South Side Hit Men

The Sox actually have a better record when Eloy doesn't play over his career. He should have been traded after his hot streak last year, hope he can have a hot streak in June so he can be flipped for something of value that can also field 2B, RF or a SP.

Here is what they are looking at next year without significant trade deadline or off-season deals: 2024: $146.4M 25 Players + Add SP & Likely other replacements $10.5M Dead Money (0) (Leury $5.5M; Clevinger $4.0M; Lynn $1.0M; Diekman $1.0M). $30.3M Outfield (3) (Benintendi $17.1M; Robert Jr. $12.5M; Colas $0.7M) $40.2M Infield (4) (Moncada $24.8M; Anderson $14.0M #; Gonzalez $0.7M; Sosa $0.7M) $16.8M Designated Hitters/First Base/Faux OF (4) (Jimenez $13.8M; Vaughn $1.6M^; Sheets $0.7M; Burger $0.7M) $1.5M Catchers (2) (Savala $0.8M; Perez $0.7M) $32.6M Bullpen (8) (Hendriks $15.0M*; Graveman $8.0M; Bummer $5.5M; Lambert $1.2M; Foster $0.8M^; Santos $0.7M; Alexy/Banks/Padilla $1.4M - Two) $14.5M Starters (4) (Cease $8.0M^; Kopech $4.5M^; Crochet $1.3M^; Stiever $0.7M) Injured Reserve/ Minor Leagues: Martin; Ramos; Rodriguez Note *: Can defer payments over several years and release. Note #: Anderson $1M team buyout option. Note^: Ballpark Arbitration Estimates for Vaughn; Crochet; Foster; Cease; Kopech. 2025: $35.1M Players (2 Players; 13 ML Minimum + 8 Arbitration Players): Benintendi $17.1M; Robert $15.0M; Eloy Buyout $3.0M. Minimum + (13): Alexy; Banks; Burger; Colas; Gonzalez; Martin; Padilla; Perez; Ramos; Rodriguez; Santos; Sosa; Stiever. ARB 1 (2): Sheets; Zavala. ARB 2 (4): Crochet; Foster; Lambert; Vaughn ARB 3 (2): Cease; Kopech.

People attributing the 2022 bad vibes to Tim with the ASG announcement perhaps should hear from the horse's mouth as to the change in vibes and manager year over year.

Over time it's crystal clear who is the better catcher and works better with Giolitio. A starter won't have his best stuff every start. Go post another 10,000 word post crying about it.

Hahn drafted two legitimate MLB starters over ten drafts, let one go with zero compensation. Let's see what if anything, he gets for the other. Rick Hahn (2013-2022) 17.6 T. Anderson (1 2013) - Starting SS 2023. 16.7 C. Rodon (1 2014) - 11.2 with the White Sox through 2021. Hahn declined QO. 3.8 A. Bummer (19 2014) - Set up reliever 2023. 3.1 A. Engel (19 2013) - Reserve OF post tanking. Released 2022. San Diego 2023. 2.3 N. Madrigal (1 2018) - 0.6 after 83 games, Traded for Kimbrel. 1.6 A. Vaughn (1 2020) - Starting 1B 2023. 1.4 C. Heuer (6 2018) - Traded for Kimbrel 0.0. 0.8 post trade with 2021 Cubs. 1.2 J. Burger (1 2017) - Possible starting DH effective May 2023. 1.2 D. Mendick (22 2015) - Reserve INF, Mets AAA in 2023. Released 2022. 1.0 I. Hamilton (11 2016) - Waived 2020, claimed by Seattle.

Nice to see Crochet take a second inning. That said, issues vs. LHS has so far worsened with Abreu gone, and Benintendi isn't helping much as they are fifth from last vs. RHP. Perhaps an actual hitter and RF like Conforto would have helped far better than Flea. Let's face it, a RH playoff rotation of Faedo, Gaddis, Hunter Brown and JP France likely beats the Sox 3 of 4. Sadly, they will be facing much tougher RHS if they make the playoffs. 2023 Batters vs. RHP 26th .682 and LHP 16th .736 OPS 2022 Batters vs. RHP 18th .698 and LHP 7th .767 OPS 2021 Batters vs. RHP 7th .758 and LHP 6th .775 OPS 2020 Batters vs. RHP 8th .779 and LHP 2nd .887 OPS

I've been patient, but this is definately a lost opportunity to keep this tied or at worst have two guys on tied. Someone should have been warming during / after the 3rd. It was clear Lucas was done and Dunn.

