Chris Getz on the REKAP podcast

[Tony]

15 minutes ago, greg775 said:

That's where some of you differ from some of us. You say Crochet is worthless to the Sox. If you have a great player some of us think it's fun to watch him wear our jersey and win a few games. If you keep your Crochets, Cease's and some of the other guys let go in "rebuilding" you might actually be able to win the old fashioned way. But let's just keep dumping all our good players in the name of a tank/rebuild job. Ridiculous. And this last one didn't work and some of you still like tanking/rebuilding rather than keeping your good players.

You’re attacking posters here but that anger should be directed at ownership. The post you are quoting is working under the same assumption we all have been…the Sox were never going to extend Crochet. 2025 and 2026 are going to be awful years for the White Sox, the same years Crochet is still under contract with the Sox. Working under that premise, it would have been asinine NOT to trade him. 

[WhiteSox2023]

21 minutes ago, greg775 said:

That's where some of you differ from some of us. You say Crochet is worthless to the Sox. If you have a great player some of us think it's fun to watch him wear our jersey and win a few games. If you keep your Crochets, Cease's and some of the other guys let go in "rebuilding" you might actually be able to win the old fashioned way. But let's just keep dumping all our good players in the name of a tank/rebuild job. Ridiculous. And this last one didn't work and some of you still like tanking/rebuilding rather than keeping your good players.

You already know how cheap Jerry is.  We had both Cease and Crochet at the same time, yet the team still wasn’t good enough to win anything.  Perhaps the Sox will be good once their young players develop, but by then do you think Jerry would have paid both Cease and Crochet their going rate in free agency?

As much as I am not a fan of Getz, trading Cease and Crochet was all on Jerry, not Getz.

Edited January 12 by WhiteSox2023

[Lip Man 1]

1 hour ago, Tony said:

You’re attacking posters here but that anger should be directed at ownership. The post you are quoting is working under the same assumption we all have been…the Sox were never going to extend Crochet. 2025 and 2026 are going to be awful years for the White Sox, the same years Crochet is still under contract with the Sox. Working under that premise, it would have been asinine NOT to trade him. 

Crochet is now talking about an extension with the Red Sox, that he sees a "lot of merit" in it.  

[WestEddy]

9 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said:

Crochet is now talking about an extension with the Red Sox, that he sees a "lot of merit" in it.  

He should. It would have foolish to keep him and build around him.

[caulfield12]

2 hours ago, WestEddy said:

He should. It would have foolish to keep him and build around him.

Not if they at least had a 2024-25 Padres budget.

Not extending Crochet if it was even a remote possibility will go down as a mistake...unless they actually hit on a prospect two for one deal with Teel/Montgomery or like the Q deal originally looked like.

Rodon Sale Q Cease Giolito Lopez all got extensions from OTHER teams...and Kopech will be next.

We are the feeder team for the rest of MLB until we actually sign a $100+ million contract.

 

With the Sox luck...the 2027 team will finally be good but it will all be wiped out by a labor I'm passes over caps and floors or minimums.

This will come closer to a head if Sasaki also signs with the Dodgers.

[WestEddy]

8 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

Not if they at least had a 2024-25 Padres budget.

Not extending Crochet if it was even a remote possibility will go down as a mistake...unless they actually hit on a prospect two for one deal with Teel/Montgomery or like the Q deal originally looked like.

Rodon Sale Q Cease Giolito Lopez all got extensions from OTHER teams...and Kopech will be next.

We are the feeder team for the rest of MLB until we actually sign a $100+ million contract.

 

With the Sox luck...the 2027 team will finally be good but it will all be wiped out by a labor I'm passes over caps and floors or minimums.

This will come closer to a head if Sasaki also signs with the Dodgers.

Rodon and Giolito were resolute on testing free agency. Cease has Boras for an agent, and I'd imagine he's going the same route. 

[WhiteSox2023]

13 hours ago, TaylorStSox said:

The big difference between us is that I'm going to pull for Vargas like hell, and you're going to hope he fails. You'd rather hate everything White Sox and be "right" and I'd rather have the White Sox just be good. It's the nature of this message board now.

