Covey down to AAA. Thank god.

_________________
Sherman remarked, "Well, Grant, we've had the devil's own day, haven't we?" Grant looked up. "Yes," he replied, followed by a puff. "Yes. Lick 'em tomorrow, though."

He should be DFA'd

_________________

Yeah, that just wasn't working . . .

He should be DOA'd.

_________________

There is no way you can call him back up, unless he learns a knuckleball and becomes super successful with it.

He'll be a September callup because thats what the Sox do.

_________________

It's depressing to think about all the money that was wasted on shit players this year and how close that total was to the $50 million difference with Machado.

Then again, this front office would have gotten Machado and acted like they had done their job for the next decade.

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

Until he got hurt, Tim Anderson had better numbers than Machado.

_________________

Don't think about it. It'll only piss you off more.

_________________

Brings to mind Albert Belle. Signed him and expected to win. Had a killer lineup, but didn't bother to get some starting pitching (under the age of 35).

Did Machado have better numbers than Yolmer?

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

Did Machado have better numbers than Moncada?

_________________

If they kept Tatis or Marcus Semien they would be in much better shape. Semien tenth in WAR. Great rebuild.

If Machado was on the Sox either Anderson or Moncada would not be having their same year. One of them would be in a different spot in the field and I think that impacts their bat a lot more than we realize.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

You keep dancing around the fact that the infield would have been Abreu, Moncada, Anderson and Machado, in some combination.

Manny Machado and his 25 HR, .501 slugging and 2.8 WAR would have replaced Yolmer Sanchez's 2 HR, .325 SLG and .6 WAR.

There is positional versatility with Anderson, Moncada and Machado so who know how it would play out. The Sox would undoubtedly have been a better team. They would not have been .500 this year with the starting pitching they have.

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

Moncada would have probably stayed at 2B. I agree it is a more difficult position on the body and would have had some impact. I still think it would have been a breakout year for him.

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

This is key. Its not how much or how little money is being spent, its how the money has been spent. This year the pitching was rife with injuries and terrible players.

Now if the Sox don't go out this offseason and sign a couple of quality players, then I will be upset. As for now, I don't really have a problem with them not spending $300 million+ on one player, the likes of whom has not been much better than what the Sox were putting out on the left side of their infield.

_________________

You say that like it is a put down. The left side of the infield has been excellent (offensively) with both guys having break out seasons.

I have no faith in the Sox landing a big free agent pitcher. JR hates big contracts for pitchers.

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

I agree and unless that changes this rebuild is going to have a real hard time moving forward. You basically have to hope that every homegrown pitcher hits at the same time. Not likely to happen.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I'd tell Zona to send Greinke here, assume all his salary and give em an A ball arm.

_________________

That was what Meatpants was talking about yesterday on hit and run. A pretty good idea and if you take on his salary it shouldn't take much else. But again, is Jerry going to agree to take on that salary?

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

You don't need all of them to hit at the same time. Just enough to fill out a pitching staff. That's why you stockpile prospects. You don't have to sign a bunch of top end free agents either. You have the young guys at the top end and fill out the rest of the rotation with veterans.

_________________
Why are only 14 percent of black CPS 11th-graders proficient in English?

Exactly what happened in.....

2005.

_________________

Sure you can try that method....but no one said you had to sign a bunch of top end guys. But if you sign one or two top end guys then you opportunity to fill out the rest with your guys is much better. And the Sox have a ton of money. There is no reason to not spend some of it on pitching. They have a real nice core of hitters. Trade for Greinke and sign Gerrit Cole in the offseason and suddenly you have a really solid rotation moving forward.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Then have Greinke and Trey Burton talk to the same shrink, and you can kill two birds with one stone.

_________________

Rodon is probably done, right? A rotting shoulder and now TJ. Not worried about Kopech. Dunning is the interesting one. Always felt he was under valued because he's a pitching coach's wet dream. Commands and has variety.

Yeah I don't think you can count on anything from Rodon other than maybe he can be a 5th starter the second half of next season. Maybe he would be an interesting guy to move to the bullpen.

_________________

What a shame. Every indication was that he was a workhorse. His mechanics, his stuff, his free and easy delivery. Right when he got command of the changeup, everything went to shit.

If he's in the bullpen, he's gotta get plenty of work. He's one of those pitchers that needs to pitch often to have command. The problem is, it also gets him hurt. That's why I say he's probably done.

Its interesting. At this point, you can't worry about where Rodon was drafted or what potential he had. You can only work with whats there right now. Maybe letting him throw as hard as he can for one inning every 3rd day is best for him, and thus helps the team.

KeyserSoze had the same idea with Carson Fulmer, and at first I thought he was out of his mind but as time went on and Fulmer started to come out of the pen a bit more, I realized he might have been on to something.

_________________

Rodon is like Kerry Wood, stuff is too good to keep watching him get hurt every year. If he's only throwing 65 innings a year he might stay healthy. The Cubs were 2 years late to come to that conclusion.

_________________