CaliSoxFanViaSWside

Do you know anything about baseball ? You are citing stats from a few games ? Yes Williams hasn't hit in 2 whole games and Vaughn hasn't done anything against RHP in a few games. Tell me again what has he done to deserve to play . Don't tell me about what a great hitter he was in college. Don't tell me about his great minor league stats at the high levels of the minors because you can't. He isn't a great defender. He isn't a speedy runner .Right now there is no reason to play him against anything but LHP if winning means anything to you. But apparently it doesn't when you choose to gripe about Vaughn not playing in a game the Sox won. Last night was a great win . Try happiness.

DIdn't the pitcher walk 2 guys and then Moncada got a hit and Mercedes is supposed to swing at the 1st pitch when he is usually a good hitter with 2 strikes? If he didnt swing at the 1st pitch it's because you want to make the pitcher throw a 1st pitch strike after some walks and bases loaded to put the pressure on him. The pitch he K'd on was a total fluke. Catcher set up outside , pitch was supposed to be outside, Yermin was looking outside. The pitcher had the pitch get away from him so instead of low and away he got it up and in. His approach was sound just like he has shown it to be in just about every one of his plate appearances. I wouldn't call it pathetic at all . A lot of the other ones have been pathetic but not his. I also wouldn't say he is normally aggressive on the 1st pitch. He is aggressive on his 1st swing .

No he shouldn't but the minor league season hasn't started yet so give him some favorable matchups and keep his confidence level up. Let him prove he belongs up here instead of us fans looking at his pedigree and expecting him to do well instantly or thinking he is better than playing a LHH over him who has already had 900 semi productive AB's in MLB and also wanting so badly to imagine he's a left fielder while bitching about the over all team defense. It's not complicated at all. People are using their imagination on him instead of their eyes. People were proclaiming him an adequate LF before even seeing him for more than a few games without having seen him going to his right or having more than a few flyballs to chase after. SSS for OBP you used so if we are going to do that its .000 BA and .200 OBP against RHP for Vaughn.

Let him get experience in the minors That's where everyone else gets it. You don't just throw him to the wolves or throw him in the deep end of the pool. Right now scrubs are better than him.

Where the heck is Engel anyway ? His 10 day stint on the IL is over.

Conversely I don't see how you can come up with a compelling argument that Vaughn helps you win a ball game more than Williams against RHP. Everything atm is a SSS but Vaughn has looked better against LHP 0-8 against RHP , 2-6 against LHP. Williams 0-4 against RHP. Between the 2 of them it's 0-12 vs. RHP. I'd rather play the matchup and hope Williams is better defensively which I am not entirely sure is true.

The team ISO is 18th in MLB (.148 )and last in the division so worse than KC,Detroit and Cleveland but the Yankees and A's have been a lot worse. Sox are 23rd in % of hits for extra bases . Errors per game the Sox average 1 which is the worst in baseball and they are also near the bottom in turning double plays. Too many extra outs are being given by the defense. 4.99 Bullpen ERA but it's really the late inning guys , our expected best guys not getting the job done. Kopech and Crochet have been great keeping it close through the middle innings. But outside of them when Ruiz is the only other one being good it get's tough.

1. Sox .354 2. Astros .345 3. Twins .341 Walks per game AL: 1. Sox 5.56 2. Yankees 4.22 3. Cleveland 4.12

The OBP will not stay where it is just as the hitting shouldn't stay where it is. The team is 1st in the AL in OBP . Some other teams are not slugging well either . As you mentioned the Yankees, the A's are abysmal, Toronto, Cardinals, Brewers , Mets and Cubs are all below the Sox. The Sox are 28th in MLB in number of men left on base per game. That's not necessarily a bad thing because the Dodgers are 29th but unlike the Dodgers the Sox don't have as many productive hitters driving them in since the Dodgers are 4th in slugging and the Sox 15th.

I swear if there was a stat about executing with a man on 3rd with less than 2 outs the Sox would have to be last in baseball. I think they have K'd like 90 % of the time in that situation and the other times popped up , the exact 2 things you least want to see in that situation.