Not at all.  I hope Vargas becomes a star, cuz god knows Jerry won’t allow Getz to sign one in free agency.  And whether you pull for Vargas or people think he sucks, none of it matters.  Only Vargas can prove his own worth.  So far in his career, he has failed to do so, and that isn’t a result of fans on a message board saying that he sucks.

Edited January 12 by WhiteSox2023

[Lip Man 1]

8 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

Not if they at least had a 2024-25 Padres budget.

Not extending Crochet if it was even a remote possibility will go down as a mistake...unless they actually hit on a prospect two for one deal with Teel/Montgomery or like the Q deal originally looked like.

Rodon Sale Q Cease Giolito Lopez all got extensions from OTHER teams...and Kopech will be next.

We are the feeder team for the rest of MLB until we actually sign a $100+ million contract.

 

With the Sox luck...the 2027 team will finally be good but it will all be wiped out by a labor I'm passes over caps and floors or minimums.

This will come closer to a head if Sasaki also signs with the Dodgers.

The next labor impasse comes to a head in 2026 from what I've read. 

[Balta1701]

15 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said:

The next labor impasse comes to a head in 2026 from what I've read. 

December 2026? Well that practically guarantees a three month lockout since there’s no penalty for it as no games are lost.

[Quin]

1 hour ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

Not at all.  I hope Vargas becomes a star, cuz god knows Jerry won’t allow Getz to sign one in free agency.  And whether you pull for Vargas or people think he sucks, none of it matters.  Only Vargas can prove his own worth.  So far in his career, he has failed to do so, and that isn’t a result of fans on a message board saying that he sucks.

I look at Vargas like a lot here looked/look at Moncada, Eloy, Robert, Sosa, Colas, Burger (pre-breakout — the threads about him during his rehab were not kind), Vaughn and Sheets: 

I don't enjoy watching him and I want him gone.

If Rick Hahn traded for him in 2022, he'd be getting shredded by everyone on this board.

[WestEddy]

25 minutes ago, Quin said:

I look at Vargas like a lot here looked/look at Moncada, Eloy, Robert, Sosa, Colas, Burger (pre-breakout — the threads about him during his rehab were not kind), Vaughn and Sheets: 

I don't enjoy watching him and I want him gone.

If Rick Hahn traded for him in 2022, he'd be getting shredded by everyone on this board.

I think the Dodgers were not forthcoming about whatever injury/weakness/loss of strength Vargas was experiencing. I couple that with Getz just being spun around a little as a newbie doing his first TDL, and somehow wound up a player short. 

The team's going to be "not good", and he's still not blocking anybody, yet. This is a perfect opportunity to show off the rehabbed infrastructure by throwing a couple of coaches on the guy and turning him into a productive baseball player. 

[Chicago White Sox]

I think it’s very clear Getz was overwhelmed at the trade deadline and that at least particularly contributed to the fiasco that was the Fedde trade.  Honestly, Getz should have brought in a former GM into his front office to help prepare for matters like this.

[nrockway]

Good listen. He sounds competent certainly.  a lot of talk about a “plan” and “core pillars” or whatever, which sounds nice, but what are the “core pillars” of a baseball organization and why? Wish the interviewer would’ve asked but that guy seemed tongue twisted the whole time, couldn’t get a word out!

hiring competent people and tasking them to figure out what’s wrong organizationally is definitely a good thing and was likely missing from the previous regime. But how do we know if the people being hired are competent? Bannister certainly is. Will Ryan Fuller truly be a “Bannister of hitting” or is that marketing speak? What about that guy we “poached” from AZ? That seems to have resulted in a dumb trade and I think a pointless hire to the coaching staff. More importantly, why didn’t the AZ guy tell Getz to select Deyvison de los Santos in the R5 draft last year? He was obviously a stud in AZ’s system, now he’s a top 100 prospect. 

[Quin]

51 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

I think the Dodgers were not forthcoming about whatever injury/weakness/loss of strength Vargas was experiencing. I couple that with Getz just being spun around a little as a newbie doing his first TDL, and somehow wound up a player short. 

The team's going to be "not good", and he's still not blocking anybody, yet. This is a perfect opportunity to show off the rehabbed infrastructure by throwing a couple of coaches on the guy and turning him into a productive baseball player. 

