August 17, 20205 yr 2 hours ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said: Except none of those guys you mentioned in the first paragraph is on the wrong side of 30 or been busted for PEDs in the past like Grandal. Springer is over 30 and I believe Suarez turns 30 this year too.
August 17, 20205 yr 30 minutes ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said: You don’t think the science behind performance enhancing drugs and how to avoid positive tests advances regularly? It's really difficult to beat blood testing when they now test for levels not specific substances. Not saying it can't be done but it definitely is not wide spread, short of microdosing.
August 18, 20205 yr 3 hours ago, Joshua Strong said: Springer is over 30 and I believe Suarez turns 30 this year too. And Springer is a player I would avoid in free agency this winter.
August 18, 20205 yr 51 minutes ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said: And Springer is a player I would avoid in free agency this winter. That's the guy the Sox will blow their wad on.
August 18, 20205 yr 21 minutes ago, Jack Parkman said: That's the guy the Sox will blow their wad on. So dumb that they didn’t pony up for Harper two years ago
August 18, 20205 yr Just now, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said: So dumb that they didn’t pony up for Harper two years ago Really.
August 18, 20205 yr 2 minutes ago, Jack Parkman said: Really. I just couldn’t believe it. Everyone was so damn fixated on overrated Machado while Harper was sitting there as the absolute perfect fit for this Sox team. Brutal Edited August 18, 20205 yr by JUSTgottaBELIEVE
August 18, 20205 yr Just now, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said: I just couldn’t believe it. Everyone was so damn fixated on overrated Machado while Harper was sitting there as the absolute perfect fit for this Sox team. Brutal I agreed and always did.
August 18, 20205 yr 3 minutes ago, Jack Parkman said: I agreed and always did. I think we were one of the few around here that felt that way.
August 18, 20205 yr 17 minutes ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said: I think we were one of the few around here that felt that way. I think a lot of people felt that way, but were just resigned early on that the Sox wouldn’t pony up the 325+ needed to get him. People were excited about Machado because it looked, for a time, like we might get a bargain.
August 18, 20205 yr " A follow up question, Rick ... then why not catch McCann more often and DH Grandal if you want to keep his potential LH bat in the lineup? is Zach Collins a lost cause on the bench?"
August 18, 20205 yr 10 minutes ago, skooch said: " A follow up question, Rick ... then why not catch McCann more often and DH Grandal if you want to keep his potential LH bat in the lineup? is Zach Collins a lost cause on the bench?" The Leury injury is gonna cost the Sox the luxury to carry a 3rd catcher soon. Leury being able to cover both IF and OF afforded them the 3 catcher project. I don't think they can keep this up, especially if a no position guy like EE stays on the roster. Maybe swap out Collins for Mercedes who can play LF in an emergency.
August 18, 20205 yr 9 hours ago, ChiSox59 said: Lol, Yasmani Grandal was suspended for taking testosterone in 2012, 2 years after he was drafted. It is a complete non issue. Grandal is one of the very best catchers in the game. They've played 22 games in a weird ass season. He hasn't been great, but he's going to be just fine. His OBP is .347 and his career OBP is .348. His slugging is way down, but he's going to be fine. Strong this. Looking to tie in Grandal's success to PED use is beyond a reach. lol His power hasn't shown up yet. That's it. His OBP is the same and average isn't far off. He's always been a hot/cold sort of a hitter too. MLBN did a comp of his numbers vs Realmuto over the past few years and it's nearly the same guy. Realmuto only slightly better. Grandal is one of the two best catchers in baseball recently. It's 22 games... in a year with basically no spring training. People sure do love their small sample sizes.
August 18, 20205 yr 8 hours ago, HOFHurt35 said: The Leury injury is gonna cost the Sox the luxury to carry a 3rd catcher soon. Leury being able to cover both IF and OF afforded them the 3 catcher project. I don't think they can keep this up, especially if a no position guy like EE stays on the roster. Maybe swap out Collins for Mercedes who can play LF in an emergency. It won't, because the 28 man roster is a thing this year.
August 18, 20205 yr Sign McCann up for 3 more years. Grandal can platoon at catcher and DH and have some stints on the DL without impacting the team.
August 18, 20205 yr 10 hours ago, Richie said: Strong this. Looking to tie in Grandal's success to PED use is beyond a reach. lol His power hasn't shown up yet. That's it. His OBP is the same and average isn't far off. He's always been a hot/cold sort of a hitter too. MLBN did a comp of his numbers vs Realmuto over the past few years and it's nearly the same guy. Realmuto only slightly better. Grandal is one of the two best catchers in baseball recently. It's 22 games... in a year with basically no spring training. People sure do love their small sample sizes. Yet, no one can explain why one of the top two catchers in MLB was benched by the Dodgers during the playoffs two years in a row.
