2 minutes ago, Tony said:

Romy had a AAA slash line of .198/.282/.339 in 135 PA's in 2022. His numbers were slightly better at the ML level in a similar number of PA's. 

"Opportunity" and Romy being the best option to start in RF on Opening Day are two very different things. 

Oh, and this will be the 4th time Romy Gonzalez is playing RF since he was in college as a 21 year old. Shame on Sox fans expecting a slightly better option for a premiere hitting position. 

You do realize how his season at AAA started last year correct?

8 minutes ago, Quin said:

Sir, I made this checks notes  two years ago and I look forward to using it again.

Graphic design is clearly your passion.

Nice looking lineup. I like Vaughn hitting 3 with Eloy behind him. Vs a righty swap Tendi or Yoan into the 2 hole and include Colas and we'll have a nice, hopefully consistent lineup. 

12 minutes ago, FourEyesShottenhoffer said:

Why? He hits lefties better. .951 OPS vs lefties last year compared to .879 vs RHP

Colas was cold the 2nd half of ST and Romy was ultra hot.

Also Colas was a GB machine this spring and Valdez is GB machine pitcher.

Maybe Colas trying to hard to do what the coaches want and K less and put the ball in play  but it resulted in a lot of GB .

Colas started hot then fizzled. Romy started slowly, had a minor injury then came back like his hair was on fire.

Romy is a lot more likely to K but he may also be more likely to a HR .

Romy .961. ST OPS . Colas .703 . Grifol just hoping the hotness carries over for a game against a LHP. Colas will play often and get AB's against LHP just not against Valdez today.

There weren't many Valdez types  pitching in the minors.

 

21 minutes ago, SoxBlanco said:

Romy is seeing the ball so well right now. I don’t care that it was only spring training. He has something like 6 HR in his last 10 games. Hitting is extremely mental, and when you’re swinging a good stick, you want to keep it going. 

I have absolutely no problem with it.  I would be concerned if a) there was RHP on the mound; or b) Romy wasn't hot as a pistol the past 2 weeks.  Neither are the case, so I am fine with it.  As someone else said, Colas probably makes his debut later in the game once Framber hits the shower. 

7 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said:

Graphic design is clearly your passion.

In case this is serious: 

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/friendship-ended-with-mudasir

22 minutes ago, CBJ03 said:

It's the chicken and the egg. Everyone always says the depth is terrible but how would you know if young guys never get the opportunity for extended playing time. Also, there's always this sense that every other major league team has 1-9 above average starters and their back ups are replacement level which just isn't the case at all. Romy may very well fall flat and be awful but I'd rather see it happen then just assume it's going to. 

Right. Just look at the Astros lineup.  Their 6-9 is pretty terrible, and while Pena is an exciting young player he had a .289 OBP / .715 OPS last year and is leading off.  That's pretty gross.  

Romy going to continue to hit the piss out of the ball while the board keeps crying holding up his 2022 AAA stats

56 minutes ago, almagest said:

Bottom of that lineup not too good.

Take advantage of them being beat up. Good time to play them. Win 3/4 baby.

25 minutes ago, SoxBlanco said:

Romy is seeing the ball so well right now. I don’t care that it was only spring training. He has something like 6 HR in his last 10 games. Hitting is extremely mental, and when you’re swinging a good stick, you want to keep it going. 

So far Romy is the best excuse for depth we have witnessed in a while. He is also the hottest hitter on the roster.

In other news...the Red Sox pitching is...very very very bad. 

45 minutes ago, ChiSox59 said:

Probably won't face another lefty for a week+. Colas going to be in there a ton.  Let's see if Romy can stay hot.  I dig it for tonight. 

Kudos to Grifol for making the right decision and not the emotional one.  No doubt playing Colas on Opening Day would be more fun, but Romy against a tough lefty when we won’t face another one for some time is the right call.

15 minutes ago, Tony said:

Romy had a AAA slash line of .198/.282/.339 in 135 PA's in 2022. His numbers were slightly better at the ML level in a similar number of PA's. 

"Opportunity" and Romy being the best option to start in RF on Opening Day are two very different things. 

Oh, and this will be the 4th time Romy Gonzalez is playing RF since he was in college as a 21 year old. Shame on Sox fans expecting a slightly better option for a premiere hitting position. 

I was as skeptical about Romy as can be thinking that he might get the starting 2nd base job. I think his 2022 had a lot to do with his health but when he started off poorly this Spring I was glad Andrus was around.

Started poorly this spring but it's hard to deny what he did the last week and a half of ST. I wanted Duvall as much as the next guy but Romy does have the speed to play the OF and from what little I saw of him in all 3 OF positions this spring I think he can handle it.

