CaliSoxFanViaSWside

I asked 6 questions 4 of which can be answered without another 4 weeks.

Can he be used as a defensive replacement ? Has he seen any time at 1st base yet ? Can he pinch run ? Does he have defensive versatility ? Has he out hit Mercedes or Collins. Has he played any minor league baseball against higher than A ?

There's no reason to extend him now. He'll go back to the minors the Sox will regain the year of control and Vaughn will gain some much needed experience against better competition than he's seen so far. Right now there are bigger fish to fry. Around here it used to be said the Sox ruined prospects by bring them up too early . Now if seems as if the fandom is clamoring for Vaughn to play and sign an extension when he's done nothing to earn either.

He may not be for long. I think any MLB AB's are better than the alternate site. He'll probably be back in the minors after May 1. When Engel comes back which should be soon maybe Vaughn is sent down then instead of Hamilton. Vaughn can't pinch run or be a defensive replacement .

How is it criminal when Mercedes and Collins are both outproducing him and he hasn't exactly proved he's a LF yet ?

It means he thinks he has a better chance to win with Williams in LF than Andrew or Mercedes or Collins at DH . And that Andrew doesn't have enough experience yet but he will play dependent on how he matches up with the opposing pitcher. Doesn't seem that difficult to understand.

You aren't wasting it if you get it back.

Well there's no place to send him down to now is there, once the minor league season starts he will get sent down if he doesn't hit. Just because he's on the 26 doesn't mean playing time should be automatic.

Sox already no wins against righties maybe another LH bat helps. He's had a chance to contribute already and he will get more or get sent down. I'm thinking of a W not my personal preference for a rookie in over his head so far. The Sox are getting plenty of walks we need some hits.

Some Cubs fans idea as a joke probably who remembers the HOF LFer in his heyday on WGN.

Sitting him isn't ridiculous. Maybe keeping him on the 26 is though. No reason to play him against a righty. Maybe Williams can provide something against the righty Keller.

It is rather odd not to see some of our best guys at talking a walk ( Vaughn, Moncada) not in there against a guy who struggles with control. With the weak hitting lineup need more walks to make every hit an RBI opportunity. Before the Abreu granny how many times did we strand guys in scoring position with less than 2 outs ?

And just for posterity, the granny Abreu hit was his 200th career HR.

I think any time anyone gets a hit and drives in a run is good. All hits go toward making someone a better player and all runs make a deficit harder to overcome and lopsided W's make us happier the team is hitting well. Empty RBI's is a bullshit term . Yes in close games they are more meaningful but generally some of the best players in the league are the guys who drive in the most runs. That's why they are put into the most situations to drive in runners in the middle of the order.

Why sad ? The trade is done and it's one game. Besides I wish him well. I don't care if it ends up he becomes a good pitcher. Lynn had about a 90 % chance of being better than Dunn this year even though I did argue at one point that it's possible they pitch equally this year . I generally liked the trade but I had wished it happened at the trade deadline in 2020. In general I'm opposed to trading youth for a one year rental. It's like broke Bill Veeck is the owner again.

http://virales.mobi/2020/05/22/la-esposa-del-dominicano-yermin-mercedes-que-muchos-envidaran/ I didn't translate this but check out his wife.

As of now he's pitched 2.1 innings in 5 games . You could say that will be normal or not but it basically equates to 74 innings over a full season without injury. Approx. 160 games divided by 5 games =32 x 2.33 innings =74.56

https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/white-sox-talk-podcast This is from today

Mercedes on being in the lineup for Opening Day in Chicago on Thursady: "I’m so excited," Mercedes said. "I want to see my fans over there on Opening Day in Chicago. I want everyone to talk to me. I want to see my people. I want to see the Yermín fans, the Yerminator fans. I’m so excited, I can’t wait." So he knows he is the "Yerminator" not the Muffin Man or anything else. It's official now.

Sometimes you see him get down 0-2 and just give the AB away by swinging at some slider not close to the zone. I think to myself Ok you are down 0-2, everybody knows this pitcher will go down and away again because that's how you got to 0-2. The pitcher would be foolish to challenge you yet he will still swing. Down 0-2 if you are going to K on 3 pitches then I'd rather see you take a pitch right down the middle because some pitcher decided to surprise you rather than a swing at a slider a foot outside which is what he's going to get 90% of the time in that situation. This is when I start to think the game is still too fast for him. I'd rather he takes more 1st pitches and establish that he will do that. Once that happens he's more likely to see 1st pitch fastballs and then he can start looking for it. If he's in swing mode from pitch 1 he's working against how teams strategize to pitch him. Make them change their strategy so you can see more pitches in the zone.

There was also another out he made at something like 114 MPH where the expected batting average on that velocity is .970

Trouble is when you spend most of your career A ball and lower it's because no one trusts you as a catcher and younger guys, higher draft picks keep getting looks over you. Once you finally hit AA because your hitting can no longer be ignored it becomes apparent that he needed to rise quickly because of his age. He's 28 now and hoping he can stick around and prove his worth. But if he does prove his worth, the smattering of people saying he should've got a shot earlier will only get louder. I'm just thankful he finally got a shot when I didn't think he ever would with the Sox.

https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/news/yermin-mercedes-has-another-three-hit-game

That sums it up nicely.