CaliSoxFanViaSWside

Had 2 televised games to choose from today. Both Sox wins. I watched the Sox /Padres game . Reylo looked pretty good.

People just like to get the early lead on declaring someones career over. Players who suck in spring might actually suck in season just as players who suck in spring might actually do great in season. For me its players who suck in spring will be great and players who do great in spring will be great. That way everybody will be great. That's what Spring is for. After all the Tigers are leading MLB in spring HR's.

Cuthbert and Mercedes tied for the spring lead with 3 HR each. Collins and Engel with 2 each. Collins leads with 8 walks and a .542 OBP and a 1.292 OPS Engel leads with 11RBI. Batting average Luis Gonzalez .438 followed by Engel and Robert .370 , Mazara .368 . Cuthbert .360 , Mercedes and Vaughn .350 . Mercedes leads with an .850 SLG. followed by Cuthbert .760, Collins .750 , Engel .667 , Robert .630, Vaughn .600 and Mazara .570 . All of the above have an OPS over 1.000 . As you can see there is not a regular besides Mazara in the bunch so if you take spring training stats seriously then our regulars are bad but our bench and prospects are really good, Right now I only take the good stuff seriously ! Our regulars are great and so is our bench and hitting prospects !

Trade him if they must for a low level prospect and international money, After all Sox might have the inside track on a few more guys but not have the IFA funds to get them.

Wouldn't it extra fun if Engel was the one to break out instead of Mazara in RF . Then we'd have defense and speed and hitting next to Robert, Who needs Betts ?

It's also why everyone shouldn't care who bats where in spring training. Get ready, have fun, stay healthy and relax. I don't care if Renteria pulls the lineup out of a hat. Maybe the whiners are also in spring training and just getting in practice for the regular season.

Did you notice the 3 , 4 and 5 hitters were Abreu, Grandal and Encarnacion ? Take the 1st letter of their last names in order of spot in the batting order and what does it spell ? A- G -E

We have seen Mercedes catch and most don't like it. But people remember the negative more. Mercedes has a lot of passed balls but then again people forget that so does Grandal. We don't yet know about his framing and I doubt we will know soon although I don't expect it to be good. In Grandals case it's always possible that passed ball total can come from trying to be too precise with framing, trying to gain an extra inch or 2 leading to a few extra balls deflecting off the glove rather than just reaching to get it. Mercedes has a strong arm and I saw him take a Madrigal relay throw that was a bit off target and dive across the plate to get the out. I do think if McCann is traded they still go with Collins as the backup.

Asking for proof is a bit far-fetched don't you think ? Short of " I love Jose and that the Sox gave him an extension and I love the Sox treating my Cuban brother with respect and dignity which has influenced me beyond most people's comprehension into signing to play more years for this wonderful organization " by Jimenez, (not Cuban) Robert and Moncada , how would one get any proof ? For the last year all we have heard is that there's no reason for guys with big signing bonuses ( Robert and Moncada) to sign extensions and in Moncada's case it's a great deal for the Sox. You can continue to ignore Jose's influence and chalk it up to Hahn or the extra money but Jose and the clubhouse culture created by Abreu and to some extend Renteria have played roles, perhaps even major roles. To deny it's existence or minimize it or expect it to be the "ultimate reason" just seems like a very hard line stance . I don't see this happening with any other club, 3 potential great players signing extensions while constantly praising a veteran player's influence as much as possible.

You should remember that last year could be a career year. Hopefully not . We're all thinking on the bright side that Yoan will continue to be a stud just like when a player is bad we expect them to keep being bad such as McCann. Or Mediocre like Mazara Why do you think everyone was clamoring for just about any RF besides Mazara ? It always hard to imagine players being anything but what we have seen in the past.

Latin X . Little Lupe is a porn star.

https://art19.com/shows/white-sox-podcast/episodes/0153785e-1a83-449c-a2b1-dab9e8263a3c Chuck Garfien's Yermin Mercedes Appreciation Podcast

He did play a few games at third in the minors.The Sox realize he can hit so they tried to make him more valuable by playiing him at 1st and 3rd also.

Imagine the superstar we'd have combining Madrigal and Mercedes. Nick Mercedes ... sounds like a private eye.

