Given how injury prone he seems to be having been on the IL every season, some years multiple times, I don't know if this is a good idea. It means a shorter off season for him and added risk all for an exhibition series that has no meaning in the long run in my opinion.

https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/news/tim-anderson-commits-to-team-usa-for-2023-world-baseball-classic

Please don't get hurt. It would be our luck for him to have a season ending injury playing in the WBC.

It might actually be a good thing. Keep him in baseball shape and conditioned for the season?

WBC is dumb.  Sue me.  

I'm not against it. Sounds like the players that participate really enjoy it and it spurs some drive in them to play for country, etc while playing alongside guys they would typically be competing against. It'll be fun for the fans to have real players on the team.

Injury is always a concern - guys get hurt doing all kinds of non-baseball things in the off-season, they don't live in a bubble. I see just as much risk with him playing competitive baseball as he would have playing basketball with friends in the off-season.

And if the shorter off-season means fewer "non-baseball" distractions, even better.

54 minutes ago, ChiSox59 said:

WBC is dumb.  Sue me.  

Eh. Every sport has it's "dumb" thing. I would akin it to the NFL's pro-bowl. Nobody really cares but it gets the sport some national attention.

I really think for the WBC it depends on who's playing. And this roster, at least on the position side, is truly stacked...I'd be excited to watch.

Edited August 26, 20223 yr by ScooterMcGuire

Maybe he will get with a more motivated group of guys and come back ready to win next year.

Its not like hanging out with the White Sox and their training staff is likely any better from an injury standpoint. I'd be ok with the entire team playing WBC instead of Sox spring training.

Cease should definitely be on it also.  Maybe Timmy will become close friends with Harper and sign with them in a few years.

1 hour ago, ChiSox59 said:

WBC is dumb.  Sue me.  

Better and more exciting than MLB, by far, to me. 

He will get better training with that team, I imagine. So I'm all for it.

On 8/26/2022 at 1:26 PM, Lip Man 1 said:

Given how injury prone he seems to be having been on the IL every season, some years multiple times, I don't know if this is a good idea. It means a shorter off season for him and added risk all for an exhibition series that has no meaning in the long run in my opinion.

https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/news/tim-anderson-commits-to-team-usa-for-2023-world-baseball-classic

Is there anyone on the Sox, with perhaps the possible exception of Jose Abreu, you don't consider "injury prone"?

Tim Anderson is 63rd across The MLB in games played since the start of the 2016 season, and he was promoted over two months in on June 10th at age 23. Same with Bummer, far and away the Sox pitcher appearance leader and 13th among his piers, 28 year old pitchers.

Tim Anderson has played in 83% of White Sox games played since being called up as a young 23 year old player. There are 17 players across all of MLB in his peer group (under 30) who have appeared in more games during this period (OD 2016 through today).

Edited August 29, 20223 yr by South Side Hit Men

Super excited to see Trout & Harper versus possibly four of the most talented arms Japan has ever produced: Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Kodai Senga, and the next phenom, Roki Sasaki.

I don’t know if Samurai Japan has ever had four 100mph, high spin arms at the same time before. 

33 minutes ago, South Side Hit Men said:

Is there anyone on the Sox, with perhaps the possible exception of Jose Abreu, you don't consider "injury prone"?

Tim Anderson is 63rd across The MLB in games played since the start of the 2016 season, and he was promoted over two months in on June 10th at age 23. Same with Bummer, far and away the Sox pitcher appearance leader and 13th among his piers, 28 year old pitchers.

Tim Anderson has played in 83% of White Sox games played since being called up as a young 23 year old player. There are 17 players across all of MLB in his pier group (under 30) who have appeared in more games during this period (OD 2016 through today).

When you are on the IL every season and in some seasons more than one time, to me that's "injury prone." Every year he has some type of soft tissue issues that cause him to miss two weeks, three weeks, six weeks.

Now I grant you, I personally feel and have been told by some and there seems to be some circumstantial evidence to show the Sox medical, training and conditioning staffs may not be the best, so that can certainly play into why these guys keep missing time, in some cases multiple appearances on the IL.

When the Sox can go even two or three weeks without someone having to sit out because of a minor or major issue then I'll start to think differently about this group of athletes.

On 8/26/2022 at 4:44 PM, Lip Man 1 said:

When you are on the IL every season and in some seasons more than one time, to me that's "injury prone." Every year he has some type of soft tissue issues that cause him to miss two weeks, three weeks, six weeks.

Now I grant you, I personally feel and have been told by some and there seems to be some circumstantial evidence to show the Sox medical, training and conditioning staffs may not be the best, so that can certainly play into why these guys keep missing time, in some cases multiple appearances on the IL.

When the Sox can go even two or three weeks without someone having to sit out because of a minor or major issue then I'll start to think differently about this group of athletes.

I appreciate your response.

What I tried to do was clarify the expectations or terminology we are using. I agree with a lot of what you write here, but in terms of player availability, I lean more toward production and a reasonable overall playing time expectation than counting trips to an IL, sometimes used just to give a player an extended break for an injury that could take 4-6 days to recover. I also consider a younger player ahead of his peer group (in the majors at ages 23-24) need additional time to adjust to playing in the league with limited/no experience, and less development time than players promoted 1-2 years later. It's why I commended the slow easing in of Vaughn, and Tony's management of him, in 2021 after no 2020 minor league season.

When it comes to players like Robert, Eloy, Madrigal, or others who are absent for half or more games each season over 3-5 seasons, I don't think there is a debate that these players are in fact injury prone and have trouble staying on the field for more than half a season.

