CaliSoxFanViaSWside

The longer it takes the higher it goes even with a bunch of guys unsigned. Most of them are RH and no strong connection to the Sox reported yet.

Monday Monday. Can't trust that day.

If you assume the veteran relievers are more likely to be better than the group of young arms from last year. There's improvement in the pen. The starting pitching takes a big hit with Rodon gone and instead of Keuchel coming off a very good year he's coming off a crap year. The Cease improvement last year is a plus. Lynn is older and how well Kopech does in a limited starting role is anybody's guess. Giolito seems to be worthy of being a solid high end constant. Starting pitching worse. Since Eloy was hurt in ST and spring training has yet to start so a healthy Eloy finally getting in a full season could be a massive upgrade. Let's say Moncada is the equivalent of Giolito in his role so status quo there. Abreu is older. Harrison providing as much as Madrigal did in his short stint before injury seems unlikely but call it a wash or a negative. Robert could potentially reach superstar status if he can avoid injury . Looking forward to Vaughns 2nd year and also Sheets but no idea how they use them both but the chance of a very nice upgrade there. Grandal older . Uncertainty in RF and lack of so far addressing the need for LH power is a major drawback I'd give the offense a slight upgrade with the chance of it getting much better. Defense looking the same . Overall payroll higher but I'd say we have the potential to be much better but as it stands right now maybe even a slight downgrade from last year because it's really hard to replace Rodon's production ,Keuchel coming off a bad year and Lynn aging and the uncertainty of an improvement in LH power.

It's necessary to get around. A team bus crash can do the same thing to a lot of players at once. But driving a car is not considered a hobby or dangerous extracurricular activity.

If that's a serious question then yes especially one with his tools that @hi8is was so gracious to supply. He'll get all the time he needs to put those tools to good use and make adjustments accordingly. Plus he will continue to play baseball on a regular basis and adjust to the states at a young age unlike guys like Cespedes , Yolbert Sanchez and Colas.

LOI thought it was Ichiro, ok I stand corrected.

I think a lot of FA signing correlate with others. One less LH OF on the market. He got $70M and 5 years without any MLB experience. Boras knows all these things and that's why he waits on his high priced clients. He let's the market dry up for the skillset he is selling and adjusts accordingly.

Conforto's price just got higher if true. LOl damn it why do I keep clicking on the Suzuki signing tweet and then I get the Passan tweet when I post it ?

crap quoted the wrong tweet.

For a team lacking in LH power and doing nothing to address that situation so far Gavin becomes more and more important every day and unfortunate as it may be it's going to come at Vaughns expense. No one is saying he is the second coming but for the White Sox playoff games Gavin had the most total bases with the 8th amount of plate appearances. It wasn't Eloy , Vaughn, Moncada, Grandal or Robert. He did well in a pressure situation that is something that Palka never did . Large amounts of Total bases coming from doubles and HR's in a high pressure situation is what drives winners through the playoffs. You can continue to minimalize the importance of LH power and Gavin Sheets or you can hope he gets enough AB's at DH to prove he is as capable as he showed last year. I choose the latter without thinking he is the 2nd coming but through careful analysis that the article I linked showed.

Maybe $3M is their lucky number. Isn't that what Rodon signed for ?

https://art19.com/shows/white-sox-podcast Liam on why the Sox will be one the most hated team in baseball

9 minutes on Liam last night on the MLB Network https://www.mlb.com/video/liam-hendriks-on-ramping-up-2022

Despite the results so far on the RF situation and me being one of the biggest skeptics I'd like to re-emphasize the importance of more LHP power added to the lineup. Guess who led the Sox in total bases in the playoffs despite being 8th in plate appearances ? None other than Gavin Sheets. This a dude who had none of the hype of Moncada, Robert, Jimenez, Abreu ,Vaughn and really wasn't counted on to provide much of anything during a competitive window since his path to the lineup and remaining in the lineup or even on the team is questionable. This is exactly why the Sox need to get more LH, in all aspects of the lineup and power.

The author of the article I linked has 2 Degrees with one of them Applied Mathematics. He analyzed him 6 ways using Sabermetrics , Chase Rate, Whiff Rate, Quality of Contact, Ground Ball Percentage, Plate Discipline and Mechanical Changes. He then went into Defensive Shortcomings and Team Fit and a Final Verdict. He was very fair. He didn't use a term like cherry picked because as a RHB you have automatic built in advantage when the majority of pitchers are Righthanded and the advantage of bad pitching staffs against bad teams just like the rest of the hitters do. The crazy thing is with 290 more plate appearances and his lack of defense earned Vaughn a .3 fWAR. Gavin had a .4 just for the record. They are both 1st basemen playing the OF .If SHeets was in LF the majority of the time like Vaughn was he probably does just the same defensively. Gavin led the Sox in Total bases in the playoffs despite being only 8th in plate appearances. That's what power hitting lefties facing playoff pitching can do and what the Sox are failing to address ATM.

Ok I'll be that guy. Isn't a great post worth a like ?

https://www.soxon35th.com/what-to-make-of-gavin-sheets-heading-into-2022/ This should help anyone who wants to get a good analysis of Sheets. It's pretty positive on him as a hitter on both his walk and K rate, his ability to go oppo, the way he made adjustments . Not once do you see the writer talk about cherry picked AB's. The fact is , as it was for most Sox players , that they played a lot of bad teams with bad pitching. If you are a left handed power hitter you have to put the ball in the air and Sheets has worked hard on that throughout his minor league career. Sheets also said Grandal was the most helpful to him. That's not a bad mentor. Take pitches , wait for your pitch, hit it in the air ,hit HRs and you will be fine. As the shortened signing period goes on. His fielding left a lot to be desired in right but what if he had started in LF like Vaughn got to do? RF is a more difficult position and even after getting a lot of OF time in LF Vaughn didn't easily transition to RF either. Sheets did most of his damage as a DH. According to the recent Soxtalk poll many are not expecting the Sox to fill the RF hole with a big LH bat. If they don't then Sheets presence in the lineup is a must until he proves he doesn't belong there . But what if he just keep getting better and proves he can hit 30+ HR's from the left side in his 1st full season. The Sox have had so many injuries that we have never got 30 HR's from Moncada or Robert and only 1 from Eloy . What if this is the year we can get 30+ from all of them ? Sheets was on a pace for 30+ HR's if he got 500 ABs It's really difficult to separate Sheets from Vaughn in the Sox equation. I don't think the Sox want to get rid of either one of them but no one wants Vaughn to become the weak side of a DH platoon and no one wants either one of them playing RF. If you are the super fan of Vaughn it's difficult to praise Sheets because if the Sox keep both, you absolutely have to give him AB's which takes away Vaughn AB's.

https://fb.watch/bKtU93aG3D/

Somebody has to play catcher for them since they trade 2 of them.

He's just paving the way for Kevin Keirmaier trade to the Sox .

They have to field a decent enough team to keep the fans interested. Might be just the Minnesota way of rebuilding .Maybe looking to be competitive next year. The Sox could start falling off if Lynn's back gets bad . Kopech struggles, Giolito has a down year and Cease struggles to keep moving forward.

They're rebuilding .Out with the old big contracts get a smaller one back in Sanchez then dump his too. I mean if you can't live with a 1 yr. $7.5 M contract that's a rebuild.

My kind of trade !

oops

Nope all righties all the time. It isn't that hard.