And logically, I agree with this. This team is the perfect setup for him to try and grow. If he can actually succeed, I'll shut up. Just like I did for Yermin until he capsized.

I'm just a sucker for homegrown guys. It's why I haven't given up on Jacob Gonzalez despite a giant 🚨🚨🚨 sounding above him.

Or Oscar Colas — last year was perfect for him to try and get a shot at the big league level, but since he wasn't a Getz acquisition we had to bring Tommy Pham aboard to shadow-box his way into being a trade throw in.

As for the Dodgers not disclosing something, that's what physicals are for. The Padres hid stuff in 2016 and the only reason I'm still annoyed about that is because the Sox were the only team not offered the opportunity to reverse a trade with them, not because acquiring James Shields was stupid from the start.

[Timmy U]

1 hour ago, Quin said:

I look at Vargas like a lot here looked/look at Moncada, Eloy, Robert, Sosa, Colas, Burger (pre-breakout — the threads about him during his rehab were not kind), Vaughn and Sheets: 

I don't enjoy watching him and I want him gone.

If Rick Hahn traded for him in 2022, he'd be getting shredded by everyone on this board.

I have never liked the player and was vehemently against the deal as soon as it was made. That said, I hope he proves me wrong and hits and is able to be competent somewhere like 1b.

[caulfield12]

1 hour ago, Quin said:

And logically, I agree with this. This team is the perfect setup for him to try and grow. If he can actually succeed, I'll shut up. Just like I did for Yermin until he capsized.

I'm just a sucker for homegrown guys. It's why I haven't given up on Jacob Gonzalez despite a giant 🚨🚨🚨 sounding above him.

Or Oscar Colas — last year was perfect for him to try and get a shot at the big league level, but since he wasn't a Getz acquisition we had to bring Tommy Pham aboard to shadow-box his way into being a trade throw in.

As for the Dodgers not disclosing something, that's what physicals are for. The Padres hid stuff in 2016 and the only reason I'm still annoyed about that is because the Sox were the only team not offered the opportunity to reverse a trade with them, not because acquiring James Shields was stupid from the start.

Erik Johnson's health was also very shady at the time of  that deal, though.

[caulfield12]

1 hour ago, Chicago White Sox said:

I think it’s very clear Getz was overwhelmed at the trade deadline and that at least particularly contributed to the fiasco that was the Fedde trade.  Honestly, Getz should have brought in a former GM into his front office to help prepare for matters like this.

The Crochet last minute demands situation really seemed to overwhelm the front office at that time...and knock them back for a loop.

Time will tell if holding out was worth it...but it's hard to imagine a better deal in the present prospect hugging climate.

[nrockway]

3 hours ago, WestEddy said:

I think the Dodgers were not forthcoming about whatever injury/weakness/loss of strength Vargas was experiencing. I couple that with Getz just being spun around a little as a newbie doing his first TDL, and somehow wound up a player short. 

The team's going to be "not good", and he's still not blocking anybody, yet. This is a perfect opportunity to show off the rehabbed infrastructure by throwing a couple of coaches on the guy and turning him into a productive baseball player. 

I was reading into that remark too but I thought it was about Preller and Thorpe. Vargas makes more sense. Either one of those GMs seem like snakes. I liked hearing this about Getz, at least what he says to the press, that honesty pays out in the end. The "process" talk is reasonable and I think truer of baseball than most other sports. Jerry Krause [in]famously said, "players and coaches don't win championships; organizations win championships" which I don't think is totally true -- but it's kind of true, and I think it's truer of baseball than it is basketball [(particularly when Michael Jordan plays for you, though CLE couldn't win with LeBron). Although "the process" worked well for the 76ers until their GM was forced out for non-basketball related reasons. Old school, dummy general management turned the Sixers from a potential dynasty into a treadmill team. I digress].

There's maybe a less famous discussion on "process and thing", I don't think it's a corporate thing like a poster alluded to, I learned about it in terms of historiography, that maybe it's easier to think of "things" as the summation of a "process" and so you're not going to get the desirable "thing" (winning games) without an appropriate process to facilitate it. Maybe you can analyze the historical process based on the "thing" that is left. I appreciate that a baseball GM is thinking like that without having some bozo MBA education like Rick Hahn had. Getz seems like an intelligent dude, but like he has some wisdom and specific pro baseball experience too, not some contracts class at northwestern. 

