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Robert is a grown man. If being around Puig derails him, he won’t last long in the MLB. You are bound to cross paths with potentially bad character guys.

Man, you sure dont understand sarcasm.

I really want him to be wrong once. I would love to see the twitter responses after how condescending he has been with fans.

I know, they're so entitled, aren't they? Acting like they don't owe you free content and all. Or, even MORE free content, I guess, since they already give you a lot. But come on, right? UGH

It really surprises me how many people think Puig is actually a good major league baseball player at this point.

As a wise man once said, "lady, I ain't no athlete, I'm a baseball player." If he hits 40 HR no one will care.

Again, Puig hasn't been very good, I was responding to a post that mentioned last season. Engel was better against LHP last year. And I don't think what someone did in 2013 or 2014 is very relevant, or no one would be complaining about Jose Abreu's new contract. It's also interesting that even though many of the experts here say Puig's bad rep is overrated, not any of his 3 previous teams have any interest in his services.

1. Puig has not graded out better than Mazara in the outfield for the past two years. 2. The Sox will be weak on the corners defensively regardless, and the production of the outfield defensively is going to be tied to the greatness of Robert - you are hoping that Robert's world class range can hide the range deficiencies on the corners. 3. Puig has had regression YOY for the past three years. Mazara still has untapped ceiling. I would rather give Mazara one more chance than giving Puig significant time in hopes of him capturing production from 3-5 years ago.

It’s baffling really. Pulling out all these cherry-picked platoon stats and defensive metrics that make him barely an upgrade. Like barely. Somehow we’re all seeing it wrong and missing the big picture and the obvious upgrade. But yet so are 29 other teams. Why is Puig begging for a job as we get close to March and forcing out all these character plays on social media?

Mercedes > Collins.. oops, sorry I said it, CRUSIFY ME!!! ****If Collins can't catch.

I agree with what everyone is saying with regard to Stone's condescending tone on Twitter but he is pretty plugged in with the Sox front office. While there is always a possibility that something comes together out the blue, if Stone says "no" about Puig its because the front office isn't planning on making an offer. Sure something could change but I doubt it. Stone doesn't like to be wrong so if he's saying something definitive its because he's heard it directly from Hahn or Williams (or even the Chairman).

Lol in what world does that picture describe "massive belly" and 'fat as hell"? I assume you are chiseled crossfit specimen, eh?

I think all anyone is saying is that he should get a chance otherwise risk him turning into a really good DH

This just proves that White Sox fans all have cases of Terminally Online Brain

BA has Jared Kelley ranked #6 overall on their board for what it's worth. See below for a blurb if you want to get familiar.

You've been to some great ones!!

Means nothing relative to baseball. I know plenty of people who are great in the community or with their family and are complete assholes at work.

Puig isn't going to make the difference between winning a championship or not. He is going to be a problem. He has been an issue each place he has played. He isn't the player he used to be, but he was quoted as saying he wasn't playing as hard when he wasn't playing for a contract. We will see. Personally, I would spend it on something else, but it won't kill them if he is even worse than what even the most skeptical have claimed. I would have preferred last season or the year before, but the way the team is currently set up, it could determine if Renteria keeps managing. If he can keep Puig in line and shine, and the team is successful, he will have deserved, despite the bunting and strange pitching usage, an extension.

Just put in the PTO for opening day. So I'm ready to skip right past this spring training thing.

It's funny, I suspect that if you took a poll back in late 2019 to see who folks wanted to be the *regular* RF, Puig would have beaten Mazara handily. Mazara was not even on the radar. Now we're arguing over whether he'd even be a suitable backup to Mazara. I think a lot of folks have talked themselves into Mazara (myself included) and are measuring Puig against the version of Mazara they've built in their minds. Puig has a world of talent and is on the right side of 30. Particularly given the strong support system on this team I think he's worth a flyer.