I don't think it'snecessary for anyone to eat crow.Everyone here should want every player to do well. I know you get a fair share of grief when Abreu does well but don't you want him to do well ? You shouldn't marry yourself to what seems like a hatred for him at this point. You don't want to be a cliche and let it drown out quality posts you make because you're known as the guy who hates Abreu. It's one thing to speculate on someones future but do you honestly hope he sucks ? That's the case for those who rank prospects and why you never saw Yermin listed in the Sox top 30 prospects. At some point when 26 yrs. old or so and a career minor leaguer who can pretty much only hit there's no reason to rank them very highly . It matters not whether they are close to the majors or not. Mendick never got ranked very highly because pedigree means a lot when ranking prospects and if you are drafted after round 10 or so and even if you can field your upside is considered limited. Late bloomers get no love but it's not personal. In order to be considered a top notch prospect evaluator you don't often go out on a limb for guys without pedigree, older guys, bad fielders and round bodies. This is not believers versus non believers . People who like Yermin like the way he can hit and those who don't just don't see much of a future for him when evaluating him based on how they normally project and rank prospects. Many of us love Yermin but even we have to admit it'll take a lot of breaks for him to ever get a chance to be a regular DH somewhere. We can always hope for the best for Yermin but chances are they will be right and not us.

I noticed a slight delay between when seeing abt hitting the ball and the sound of the ball meeting bat so the sound is late which may explain why the announcers seem just a tad late on calls.

Collins grounds out. Game over.

1st and 3rd 1 out . Sheets K's . All up to Collins now.

I don't think so because the same resource had our luxury tax at like $165 M and CSN Chicago had an article on Jan. 10th that used the same source to say it was $128M. https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/white-sox/white-sox-avoid-arbitration-five-players-2020-payroll-comes-focus https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/payroll/white-sox It's right at the top of the page but a lot farther down it gives the luxury tax number as $165M wihich i copied and pasted in my post above. I had looked at Sporttrac but I couldn't find everything added up.

Roster resource still is still the same as it was on Jan.10th which was $128M .

Even if I go with $128M that puts us 18th out of 30 teams and very close to the highest opening day payroll in Sox history which was $129M in 2011.

This seems like the most logical approach. I'm not even sure what the actual payroll is. I keep saying it's around $110 but when I look on Roster Resource on Fangraphs I don't know what to think. Below is the 2020 estimates. AAVs for players with guaranteed contracts (does not include players no longer on 40-man roster) $111,783,334 This is the number i keep talking about Salaries for players eligible for arbitration $27,042,500 AAVs for players no longer on 40-man roster or no longer in organization Sum of Other Payments (does not include potential buyouts) Estimated salaries for players not yet eligible for arbitration and other players with non-guaranteed contracts $8,579,500 Estimated salaries for 40-man roster players in minor leagues $2,250,000 Estimated player benefits to be paid $15,000,000 Estimated Luxury Tax Payroll Is the estimated Luxury Tax payroll what I should be looking at ? Is this right ? I've also seen the payroll estimated at close to $128M. $164,655,334

Even you don't seem to think they are very good if that's your bar.

You are a wonderful poster and insider and I hate to disagree with you. But it seems obvious to me that the spending to upgrade player development, scouting, etc. should have been done at the beginning of the rebuild when we were trotting out minimum payrolls. Why wait till you are coming out of the rebuild to do it ? You max out the payroll at $110 then JR says . STOP ! Then the fanbase gets so pumped about all the good players we signed, the extensions , the forays into modern techniques and IFA that they all fall in line to praise the FO . Am I supposed to be impressed the Sox are finally doing what even teams with lower payrolls have done to maximize talent evaluation. Doing all these good things now just seems like veiled reasons to hold down the payroll by saying look we want to keep the band together , we want to modernize, we want to become more active in IFA thats why we have to keep payroll where it is . Well why the hell wasn't all this done 10 years ago. I'll tell you why . It has always appeared in order to run the Sox at a profit Reinsdorf can't spend in every single area that needs money put into it to be good at it. Player development, scouting IFA , modernizing all took a back seat while the Sox were having higher payrolls and trying to win. They can't be profitable pouring money into all areas like successful organizations. The Twins have run a very successful IFA part of their organization supplementing the roster with good talent , Even they have a payroll right around $130M now. The freaking Twins run circles around the Sox FO. The Twins might as well be a Canadian team. The City that Works, The City of Broad Shoulders White Sox is still the least successful franchise in MLB history when it comes to winning and as usual there is one foot on the gas with the other foot on the brake.