this FO would be stoopud enough to give away the farm for Gallo. At least, I hope not. Hey, congrats to you, then. This is the first "non-click baity" thread from you in awhile. It got you off your quixotic quest to hate on the AL MVP, AND it is a cogent topic. More cogent threads from you, please. And continue to give your Abreu hate a rest as well.

If you want this team to land all of that, you're probably losing either Kopech or Vaughn to get Gallo, as he's the rangers top trade chip to kick off their rebuild. They want/NEED a hefty return for Gallo. I agree that there is a need to add to this roster, but I think that many here have a measure of irrational exuberance when it comes to what the SOX could get in trade, and what players will cost. I'm thinking Escobar, and an arm or two is what they can get without trading away anything too valuable.

Yeah, some imbecile named, "Steve Stone" buys into the load management crap. I mean, he's a total fucking dumbass, right? WTF does he know, anyway?

Well, that's because Ron probably was listening to The Score, and heard Stone talk about this very issue. (The question from the host was along the lines of whether they should go balls to the walls to get the #1 seed in the AL playoffs; Stone instead said something about controlling the IP count on this staff.) All that said, I'd be in favor of limiting IP on this staff if they could find a cromulent AAAA type to eat a start here and there. Alas, I'm not convinced that there is a AAAA type on offer right now; Lopez sucks right now, and Cease has become questionable in his performance since the sticky stuff ban. Pray for health among the starting rotation.

Indeed. So you also vote for "White Hot Rage." Got it.

So, you vote for "white hot rage," then. Ok. You're a good man.

So, I gotta ask the group: Should I enjoy some schadenfreude, or feel a white hot rage in seeing the erupting clusters of cases in the southern US?

This window ain't gonna be about longer term, in all honesty. We're losing 1 or 2 SPs (and the best 2 SPs from the rotation) this offseason. Who knows what Giolito will be, and if he'd re-sign here. Keuchel is aging before our eyes. Hendriks and Grandal are on the wrong side of 32. And significant injuries seem to be all over the roster. All these issues, taken together, can be curtailing forces on the length of this window. Meanwhile, Detroit and KC will be improving in the ALC. So who knows how long we'll be where we are? Don't disagree that they could/should have had more of a prep focus in the recent past. And yes, while this system is old, ALL MLB systems are older, given the lack of a MiLB season last year. But this window is closing faster than we think. And I don't know that this org has the luxury of time to wait for prep players to "arrive," particularly given the short timeframe of the window, and the lack of a rookie level nowadays. This is not to say that prep draftees do not have value by any means. Rather, I'm looking at where this org is, and how long this org might be here. YMMV.

Both of these guys played at the old rookie level that no longer exists. Perhaps there are some prep players that can reliably make the jump from HS to A Ball, but I haven't looked at this carefully. This will he interesting to see what the effect would be. Great Falls probably would have helped a lot of prep players and college players that did not face top competition, and/or had no experience with wooden bats.

This may be significant. I mean, you can still find Puig stuff in the MLBshop...

Indeed. I dont yet know what to make of Crochett, though. Here's hoping he can find that next level that Cease may not have without the sticky substances. In any case, it does look like there will be vacancies in the 26 man next season.

Yeah, like literally no one said the bolded, but I'll grant you that it was a decent STRAWMAN on your part. In effect, the Padres traded to the scrubs salary relief, since the scrubs' ownership decided to stop spending money. What I did state is that players that could take longer to develop might take longer to become trade chips. Prep players tend to take longer to develop than college players. Thus, I think I'd prefer college players in the draft, given where this org is in the competitive window.

Well, I'll concede that this is hard to adjudicate, given the lack of a 2020 MiLB season. But, think of a prep kid like Gladney. He ain't helping this year's team, or next year's team. And no other org will trade anything we can use NOW for a kid like him that will need YEARS to develop into anything. OTOH, a faster climber could help during this window, by being a piece to trade away. While I'd like the system to get younger, I don't think this org has the luxury of time for prep players to develop, at least right now. Given whats leaving via FA in the nearer term, and a questionable level of talent throughout the system, I'm thinking whoever they draft will help more by being a trade piece. More succinctly, the system looks like its pretty devoid of potential impact. Most/all of it is already here, IMO. More likely, whatever 2nd wave that'll come into the 26 man will probably come from other orgs.

Well, I get that were supposed to be happy that recent drafts have yielded role players. And yes, getting role players out of the draft is a big improvement over getting literally nothing out of drafts. But I'd like more than that. I think that finding a cromulent role player in a draft should be a bare minimum, not some reason to celebrate. That said, given where we are in the window, I agree that going the college route early to try to get quick returns on drafts is the way I'd go.

I dunno. I get that the draftniks around here prefer prep players. However, given that this org is in their competitive window, I think I'd rather try to find talent that can get to MLB quickly, either as pieces to use here, or as trade ammo. I dont think that the current competitive window matches up well with drafting prep players, and then maybe waiting a few years for them to mature. There already will be a vacancy or two in the rotation next season. And even if that means "promoting" Kopech to the rotation, that leaves a big hole in the pen. At the same time, other parts of this team are aging, even as the team is right now trying to win. To me, that means maybe this org should target college players, be they position players or arms. (Shrugs)

1. Ok, so LINK the supposed video. See, this is a clear case of people not recognizing that social media shares have ZERO publication standards. You asked if "all videos are fake?" And thats why I asked for a link. 2. Ok, so your favorite polesmoker on fox tells you that everything is political, so you believe it, without question. They then tell you that ONE scientist is political, and you believe it, without question. They then tell you that one scientist is against their favorite president (without any real evidence, since he was called by said president when he caught covid), and you believe it, without question. Then, you decry ALL SCIENTISTS as bullshit, because some clown on your preferred network (without any scientific background) told you to do so. You're allowing yourself to be taken for a fool, Greg. 3. Greg, we already covered this. Turn off the TV. Turn off TV news. Pick up a book. Meet people who are different from you. Get some exercise. You've already allowed yourself to be led around by the balls by your media consumption. Try something better and healthier.