CaliSoxFanViaSWside

Si day game , tune in if you can.

That's very sweet .

What do you owe him ?

Keuchel's best game of the year ! Mendick a big hit and help from TB defense. Engel HR now with 3 in a short period of time !

Sure why not ? Make him part of Team Hamstring . But it all depend on what JR is willing to do. Still need a backend RH relief pitcher and 2 of those would be good too. Or 1 and a long guy .

I wouldn't mind it happening just because his HR power is good but I wouldn't call it perfect since he's better against LHP like the rest of the team. But he does still provide power against RHP. Better to get him than not get him if you can't find or get a more balanced player like Starling Marte . Get both and that's perfect.

Very Doubtful. Sox arms held them down but they erupted like a volcano against Boston after us. Some good lefty bats with some pop and a couple of relief arms and this team is good to go. Oh and Be very very careful with Rodon.

Yes he needs to keep playing but only against LHP and maybe the same can be said for Mercedes. I see so much support for Vaughn and it doesn't add up. I mean we want to win don't we ? Vaughn against RHP: 112 AB .188 BA .248 OBP .250 Slg. .498 OPs . Billy Hamilton against RHP: 44 AB, .182 BA, .213 OBP ,.273 Slg ,485 OPS and Hamilton sucks against RHP. He should hardly ever play against RHP but he has a great glove and can contribute on the bases so he brings more things to the table than Vaughn even against RHP . Yet all I constantly see is Vaughn should keep playing. Give me one good reason why. Against RHP he doesn't contribute anything hitting,defensively or on the bases. If it was any other player everyone would be calling for his head. Sure he's a top draft pick. But the lineup has to be stronger against RHP in all facets of the game to get to where we all want to go. Edit: sorry got Hamiltons stats wrong.

It's more important than ever now to mix and match. Like against Tampa Bay in the first game TLR should've been mixing and matching, Meadows is RH and their BP is all RH except for 1 guy. I don't care about personal opinions about Collins or Lamb. When the Sox can face a RHP they need to be in even over Mercedes and Vaughn I still see so many here saying Vaughn has to play every day. No he doesn't, he has proven he hit's LHP at this point in his career. His numbers are putrid against RHP. Terrible, disgusting even. If you truly want to win games, just as you don't want other bad hitting players in the game you shouldn't want Vaughn in the game either against RHP. Vaughn isn't good enough defensively or fast enough to justify a spot in the lineup against RHP. He doesn't bring a damn thing to the table. Hamilton is more valuable against RHP than Vaughn is. Open your eyes and stop blindly supporting Vaughn. He may become a very good player but it isn't now. Btw way Bama Doc this isn't directed at you maybe except for the 1st paragraph. You are one of my favorite posters.

Perfect example was tonight game against TB . LaRussa elected not to play Lamb and Collins against RHP and the predominantly RH BP of TB while TB over loaded it's lineup with LHH against Lynn. TLR couldn't even be bothered to pinch hit for any one. Result: 2 LHP power hitters hit HR's for Tampa Bay and the Sox middle of the lineup (hitters 3 through 7) went 0 for 18.

Leury also gets bashed a lot about his baseball IQ but in tonight's game against TB he hit a double took 3rd on a fly ball by Mendick and scored a run on a wild pitch that probably most of our players do not score on. He got a big secondary lead off third and made a split second decision to go home once the ball was in the dirt and bounced away from Zunino. He was really surprising how fast he got home and was easily safe. His speed, versatility, switch hitting and his OF defense all help win games. The same can be said for ( except for switch hitting) Hamilton. Until Eloy and Robert come back I suspect both will be around until then or the trade deadline.

There's no need for any of that until Eloy and Robert come back. So you just keep reassessing their time on the roster until such time either at the trade deadline or when Eloy and Robert return you are forced to make decisions. Lot's of guys get cold at different times especially guys like Mercedes and Vaughn who haven't had much time facing MLB pitching. Others like Eaton maybe get cold because of nagging injuries. All 3 may survive Eloy and Robert coming back depending on their future play . Between Eaton, Vaughn, Lamb, Leury, Hamilton, Engel and Goodwin some will see a lot less playing time and some won't survive the coming roster crunch in the OF. I don't know how likely it is any of them get traded but between them and the minor league OF's ( Rutherford, Gonzalez and Adolfo) we have a ton of OF's to be rid of one way or another.

Turned a very nice unassisted DP and got a hit tonight when our 3 through 7 batters and our other RHH's looked like dog shit.

Crochet will be BP only and the Sox recently announced they will use him now for some 2 inning stints. Maybe by the end of the year they move him up to some 3 innings stints. My personal opinion is if the Sox get 70 healthy innings this season and perhaps 80 counting the playoffs that would be great. More than that might be pushing the envelop a bit . He's around 22 so far counting tonight so my guess, if healthy, he gets to 65 but if Fry comes back and Crochet has one of those phantom injuries it may not be that many. I don't think there's any way he gets over 80 including the playoffs but I'm not managing his health and IP so I don't really know what they have in mind. I'm erring on the side of caution while I think your guess is throwing caution to the wind.

And their BP , defense and talent evaluators. Any time you have a good team like the Rays with RHP who throw good sliders they will beat the Sox without more LH bats in the lineup. The difference tonight is TB loaded up on LH tonight to face Lynn and they have 2 LHH who hit for power in Meadows and Lowe. Batters 3 through 7 for the Sox went 0 for 18. Yermin Mercedes and Vaughn all couldn't hit sliders. Perhaps Mercedes,Eaton and Vaughn shouldn't have played and been replaced by Collins, Engel and Lamb. I'm surprised none were used to PH to at least put some pressure on the TB RHP.

