Overall he has been really good. He obviously is no prime pujols or miggy and he has some cold streaks including usually cold starts to the season  but over his career he averaged. 294 with around 30 homers and 110 rbi per year.

 

He also has his weaknesses in that his defense is not good and he also doesnt walk much but a .349 career obp is still solid and really a .290/350/520 line is all you need from your first baseman. If Vaughn can get there in his prime that would be great 

Edited August 23, 20205 yr by Dominikk85

7 hours ago, Yearnin' for Yermin said:

I wonder how often they are testing players for steroids during this covid season. Jose typically struggles with 90 mph fastballs up in the zone. Now he's turning on 95 mph heat up and in like he is prime Gary Sheffield. I want to believe, but it's just so implausible.

What a ridiculous post. You should be ashamed. Gmafb.

2 hours ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

One particular poster and a good poster but always hard on Abreu was ripping him in a game thread. He said something about Abreu looking old and slow and only being effective because he's cheating on fastballs.

My response was if it was so easy to lead the league in hard hit balls (95mph +) by cheating on fastballs he wouldn't be leading the league. There are just so many good fastball hitters in MLB that all look fastball 1st . I told the poster that reason was a reach.

He responded smugly when Abreu K'din his next AB .

I have not seen him praising Abreu in this thread.

 

There’s someone who likes troll about Abreu more than Ron?

8 hours ago, Yearnin' for Yermin said:

I wonder how often they are testing players for steroids during this covid season. Jose typically struggles with 90 mph fastballs up in the zone. Now he's turning on 95 mph heat up and in like he is prime Gary Sheffield. I want to believe, but it's just so implausible.

I like how Jose — a ROY, 2x Silver Slugger, and 3x All-Star — having a good season is so unfathomable to you that you have to interject steroids into the story line, yet you believe a career minor leaguer at age 27 is some super slugger extraordiare.

12 hours ago, Yearnin' for Yermin said:

I wonder how often they are testing players for steroids during this covid season. Jose typically struggles with 90 mph fastballs up in the zone. Now he's turning on 95 mph heat up and in like he is prime Gary Sheffield. I want to believe, but it's just so implausible.

No, you don’t want to believe.  You’re full of shit.  

Abreu hits HR in 4 consecutive at bats. 
 

Ron: Abreu is the first Sox player ever to fail in his attempt to hit 5 consecutive HRs.  

Edited August 23, 20205 yr by Leonard Zelig

4 hours ago, Chisoxmb35 said:

What a ridiculous post. You should be ashamed. Gmafb.

+1000

9 hours ago, Yearnin' for Yermin said:

I just have my suspicions. I really want to believe he is doing it the right way, but it is just such a 180 turn.

I'm speechless and very sad reading this, that somebody could write this after such a joyous Jose-a-thon weekend.

22 hours ago, SoxBlanco said:

Everybody complained about the extension...

Have to chime in. I did not complain about it.

I would like to say thanks for the title of this thread. I have been waiting for this thread forever on Soxtalk and now it's here. I feel he's getting his due and that makes me happy. I need to buy an Abreu jersey. Me.Likey.Jose and his contributions to the Sox.

1 hour ago, greg775 said:

I'm speechless and very sad reading this, that somebody could write this after such a joyous Jose-a-thon weekend.

right... its not like the guy has ever hit home runs before or hit .300

 

its just too odd to be true!

If Abreu really has as much to do with the recruiting and extending of our Latin kids as has been whispered about, not to mention taking these kids under his wing and showing them a high level work ethic,  he is worth every single penny of that deal he got.

8 hours ago, Quin said:

I like how Jose — a ROY, 2x Silver Slugger, and 3x All-Star — having a good season is so unfathomable to you that you have to interject steroids into the story line, yet you believe a career minor leaguer at age 27 is some super slugger extraordiare.

I mean it can't have anything to do with not being the only  legitimate threat in the line up anymore,  right?

10 hours ago, thxfrthmmrs said:

There’s someone who likes troll about Abreu more than Ron?

There's a few regular guys in game threads who regularly use the cheating on fastballs line. You know once one respected guy says it others pick it up as the go to phrase to explain how a slumping older guy is through . Or any struggling hitter along with his swing too long, bat speed is so slow. I have no idea how anyone identifies such things from their couch or we had so many major league scouts here. But who knows ,maybe they are using stop watches and have detailed ultra slow mo footage at home in their advanced metrics basements .