Good baseball teams, CLE and TBR being great examples, churn out these hitters that nobody has ever heard of, they perform in the MLB, meanwhile Sox fans are waiting around (hoping?) for that highly-touted Cuban or Venezuelan (not Dominican for various reasons) 16-year-old to finally turn into something as a 24-year-old. This speaks to the process. We have some random, no name pitchers to look forward to, like 13th rounder Mason Adams, because the pitching side of things is semi-competent. I guess there's 12th round position player Brooks Baldwin, but ultimately the Sox can't field position players because...well I don't know why...but you hope that some of the recent hires are targeted as fixing specific problems. Let's hope Fuller is that guy. Thought it was interesting/thoughtful that Getz didn't blame it all on the new hire MLB hitting coach (who said some stuff that rubbed me the wrong way), but I'm skeptical this staff has figured anything out in terms of hitting...or if Fuller is 'that guy' to take the team somewhere. I'm "pro-Getz" in terms of Sox fans, but the  pitching development was already pretty good and we've yet to see evidence of developing hitters. My glass is half full always, but we'll see, I think Braden Montgomery will be the first test on the 'development' front. Everything points to him being an excellent right-fielder for a long time, but the org has to pull it out of him. I keep hoping we trade for some younger, less-MLB ready talent because it might indicate the team knows more than we do about the players and that they're confident in developing them. Maybe Meidroth (Gilgamesh, Saruman, somebody give this guy a proper nickname) is that guy, a sleeper, but he's going to be on the major league roster after spring training. Maybe a Luis trade returns a 19-year-old or two. 

Actually, I was extra-reading into the remark about the GMs that have such a bad reputation that teams won't do trades with them. I think of Cincy and Pittsburgh as not making many trades, but the Reds are active lately. The Reds have seemed like a logical trading partner the past couple years. Jonathan India should've played 2b for the Sox last year. I wonder who he's talking about.

[caulfield12]

26 minutes ago, nrockway said:

I was reading into that remark too but I thought it was about Preller and Thorpe. Vargas makes more sense. Either one of those GMs seem like snakes. I liked hearing this about Getz, at least what he says to the press, that honesty pays out in the end. The "process" talk is reasonable and I think truer of baseball than most other sports. Jerry Krause [in]famously said, "players and coaches don't win championships; organizations win championships" which I don't think is totally true -- but it's kind of true, and I think it's truer of baseball than it is basketball [(particularly when Michael Jordan plays for you, though CLE couldn't win with LeBron). Although "the process" worked well for the 76ers until their GM was forced out for non-basketball related reasons. Old school, dummy general management turned the Sixers from a potential dynasty into a treadmill team. I digress].

There's maybe a less famous discussion on "process and thing", I don't think it's a corporate thing like a poster alluded to, I learned about it in terms of historiography, that maybe it's easier to think of "things" as the summation of a "process" and so you're not going to get the desirable "thing" (winning games) without an appropriate process to facilitate it. Maybe you can analyze the historical process based on the "thing" that is left. I appreciate that a baseball GM is thinking like that without having some bozo MBA education like Rick Hahn had. Getz seems like an intelligent dude, but like he has some wisdom and specific pro baseball experience too, not some contracts class at northwestern. 

Good baseball teams, CLE and TBR being great examples, churn out these hitters that nobody has ever heard of, they perform in the MLB, meanwhile Sox fans are waiting around (hoping?) for that highly-touted Cuban or Venezuelan (not Dominican for various reasons) 16-year-old to finally turn into something as a 24-year-old. This speaks to the process. We have some random, no name pitchers to look forward to, like 13th rounder Mason Adams, because the pitching side of things is semi-competent. I guess there's 12th round position player Brooks Baldwin, but ultimately the Sox can't field position players because...well I don't know why...but you hope that some of the recent hires are targeted as fixing specific problems. Let's hope Fuller is that guy. Thought it was interesting/thoughtful that Getz didn't blame it all on the new hire MLB hitting coach (who said some stuff that rubbed me the wrong way), but I'm skeptical this staff has figured anything out in terms of hitting...or if Fuller is 'that guy' to take the team somewhere. I'm "pro-Getz" in terms of Sox fans, but the  pitching development was already pretty good and we've yet to see evidence of developing hitters. My glass is half full always, but we'll see, I think Braden Montgomery will be the first test on the 'development' front. Everything points to him being an excellent right-fielder for a long time, but the org has to pull it out of him. I keep hoping we trade for some younger, less-MLB ready talent because it might indicate the team knows more than we do about the players and that they're confident in developing them. Maybe Meidroth (Gilgamesh, Saruman, somebody give this guy a proper nickname) is that guy, a sleeper, but he's going to be on the major league roster after spring training. Maybe a Luis trade returns a 19-year-old or two. 

