2/27 GT Mariners vs White Sox, 2:05PM CT, NBCSC, ESPN1000

[caulfield12]

28 minutes ago, ChiSox59 said:

In that scenario, Leury.

I don't see Sox breaking camp with Burger, or with Eloy/Leury as the 4th OF.  

My guess is a bench of Zavala, Leury, Romy and Marisnick.  Call Sheets the RF and Eloy the DH, though it appears that may be somewhat of a time share with Romy also getting some RF reps.  I think they will (and should) send Colas to AAA for a month or so. 

I think Romy's going to have an uphill climb to make the roster.  Doesn't seem to have the type of offensive approach that works well with less than ten PA's per week.

[ChiSoxTrojan]

1 hour ago, ChiSox59 said:

In that scenario, Leury.

I don't see Sox breaking camp with Burger, or with Eloy/Leury as the 4th OF.  

My guess is a bench of Zavala, Leury, Romy and Marisnick.  Call Sheets the RF and Eloy the DH, though it appears that may be somewhat of a time share with Romy also getting some RF reps.  I think they will (and should) send Colas to AAA for a month or so. 

If the Sox have Leury and Romy on the bench, there's no need for Marisnick. Romy and Leury can both play all 3 OF spots. Burger would make more sense.

[ChiSox59]

13 minutes ago, ChiSoxTrojan said:

If the Sox have Leury and Romy on the bench, there's no need for Marisnick. Romy and Leury can both play all 3 OF spots. Burger would make more sense.

Neither Leury or Romy are true OF, so I don't agree.  That is basically having 2 real OF on the entire MLB roster (Robert / Benintendi).  Who is going to play RF late in the game when you have to play Sheets or Eloy out there?  Leury has proven to be an awful RF, and we have no idea how Romy will look out there.  If Colas isn't going to be on the roster to start, you need a real 4th OF.  Could be Marisnick.  Could be Billy.  Could be someone else who has a great spring - think eventually that spot will be Cespedes if he earns it, but that might not occur until 24.  

Also, Burger's role would be so limited.  I guess you could DH him again LHP and stick Eloy in RF, but is that really worth a roster spot?   Our bench would be awfully defensively. 

[tray]

I hope Grifol gives Sheets some starts at 1B, his natural position... not necessarily to keep him there, but otherwise for trade value. As Stone suggested Vaughn is too short to reach balls at 1B and lacks the reach and the quickness/speed that Abreu had. That is going to cost some singles on close plays and some throwing errors by infielders.  Vaughn's most valuable role will likely be DH, especially  if he can hit 30-40 HR, which I suspect he will do this year. Burger looks like the same one tool player that Vaughn is. Eloy is fast and can play RF but past injuries have already relegated him to the role of primary DH.  This looks looks like a similar line-up/roster dilemma that the Sox had prior to trading Abreu. Some good even potentially great players placed in roles that their abilities/desires are not perfectly aligned with.  I am sure every fan has their own idea how the Sox might  try to resolve that and that I disagree with most.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

10 minutes ago, ChiSox59 said:

Neither Leury or Romy are true OF, so I don't agree.  That is basically having 2 real OF on the entire MLB roster (Robert / Benintendi).  Who is going to play RF late in the game when you have to play Sheets or Eloy out there?  Leury has proven to be an awful RF, and we have no idea how Romy will look out there.  If Colas isn't going to be on the roster to start, you need a real 4th OF.  Could be Marisnick.  Could be Billy.  Could be someone else who has a great spring - think eventually that spot will be Cespedes if he earns it, but that might not occur until 24.  

Also, Burger's role would be so limited.  I guess you could DH him again LHP and stick Eloy in RF, but is that really worth a roster spot?   Our bench would be awfully defensively. 

Play him at 3B against some lefties (not all) but yeah, not many at bats to come by. Would basically be a Burger/Sheets platoon with Eloy moving between DH/RF.

