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What part of his .588 OPS and 68 OPS+ am I supposed to be impressed by? He was trash last year.

James Fegan's article over on the Athletic with his first take on the roster led to a lot of comments wailing about the Sox' inability to fill the RF and 2B slots with above average major leaguers. That's not the Sox' main problem. Here's the problem. This list is not any ranked order. 1. Tim Anderson, 79 games, .686 OPS against RHP 2. Yasmani Grandal, 99 games, 64 OPS+ 3. Luis Robert, 98 games, .702 OPS against RHP 4. Yoan Moncada, 104 games, 76 OPS+ 5. Eloy Jimenez, 84 games. 6. Lucas Giolito, 4.90 ERA over 161.2 innings. 82 ERA+ 7. Michael Kopech, 119.1 innings. 8. Lance Lynn, 121.2 innings, 99 ERA+ 9. No more Jose Abreu, who played 157 games at 133 OPS+ The core of the White Sox cannot stay healthy, and even when they are in the game, do not produce at superior levels. Only Eloy Jimenez produced an OPS+ above 110. Meanwhile, the starting staff had Dylan Cease and Johnny Cueto pitching when called upon at superior levels. Kopech didn't get to 120 innings, and Lance Lynn and Lucas Giolito were sub par starters. They are also a bad fielding club, though taking Vaughn and Sheets and Jimenez out of the outfield should help. For the Sox to contend for anything, these 8 players all need to stay healthy and produce at superior levels. If they do, it won't really matter who plays 2b and RF, because they can carry a couple of weaker spots in the lineup. If they don't, it won't really matter who plays 2b and RF, because those positions cannot makeup for failures from the core of the team.

I’m not a big Madrigal fan but this is just an insane statement.

It could've been that they saw the toxic mess that was the team/clubhouse, realized the likelihood of actually overtaking CLE we're slim, and chose to leave Colas where he was. I'd like to think the org has at least a shred of awareness to recognize the dumpster fire that was last year. I'm glad they didn't expose him to that crap.

So, um, Nightengale’s latest article suggests Sox could go after Madrigal

Neither has Madrigal, and you have to give up something to get him.

Feeling better about signing after reading this new blurb in MLBTR today. Sounds like more than just wishing and hoping that Clevinger will regain past form. Quoting Katz: “We broke down some biomechanics stuff after we signed him to kind of show him the differences. Where he was different in all aspects of his delivery, which was probably in correlation to the knee … Now that he is healthy, he is working on it. His bullpens and the videos that I have seen, there’s been no kind of restrictions or anything that’s slowed him down from being able to be aggressive on that back leg

Fegan has a great article up with Katz quotes. The biggest thing that jumped out to me is the Sox starting depth is going to be tested, as Kopech still isn’t 100 pct and Clevinger might be on an innings limit. At least we know Hahn will stay busy to ensure injuries can’t derail the team!!!

One I really wish people would understand- they need WAY more than just to stay healthy. They lost some to injury last year, but they offset a lot of their injury losses with ridiculous performances from Cueto, Andrus, Zavala, and a couple others - some of those you would never repeat if you replayed the season a thousand times. And no matter how many dumb decisions their manager made, they also outplayed their projected record by several games thanks to a stellar performance in 1-run games - either surprisingly lucky or some actual decent coaching. And from there, they’ve lost Abreu, now they’ve lost Hendriks. Their ZiPS record is below .500 and in third place in the division, and that includes a lot of guys being healthier than last year and pretty well justified expected numbers. That didn’t include Benintendi, but it has the White Sox with one of the best bullpens in baseball led by their top reliever, Hendriks. They need a lot of guys to return to form or even break out. If Robert is only a .790 OPS guy but healthy (same as last year before the wrist injury), he’s a very good player, but not an all star in this league and that doesn’t make this a title team. If Vaughn puts up a .815 OPS, that’s better than any year of his career and pretty weak for replacing Abreu. That’s where ZiPS has them both, and neither were great. If Giolito isn’t strong without the sticky stuff, then their rotation is pretty weak. If Lynn and Kelly are healthier but have inconsistent stretches because of their ages, that’s not a health problem and it is a huge issue. If Moncada has fewer injuries but still hits .230, that’s not a strong 3b. If the rookies aren’t really good, then they have several lineup black holes. I can keep doing this, there’s SO MANY. Grandal. Eloy. Bummer. Anderson (see his defense last year). Their entire bench. On top of that, Cleveland could absolutely be better than last year. Super young team, extremely talented, one of the leagues best coaches, they could win this division even if a lot of things go right for the White Sox. The division could easily be stronger than last year, the White Sox beat up Detroit and Detroit was WAY more injured than the White Sox - we had a series against them when their top 5 starting pitchers were on the IL. Just imagine the losing streak if that happened to the White Sox, it might be 25 games. If Detroit plays better, that’s a big worry, and you no longer get 19 games against them, you get to face all the NLs teams including the NL East. They need tons of guys to return to form in things that had nothing to do with injury. Plus, they need tons of guys to break out into what they’ve never been. And then they need other teams not to step up and outperform them. Just to talk about this as a 90 win team they need nearly everything to go right. Not just injuries, almost no one can disappoint, which is a tough standard. It isn’t impossible, it could absolutely happen, but it is way more than just staying healthy. No one should underestimate how much needs to go differently here. If they are healthier than last year but everyone performs like they did last year they might finish in 4th place. They need these guys to fundamentally transform into different players from what they were last year. That’s why it’s not just health, it’s a setup where Grifol will absolutely deserve manager of the year if it happens. He has to coach a lot of guys into players that they have never been or where you’d be stunned if they pulled it off at their ages. It can happen, but boy after last year I hate hearing people talk about how simple this will be, how all it takes is a little better health, and how they don’t respect our opponents after all the braggadocio last year about how easy it would be and how that worked out.

