Watched both spring training games today. Some thoughts. The pitching over-all looked excellent. Lopez was dominant and was in control all of the way through the game. Gotta say, I just can't figure out Detweiller. Looking at him, he looks good but he has way too many guys squaring up on him. Makes me think that he is tipping his pitches?

Going back to the catching, I think something may be in the offing with McCann being traded. Collins is looking much better both hitting and receiving, Grandal is back catching and there is Mercedes also. IN a split team day, McCann was nowhere to be found and I think something is up. We'll see what happens in tomorrow' game.

Going to spring training on Friday. Going to the game with the Dodgers on Sat. and the game with Seattle on Sunday, Golf Monday and what goes on after that is undecided as yet. At least two other games. I love spring training and this will be fun.

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An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

2 outs bottom of the 9th and Mercedes up with two strikes on him. Hits a home-run to tie the game. This guy is like something out of a fairy tale. Man, I hope he makes the roster

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

He definitely deserves a shot in the majors, but there is really no spot for him to make any impact right now.

What sort of fairy tale involves an exhibition game?

Kopech getting his first start of ST today.

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kinda like the fairy tale of him being in the service

Blow me.

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An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

You never know. Like I tell kids all of the time. BE READY and when your chance comes, be ready to take advantage of it.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

Very inspirational words for your kids, but we are talking Major League Baseball, and being realistic here. Realistically, there is no spot for him on the roster right now. Like I say, I think he is talented enough and deserves a shot, but with Grandal AND McCann, it would be tough. Even if he gets the 26th roster spot, he would still have to beat out Collins for the 3rd catcher.

I think that he, right now, has the 26th spot. The guy just rakes and you make a spot for guys like him. IF Collins makes it, it will be as a 1st baseman and left handed hitting option. This also assumes that McCann won't be traded which I believe he will.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

Kopech looked really good. I'm not sure he was really thowing 100-101 consistently like the gun said.

Who are the dumbasses doing the video webcast of the Sox games? They are horrible.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Holy shit, the color guy is Rich King. As in ex-WGN Rich King. That explains a little.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Rich King is one of them I believe. I like him and his stories about interviewing some very interesting people. He told one story about Happy Chandler talking to him about suspending Leo Durocher for a year for associating with known gamblers. Then Leo's wife cornered Chandler and chewed him up for suspending Leo. Happy then said that he ran into the wife against after Leo divorced her and told Chandler that he was right about Leo and that he(Leo) was really an asshole.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

Don't ask, don't tell.

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

I hope you are right, and McCann gets traded.... playing a backup role at his salary is ridiculous. I could see a case for keeping him if our talent pool was weak, but with Mercedes AND Collins that can play catcher, trading him would make a ton of sense.

Certainly, it is a nice problem to have. Especially with how Mercedes and Collins are doing in spring training. But you just do not trade McCann unless the deal benefits you. So, it looks to me that Collins will be the odd guy out despite looking well as a hitter but still lousy as a catcher defensively.

I've got some concerns right now about Encarnacion being dinged up which means to me that Mercedes will be the first option as far as I am concerned as the DH. They may put Encarnacion on the injured list at the beginning of the year and keep both Collins and Mercedes as first base/DH line-up options.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

Your thought process makes sense, but I am pretty confident that Encarnacion will be ready to go on opening day and will not be on the injured list.

What a Bummer. Ready to go to spring training tomorrow and they cancelled all of the games. Still driving out there and play golf with my son and a couple of buddies but the real reason I was going out was to take in spring training. Well, I get it and it did make sense to cancel the games but I am totally disappointed. It'll be interesting how long this shutdown is going to go. My guess is that it'll be at the earliest May 1st before the games are going to start with maybe ten days prior for workouts. Maybe it'll be something like a 150 game season or so with fewer off days and maybe a week extension of the regular season? They did schedule an early start for this season, right?

Ended up canceling the trip. Wife is sick and Sedona is pretty much closing everything down out there. Just got back from the grocery store and the shelves were pretty scarce of items. Its pretty amazing really. People were pretty cool about everything but if staples get scarce this could get nasty. One thing that I did notice was that there wasn't any price mark-up for items, in fact, for most stuff it was the opposite so that was good.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

Too bad everyone will be too broke to attend games when they resume

All I an say right now is this: I MISS BASEBALL.
I am so torqued off that strong training got cancelled and my vacation got ruined because of it. Screw the Chinese and their bleeping WET MARKETS.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

Yeah this is gonna be a long stretch without baseball. I hear mid-May is the earliest projected start date, and even if that happens, games will most likely be without fans in the stands.

Maybe if baseball was smart they'd figure out a safe way to provide the games to a televised audience at a cheaper price than normal to allow fans to see the games while not having to go to the ball park? Owners are not going to be forced to play games while they cannot get the revenue from fans attending the games

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An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

AP Sources saying "MLB Reportedly Considering Skipping the Draft and International Free Agency This Year".

How can you skip the draft? That is insane

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

Wwwwwwwwwwaaaait. Why would they do that? Gonna screw some teams over.

Drafting may promote the spread of Coronavirus.

This is the world we live in.

Buehrle perfect game is on MLB Network.

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I saw that. I think today is his birthday. Mr. Buehrle is the "perfect" example of a guy who made the most of limited physical abilities. What a pitcher he was.

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An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

If he would of pitched a decade previous, he probably could of cracked 300 wins.

Probably because they can't do physicals.


The problem with even empty big league stadiums is mostly what happens if a player gets infected from some sort of interaction away from the ballpark. Like his kid gets it and gives it to him. They'd pretty much have to be able to test every day upon arrival at the ballpark, and if you're positive you get quarantined and put on the IL for 15 days.

The stadium money is not as big as a deal for the MLB owners as the TV/radio/streaming money. The minor league owners, especially the AAA/AA owners, are totally fucked because they need gate receipts.

But the main reason to skip the draft this year is to force a contraction of the minor leagues. It gives them a reason to force all the short-season leagues to shut down, as they are totally dependent on lower round draft picks, especially high schoolers, who show up in Eugene and Johnson City and the like soon after the draft.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal