SoxBlanco

For this upcoming season only, if you were given the option to trade our top 7 for Houston's top 7 right now, would you do it? (don't take age or contracts into account, unless you are using age as a reason why they might get hurt or underperform this year) The swap would be Lynn, Giolito, Cease, Kopech, Keuchel, Lopez, Velasquez for Verlander, McCullers, Valdez, Garcia, Urquidy, Odorizzi, Javier

Yes, he was. He just went 0-2 with a K in yesterday's game. He was competing for a starting outfield spot last year in spring training but got hurt. He missed a month or so. When he returned, he played in only 9 games before leaving the team for personal reasons. This guy is very interesting if you look at his career stats (minors and MLB). He was the 8th overall pick and moved through the minors nicely while hitting the ball at every level (for example, in AA in 2018, he had an OBP of .403 and slugged .478). Then it seemed like things sort of fell apart the last couple of years. Perhaps the personal stuff played a part in that. I'm guessing he lost all confidence. Stick him in Charlotte and hope he can get his confidence back.

I'm currently of the mindset that there is zero chance we are spending more money if we keep Kimbrel, and a slight chance we would add one more piece if we did trade him (even if that one more piece is a trade for a starting pitcher).

I would love it if it was for Kimbrel, but I have to imagine the first thing to leak in the scenario would be "Phillies acquire Kimbrel" instead of "White Sox acquire Haisley...no word on the return".

I don’t love TLR, but that Astros series had little to do with his decisions or the fact that we coasted into the playoffs. Our starting pitchers couldn’t throw strikes and then got pounded when they were forced to.

Why can't Vaughn be the primary DH, while also giving Eloy and Abreu time off in LF and at 1B? Sheets could start in AAA.

Yeah, that lineup was my guess if we face a lefty. If it's a RHP, then here is my guess (also assuming Vaughn is out): Leury SS Robert CF Abreu 1B Moncada 3B Grandal C Eloy LF Sheets DH Harrison 2B Engel RF

Good call. My brain has become so used to thinking "25 man". I edited the post.

I figured it would be nice to have a place to discuss who makes the 26 man, as well as what we think the opening day lineup will be. If Engel is healthy, Vaughn is still out, and we face a lefty (Rodriguez), this is my guess at the opening day lineup: Leury SS Robert CF Abreu 1B Grandal C Eloy LF Moncada 3B Harrison 2B Engel RF Burger DH

Great call on that one. Your firsthand knowledge of what that feels like gave me optimism.

Probably a very unpopular opinion by me, but I think the White Sox were better than the Astros last year, and I think they are still better this year. Yes, the Astros destroyed us in the playoffs, but I'm not going to let one series completely determine my opinion. Going into that series, many people thought we were the better team. The one thing we were severely lacking in was playoff experience.

You have absolutely loved using WAR projections over the past several weeks on this message board. But now the Kopech projection gets a snicker? I never saw you once say that Rodon's projection was questionable because of his injury history and potential innings pitched amount.

I would guess Leury plays SS and Burger is the DH (with Adolfo/Sheets in RF, depending on who we are facing and whether we keep Adolfo on the 25 man). Leury SS Robert CF Abreu 1B Grandal C Eloy LF Moncada 3B Sheets RF Burger DH Harrison 2B

The wording of this gives me more optimism. Sounds like he was sore yesterday, and they told him to get some rest and come back tomorrow to get looked at again. But I also don't know what the hell I'm talking about, so don't get your hopes up.

I YouTubed the career altering Bo Jackson injury yesterday right after Vaughn got hurt. He immediately got up after the injury, and then went back down. Then he actually walked off the field (with some help). Was he just a tough son of b*tch?

Yeah, the crazy thing after all this speculation is that it could be all just a precaution, where he's just sore and then completely fine in a day or two.

Yeah, that's what I figured. I just wasn't sure if there was a scenario where a rehab stint turns into an option. And while the extra year would be great, I'm not a fan of manipulating the system to make it happen. I tend to lean more toward Ray Ray's point of view on that topic.

If Vaughn is only out for a few weeks, could this end up being a blessing in disguise? Send him to AAA once he is healthy and get a year of control back?

I think people just like blaming the front office at every opportunity. If Kimbrel would have gotten in a car accident on the way to the fields today, people would blame it on Hahn for picking up his option.

Our instruction very well might be horrible, but in this specific case, I think it’s just bad luck. Vaughn played a solid LF all year last year without getting hurt. There are no teams teaching guys how to properly dive without injuring their hips. Fingers crossed this is a very minor injury.

And I agree with you on that. But would Vaughn be less likely to get hurt if the other corner outfielder was a great defender? Absolutely not. It’s using the butterfly effect to place blame in a misguided way.

I’m confused as to why people had no problem with Vaughn playing LF last year and some even wish he would play there this year instead of Eloy, but then blame the injury on being out of position. The same injury could have happened in LF. If the criticism is that we should be getting a real RF (like Conforto) because we don’t want Eloy and Vaughn in the corners at the same time, then I completely agree. But that’s a totally separate issue. To put it another way: Let’s say we signed Conforto and he was playing RF today with Vaughn in LF (Eloy with the day off or DH). In that scenario, the blame for the injury would not be the same as it is right now.

I think that was a torn labrum.

I hope it’s just that and not the Bo Jackson injury. Seems much more likely to be a hip pointer.

I was trying to say that I agreed with you. My scenario would be the only chance it might be close, but I still think we pull it out.