Keuchel also has had 2 short seasons in a row prior to this one. 2019 signed very late with Atlanta and 2020 Covid. The pitching dynamic changes in a hurry If Rodon is removed from the playoff equation.

Due to financial constraints, TB has practically written the book on how to manage a pitching staff . They have started 11 different pitchers this year while the Sox have started 7. Their top 5 starting pitchers have started 50 games while the Sox SP have started 61. The Rays also believe 2 times through the batting order is enough for starting pitchers and that's another way they limit starters load and rely heavily on their BP. They have a much deeper farm and pitching depth which allows them to mix and match . They have a deeper BP and recently traded Adames because they had Wall and Franco in the wings . One of the guys they got was Feyereisen who has been great for them since acquired and shut down the Sox for 2 innings tonight. They play the best defense in baseball and never overlook defense when looking for players to acquire. All these things haven't won them a World Series but it works great for the regular season as long as the talent evaluators eyes keep working. Despite the low budget and not great draft position they still somehow manage to identify and develop talent through pitching ,hitting and defense and do not hesitate to rid themselves of talent when it gets expensive or is necessitated by up and coming farm hands The Sox are overly reliant on their SP . Their BP is nowhere near as good or deep as TB. The Sox must start curbing their SP innings or they will either be unable to pitch or very tired for the playoffs. This means at least 2 BP arms who can pitch well .Fry may be back soon and this will help some with the depth but a guy just like Freyeresien would be tremendous. I'm not very worried about Lynn or Giolito but I am definitely worried about Rodon ,Kopech, Cease, Crochet and Keuchel running out of gas. They all will be needed to to contribute to winning playoff games if the Sox can get passed the 1st round.

I would feel more convinced if you could tell me what other playoff caliber teams have 3 of their best pitchers ( Rodon Kopech and Crochet) with as little time pitching in MLB in the last 2 years as them. I already said the long season after the short season would cause problems league wide but I am talking about how it affects a team with World Series aspirations not pretenders to that particular goal. The longer the season goes the bigger the problem gets. I gave you specifics that one team has and you gave me generalities . As of this moment Rodon is one of the best pitchers in the league who has already passed his combined innings pitched for the last 2 seasons and we are still 100 miles away from our 162 mile trip and after that trip is another one with uphill grueling miles.

Balanced lineup. pitching and defense, great talent evaluation.

I wouldn't call their lineup garbage. They win the way a lot of good teams win, pitching defense ( especially in the OF ) and just enough power. They have out homered the Sox by 13 and 17 more Total bases. It's probably equal or better then the Sox offense considering the Rays face better pitching in the AL East than we do in the Central.

Power rankings: https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-power-rankings-after-week-10 1. Rays (1 last week) The Rays lost one game last week after taking over the top spot, so it’s no surprise they’re back there again. Tampa Bay has won 23 of its past 28 dating back to May 13, outscoring opponents by 86 runs during that stretch. They lead the tough American League East division by three games, and their bullpen leads the AL with a 3.08 ERA, including a 1.59 mark in the past 17 games. 3. White Sox (2) The White Sox have won 15 of their past 20 games, while their starting pitchers are 11-4 with a 2.85 ERA during that stretch. Carlos Rodón, who carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning vs. the Tigers on Sunday, has a 1.89 ERA this season. It’s second lowest in the AL, behind only teammate Lance Lynn (1.23). Also, entering Sunday’s outing, opponents were hitting just .044 off Rodón’s slider.

Like it or not more power , speed and defense among the starters will help . They don't have to carry anything , just do better than the people you are replacing. I think Eloy can be better than Vaughn, Lamb, Goodwinin LF at least offensively and Robert can be better than Engel Leury Hamilton, Goodwin. Then you have to pick among Vaughn Engel, Eaton Leury , Goodwin and Hamilton to be decent for RF and defensive replacements for Eloy or Eloy only DH's and you figure out what to do with Mercedes and then decide who plays LF and RF among Engel , Vaughn, Eaton , Goodwin Hamilton and Leury. Either way the guys lowest on the depth chart will be jettisoned eventually resulting in a stronger team. At this point I have no idea who will be DFA or sent back to the minor or picked up at the TDL but the team will be better and perhaps much better. Pitching is the other story and I'm less optimistic about that than I am the lineup.

Starling Marte for the Of and Escobar for 2nd base would be temporary since they will be Free Agents at the end of 2021. I don't expect to get both but one of them, probably Escobar, is attainable.

This is from a Sun-Times article in March: Monitoring workloads, pitch counts and health in a full season after last season’s abbreviated 60-game slate is priority No. 1 for first-year pitching coach Ethan Katz. He likes what he has seen from Rodon this spring, and it started in the training room during the offseason. “We really put together a customized program for him,” Katz told the Chicago Sun-Times. “He’s really enjoying it from the work, delivery standpoint, in the training room, with the medical staff, strength coaches, to upping his intensity mentally in bullpens. “We’re challenging him, and he’s been really receptive to everything. It’s working well for him and showing up in his outings. We’re trying to give him different outlooks of what he might have been in the past, how we can help him stay healthy and stay on the field.” As far as what I have been talking about in many posts among different threads the post you quoted says it all. How in the world can anyone expect Rodon to pitch over 150 innings when he has pitched 42 combined innings in the last 2 years. Did you see all the innings pitched for all the guys in the last full season World Series I listed in 2019 ? 7 of the 9 starters pitched 184 + innings. It would be a pitching miracle 1. If Rodon stays healthy. 2. He can pitch that many innings and , 3. If he can pitch over 150 inning at the same effectiveness or close to it as he is now.

This group without Eloy , Robert and Madrigal or this group with them (assume Eloy and Robert come back and get to full strength by the playoffs and Madrigal is done for the year) and TDL guys ?