16 hours ago, Heads22 said:

Wish we had the old 40 man roster flexibility that we did in years past in September, would actually be useful for once

At this point I think the Sox could use an NFL preseason roster.

Edited August 23, 20214 yr by kitekrazy

Active roster, as it currently stands, is pretty damn good in terms of available players. That excuse doesn’t really exist anymore. 
I’m ok with some tinkering/rest/experimenting, however. I think health should take precedence over anything else until October hits. 

He may not be a full-time catcher at this point.

 

Edited August 23, 20214 yr by pcq

54 minutes ago, Colome's Hat said:

Is it possible they want him to avoid playing on astroturf if possible?

We have a winner !

13 minutes ago, Blackout Friday said:

Active roster, as it currently stands, is pretty damn good in terms of available players. That excuse doesn’t really exist anymore. 
I’m ok with some tinkering/rest/experimenting, however. I think health should take precedence over anything else until October hits. 

I understand that but I think the operative word for me is "gel". The lineup that this team hopes to take through the playoffs, and wants to leverage to its maximum potentential, has been put on the field how many times this year? Once or twice maybe?

Doesn't your offensive mindset and approach in an at bat depend on where you bat in the lineup, and who would typically be on the bases when you're up? Won't you likely see different pitch sequencing depending on who is hitting behind you? For heavens sake, if Eloy is in left field, won't your CF, 3B, and SS likely need to have a different mindset prepared for when balls are hit to that area? The players ability to best respond to all those (and many more) factors would be maximized if it has become second nature in a lineup that has had a summer to gel together.

My $.02

35 minutes ago, SpringfieldFan said:

I understand that but I think the operative word for me is "gel". The lineup that this team hopes to take through the playoffs, and wants to leverage to its maximum potentential, has been put on the field how many times this year? Once or twice maybe?

Doesn't your offensive mindset and approach in an at bat depend on where you bat in the lineup, and who would typically be on the bases when you're up? Won't you likely see different pitch sequencing depending on who is hitting behind you? For heavens sake, if Eloy is in left field, won't your CF, 3B, and SS likely need to have a different mindset prepared for when balls are hit to that area? The players ability to best respond to all those (and many more) factors would be maximized if it has become second nature in a lineup that has had a summer to gel together.

My $.02

Farhan Zaidi (apologies bc I’m too lazy to check name spelling if I’m wrong) recently said the most overrated thing in terms of roster construction is the 26 man roster. He is 100% correct. Most teams never/rarely see this offseason primo roster actually come to fruition. 
 

as usual, the Sox were bad at creating solid depth in the off-season. To some credit and some luck, they managed piece things together. 

3 minutes ago, Blackout Friday said:

Farhan Zaidi (apologies bc I’m too lazy to check name spelling if I’m wrong) recently said the most overrated thing in terms of roster construction is the 26 man roster. He is 100% correct. Most teams never/rarely see this offseason primo roster actually come to fruition. 
 

as usual, the Sox were bad at creating solid depth in the off-season. To some credit and some luck, they managed piece things together. 

Considering all the players that have contributed, I think they did a good job with the depth from the position player standpoint. You aren't going to have all stars 5 players deep in Charlotte.

4 minutes ago, Blackout Friday said:

Farhan Zaidi (apologies bc I’m too lazy to check name spelling if I’m wrong) recently said the most overrated thing in terms of roster construction is the 26 man roster. He is 100% correct. Most teams never/rarely see this offseason primo roster actually come to fruition. 
 

as usual, the Sox were bad at creating solid depth in the off-season. To some credit and some luck, they managed piece things together. 

Bad at creating depth? They lost 3 starting players for at least 3 months of the season and another for over two months. That's nearly half the lineup and they are still running away with the division. The players they brought up as depth performed well.

Bad at creating depth *in the off-season* 

 

Not suggesting they don’t deserve credit for in-season maneuvering, but there is a distinction between the two that I thought was clearly made. 

5 minutes ago, Blackout Friday said:

Bad at creating depth *in the off-season* 

 

Not suggesting they don’t deserve credit for in-season maneuvering, but there is a distinction between the two that I thought was clearly made. 

Well if they were confident in the players they had in system then they really didn't need to do it from outside the system in the off season. Regardless of where or when the the players came from, it has worked out pretty well to cover for significant injuries.

5 minutes ago, ptatc said:

Well if they were confident in the players they had in system then they really didn't need to do it from outside the system in the off season. Regardless of where or when the the players came from, it has worked out pretty well to cover for significant injuries.

Not sure if using the result the measure the process is the best approach, but nonetheless it has worked out. 
 

Counting on Billy Hamilton and Brian Goodwin being released and being contributors isn’t really something you can bank on. That’s more of a fringe competitor strategy. Counting on guys like Jake Burger is absurd. I’m not suggesting they don’t know what they’re doing, moreso that they have a tendency to act like second place teams instead of big boys. 

Edited August 23, 20214 yr by Blackout Friday

Yeah, depth is not something to attack the Sox on this year.

