Chicago White Sox

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.

I donated to this cause and I’m more than content. f*** Jerry.

Threw some money on Colas to AL ROY a few months ago and that bet looks better & better each day.

If Colas proves himself that’s totally fine, but you don’t start the season with batting anywhere but the bottom 3rd of the lineup. And he may not end up a platoon bat (I’m optimistic he won’t), but it’s only natural to give him some rope to start the year against LHP.

Yeah, I do think against RHP, he’s slots in better around 5th or 6th. He’s still a solid hitter against RHP, but the subpar OBP doesn’t work quite that well at the top of the lineup.

Tim?

Honestly, you just need to get him back to his 2021 version and he’s a damn good lead-off hitter against RHP. For better or worse, I think Tim will be the lead-off hitter this year everyday he’s in the lineup though.

Since this camp has been incredibly boring, I figured it’s time to get some discussion going on more regular season oriented topics. The first one is how would you lay out the everyday batting order. For this exercise, let’s assume Colas makes the team. Also, note that any splits I’ve referenced reflect that player’s four year averages against RHP/LHP pitching from 2019 to 2022 unless noted otherwise. Here is what I’d do against RHP (OBP | ISO | wRC+): Anderson, SS (.335 | .138 | 112) Benintendi, LF* (.344 | .146 | 107) Robert, CF (.360 | .179 | 134) (‘21) Jimenez, DH (.329 | .240 | 129) Moncada, 3B# (.341 | .178 | 113) Vaughn, 1B (.309 | .184 | 112) (‘22) Grandal, C# (.347 | .178 | 105) Colas, RF* (.357 | .162 | NA) (‘22 W-S) Andrus, 2B (.303 | .116 | 84) Here is what I’d do against LHP (OBP | ISO | wRC+): Anderson, SS (.380 | .211 | 154) Robert, CF (.403 | .242 | 172) Jimenez, DH (.327 | .228 | 124) Vaughn, 1B (.383 | .286 | 154) (‘21) Grandal, C# (.420 | .231 | 148) Gonzalez, RF (.395 | .246 | NA) Moncada, 3B# (.344 | .164 | 112) Andrus, 2B (.297 | .126 | 81) Benintendi, LF* (.349 | .128 | 105)

What are his issues?

He hit in 2021

It’s going to be brutal if Robert misses any time.

I think he can be a legit #1 WR.

?

I’m just being a sarcastic dick. I’ve never been a fan of the “trade [insert player] because he deserves an opportunity”.

Agree…definitely don’t need the extra depth

What has been at this spring?

Who are three utility players you are referring to?

Can someone explain to me what Alberto brings to the table? Dude has a career 54 wRC+ against RHP. I’m not sure how that works playing beyond Andrus & Timmy.

I think there is zero chance Romy doesn’t make the team. Right or wrong, I think they plan to use him as the de facto 10th regular similar to how Tony used Leury. I really don’t see Hamilton being a realistic option with a four man bench. They should just fire Boston and make Billy the OF coach.

The question is which three guys provide the most utility based on our roster construction. Assuming Colas makes the team, the OF is filled with guys who really don’t need late game defensive replacements. Realistically, you’d want a 4th OF who can crush LHP and spell Robert in CF. I hate the concept of Eloy playing the OF too much, but he may be Colas’ platoon partner in RF to start the year. You could go with Leury who provides average defense at all three spots and put up a 104 wRC+ against LHP from 2017 to 2021. And while Romy hasn’t played a lot of CF in his career, he seems like he has the athleticism to play the position and he crush lefties (.931 OPS) in AA in 2021. Marisnick would provide probably the best CF defense of the three options, but offers very little value with the bat. Out of those three options, I definitely would go with Romy. On the infield side of things, a left-handed hitter who could provide coverage at both SS & 2B would be ideal, but we don’t really have anyone like that. As such, you’re kind of stuck with using Romy or Leury there. And whether you believe a return to form is coming for Andrus, he has never been good against RHP and that creates some value for a late inning RHP masher off the bench who can fill in some at 1B like Sheets. As for Yoan’s backup, Burger would be the perfect fit offensively but was pretty horrible with the glove last year. While I think he’s better than he showed last year, I wouldn’t be excited to see him much at 3B without more minor league seasoning. He’d be awesome as a late inning pinch hitting option against LHP though, but that is a fairly limited role. To me, it’s pretty obvious they will go with both Romy & Leury as IF/OF utility types, which probably makes the most sense if you’re unwilling to eat the rest of Garcia’s contract and bring in a player who fits the roster better. That leaves one spot for Marisnick, Sheets, or Burger. To me, I probably go with Sheets over Burger. Obviously RHP has been a challenge for us for a few years now and Gavin gives us a guy who can help some there. I’d probably play him once a week at 1B against tough RHP and then use him as a late game pinch hitter for Andrus. Not a big role, but he’d also be the primary fill-in at 1B or DH if Vaugh or Eloy were to go down. The only way I go with Burger is if they plan to play Eloy in RF more than we think. If that’s the case, then Jake could be part of the DH mix and actually be pretty valuable. Just don’t like the idea of Eloy in the OF, especially not in RF with that noodle arm of his.

He had almost equal splits last year and a 121 wRC+ against RHP before fatigue set in September.

I’m super high on Colas long-term as well, but I think he could struggle quite a bit with the bat to start the season. That being said, his defense should be a massive upgrade over the garbage we played out in RF last year.

Wouldn’t take much in pitch recognition improvement to make Yoelqui a useful 4th OF. Monster arm, can play a legit CF, and hits the ball hard when he makes contact. He could be a more power-oriented, less contact version of Engel, which is a nice piece on the cheap. But he’s got to a find a way to stop chasing balls out of the zone, as that figure Law cited was insane. To your point, there is still some hope with him because of lost development time, but this does feel like a make or break year for him.

They have little depth in certain areas, with OF, C, & SP being the main areas of concern. I actually like some of the lesser bullpen additions we made and I think we have quite a few interesting depth pieces in the IF and at 1B / DH. I’d say Robert is the single most important player next year from a health standpoint. If he goes down, we could be looking at up to a 5 win swing. At least with catcher we got Carlos Perez and with SP we got Davis Martin. Not good depth by any means, but far better than the CF situation.

Very true. I’m glad people are sleeping on us. This team needs a chip on its shoulder after the s%*#-show that was last year.