Chicago White Sox

?…something tells me Romy is making the roster

I’ve been expecting as much, so hopefully this is true:

Colas has officially made the Opening Day roster.

I know Leury is better than what he was last year, but I always felt he was overvalued by the front office and is a really dumb baseball player. More importantly, he’s just not a great fit for this roster. Glad we are moving on.

This has been the most boring spring training in recent memory and the fact we’re all excited to see how the bench shakes out only reinforces that point.

Also, let’s not act like Eloy & Vaughn are beacons of health. Hanging someone like Sheets around will be useful. And yes, I get he can technically still provide depth from AAA, but not quite when it comes to the day to day stuff these two often deal with. Again, to me Gavin is a no-brainer for this roster.

I think in a bench role he’s fine. This team ranked 23rd in baseball last year in wRC+ against RHP. Hopefully Colas Benintendi & Colas help, but it can’t hurt to have a LH bat who can fill in at 1B / DH occasionally and PH if needed late in a game. I’m a bit of an optimist when it comes to Gavin, but I think he might be able to get you close to a 120 wRC+ against righties. That’s plenty valuable for a role player. I just don’t want see him get a ton of ton of time in the OF. I also don’t know of many guys he is blocking for bench spots. A quality 4th OF who bats from the right side like Adam Duvall would have been great, but we don’t really have anyone like that he’d blocking. Burger is a very similar player but with an even narrower skillet. Sounds Grifol is looking for specialists rather than well-rounded but underwhelming players who will be overplayed. If that’s the case, then Gavin should be on the roster.

Alberto if he’s on the roster

Who would you keep over Sheets?

Sheets in the lineup today…he’s making the roster IMO.

Wow, I would not like this:

That all seems to make sense. With Alberto & Andrus in place, you don’t need a bench option that can cover SS. That could allow you to go with someone like Billy in a more specialized role (pinch-runner, late inning OF defense). My big beef with Billy is he’s a negative value player on days that he starts. For better or worse, it seems Hahn is committed to using Eloy & Gavin in the OF corners, which might allow for a guy like Billy.

?

I’m not a huge Alberto guy, but I do think he’d go elsewhere, whether it’s a major league or minor league opportunity.

I can’t see it happening, but this is a Rick Hahn designed team and the dude loves playing his 1B / DH types out of position.

And I’m not 100% against it, but you really can’t have him and Sheets as 2/3 of your bench. And personally, I think Sheets is the more valuable bench piece at this time given our weakness against tough RHP. Also, Alberto and hopefully Romy can hit LHP while providing some defensive versatility. Obviously they won’t hit lefties as well as Jake, but that’s a sacrifice worth making IMO.

Fathom = Eloy vs the Wall confirmed

Northbrook Bob seems to be suggesting Burger will make the team. If so, then I can’t see Alberto making the roster. Sheets is a 100% lock and there is zero chance they go with him, Jake, & Hanser as their three man bench. If they go with Burger & Sheets (which seems crazy to me), then I think Romy or Leury is all but guaranteed a spot. If they go with Alberto, then it potentially opens up a spot for Billy or Haseley. I still think we end up with Sheets, Alberto, & Romy as the bench with Leury being DFAed to free up a 40 man roster spot, but Burger really remains the wild card in all of this.

I’m definitely Team Romy.

I’d wager large sums of money that Sheets makes the OD roster. Our biggest weakness has been hitting RHP and they will want to use him to give Eloy & Vaughn breaks at times. He’s also a viable pinch hitting option for Andrus & Seby late in games. I don’t like the fact that they’ll use him in the OF way more than he should, but having a LH power bat on the bench is important and Haseley is not a real option despite a nice spring.

Agree…unless you plan on playing Eloy in RF against all LHPs and that seems insane to me. But this is Rick Hahn we’re talking about so who knows.

So the more I think about this, the more I expect the Sox to go with a bench of Sheets, Alberto, & Romy. The Sox need a left-handed bat somewhere on the bench and that role pretty much goes to Gavin by default. He can fill in at 1B/DH against tough righties when Vaughn/Eloy need a day off and can technically play a bad corner OF in a pinch (the Sox will use him much more then I would out there though). As for Alberto, I’m not quite sure I get the admiration around here, but it seems like all but a certainty that Grifol will place him on the OD roster. Personally, I think spring training stats are meaningless, so a nice camp doesn’t change the fact that he has been legit bad against RHP in his career. That being said, he does hit lefties fairly well and can play throughout the infield. As much as I’d love Burger’s bat on the bench, Alberto fills a similar need offensively with far more defensive versatility. As for the final spot, this could obviously go a lot of different ways and Leury in theory should be the favorite. However, it does seem like Hahn / Grifol may be ready to move on from Leury. If so, I think you’re looking at one of the pure OFs or a true utility guy like Romy. IMO, I think the Sox would prefer the latter and don’t think they will overreact to a strong camp and go with someone like Haseley. Yes, Romy has had a rough spring, but the defensive versatility is a huge plus and I think he will at least hit LHP well next year. And the latter is a big plus when you have two LH corner OFs who will need time off like everyone else.

Isn’t that the reason we signed Homer?

Love me some D’Onta Foreman!

Committing big dollars to a 28 year old RB ahead of a deep RB draft and when three of your four top receivers are coming up for extensions doesn’t make a lick of sense. Just draft a RB in the 4th and call it a day.