WestEddy

I wasn't arguing anything. It just feels that if they're going to shoehorn Monty into the starting SS role, the IF bench player could come from a group that has Amaya, Baldwin and Gray in it. Maybe more. Amaya got a good look last September and OPSed a robust .419. We're in week two of a 5-week spring training. You'll probably see the preferred 2B/SS pairings in the same lineup more often than not - soon.

So, because the Sox scored 3 runs in each of their first few games, that's the reason you get to just make up numbers? Here, I'll make up a number. I'll call it "George". The Sox will have George number of wins this year. Lookit me!!! I'm Caulfield!!

DeLoach cleared waivers one week before pitchers and catchers reported. The off-season was pretty much over. 29 other teams thought Canario was a worthless bum who should have reported to one of those fantasy camps with the old men.

The implication of the Sox taking a pass on Canario is that they already know what could happen. They already know what could happen with Julks, Fletcher, DeLoach and Colas. Throw Cal Mitchell on that pile, too. Maybe they'll be wrong. But it seems like, if Chris Getz is wrong, so was most of the league. They're going to get good looks at Vargas and Sosa this year. Maybe even Meidroth, Baldwin, Bryan Ramos....maybe Tim Elko? They'll have 3 home-grown rookies in the rotation. Ellard, Varland, Leasure, Shane Smith - that's half of their bullpen. They could get full looks at 13+ prospects this season, probably even more with Quero/Teel, C. Monty, Thorpe, Nastrini, Eder, Wikelman, Iriarte. Fletcher probably has a clear shot at playing time in April. All they're doing is looking at rookies, and you're mad about them not taking a hit starting an unknown rookie at one position. "41-121!!!" seems to be an argument ender, here. So maybe there is some value in not giving the fanbase "40-122!!!" to post all winter.

Being DFAed doesn't mean a player has no "value". You're ignoring all of the factors that go into teams having to navigate their own 40-man rosters. Canario won't make the Mets' 26-man roster, so they'll have to try to sneak him through waivers again at the end of spring training. If the Mets thread the needle and catch the league during end of ST roster cuts, Canario could clear waivers and be assigned to AAA. And to you, that would mean he's a worthless bum who has no business stepping on a baseball diamond.

As Cali pointed out, you pick any player who gets DFAed, then pretend he's better than what we already have under contract, just so you can beat everyone over the head with that. Yes, you can assume that a pro outfielder can put up something close to what they have in the recent past. Tauchman put up 1.1 fWAR just last year, and I don't know what Slater's story is. Was he injured? He played for 3 teams, and I think Fuller suggested taking a flier on him because of the work they did in Baltimore. Canario does have impressive minor league stats, but as you suggest with DeLoach, 27 other teams took a look at him, basically for free, and decided he had no value. Here's what Fangraphs had to say about Canario last year: "Canario’s swing-and-miss issues give us substantial pause when it comes to projecting his role. His tendency to misidentify sliders against righty pitchers destabilizes his entire profile and is probably going to limit his role to the short side of a platoon where he’s mostly facing lefties." Devil you know vs. devil you don't know. They've worked with Fletcher and Colas. Canario is a wild card. Sure, I'd have loved for the Sox to have taken a flier on him instead of Michael A. Taylor, or even Slater, but that's what we have. I don't think that means Chris Getz is a moron. I think it means that Getz, like most GMs, trusts proven major league talent over AAAA guys, especially when you're trying to not set the loss record 2 years in a row. ADDED: Oh, and Canario didn't even make Fangraphs' top 38 Cub prospects this year. He still appears to be ROY eligible.

No, if a team thought DeLoach was measurably better than any OF they had in their system, they could find a worse player to cut. Teams don't just grab up guys because they think they have "value". There's an entire 40-man roster to navigate. And if a team already thinks they have 3 guys better than DeLoach, why would they claim him? Just to prove that Chris Getz is an imbecile? Tell me about this "value" you think DeLoach should have.

I sure hope you win this argument against whomever you're having it with. LOL. Nobody in this string suggested starting Tristan Gray outside of you.

Why? You don't think any rando can OPS better than Robert's 2024 .657?

And the year before that, Tauchman was worth 2.4 bWAR, and Slater, 0.7. Tauchman and Slater aren't "over the hill". Just because you keep repeating something over and over and over doesn't make it true. Weird how you mock people for using small sample sizes but completely ignore Canario's paltry 45 pro PAs.

A 40-man roster spot, especially when it means cutting another player, is so not "basically free". DeLoach is a replacement level player. Equal to every team's 3-4 replacement level OFs.

WTF are you talking about? Get out of the opium dens. Gray has 127 minor league homers. Tristan Gray College, Amateur, Minor & Independent Leagues Statistics | Baseball-Reference.com

You don't need a "great" shortstop. Gray has more power. Not sure what you're really responding to. My original comment was more about Gray seeming to get more early action than Baldwin. The other part was that Amaya was the only one on that list who wasn't exactly a lock.

I think you're reading too much into a single comment.

Go watch the Cubs, then.

Gilbert, Ellard, Murfee, Leasure and Shuster are all candidates for the bullpen.

Well, they made it exciting in the end.

Granted it's our ML relievers going against AA and guys trying to extend their careers, but the bullpen looks good, and I'll take it.

MLB Trade Rumors lists out each team's list of out of option players. The only one that even requires brain cells would be Jacob Amaya. Sosa and Vargas should make the team. Tauchman, Thaiss and Bryse Wilson were brought here to make the team. Tristan Gray looked viable, and he hits a bit better and has way more power than Amaya. Plus, Gray has 2 options left. I also think it's telling that when Colson Montgomery was scratched, yesterday, Gray got the call to replace him, not Baldwin, even when Baldwin was on hand to replace Benintendi when he was pulled for x-rays. article: Out Of Options 2025 - MLB Trade Rumors White Sox Jacob Amaya, IF Lenyn Sosa, IF Mike Tauchman, OF Matt Thaiss, C Miguel Vargas, IF Bryse Wilson, SP/RP

Two weeks before baseball activities?

Unless he walks over from the Dodgers' game, where he's starting at SS, Tim Anderson won't be facing any White Sox pitchers.

Nick Madrigal out for the season.