Didn't hear what he said, but I expect this is off-season "coach speak" and won't read too much into it. He could see Eloy there once or twice that first week and say "cool, I've seen enough."

The obsession with former players is really weird. Forget a guy with legit potential like Sosa…I’m not even sure there’s any guarantee Madrigal would be more productive than Hansel Alberto next year. IF (he doesn’t) Hahn wanted to give up assets for a 2B he could do a lot better than Madrigal

Gag me. We would go from one of the best to one of the worst duos on television.

Sox continue to find ways to f*** up things that are good.

Madrigal hasn't done anything to prove he is worth trading for.

That isn't "success". He's hurt for 2/3 of each season, so those guys are still going to get 400 ABs, and when he has played, he’s barely been over replacement. Romy had a higher OPS+ than Madrigal did last year.

If they actually trade something for Madrigal....this is officially the worst off-season in White Sox history.

Unless he is willing to spend a couple of years in MiLB the math doesn't work.

The madrigal number is currently at 2852 for those keeping track at home

Again this is what I was told about this situation from one of my multiple sources in the "State of the Sox" story: “Jason Benetti’s deal with the Sox is up, the Sox hold the option for the 2023 and 2024 seasons. He went to Fox to negotiate that deal with them after he was told to do it and then come back to the Sox and they’d work something out. Jason wanted to get the deal done with the Sox first and then go to Fox or ESPN or whoever. Turns out when he came back to the Sox and said that he needs 40 days off so he can do the Fox work he was told, ‘no, that’s not happening.’ So I don’t know what’s going to happen to him or Steve Stone.”

They're better at talent evaluation.

It feels inevitable.

A+ off-season there Rick.

He is in his 1st arb year, hasn't been healthy or productive, and didn't sound like he made friends in the clubhouse. Not sure he is better than Romy or Lenyn, or even a healthy Leury.

I’m hoping this is simply to provide Colas with some actual level of competition instead of straight handing him the job from the get go. Reyes, Marisnik, and Sheets aren’t that.

Service time should have no impact on Colas breaking camp with the club (or not) out of ST, that should depend on his performance. Leury starting for a month anywhere, especially RF, would be an abomination.

Oh yeah I don't believe he knows any more than any of us do at this point.

I’m friends with someone that would be one of the first to know if Benetti was leaving, and he hasn’t heard he won’t be back.

RIP Danny Dimes narratives/Kafka greatest offense in history Age: 1 week Mother: Vikings defense

This can be addicting.

The White Sox are exhibit A on how locking up young players early can go wrong.

Eloy played right a lot in the minors. Even if he starts taking better routes, he does not have the arm for it. Let’s hope this is a motivational tool to get Eloy to stay in shape. With no Abreu, this lineup needs like 550 PA from Eloy.

Young hungry players can often outplay veteran free agents. AJ Pollack is a perfect example. I have no doubt that Colas can and will outperform Pollack's 2022 numbers. You tell me who the Sox should sign (or should have signed) for 2B and RF this offseason, and how much it would have cost. Plus, how long would the contract have been for? You can't completely fill the team with older free agent vets. Youth has a lot of value to a team. Need to sprinkle it in where you can.

3B, most likely. I absolutely salivate at the idea of them trying to play Miranda at 3B. That's like Sox playing Burger at 3B everyday defensively.

I read the review of this and it sounds like he legit wrote a book just about how much he hates the astros.

Stone is on a different level than Stacey King. Stone is super knowledgeable about the game, and there's nobody better to give insight on pitching. King is an absolute joke. His solution to everything is "feed the ball to the big man in the post". He has zero grasp on modern NBA basketball.

I’m just happy to see he has use of both hands

Or Enrique Bradford Jr. He is fast. But I don't see his power being enough for an OF in the majors.