Actually, I was extra-reading into the remark about the GMs that have such a bad reputation that teams won't do trades with them. I think of Cincy and Pittsburgh as not making many trades, but the Reds are active lately. The Reds have seemed like a logical trading partner the past couple years. Jonathan India should've played 2b for the Sox last year. I wonder who he's talking about.

The performance of our high bust potential/high ceiling Padres CFer in the minors wasn't exactly encouraging on that front, Mr. Zavala.

Or our seemingly cursed LSU ss/2B who has gone from bad to worse, too.

And Colas/Ramos have gone from Top 80-120 MiLB into the "suspect" category, at best.

 

You basically had only the pitching and Baldwin going in the other direction....with positive trajectories.  Maybe Wolkow.

Edited January 12 by caulfield12

[WhiteSox2023]

4 hours ago, Quin said:

As for the Dodgers not disclosing something, that's what physicals are for. The Padres hid stuff in 2016 and the only reason I'm still annoyed about that is because the Sox were the only team not offered the opportunity to reverse a trade with them, not because acquiring James Shields was stupid from the start.

You beat me to it but this is what I was going to say.  I doubt you can find everything in a physical but the glaring things should show up.

The Orioles just pulled back a contract to Jeff Hoffman for 3-years, $40 million because of something that showed up in his physical regarding his right shoulder.

Edited January 12 by WhiteSox2023

[WestEddy]

42 minutes ago, nrockway said:

I was reading into that remark too but I thought it was about Preller and Thorpe. Vargas makes more sense. Either one of those GMs seem like snakes. I liked hearing this about Getz, at least what he says to the press, that honesty pays out in the end. The "process" talk is reasonable and I think truer of baseball than most other sports. Jerry Krause [in]famously said, "players and coaches don't win championships; organizations win championships" which I don't think is totally true -- but it's kind of true, and I think it's truer of baseball than it is basketball [(particularly when Michael Jordan plays for you, though CLE couldn't win with LeBron). Although "the process" worked well for the 76ers until their GM was forced out for non-basketball related reasons. Old school, dummy general management turned the Sixers from a potential dynasty into a treadmill team. I digress].

There's maybe a less famous discussion on "process and thing", I don't think it's a corporate thing like a poster alluded to, I learned about it in terms of historiography, that maybe it's easier to think of "things" as the summation of a "process" and so you're not going to get the desirable "thing" (winning games) without an appropriate process to facilitate it. Maybe you can analyze the historical process based on the "thing" that is left. I appreciate that a baseball GM is thinking like that without having some bozo MBA education like Rick Hahn had. Getz seems like an intelligent dude, but like he has some wisdom and specific pro baseball experience too, not some contracts class at northwestern. 

Good baseball teams, CLE and TBR being great examples, churn out these hitters that nobody has ever heard of, they perform in the MLB, meanwhile Sox fans are waiting around (hoping?) for that highly-touted Cuban or Venezuelan (not Dominican for various reasons) 16-year-old to finally turn into something as a 24-year-old. This speaks to the process. We have some random, no name pitchers to look forward to, like 13th rounder Mason Adams, because the pitching side of things is semi-competent. I guess there's 12th round position player Brooks Baldwin, but ultimately the Sox can't field position players because...well I don't know why...but you hope that some of the recent hires are targeted as fixing specific problems. Let's hope Fuller is that guy. Thought it was interesting/thoughtful that Getz didn't blame it all on the new hire MLB hitting coach (who said some stuff that rubbed me the wrong way), but I'm skeptical this staff has figured anything out in terms of hitting...or if Fuller is 'that guy' to take the team somewhere. I'm "pro-Getz" in terms of Sox fans, but the  pitching development was already pretty good and we've yet to see evidence of developing hitters. My glass is half full always, but we'll see, I think Braden Montgomery will be the first test on the 'development' front. Everything points to him being an excellent right-fielder for a long time, but the org has to pull it out of him. I keep hoping we trade for some younger, less-MLB ready talent because it might indicate the team knows more than we do about the players and that they're confident in developing them. Maybe Meidroth (Gilgamesh, Saruman, somebody give this guy a proper nickname) is that guy, a sleeper, but he's going to be on the major league roster after spring training. Maybe a Luis trade returns a 19-year-old or two. 

