Yoan Moncada left tonight’s game due to right hamstring tightness, an injury seemingly suffered when Moncada was running out a grounder in the top of the second inning. Moncada returned to play third base in the bottom half of the frame but was replaced in the field by Josh Harrison in the next inning.
More will be known about Moncada’s status after further tests take place, but another injury is the last thing Moncada and the White Sox need. An oblique strain suffered near the end of Spring Training kept Moncada from playing until May 9, and he is hitting a mere .179/.230/.292 over his first 113 plate appearances. Should Moncada need to miss time, the Sox would at least have a ready replacement in the hot-hitting Jake Burger, and Danny Mendick could also find more playing time once Tim Anderson returns from the IL next week and regains his normal shortstop position. However, a Moncada injury would represent yet another setback for a White Sox club that hasn’t been able to play with its ideal first-choice lineup all season.
More from around the American League…
- The Blue Jays were known to have interest in Justin Verlander last winter, and as Verlander tells ESPN’s Jeff Passan, it seems as though Toronto was Verlander’s second choice before he ultimately rejoined the Astros on a two-year, $50MM contract. The Jays “were very proactive to the point that when I signed with Houston, I made sure to let them know that I appreciated it all,” Verlander said, noting that former teammate George Springer pushed hard to try and recruit him. “Ultimately, when it came down to it, Houston had the same offer. It was all kind of ballpark between them and Toronto, and New York [the Yankees) was kind of always just a step behind.” With Verlander off the board, the Blue Jays instead signed Kevin Gausman and Yusei Kikuchi to augment the rotation. Verlander also added that the Yankees were “kind of always just a step behind” those top suitors — reports surfaced in November that the Yankees were willing to offer Verlander $25MM over one year, but weren’t willing to add a second season to the contract.
- The new collective bargaining agreement temporarily restored the Athletics’ status as a revenue-sharing recipient, though that status is dependent on whether or not the A’s can finally secure a new ballpark by January 15, 2024 (in Oakland or any other city). Even with these caveats in place, the New York Post’s Jon Heyman reports that some owners weren’t pleased that the A’s were again receiving revenue-sharing funds, especially given that the A’s then slashed their payroll by moving several notable players after the lockout. “The idea of revenue sharing is not to make money, it’s to field a competitive team,” one owner told Heyman. “That money is supposed to go toward player salaries. [The A’s] took the money and put it in their pocket.”
John Fisher is the worst owner in pro sports.
Dan Snyder had entered the chat.
Have you all forgot lol Tommy Ricketts?
I don’t know how it is in other sports, but it seems like 95% of baseball fandoms claim they have the worst owner in the sport or in pro sports in general.
padres fans can finally disagree
mlb – Why would you think 95%? Fans typically dislike their team’s owner for just one reason, if the team is not competitive and has a very low payroll. How many teams fall into that category, maybe 20%? If the team is winning with a low payroll, or losing with a big payroll, their fans won’t be criticizing the owner.
It’s funny how revenue sharing is so similar to socialism. The purpose is supposed to help the less fortunate, but all too often the free money is not put to the use for which it was intended. Is anybody really surprised that low revenue teams are pocketing the revenue sharing funds they are receiving?
Until MLB – and the country – implement a system that ensures free money is used for the purpose it was intended, the handouts will never end because there’s no incentive for the recipients to work on becoming self-sustainable.
Bob Nutting is on the line
Rec x 1000
Rumor has it Fisher was shown the movie Major League in the offseason.
Any other pro sports owner is not “the worst” as long as Christopher Ilitch is alive and owning.
I am not a huge Illitch fan, however the team did go out and spend last offseason. Prior to the start of season most were speaking positive of the moves Avila made. Obviously they have not panned out especially offensively. At this point Avila should b gone or at the very least alot of job openings in scouting and coaching positions.
“The idea of revenue sharing is not to make money, it’s to field a competitive team,” one owner told Heyman. “That money is supposed to go toward player salaries. [The A’s] took the money and put it in their pocket.”
And this is yet another reason to end socialism for oligarchs. No more should we have a few guys control our teams that belong to fans/cities/regions. Taxpayers pay for stadiums, transit, infrastructure, etc and get nothing for it except blackmail like we are hearing from the Os and Rays and As owners. Time to get rid of these crooks. No more taxpayer cash goes to fund private owners who steal the cash and use it to buy politicians, soccer teams in Europe and yachts. If taxpayers give cash for stadiums that means taxpayers/cities/regions OWN the team. This is nothing new. Packers do real fine being owned this way.