They need someone up, would be nice if Crochet can give two innings here and bridge to 7-9.

Herb Laurence is faster than Vaughn.

1. Jerry is gone. 2. We play Steam. 3, We play Marley.

0 Runs through Three. Romy and Tim come through on defense, Tim knocks in the lead run. Loving this team. I don't care if Clevinger gets back.

Thank you. Frazier is AAA, giving him a chance to catch on elsewhere. Perhaps he can field better than Sheets, but neither should be regular starting options in the OF. Seby got him. and Cease, and Kopech. Grandal has yesteryear fWAR. Yes. Tim appears to be on the road to being Tim again. Really need his contributions to keep the winning going beyond the AL Central teams.

He'd fit right in with Hahn's collection of four AAA Infielders (Alberto, Sosa, Gonzalez, Andrus). Madrigal remains 2,829 hits away from 3,000.

I’m glad the Sox appear to have a better manager to lineup against Hinch this season. The Tigers were really motivated and ready to take on the Sox regardless of their lack of talent, and took away a lot of close games. Sox have been beating teams thry should, so hope they keep the line moving. 2020 Chicago (.583) 9 Detroit (.397) 1 1-2 Run Games: White Sox 3-0 2021 Chicago (.574) 12 Detroit (.463) 7 1-2 Run Games: White Sox 5-4 2022: Chicago (.500) 12 Detroit (.389) 7 1-2 Run Games: White Sox 5-4

Whether the Sox will retain the same payroll or significantly lower it, it is prudent to budget say $5-$6M tops and have two catchers who can support the staff as best as possible and hopefully hit .650+ OPS. Would be even more prudent to retain someone at the ML level who can actually work to develop catchers throughout the entire organization. They brought in Jerry Narron with Tony and perhaps he did make progress with Zavala and others throughout the organization, but he is no longer here (now with the Angels) and all we really heard about his work while here was his lineup card calligraphy. Even if he rather live in Southern California and only came here as a favor to Tony, it make a lot of sense to have someone in this role. Julio Mosquera currently serves as their minor league instructor, but he is not with the team in Chicago like Narron.

The Chicago Fire paid $65.5M to flee the suburbs and return to Soldier Field. People also discussed moving the Cubs to Schaumburg, though that was primarily for shake down leverage that failed. Can see the Sox moving to Nashville, San Antonio or Portlandia before they move to Bolingbrook.

This works for Executive Summaries. Perhaps Hahn will grasp the data if it reaches him, though I suspect he prefers Batting Average and Pitcher W/L Record as his two primary data points.

Tiny Middle Finger Avatar Guy posts a lot of nonsense and then cries when called out, including his obsessions about platooning DHs and other bad roster and prospect management ideas, many of which are consistent how Hahn operates. Stone can be an arrogant ass like some posters here, but he is 100% on point when he has states he prefers his catchers to be able to catch. Most including Stone would also like a catcher who prepared for opponents and had a clue about pitch calling and game management. Below are stats over their White Sox Careers. Solid defensive and pitch calling catchers such as McCann and McGwire were also far superior to Grandal when it comes to handling pitchers with breaking balls and managing a ballgame. Lynn is fine with Grandal because there is no thinking required, and nearly every pitch is catchable by Grandal, and Clevinger is stuck with him because Zavala isn't catching four games out of five. Keep in mind, Zavala isn't known as a Gold Glove Catcher, but unlike Grandal he is an actual MLB capable defensive catcher and game caller in the year 2023. Catcher is the one position where you should prioritize defensive and pitch calling over hitting needs. Grandal also played DH / 1B in prior years, but considering the fact half the decent hitters on the current team are also DH/1B only types (Sheets, Frazier, Eloy, Vaughn, Burger) no at bats are available. Sample Size 170 Games (or just under 6 Full MLB SP Seasons) Green = Best Current Option Red = Worst Current Option Lucas Giolito - Definitely prefers anyone besides Grandal. Grandal: 30 G 4.45 ERA .731 OBP Zavala: 25 G 3.67 ERA .677 OBP Michael Kopech - Definitely makes sense to continue to ride the Zavala/Kopech streak as long as it is working. Grandal: 28 G 4.14 ERA .744 OPS Zavala: 21 G 4.88 ERA .725 OPS - Doesn't include Kopech/Savala 0 ER 7 IP from yesterday - Both Stats will lower Dylan Cease - Cease clearly is pitching better over a season plus worth of starts with Zavala. Grandal: 41 G 4.44 ERA .729 OPS Zavala: 25 G 2.06 ERA .546 OPS