Actually, I was extra-reading into the remark about the GMs that have such a bad reputation that teams won't do trades with them. I think of Cincy and Pittsburgh as not making many trades, but the Reds are active lately. The Reds have seemed like a logical trading partner the past couple years. Jonathan India should've played 2b for the Sox last year. I wonder who he's talking about.

Preller had actual MLB action taken against him and the Padres over concealing health info. Vargas seems to be the guy (to me) that came here, and fell flat on his face because of extenuating circumstances. 

I like the notion of "we can't just keep a revolving door of hitting coaches" without looking at the organizational processes regarding the exchange of information between levels. 

[nrockway]

1 hour ago, caulfield12 said:

The performance of our high bust potential/high ceiling Padres CFer in the minors wasn't exactly encouraging on that front, Mr. Zavala.

Or our seemingly cursed LSU ss/2B who has gone from bad to worse, too.

And Colas/Ramos have gone from Top 80-120 MiLB into the "suspect" category, at best.

 

You basically had only the pitching and Baldwin going in the other direction....with positive trajectories.  Maybe Wolkow.

I still think Zavala is going to be OK, he wasn't ever really a center fielder, he was the key piece of the trade to me. I don't know a thing about 'hitting mechanics' but he seems to be reigning in the thing that scouts were critiquing, the leg kick, and he walks at a rate that is worth considering. I think he can be a stud right fielder, I bet he starts at A+ and quickly moves on to AA.  

Personally I'm more upset that there isn't a true shortstop or center field prospect in the system. I don't think they can trade Luis if there isn't somebody to replace him. He's a superstar player when his offense is on, he's still arguably the best defensive CF regardless...who can still, at the very worst, sort of swing a bat. Defense is pretty important at CF/SS and I don't see anybody in the system that excels at it, has ++ speed...specifically in the outfield. I think Justin Crawford is a player like that, I'm still hopeful he can be pried from Philly like Caba was. Maybe the basis for a trade involving Luis and a pitcher. Wish Caba could've been part of it.

[caulfield12]

21 minutes ago, nrockway said:

I still think Zavala is going to be OK, he wasn't ever really a center fielder, he was the key piece of the trade to me. I don't know a thing about 'hitting mechanics' but he seems to be reigning in the thing that scouts were critiquing, the leg kick, and he walks at a rate that is worth considering. I think he can be a stud right fielder, I bet he starts at A+ and quickly moves on to AA.  

Personally I'm more upset that there isn't a true shortstop or center field prospect in the system. I don't think they can trade Luis if there isn't somebody to replace him. He's a superstar player when his offense is on, he's still arguably the best defensive CF regardless...who can still, at the very worst, sort of swing a bat. Defense is pretty important at CF/SS and I don't see anybody in the system that excels at it, has ++ speed...specifically in the outfield. I think Justin Crawford is a player like that, I'm still hopeful he can be pried from Philly like Caba was. Maybe the basis for a trade involving Luis and a pitcher. Wish Caba could've been part of it.

Have they officially moved Zavala off of CF?

The biggest concern for me when I watched video was an extreme bat wrap that elongated his swing, then you combine that with the leg kick, there's a lot of things going on there and lots of unnecessary movement.

Ofc, as a corner outfielder, you're expected to be able to hit 25+ homers unless you're an anomaly at that spot like a Stephen Kwan with Cleveland.   Always saw Zavala as a 15-20 homers, 30+ doubles guy, but we shall see this year I guess.  Will also be interesting to see if he can retain his speed/remain a legitimate stolen base threat as he progresses through the minors and theoretically adds weight/strength.

