Balta1701

Ironically that's actually Chris Taylor's literal role. 67 games in CF, 46 games at 2b, 30 games in LF, 23 games at SS, 11 games at 3b, 8 games in RF this season (all games played, not just starts).

Spend extra on your 4th and 5th OFs to make sure they are players who are regularly healthy and capable of playing starting roles for you for several months or in the playoffs.

To say it again, when your top OFs include Eloy, Engle, Eaton, Robert, and Hamilton - you cannot go "how on Earth did we wind up playing our 8th outfielder batting 5th against our key division foe no one could ever have foreseen this". If you are stocking your lineup with guys who are injury prone, you must overspend on depth. It is not an accident when all these guys get hurt altogether. Same exact statement in the rotation. If Carlos Rodon, Reynaldo Lopez, Dallas Keuchel, and Michael Kopech are guys you're counting on in your top 7 starters, you can't come to me in August and say "How did we wind up needing our 9th starter this is impossible no team could overcome this".

And just to repeat my part, you cannot look at Eloy Jimenez and Adam Eaton and say “how on earth did these guys all get hurt!” You may now add Engel and Robert to that list. When guys get hurt every year, you can’t say “how did our studs get hurt no one could have expected this!” Same sentiment applied to the starting rotation this year, and look what happened in August and September. In three years, your excuse is going to be “no one could have predicted these guys being hurt every year and it’s a shame but now too many guys are expensive so we have to rebuild, but I have full confidence in the same people to do it right this time!”

Billy Hamilton played every day in games 2-7. He then went on the injured list. He then played in 4 of the next 5 games after returning. So your stat…doesn’t tell that story. Nick Williams was your number 5 hitter in a division game with Bieber on the mound. Is that not a key role?

I hope most have the same visceral reaction to “hopefully they will be healthy”. If you’re trying to solve this part of the problem, the GM has to assume they won’t be healthy with this roster and provide real depth, not Nick Williams and Billy Hamilton playing key roles in April after being plucked off the shelf with minor league deals late in the offseason” depth.

So you are surprised that the BoSox changed up the signs in the ninth…after a lead off double and with a runner on 2b?

Well that escalated quickly. Started writing a work email when it was 2-1. Sent and it was 9-2.

It would make sense why his team would post him this year then as this would then be the last year before he could qualify as a free agent.

The right answer continues to be “the field”. There are hundreds of bench coaches, pitching coaches, position coaches, minor league coaches in this sport. You can’t interview them all, but there is no reason you can’t interview over a dozen. You will probably get better at the interview each time too! You do that and you find the right balance of attitude, intelligence, experience, and a philosophy that fits with the front office. They shouldn’t agree on everything, but they should come to a fit after a second or third interview. Brian Snitker worked his way up through the Braves organization for decades. Kevin Cash retired as a catcher then caught on as Francona’s bullpen coach in Cleveland. AJ Hinch was going to managers meetings before he retired, took over Arizona’s minor league system afterwards (and was there for the Chris Young time), managed the DBacks, was fired, and the Astros found his philosophy to mesh with what they were trying to build a few years later. Alex Cora was a Houston bench coach and now he’s unbeatable in the playoffs. Dave Martinez was a bench coach for so long we wondered why he couldn’t get a job and he finally got one and won the 2019 title. There is no single answer on how to do this correctly. A White Sox retread with no interview was the only wrong answer. If Hinch came out of an interview process, fine. But ruling out hundreds of people because they aren’t former white Sox managers was and is silly.

If that is true, then he would be a true free agent and not subject to a posting fee.

All right, from this summary, it depends on 2 things. If he had been in the Japanese league for 9 years, he could be a true free agent and not subject to any posting fees, he could just sign a contract and come over. He doesn’t seem likely old enough for that? If he was still young, he would be subject to a posting fee of up to $20 million, set by the team, and his contract would count against a teams international pool. This caught Ohtani because he came over early. IF he has been in the Japanese league for 6 full seasons, long enough to qualify for free agency under MLB, but not the full 9 years for Japanese free agency, he would be subject to a posting fee negotiated with the team, but his salary would NOT count against a teams international pool. There does not appear to be a cap for salary offers in this case. This is where I’m guessing the current sweet spot is for this guy? https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/12/mlb-ratifies-new-npb-posting-system-formally-announces-shohei-ohtani-will-be-posted-today.html

All right, so what are the posting rules and potential costs for this player?

Again, to repeat...Garret Crochet pitched 2 times in back to back outings the entire season and gave up runs both times. His 3rd back to back outing was in game 2, and he allowed 2 inherited runners to score. That should not have been surprising at all. Michael Kopech threw 47 pitches in game 3. Tony LaRussa himself said before the game that he was unavailable for game 4, and then somehow he was the first guy out of the bullpen 44 hours later, and expected to get a guy out, go back to the bench, and then come out for a second inning? All season, he never had fewer than 2 full days off after any 30+ pitch outing. He had literally never been pushed that aggressively all season. That was also his second longest outing since his injury, next to the 51 pitches he threw on the final game of the season. You cannot blame these guys for failing when they are used like this, in ways they either did not prepare for all year or in ways they struggled in during rare opportunities during the regular season.

