Jose Abreu

It will never happen, but Anderson-Moncada-Robert-Vaughn (or Vaughn-Robert) is my dream 1-through-4

I think he's a useful player if he's starting once or twice a week. Problem is he's starting more often than not. Sounds familiar if you ask me

Madrigal's .349 OBP in 2021 was behind Grandal (.420), Robert (.378), Moncada (.375), and Abreu (.351)

1-3? You're much more optimistic than I am, especially with how hot the Angels have been

Agreed. And Pollock has only started six games since he missed time already

The weird thing for me with Grandal is the lack of walks. I'm thinking/hoping it's just a slow start like last year, but I do agree on the ball affecting him as I recall a couple barrel outs from him recently. You never know with Pollock but I have a hard time believing that he's cooked this soon. He may not be as good as he was last year, but when healthy he was one of the best hitters on one of the best teams in baseball. I think he has 2-3 more above average years

The only one I have concerns about there is Abreu. Pollock will be fine IMO, this was only his sixth start of the season and he clearly should've gotten a rehab stint to get his timing back. I know this forum generally hates Grandal, but while it's unlikely that he'll be as good as he was last year (I'm not sure if we'll ever see that kind of output from a White Sox catcher again), he's streaky and starting to make better contact at least over the last few games

I don't think he makes it through May (or whenever Lynn returns)

Not to mention it was announced at 11 AM (during pre-game interviews) that Haseley, Garcia, Mendick, and Harrison were starting the second game

I trust Vaughn against a nasty slider from RHP more than I trust Jimenez or Abreu, personally. But that's also factoring in improvements from Vaughn that I'm confident, but not positive he has made yet

Also worth noting that despite being a RHP, Brash was tougher on lefties (.476 OPS allowed) than righties (.583 OPS allowed) last year

In fact, he said pretty much the exact opposite

Tampa? They've been looking for left-handed power (despite dangling Meadows) and made a surprisingly good offer to Freeman

The Thome comment made me curious, so I checked. Since 2006 (minimum 250 PAs), the 3 best offensive seasons (wRC+) by a White Sox non-Thome left-handed hitter are held by... Omar Narvaez, Adam Eaton, and AJ Pierzynski

Yup, although I still don't think that mattered for the Sox. Atlanta won the World Series, and they, too, were under .500 against winning teams in the regular season. Obviously the Sox still had many areas to improve upon, and didn't improve any of them over the offseason, but I hesitate to point to their regular season performance against good teams as an important indicator given Atlanta's run

If anything, I see Andrew Vaughn starting in RF as more akin to a 6'4 Javonte Green starting at power forward for most of the 2022 Bulls' season. Both good players that serve a purpose, but just aren't capable of fulfilling the role they're being placed in

If he goes down, maybe they try Abreu out there tomorrow

The option years were 2/18, so I guess one way to look at it is a 3/58 extension on top of guaranteeing those years. But man, that's still cheap for his production

Problem is, you sign one of those guys and next thing you know, Tony has named him the everyday RF

It's wishful thinking — I believe he is the only White Sox player remaining (Engel and Lopez settled) as arbitration eligible. We've seen a couple extensions across the league this week. I don't think and never did think we're signing Conforto, so maybe, just maybe, they're working on something with Giolito to make this offseason at least somewhat redeemable

Lucas Giolito and the White Sox agree to a contract extension

Love to see most/all of the regulars in, but hate 5 righties in a row and the best OBP guy hitting directly in front of Leury and Harrison

I agree about front offices and agents negotiating through the media, I just struggle to see how Levine apparently mentioning (on a random afternoon show that none of us actually heard on our own, I should add) that the Sox aren't looking for a RF upgrade is an example of it. Even if you're correct that it's not about the specific example, but the Sox wanting to have a united front on not needing an upgrade, you'd think that Boras would know their interest level or lack thereof by now.

I don't get it. Scott Boras is eagerly tuning into 670 The Score and punching air when he hears Levine say the Sox aren't looking to upgrade in RF?