mikelink45

Fine, but the next one is Clevinger.

It worries me if we cannot score against aces. They are what you see in the playoffs.

this is what we want and need - if you can beat the good teams you can dream of a world series. If you can only beat the mediocre teams the dream stops with a one and out.

Once through the rotation - that was pretty spectacular. Bullpen is going great with the one loss exception, but the rotation needs more applause. How many runs - 10 in five games and half of them came against our number one in the first game. That is some great pitching and ultimately as these starters heat up and go longer, the game is shortened for the BP. We have had some bats really come through, but we need Garver, Donaldson, Sano, Kepler to heat up. Even two HRs opening day is not enough Max and the other three need to get their timing down and start driving the ball again. Sano is just flailing. And Byron, one game out of five, I am not sure what I expect any more.

For a really old fart this is about as meaningless as anything we can discuss. I remember when batters just came out took some swings and hit.

We are .067% of the season at this point. Are the White Sox done? What if they win 5 in a row? What if the Twins and Cleveland lose five in a row? What if the Indians and the Twins have a COVID attack like the Marlins? Looking at the other teams - what if the Tigers bring up their three rotation star prospects and they all do great?

Throw out the charts - Hill is a pitcher and he is good. I look forward to seeing him start today - with or without spin rates.

Slow down there once was a young five tool centerfielder who was going to change his team, his division, his league. Now he is 26 and has given us some glorious moments, but he has been in the league 5 years leading into 2020 and has 393 games for those five years. That is an average of 78 games, meaning this year would be almost perfect if he had not missed the first series for an injury. Oh his name is Byron Buxton. Luis has now played 5 games - let's slow down on the hype.

I am so happy with Arraez. Not sure why all the angst. Let him hit, get on base and score in front of the HR hitters.

I hope they are given to a little league team and used - 110 baseballs sitting on a shelf seems wasteful.

Thanks for that update. I hope not

Here are a couple quotes from ESPN - "The Minnesota Vikings announced Monday that head trainer Eric Sugarman and members of his family have tested positive for the coronavirus. "Sugarman also is the Vikings' infection control officer. He said in a statement that he and his family immediately quarantined and "are all doing fine and experiencing only mild symptoms." "The Vikings said they are sanitizing their facility and contacted anyone who was in close contact with Sugarman. The team said those team personnel have been tested "and are returning under the established guidelines." Yes, the infection control officer! "Two Monday night MLB games were postponed because of an outbreak of the coronavirus among the Miami Marlins. "The Marlins' home opener against the Baltimore Orioles is off, as well as the Philadelphia Phillies' home game against the New York Yankees. "Miami just completed a series in Philadelphia, and seven more players and two coaches with the Marlins tested positive for the coronavirus. An outbreak has spread throughout their clubhouse and brought the total cases in recent days to at least 13, sources familiar with the situation told ESPN's Jeff Passan and Jesse Rogers." Half the team! CNN reports: "Eleven Marlins players and two coaches tested positive for the virus, ESPN reports. Marlins CEO Derek Jeter said the team is staying in Philadelphia, where it just played a three-game series, pending the results of a new round of testing. "Postponing tonight's home opener was the correct decision to ensure we take a collective pause and try to properly grasp the totality of this situation," Jeter said in a statement. "The positive tests come just days after MLB began its abbreviated 60-game season -- which had been delayed from its usual April opening because of the pandemic -- and already threaten to upend the young season." "In recent weeks, Miami has been one of the epicenters of the coronavirus, pushing hospitals to capacity. Miami-Dade County recently surpassed 100,000 confirmed coronavirus cases." Florida has over 424,000 cases. So now what? What if the Phillies test positive? What if the umps test positive? What about the teams that they had contact with before this series? They played the Braves in an Exhibition. Think about what would happen if this was the week before the newly minted 60 day World Series. This is the Marlins so their 30 man taxi squad might be as good as the MLB roster. But are they on the 40 man? Do they bump players from the current 40 man? What about teams that didn't take the extra 30 man seriously? If I was a GM I would be reexamining the players I have on that team. For a contending team to lose 10 players for two weeks would be devastating. And what if the Marlins find that they have even more infected on their taxi and extra squad? Can they cancel the season for one team? I would. And if the Marlins infected the stars in Philadelphia, do the Phillies have any recourse? USA TODAY SAID "In hindsight, MLB never should have permitted the Marlins to take the field Sunday against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park after three players tested positive for COVID-19, just two days after another player tested positive. Marlins manager Don Mattingly said the team never considered not playing, but it is now clear that was a mistake and has put the entire season in jeopardy." CBS Sports had these quotes from Manfred "Manfred, who indicated that the Marlins could return to the field as early as Wednesday -- as a home team in Baltimore -- with "acceptable" testing results, responded that "[a] team losing a number of players that rendered it completely non-competitive" would be standard for considering a pause at the team level. That would of course require subjective judgment to determine whether a team had been reduced to "non-competitive" status, but it's at least a standard of some kind. "He was asked a similar question earlier this month as part of an appearance on Dan Patrick's radio show. Here's what Manfred said: "I don't have a firm number of days in mind (to pause the season). I think the way that I think about it, Dan, is in the vein of competitive integrity, in a 60-game season," Manfred said. "If we have a team or two that's really decimated with a number of people who had the virus and can't play for any significant period of time, it could have a real impact on the competition and we'd have to think very, very hard about what we're doing." "Despite having a call with the 30 team owners at 12:30 p.m. ET, the word is that MLB has no plans to cancel or pause the season at the present moment." https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/heres-what-rob-manfred-said-it-would-take-to-pause-2020-mlb-season-over-covid-19-concerns/ Chicago Tribune added this frightening note - "The news got worse for the White Sox hours later when it was revealed manager Rick Renteria awoke with coronavirus symptoms and was taken to a Cleveland hospital to get tested. The Sox announced Renteria would not manage Monday’s game, which was later postponed. The Sox had two players test positive before camp, including third baseman Yoan Moncada, and right fielder Nomar Mazara was placed on the injured list with no designated injury." https://twitter.com/MLBNetwork/status/1287893850833457152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1287893850833457152%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mlb.com%2F

