Before the rebuild, the Sox had four “stars” - Sale, Quintana, Eaton, Abreu. I’d take the current foursome of Moncada, Giolito, Robert, Jimenez over the before-mentioned group. These four have a legitimate chance to be top 3 players in MLB at their respective positions as early as next year. That’s incredible. 

4 hours ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said:

Before the rebuild, the Sox had four “stars” - Sale, Quintana, Eaton, Abreu. I’d take the current foursome of Moncada, Giolito, Robert, Jimenez over the before-mentioned group. These four have a legitimate chance to be top 3 players in MLB at their respective positions as early as next year. That’s incredible. 

You didn't even mention the SS who's in the lead for the batting title. 

20 minutes ago, TaylorStSox said:

You didn't even mention the SS who's in the lead for the batting title. 

or the 2B with elite bat to ball skills who could probably hit over .300 every year and almost never strike out 

5 hours ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said:

Before the rebuild, the Sox had four “stars” - Sale, Quintana, Eaton, Abreu. I’d take the current foursome of Moncada, Giolito, Robert, Jimenez over the before-mentioned group. These four have a legitimate chance to be top 3 players in MLB at their respective positions as early as next year. That’s incredible. 

Just for fun, if you extend their performances for Aug/Sep to an entire season, here's what it would look like for Tim, Eloy, and Yoan:

Tim- 138 Rs, 64 2Bs, 25 HRs, 64 RBIs, .368 BA, .384 OBP, .943 OPS

Eloy- 102 Rs, 34 2Bs, 7 3Bs, 44 HRs, 129 RBIs, .317 BA, .349 OBP, .932 OPS

Yoan- 118 Rs, 68 2Bs (!!!), 12 3Bs, 23 HRs, 101 RBIs, .364 BA, .406 OBP, 1.008 OPS

8 hours ago, TaylorStSox said:

You didn't even mention the SS who's in the lead for the batting title. 

batting title is such an overrated "award".  it's better to use batting average to compliment other stats, and Tim has none of those other eye-catching stats like OBP, HR, SBs.  In fact he's a pretty average player when you take his defense into account.  He's the most overrated player on these boards imo

Current positional AL WAR leaders

Current positional AL wRC+ leaders
 

Anybody else think Moncada is due for a massive regression next year?  Look at that BABIP, yikes.

2019 Exit Velocity leaders

3 hours ago, joesaiditstrue said:

Anybody else think Moncada is due for a massive regression next year?  Look at that BABIP, yikes.

StatCast has Yoan’s xwOBACON (quality of contact) at .490.  For perspective, Mike Trout is at .532, Bergman is at .352,    Cruz is at .544, Springer is at .463, and Canha is at .401.  Basically, Yoan has an insanely good quality contact and while there is a little bit of luck with hit batting average, I wouldn’t expect that much regression next year.  If anything, I think we’ll see his BB rate slowly creep back which would only make him a more valuable hitter.

15 hours ago, TaylorStSox said:

You didn't even mention the SS who's in the lead for the batting title. 

TA is great but I don’t see a path for him to become a top 3 player at shortstop any time soon.  His defense would have to improve dramatically. 

3 hours ago, Chicago White Sox said:

StatCast has Yoan’s xwOBACON (quality of contact) at .490.  For perspective, Mike Trout is at .532, Bergman is at .352,    Cruz is at .544, Springer is at .463, and Canha is at .401.  Basically, Yoan has an insanely good quality contact and while there is a little bit of luck with hit batting average, I wouldn’t expect that much regression next year.  If anything, I think we’ll see his BB rate slowly creep back which would only make him a more valuable hitter.

Should see the K% continue to improve as well, which will help offset BABIP regression.

On 4/6/2018 at 7:48 PM, Buehrle>Wood said:

Hitting .154

Lol

The thing that most blows me away with Moncada was his improvement as a RH hitter. And that goes to show you the patience needed there, they just need to get consistent reps on that side.

He was absolutely awful last year as a LH, I'd say 90% of his improvement this year is just him moving from awful to good in those at bats. He cut his k%, and where he added 14 more hits almost all of them were power hits. 9 more 2bs, 1more 3bs, double the HRs.

9 hours ago, joesaiditstrue said:

batting title is such an overrated "award".  it's better to use batting average to compliment other stats, and Tim has none of those other eye-catching stats like OBP, HR, SBs.  In fact he's a pretty average player when you take his defense into account.  He's the most overrated player on these boards imo

I disagree.  Leading the league in batting average is a special accomplishment and still means a lot.  Tim had a 20/20 season last year and has an outside chance at another 20/20 season this year, so he's still giving you the power and speed stats to go along with that batting average.  His defense needs to improve, but the talent to be an above average defensive shortstop is evident.  He's going to have a 3.5-4 WAR season this year.  If anything, I think Tim remains underrated on these boards, since he's often not mentioned as part of the "core" group with Moncada, Eloy, and Robert. 