When it comes to Bummer or Anderson, who have been both productive and available more than nearly all of their peer age group over several seasons, I side with they played as expected. Tim Anderson averaged 5 of 6 games played, nearly all starts, during his several year career. Being off one game per week and playing the other five is what I expect out of a starting batter. For catchers it would be four of six games, or 95-100 games at catcher per year (not counting DH/1B appearances) for a solid starting catcher.

I also think a player who wants to play every single game like Abreu would benefit from being off at least once every other week. He has played very banged up at times, and also mired in slumps because he doesn't ever want to sit. While that work ethic is admirable, the team and his overall production would likely benefit from 2-3 games off per month of scheduled rest / work load management, to allow him to be fresh and more productive during his appearances.

Edited August 29, 20223 yr by South Side Hit Men

32 minutes ago, South Side Hit Men said:

I appreciate your response.

What I tried to do was clarify the expectations or terminology we are using. I agree with a lot of what you write here, but in terms of player availability, I lean more toward production and a reasonable overall playing time expectation than counting trips to an IL, sometimes used just to give a player an extended break for an injury that could take 4-6 days to recover. I also consider a younger player ahead of his pier group (in the majors at ages 23-24) need additional time to adjust to playing in the league with limited/no experience, and less development time than players promoted 1-2 years later. It's why I commended the slow easing in of Vaughn, and Tony's management of him, in 2021 after no 2020 minor league season.

When it comes to players like Robert, Eloy, Madrigal, or others who are absent for half or more games each season over 3-5 seasons, I don't think there is a debate that these players are in fact injury prone and have trouble staying on the field for more than half a season.

When it comes to Bummer or Anderson, who have been both productive and available more than nearly all of their pier age group over several seasons, I side with they played as expected. Tim Anderson averaged 5 of 6 games played, nearly all starts, during his several year career. Being off one game per week and playing the other five is what I expect out of a starting batter. For catchers it would be four of six games, or 95-100 games at catcher per year (not counting DH/1B appearances) for a solid starting catcher.

I also think a player who wants to play every single game like Abreu would benefit from being off at least once every other week. He has played very banged up at times, and also mired in slumps because he doesn't ever want to sit. While that work ethic is admirable, the team and his overall production would likely benefit from 2-3 games off per month of scheduled rest / work load management, to allow him to be fresh and more productive during his appearances.

South Side: No worries. I understand your perspective as well and there is a lot of sense to it. Hahn would disagree about Eloy though. LOL Remember he got bent out of shape when the media wrote that he was. LOL. 

And as an aside all these injuries the past two years may just give JR and company an easy excuse not to change anything dramatically basically saying, "well everyone was hurt. Sooner or later our injury luck has got to change so let's stay the course..."

Edited August 26, 20223 yr by Lip Man 1

4 hours ago, ChiSox59 said:

WBC is dumb.  Sue me.  

WBC is just another example of TV Trash Sports.

If Timmy wants to broaden his horizons by playing all over the world for his country more power to him.

He might get to see how truly dedicated players care about the sport and learn something from his team mates.

7 hours ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

If Timmy wants to broaden his horizons by playing all over the world for his country more power to him.

He might get to see how truly dedicated players care about the sport and learn something from his team mates.

Interesting take, it's possible. He needs to do something, three suspensions in the past two years is not a good look for "the face of the franchise..."

1 minute ago, Lip Man 1 said:

Interesting take, it's possible. He needs to do something, three suspensions in the past two years is not a good look for "the face of the franchise..."

LOL I could've taken a much lower road. I chose the high road.

7 hours ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

If Timmy wants to broaden his horizons by playing all over the world for his country more power to him.

He might get to see how truly dedicated players care about the sport and learn something from his team mates.

Anderson is definitely dedicated. Maybe a little too much. He's not Moncada

14 minutes ago, Buehrle>Wood said:

Anderson is definitely dedicated. Maybe a little too much. He's not Moncada

It was never his favorite sport though. A love for the game itself may not be especially important to doing well but I wouldn't discount it either.

Anderson vs. Tatis.  Need Marcus Semien to play, too.

On 8/26/2022 at 6:21 PM, South Side Hit Men said:

I appreciate your response.

What I tried to do was clarify the expectations or terminology we are using. I agree with a lot of what you write here, but in terms of player availability, I lean more toward production and a reasonable overall playing time expectation than counting trips to an IL, sometimes used just to give a player an extended break for an injury that could take 4-6 days to recover. I also consider a younger player ahead of his pier group (in the majors at ages 23-24) need additional time to adjust to playing in the league with limited/no experience, and less development time than players promoted 1-2 years later. It's why I commended the slow easing in of Vaughn, and Tony's management of him, in 2021 after no 2020 minor league season.

When it comes to players like Robert, Eloy, Madrigal, or others who are absent for half or more games each season over 3-5 seasons, I don't think there is a debate that these players are in fact injury prone and have trouble staying on the field for more than half a season.

When it comes to Bummer or Anderson, who have been both productive and available more than nearly all of their pier age group over several seasons, I side with they played as expected. Tim Anderson averaged 5 of 6 games played, nearly all starts, during his several year career. Being off one game per week and playing the other five is what I expect out of a starting batter. For catchers it would be four of six games, or 95-100 games at catcher per year (not counting DH/1B appearances) for a solid starting catcher.

I also think a player who wants to play every single game like Abreu would benefit from being off at least once every other week. He has played very banged up at times, and also mired in slumps because he doesn't ever want to sit. While that work ethic is admirable, the team and his overall production would likely benefit from 2-3 games off per month of scheduled rest / work load management, to allow him to be fresh and more productive during his appearances.

I just thought you should know that it's "peer group" not pier. Not busting your balls, just letting you know. Carry on.

1 hour ago, Slobber House said:

I just thought you should know that it's "peer group" not pier. Not busting your balls, just letting you know. Carry on.

I will now walk the pier.