Chicago White Sox

Both scarcity of impact players and constraint on roster spots.

Sorry guys, felt I had to do it and opening up a spot for Teel felt just right enough.

Per Rosenthal…no confirmation on the return yet.

That’s all true and I don’t necessarily disagree. This is going to be a very bad team, but I do think it should be a good 10+ game improvement vs. last year even if with a big veteran sell-off at the deadline.

Truer words have never been spoken

Mostly trolling, but as I’ve been highlighting for weeks now, this team will be an improvement vs. last year baring a devastating amount of injuries. The SP has been incredible and there is reason to believe the core five can be a solid group this year. It’s certainly going to regress a ton from what we’ve seen to start the season and at some point innings could be a challenge, but at least the talent looks real there. Honestly, the biggest issue there is the number of TJS’s we have experienced have always wiped most of our AAA depth. A couple injuries to the major league rotation and we are in big, big trouble. As for the offense, the HR’s are going to normalize and we are going to see less of these big eight and nine run type games (our .202 team ISO would have lead the majors last year, which won’t last). However, Chris has made it a priority to bring in more disciplined hitters and that shows early on. Our BB rate currently sits at 9.4% (17th overall) vs. 6.7% last year (29th overall), while our K rate sits at 17.4% (6th overall) vs. 23.9% last year (20th overall). The improved plate discipline should mostly stick IMO and will provide a much better floor than we saw last year. When accounting for defense too, this group will be better than the one we trotted out there last year and by wide margin. TLDR - The team will still be bad, but better than many were thinking and we are seeing that with early season play.

We have the second highest run differential in the AL behind the NY Torpedoes and are try only team in baseball with an X-W/L of 4-0. When will you become a believer man?

Yes it is, although with twins it’s pure torture at that age so maybe I was lucky lol

Jon & Yonder unfortunately

Congrats bud. I had twins my final go-around in March of 2017 and got one fucking week of leave…enjoy the time off. Wish you had a better Sox team to watch, but any Sox baseball is better than no Sox baseball (2024 excluded).

I don’t think you need a true carrying skill to be a ~2 win player. Baldwin may not be tooled up in any one area, but he’s solid average or better across the board and that’s highly valuable when you can play all over the field. I think his ceiling is Tommy Edman with a bit less defense. This is isn’t a dig at you, but not sure a lot of Sox fans know how to value him since we haven’t had a ton of players that fit his profile. That being said, he’s the exact type of guy who an org like the Dodgers would he all over.

You think his ceiling is a 1 win player? It appears we feel much differently about the upside of guys like him & Meidroth.

Monday afternoon game during spring break for many people isn’t going to draw a lot of fans, especially in March and coming off a 121 loss season.

You’re already writing off Baldwin?

Good point. No idea why Getz would want to give starts to Jankowski unless he’s focused on some early season tanking (which maybe?).

Almost all the vets will be gone by the trade deadline. The bigger issue right now is not having any attractive options to throw out in the OF.

It’s so true and very bizarre. Jankowski is going to be released within a week or so and has already started 50% of our games when we have at least five other dudes who can play the OF (maybe six with Maton?). Just very hard to fathom why any competent manger would do this? Jankowski should be used nothing more than a pinch runner and defensive replacement until Tauchman is back.

That I agree with. Tauchman is going on a rehab assignment so Jankowski’s days are numbered. Just wild we keep starting him when we have other options.

Has Amaya really started every game so far? I’m sort of blown away by that.

So we have four guys on the bench today: Maton, Baldwin, Lee, & Slater. If you are going to DH Benintendi, then Baldwin should be in LF. I don’t really care how bad his 2B defense looked yesterday, the kid isn’t going to improve or get comfortable at any spot without reps. Jankowski should never player over him IMO. Beyond that, I’m mostly ok with the lineup. Lee shouldn’t be used as just a platoon bat, but I can kind of understand getting Thaiss in there again with the offense struggling and him coming off a hot game. That being said, that same logic should apply to Maton and Amaya. Again, I have no idea how Maton is defensively at SS, but if capable at all then he should be splitting time there with Amaya (and ideally Baldwin, although I have him above in this hypothetical).

I know I hype him up a ton, but the OBP is going to play in the majors and he’s not a pure slap hitter. He’s got great bat to ball skills, but his objective at the plate isn’t just to poke balls through the infield to pump up his BA. The kid is one of the most selective hitters in baseball and that’s also in the strike zone. He is willing to wait for the right pitch and making good swing decisions should help him get the most out what raw power he has. And defensively, what he lacks in physical ability (range & arm) he makes up with skill and strong fundamentals. His minor league teammates raved about his defense last year and I think he can be plus at 2B. Watch video of him and you will see plenty of great plays. He is a kid who simply gets the most out of the tools he has.

Harold seems to be implying they are trying to move him. Are we still eligible for potential compensatory draft picks if we call up Teel now?

Jankowski & Taylor in the corners is gross as f***.

I think this is true, but he probably needs a good two or three months of plus production before other teams are willing to pay the price we’d desire.