CentralChamps21

If they're not willing to part with Goodwin or Lamb because they can't be sent down, and Eaton doesn't go on the IL, then Mercedes should be sent down before Vaughn.

Rosters don't expand anymore, so . . . never then?

Two really good points made on the pregame show yesterday: 1) Don't do this mid-season, do it during the off-season so pitchers have time to adjust 2) 10-game suspensions for pitchers when the Astros hitters never got suspended at all seems unfair.

Until Robert is back, Adam Engel needs to be in CF nearly every day. Yes, his offense vs RHP isn't great, but there aren't 9, or even close to 9, other guys whose offense vs RHP is great right now, and Engel provides elite defense at a premium position. Also, if the Sox meet the Rays in the postseason, Rodon and Keuchel need to be at the top of the rotation. Rays are the anti-Sox in that they're much stronger vs RHP than LHP.

Ump has somewhere to be.

White Sox have the most hits from the #9 spot in MLB = White Sox should have had their #9 hitter batting higher in the order.

Wouldn't hate him but would really be setting my sights higher. Any chance Toronto goes on a losing streak and makes Semien available?

Offensive dead weight comes in different forms. Adam Engel, Billy Hamilton, and yes, even Leury Garcia can be dead weight on offense and still provide a lot of value on defense. Andrew Vaughn provides very little defensive value and Yermin Mercedes provides pretty much zero defensive value.

Time to get the best lefty/switch bat we can get that plays 2nd base well. Give up a decent (but not top) prospect if you have to. Worry later about whether the guy you get blocks Madrigal when he gets back.

What I would expect to see tonight: Anderson 6, Grandal 2, Moncada 5, Abreu 3, Mercedes DH, Vaughn 7, Garcia 9, Engel 8, Mendick 4

I understand that, I'm just noting that right now, there aren't 9 guys who shouldn't be getting more bench time.

Their pitching is much better than what the Sox have faced. Yes, it was only one game but it lines up with what the data would expect.

Eloy has been on the IL the entire season Robert has been on the IL for all but the first month Engel was on the IL for the entire season up until last week Anderson spent time on the IL Billy Hamilton is on the IL Now Madrigal is on the IL Yes, there are a lot of guys not producing right now (Eaton, Vaughn, Yermin, Leury) and even starts like TA and Abreu are having sub-par seasons by their standards. The problem is, there have to be 9 guys in the lineup every day. We're going to have to suffer some bad hitters in the lineup a while longer. The pitching is good enough to beat bad and average teams despite the lineup. Tampa Bay is proving to be a different story.

I would think Lamb for Yermin is the obvious move.

I don't know why, but he's very cyclical. He'll go a month or so where he swings at every low breaking pitch, and then he gets to a point where he's taking the bad ones and hitting the hittable ones to RF, but it never lasts.

Looks like the Sox are figuring out that Glasnow's first pitch of the AB is his most hittable. Goes against their nature of trying to jack up a pitcher's pitch count, but they need to keep jumping on the first pitch.

Lynn's first start since the substance crackdown?

Tied for first is first.

Cubs and Mets are both first place teams. It's not like they picked Phillies-Dodgers.

When did Tony learn how to operate a letterpress? I thought he was still chiseling stone tablets.

Does it really throw the other guys off that much to get shifted to another spot in the order last minute?

OK, Yoan is sick, but 1) why is Lamb on the team if you're not willing to start him at 3B vs RHP? 2) even if you can't go with Lamb at 3B and have to go with Leury, isn't literally any other possible order better than having Leury bat 3rd?

Sox are 41-24 with 50 games left vs teams > .500 and 47 games left vs teams < .500. A really bad performance against the > .500 teams would be 20-30 (40%), yet that gets the Sox to 61 wins. Would only need to go 29-18 (62%) against the < .500 teams to get to 90 wins, which pretty much guarantees at least a WC spot, if not the division.

I'd rather see Rodon have fewer starts and be allowed to go deeper rather than be limited to 5 innings per start. He should be pushed back every time there's an off day, and Kopech should spot start for him during long stretches where there are no off days.

I checked BP, and man, they seem to be sticking hard to their preseason projections. Sox only 49.5% to win the division, and Twins still at 7.5%.