Sox in on Marcell Ozuna? I mean, maybe. Or not.

[NotHahn]

Whats the opposite of eyeballs on this?? Bad sauces??

[pcq]

Just now, Bad Hombre said:

FOURTEEN MINUTES!

I actually saw Wheeler sign but then he went all white-out on me. If we could only keep humans off the Interwebs. 

[Lillian]

I'd rather have Ozuna than Castellanos, for the following reasons:

1) Ozuna has been a better hitter, against RH pitching, than Castellanos, . I'd prefer a LH hitter, but if not, at least he should be really good vs. RH pitching.

2) He is a better defender. As we've all recognised, Eloy in LF means that the right fielder should not be another negative defender.

3) I assume that he will cost a little less than Castellanos.

My greatest reservation is concern over how complete his recovery has been, since his shoulder surgery. If it won't continue to affect his arm, which is a big part of a right fielder's defense, he should be a more than adequate defensive right fielder.

Edited December 8, 2019 by Lillian

[joejoesox]

I hope this is just smoke to bring down Boston's asking price for Betts 🙏

[smellysox]

I'm starting to warm up to the idea of Ozuna to the Sox - if true.  Now that being said, Is he my first choice?  No.  Is he a perfect fit in right field?  No.  Not really sure there is a perfect fit this year. My first choice is trading for Pederson. I think he's a dangerous bat, a left handed bat. I think he's a good fielder. But,  I'm not a fan of trading away prospects for a one year rental. That's the problem with Joc. But Ozuna can also hit and is a dangerous bat in the lineup. Can he play in right field? Probably not. But better than some of the guys we put out there last year. He is only 2 years removed from a gold glove in left field.

One other interesting thing,  I thought I read somewhere that he is Pablo Ozuna's cousin. Our 2005 WS Champ Pablo Ozuna. So there's that.

[oldsox]

8 hours ago, smellysox said:

Screw Schins. No city is better than Chicago in the summer.  He's just trying to get Soxtalk all riled up

Slight exaggeration.  Have you been all over?  Or are you just speaking in a baseball context?

[smellysox]

7 minutes ago, oldsox said:

Slight exaggeration.  Have you been all over?  Or are you just speaking in a baseball context?

Yes I was speaking in baseball context. But yes I have been to a lot of cities. I have traveled quite a bit over the last 30 years. I may be a little biased but I do think Chicago can hold its own to other cities.

[poppysox]

17 minutes ago, smellysox said:

I'm starting to warm up to the idea of Ozuna to the Sox - if true.  Now that being said, Is he my first choice?  No.  Is he a perfect fit in right field?  No.  Not really sure there is a perfect fit this year. My first choice is trading for Pederson. I think he's a dangerous bat, a left handed bat. I think he's a good fielder. But,  I'm not a fan of trading away prospects for a one year rental. That's the problem with Joc. But Ozuna can also hit and is a dangerous bat in the lineup. Can he play in right field? Probably not. But better than some of the guys we put out there last year. He is only 2 years removed from a gold glove in left field.

One other interesting thing,  I thought I read somewhere that he is Pablo Ozuna's cousin. Our 2005 WS Champ Pablo Ozuna. So there's that.

Like you...my first choice would have been Joc Pederson.  Irrationally I don't want to give up anything to get him.  I value defense more than some I guess.  A noodle arm in RF scares me.  All that said...I too am warming to the concept of Ozuna.  Our lineup with Ozuna looks menacing.

[Lillian]

4 minutes ago, poppysox said:

Like you...my first choice would have been Joc Pederson.  Irrationally I don't want to give up anything to get him.  I value defense more than some I guess.  A noodle arm in RF scares me.  All that said...I too am warming to the concept of Ozuna.  Our lineup with Ozuna looks menacing.

My understanding is that Ozuna had a strong arm, before his shoulder condition, which led to surgery. I read where he was throwing much better, last Spring, but I can't seem to find any recent updates, regarding his recovery. If he is close to being back to normal, his arm is not a problem and he has always been considered a good defensive outfielder.

[oldsox]

My baseball network of fans has a few Cardinal lovers.  They all say Ozuna is awful in LF in every phase of defense.  I would rather play Rutherford out there in spring training.  Or Avi.

Plus, why does he wear that stupid yellow sleeve?  Why is it even allowed?

[GreenSox]

I would prefer that the Sox use its resources on pitching.  They can get by in RF with what they have.  They cannot get by with this pitching staff or anything close to it.  They need 2 starters and 2 relievers.

Edited December 8, 2019 by GreenSox

[Lillian]

2 minutes ago, oldsox said:

My baseball network of fans has a few Cardinal lovers.  They all say Ozuna is awful in LF in every phase of defense.  I would rather play Rutherford out there in spring training.  Or Avi.

Plus, why does he wear that stupid yellow sleeve?  Why is it even allowed?

I'm surprised to learn that. How did he ever win a gold glove? 

[Kyyle23]

17 minutes ago, oldsox said:

My baseball network of fans has a few Cardinal lovers.  They all say Ozuna is awful in LF in every phase of defense.  I would rather play Rutherford out there in spring training.  Or Avi.