I didn't participate in the game thread yesterday. But when Eaton pinch hit for Vaughn I was imagining all the whining going on. For some reason Vaughn is getting cut a tremendous amount of slack. I did check on the game thread to make sure I was right and sure enough there was a lot of bitching about it. I don't get it. What made anyone think that from a win/loss perspective that wasn't the right move ? You take out the struggling rookie with very little pro baseball experience who is RH out against a RHP and replace him with an established experienced veteran LH hitter.

No need to think outside the box.. That's just another way of saying I'm a clueless fan. Cease has to pitch. Everyone has a few extra days of rest . It's a long season after a short season. Cease is going to be in the rotation and he needs his time to make the adjustments that Katz gave him in actual games. That takes repetition until it becomes second nature, not skipping starts.

But Engel might be and he should be back very soon.

Brent Lillibridge ! 2011 age 27 hit 13 HR's in 186 AB's ,slugged .505 and became a Soxtalk legend with 2 catches in RF against the Yankees in the 9th with a runner on 2nd base to preserve a Sox win. He also hit the 10,000 HR in White Sox history that same year.

God I hope we don't have a lot of off days .

As far as position player depth has gone Yermin , Collins, Mendick, Hamilton have done well while Leury and Vaughn have not but the OBP for Vaughn has been fine. Lamb and Williams got a few AB's each. The good has far outweighed the bad so far but the Sox still need Engel and Anderson back asap. Kind of strange we haven't heard any updates on Engel at all. He has to be back soon wouldn't you think ? March 21st he was injured and we heard a few weeks but then on 4/1 the Sox put him on the 10 day IL so that means April 10 or 11th depending if the 10 days started April 1 or the day after. Could be he's activated for tomorrows game .

I think you should set an over and under on some basic hitting categories like batting average , OBP, SLG. like .300. 400. 500c( as an example) and each side picks the over or under , you can set up an odd amount of categories. I used 3 so that whoever picks right in 2 of the 3 categories wins. The hard part will be setting the over and under at something you both can agree on and then actually choosing opposing views. Maybe you can pick 5 categories for the over and under and when you can agree on whats a good line for 3 of them use those 3. Set a date when the bet concludes such as the end of the season and have a minimum amount of AB set . All bets are off if those AB's are not met. @ron883 and @joesaiditstrue DM me and we can work on it . Let's start off with the number of Ab's required ? How does 350 sound for the whole season to you? Then each of you message me about what you think an expected range of BA, OBO and SLG will be for those 350 AB's. such as BA .250-.275, .260-285, .270- 295, .280 -.305 . Keep the range .025 apart. But also give me a final number such as . 275 .Do the same thing with OBP and SLG. Give me your best guess in each category . I will then select some number between both your numbers for each category to try to establish an over and under you can both agree on. If this proves too difficult work it out amongst yourselves and let us all know so we can play along.

But what if he starts chewing tobacco ?

Discipline problems according to a few posts above. That means showing up late for something usually more than once or violating curfew or other team rules.

That's some old school pitching . NIce B2B bombas by the YM's , Yo and Yermie.

That rivals the 487 Robert hit in the playoffs last October.

Not if 3/4 of the starting pitching you face is RH and if the pitching isn't as good as anticipated. Then you miss the playoffs even if it's just the "elite" bullpen becoming an average one.

Very small sample size . Besides my only argument is it's Ok for a game because Keller got belted around by lefties in his one start. I thought it might be 50/50 on who got the start at DH since Collins is LH also. I agree with everything you said but we really need a win in our home opener and the Sox have to get a W against a RH starter. You can send Williams back to the minors for all I care if he doesn't provide a lift in his opportunities.

Holy shit he's a rookie with one year in A ball and you who hasn't proved he can play a legitimate LF or hit MLB pitching . That's so much better of an argument. Plus I gave you better arguments and didn't even bring up with Vaughn has done against RHP so maybe you should just stick with staying on point. 1st you didn't think it was a legit spot to start Williams and clearly it is and now you're going with some argument you think I made about how he's hit against RHP. You're all over the place.

Of course but it's Mercedes who took advantage of the opportunity given to him. That might have something to do with his experience from his time in the minors.