22 minutes ago, Perfect Vision said:

I disagree.  Leading the league in batting average is a special accomplishment and still means a lot.  Tim had a 20/20 season last year and has an outside chance at another 20/20 season this year, so he's still giving you the power and speed stats to go along with that batting average.  His defense needs to improve, but the talent to be an above average defensive shortstop is evident.  He's going to have a 3.5-4 WAR season this year.  If anything, I think Tim remains underrated on these boards, since he's often not mentioned as part of the "core" group with Moncada, Eloy, and Robert. 

He's def a little taken for granted.  He's not a superstar but he's turned into a star and with a little defensive improvement he can put up a 5 WAR season or two in his prime.

TA is by far the biggest feather in this front offices cap. He was a highly risky pick in 2013 and in a 1st round redraft he'd almost certainly be a top 3 pick.

With Anderson, the thing that concerns me more than his defense is his low walk total. I think part of it is his style, as he is a very aggressive hitter and is not often ahead in counts. However, I'm apprehensive that whenever he has a slump his OBP is going to plummet to an abysmal level. Can you imagine a half-year where he's hitting .230 with a .250 OBP? That wouldn't be good.

I love Tim though, and I'm really glad he's part of our team for the next several years. He's one of my favorite players.

Edited September 24, 20196 yr by Greg Hibbard

2 hours ago, bmags said:

TA is by far the biggest feather in this front offices cap. He was a highly risky pick in 2013 and in a 1st round redraft he'd almost certainly be a top 3 pick.

Kind of a fun exercise.  Only really looked at top 4 rounds...I think argument could be made for top 5.  Tough to beat Bellinger, Judge and Bryant though.  

1. Cory Bellinger (124)

2. Aaron Judge (32)

3. Kris Bryant (2)

4. Tim Anderson (17)

5. Austin Meadows (9)

6. Sean Manaea (34)

7. Hunter Dozier (8)

8. Marco Gonzalez (19)

9. Clint Frazier (5)

10. JP Crawford (16) /  Hunter Renfroe (13)

20 minutes ago, Greg Hibbard said:

With Anderson, the thing that concerns me more than his defense is his low walk total. I think part of it is his style, as he is a very aggressive hitter and is not often ahead in counts. However, I'm apprehensive that whenever he has a slump his OBP is going to plummet to an abysmal level. Can you imagine a half-year where he's hitting .230 with a .250 OBP? That wouldn't be good.

I love Tim though, and I'm really glad he's part of our team for the next several years. He's one of my favorite players.

The thing with Tim is that he will walk more when he doesn't hit. It was the case last year. I think at minimum you're gonna get a .280 OBP out of him. Now that's pretty bad but with the improvements at the plate he's made this year I doubt he ever goes back to hitting .250 unless he reverts to his old pull happy ways of hitting. The improvements this year have been real. He probably won't hit .330 again but I'm pretty confident he's going to hang around .300.

4 hours ago, chitownsportsfan said:

He's def a little taken for granted.  He's not a superstar but he's turned into a star and with a little defensive improvement he can put up a 5 WAR season or two in his prime.

Timmy is not underrated nor is he taken for granted. Most fans understand he is a quality baseball player with a high ceiling if he becomes consistent defensively. 

17 hours ago, Chicago White Sox said:

StatCast has Yoan’s xwOBACON (quality of contact) at .490.  For perspective, Mike Trout is at .532, Bergman is at .352,    Cruz is at .544, Springer is at .463, and Canha is at .401.  Basically, Yoan has an insanely good quality contact and while there is a little bit of luck with hit batting average, I wouldn’t expect that much regression next year.  If anything, I think we’ll see his BB rate slowly creep back which would only make him a more valuable hitter.

He's also gonna hit a lot more home runs, IMO. A small swing tweak and increase in launch angle and suddenly Moncada is a perennial 30-40 HR guy.

On another note, he said before the game today that he is going to try to steal more bases next year

22 minutes ago, Jose Abreu said:

He's also gonna hit a lot more home runs, IMO. A small swing tweak and increase in launch angle and suddenly Moncada is a perennial 30-40 HR guy.

On another note, he said before the game today that he is going to try to steal more bases next year

Seriously?! I missed this. Thank you for posting. Probably the only tool that I've been disappointed in that he hasn't really shown in the two years he's been here (he's fine as a baserunner obviously, just not a game changing threat stealing bases like he should be).

Edited September 25, 20196 yr by SoxAce

8 hours ago, SonofaRoache said:

Timmy is not underrated nor is he taken for granted. Most fans understand he is a quality baseball player with a high ceiling if he becomes consistent defensively. 

Timmy is underrated he is taken for granted. Most fans don’t understand he is a quality baseball player with a high ceiling if he becomes consistent defensively.

6 hours ago, Jose Abreu said:

He's also gonna hit a lot more home runs, IMO. A small swing tweak and increase in launch angle and suddenly Moncada is a perennial 30-40 HR guy.

On another note, he said before the game today that he is going to try to steal more bases next year

Yeah, I could see that on the power front.  The stolen bases would be nice too, especially since we should be trying to win in 2020.