Well, he's not worthless. He's a solid choice for a AAA backup in case of injuries, and meanwhile some lower tier team desperate for a power bat might be interested in him and that can help you get a reliever at the deadline or whatever. And there is that tiny chance he actually turns into something valuable - a chance another team that doesn't already have a host of better C and 1B options might be willing to take. Collins I think can slot well in like an Evan Gattis role (sort of) where he catches sometimes, but also DH's and can play first (assuming he can work out some swing issues). Yermin can be the emergency backup to that very role.

I'm really not ready to say that Eloy can't be a passable option in LF. It's not a demanding position, and if Eloy can just get to balls to his left and catch the routine ones, Robert may be able to make up for his lack of range in the gaps. Eloy clearly works really hard, and hard work may be able to overcome his lack of skill out there. He's not a slow player by any means. Puig simply hasn't been better the past two years defensively than Mazara, so what he did prior is really irrelevant. Puig's career is on a downward trajectory - the same cannot be said for Mazara. When players are comparable in their projections, the intangible of being an asshole needs to be accounted for. We can just agree to disagree here.

For those believing Puig will be a rosy team player while spending 3 nights of the week on the bench, I have swamp land in FL to sell you.

Machado is an asshat; he was an asshat in Baltimore; he was an asshat in LAD; he is an asshat in SD. His effort has been called into question multiple times in his career; although, those corresponded with losing teams and seasons, something the White Sox were not planning to have a lot of had they signed Machado. His attitude has always been self centered, and his actions have always been self fulfilling. This is nothing new; everyone knew this about Machado, which is why some were likely not interested. While many ballplayers have career years before FA, you could bet that Machado would be one before it even happened. Expecting Machado to return to that level of commitment and dedication after being signed was never a guarantee.

I think we need to pump the breaks a bit on Yermin. First of all, he's a DH who maybe, occasionally, can catch at the MLB level. Hahn is talking up his defensive skills but in my viewing, and talking with people who have also seen him, they consider him a non-prospect behind the plate. He's pretty bad there. Also, he's built like a beer league softball player, which usually (though not always) doesn't bode well for the future of a guy who is 27 years old. So I just don't see him having much ceiling room there. And no he's not a 3B. Not sure about 1B but there is a traffic jam there anyway. So what role does he play? As a DH prospect, he would need to be a world-beater at the plate in the minors. He's spent 9 years getting to AAA, so I would be very skeptical of his numbers. Watching him hit, yeah he certainly can hit, maybe even competently in the majors. But I am not sure he rises to the level of professional DH prospect because that is such a high bar. I personally would try to use him as trade bait. There is always a slim chance that stings later, but more likely he's not going to be a significant contributor in the majors.

Yeah, I think I've been pretty adamant that Robert has the highest floor of any prospect in baseball - I'd put him ahead of Wander because Wander hasn't gotten past A ball yet. This is exactly why I felt people saying Robert had a lot of risk attached were just wrong. I don't want to say his floor is Mike Cameron - because Cameron is just below HOF level player - but that's around where it is. He doesn't have the OBP skills of Mike (pertaining to walk rate), but he has more raw power. Robert's defense and baserunning could realistically be worth 3 fWAR alone, meaning if his bat plays even to average or above, he's a 5 fWAR player year in and year out. I had been following/reading/analyzing Robert's defense for the previous year - as Dan noted, they track defense via gameday and etc - and I had said I had Robert as the best defender in the minor leagues last year. Apparently, I was wrong as Dan had him as the second best but that is just semantics. I don't think Sox fans realize how fun it is going to be to watch this guy play CF. I just hope he doesn't get hurt playing out there because he covers so much damn ground, and he runs through everything regardless of where it's hit. I'd argue, and some would contest, that Robert is a better defensive outfielder than Engel and Sox fans have loved watching Adam. Robert looks so effortless out there. As a life long Center Fielder myself, the only better defensive CF prospects I can remember in my lifetime are: 1. Byron Buxton 2. McKay Christensen 3. Kevin Keirmeier 4. Andruw Jones Robert is comparable to all of them, but he hasn't done it professionally for as long as those guys had by the team they debuted. It's a damn shame Chistensen just couldn't hit so he never played enough games to actually analyze his defensive metrics in the big league. They were just blah for his SSS, but he was spectacular in the minors and that catch he made in the big leagues, diving head first over his left shoulder onto the warning track, was still one of the best catches I've ever seen in my life.

