1 minute ago, Dominikk85 said:

I wonder if only certain pitchers want to pitch to collins. I do like giving grandal a few more days off and keeping him fresh as he is 32 (I think 115-120 games caught is good for him),  but play collins against righties please. 

He’s already caught Giolito & Lynn and now will be adding Cease.  Keuchel has always been a Grandal fan, but right now it doesn’t appear any of them outside of maybe Dallas will only work with one guy.  I still think you should avoid using personal catchers and go with the best offensive matchup each day, within reason obviously.

2 minutes ago, Dominikk85 said:

I wonder if only certain pitchers want to pitch to collins. I do like giving grandal a few more days off and keeping him fresh as he is 32 (I think 115-120 games caught is good for him),  but play collins against righties please. 

You could be right but geez, pitcher/catcher match shouldn't be as important a decision vs batting Collins against a pretty tough lefty.  Its not fair to him.  He needs to keep building on his momentum.  A frustration day could set him back a little.   Hope Collins can beat the % anyway but this TLR version not same guy we had before.  

Very *very* obvious problems with the line up.

 

Leury should be batting 9th, if in the line up at all.

Grandal should be in over Collins due to match up.

 

Just stupid. 

 

9 minutes ago, Rounding_Third said:

You could be right but geez, pitcher/catcher match shouldn't be as important a decision vs batting Collins against a pretty tough lefty.  Its not fair to him.  He needs to keep building on his momentum.  A frustration day could set him back a little.   Hope Collins can beat the % anyway but this TLR version not same guy we had before.  

This is exactly the version we had before. He was a mediocre (.506) stubborn manager, who was pwned by a rookie manager in the one playoff he managed to make.

You need to be flexible with rainouts. Your top hitter is out the season and you have four would be starters out (Anderson, Engel and Grandal).

You don’t have the luxury of continuing to play Collins against LHP (and sitting him vs. righties) because you came up with some plan days ago, before a rainout, and jackass 19th-20th century baseball  “gut” decisions like batting Garcia lead off.

Edited April 11, 20214 yr by South Side Hit Men

18 minutes ago, Two-Gun Pete said:

Meh, I'm not all that worried about the lineup.

 

This game, and this season rests largely on the ability for Cease to throw strikes, and consume innings, full stop. Its set up nicely for him today against this particular opponent. Here's your chance to rise above your heretofore career of mediocrity, Dylan.

And heres hoping that Cease can deliver the goods today.

Cease taking steps forward and optimizing the lineup aren’t mutually exclusive.  Seasons can come down to a single game and every decision matters.  I agree in many ways that Cease is the fulcrum to the season, but I’d also like to see La Russa show more as our manager.

Soxtalk and Twitter b*%&ing about the lineup so sounds like a good day to bet the over on Sox runs. 

Central Daylight Time (CDT)....baseball season

Central Standard Time (CST)...when it snows here mostly

23 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Cease taking steps forward and optimizing the lineup aren’t mutually exclusive.  Seasons can come down to a single game and every decision matters.  I agree in many ways that Cease is the fulcrum to the season, but I’d also like to see La Russa show more as our manager.

Sure, we're all irritated that the (snicker) "Hall of Fame Baseball Person" can't get his shit sorted. Im equally irritated that this incompetent FO couldn't figure out how to make a more competent utility player than Leury. (Note how many exposures Mendick has to playing in the OF, then recognize why Leury is currently ahead of him in the depth chart.)

 

But all that shit should have been worked out well before this season started; there ain't much that can be done about those things right now..

 

With Cease, he's mostly been a disaster since being called up, and sure, they could/should have gotten someone more competent than he this past offseason. But he's here now, and supposedly, Katz was supposed to "fix him." So, let's see it. Let's see him get his BB/9 low enough for him to contribute positive WAR to this team. Its all right in front of him to do.

Edited April 11, 20214 yr by Two-Gun Pete

9 minutes ago, South Side Hit Men said:

 

This is exactly the version we had before. He was a mediocre (.506) stubborn manager, who was pwned by a rookie manager in the one playoff he managed to make.

You need to be flexible with rainouts. Your top hitter is out the season and you have four would be starters out (Anderson, Engel and Grandal).

You don’t have the luxury of continuing to play Collins against LHP (and sitting him vs. righties) because you came up with some plan days ago, before a rainout, and jackass 19th-20th century baseball  “gut” decisions like batting Garcia lead off.

Definitely!  He needs to put players in a position to succeed; not try to prove what a genius he might be if Collins can beat the %. 

 However, I'm not totally against Garcia at leadoff only because he's batting righty.  Other than that, no way!

hall of fame baseball person™ for whom the game has passed by...

