Chicago White Sox

We needed a left-handed power bat, more OBP, and better framing and there was one player on the market who filled all three needs. That along with McCann’s lack of a track record were the reasons for signing Grandal. It’s totally fair if you don’t agree with the decision, but let’s not ignore the fact Grandal has put up 25 fWAR over the past five years whereas McCann has put up 2. Yasmani isn’t some scrub, he’s literally been one of the best players in baseball over the last half decade.

What part is opinion exactly? Do you actually believe Grandal is bad, because you sure seem to go out of your way to make him look that way by pointing out bad stats that are based on ridiculously small sample sizes.

And that’s fine, but you don’t need pick at small sample sizes in hopes of justifying your position 26 games into a pandemic fueled season. Grandal has one of the best track records in all of baseball while McCann was non-tendered by the fucking Tigers two years ago and was brutal as a framer last year. I’ve come to really appreciate McCann and do believe he’s made real strides as a hitter, but no way in hell is he a better all-around catcher than Grandal because of a slow 13 starts.

There is nothing wrong with liking McCann and acknowledging that Lucas prefers to work with him, but a certain poster here goes out of his way trying to shit on one of the best catchers of the past decade in some crazy attempt to justify his dissatisfaction with us signing him and ultimately pushing McCann to the curb.

We don’t need to spend $10M on backup catcher and part time DH when we have Grandal, Abreu, & Vaughn in front of him. It’s a poor use of our resources when we have gaping holes at the top of our rotation and in RF like you imply.

Grandal has made 13 starts at catcher for the White Sox. He’s literally only caught these guys a couple of times. I know you want to see Grandal fail to prove you were right about McCann, but at least try to objective. Quoting CERA at this stage of a season for a catcher just getting to know his staff is quite frankly ridiculous.

I didn’t expect much based on my post and he’s failed to live up to those tiny expectations. I agree COVID may be having something to with the slow start, but that doesn’t change the fact the trade deadline is in 11 days and that Nomar may not be the answer this season. I hope he proves me wrong, but at some point soon we may have to make a tough decision with him.

Are you actually confusing your own game winner threads now?

That’s true, but they wouldn’t be rocking a no bat, no glove guy like Mazara is at the moment.

Bump. Prove me wrong Mazara, prove me wrong!!

It’s really bad and it’s not like we have another option if he doesn’t break out of this funk. I doubt they trade for an OF, but they must at least be considering it internally.

Poor Nomar

Eloy bomb!

Does this guy have braces?

Thanks...then maybe that explains it.

Did we ever find out if he had COVID? If he did, perhaps he’s dealing with some lingering side effects. To your point, he’s never actually been worse than league average against RHP and we’re not getting anything close to that at the moment.

My god Mazara is useless at the moment.

One more pitch Lucas!

ERA now below 4.00 for Lucas.

Why is Budweiser Zero a thing? All the bad taste of Budweiser but without any of the fun?

I’m sure there is a logic to it, but at face value sending down the sensational rookie for the 4A outfielder is the worst of both worlds. Obviously in reality it’s not that big of a deal, but the inner meatball does not like it one bit.

I have never seen a pair of player moves make me so angry.

I live to serve! ?

He hasn’t and I agree!

Alright boys, today is the fourth & final game of the series against the Tigers. The Sox have won the first three and have outscored the Tigers 22 to 9. The Sox are now 14-11 on the season (.560) and sit just two games back of the Twins for the Central lead. As I mentioned yesterday, the Sox have a tough series coming up agains the Cubs and sweeping the Tigers would allow us to enter that series with momentum intact. On the mound for the Sox is Lucas Giolito, who has struggled to live up to expectations so far this year. He’s currently 1-2 with a 4.08 FIP on the season, but has battled two issues that are more or less related: 1st inning woes & poor fastball command. Giolito’s FIP is a whopping 6.94 in the 1st vs. 3.45 in all other innings. For those who watched him closely, being unable to locate his fastball early in games and especially in the 1st has really hurt him. Lucas & Coop definitely need to find a way to get him comfortable from the get-go or the Sox will quickly find themselves trying to claw back from a deficit early in the game. As for the Tigers, they will have 27 year old right-hander Spencer Turnbull on the mound. He has a very interesting pitch mix, primarily being a sinker-slider type while coming up through the minors until recently developing a four seamer that per FanGraphs “moves unlike any other four-seam fastball” generating both high ground-ball & whiff rates. He now uses the four seamer 43% of the time, with the sinker more a complimentary pitch to keep batters off-balance. Given his arsenal, Spencer generates a lot of ground-balls (54%) and that could be troubling for a group hitters who are prone to hit the ball into the ground. They’ll have to be patient today and wait for pitches they can elevate and while watching out for Turnbull’s slider which is a wipe-out pitch for him. Overall, this should be a pretty good match-up even if not as exciting as yesterday’s. Let’s fucking go boys!!!!!