August 18, 20205 yr Let me put it another way. I can’t imagine the Giants benching Posey or the Cardinals benching Molina during their primes and when those teams were consistently playing in the playoffs. I don’t care how much they may have been struggling at a point in time, you simply don’t bench them in the playoffs if they’re healthy. Is it possible that some are overrating Grandal? Or were the Dodgers, who I would consider a smarter organization than the White Sox, overreacting to a few bad playoff games from Grandal?
August 18, 20205 yr 24 minutes ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said: Yet, no one can explain why one of the top two catchers in MLB was benched by the Dodgers during the playoffs two years in a row. It was ONE year. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/grandya01.shtml And I can perfectly explain it. Grandal was lost offensively in the 2nd half. While Austin Barnes went unconscious with an OPS just under .900 and Roberts rode the hot hand. Not rocket science. Austin Barnes has a 3.4 career WAR over 6 years. 2.4 of that came in a season where he only started for half of it and had 262 total PA's. In fact, it wasn't even a bad overall season for Grandal. He finished with a 2.4 WAR himself. Edited August 18, 20205 yr by Richie
August 18, 20205 yr 19 minutes ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said: Let me put it another way. I can’t imagine the Giants benching Posey or the Cardinals benching Molina during their primes and when those teams were consistently playing in the playoffs. I don’t care how much they may have been struggling at a point in time, you simply don’t bench them in the playoffs if they’re healthy. Is it possible that some are overrating Grandal? Or were the Dodgers, who I would consider a smarter organization than the White Sox, overreacting to a few bad playoff games from Grandal? First of all, you're using a sure-fire HOF catcher and a borderline HOF catcher as examples. No one is claiming Grandal is that. lol Second of all, if Alex Rodriguez can be sat down in the World Series and be dropped to 9th in the lineup when he did play. Anyone can. Third of all, it's flawed logic. As neither of those guys ever went into a massive slump heading into the post-season while a young 2nd catcher was setting the world ablaze. Fourth, you can go up and down fangraphs from last season. Offensively, defensively... Yasmani Grandal is #1 in a multitude of catcher categories (offense and defense) and top 3 in everything, if I recall. What is there to overrate? It's just... factual. Edited August 18, 20205 yr by Richie
August 18, 20205 yr 55 minutes ago, Richie said: It was ONE year. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/grandya01.shtml And I can perfectly explain it. Grandal was lost offensively in the 2nd half. While Austin Barnes went unconscious with an OPS just under .900 and Roberts rode the hot hand. Not rocket science. Austin Barnes has a 3.4 career WAR over 6 years. 2.4 of that came in a season where he only started for half of it and had 262 total PA's. In fact, it wasn't even a bad overall season for Grandal. He finished with a 2.4 WAR himself. Two years https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sportingnews.com/us/amp/mlb/news/yasmani-grandal-dodgers-bench-nlcs-mlb-postseason-brewers-austin-barnes-rip-fans/kl7l8neelqws1drlfvktmug6y
August 18, 20205 yr 50 minutes ago, Richie said: First of all, you're using a sure-fire HOF catcher and a borderline HOF catcher as examples. No one is claiming Grandal is that. lol Second of all, if Alex Rodriguez can be sat down in the World Series and be dropped to 9th in the lineup when he did play. Anyone can. Third of all, it's flawed logic. As neither of those guys ever went into a massive slump heading into the post-season while a young 2nd catcher was setting the world ablaze. Fourth, you can go up and down fangraphs from last season. Offensively, defensively... Yasmani Grandal is #1 in a multitude of catcher categories (offense and defense) and top 3 in everything, if I recall. What is there to overrate? It's just... factual. You stated Grandal is one of the two best catchers in baseball over the past few years. Sorry, you simply don’t bench one of the two best catchers in baseball during the playoffs. And if he always sucks during the playoffs, why are the Sox paying him all this money to be a top line starter at his position? Also, everyone points to fangraphs but how does Grandal rate in bWAR? My opinion of Grandal aligns with the baseball reference version rather than the fangraphs version. Still a good player but not a great top 2 at his position type player.
August 18, 20205 yr For the record, these small nagging injuries would also go a long way towards explaining why RR hasn't played Grandal on an every day basis.
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