3 minutes ago, Blackout Friday said:

Not sure if using the result the measure the process is the best approach, but nonetheless it has worked out. 

They didn't do a bad job. Some Soxtalk favorites would have been disasters. Brock Holt, Tommy Lastella. People wanted Heyward to play RF. Those guys weren't any better than Soxtalk whipping targets. RH did a far better job GMing the team this past offseason than any of us would have done.

4 minutes ago, Buehrle>Wood said:

Yeah, depth is not something to attack the Sox on this year.

Until other teams released superior players, nick williams played LF. That was before Robert was hurt. Our top prospect had to become a LF on a dime. Just because it somehow worked out doesn’t mean that planning was A1

1 minute ago, Dick Allen said:

They didn't do a bad job. Some Soxtalk favorites would have been disasters. Brock Holt, Tommy Lastella. People wanted Heyward to play RF. Those guys weren't any better than Soxtalk whipping targets. RH did a far better job GMing the team this past offseason than any of us would have done.

I think it’s fair to hold Rick Hahn to a higher standard than Soxtalk.com, yes. 

1 minute ago, Blackout Friday said:

I think it’s fair to hold Rick Hahn to a higher standard than Soxtalk.com, yes. 

And there are still several people here who think they could do a better job.

3 minutes ago, Blackout Friday said:

Until other teams released superior players, nick williams played LF. That was before Robert was hurt. Our top prospect had to become a LF on a dime. Just because it somehow worked out doesn’t mean that planning was A1

Billy Hamilton and Brian Goodwin have contributed and they were brought outside the organization. Include Mercedes in that too. Then you have guys in the organization like Burger and Sheets who have stepped up. Sox took a big division lead playing a bunch of rag-tag back ups. Their depth has been great this year. 

Just now, SoxBlanco said:

And there are still several people here who think they could do a better job.

That’s sports. I guess you could lump me in it now? 
I think Hahn and co. Do a great job. I think they could have built a better base against injury. It worked out great, but Billy the hitter and b-good were kind of gifted. That’s all. Credit for picking them up, but risky to bet on it. 

1 minute ago, Buehrle>Wood said:

Billy Hamilton and Brian Goodwin have contributed and they were brought outside the organization. Include Mercedes in that too. Then you have guys in the organization like Burger and Sheets who have stepped up. Sox took a big division lead playing a bunch of rag-tag back ups. Their depth has been great this year. 

Not debating the strength of the depth. Questioning the strategy through which is was put together. The result has been great so I’m not whining. 
 

I’m hoping this season is a lesson about the value of depth and they don’t count on waiver wire gifts next year. 

9 minutes ago, Blackout Friday said:

Until other teams released superior players, nick williams played LF. That was before Robert was hurt. Our top prospect had to become a LF on a dime. Just because it somehow worked out doesn’t mean that planning was A1

You can't plan for half your lineup to miss 3 months or more of the season either. No team can.

Anyways, bummed no Grandal for Toronto. I will be there. 2nd row behind Jays dugout. 

10 minutes ago, Blackout Friday said:

Until other teams released superior players, nick williams played LF. That was before Robert was hurt. Our top prospect had to become a LF on a dime. Just because it somehow worked out doesn’t mean that planning was A1

Actually that leaves out Adam Engel who was also hurt during that time period, as well as Leury Garcia who played a ton during that stretch.

47 minutes ago, Blackout Friday said:

Farhan Zaidi (apologies bc I’m too lazy to check name spelling if I’m wrong) recently said the most overrated thing in terms of roster construction is the 26 man roster. He is 100% correct. Most teams never/rarely see this offseason primo roster actually come to fruition. 
 

as usual, the Sox were bad at creating solid depth in the off-season. To some credit and some luck, they managed piece things together. 

I can't argue with that. It is true that injuries, fatigue etc. will happen and you will be lucky to have the your best team on paper in the field for you on a given day. However, my point was that you might not be doing yourself any favors by intentionally scrambling things up every day on top of it all. I'm just big on regularity in sport that is so fine tuned. 

That said, erring too far the other way and winding up with key pieces out for good come playoff time is unforgiveable. Mileage may vary on just where that sweet spot is.

Edited August 23, 20214 yr by SpringfieldFan

1 minute ago, SpringfieldFan said:

I can't argue with that. It is true that injuries, fatigue etc. will happen and you will be lucky to have the your best team on paper in the field for you on a given day. However, my point was that you might not be doing yourself any favors by intentionally scrambling things up every day on top of it all. I'm just big on regularity in sport that is so fine tuned. 

That said, erring too far the other way and winding up with key pieces out for good come playoff time is unforgiveable. Mileage may vary on just where that sweet spot is.

That also makes sense. It’s a really fine line with baseball. Reps are so-so important, but so is rest. It’s such a tough sport to manage. 

7 minutes ago, ptatc said:

You can't plan for half your lineup to miss 3 months or more of the season either. No team can.

Well, you can. Every team does, to an extent.