ChiSoxTrojan

Why? That's about what I expected. There's a lot of variance for this team based on health and the reliance on unproven players/rookies. They could be pretty good, but with a few injuries or guys not working out, things will go south in a hurry and they could be sellers at the deadline. Edit: Oh I misread this... I thought the projection was between 74 and 88 wins, not a 74-88 record. Yeah, that's way lower than I'd expect as a median outcome.

On the flip side, April is likely the healthiest the team is all season, and when healthy this is a good lineup. Yes, I know the past two Aprils they haven't been at full health, maybe this is the year they escape Spring Training without a major injury.

No, but they wouldn't have to lose Zavala if they brought in a vet on a minor league deal to keep in Charlotte. That would be good insurance in the (somewhat likely) event that Grandal has to miss some time.

Would you have preferred they did... nothing?

Boston DFA'ed him a couple days ago, so they needed to trade him. Not sure why they DFA'ed him, but the only explanation is that they need the 40-man spot for some reason.

Seems like an upgrade, basically at the cost of a spot on the 40 man.

Off topic and has nothing to do with his impending free agency, but since you brought up Giolito, earlier today I was looking at his splits from last year and noticed that his monthly ERAs in the second half were far worse than his monthly FIP numbers. He had a bad June (coinciding with the sticky stuff crackdown), but his second half FIP was 3.79 (ERA was 5.15). Here's the breakdown by month: Mar/Apr: 2.57 ERA, 3.11 FIP May: 4.13 ERA, 4.42 FIP June: 7.67 ERA, 6.00 FIP July: 5.00 ERA, 3.63 FIP Aug: 5.68 ERA, 3.74 FIP Sep/Oct: 3.48 ERA, 3.23 FIP Hopefully along with the reported changes to his offseason conditioning we get to see a nice bounce back.

AJ Alexy and Michael Pineda rumors don't do it for you?

Alberto probably couldn't replicate Andrus's production, but Sosa probably could. Case in point, here are the ZiPS projections: Andrus: .241/.292/.350 Sosa: .245/.286/.378 If Andrus would sign cheaply for the $2M figure that people are throwing out, then sure, he's useful to have as depth so JAGs like Alberto never see the roster. But he doesn't really add much over what we've got when everyone is healthy, and he'll take at bats away from guys who have more upside. I suspect he's looking for closer to $7M, and there are better ways to spend that money if it's available.

Your case for the under is like 3 times as long as your case for the over. Just saying.

I must have missed all the posts singing Hahn's praises all offseason.

I agree there aren't a lot of at bats to go around for Sheets, but at the same time I just don't think Alberto/Erik Gonzalez/etc. add anything as a backup infielder. All of them would likely be behind Leury in terms of guys I'd like to see in the lineup, and I don't want to see Leury in the lineup very often. I think Sheets would get 2 starts per week at 1B - Vaughn really hasn't proven yet that he needs to start every day - and 1 at DH while Eloy either takes a game off or plays the OF. Granted that Sheets at DH with Eloy in the OF would require sitting either Benintendi or Colas against RHP, since Sheets is worthless against LHP, so it's not an ideal arrangement. Sheets would also be the only power threat off the bench on days where he doesn't start. Agreed that this could all be solved if the Sox acquired someone who was worthy of that roster spot and had a useful role on the team (like a LH vet 2B), but this is where we are heading into February.

Leury was also playing hurt in the second half of the season. I think this season Leury will bounce back to his usual level of suck, not the horrific "worst player in baseball" suckage we witnessed last year. Going from a -1 WAR player to a +1 WAR player is as helpful as going from a 2 WAR to a 4 WAR.

Yes, the fact that he was a platoon guy for the Dodgers was my point. And since the other 2B options are all the same handedness, he doesn't fit as a platoon option. Mondou is left-handed with decent minor league numbers, he would make more sense as the backup 2B, but I have no idea if he can hit MLB pitching. Sheets at the very least would back up Vaughn at 1B - unless you want that role to fall completely to Grandal? Sheets's .785 career OPS against RHP is a lot better than .691 from Vaughn. I'm not advocating for a straight platoon at 1B (Vaughn needs to play and take the next step), but Sheets could take some of those at bats to give Vaughn a day off while gaining a platoon advantage.

I don't see the point of Alberto as a backup infielder with Romy as the starter. Both guys are terrible hitting RHP - Romy had a .508 OPS against RHP last year, Alberto .511. The Dodgers in fact hid Alberto from RHP last year - he had twice as many ABs against LHP than RHP. Leury can probably do better than a .511 OPS against RHP, and Leury also has historically been better hitting off lefties. If they have a backup infielder on the roster other than Leury, it needs to be someone who can hit righties. Yes I realize Romy is still young and can improve, but then what would be the point of Alberto? The same would go if Sosa beats out Romy at 2B. I definitely think Sheets would make the team over Alberto, even if he's limited to backup 1B/DH.

I assume you're referring to Mondou? Yes, he'll definitely get an invite. He's 27.

It's possibly that both Romy and Sosa are on the big league roster, but I'd bet on Sheets making it over one of them.

Charlotte is getting a bit crowded at middle infield. Presumably one of Romy/Sosa will be there, plus Mondou, Hanser Alberto, Erik Gonzalez, and Yolbert. Popeye hopefully isn't that far away as well.

I'm not advocating for the move, because as others have said, Lopez kinda sucks, but the idea behind acquiring a cheap LH infielder would be to serve as a quasi-platoon with Romy or Sosa, not to be the all-out starter. It might start out with one of the rookies (is Romy still considered a rookie?) strictly playing against LHP, but if they succeed, they would eat into Lopez's workload against RHP. If by the time the deadline rolls around one of the rookies looks like they can handle the spot full time, you get rid of Lopez. In that situation Leury moves to more of a 4th OF role, and Marisnick stays in Charlotte. Or Eloy gets more time in the OF. I'm confident in Sosa and Romy to hit LHP at the major league level, but I'm far less confident they can hit RHP.

Well the problem is that there are no actual prospects, but that was the problem yesterday as well. It's the reason the Sox system is ranked 28th in the league or whatever it is. But picking up AAA-level prospects off waivers and signing guys to minor league deals is the solution to that problem. Well if not a solution, then a temporary (and necessary) band-aid. I don't see why anyone could be upset by these moves, the team needs more of them.

Why are we getting upset by minor league signings? The Sox need the depth. The Charlotte roster is a wasteland.

His minor league numbers the past couple years are actually pretty decent. Left handed 2B with OPS over .800 the past 2 years in AAA. Gets on base, not a lot of power. Anyone know more about him, like his defense at 2B?

I agree the Sox need a couple more guys to fill out the rotation in Charlotte. Between the two, I think Alexy has more upside. I expect at least one veteran to be brought in on a minor-league deal as well, Pineda or someone like that, who doesn't even need to take up a 40-man spot.

You think he has more upside than Alexy? Sheffield is 27 years old and has had AAA ERAs of 6.99 and 8.64 the past two years. Alexy is 24 and had a 1.66 ERA as recently as 2021 before a bad year last year (5.91). Edit: just realized the 2021 ERA of 8.64 in AAA is misleading, only 8.1 innings. His ERA in Seattle was 6.83 though (80 innings).

For guys who are minor leaguers, with options remaining? Not really. If they had more upside, teams wouldn't be waiving them. The only thing he costs the Sox is a spot on the 40 man. Since the Sox don't seem intent on using those spots for major leaguers, they might as well bring in some minor leaguers who have had some success before and hope they recapture that potential.