5 minutes ago, Harry Chappas said:

Grandal is a better LHH without the shift.  Zavala should only start against LHP 

Catcher is primarily a defensive position. Zavala should catch a lot. He might get into 80 games this year, if you include taking Grandal out for pinch runners. Seby’s a real decent back up, hitting eighth. If they use him correctly, Grandal can stay fresh for the stretch run. Therefore, I believe Zavala will start against plenty of righties.

I’d aim for ~100 starts out of Grandal at the catcher spot this year.  If Zavala proves he is worthy of more playing time or Grandal is unable to take on that load, then you can eventually reconsider.  But right now, I’d probably have him tonight and Sunday with Seby starting tomorrow.

1 hour ago, FourEyesShottenhoffer said:

That is incorrect. .749 OPS vs RHP, .653 vs LHP

Well damn, I didn't realize that. Part of that disparity was that Zavala's performance against RHP last year came with an unsustainable .422 BABIP, but I do retract my statement that Zavala should only play against LHP.

It remains to be seen whether Grifol is going to do a "personal catcher" thing with one (or two) of the starters.

19 minutes ago, ChiSoxTrojan said:

Well damn, I didn't realize that. Part of that disparity was that Zavala's performance against RHP last year came with an unsustainable .422 BABIP, but I do retract my statement that Zavala should only play against LHP.

It remains to be seen whether Grifol is going to do a "personal catcher" thing with one (or two) of the starters.

Prediction:

with the advent of PitchCom, the concept of a “personal catcher” will go by the wayside.

9 minutes ago, JoeC said:

Prediction:

with the advent of PitchCom, the concept of a “personal catcher” will go by the wayside.

i don't know about that. I don't think many pitchers like to call their own game. Plus, guys with sharp breaking pitches, usually trust one guy to block them. 

Edited March 31, 20232 yr by Dick Allen

Hope it's not a straight platoon with Sheets and Vaughn but hopefully more of a "get a guy in there early at the beginning of the season" type of thing.

@Quin

 I had no idea they traded Alvarez like the Sox traded Tatis. 

I thought Alvarez was already on multiple T100 lists when he got traded to Houston. 

Edited March 31, 20232 yr by Jack Parkman

1 minute ago, Jack Parkman said:

@Quin

 I had no idea they traded Alvarez like the Sox traded Tatis. 

I thought Alvarez was already on multiple T100 lists when he got traded to Houston. 

To continue this: Yeah, both trades are all time botches (or bad luck since they're the rare lottos that hit).

Imagine the Sox with Tatis and the Dodgers with Alvarez.

AV on the bench ??????

Sheets in for Vaughn. The Grifol honeymoon is over.

https://twitter.com/whitesox/status/1641894231726870563?s=20

you guys ready for another ROUT

6 minutes ago, ChiSoxTrojan said:

Sheets in for Vaughn. The Grifol honeymoon is over.

https://twitter.com/whitesox/status/1641894231726870563?s=20

I thought we got rid of LaRussa

11 minutes ago, ChiSox59 said:

AV on the bench ??????

Big hit against a right-hander yesterday. Makes sense!

Eh, I don’t mind Sheets tonight. You sub in Andrew once a LH reliever subs in and leave him in for the balance. I would rather max out lefties.

Sheets is kind of iffy on solid contact. We will see. 

Again, they should have traded Vaughn for some pitching and gone with Sheets and Burger at 1B

 

Edited March 31, 20232 yr by Jack Parkman

I like Grifol’s lineups so far. 

20 minutes ago, ChiSox59 said:

AV on the bench ??????

His back acting up already?

4 minutes ago, fathom said:

I like Grifol’s lineups so far. 

Anyone who is pro-“turn 1st round/3rd overall pick into weak side platoon” would be happy tonight.

Edited March 31, 20232 yr by Bob Sacamano

1 minute ago, soxrwhite said:

His back acting up already?

Could be. I didn’t think of that at first.

8 minutes ago, Greg Hibbard said:

Eh, I don’t mind Sheets tonight. You sub in Andrew once a LH reliever subs in and leave him in for the balance. I would rather max out lefties.

No lefties in their pen. 

4 minutes ago, Bob Sacamano said:

Could be. I didn’t think of that at first.

Me too.

I too would have prefferred Vaughn.  But Grifol is making good lineups with the 9 in there. Both games have been super logical

If Vaughn's going to sit a day this week, I don't know why it being today is any more upsetting than it being Sunday or Tuesday or whenever ?‍♀️ 

Maybe AV's still ramping up with the back thing, maybe they like the matchup better with Sheets for some reason, but in any case one game isn't worth fussing over until and unless it becomes a pattern. The lineup is solid.

AV sitting already geez