Great, now do their career numbers, rather than Engel's (snicker) 89 PA in The Year of The Happy Fun Juiced Ball.

I actually can see a pathway to 4 outfielders all getting big time. Robert - 145 Eloy - 140 Mazara - 120 Puig - 81 Puig can play some center in a bind I imagine. 140-145 gives Eloy enough days off to keep him fresh, same with Robert. Mazara starts against the 75% of games started by righties that pitch in a year for 120 games. He really shouldn't sit vs righties. You could sprinkle. You could even sprinkle Puig in as DH 5 games and you get him near 90 of 162. If Puig or Mazara get really hot, just ride the hot hand for some time. I'm not a huge fan of the Puig signing - I also think Leury is your 4th outfielder to replace an injured guy (not Engel or Delmonico) so I don't really see that angle - mainly because I am not sure how Puig would be receptive to this role, and I actually think Puig is an asshole and not just misunderstood as some think here. Maybe he mellows with Abreu's leadership - Abreu seems to have an aura surrounding him in the Cuban baseball community - but I don't think that's a guarantee. If they keep Mendick, then Leury can float into the outfield. What I will say about Puig, is the talent has always been there and maybe you unlock the 3-5 fWAR guy he was before and you get him for free. It's not likely, per se, but it is certainly possible. It wouldn't shock me to see Puig have a higher fWAR per 162 than the two big money FA outfielders this off-season.

I forgot about that Hahn quote. I think he also recently mentioned the RF situation specifically as well.

Man, you sure love responding to fake insiders.

I'm for signing Manny Mota as a PH off the bench.

Here’s I’d see certain positions shaking out next year with the addition of Puig: RF: Mazara = ~105; Puig =~55 LF: Eloy = ~140; Puig = ~20 1B: Abreu = ~130; EE = ~20; Grandal =~10 DH: EE = ~110; Abreu = ~20; Grandal =~20; Eloy = ~10 CA: Grandal = ~120; McCann = ~40 Even without a major injury, he could get close to 75 starts next year. That’s a huge amount of playing time to give to Engel or Luery (or Mazara against LHP).

There seems to be untapped upside to both Mazara and Puig, while they've mostly been mostly mediocre in recent years. At this point, the Sox already have Mazara, so I don't see any reason to bring Puig in.

Manny Mota thinks that Puig is signing with the White Sox FWIW.

Literally to get dfa'd after a few weeks/month.

Funny thing is his swing is mechanically fantastic and about as perfect as you could teach. He jokes that his father taught him all the same things that tech is being used to assist with - like his ass down. What vaughn will use analytics for is to determine how he's being attacked and when. I doubt he ever changes much about his swing or feel at the plate.

8/10/90 - the most improbable thing I've ever witnessed in my life: Grebeck and Guillen go back-to-back off of Nolan.

I hope he makes the 26.

Mercedes hit well at every stop in his White Sox minor league career. He mashed in his first stint at Birmingham where Sox hitting prospects go to die. That .957 road OPS looks pretty damn fine to me.

Not sure if this has been discussed but TA started a YouTube channel and seems to be committed to uploading behind the scenes stuff regularly

The worst part is that this scandal is going to help the Astros hitters. If there are no warnings for hitting them the pitchers are going to be wary of pitching inside.

Stone said nothing wrong. He said the game teaches life lessons and Anderson just added that there could be a ton of black kids who can play it at a high level if given the financial resources.

Hopefully before there are any more hints at Steve Stone being racist without any evidence.

omg yes please this is my dream, give us some flexibility if Mazara is useless or Roberts hits a road bump. I just want Puig + Tim Anderson on the same team. Will make my enjoyment level maximized.