My series take away for the first 3 games (worth 7.5 in 162 season). This lineup is really potent despite Sano and Donaldson not off to a good start. And the writers I have seen on the TD pages are over rating the White Sox lineup.Arraez should lead off - his 444 compared to Kepler's 143 make him much more valuable that 2 bombs and nothing in my assessment.The alternative lineup that was used in game two is really weak when you take out Arraez and Kepler and I do not see why it was necessary.The pitchers who got bombed in game two have to really suffer with their era. Berrios can pitch 5 - 7 innings a game and bring his ERA down, but Littell and Smeltzer get only 1 - 2 innings at a time so they will have that balloon following them for a long time.Our three starters looked fine and Dobnak deserves more starts - watch out Homer - even if Odorizzi comes back.Should Taylor Rogers have gotten one inning in just to stay sharp?Cave has really come through - when Byron comes back and takes those ABs I hope he rakes. Is Luis Robert what we have been hoping Buxton would be? If he can stay healthy he will be really good, but it will be interesting to see when the scouts get the book out on his weaknesses.

Only three games, but worth 7 by the shortened season metrics. I am with Danchat - lead off Arraez. Yes game one Kepler with two bombs was fun - but Arraez is batting 444 and Kepler is 143. I am still interested in OBP for lead off. Thanks to Maeda for a good game. He and Dobnak both gave us good innings and we need that with Odorizzi injured. Let's hope to get some more good starts out of our rotation. Still no Taylor Rogers - I would have given him an inning since we are off today. And Berrios, Smeltzer, and Littell will need to get their 4 digit eras down in the next week just for their own morale.

Isn't it time for Rooker or someone other than Marwin to play first base? This is Marwin's last season with us, Let's get some prospects into the mix. He should be saved for emergencies - he is not an OF or 1B starter - get the people in who play the position.

I just have to ask - is Luis Robert about to become what we all hoped Byron Buxton would be? I still hope for Byron, but if Luis stays healthy he is going to be a force.

I share your concern - I had two back surgeries in the last year - and even with advanced medicine you never get back to your pre-injury condition. pitching motion as you look at the delivery puts a tremendous torque on the spine. Good luck Odorizzi, this is tough. The Twins depth is already being tested.

This year every game is 2 1/2 games so we are not 2 1/2 - 2 1/2 .500 on the season. So we must judge every game with more intensity. MLB asked for it.

I agree - we have two legit OFs on the bench - he is not needed

I believe that is homer assessment - he got help from the umps - they do not like us

During free agency I believe I read a number of statements on TD that Kuechel was not the ace we wanted. He might not be an ace, but I liked what he did. And our pen looked pretty poor today. Dobnak, on the other hand, looked like he deserves another start and has left Smeltzer in the rear view mirror.

I am happy to have Cave start instead of Gonzalez - I do not want Gonzalez in the OF when we have Cave and Wade on the bench.

If Scherzer goes nine innings each of the next three starts and gives up two runs each game he will bring his era down under 3. I know that throwing shut outs increases the odds of getting the era down in one game, but is that realistic? Not many pitchers can do that.

the fwar projections seem strange to me. every has such low pct. I understand that total numbers will be down, but pcts. should not be, if anything some will be quite high. I do not mind the players, but not the projections. I would take Garver over Grandal. Sano has to prove it to be better than Santana. WYKC in Cleveland has Grandal Santana Arraez Donaldson Lindor Buxton Merrifield Kepler They only chose one SP - Bieber and one RP Rogers Bleacher Report has the combined Central Teams CF Whit Merrifield, KC SS Francisco Lindor, CLE LF Christian Yelich, MIL DH Nelson Cruz, MIN 1B Anthony Rizzo, CHC 3B Kris Bryant, CHC RF Max Kepler, MIN 2B Keston Hiura, MIL C Yasmani Grandal, CWS Pitchers in the combined Central RHP Jack Flaherty, STL RHP Shane Bieber, CLE RHP Luis Castillo, CIN RHP Mike Clevinger, CLE RHP Lucas Giolito, CWS

Things went well until the last two - I wish they could come true, but Yankee mystique is still something that scares me. Thanks for the fun. I do agree Berrios versus all the Aces will have a hard time. One more prediction for you. Some really good starting pitcher is going to have an excellent season and a horrendous ERA because one bad outing is normally adjusted for over 30 starts - now one bad outing will be an albatross with only 12 starts.