Maybe some of the hype surrounding his off season wasn't all hype. There's only one way to find out.

Look at the lower half of the Astro's lineup for today's game. Not exactly Murderers Row.

While the Astro's weather some injuries they better hope the scores can remain low and pull out wins because of their superior BP early on.

 

5 minutes ago, Baron said:

In other news...the Red Sox pitching is...very very very bad. 

And Adley is very, very, very good.  

39 minutes ago, FourEyesShottenhoffer said:

Why? He hits lefties better. .951 OPS vs lefties last year compared to .879 vs RHP

That is a super small sample size and he wasn’t facing major leaguers.  I’m hopeful he’s not a platoon guy, but let’s not act as if he’s a proven LHP masher at this time.  There will likely be an adjustment period for him and it’s very reasonable to sit him tonight.

4 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

That is a super small sample size and he wasn’t facing major leaguers.  I’m hopeful he’s not a platoon guy, but let’s not act as if he’s a proven LHP masher at this time.  There will likely be an adjustment period for him and it’s very reasonable to sit him tonight.

This this this this this this

12 minutes ago, Baron said:

In other news...the Red Sox pitching is...very very very bad. 

Fun fact: FanGraphs had their rotation ranked over the Astros and White Sox. It was such a bad projection that the writer who was doing the write up was like why are our projections like this? 

7 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

That is a super small sample size and he wasn’t facing major leaguers.  I’m hopeful he’s not a platoon guy, but let’s not act as if he’s a proven LHP masher at this time.  There will likely be an adjustment period for him and it’s very reasonable to sit him tonight.

The RHP he faced last year wasn’t major league either.

43 minutes ago, Tony said:

It's criminal that Romy Gonzalez is the starting RF on Opening Day for a team trying to "contend" and it's not due to any type of injury. I understand why Colas isn't in the lineup, but the lack of depth in the franchise is insane. 

On March 16th, after 11 ST games, Romy was hitting .053/.217/.053. Since then he had 6 HRs in the last 10 games, raising his overall line to .250/.315/.646. If my math is right, I think that's something like a 1.72 OPS over the last 2 weeks.

There's no way you can take him out of the lineup right now against a LHP while he's swinging the hot bat. Colas will get his chances, it's a long season.

1 hour ago, JoeCredeYes said:

Well gents here we are, we made it, another Opening Day.  Hope springs eternal and I sure hope last year was the darkness before the dawn, there is nowhere to go but up.  I hope the offseason has treated you all well and we have more celebrating than complaining in 2023 on Soxtalk,  Nothing left to do but sit back, relax and strap it down for another season of White Sox Baseball.  Let's get to work!

Thank you for using this correctly. For whatever reason, I've seen a bunch of people this year (not here) saying things like "Hope springs eternal in the spring!" The pun is already built in guys, that's the point. We aren't quoting a 300 year old poem because we are super into enlightenment era philosophy. 

24 minutes ago, Baron said:

In other news...the Red Sox pitching is...very very very bad. 

O's running on them with ease too.

34 minutes ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

Colas was cold the 2nd half of ST and Romy was ultra hot.

Also Colas was a GB machine this spring and Valdez is GB machine pitcher.

Maybe Colas trying to hard to do what the coaches want and K less and put the ball in play  but it resulted in a lot of GB .

Colas started hot then fizzled. Romy started slowly, had a minor injury then came back like his hair was on fire.

Romy is a lot more likely to K but he may also be more likely to a HR .

Romy .961. ST OPS . Colas .703 . Grifol just hoping the hotness carries over for a game against a LHP. Colas will play often and get AB's against LHP just not against Valdez today.

There weren't many Valdez types  pitching in the minors.

 

I've been fine with your arguments so far, but spring training stats/hot is complete nonsense.

Spring. Stats. Mean. Nothing.

1 hour ago, Quin said:

Let me do the TLR version:

1. TA - SS
2. Leury - 2B (making the team)
3. Benintendi - RF
4. Eloy - LF
5. Grandal - C
6. Robert - CF
7. Moncada - 3B
8. Vaughn - DH
9. Sheets - 1B
 

When asked why Leury was batting 2nd, La Russa responded, "well, I've been getting into advanced stats lately, and I know that #2 is where you should put your most productive hitter. I want to start Leury off on the right foot, so that's where I put him."

7 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Spring. Stats. Mean. Nothing.

Fully agree, but Romy should be utilized against LHP regardless.  Not as a full platoon partner for Colas, but to help us against really tough lefties.  The kid legit destroyed them in AA in an admittedly SSS, but his handedness makes it seems less fluke-ish.