The Hey its 2021 now guys MLB thread

[DegenerateDish]

Sox city edition jerseys...my god, they are awesome.

[jficke13]

Sox city edition jerseys...my god, they are awesome.

Did anyone run the design by TLR? I fear those players in the promo video may be... dare I say it... having fun?

LaRussa's gonna have his hitting coach beaning players during BP.

[buckchuckler]

Javy Baez I’d going to get way too much credit for the stupidity of the pirates today, who should probably just disband.

The absolute dumbest play I have ever seen in a baseball game. 

[Jockey]

Sox city edition jerseys...my god, they are awesome.

White Sox jerseys? I think they’ll be re-named LaRussa Jerseys.


The Chicago White Sox have renamed a seating area at Guaranteed Rate Field after manager Tony La Russa. Per Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times, the lounge that had previously been named in honor of long-time White Sox concessions worker Loretta Micele is now La Russa's Lounge.

[buckchuckler]

Sox city edition jerseys...my god, they are awesome.

Yeah, I like them.  Pretty cool.

[DegenerateDish]

White Sox jerseys? I think they’ll be re-named LaRussa Jerseys.


The Chicago White Sox have renamed a seating area at Guaranteed Rate Field after manager Tony La Russa. Per Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times, the lounge that had previously been named in honor of long-time White Sox concessions worker Loretta Micele is now La Russa's Lounge.

Yeah, that story is no bueno. Apparently they changed it at the end of 2019, and no fans noticed because no fans were there last year. It's dumb and bad optics...even if TLR wasn't their manager now, there was no reason to change it. I doubt he even cares there's a concourse lounge area named after him (let alone the optics of his DUI's). Being named after Loretta probably has/had way more meaning to her family than it ever would for TLR. I've sat in that lounge plenty of times with my kids (it's one of the few spots you can sit on the concourse and eat at), and didn't realize the backstory to why it was named Loretta's Lounge until now.

Overall, not a good look for the team, and a change that was totally unnecessary in my opinion.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Yeah, that story is no bueno. Apparently they changed it at the end of 2019, and no fans noticed because no fans were there last year. It's dumb and bad optics...even if TLR wasn't their manager now, there was no reason to change it. I doubt he even cares there's a concourse lounge area named after him (let alone the optics of his DUI's). Being named after Loretta probably has/had way more meaning to her family than it ever would for TLR. I've sat in that lounge plenty of times with my kids (it's one of the few spots you can sit on the concourse and eat at), and didn't realize the backstory to why it was named Loretta's Lounge until now.

Overall, not a good look for the team, and a change that was totally unnecessary in my opinion.

Well, in 2019 LaRussa wasn't even around so more than likely they were looking for a paid sponsor. With COVID, likely those who knew the history were laid off and went to work elsewhere.  Then for this season, no one wanted to pay to sponsor the lounge with no or few fans, so they defaulted to LaRussa until they could find a sponsor.

[Jockey]

Well, in 2019 LaRussa wasn't even around so more than likely they were looking for a paid sponsor. With COVID, likely those who knew the history were laid off and went to work elsewhere.  Then for this season, no one wanted to pay to sponsor the lounge with no or few fans, so they defaulted to LaRussa until they could find a sponsor.

Covid was 2020.

[Pakuni]

Yeah, that story is no bueno. Apparently they changed it at the end of 2019, and no fans noticed because no fans were there last year. It's dumb and bad optics...even if TLR wasn't their manager now, there was no reason to change it. I doubt he even cares there's a concourse lounge area named after him (let alone the optics of his DUI's). Being named after Loretta probably has/had way more meaning to her family than it ever would for TLR. I've sat in that lounge plenty of times with my kids (it's one of the few spots you can sit on the concourse and eat at), and didn't realize the backstory to why it was named Loretta's Lounge until now.

Overall, not a good look for the team, and a change that was totally unnecessary in my opinion.

It's stupid that the team changed the sign.
It's also stupid that anyone other than Loretta's loved ones are offended by this.

[shoothoops]

Besides being fun and enjoyable, college baseball can be a tough business.

Popular Texas A&M Head Coach Rob Childress was let go after 16 seasons. He won over 600 games, made NCAA’s 13 of last 14 seasons. Six Super Regionals, Two College World Series.

Texas Tech Head Coach Tim Tadlock has turned down A&M’s offer, as Tech has matched it and is upgrading facilities.

Popular and successful LSU Head Coach Paul Mainieri “retired” after this season. 15 seasons. One National Title, another runner up, 5 College World Series Appearances, 3 other Super Regionals. And that’s only at LSU.

LSU’s AD is the former A&M AD so there will be some overlap in the hiring process.

There will be a couple of coaches out there getting premium baseball jobs, and, several others getting a nice pay raise to stay where they are.

[DegenerateDish]

Last weekend, Yankees looked like one of the best teams in baseball, sweeping the White Sox.

This weekend they look like the worst team in baseball against one of MLB’s worst teams.

[tower912]

Last weekend, Yankees looked like one of the best teams in baseball, sweeping the White Sox.

This weekend they look like the worst team in baseball against one of MLB’s worst teams.

