Dickman: That's Danny Mendick

[chitownsportsfan]

He'll be an everyday guy from here on out, probably deserves a thread.

Former 22nd rounder, tools aren't that loud, but doesn't seem to have much of a weakness and is in his baseball prime at 27. He doesn't do a lot wrong.  Takes big cuts, has a good upper cut swing for the most part, and has a strong arm and decent range up the middle.  You'd like more contact and maybe a few more walks but in today's MLB hitting 270 isn't exactly mediocre, in fact it might be solidly above average. Again, doesn't do a lot to hurt you as a 2B.

ZIPS ROS is insanely bullish on him, basically thinks he's a 3 WAR player and will be worth 1.2 over the rest of the season.  Not a Rick Hahn thread but take a bow man, whatever process lead to Danny as the 30th is some vidya game dynasty shit.  I don't really see a lot to be down about with Danny.  He just fucks, as I've said.  He is a guy that fucks.  Happy for him he's developed into a solid option and a guy that can fill in and keep this winning season going even as a backup now pressed into full time.

 

Edited June 12, 2021 by chitownsportsfan

[TomPickle]

It sucks for Madrigal to get hurt right as he was seemingly coming into his own as a player, but Mendick at 2B was probably our best bet to match the production of the starter in case of severe injury coming into the season.

[hi8is]

I just want dubs. Lots and lots of Dubs.

Yes, I’m looking at you @ZachCollins and @DannyMendick.

[chitownsportsfan]

7 minutes ago, TomPickle said:

It sucks for Madrigal to get hurt right as he was seemingly coming into his own as a player, but Mendick at 2B was probably our best bet to match the production of the starter in case of severe injury coming into the season.

Sox casually replacing a 3 WAR guy they found 4th overall with one they found 22nd round and not missing a bit is interesting to me at least.  Sox done found some shit, we should enjoy it.

[ron883]

Mendick is a very solid backup and super sub, and could possibly be a starter at 2B on some teams. His bat won't be as good as Madrigal's, but he's a better defender and his BBIQ is much higher. The dropoff in production won't be too significant IMO.

The depth the Sox have been able to scrape together is surprisingly impressive. Everybody pointed to it as a week was, but it is far from that. Yermin, Mendick, Jake Lamb (people hated this, but TLR deserves credit here), Adam Engel, Billy Hamilton, Andrew Vaughn. The front office deserves big time credit for it. 

[gusguyman]

Mendick is the latest in a long line of super-subs who either stay on the bench or in AAA as the hero, or become starters long enough to become the villain. Leury, Yolmer, etc. Maybe he'll breakout, but he's probably just a serviceable ballplayer (and that is just fine considering he is like the 6th man up!)

[Chicago White Sox]

I like Mendick as a bench guy but he may be the most overrated player on Soxtalk.  His bat is a massive downgrade vs. Nick’s and he’s significantly slower on the base-paths.  He’s nowhere near a “3 win guy” IMO but should at least give us above replacement level production.  I’d still be exploring 2B upgrades.

[Blackout Friday]

I like a Danny Mendick. How could you not? He isn’t an everyday guy on a contending team. 

[bmags]

Fun thing about mendick was he joined a lot of our radars when he made Fangraphs Carson Cistullis “fringe 5”, which basically looked for low rated prospects whose production indicated a big league future.

Mendick was always impressive for his resiliency in the minors to me, felt like whenever he fell back offensively he’d fight like hell for a few weeks and get back to respectable quickly. 

Cheers to an incredible accomplishment

[wegner]

Was it Danny who credited Willie Harris for teaching him what needed to be done to get to the big leagues as a utility player?

[Lillian]

1 hour ago, Chicago White Sox said:

I like Mendick as a bench guy but he may be the most overrated player on Soxtalk.  His bat is a massive downgrade vs. Nick’s and he’s significantly slower on the base-paths.  He’s nowhere near a “3 win guy” IMO but should at least give us above replacement level production.  I’d still be exploring 2B upgrades.

Again, I agree with this assessment. Mendick is a serviceable bench player. However, after having lost 3 starters and with World Series aspirations, replacement level production is probably not good enough. There are better options available on the trade market and I'm confident that Hahn will bring is a player who will be better than replacement level.