Birmingham's going to be just as challenging as A ball for a hitter because it plays as such a pitcher's park.

 

And yes, I've been harping on C/CF/SS/2B for years and years...we have the catcher part of that, but we still don't have a long-term SS or CF, two of the three most important positions on the field.   We BETTER have catcher covered at this point, that's a start, at least.

[nrockway]

1 hour ago, caulfield12 said:

Have they officially moved Zavala off of CF?

The biggest concern for me when I watched video was an extreme bat wrap that elongated his swing, then you combine that with the leg kick, there's a lot of things going on there and lots of unnecessary movement.

Ofc, as a corner outfielder, you're expected to be able to hit 25+ homers unless you're an anomaly at that spot like a Stephen Kwan with Cleveland.   Always saw Zavala as a 15-20 homers, 30+ doubles guy, but we shall see this year I guess.  Will also be interesting to see if he can retain his speed/remain a legitimate stolen base threat as he progresses through the minors and theoretically adds weight/strength.

Birmingham's going to be just as challenging as A ball for a hitter because it plays as such a pitcher's park.

 

And yes, I've been harping on C/CF/SS/2B for years and years...we have the catcher part of that, but we still don't have a long-term SS or CF, two of the three most important positions on the field.   We BETTER have catcher covered at this point, that's a start, at least.

yup, well said. I bolded the part I particularly agree with. I don't think he's 'officially' been moved off CF, I just don't think he's a CF. It's like Colson with SS, I just don't see it.  And those are pretty good numbers for a right fielder with an arm. 

personal, dummy opinion. I think they're the positions where you put 'glove-first, fast' guys. I was sad to lose Duke Ellis for that reason, he's fast and has range...but is raw. The Yanks see something with him. Brewers have a guy like this, Blake Perkins, produced a good amount of WAR despite a mediocre NL bat.

As far as Colson, he looks like a prototypical 3b; huge arm, little range, big bat. He just looks like an elite 3b and maybe a guy who can 'hold down' SS but not very well and not for a winning team. Maybe with good pitching. I don't know why Ramos never got a shot at SS, he looks like the best SS in the organization. Dunno why Moncada never got reps at SS. 

Of course he wants to stay at short, they all do, but let him focus on the bat and get a proper defender to play short. Maybe that's Gonzalez...but doubtful. He looks like a good enough defensive SS but like his bat won't carry him to MLB. 

[caulfield12]

1 hour ago, nrockway said:

yup, well said. I bolded the part I particularly agree with. I don't think he's 'officially' been moved off CF, I just don't think he's a CF. It's like Colson with SS, I just don't see it.  And those are pretty good numbers for a right fielder with an arm. 

personal, dummy opinion. I think they're the positions where you put 'glove-first, fast' guys. I was sad to lose Duke Ellis for that reason, he's fast and has range...but is raw. The Yanks see something with him. Brewers have a guy like this, Blake Perkins, produced a good amount of WAR despite a mediocre NL bat.

As far as Colson, he looks like a prototypical 3b; huge arm, little range, big bat. He just looks like an elite 3b and maybe a guy who can 'hold down' SS but not very well and not for a winning team. Maybe with good pitching. I don't know why Ramos never got a shot at SS, he looks like the best SS in the organization. Dunno why Moncada never got reps at SS. 

Of course he wants to stay at short, they all do, but let him focus on the bat and get a proper defender to play short. Maybe that's Gonzalez...but doubtful. He looks like a good enough defensive SS but like his bat won't carry him to MLB. 

Moncada obviously came up as a middle infielder...got moved to 2B largely because of the presence of Bogaerts/retirement of Pedroia and then got moved over to 3rd eventually by the White Sox when he struggled at second.

I'm not sure about Moncada's range and injury susceptibility at SS...if he EVER could have protected his legs there, when he couldn't handle the wear and tear of 3B as it turned out.   Part of it was fielding injuries, the other part related to baserunning, but time will tell if he can ever recover even 75-80% of where he was in 2019 (pre Covid).

https://www.thebaseballcube.com/content/player/196857/

 

Colson usually grades at a 55 arm, it's not 50 and lacking exactly...but it's usually not 60+ either, which would be zipping the ball over there at 90-95 mph pretty consistently.