18 minutes ago, South Side Hit Men said:

 

This is exactly the version we had before. He was a mediocre (.506) stubborn manager, who was pwned by a rookie manager in the one playoff he managed to make.

You need to be flexible with rainouts. Your top hitter is out the season and you have four would be starters out (Anderson, Engel and Grandal).

You don’t have the luxury of continuing to play Collins against LHP (and sitting him vs. righties) because you came up with some plan days ago, before a rainout, and jackass 19th-20th century baseball  “gut” decisions like batting Garcia lead off.

Talk to me when you have the success La Russa has had. 

Another game another misuse of Madrigal lol.  

I can see why TLR wants Robert in the 2-hole for now.   But the day will come when Robert gets moved to 5 and Madrigal take his rightful spot in the 2-hole.  

Grandal is coming off a knee injury and this game is being played on a wet field.  Sometime decisions are not based strictly on stats.

1 minute ago, ThirdGen said:

Grandal is coming off a knee injury and this game is being played on a wet field.  Sometime decisions are not based strictly on stats.

That is not the reason he is sitting today.

1 minute ago, iWiN4PreP said:

That is not the reason he is sitting today.

So bizzare!  Cleveland is throwing 3 RHP's.  Collins could catch one (or two if needed for Grandal rest).  They're both equally important divisional foes. 

14 minutes ago, ron883 said:

Talk to me when you have the success La Russa has had. 

Do I also get to hand out 50,000 steroid filled syringes?

The pinnacle of Tony’s success in Chicago. Game 4 of the 1983 playoffs. 
 

Perhaps Tony’s pal Mark is sending Yermin care packages.

Father Time claims everyone.

 

One of the funniest things ever is when we as fans point to wrong-sided platoon lineup decisions like they are these “AH HA! See?! Gotcha!!!” moments.  
 

Like the actual baseball people in charge of our team aren’t aware of platoon advantages/disadvantages.  This isn’t saber.  This isn’t smarts.  This platoon awareness predates the world wars for Pete’s sake. 

 

They frickin know about it. 
 

 

Nothing like our worst hitter to start the year batting lead off. 

18 minutes ago, Jerksticks said:

One of the funniest things ever is when we as fans point to wrong-sided platoon lineup decisions like they are these “AH HA! See?! Gotcha!!!” moments.  
 

Like the actual baseball people in charge of our team aren’t aware of platoon advantages/disadvantages.  This isn’t saber.  This isn’t smarts.  This platoon awareness predates the world wars for Pete’s sake. 

 

They frickin know about it. 
 

 

Then please rationalize these against-the-platoon decisions

17 minutes ago, Jerksticks said:

One of the funniest things ever is when we as fans point to wrong-sided platoon lineup decisions like they are these “AH HA! See?! Gotcha!!!” moments.  
 

Like the actual baseball people in charge of our team aren’t aware of platoon advantages/disadvantages.  This isn’t saber.  This isn’t smarts.  This platoon awareness predates the world wars for Pete’s sake. 

 

They frickin know about it. 
 

 

Correct.  That's why its such a strange decision.  This only makes sense if Grandal's knee is still an issue and it needs 3 days off.  Let's hope that's not the case and its just TLR being TLR.

2 hours ago, EloyJenkins said:

Leury leading off is the biggest indictment on the offseason yet. Good lord.

At least it’s against a mediocre lefty

25 minutes ago, Jerksticks said:

One of the funniest things ever is when we as fans point to wrong-sided platoon lineup decisions like they are these “AH HA! See?! Gotcha!!!” moments.  
 

Like the actual baseball people in charge of our team aren’t aware of platoon advantages/disadvantages.  This isn’t saber.  This isn’t smarts.  This platoon awareness predates the world wars for Pete’s sake. 

 

They frickin know about it. 
 

 

Simply 4-D chess.  And LaRussa really knew all along how good Mercedes was...so told Hahn, we don’t need no stinkin’ Nelson Cruz or “Hector/food guys” updates around here!

Very few guys on our roster have faced Minor somehow and he’s limited them to a .408 OPS.  Abreu & Moncada are both 0-4 while Leury is 2/3 with a BB.  While those samples are ridiculously small, I have feeling that career OPS against us is going to rise quite a bit after today.

12 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Then please rationalize these against-the-platoon decisions

Maybe platoon isn’t the foremost consideration when it comes to the catcher position

7 minutes ago, Vulture said:

Maybe platoon isn’t the foremost consideration when it comes to the catcher position

Jerksticks’ post wasn’t exclusive to the catcher position.  But let’s say it was, it’s not like Collins is Cease’s personal catcher.  What are the other considerations here?