First series of the year. Excellent to have baseball back. I would like to see the Sox start with winning two of three from the Royals.


Eaton, CF
Cabrera, LF
Abreu, 1B
LaRoche, DH
Garcia, RF
Ramirez, SS
Gillaspie, 3B
Flowers, C
Johnson, 2B

Samardzija, P



Escobar, SS
Moustakas, 3B
Cain, CF
Hosmer, 1B
Morales, DH
Gordon, LF
Rios, RF
Perez, C
Infante, 2B

Ventura, P

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I would like to see Ramirez and Gillaspie switched but god that's an improvement.

Quite.


2014
Eaton
Semien
Gillaspie
Abreu
Dunn
Garcia
De Aza
Ramirez
Flowers

2013
De Aza
Keppinger ( )
Rios
Dunn
Konerko
Gillaspie
Viceido
Flowers
Ramirez
Beckham


I'll save the humiliation of listing the benches and bullpens for those years.

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Can the Sox run out of bats or something so that both Chicago teams have an opening day humiliation?

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Hawaii (fuck) You

Johnson's ability to turn the double play worries me. So does a bullpen that includes Javy Guerra, Mitch Albers, and Kyle Drabek. Oh well. Go get em, Zija!

I don't think it matters much, but i think the thinking is that Alexei has more power potential. That OBP though.... nothing in Robin's body of work suggests to me he's very statistically inclined

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1926-1931-1934-1942-1944-1946-1964-1967-1982-2006-2011

Alexei batting 6th: 90 wRC+, .691 OPS
Alexei batting 7th: 142 wRC+, .867 OPS

Plus he's part of a back to back righty now with Avi, as opposed to a R-L-R with Gillaspie.

Robin always seemed like a slave to R-L-R-L in his lineup, which makes the order strange to me.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I said before the season started that I thought with two free agent signings the Sox have improved their lineup immeasurably.

I'm the same guy who loved the Keppinger signing.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

This intro music in KC is awful.

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And away we go!

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Hawk has declared the White Sox OF the best in the AL, possibly best in baseball.

This trio of outfielders is the best in baseball according to Hawk.
Nice to see hes on his game in the first inning.

_________________
"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

I'm not saying ultimately he's wrong... just a bit early for such a declaration... top of the 1st, one out, in the first game of the season.

_________________
"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

He's wrong. Unless Avi is a Top 5 RF he is wrong.

Well yeah. . I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt but I'd wait to say something like that until mid season.

_________________
"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Cant believe Yost is gonna bat Moustakas 2nd. I mean, he turned it around a little last year but that wasn't a breakout 2nd half.

Melky is an average-to-above-average LF, Eaton is an above-average CF and Avi is who-knows. You're right, its possible for Melkster to be back on the juice, Eaton to take another step and Avi to maximize his potential... but to call that now is classic Hawk.

I've heard it postulated that Yost is the worst manager in the AL, possibly in all of baseball.

_________________
"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Alexei is also the best SS in the AL. So at 4 of the 7 positions behind the pitcher, the Sox have "the best".

I luv Hawk.

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He's not that bad, SABR just loathes him. He's a great postseason manager.

Nice change up, Shark.
Still kind SMH that this guy is the opening day starter though.

_________________
"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Cy Samardizja. When do playoff tickets go on sale?

Alex Gordon makes it look so easy.

Flowers is going to push me to the limit this year.

He sure does. Alexei hit that ball hard.

Putrid at bat by flowers

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That to me was an obvious need to upgrade this season. Nice to see a beefed up bullpen, clearly needed and well done, but that is something that's going to be a problem for what 130, 120 games? Yuck.

_________________
"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

He wasn't TOTALLY bad. Just pretty bad. I'm just gonna have to stomach AB's like whatever the fuck that was.

Also, Yordano Ventura is one of the best pitchers in the game. He can do that to anyone.

Not just that AB. Dude is like a career sub 220 hitter. Pretty sure his OBP is sub 300. I'm not sure how well he calls games, that's kinda out of my knowledge base but at bat he sucks.

_________________
"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

He's a good, not great, defensive catcher. With the state of the position across the game that starts. The Tigers have an even worse situation than the Sox.