JUSTgottaBELIEVE

I would trust Big Mike as well. The rest seem to clam up against good teams in big situations.

I just love that he’s fearless even against big offenses like Houston. Cueto DGAF

@caulfield12 and @southsider2k5 didn’t believe me a few weeks ago when I said Sox offense was going to wake up. I’d say they’ve woken up eh?

He’s been so solid. A guy that can eat innings with a sub 4 ERA is very valuable. It’s been a great signing so far.

White sox offense even making @caulfield12 a believer

Are there statistics available that support this? Wouldn’t left handed hitters that hit RHP also generally feast on poor RHP and struggle against good RHP? I don’t see how handedness makes a difference personally.

I really like that comp. I was leaning towards Konerko for obvious reasons but I think Mags is a better comp.

No, way too early

No

They scored 14 runs in 3 games against the Dodgers too. They started showing signs of life against Toronto and Tampa a couple weeks ago.

Told you all Sox offense was going to heat up. I was mocked a couple weeks ago

Since someone brought up McGuire’s framing, I finally figured out why Grandal has rated so highly in framing over the years. It’s because he calls so many damn fastballs, especially with runners on base. Much easier to frame fastballs than offspeed pitches.

He’s hitting better this season than Grandal too

He should catch 60% of the games at a minimum. The pitching has been far better with him behind the plate instead of Grandal.

I didn’t know much about him because he was always in the NL but apparently he’s a perennial slow starter. If that’s the case, a .280 BA and .800 OPS isn’t out of question. That would be a massive upgrade compared to what the Sox have been getting out of RF in recent years.

Grandal had his best offensive season ever last season. Monday morning quarterbacking to say this was the year he would fall off. Moncada had an OPS+ of 116 last season (compared to 14 this season). If you are arguing that Grandal’s dropoff was inevitable due to age then Moncada and Eloy should be entering their prime.

Coming into this season, Abreu, Grandal, Robert, Eloy, Pollock and Moncada all had career OPS of ~.800 or higher vs RHP. TA struggled a bit against RHP but was respectable. Vaughn and Sheets were largely unknowns. On paper, this lineup should be league average against RHP at worst and very good at best.

Nah. The problem is your boy Grandal isn’t hitting this season and guys like Moncada, Eloy, Timmy, and Robert have either been bad or hurt. Monday morning QBs will say they should have signed Joc Pederson but he’s the exact type of player that would come to the Sox and forget how to hit. Plus he’s not very good defensively. No offseason signing would have saved the Sox to this point. Live and die with the core.

Sox had/have enough DH types. I hated the idea of signing another, LH or RH. Besides, what good ones were even available? Everyone was touting Conforto and he didn’t sign with anyone and then got hurt. Avoided that disaster.

Haha yea. It’s ridiculous to be frank. Jose is one of the hottest hitters in mlb right now and has been the Sox best hitter over the past few years (TA is right there with him as well).

He’s still the best hitter on the team just like he was 3 years ago. How do you know trading him now increases the Sox chances of good baseball now and in the future? In fact, I’d say trading him now decreases the Sox chances now and in the future.

Meh. No one predicted this type of downfall for Moncada, Grandal, and Eloy. Those are three guys that had historically hit RHP very well. They can still turn it around this season (once healthy) but needs to happen soon. If they do turn it around, the recent offense that has been quite good over the past 10 days will turn into the great offense everyone expected.

And yet, this was the same exact sentiment from you and others 3 years ago. Oh god, can you imagine if the Sox had traded him and missed out on his MVP season and production since? Hahn would never have heard the end of it.

I think more importantly is balancing the lineup with hitters that can hit both RHP and LHP. It doesn’t matter if you’re a left handed hitter if you can’t hit righties (Sheets) or a switch hitter that’s supposed to help against RHP but isn’t (Grandal/Moncada).

It’s still just mid June and the Sox are 3 games back from a playoff spot. Even if it were the end of July and the Sox were in the same position they’d still have a very good chance of making the playoffs when you consider they have the easiest remaining strength of schedule in the AL.