The Lenyn Sosa Thread

[chitownsportsfan]

Avg EV in the opener of 100.1. Max 106.4. I think getting him off 3B is going to help his ABs. As much as we say pros shouldn't take their defense up to the plate it's easier said than done. He's not a great 2B buy any measure but he's not unplayable like he was at 3rd.

[chitownsportsfan]

Currently has a xwOBA of .370 and a wOBA of .250. Hitting the ball hard and in the air, just has had some bad luck. Hopefully someone can point it out to the manager.

Edited April 7 by chitownsportsfan

[ChiSox59]

Sosa should be playing everyday.  Mainly 2B with Baldwin at SS.  I have no desire see any more Amaya. 

[southsider2k5]

13 minutes ago, ChiSox59 said:

Sosa should be playing everyday.  Mainly 2B with Baldwin at SS.  I have no desire see any more Amaya. 

He should have been last year.

[caulfield12]

Players with long wings like Sosa can't adapt well to inconsistent or erratic playing time.

The problem here is PT gets harder when Rojas returns....and do they REALLY see the value in DHing Nick Maton nearly every single game and then hitting him 5th/6th?  He could hit 15-18 homers with that uppercut swing, but to what end?

[TBrown54]

He's capable of a good season but he must improve his OBP (.283 in 2024). 

[Quin]

4 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

Players with long wings like Sosa can't adapt well to inconsistent or erratic playing time.

The problem here is PT gets harder when Rojas returns....and do they REALLY see the value in DHing Nick Maton nearly every single game and then hitting him 5th/6th?  He could hit 15-18 homers with that uppercut swing, but to what end?

Somehow, despite him playing every game, I keep forgetting Nick Maton is on the team. Like my brain refuses to acknowledge his existence.

[tray]

6 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

Players with long wings like Sosa can't adapt well to inconsistent or erratic playing time.

The problem here is PT gets harder when Rojas returns....and do they REALLY see the value in DHing Nick Maton nearly every single game and then hitting him 5th/6th?  He could hit 15-18 homers with that uppercut swing, but to what end?

If the Sox get swept by Cleveland (which is possible and even likely) ,  maybe we will see Meidroth (2B), Quero DH), and Teel (C) up and some demotions and DFAs to make room for them.  Forget Rojas. Leave Vargas at 3B for a few more series.

 

 

[caulfield12]

23 minutes ago, tray said:

If the Sox get swept by Cleveland (which is possible and even likely) ,  maybe we will see Meidroth (2B), Quero DH), and Teel (C) up and some demotions and DFAs to make room for them.  Forget Rojas. Leave Vargas at 3B for a few more series.

 

 

Managers like Venable are always going to play their veterans, especially when they come right off the IL...just watch when Rojas returns.

Whatever the deadline, they're going to have to wait another 10-12 days or whatever before any recalls for the extra year of service time.

I'm not sure they're 100% ready to make any long-term decisions on Vargas OR Sosa (no options remaining) yet, but it would be logical to get rid of Amaya first.

 

Thaiss has actually been playing decently, so IMO they're likely to bring up Quero first (since they're already more familiar with him, he's the hotter hitter, and they already mentioned that Teel still had some areas defensively they wanted him to address)...also assuming Lee goes back down the minors.  Not even sure how many options he has available.

 

[WestEddy]

6 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

Managers like Venable are always going to play their veterans, especially when they come right off the IL...just watch when Rojas returns.

Whatever the deadline, they're going to have to wait another 10-12 days or whatever before any recalls for the extra year of service time.

I'm not sure they're 100% ready to make any long-term decisions on Vargas OR Sosa (no options remaining) yet, but it would be logical to get rid of Amaya first.

 

Thaiss has actually been playing decently, so IMO they're likely to bring up Quero first (since they're already more familiar with him, he's the hotter hitter, and they already mentioned that Teel still had some areas defensively they wanted him to address)...also assuming Lee goes back down the minors.  Not even sure how many options he has available.

 

Korey Lee has one option remaining. 

2025 Chicago White Sox Depth Chart | RosterResource | FanGraphs Baseball

[nrockway]

if Lee continues to hit the ball, I think plenty of teams will want to trade for him. There are some really bad catching duos this season.

[chitownsportsfan]

He has POSITIVE fWAR! .1 but still. We'll take what we can get. Been a bit unlucky xwOBA is .319 actual wOBA is .289. Needs some more LA and he'll be a fine ballplayer to have around.

Also, can the usual culprits not derail this thread. That's why I made it. Ty.

Edited April 22 by chitownsportsfan

[GreenSox]

It would also be nice to get 15-20 HRs out of him.

[Bob Sacamano]

Keep playing him. Even more at 1B if you have to.

[PaleAleSox]

1 hour ago, Bob Sacamano said:

Keep playing him. Even more at 1B if you have to.

