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Sox up 2 - 0. Moncada oppo HR. Hope yall can enjoy it haters of style, music videos, and dreamy eyes. 🙃

3B would be the correct answer.

My favorite suggestion so far is moving our (by far) best defensive third baseman away from third base.

More than anything, I just want this board to admit that the goal posts just never stop moving for Moncada compared to other players. Many want Eloy to stop playing his natural position at all so he can stay healthy, take a zero or negative number with defense, but Moncada can play the best defense of anyone on the team but it’s not enough because…well, I’m not sure why. Many are willing to gloss over TA’s lack of OBA, injury history, defensive lapses, off the field issues while holding Moncada to an impossible standard of “looking like he isn’t wincing” or not doing music videos or whatever. I bring up in this thread that Moncada has actually played 82% of his games since 2018 and that’s not really enough because…. we can cherry pick a list of starters who have played 90%+? or he’s “soft” because we don’t like his facial expressions or amount of the time he’s spent on the ground after a collision, or that his effort isn’t completely there for some people when he’s in the game despite his career numbers? where are the goalposts, folks? He had a bad year. 104 games coming off an injury and long COVID is not a sample size to descredit the preceding 530 games where he has proven himself, 25 year olds who play at this level don’t suddenly go downhill at that age. I predict a big year, personally. but what are the goalposts? 6 WAR or he’s a bust? How many players in baseball do 6 WAR a year? Like it or not, remember it or not, Beckham was very highly touted, did have tremendous support in the organization and fanbase and I recall him having a very long leash. Moncada had long COVID, one bad year, and people want him to be a bench player. It’s unbelievable frankly.

Zavala - C Moncada - UTIL INF Sheets - LH BAT Haseley - UTIL OF

My only resentment is that he's blocking Burger who is actually a good and useful player.

We all want to see more from Yoan’s bat, but perhaps you’re taking for granted what it’s like to have a reliable, great defender at 3B. I don’t think I understand why you would downplay how valuable that is.

Eloy's spring slash line: .448/.500/.517 prettty, prettttttty, pretttttty good

Opening Day needs to get here ASAP. Some of these hot takes are just too looney tunes.

But the far worse defender in Burger should? Make it make sense!!

What if we train Jake Burger to be a catcher

According to what, exactly? Even if you want to completely dismiss the fact that Moncada is an elite defensive 3B and Jake Burger might not even be the best defensive 3B on a competitive mens softball team, I am really curious to hear how you come to this conclusion.

I don't really think its fair to say "Vaughn is always hurt". The Sox stuck a lifelong 1B in the OF everyday. That is really hard on the body, especially one that isn't super long and lean like a lot of OFs. I think we'll see AV be much healthier this year, though I certainly understand the concern with a back issue already presenting itself. Andrew Vaughn has the ability to be an elite offensive player. Gavin Sheets has the chance to be a useful platoon bat. One will be a big leaguer for a very long time, the other has a good chance to be out of the big leagues before his rookie contract is even up. AV needs to play damn near everyday.

You have no sources.

Romy Gone-Zalez more like

Oh I was figuring in an injury somewhere during those 9 days

I love ads....last year I had all those lovely Eastern European women on my Soxtalk feed.

I know that they have done a similar thing before with Keppinger, but I will believe Leury is gone when and only when I see it posted in a glorious and I am sure very entertaining Soxtalk thread.

More evidence that it's bye bye Leury? IDK.

Romy is a beast. We should notify Leury's next of kin.

So Cease is opening day starter and Kopech the home opener....that'll play. My Cuban won't be gone before Kopech walks two guys, hits a batter, and has a clock violation while getting out of it a week from Monday.

Bye Leury.

With Opening Night less than a week away and with a number of key guys away for the WBC I hope the Sox manager starting Saturday will start running out his regular season lineup and start getting these guys some work together as a unit.

Eloy just navigated the wall extremely well in RF to make a running catch along the warning track

Huh? Moncada is an elite 3B. He’s definitely a very good defensive 3B. Yoan had a terrible 2022 offensively, but let’s see how 23 goes before we deem that he doesn’t belong at 3B. Glad these small contingent of anti-Moncada Soxtalk isn’t responsible for roster decisions. Regardless, the answer at 3B is not Burger for anything more than a short term fill in. He’s an absolute butcher over there.

