26 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.

The Astros don't have any LH relievers on their roster.

21 minutes ago, soxrwhite said:

His back acting up already?

He did brush up against the wall on the missed pop-up, it was apparently enough to make him miss the ball.

More likely Grifol is being cautious with a guy who was having back issues just a week ago, it's best to ease him in.

7 minutes ago, ChiSoxTrojan said:

The Astros don't have any LH relievers on their roster.

I think it's less about handedness and more about pitch mix. Javier throws like 30% sliders and sliders from RHP are where AV is weakest. 

We go over this ever year.  Many managers like to get all their offensive players into the lineup during the first series.  As the great post above illustrates, why not do it against the slider-heavy pitcher?

2 minutes ago, fathom said:

We go over this ever year.  Many managers like to get all their offensive players into the lineup during the first series.  As the great post above illustrates, why not do it against the slider-heavy pitcher?

I'm fine with it. It's not like there's some huge difference between Vaughn and Sheets right now. If AV proves himself a great hitter things will change. 

4 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said:

I'm fine with it. It's not like there's some huge difference between Vaughn and Sheets right now. If AV proves himself a great hitter things will change. 

I wish more people realized this. It's more a knock on Vaughn than praise of Sheets. 

That being said, I'm the dumbass that has Vaughn on my fantasy team lol

Edited March 31, 20232 yr by Jack Parkman

13 minutes ago, fathom said:

We go over this ever year.  Many managers like to get all their offensive players into the lineup during the first series.  As the great post above illustrates, why not do it against the slider-heavy pitcher?

Think this is ptsd from sox fans. One thing I had heard that was a shift for the org this year was they were going to act more like braves and have their starters play 155+ games.

Hoping this is just due to the back and first series point you state. I'd like to see the starters play 150+ together

Expected some would be suicidal in here about Vaughan not starting....and I'm not disappointed.

Quite sure there is a good reason and a bit too early in the season to get on Grifol's back isn't it?

Edited March 31, 20232 yr by Taz

41 minutes ago, ChiSoxTrojan said:

The Astros don't have any LH relievers on their roster.

See you Monday, Vaughn.

26 minutes ago, fathom said:

We go over this ever year.  Many managers like to get all their offensive players into the lineup during the first series.  As the great post above illustrates, why not do it against the slider-heavy pitcher?

I suggested this at first. Hope it’s just this.

12 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Think this is ptsd from sox fans. One thing I had heard that was a shift for the org this year was they were going to act more like braves and have their starters play 155+ games.

Hoping this is just due to the back and first series point you state. I'd like to see the starters play 150+ together

 

Sounds like it's exactly that. If you're on the bench this year, you'll be used as a pinch hitter or injury replacement. Otherwise there's not gonna be much time out there with the exception of right field.

I don't love AV sitting after getting the big hit last night, but I'm not going to freak out about it either.  We are a game into the season and it's far too early to jump to any conclusions about how Grifol does things.

The 3 batter rule also minimizes the necessity of a lefty in the pen.

1 hour ago, Bob Sacamano said:

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.

I don’t think Vaughn looked completely right yesterday despite the one big hit.  As such, I’m 100% ok with Sheets in the lineup tonight against a tough righty.  Now, if a 1B platoon becomes a regular thing then that’s highly problematic, but Grifol has implied his bench guys will be role players.  I just don’t see that happening unless Vaughn himself forces the issue.

1 hour 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.

Astros don’t have any lefty relievers. 

 

All is lost! 

I'm on the record saying that Sheets should get at least 2 starts/week at 1B against RHP. I didn't expect it so soon, but given the opposing pitcher it's the right call.

1 hour ago, ChiSoxTrojan said:

More likely Grifol is being cautious with a guy who was having back issues just a week ago, it's best to ease him in.

This 

What's the avg age on the Sox sub reddit, like 13? Oof.

8 hours ago, TheTruth05 said:

Hopefully our lefties pick us up today (Beni, Colas, Moncada)

Grandal and Sheets also.

2 hours ago, fathom said:

I like Grifol’s lineups so far. 

I know you're not a big Vaughn fan. It might be more Vaughn physical maintenance since Vaughn had the recent back troubles but it's backed by the platoon advantage so there are legit reasons to have Sheets in there today.

But I do think Vaughn being better and even perhaps much better in his 3rd year is one of the many keys to a much improved Sox team. Sheets has to be better too on the road and I'd be thrilled if that started tonight.

I demand to know why Vaughn is not starting. Dave Kaplan better be on this. 

2 minutes ago, pcq said:

I demand to know why Vaughn is not starting. Dave Kaplan better be on this. 

HAH Fegan already told us why and some of us actually figured that out before we typed. I know you're just being facetious with your post though.

1 hour ago, Jack Parkman said:

I wish more people realized this. It's more a knock on Vaughn than praise of Sheets. 

That being said, I'm the dumbass that has Vaughn on my fantasy team lol

You're not alone.