I don’t disagree, but it’s a stretch to say communities receive NOTHING in return. This piece was also specifically about “oligarchs” socializing lesser
Some ballparks create revenue in their areas by creating jobs, boosting sales tax revenue, etc.
I believe the studies show that public funding is generally dubious. But that also dates to full funding. Municipalities have a vested interest in working with professional sports teams on some level. It always involves public funding because utilities are involved. If you don’t believe the City of Green Bay and the State of Wisconsin are invested in the Packers…you’re mistaken.
A’s ballpark is not publicly funded. If it were, it would have already been built in the 1990’s when Oakland/Alameda paid to restructure the Coliseum to get the Raiders to return.
“1962 – The Port plays a key role in formation of the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum. The Port swaps 157 acres at the head of San Leandro Bay to the East Bay Regional Park District in exchange for 105 acres of park land across the freeway, which the Port in turn donates to the City as the site for the planned Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum sports complex.”
http://www.waterfrontaction.org/learn/league/ch2.htm
That 105 acres of land on which the Coliseum was built is worth a fortune.
Moncada was a poor extension in foresight. So called “#1” prospect in baseball who puffs his stats destroying AAA Tigers pitching every year at HOF level….and KC/other rebuilders to lesser degree. Outsiders and fans who “solely” worship overall stats without observing the lack of substance sing praises like novices not realizing he’s non-impact player against top AL competition. WSox sweep lowly Tigers and again annihilated by great Astros club. If fellow fans think that Cle and/or Minn won’t remain ahead of our favorite team moving forward, please think fair but critical. Good news is in being humbled you see it is wise for some other chump team to give Giolito a 9 figure contract after ’23. Imagine what that will be like with his hand picked pitching coach when this is his prime.
Your description of Moncada is spot on. The guy is terribly overrated – but that reverts back to the Chisox hype team, headed by Stone and boy wonder Benetti.
Moncada is one of the selfish players on the Sox that buys his own hype without having done anything to warrant it (kinda like Gio to be honest).. With Moncada, he apparently relishes his time buffing the bench with his behind partly because the inadequate conditioning staff refuses to do its job to keep these guys in shape and partly cause he is lazy (IMO). I think if Moncada took his job seriously he would rake it, as his did back a few years ago, but I think he is just looking for angles now. Take Burger, for another example. A guy who had two Achilles tears which set back his development years. He is up in the bigs finally. I don’t see a batters helmet that constantly falls off a mop of hair with a big bandana/wrap around it, or 8 chains hanging off of his neck. I do not see him out recording songs.. I see Burger out there making his chance count. Moncada just does not show that, he just shows that he’s lazy and selfish..at least that’s my perception of him at this point.
Will the Sox have payroll space to add next winter? Moncada increases to $17 million, Eloy and Robert to around $10 million, have to pickup Anderson’s option, arb raises for Giolito, Cease, and Kopech, one more year of Grandal, Lynn, Hendriks and Kelly.
No. Think like Reinsdorf. They have to cut salary to add, and honestly that’s fair when the ROI from Hahn’s signed roster is subpar. Robert /Vaughn are keepers. TA is an excellent hitter, bit SS is too key a defensive position to tolerate his performance there. Move him to 2B or RF. Everyone else among the position players is replaceable, especially Eloy if he gets hot in vain against soft part of schedule. The perfect ALC division combo is Cleveland’s FO and WSox budget due to location.
If you think like Reinsdorf, you might think, “screw it, I’m old, I’m going to spend money before on my toy before I kick off.”
Yeah sure, its why the Sox got Trevor Story at second and have a guy like JD Martinez in RF.. ohh, sorry, Wrong Sox.. Yeah hahn went ‘all in’ with a oft injured OF in Pollack and a has been in Harrison, but hey.. at least he saved a buck.,.
Reinsdorf is a Joke, like most of the White Sox front office.. Claim one thing, and do another. The worst part of it all are the fans that buy the BS and show up to the stadium to reward such BS.
