spiderman

I would have loved to see Trump attempting to shut down the country in February. There is not one politician that would have supported that.

How did the White House specifically fail us?

Yes, I would prefer to not speculate on why he's not at camp. Hopefully, it's unrelated to health reasons and some completely unrelated. Let's play this out though - assuming he comes back shortly and is ready to pitch, what is the White Sox rotation and how does limited spring training alter how they would use him? Giolito, Keuchel, Lopez, Gonzalez and Cease are all likely to start the season in the rotation. Does Kopech become the 6th guy? Do they move Gonzalez into the bullpen as a long-reliever? Very interesting.

I'm sure he's already in great shape, but not being at camp (should it become several days) will allow the White Sox to use even more caution with him. It may align with his service time as well.

Here is the full quote. Seems clear that he is referring to the virus and the ability to play more than 60 games. “The reality is we weren’t going to play more than 60 games no matter how the negotiations with the players went, or any other factor,” Manfred told Patrick. “I think this is the one thing we come back to every single day: we’re trying to manage something that has proven to be unpredictable and unmanageable. I know it hasn’t looked particularly pretty in spots, but having said that, if we can pull off this 60-game season, I think it was the best we were going to do for our fans given the course of the virus. “It’s the calendar. We’re playing 60 games in 63 days right now. I don’t see, given the reality of the health situation over the past few weeks, how we were going to get going any faster than the calendar we’re on right now. No matter what the state of those negotiations were.”

If Kopech is delayed in coming to camp, this could allow the White Sox to give him extra time to build up his arm strength on the side.

No reason to speculate. They say he's healthy, which is great. Obviously, if this spans more than a few days, more questions will come. Hopefully, he is healthy and he is a good mental state.

Only about 99.8% of the time.

Is he still being stretched out or more of a 1 inning guy? Detwiler is awful so if Fulmer can fill that role, fine by me.

Are there any free agents available or any speedy minor league talent in the system known for their baserunning? Would be nice for those late innings or extra innings to have a player for that specific situations.

Early on, with starting pitchers not throwing deep into games, managers are going to use a ton of pitchers game to game. Some relievers won't be as available early on in B2B games also. 16 is crazy, but gives the manager a ton of flexibility game to game and manage inning to inning while allowing the staff to build up.

He's not good, but, with expanded rosters, someone is going to be needed to throw garbage innings for games that get out of hand. I'd much rather throw him out there in the 3rd inning if the White Sox are down 7-1.

Not opposed to a plan like that assuming he is able to hit. With these moves, he'll have to earn a roster spot vs. growing into a larger role with opportunity, but that's a great sign of a team ready to compete. I'm assuming Grandal will catch 4 days a week, McCann 1-2 times and Collins will be sort of a pinch hitter, occasional start at C/1B/DH.

Yep, no disagreement. I would also expect that Grandal to play there once a week so Abreu can DH here and there. I really thought they would rotate the DH with the 3 catchers, but Encarnacion will obviously get most of the AB's at DH now assuming age/injury. Between C, 1B, RF and DH, they do have 5 current options to rotate players around to some degree (obviously not all of these players can play each, but there is some flexibility to allow for lineups).

That's what I think they do. They surprised me by adding a DH only to the roster, but if EE can hit HR's and draw walks, it's a great move. I feel like they will be shoring up the bullpen, maybe adding an OF to get them through the early part of the season, but still would be surprised by another upper end move. They have been aggressive though. Maybe more to come still?

I didn't realize the rosters were expanding to 26 this season. Don't relief pitchers also have to throw to 3 consecutive hitters now also? I haven't thought that new rule through as far as roster flexibility, but would assume less specialists, maybe you don't need more than 12 pitchers??? If it's 14 position players then, 2 backup OF, 2 backup IF's and room for 2 catchers. The obvious issue with Collins will be AB's. Will he play more than 1-2 times a week?

Exactly, those guys are mop-up guys (at best) and emergency starters only after you run out of your expected starters. This one shouldn't really be much of a debate to a national writer.

I just don't see the White Sox protecting either Cease or Kopech by starting them in the minors. Is it possible that Kopech isn't ready and they want to build up his innings before putting him into the rotation? I would grant some possibility of the White Sox being cautious with him. Obviously, there's more competition now, and these guys should have to earn their spots, but there isn't any scenario where the White Sox believe that Detwiler should be making starts over a healthy Cease or Kopech. That doesn't make any sense.

There do seem a few solid OF's still out there, but not sure what market they have. Maybe it's something they let play out a bit.

TBD. Either of these guys, there could be an injury, they could creative with the rotation to not overuse Cease. It's good to have options though.

Agreed, I think they clearly wanted one of the more desired starters. Keuchel was more of a Plan B amongst that better group, but they did want to add an additional veteran type for insurance. A lot to sort out with this rotation as the season goes on, but they have enough arms to feel reasonably optimistic about.

I would also be surprised if they did a multi-year deal for a RF/DH type at this point. They have already traded for Mazara (like him or not) and have sort of a rotation of DH's amongst their catchers and Abreu. With Jimenez, Robert and Mazara already in the OF, I'm not sure they are going to spend big at this point, but more likely some veteran on a 1 year deal.

Did they really overpay? I thought the deal was pretty much in line with what I thought he'd get, but actually less years. I just assumed he'd get at least 4 years.

I just have a hard time thinking they are going to trade some of their top prospects for one year of Betts. I can't imagine they would move on him without having a new deal.

Given that Cleveland is trading off it's best players and should regress, KC/Detroit suck that leaves Minnesota and Chicago. Unless injuries or just unexpected under-performance, it's hard to not see them being in contention in this division.