The Sox are winning a lot of close games and luck seems to be favouring them. But luck can suddenly change. The dramatic drop in home run production is eventually going to take a toll. With warm weather approaching, the ball will be flying out of Guaranteed Rate Park, and although this current roster should begin to hit more long balls, there are a lot of teams that appear to have more power. Without Eloy and Robert, this is a chance to add some power. Replacing Madrigal with guys like Leury and Mendick is not the way to go "all in" on a shot at a title.  It would be a real shame to waste the best rotation the Sox have had, since 2005, by not acquiring the pieces needed to maintain their terrific start. 

[tray]

 

24 minutes ago, Lillian said:

Without Eloy and Robert, this is a chance to add some power. Replacing Madrigal with guys like Leury and Mendick is not the way to go

Mendick will hit a few more HR than Madrigal, but really,  we need more HRs from the guy in the DH spot than we do from a second basemen.

I'm OK with Mendick at second base for now.  The guy is a grinder and a gamer. He showed that yesterday on a coupe of plays.

[whitesoxbrad]

11 minutes ago, tray said:

 

Mendick will hit a few more HR than Madrigal, but really,  we need more HRs from the guy in the DH spot than we do from a second basemen.

I'm OK with Mendick at second base for now.  The guy is a grinder and a gamer. He showed that yesterday on a coupe of plays.

How about the guy at 3rd also, oh yea and  the guys playing the corner outfield positions also.

[tray]

Maybe Burger can be brought up to DH if Mercedes continues to regress.

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

Same poster who has pages worth of post ripping and ridiculing nick madrigal has now started a thread salivating over Danny mendick. The internet is truly an odd and unique place. 

[Lillian]

26 minutes ago, tray said:

 

Mendick will hit a few more HR than Madrigal, but really,  we need more HRs from the guy in the DH spot than we do from a second basemen.

I'm OK with Mendick at second base for now.  The guy is a grinder and a gamer. He showed that yesterday on a coupe of plays.

Yes, the DH is not hitting for enough power, as are several other guys. However, those are not the guys who are injured. The Sox need to add someone and the most obvious acquisition is a second baseman, to replace Madrigal. As I previously suggested, Escobar would fill the need at second, as well as adding thunder to the lineup, from both sides of the plate. If you can find a LH power bat, to play RF that's fine. However, then you have to sit Eaton. I'm ok with replacing Eaton in RF, but the more plausible solution is someone like Escobar at second. I suspect that Lamb is going to get more playing time in RF, especially if Eaton continues to be hobbled and to struggle at the plate. 

[BamaDoc]

I worry about bench guys being overexposed with prolonged playing time.  there was a reason guys were backups.  The injury issues also show up where Grandal and Eaton have played hurt when a IL stint might have helped them individually but the team is so banged up they couldn't take the time off.  Now you are getting bigger drop offs to the new backups so starters at risk for not getting rest.  Our pitching has been the key to keeping us in every game even when lineups look weaker.  We really need our starting pitching to hold up.  Our minor league starting pitching needs to step up.  Lopez looks lost, Stiever, Lambert etc need to get rolling.  All our next wave of pitching youngsters at A are really struggling.

[GreenSox]

The reason the Sox can withstand the loss of c 33% of their starting position players is because of elite starting pitching (and a division with 2 mid-phase rebuilders).  40% of the staff rolls off after this season and the rebuilders will start getting good.  They also need another outfielder, regardless of the injuries.

Escobar's contract expires at the end of this season, he's still productive; I just wish his contract was higher (they got him pretty cheap) so that there would be a bigger incentive for Az to salary dump.
Mendick playing well will both help the team and provide an enticing trade piece for the offseason.

Edited June 12, 2021 by GreenSox

[reiks12]

I like Mendick a lot, but hes not going to replace Madrigal's offensive production. Defensively he is an upgrade however. 

[bmags]

Just remember when we were paying millions for the likes of Emilio bonifacio because we couldn’t produce a mendick.

[Chicago White Sox]

1 hour ago, BamaDoc said:

I worry about bench guys being overexposed with prolonged playing time.  there was a reason guys were backups.  The injury issues also show up where Grandal and Eaton have played hurt when a IL stint might have helped them individually but the team is so banged up they couldn't take the time off.  Now you are getting bigger drop offs to the new backups so starters at risk for not getting rest.  Our pitching has been the key to keeping us in every game even when lineups look weaker.  We really need our starting pitching to hold up.  Our minor league starting pitching needs to step up.  Lopez looks lost, Stiever, Lambert etc need to get rolling.  All our next wave of pitching youngsters at A are really struggling.