The Sox have plenty on money. They just refuse to spend it for a championship. The only good news with Gio getting lit up like a pinball machine is it proves he is not worth ‘Ace’ money and likely will not be able to get much if anything in arbitration, Cease is his typical up and down self and should not get much either. If I were the Sox I would be more concerned with ensuring Lynn and Cueto are around for next season and healthy as they seem like the only pitchers you would want to keep around.. Maybe Kopech as well. I think Katz needs to go as well, Im starting to think he is the maestro behind trying to dot the corners, which causes huge pitch counts and early exits (which puts more strain on the bullpen).It’ really telling when the White Sox best pitchers are Aces past their prime.
Payroll on the A’s had to be slashed . Other owners can say what they want , but none those players gone wanted to be on the A’s anyway . So they owners of the A’s were just supposed to throw bad money at anyone just to look like they’re fielding a competitive team ? They just now have to get this ship moving towards Vegas .
No offense but the team might be better moving to Las Vegas. A forced sell of some kind is what’s needed.
John Fisher & Lou Wolf have been ripping off MLB and it’s owners for years.
‘The Yanks were one step behind’….seems like an ongoing thing with them against the Stros.
Which rotation has the lowest ERA, WHIP and Opponent BA and the highest fWAR?
Lets see if they can translate that into a championship, shall we?
That’s the plan. Without an asterisk.
Asterisk or no asterisk, Astros were better than the Yankees and beat them at their own game.
Verlander must have been drawn to the sound of the banging garbage cans.
We use recyclng bins now.
They didn’t seem to work for him today.
Win some, you lose some.
When the money is similar I don’t understand why any player would go to Canada, California, or New York. Whatever they perceive to be gaining in salary is being gobbled up by extra taxes and cost of living.
Players who go to “those teams” go not only for the money but for the fact that those teams will put additional great players around them in order to win or at least try to win. You’re trying to say players should sign with a garbage team as long as the money is equal which makes zero sense. Why would a player that covets winning sign for a team that doesn’t but is only signing that player to sell tickets? You put too much stock into the taxes. When you’re making the kind of money these guys do the taxes while high aren’t going to sway them to play for a bad team.
Cost of living and taxes are less important when you make millions. Happiness means more than a 20% pay cut for many players.
Corey Seager and Siemen saved money on taxes but they’re going to lose out on playoff checks.
Playoff checks are a few hundred thousand, assuming your team wins the World Series. And we see all the time the best team does win always. The two best teams in baseball the past 7 seasons have 2 rings combined. They saved millions per season by living and playing Texas versus LA or Canada. It really isn’t close.
Pretty boy is hurt again???? Its a shame because they cant get squat for him
The fans in Oakland are showing their disgust for the ownership.
If you want teams like to the A’s to stop abusing revenue sharing there’s an easy solution. Implement a salary floor. Force these cheap owners to either step up or step aside
Makes sense. And there are people that has said they would be interested if the A’s want to sale the franchise aka Warriors owner Joe Lacop… Surely Lacop would move the Athletics out of Oakland anyway but at least he has an aggressive way – progressing too – on investing, no hesitation…
There’s a special place in hell for greedy sports owners like John Fisher. It’s one thing to raise ticket prices, but to do while trading players who are still under cost control is truly disgusting
Ohhh, Moncada is injured? Wow, talk about something coming out of nowhere.. I mean who would have thought it? Besides me and a few smart fans out there.. I guess Moncada had success for the first time in forever and could only deal with it be getting injured again (and another soft tissue injury to boot that would be resolved with proper conditioning).
This has been his MO since being in the bigs.. Hit good for a couple of games, get hurt.. then lose the bat.. Find it again, and then get hurt again.. Always with a soft tissue injury that could be taken care of with proper conditioning… First, fire the White Sox conditioning staff as they are a joke (as other players have gotten these injuries as well) Second, motivate Moncada to actually adhere to a strength and conditioning program (maybe demote him to single A if possible). Id say cut him from the roster but then he would probably get the hint that he needs to take care of himself and then go kill it for another club…
In that same report it’s stated that the A’s received approximately $9mm dollars in funds.. A far cry from the $30mm they received in 2016. Last years A’s team couldn’t beat the Mariners, or the Astros. It was time to break them up. The rebuild before getting a new ballpark is nothing new. The Marlins did it, The Braves did it, The Texas just finished doing it.. You could also mention Houston doing it although it wasn’t to open a new stadium. It seems it’s only a problem when the A’s do it.