Yeah he hitting the ball hard. Unlucky so far. Should be in the lineup almost every day.

[WhiteSox2023]

At the moment…

.284 / .308 / .398 / .706

[wegner]

I remember being excited to be at the 1st game he got called up....jeez, that feels like 10 years ago.

[chitownsportsfan]

Hanging onto to positive fWAR at .1. His wxOBA is .320 so according to that metric he's been a bit unlucky. FG thinks he's about a league average defender at 2B, which is something he can hang his hat on as a utility player or borderline starter.

Looking at his statcast data I see an average MLB athlete with good contact skills that still needs to mature as a hitter, especially late in counts. He has enough contact skills where pitchers won't necessarily just be throwing him a get me over at any point in the count. He's worst 1 percentile in chase, if he can just get that to like bottom 1/3 and up his walk rate he'll raise his floor quite a bit.

Edited May 5 by chitownsportsfan

[southsider2k5]

Nice to see one of the guys they worked really hard to block having a respectable season.

[Lip Man 1]

43 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said:

Hanging onto to positive fWAR at .1. His wxOBA is .320 so according to that metric he's been a bit unlucky. FG thinks he's about a league average defender at 2B, which is something he can hang his hat on as a utility player or borderline starter.

Looking at his statcast data I see an average MLB athlete with good contact skills that still needs to mature as a hitter, especially late in counts. He has enough contact skills where pitchers won't necessarily just be throwing him a get me over at any point in the count. He's worst 1 percentile in chase, if he can just get that to like bottom 1/3 and up his walk rate he'll raise his floor quite a bit.

But his defense could be a factor moving forward, he already has seven errors if I remember right. That's a Tim Anderson pace. 

[chitownsportsfan]

9 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said:

But his defense could be a factor moving forward, he already has seven errors if I remember right. That's a Tim Anderson pace. 

Errors will happen but both statcast and fangraphs like his range. I'll take someone with range that needs work in the offseason over someone that can't get to balls and never has a chance to make an error.

[almagest]

I brought up the chase rate in another thread - that's why I'm out on Lenyn. There are 160-something qualified hitters in MLB right now, meaning Lenyn is the worst/second worst at chasing out of the zone. That severely limits his ceiling. It's not like this year is an outlier, either. His previous qualified chase rate wasn't any better - 6%. The Sox have also brought in coaches and players to try to make selectiveness part of the organizational philosophy, and we've seen other players make adjustments, but not Lenyn. He just doesn't fit what the Sox want to do, and he doesn't seem to want to/be able to change. I'd expect that he won't be a major part of this team past this season.

Edited May 5 by almagest

[chitownsportsfan]

10 minutes ago, almagest said:

I brought up the chase rate in another thread - that's why I'm out on Lenyn. There are 160-something qualified hitters in MLB right now, meaning Lenyn is the worst/second worst at chasing out of the zone. That severely limits his ceiling. It's not like this year is an outlier, either. His previous qualified chase rate wasn't any better - 6%. The Sox have also brought in coaches and players to try to make selectiveness part of the organizational philosophy, and we've seen other players make adjustments, but not Lenyn. He just doesn't fit what the Sox want to do, and he doesn't seem to want to/be able to change. I'd expect that he won't be a major part of this team past this season.

It's a problem but he also has one of the best contact rates in MLB so it's not like he's a terrible profile overall. Even with his league worst chase rate he's got a league average xwOBA. I don't think there is any "right" way to find value in MLB, there are a lot of wrong ways but at the end of the day there are dozens of ways to provide value and if he's "just" a 270/290/380 hitter well he's just a utility guy, but if he can improve, and he's 25 so there's some time, he's a decent regular.

[almagest]

23 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said:

It's a problem but he also has one of the best contact rates in MLB so it's not like he's a terrible profile overall. Even with his league worst chase rate he's got a league average xwOBA. I don't think there is any "right" way to find value in MLB, there are a lot of wrong ways but at the end of the day there are dozens of ways to provide value and if he's "just" a 270/290/380 hitter well he's just a utility guy, but if he can improve, and he's 25 so there's some time, he's a decent regular.

He also doesn't barrel enough pitches or hit them hard (32%/29%), which is directly attributable to his chase rate. xwOBA is also below average at 41%.

I would love to be wrong, but "worst in the league at chasing pitches" is just not a workable long-term profile if he can't make any changes. Second division utility infielder is his current ceiling.

[WestEddy]

1 hour ago, chitownsportsfan said:

Errors will happen but both statcast and fangraphs like his range. I'll take someone with range that needs work in the offseason over someone that can't get to balls and never has a chance to make an error.

I seem to remember that part of the reason the Brewers were ready to move on from Jose Valentin were his errors. He led the league twice with them. Turns out all the advanced models credited his range, and he got to a lot more to make those errors.