Stiever is coming off a real nice start and Lambert has a 2.79 xFIP while leading AAA in K/9.  I actually like both of those guys a lot, but AAA was an aggressive assignment for Stiever and he needs more seasoning.  I do think one of them ends up getting moved for a bat before the trade deadline while the other remains the #7 starter as Lopez appears to be a lost cause at this point.

[Chicago White Sox]

50 minutes ago, GreenSox said:

The reason the Sox can withstand the loss of c 33% of their starting position players is because of elite starting pitching (and a division with 2 mid-phase rebuilders).  40% of the staff rolls off after this season and the rebuilders will start getting good.  They also need another outfielder, regardless of the injuries.

Escobar's contract expires at the end of this season, he's still productive; I just wish his contract was higher (they got him pretty cheap) so that there would be a bigger incentive for Az to salary dump.
Mendick playing well will both help the team and provide an enticing trade piece for the offseason.

That’s why we absorb Kole Calhoun’s salary and throw him into the RF / DH mix.  If you add both him and Escobar you suddenly transform this lineup power wise, especially once Eloy & Robert come back.  Then go get Iglesias from the Angels when they throw in the towel and I think the roster is basically set for October.

[Lillian]

41 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

That’s why we absorb Kole Calhoun’s salary and throw him into the RF / DH mix.  If you add both him and Escobar you suddenly transform this lineup power wise, especially once Eloy & Robert come back.  Then go get Iglesias from the Angels when they throw in the towel and I think the roster is basically set for October.

I'm onboard for that plan. Two LH power bats always sound good to me. LOL. Moreover, what it would take to acquire both of them, would probably surprise many. Rentals don't cost what they used to. Arizona would save what's left of Kole's $8 million for this year, plus that $2 million dollar buy out. They also would save what's left of Escobar's $7.5 million. The Diamondbacks aren't going anywhere this year so whatever money they can save and whomever they can get back, in trades, is probably appealing to them. Would Stiever and Luis Gonzalez be enough? They are the Sox' number 4 and number 10 MLB Pipeline prospects, respectively. Both of those prospect rankings sound better than the actual value of the players. I don't consider either one of them as important pieces, going forward. That's just my assessment, as a fan. 

Edited June 12, 2021 by Lillian

[Chicago White Sox]

33 minutes ago, Lillian said:

I'm onboard for that plan. Two LH power bats always sound good to me. LOL. Moreover, what it would take to acquire both of them, would probably surprise many. Rentals don't cost what they used to. Arizona would save what's left of Kole's $8 million for this year, plus that $2 million dollar buy out. They also would save what's left of Escobar's $7.5 million. The Diamondbacks aren't going anywhere this year so whatever money they can save and whomever they can get back, in trades, is probably appealing to them. Would Stiever and Luis Gonzalez be enough? They are the Sox' number 4 and number 10 MLB Pipeline prospects, respectively. Both of those prospect rankings sound better than the actual value of the players. I don't consider either one of them as important pieces, going forward. That's just my assessment, as a fan. 

I don’t think it would cost Stiever.  At this point, Calhoun has negative trade value given his health and salary, although that could change some if he comes back strong.  The problem is we don’t have a ton of mid tier prospects to trade.  Gonzalez has had a rough start to the season, Rutherford is regressing, and Adolfo is out of options after the year.  Those are the guys we should be looking to move, but just don’t think they have much value at this point.

Pilkington has pitched well this year and so has Bilous, who has a pretty big arm even if the reliever risk is pretty high with him.  Both are only 23 and in AA and when combined with absorbing Calhoun’s salary it might just be enough to get Escobar.

[Lillian]

8 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

I don’t think it would cost Stiever.  At this point, Calhoun has negative trade value given his health and salary, although that could change some if he comes back strong.  The problem is we don’t have a ton of mid tier prospects to trade.  Gonzalez has had a rough start to the season, Rutherford is regressing, and Adolfo is out of options after the year.  Those are the guys we should be looking to move, but just don’t think they have much value at this point.

Pilkington has pitched well this year and so has Bilous, who has a pretty big arm even if the reliever risk is pretty high with him.  Both are only 23 and in AA and when combined with absorbing Calhoun’s salary it might just be enough to get Escobar.

If Pilkington and Bilous would be enough, would you make that trade? I think I would, in a heartbeat.