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Even though it doesn't count it's always nice to beat the Cubs.

Kay being at 96-97mph is nice, he was a ~94.5mph guy last time he was in MLB.

I wish they used wood bats in college

I think it looks fine.

Austin Hays, Cubs killer? Both of his spring HRs are here at Sloan.

The brother from another mother Braden Montgomery solo sugar !

Nobody has any idea what Carlson will become. Nobody. The idea that we know he will be glove-first ss or the odd man out of their infield is simply conjecture. He has zero at bats in A ball.

I think most days (against righties) will be: Hays in LF, Acuña in CF, Baldwin in RF with AB DHing.

His hands are busy, and he’s long through the ball. But he sure seems to be able to hit. Hitting velocity is the only question.

SouthSideSox wrap: White Sox go deep. And again. And again. And again. And almost again. Whip Cubs, 5-1 | South Side Sox

Acuña will be the primary center fielder this season.

Nothing like having your two least impactful hitters getting the most at bats

I don't either. My reasoning has always been that if all of Acuña, Pereira, Hays and Kelenic are OPSing 2.500 at the end of camp that would be a situation where they could use Baldwin's option to sort out the roster into the season. Obviously, that fantasy scenario won't be happening. All of Acuña, Pereira and Benintendi have been injured in the first 11 games, and Kelenic hasn't hit the field like a man among boys, so I would think Baldwin has an OF spot that's his to lose.

The thing is Kelenic is on a minor league deal and can simply go to AAA. Forcing him onto the OD roster is not actually protecting him. IMO, I want him down in AAA for a month or two and see how he hits. Call him up when you believe his chances of success are higher and when he’ll have access to regular at-bats. As for the makeup the bench, if you assume CF is Acuna, LF is Benintendi, and DH is Quero (I think him and Andrew split the DH role), that leaves four spots without requiring us carrying a third catcher. Additionally, there are four players without options in Sosa, Mead, Pereira, & Lee plus you have Hill on a two way contract. All the bubble guys are RH hitters and it seems incredibly unlikely we rock a fully RH bench and don’t have at least one more guy to rotate in who bats LF. And while Hill can play a hell of a CF, he gives you no platoon advantage at the spot when paired with Acuna. The same applies for Pereira but without the plus glove there. Given how good of a hitter Baldwin is and his ability to play CF, I just can’t see an argument for not keeping him on this roster from an optimization standpoint. From a protection standpoint, I don’t see a need to protect Hill at all as I think he’d clear waivers and is more of an insurance policy anyways if the young kids don’t work out and/or get hurt. If you keep Sosa (which we will), I don’t see how Mead even gets access to playing time. He’s simply too redundant so putting him on the OD roster won’t help his value. The same applies to Lee but at least there another team’s backup catcher could get injured in May and make him tradable. I do think we should keep Periera given our question marks in the OF, but you can do that while also rostering both Sosa & Baldwin and one of Mead or Lee. I just don’t see the roster crunch that requires Baldwin starting in AAA and that’s before any injuries happen and make this entire debate pointless.

The White Sox started the last two spring seasons 3-8 and 3-9. It's also nice to see a way that this team could improve this season.

For a brief moment before games started, I thought that if Acuña, Pereira, Kelenic and Hays all started out gangbusters, a short trip to AAA for Baldwin could help sort through the embarrassment of riches early in the season. But Kelenic looks like just a guy, and Pereira could take weeks before he's playing in games, which puts Baldwin squarely on the roster.

I don’t think he’ll break camp with the team but I think he can certainly take the 2B job later.

Why though? Who would keep over him?

Bendix? or Kim Ng? Nim Ng took over a playoff team, then lost 90 games twice before squeaking into the playoffs, again in 2023. Peter Bendix took over a playoff team, then lost 100 in the first of two losing seasons. Surely you didn't think the White Sox team coming out of the debacle of a 2023 season were sitting on the precipice of glory. Bringing a playoff team down to 100 losses, then finishing 4 games under .500 seems like an incredibly low bar to be aiming for.