I guess I'll be the only(?) one to say I want Romy on the bench. I think he has legit power, unlike most of the UTIL guys, and legit defensive versatility, unlike Burger. So if people can pound the table for Burger after his hot week, I'll throw Romy's hat in the ring, since he now has a higher OPS even after his absolutely dreadful start 🤷‍♀️Plus he's speedy. Seby, Romy, Sheets, and Hanser (if they move on from Leury). Since Romy has options, it wouldn't surprise me if we leave camp with both Leury and Hanser and spend a couple weeks giving Leury a chance to bounce back (and Romy some more time to force the issue).

Another 5 win season is incoming for Yoan this year. I can feel it.

Agree to disagree that Moncada is blocking a DH vs LHP.

Ok, but in order to get Sheets in the lineup like this, you'd have to put Eloy in RF, or sit Eloy. There is no universe in which I'd sit Eloy just to get Sheet's bat in the lineup.

Curious what you are basing this on. Sheets hasn’t exactly shown to be good at 1B.

Decision day for Billy and Alberto is tomorrow. per The Athletic, "under the new collective bargaining agreement, type XX(B) free agents who signed minor-league deals are allowed to opt out of their contracts on March 25 if their team does not plan on having them on the Opening Day roster" https://theathletic.com/4341208/2023/03/24/white-sox-full-roster/

After years of witnessing horrid defense, wanting Burger to start at third over Yoán because of his bat makes my head hurt. Anything Jake would provide on offense would be entirely negated by his inability to play a moderately passable third base. For reference, Burger played 326 innings at third last year, which was roughly 38% of the number of innings Moncada covered (859.2). Burger in that time frame was a -5 DRS, -7 OAA, and -2.4 DRP (Moncada had a 2 DRS, 4 OAA, and a 8.3 DRP). If you couldn't tell, Jake's numbers are quite abysmal at the hot corner. Hell, Jake has even played more first than third in spring games. With that being said, Moncada HAS to improve his offense from last year (which I believe it will improve). Nobody will disagree or argue with that statement. But at this moment in time, this whole premise of benching or moving Yoán off third for Jake is wild stuff.

I like our chances in this one.

The latter, my frund.

That sandwich is worth the price of admission.

By Cuban I mean sandwich not that I am the rightful owner of any person of Cuban descent.

I think there is a need for his speed and defense with the new rules.

They rode that to a division title in 2020.

Moncada’s salary is completely irrelevant in the topic of whether or not he should be playing 3B over Jake fuckin Burger.

You telling me Andrus couldn't play third as well as Moncada can? Honestly I don't know where Moncada should be playing. And this past situation at second base, nothing says Moncada simply improved in the field in general since that small sample size snapshot in his career, and could play second base passably, where his occasional power would make him even more valuable. Sacrificing power at the altar of defense for third basemen is not a widespread model for sure. It would be very easy to replicate. Team don't do that for a reason. Power is that reason

The best thing that ever happened to Moncada was the bouncy ball year of 2019. Thats how he got the big extension. If the Sox had been more in tune what was happening in the rest of baseball that year with so many guys putting up career type years and HR's they might not have been so quick to give him a big payday. That's just another in a long line of FO blunders. Keep tracks of those things. Any very keen observer of the game especially those in paid positions to spend money absolutely need to recognize these things. Anyone seeing all of this happening in 2019 and staying in touch with the rumors about the ball might come to the conclusion that something was going to be done about the ball and held off on offering big extensions. Anyone who actually refers to Yoans 2019 as a level of talent that he can return to has their head up there asses 4 years later. You'd have a better chance hoping for the return of the bouncy ball than Yoan ever repeating that year.

"March 25 if their team does not plan on having them on the Opening Day roster" If the club hasn't made that decision, I'm not sure why that's an important designation

It's just one of the creepy weirdos burner accounts. No one cares except the other creepy weirdos.

Burger is the best bat out of this entire list. That makes him a fit.

No he won’t, he has no intention of seeing this team contend. Do you know how bad that would make Tony look?

Moncada picked the wrong sport, he should be a soccer player with that act.

Soft implies weakness, or a lack of toughness. It’s such a masculine tough guy word used in this context, one that should really be excised from usage. No one really knows how hard Moncada works, or his pain tolerance. Some athletes can play through pain better than others. Baseball is a grind, and to play everyday, banged up, sore, and to do it again and again is anything but soft. Moncada is definitely dramatic when dealing with pain and injury. But that doesn’t make him “soft”.

Even our organization’s fans are incompetent.