Detroit is starting to find itself.   They had about the worst 3 week stretch I can remember toward the end of April.  3-18.   Other than that, playing .500 ball.    Like most teams, needs to improve the little things.    Still streaky.    Erratic bullpen, fielding hitting.   

[BM1090]

Detroit is starting to find itself.   They had about the worst 3 week stretch I can remember toward the end of April.  3-18.   Other than that, playing .500 ball.    Like most teams, needs to improve the little things.    Still streaky.    Erratic bullpen, fielding hitting.

Finding it just in time to play the Brewers, who may also be finding it a bit.

[MUBurrow]

It's stupid that the team changed the sign.
It's also stupid that anyone other than Loretta's loved ones are offended by this.

Can we retire using the word offended whenever people express a negative opinion of something?  This isn't meant to specifically @ you Pak, because the same thing was happening with Ultimate Warriors all over the TBT thread.  But my take on this is "wow, what a stupid thing to do that cancels out a previously cool thing they did.  I have a sour taste in my mouth w/r/t the White Sox org (at least for a little while) as a result."  Similarly, the Ultimate Warriors thing would have caused me to take a little less enjoyment out of our TBT team.  Not sure that means I'm #offended / #triggered.  Being "offended" seems to be this straw man standard we apply to all negative opinions now.

[Warriors4ever]

I would say I’m disappointed, as opposed to offended. They did a nice thing to start with and then lost some good will.

[shoothoops]

James Madison Softball.

What a ride.

CC Alexander. What a player.

https://twitter.com/ncaasoftball/status/1400986731315355649?s=21

Improves to 18-1 as a pitcher. (41-2 Team). Bats 3rd. Had .935 OPS this year.

Goes into #8 Mizzou and takes 2 of 3 in Super Regionals. Heads to Oklahoma City for College World Series. Then defeats top ranked, big offense, Oklahoma. And, they follow it up with a win over Oklahoma St. to advance to the College World Series Semis.

Big time.

[DegenerateDish]

Gerrit Cole’s answer to the Spider Tack question was cringe worthy. He should have been better prepared to answer that.

I’m not trying to single him out either, there was a Sox pitcher last year that was (to me) blatantly using something before each pitch.

Be interesting to see how this plays out, my assumption with pitchers has been “if you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying.”

[jficke13]

Gerrit Cole’s answer to the Spider Tack question was cringe worthy. He should have been better prepared to answer that.

I’m not trying to single him out either, there was a Sox pitcher last year that was (to me) blatantly using something before each pitch.

Be interesting to see how this plays out, my assumption with pitchers has been “if you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying.”

I had a great convo with someone last night about this issue and his take (which I totally agree with) was basically pitchers reaction to juicing the ball was "fine, we're gonna use junk and good luck making contact." My friend is plugged into the sport at a pretty high level and he was saying essentially that 100% of pitchers are using something at this point and pitching coaches are 100% encouraging them to. "Every manager wants his okay guys to be good and his good guys to be great."

He pointed out Trevor Bauer essentially calling out the not-ubiquitous use of spider tack in 2019, him getting essentially ignored, and then saying "fine, you want it that way let's go." Then goes out and wins a Cy Young and gets a rich contract.

I'm interested to see how this crackdown goes.

[jficke13]

Sox city edition jerseys...my god, they are awesome.

As awesome as the Sox city edition jerseys are, the Cubs' city editions are equivalently terrible.

[Jockey]

Gerrit Cole’s answer to the Spider Tack question was cringe worthy. He should have been better prepared to answer that.

I’m not trying to single him out either, there was a Sox pitcher last year that was (to me) blatantly using something before each pitch.

Be interesting to see how this plays out, my assumption with pitchers has been “if you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying.”

Use of sticky stuff by pitchers has been going on for years. The only difference now is new products and more adherents.

The big question is why crackdown now. Why not 5 years ago? Why mot last year? I don't know that the sticky alone is making pitchers more effective - but rather a combo of sticky and velocity.

So why now? My personal feeling is that it has more to do with the CBA than anything else. The owners have a long history of trashing players or demonizing them right before a contract negotiation.

Your opinion?

[cheebs09]

I thought the general thought was jitters are ok with pitchers using substances as it helps their control. It keeps them from getting hit more.

[Jockey]

I thought the general thought was jitters are ok with pitchers using substances as it helps their control. It keeps them from getting hit more.

I thought the same until I checked the stats. The four years with the highest rate of HBP since 1900 are the last 4 years.

I think instead it may just be that velocity is king. Pitchers that aren't ready for the majors are being brought up just because they can throw 98+. And hitters don't have enough time to get out of the way.

[MUBurrow]

So why now? My personal feeling is that it has more to do with the CBA than anything else. The owners have a long history of trashing players or demonizing them right before a contract negotiation.

Jockey and Pete Alonso from the top rope!!

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/31599594/new-york-mets-pete-alonso-posits-mlb-manipulates-baseball-based-free-agent-class

[Jockey]

Jockey and Pete Alonso from the top rope!!

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/31599594/new-york-mets-pete-alonso-posits-mlb-manipulates-baseball-based-free-agent-class

A bit different from my post, but they certainly could be classified under the same heading.

[CreightonWarrior]

Looks like Travis Shaw is toasty. Really nasty injury.