turnin' two

Alonso finally paying off????

Well, we know he likes partying in Chicago.

I also don't think it is a coincidence that Yolmer has played 1 inning, and scored 1 game winning run. DUMP THE GATORADE!!

Yeah. It hit off the stone, the top of the stone.

I know we all hate him, and he is the worst, but Mazara has had some really good strong ABs in the last couple of days. Still hasn't hit anything hard, but its a start.

I'm not down on him. I just understand why people would question him. 2 years is a long time to not play in a competitive game.

Which was in what, 2014? I think it is an out of sight out of mind situation. Additionally, just the fact he hasn't pitched in 2 years leads to questions.

Hoping Gio makes Johnny Van Der Meer famous again.

Plus Eloy Jenkins!

Yeah. I get it. He walks people. He is a young starter with a lightning arm. There are very few of those that come up who don't struggle with their command and control. You said he is lucky a couple times, maybe it isn't only that he is lucky, maybe his 98 mph stuff, when he gets it over, is difficult to hit very well consistently. I completely agree, that he is a thrower not a pitcher. Again, he has made 21 career appearances as an MLB pitcher. He is 24 years old, and pitching meaningful innings on a contending team. There is going to be a learning curve. Very few guys come up and pitch great right away (hopefully Dunning remains that guy- he has looked absolutely great -- but even with him, there have been several posts today mentioning how he doesn't throw hard enough. People's expectations are out of whack. Do you really expect every pitcher to come up and dominate with elite stuff right away??? Dunning may have elite control. Cease has elite stuff. They both have to adjust on the other aspects of their games.). Up until Sunday, Cease had made 5 straight starts of at least 5 innings, without allowing more than 2 runs. That is a great stretch of luck. And all but one of those starts was at least 6IP. Yeah he walks too many guys. Hardly a reason to crap on him as a guy with 109 innings under his belt.

We've seen plenty of pitchers struggle against teams like the Tigers and Royals.

People being awful hard on Cease for basically keeping the team in every single game (except his first). Yeah, he needs to rein in the walks. But he has been effective, if not efficient. For a 24 year old, who just made his 20th appearance, I don't get why people feel the need to jump on him. Since his first start he hasn't allowed more than 2 runs. I get that he isn't going deep into games, and that he is walking a tightrope out there, but still. It isn't like he is garbage. And with the stuff he has, there is reason to see front of the rotation potential. And even if he never completely figures out the control, he can still be a good starter.

It might be for someone, but not those guys.

Yeah, this would have been my plan for him this entire season. Its a shame, but it seems that he just can't stand up to the rigors of starting.

This is the dude that wanted to trade everyone for Lynn. Again, I think the fact that Lynn is still in Texas is evidence that Daniels was flat out asking too much.

Threatening twitter trolls is a sadder existence than being a twitter troll.

The fact that Lynn is still in Texas means that Daniels messed up. Glad the Sox didn't meet demands that were out of line.

Who knows. There will be stuff right at the deadline. It makes very little sense for Texas to keep Lynn. It makes little sense for the DBacks to keep Marte and Bradley. There will be more trades made, the Sox may be a part of them.

Hahah. That could be...

The Woodruff rumors never made any sense to me. Why on Earth would the Brewers trade him?

So Dunning pitched yesterday, and Lynn pitched Saturday...

Yeah, this probably signals they weren't on the table for Clevinger.

Yeah. More than kind of pissed.

Doesn't matter how good Arias is, because his role is replacing Lindor, and I feel confident that he won't be that good.

Not really criticizing, not really. Just my opinion going back. I don't understand how the best starting pitcher since Pedro, who is pitching like an absolute beast isn't top 10 worthy. In my opinion he is number 1. Kershaw, Scherzer, Verlander, deGrom,Cole, Beiber, Flaherty, Buehler... Then it gets squishier where you could put a whole bunch of guys, maybe even Gray. I can see the argument. This time last year, I'd have Kluber or Sale there, but the injuries have bumped them both. Bauer was completely terrible last year, though when he is locked in he is great, but you can say that about a bunch of guys. I think I'd have to put Greinke in there, then you could go with any number of guys at 10. And again, sorry, I didn't mean to come off like a jerk.