 

19 minutes ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

There's a few regular guys in game threads who regularly use the cheating on fastballs line. You know once one respected guy says it others pick it up as the go to phrase to explain how a slumping older guy is through . Or any struggling hitter along with his swing too long, bat speed is so slow. I have no idea how anyone identifies such things from their couch or we had so many major league scouts here. But who knows ,maybe they are using stop watches and have detailed ultra slow mo footage at home in their advanced metrics basements .

 

I see the bat speed line used a lot and I just really disagree with it. Yes, a player's bat speed can look slow, but it doesn't mean he's an over-the-hill bum who will never be good again. In many cases, things like bat speed, swing mechanics, swing plane, etc. are just facets of a game that go through ups and downs like anything else. Far too often, I see people criticizing the bat speed of Abreu, or even Mazara (who of course is still slumping, but probably not for long) and using it to imply that they're done

12 hours ago, Yearnin' for Yermin said:

I've acknowledged how great Jose has played this year, but I just have my suspicions. I really want to believe he is doing it the right way, but it is just such a 180 turn. He is creaming 95 MPH fastballs up and in, when he used to struggle with 90 MPH heat up in the zone. 

Oh well. As long as the Sox are winning, I can't complain.

Sad, I'm putting u on ignore. Hate to do it but I must. The others I've put on ignore have helped me be more civil. I've now got 3 on ignore and life is better.

Edited August 24, 20205 yr by greg775

Not only that but judging/scouting any player ,young or old ,accurately is extremely difficult. Everything to our hitting coach couch experts here is explained away so easily and smugly like they are the end all be all hitting gurus.

Personally ,especially with young players ,I hate calling anyone a bust or saying they suck . Sometimes all it takes is some small thing that allows them to adjust to the highest level,  be it physical or mental. Some never find it, some it takes years.

I want to see a guy like Mercedes get a legit shot to be a DH somewhere. I have never seen him fail as a hitter at any level. Even in the SSS of this years Spring Training he was raking. Just sick power numbers . But one of our resident stats analysis experts said he cant hit a curve to save his life.

I don't care how long it's taken him. (The tried and true career minor leaguer bash ) .Obviously his defense held him back but the older he gets he has to produce or it keeps setting him back more. He wont have the luxury of getting chance after chance if he doesnt hit the ground running. Collins being LH and with 1st round pedigree will always be given more opportunties even with failed early attempts. If Mercedes looked as bad as Collins did when 1st getting a look he might never get another shot. That's not an indictment of Collins but more recognizing that different paths are travelled to reach the same destination.

 

Edited August 24, 20205 yr by CaliSoxFanViaSWside

Imagine how good he could have been had he been in a decent lineup for all of those years.....

Triple Crown Watch

1st in RBI
1st in HR
5th in Avg

9 hours ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

Not only that but judging/scouting any player ,young or old ,accurately is extremely difficult. Everything to our hitting coach couch experts here is explained away so easily and smugly like they are the end all be all hitting gurus.

Personally ,especially with young players ,I hate calling anyone a bust or saying they suck . Sometimes all it takes is some small thing that allows them to adjust to the highest level,  be it physical or mental. Some never find it, some it takes years.

I want to see a guy like Mercedes get a legit shot to be a DH somewhere. I have never seen him fail as a hitter at any level. Even in the SSS of this years Spring Training he was raking. Just sick power numbers . But one of our resident stats analysis experts said he cant hit a curve to save his life.

I don't care how long it's taken him. (The tried and true career minor leaguer bash ) .Obviously his defense held him back but the older he gets he has to produce or it keeps setting him back more. He wont have the luxury of getting chance after chance if he doesnt hit the ground running. Collins being LH and with 1st round pedigree will always be given more opportunties even with failed early attempts. If Mercedes looked as bad as Collins did when 1st getting a look he might never get another shot. That's not an indictment of Collins but more recognizing that different paths are travelled to reach the same destination.

 

Yermin definitely deserves a shot somewhere but I'm not sure you can really say he has monster power.

Throughout his career he never really showed monster power and was mostly like a 15 hr guy until last year when he hit 23 in like 90 games which is big of course  (40 pace albeit with the juiced ball).

