Chicago White Sox

Didn’t see this until now, but fully agree. To me, we can either keep Lee or Mead, not both of them.

Too many infielders IMO if you plan to also roster Lee. I feel pretty strongly the Sox carry five OFs if you include Baldwin & Acuna (who obviously will be mostly used out there). Benitendi will be DHing a decent amount and the above roster would leave no OF backup on those days. As such, one of Pereira, Kelenic, or Hill is a safe bet to make the OD squad. I think Mead only makes the team if they the Sox trade or cut bait on Lee.

Why would he get optioned?

I don’t think McDougal will be down very long.

Murakami single to break his hitless streak

His velocity was apparently down a couple ticks with us in the minors vs. what it was in his final season with the Yankees when he was Minor League pitcher of the year.

I think Hill could make the roster if Pereira starts the year on the IL.

They said Hill is ticketed for AAA?

People are sleeping way too hard on Thorpe. Honestly, if the 4 seamer comes back with a couple extra ticks (which happens fairly often after TJS), kid will be a key part of this rotation moving forward.

It was generally rated the best changeup in minor league baseball.

I don’t think mid season transformations for minor league pitchers are all that rare. Mechanical & repertoire changes can suddenly click for a young arm and immediately unlock better results. Guys can change their hitter strategies (i.e attack the zone more) or their pitch sequencing and get better results. These guys are literally developing in real time and should get better as the season progress. IMO, using full season production to project go forward expectations is way too simplistic.

Two questions for you: 1) Where does McDougal’s ball percentage of 37% rate amongst AA pitchers? 2) In your projection model, how much weighting are you putting on his AA results specifically, his broader 2025 season, and prior seasons?

Yeah, if you have his BB/9 rate doubling from the 2.75/9 he just posted as a 22 year old in AA last year then I can see why you are pessimistic. That being said, not sure how you got to that 5.25 figure without over-indexing on his earlier minor league production, which seems crazy in this age of player development and when talking about a prospect who was aggressively moved through the system since coming back from TJS.

I am very high on Burke. He was phenomenal to end 2024 and then started off this past year very poorly before rebounding as the season progressed. The reality is some repertoire changes negatively impacted his slider and he’s been working on addressing over the off-seaon. If he can get that pitch back on track, I see a kid with ability to be a legit #3 SP. Periera is backup OF in the above construct and one who would primarily play against LHP until he can demonstrate the ability to do more than that. Not sure why he’s drawing your attention here as he’s simply a role player. And FWIW, if he’s not healthy, I think Hill gets the spot ahead of Kelenic to start the season. Finally, I assume that Benintendi and Quero split the DH role and that Andrew plays LF when Hayes needs a day off. If he fails to produce in such role, then I think he’s a potential DFA by the 2H of the season.

Braden will be up at some point, but they want him to work on his chase first. To me, he’s more of a 2H reinforcement and hopefully the guy who eventually pushes Benintendi off this roster once and for all.

Building off my previous post, here is my 5/1 roster projection: Lineup: B. Baldwin, RF (S) K. Teel, CA (L) M. Vargas, 3B (R) C. Montgomery, SS (L) M. Murakami, 1B (L) Hayes, LF (R) E. Quero, DH (S) S. Antonacci, 2B (L) Acuna, CF (R) Bench: IF: C. Meidroth (R) IF: L. Sosa (R) OF: E. Pereira (R) OF: A. Benintendi (L) Rotation: S. Smith (R) S. Burke (R) T. McDougal (R) A. Kay (L) D. Martin (R) or E. Fedde (R) Bullpen: CL: S. Dominguez (R) SU: Taylor (R) SU: Leasure (R) MR: S. Newcomb (L) MR: M. Vasil (R) MR: C. Murphy (L) MR: J. Hicks (R) LR: J. Paez (R) IMO, that’s a team that could surprise this year, especially if one of Hagen Smith or Schultz can grab the #5 in the rotation by June or so.

He throws that hard? I had no idea

Regardless of how this OD roster shakes out, I think we should be prepared for Antonacci & McDougal to be in the major league mix as early as 4/16 to 5/1. The addition of McDougal in particular shouldn’t be overlooked as he immediately could change the complexion of the rotation. A young trio of Shane Smith, Burke, & McDougal would be quite exciting and possibly very good. I think the ability for this team to compete if far more possible than some are letting on.

Fully agree with all of this. Chase needs to live up to his AAA hype and fast or could be relegated to reserve infielder status once Antonacci is ready. That being said, Chase was dealing with several injuries last year and it certainly impacted his performance as the season progressed. I expect improvement in terms of both impacting the ball and getting on base next year. His BB rate has significant room for growth and that getting closer to 12% is what will make or break him.

I don’t know in what world Crochet was bringing back Roman Anthony.

It’s not really that crazy when you consider his injury history and the fact that he had one year of SP experience

At what position was he one of the worst at? SS? Chase only had 3 errors at 2B. Meanwhile Sosa had 10 at 2B. Defensively there is no comparison here.

Thanks. Isn’t Borucki on a minor league deal? Feels like if all else is equal, you start the season with Gilbert as your second lefty with Borucki & Eisert waiting in Charlotte. What about Murphy? Given Getz went out and acquired for an actual prospect, feels like they must have plans for him although maybe they want him to start to start in Charlotte and build up some innings.

What are your thoughts on how this bullpen shakes out? I haven’t been able to watch a ton of games, so would love to who has looked good or bad. I assume the battles are mostly down to the 2nd lefty spot and likely one Rule 5 guy spot.

This is a very silly statement.