Plus, why does he wear that stupid yellow sleeve?  Why is it even allowed?

Players across the league wear compression sleeves of all different colors and designs 

but if you must know, it's because it's different and he likes it.  Or he liked it until baseball cranks made him change it

https://www.foxsports.com/midwest/video/1264875075972

[Kyyle23]

10 minutes ago, Lillian said:

I'm surprised to learn that. How did he ever win a gold glove? 

because a gold glove is a fake defensive award given to players with good offensive numbers 

[wegner]

8 minutes ago, Kyyle23 said:

because a gold glove is a fake defensive award given to players with good offensive numbers 

Yolmer must've been the exception because he sure didn't win it with his bat 

[Dick Allen]

40 minutes ago, Lillian said:

My understanding is that Ozuna had a strong arm, before his shoulder condition, which led to surgery. I read where he was throwing much better, last Spring, but I can't seem to find any recent updates, regarding his recovery. If he is close to being back to normal, his arm is not a problem and he has always been considered a good defensive outfielder.

According to dan ODowd 'he can't throw at all"

[Lillian]

13 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

According to dan ODowd 'he can't throw at all"

If that is really the case, then he cannot be a viable candidate for RF, period!!!  I wonder what happened. the update I read, last Spring, said that his arm was progressing nicely. What is the normal prognosis, following the kind of shoulder surgery, Ozuna had last winter?

A couple more things to note about Ozuna:

1) He missed the entire month of July, last year, and still hit 29 homers, with 89 RBI's.

2) His 2018 was understandably difficult, while he was dealing with his shoulder condition, for which he had to have surgery.

3) He will playing in his age 29 season, this year.

Edited December 8, 2019 by Lillian

[SoxAce]

41 minutes ago, oldsox said:

Plus, why does he wear that stupid yellow sleeve?  Why is it even allowed?

[joejoesox]

10 hours ago, smellysox said:

Screw Schins. No city is better than Chicago in the summer.  He's just trying to get Soxtalk all riled up

Toronto is such a better experience than Chicago imo

[Timmy U]

1 minute ago, joesaiditstrue said:

Toronto is such a better experience than Chicago imo

I was in Toronto and everyone there was saying that they’re favorite place to vacation was Chicago, fwiw.

[Chicago White Sox]

54 minutes ago, Lillian said:

My understanding is that Ozuna had a strong arm, before his shoulder condition, which led to surgery. I read where he was throwing much better, last Spring, but I can't seem to find any recent updates, regarding his recovery. If he is close to being back to normal, his arm is not a problem and he has always been considered a good defensive outfielder.

It’s really hard to get a read on Ozuna’s arm.  All I could find was his shoulder was like 52% as of last spring training, but that wasn’t long after his surgery and there was still reason for optimism.  However, numerous posters here claim his arm is shot, so I’m not sure what to believe exactly.

[Lillian]

Just now, Chicago White Sox said:

It’s really hard to get a read on Ozuna’s arm.  All I could find was his shoulder was like 52% as of last spring training, but that wasn’t long after his surgery and there was still reason for optimism.  However, numerous posters here claim his arm is shot, so I’m not sure what to believe exactly.

Yes, that is what I read. It's a very important question. If his arm has recovered, he would be adequate in RF, but if his arm is shot, how is it even feasible to play him there?

[Kyyle23]

26 minutes ago, wegner said:

Yolmer must've been the exception because he sure didn't win it with his bat 

Jeter ruined the award

[SoxAce]

3 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

It’s really hard to get a read on Ozuna’s arm.  All I could find was his shoulder was like 52% as of last spring training, but that wasn’t long after his surgery and there was still reason for optimism.  However, numerous posters here claim his arm is shot, so I’m not sure what to believe exactly.

It's not what it once was (although I've heard rumors his shoulder wasn't 100% the whole season) but I would still wager it's stronger than Eloys. 

First 10 seconds of the video shows him throwing a guy out at home. 

[Chicago White Sox]

46 minutes ago, GreenSox said:

I would prefer that the Sox use its resources on pitching.  They can get by in RF with what they have.  They cannot get by with this pitching staff or anything close to it.  They need 2 starters and 2 relievers.

Ozuna doesn’t preclude them from addressing their pitching staff.  They are adding two starters either way, with one being a multi-year type and one being of the stop-gap variety.  And candidly speaking, they won’t be signing two relievers to guaranteed contracts.  Colome, Herrera, Bummer, Fry, Marshall, & Cordero are pretty much locks.  That leaves one spot for a guaranteed contract and I wouldn’t be expecting a vastly expensive addition there (probably a $5M AAV type).  For better or worse, we’re hoping some of the young bullpen arms (Hamilton, Burdi, etc) will push for spots.

But real talk, how in the world could they get by in RF with what they have?  What we got out of RF last year was the worst producing in baseball by wide margin.  If people don’t like Ozuna that’s totally fine, but we’d defiantly need to make a big addition to solve RF.  It’s as big of as issue as our pitching needs.