Longenhagen gave him 6 raw and 5 game power and 6 hit. That means he sees him as a .280 hitter with 20 homers, even if you bump that to 25 that isn't a bad hitter but teams don't tend to use a roster spot on that type of player.

In fact most teams don't have a full time DH anymore and tend to rotate players unless you have a transcendent bat who can't field (like ortiz or Cruz).

Really those ok but not great DHs are phased out from the game. Obviously if you are nelson Cruz they find a spot for you but if you are just ok many teams prefer rotating 4 outfielders through DH and save a roster spot if they don't have a monster hitter who can't field.

3 hours ago, Dominikk85 said:

Yermin definitely deserves a shot somewhere but I'm not sure you can really say he has monster power.

Throughout his career he never really showed monster power and was mostly like a 15 hr guy until last year when he hit 23 in like 90 games which is big of course  (40 pace albeit with the juiced ball).

Longenhagen gave him 6 raw and 5 game power and 6 hit. That means he sees him as a .280 hitter with 20 homers, even if you bump that to 25 that isn't a bad hitter but teams don't tend to use a roster spot on that type of player.

In fact most teams don't have a full time DH anymore and tend to rotate players unless you have a transcendent bat who can't field (like ortiz or Cruz).

Really those ok but not great DHs are phased out from the game. Obviously if you are nelson Cruz they find a spot for you but if you are just ok many teams prefer rotating 4 outfielders through DH and save a roster spot if they don't have a monster hitter who can't field.

The sick power numbers came in AAA and in spring training and bringing up the juiced ball with him is just the type of resistance to him I'm talking about. Its not like only he hit with a juiced ball.

Robert had the juiced ball too as did all MLB player. YM also led in ST HRs with 4 had a .955 slugging and 1.400 OPS. Every major opportunity he got he raked. He hit slightly better than Robert in AAA with a better K %.

The Sox could do something bold and dump EE . I'm not suggesting they will but between Collins and Meredes thats a lot of power and I think youd get decent OBP from both of them too

Just my musings.

Saw this, thought of Ron

On 8/24/2020 at 2:04 PM, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

The sick power numbers came in AAA and in spring training and bringing up the juiced ball with him is just the type of resistance to him I'm talking about. Its not like only he hit with a juiced ball.

Robert had the juiced ball too as did all MLB player. YM also led in ST HRs with 4 had a .955 slugging and 1.400 OPS. Every major opportunity he got he raked. He hit slightly better than Robert in AAA with a better K %.

The Sox could do something bold and dump EE . I'm not suggesting they will but between Collins and Meredes thats a lot of power and I think youd get decent OBP from both of them too

Just my musings.

I'm with you. I wish more White Sox would champion the cause. 

On 8/23/2020 at 10:33 PM, southsider2k5 said:

If Abreu really has as much to do with the recruiting and extending of our Latin kids as has been whispered about, not to mention taking these kids under his wing and showing them a high level work ethic,  he is worth every single penny of that deal he got.

Well stated.

1 minute ago, JuliusO1274 said:

I'm with you. I wish more White Sox would champion the cause. 

Well I know the concerns about him are legit because he absolutely is just tough to put on this team. Ever since the  Vaughn rumors it's like Mercedes disappeared . Here  you have a guy who took the long road to get to where he is now and old enough not to have concerns about service time who hit just as good if not better than Robert at the same time at the same level.

Then theres  Vaughn ultra talented top draft choice who hasn't played above A ball with obvious service time issues. Why in hell would he get brought up before Yermin ?

Vaughn is the future not the present no matter how much we salivate for him.

Mercedes is built for the present but he's a round peg without a round hole. Encarnacion isnt going anywhere. And even if he did Mercedes odds of making a good contribution to the Sox this year only move from impossible to nearly impossible.

 

On 8/24/2020 at 9:40 AM, beautox said:

Triple Crown Watch

1st in RBI
1st in HR
5th in Avg

  Not sure if MLB will change the amount of PA required to qualify for a batting title, but by the current rules it would take 187 PA in these 60 games to be proportional to a 162 season. TA7 should appear in the rankings this weekend, as he works off the games he missed. His .345 would put him in 2nd place right now.  DJ Lamehue is hitting over .400 but continues on the IL and may not qualify by seasons end. Jose is batting .320.