[Bob Sacamano]

2 minutes ago, tray said:

I hope Grifol gives Sheets some starts at 1B, his natural position... not necessarily to keep him there, but otherwise for trade value. As Stone suggested Vaughn is too short to reach balls at 1B and lacks the reach and the quickness/speed that Abreu had. That is going to cost some singles on close plays and some throwing errors by infielders.  Vaughn's most valuable role will likely be DH, especially  if he can hit 30-40 HR, which I suspect he will do this year. Burger looks like the same one tool player that Vaughn is. Eloy is fast and can play RF but past injuries have already relegated him to the role of primary DH.  This looks looks like a similar line-up/roster dilemma that the Sox had prior to trading Abreu. Some good even potentially great players placed in roles that their abilities/desires are not perfectly aligned with.  I am sure every fan has their own idea how the Sox might  try to resolve that and that I disagree with most.

 

He's the same size as Max Muncy, who would probably still be at 1B if Freeman did not become a free agent.

[chitownsportsfan]

We need to maximize the amount of PA that Sheets gets against RHP, and Vaughn and Burger get against LHP. If Grifol can figure that out, it will go a long way towards squeezing out a couple extra wins and getting that 88-92 that we'll likely need to take the division.

[Tnetennba]

23 minutes ago, tray said:

I hope Grifol gives Sheets some starts at 1B, his natural position... not necessarily to keep him there, but otherwise for trade value. As Stone suggested Vaughn is too short to reach balls at 1B and lacks the reach and the quickness/speed that Abreu had. That is going to cost some singles on close plays and some throwing errors by infielders.  Vaughn's most valuable role will likely be DH, especially  if he can hit 30-40 HR, which I suspect he will do this year. Burger looks like the same one tool player that Vaughn is. Eloy is fast and can play RF but past injuries have already relegated him to the role of primary DH.  This looks looks like a similar line-up/roster dilemma that the Sox had prior to trading Abreu. Some good even potentially great players placed in roles that their abilities/desires are not perfectly aligned with.  I am sure every fan has their own idea how the Sox might  try to resolve that and that I disagree with most.

 

Abreu wasn't exactly considered a good 1B until late in his career.  Maybe we should give Vaughn a chance to actually play his natural position as the starter before making uninformed statements and pigeonholing him into DHing longterm?

[ChiSoxTrojan]

25 minutes ago, ChiSox59 said:

Neither Leury or Romy are true OF, so I don't agree.  That is basically having 2 real OF on the entire MLB roster (Robert / Benintendi).  Who is going to play RF late in the game when you have to play Sheets or Eloy out there?  Leury has proven to be an awful RF, and we have no idea how Romy will look out there.  If Colas isn't going to be on the roster to start, you need a real 4th OF.  Could be Marisnick.  Could be Billy.  Could be someone else who has a great spring - think eventually that spot will be Cespedes if he earns it, but that might not occur until 24.  

Also, Burger's role would be so limited.  I guess you could DH him again LHP and stick Eloy in RF, but is that really worth a roster spot?   Our bench would be awfully defensively. 

Leury has struggled in RF, but he's fine in LF and even CF. Not a gold glover, but more than capable of being a backup OF.

Romy I admit I haven't seen play OF as much, but those who have seen him say he's a natural in the OF.

If the option is between starting Marisnick or Hamilton in RF with Eloy at DH, or starting Eloy in RF with Burger or Sheets at DH, I'd take the latter option any day. The difference in difference in offense more than makes up for the worse defense.

[chitownsportsfan]

4 minutes ago, Tnetennba said:

Abreu wasn't exactly considered a good 1B until late in his career.  Maybe we should give Vaughn a chance to actually play his natural position as the starter before making uninformed statements and pigeonholing him into DHing longterm?

I think people will be surprised what it looks like when you've got a more mobile 1B. Jose did great with the balls he could get to, problem is by the time he got good with his footwork and hands his legs were pretty much gone. Vaughn already has the footwork to play a passable 3B, he'll be solid at 1B regardless of how tall he is, there's much more to it than just range on bad throws to the bag.