The Sox aren’t uprooting Meidroth yet. The Sox absolutely love the kid and his power (while firmly below average) was compromised last season due to a variety of health issues. That being said, I do think that if Chase isn’t a 100+ wRC+ guy by June, then Antonacci has a real chance of taking the 2B job and pushing Chase to a reserve infielder role. I still love both players and think they are the type of role players a good org like the Dodgers have in the 8 to 11 range of their positional group.

Another great victory!!!! Looks to me like this is really going to be a fun 2026 White Sox season. The White Sox are coming, Tra La, Tra La!!!!

With aggressive baserunning which has got a lot of steals and extra bases this spring, you do get outs on the bases too.

Hicks doesn't skip his PFPs

If I could just have ballpark noise and no announcers, I’d take it.

Sosa sugar greets the Cubs RP ! Sox sweets yummy !

I think these crosstown matchups should be more entertaining this year than they have been in a long time. Cubs are good, Sox should be a lot more competitive. Looking forward to those games. Seeing the May 15th showdown in person this year. Oddly enough I've seen 3 crosstown matchups, all at Wrigley, this will be my first on the south side.

Tanner Murray is doing nothing but impress this Spring. He has options, but he might make this roster.

Casual 1.500+ OPS for EQ, who also leads Cactus League in RBIs.

Quero solo shot RH against Imanaga ! 2nd batter of the game.

EQ Bomb off Imanaga, 1-0 Sox

Mune taking BP with Samurai Japan. Sounds like they might have him and Okamoto might end up playing their projected MLB positions after all which seems smart. They have enough defensive concerns in the OF as is.

Antonacci is the most exciting revelation of spring by far imo. I would give him the job over meidroth. The questions he had were all around getting to power with + EV's which he's now shown he can do. I might be getting crazy, but his path reminds me so much of Jose Ramirez with the difference being Antonacci never had the down year. Elite contact and zone rates, but questions on growing into power. We obviously know what happened when he did. Spring doesnt matter for almost anything, but for EV's it's very meaningful. 109.5 and 107.1 this spring. Also another ball at 101. It's the peak that matters though.

Wade is a pretty good hitter. He was banged up last year and really bad, but if you put him in good match ups hes consistently been 15%+ better than the league. Id take wade over tendi 10 times out of 10 for the DH slot. He's on the wrong side of 30 and last year he was so bad teams bailed.

Which is the same thing the Mets are saying about Luis. This is just fluff. For the most part established big league players don't magically flip a switch, even with the best coaching in the world available. Also, @southsider2k5 can you clear off the prior pinned gamthreads?

Getz still hopes Acuna is the switch hitter Getz was dreaming of

Yes, he has.

Acuna is 100 pct starting. Might be leading off as well.

What is the value of field-first middle infielders? He has to project to a 725-750 mlb ops with plus plus defense to really have surprise value to other teams. Which won't be proven until AA...or at least Winston-Salem success.

Ant-man dinger!! 107 EV

Takeaways. 1. People who Getz hired and gave expanded roles and opportunities too, like him and believe in him. Very surprising! 2. The Sox still haven't expanded their department head counts. 3. Autonomy and freedom are what Getz is selling new leaders. (I'm a fan of this) resources aren't comparable to other markets. 4. Getz would compare the Sox to the Rays or Guardians. Lots of roster churn. Pretty s%*# fan experience but again, still very limited department size. 5. The proofs of concept or wins cited were someone else's 1st round pick being good, a pitcher being claimed and converted into something viable (something Sox have done a few times over last decade+), and two guys who have never played in the MLB. Anecdotal was polite.

Looks like someone was paid by the word.

I prefer keeping Lee using Teal and Quero as much as they can. Enough of other teams low-balling our talent.

Detroit has spring training in Florida.

Words Yamamoto would never say for $500, Alex.

This is dumb, what's the point of spending a Skubal start on a weaker team in pool play? Might as well use the roster spot on someone else.