I don't have a specific target figured out yet, but when the White Sox want to compete and they have a system that is generally weak, they have a habit of packaging 3 guys together from their top 30 prospects to target someone who is 1 or 2 years away from free agency.

Yes, I would say that is entirely possible. They gave up 14 runs, can they cut that in half? Let's look at the numbers and all the red flags. First and foremost, the White Sox's strategy coming into this series was to be extremely well rested, and they were willing to sacrifice seeding and matchups for it. This strategy did not work. Despite their guys being better rested, they were outperformed in every aspect of the game - pitching, hitting, and defense, and teams that did not have the last 2 months to coast are still playing in the postseason. This should absolutely call into question the strategy of trying to be the best rested team rather than pushing harder for seeding down the stretch. Is it a coincidence that pitchers who got extra rest and fewer innings down the stretch struggled to find the strike zone, or was that rust? There's an old joke in some other fields that a strategy "Cannot fail, it can only be failed" - resting guys extra down the stretch shouldn't be some topic that we can never question when we just watched it not work. Second, Giolito and Rodon gave up 4 runs on red flag plays. Giolito should not have been allowed to get in trouble once it got to the 5th inning, he was pulled at least 1 batter too late, and that was a concern. Worse, no one has said that "Bringing in Crochet on a back to back outing" was a good idea, literally everyone assumed he was unavailable after pitching the night before, and some people said it was a shame to use him in a game that was out of reach since it meant he couldn't pitch in game 2. Could that knock 2 runs off? Similarly, Rodon gave everything he had through the Alvarez at bat, and when he tried to throw a high fastball by Correa on the third pitch, he couldn't get it high or hard enough. Yes, pitch calling there was confusing, but overall Rodon should not have been in that game at that point. The rule for both of those guys should have been "Empty the tank, and we will not let you lose this game". That's potentially 4 runs. Finally, Lance Lynn should not have pitched on the road in Houston. This was the most obvious red flag coming into this series, it was obvious after his outing in June. Whether that means moving him to game 3 or actually going for Home Field Advantage, he had a career ERA over 5 in Houston and an ERA in the low 3s against the same team at home. Furthermore, Lynn himself complained afterwards about the game plan, which involved him throwing like Lance Lynn always does against a team that hits fastballs well. Could that cut a couple runs off what Lynn gave up, or gotten a few more innings out of him? I fully believe he has a better game if he pitched at home, and it sure seems like changing something up against this team would have benefited him. Cutting 6 or 7 runs off what they gave up - certainly possible, and that's without considering other things like defensive positioning, which we also saw to be important. Every one of those had a red flag saying "do not let this guy lose this way", and that's exactly how they lost. There are other confusing moves throughout this series - having Kopech come into game 4 less than 48 hours after he threw a 50 pitch outing still seems inexplicably bizarre. The 2 pitchers I'm ok with criticizing and saying "They needed to be better" are Cease and Kimbrel. Even though Kimbrel got hurt by the coaching staff also by moving Leury to RF, both of those guys were put out there in situations where they needed to be better and they weren't.

Scherzer's last outing against Houston was his first in LA this year, where he went 7 strong innings against the Astros for the win. He pitched against Houston twice in the 2019 World Series, 5 innings and 2 ER each time. His outings weren't dominant though, he gave up 5 hits and 3 walks in his first outing (still 7 K's), and 7 hits and 4 walks in his second outing (only 3 K's and a HR allowed).

Interestingly Semien’s splits were actually reversed this year, he was way better against righties. Not historically true for him, but was true this year. He’s also 7/19 with 4 walks and only 2 Ks against McCullers career, although none of those outings were in the last 2 years. Could couple of strong at bats against him make those different games?

Well shit. I didn’t know this, thank you for the article.

Jose Iglesias played 23 games, had 64 PAs, and a .408 Babip with Boston. I’d say that’s not exactly fair to count at the same level As the other guys. Out of the lower priced guys, you had Escobar who was good, Harrison, Frazier, and Hernandez who appear below average, and then the two legit talents in Turner and Baez. So either it’s actually pay for a top flight guy or a 1/4 chance of a quality regular?

Do you think the White Sox are way less talented than the Astros? I think they got stomped because of poor coaching and preparation. If you think the elite teams are way more talented than the white Sox, then you are telling me they’re not that far above the rest of the division. I think they have a clear talent advantage but a clear organizational disadvantage. That means for me, I think they need every scrap of talent they can get to overcome it. Id be ok with Romy in a Leury role and I’m sure there’s at bats for him in that role if he earns it, but it’s not worth risking the whole season results on him being more.

I’d buy this more except this concept didn’t work this year. How much confidence do you have in the GM to find useful veteran pieces at the trade deadline?

Not possible for it to come down to 1-2 games?

That’s not a very convincing argument.

Willing to bet the AL Central on it?