This is a possibility, but I truly believe only one and perhaps zero AL Central teams will win more than 78 games this season, meaning if the Sox win 79, I don't see another team finishing ahead of them, The wild card would be if one of the teams actually stepped up and significantly improved their roster before the trade deadline, with Detroit the most likely based on their owner, and Minnesota and Chicago being longer shots with this scenario. This is how I always approached sports. Nearly every player competes and tries the best they can within their abilities. FO has similar wants, but unlike players, FOs can go on far longer than the finite terms players are subject. Ownership is supposed to serve as proper stewards for the team and community, but over the past 40-50 years seem to be mere grifters leaching off of society as a whole between billions in taxpayer stadium shakedowns and living off of cable / pay television revenue which over 90% of the public isn't even interest in, but are stuck paying since cable and satellite are not ala carte. The later is definitely suffering a slow death, hopefully the former does as well. The Sox needed a LH power hitter and RF is the harder of the two corner spots to fill, so Conforto made a hell of a lot more sense than Benintendi. Much easier for the cornucopia of Sox DHs to fill LF than RF. Oscar Colas is in his Age 24 season with only 7 AAA games under his belt, so it was idiotic and irresponsible by Hahn to assume he could be a starter on Opening Day. Sosa is in his Age 23 season with only 57 AAA games under his belt, and not even the foreign experience Colas had, so this was even more irresponsible and put Sosa in a position to fail and stunt his development. Romy Gonzalez is in his Age 26 season, so it's reasonable to put him in a sink or swim situation as a backup, and he plays defense good enough to cover several positions which is what they needed after cutting Leury.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2023/5/2/23708762/whenever-jerry-reinsdorf-speaks-white-sox-fans-are-going-to-listen May 1, 2023 No Jerry, fans aren’t interested in your 10th place NBA play-in birth or 7th place AL Wild Card carrots. Fans want a team that has a solid roster and coaching staff able to legitimately compete for championships. You know, like the MJ Bulls teams you and Krause were so eager to tear down to prove that Jerry Reinsdorf organizations, not GOAT players like Michael Jeffery Jordan, who literally laughed and dunked on your ass on Last Dance, win Championships.

@tray has valid points beyond ownership. Jerry told just about everyone in MLB who clever he was targeting second place over 40 years, including those attending the sports ownership seminar he participated in a few weeks ago. Sure he gave Hahn and Tony a few dimes to play with at the candy store the past two years, but completely nickel and dimed the scouts, analytics, minor league players including unnecessary jab mandates and slumlord living and eating conditions, and the shameful dumping of international slot money to save a couple hundred grand here and there. Abd of course cancelling the one other best chance at a WS in 1994 to “crush the union”.

Been a jazz fan since I was two.

Grandal can catch Lynn, a primary FB pitcher, but has problems handling breaking balls and game calling. I fear Hahn will sign Grandal this offseason for another few years at say $10M-$12M a year, when the priority should be to have two lower cost catchers that can catch and game call, and use resources to fill 2B and if Colas is still not ready later this year, a RF.

Work Burger at 1B so he can get comfortable there, a natural position in terms of his body and health. You do something like this (or move Tim/Yoan/Others) during the offseason, so a player has 6 months to work independently through Spring Training. SS Tim Anderson (R) LF Andrew Benintendi (L) CF Luis Robert Junior (R) RF Eloy Jimenez (R) 3B Yoan Moncada (S) DH Jake Burger (R) (3rd Base Backup) C Yasmani Grandal (S) (Prefer he only catches 2 of 5, but will likely take 3 of 5) 1B Andrew Vaughn (R) (Zavala 8th, Vaughn 7th) 2B Romy Gonzalez (R) Reserves: Catcher, 2B/SS Andrus (R), DH/1B/RF Sheets (L), OF/PR Hamilton (R). AAA: Alberto, Frazier, Haseley.

Seby should be paired with the three top pitchers the rest of the season. Grandal can handle Lynn and the 5th starter. There is a reason the White Sox are only two games over .500 (versus 21 overall) in games Grandal has played his entire White Sox career. 2023 Splits: Kopech: Zavala .636 OPS 3.34 ERA vs. Grandal .993 OPS 6.97 ERA - Doesn't include Zavala start today. Giolito: Zavala .634 OPS 2.75 ERA vs. Grandal 1.435 OPS 15.75 ERA Cease: Zavala .684 OPS 3.22 ERA vs. Grandal .740 OPS 5.45 ERA