Ducksnort Posted December 28, 2025 Share Posted December 28, 2025 2 hours ago, almagest said: If Murakami ends up with 2.1 fWAR and a 118 wRC+ I’d be pretty happy. That’s around an .800 OPS which compared to Vaughn looks like Big Frank is over there again. What did Milwaukee do to unlock Vaughn's potential? Did they change anything about his swing? Did he just need a change of scenery? It's pretty wild how he completely turned into the hitter we all hoped he would be as soon as he was traded, and then sustained it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nrockway Posted December 28, 2025 Share Posted December 28, 2025 Robert slashed .298/.352/.456 in the second half across 125 plate appearances. Seems totally reasonable to expect that next season (if he’s healthy). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteSox2023 Posted December 28, 2025 Share Posted December 28, 2025 (edited) 11 minutes ago, nrockway said: Robert slashed .298/.352/.456 in the second half across 125 plate appearances. Seems totally reasonable to expect that next season (if he’s healthy). Not reasonable at all considering his last two full seasons, healthy or not. His most recent two seasons of 856 plate appearances have been BAD. Edited December 28, 2025 by WhiteSox2023 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicago White Sox Posted December 28, 2025 Author Share Posted December 28, 2025 29 minutes ago, WhiteSox2023 said: Not reasonable at all considering his last two full seasons, healthy or not. His most recent two seasons of 856 plate appearances have been BAD. His xwOBA was .322 last year which is slightly above league average. Not sure how anyone would call that BAD for a CF. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteSox2023 Posted December 28, 2025 Share Posted December 28, 2025 (edited) 7 hours ago, Chicago White Sox said: His xwOBA was .322 last year which is slightly above league average. Not sure how anyone would call that BAD for a CF. I prefer to look at the actual stats he finished with over the past two seasons. Edited December 28, 2025 by WhiteSox2023 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted December 28, 2025 Share Posted December 28, 2025 9 hours ago, nrockway said: Robert slashed .298/.352/.456 in the second half across 125 plate appearances. Seems totally reasonable to expect that next season (if he’s healthy). 125 PAs in half a season sounds about right. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lukakke Appling Posted December 28, 2025 Share Posted December 28, 2025 We really have devolved into an eristic society. 1 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chitownsportsfan Posted December 28, 2025 Share Posted December 28, 2025 3 hours ago, Lukakke Appling said: We really have devolved into an eristic society. "people ask me what I do in the winter when there's no baseball: I tell them I stare at the screen and argue on Soxtalk." 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestEddy Posted December 28, 2025 Share Posted December 28, 2025 12 hours ago, WhiteSox2023 said: Not reasonable at all considering his last two full seasons, healthy or not. His most recent two seasons of 856 plate appearances have been BAD. Robert hasn't been BAD. He's put up around 1.4 bWAR in about 100 games in each of the last two seasons, when stretched over 162 games is about 2 WAR, which is an average major leaguer. And he does have the ceiling of a 4-5 WAR player, if somebody can get him to tap into it again. I don't think it's unreasonable to think he could replicate what he did for a month's worth of games just this last year. If he worked through a hitch in his swing, or started reacting different to the way he's pitched, he doesn't decide in each at-bat he is the guy who OPSed .540 in August of 2024. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteSox2023 Posted December 28, 2025 Share Posted December 28, 2025 7 minutes ago, WestEddy said: Robert hasn't been BAD. He's put up around 1.4 bWAR in about 100 games in each of the last two seasons, when stretched over 162 games is about 2 WAR, which is an average major leaguer. And he does have the ceiling of a 4-5 WAR player, if somebody can get him to tap into it again. I don't think it's unreasonable to think he could replicate what he did for a month's worth of games just this last year. If he worked through a hitch in his swing, or started reacting different to the way he's pitched, he doesn't decide in each at-bat he is the guy who OPSed .540 in August of 2024. I was just talking about his bat, hence mentioning his PA over the past two seasons. His defense is usually good. And the reason you can’t just stretch out his WAR over 162 games is because he is always due for an injury each season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestEddy Posted December 28, 2025 Share Posted December 28, 2025 14 minutes ago, WhiteSox2023 said: I was just talking about his bat, hence mentioning his PA over the past two seasons. His defense is usually good. And the reason you can’t just stretch out his WAR over 162 games is because he is always due for an injury each season. Stretching for the sake of argument. He plays at the rate of an average major league player, even if it's just for 2/3 of a season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaliSoxFanViaSWside Posted Saturday at 06:25 PM Share Posted Saturday at 06:25 PM On 12/28/2025 at 6:56 AM, Lukakke Appling said: We really have devolved into an eristic society. Have not !! 😋 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppysox Posted Saturday at 06:36 PM Share Posted Saturday at 06:36 PM On 12/28/2025 at 1:57 PM, WestEddy said: Stretching for the sake of argument. He plays at the rate of an average major league player, even if it's just for 2/3 of a season. We don't have anyone at this time who would do better. Get some pitching and stop worrying about Robert IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestEddy Posted Saturday at 07:30 PM Share Posted Saturday at 07:30 PM 54 minutes ago, poppysox said: We don't have anyone at this time who would do better. Get some pitching and stop worrying about Robert IMO. I think that's what they're doing. If somebody comes banging on the door with a package, the Sox will listen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicago White Sox Posted 22 hours ago Author Share Posted 22 hours ago So random question on this. Do we think that the Sox will have an above league average offense next year? Looking at the Steamer projections it sure looks like a 100 wRC+ is probable. Candidly speaking, if Murakami hits his projection I think we could crack the top 10, which would require a 105 wRC+. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T R U Posted 20 hours ago Share Posted 20 hours ago 1 hour ago, Chicago White Sox said: So random question on this. Do we think that the Sox will have an above league average offense next year? Looking at the Steamer projections it sure looks like a 100 wRC+ is probable. Candidly speaking, if Murakami hits his projection I think we could crack the top 10, which would require a 105 wRC+. They are going to need someone from the OF to be good or I don't see how this is possible. I think the IF has a chance to be a really strong unit, especially if all the young guys take another step forward. We probably have the worst OF in baseball though as it currently stands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Look at Ray Ray Run Posted 20 hours ago Share Posted 20 hours ago 1 hour ago, Chicago White Sox said: So random question on this. Do we think that the Sox will have an above league average offense next year? Looking at the Steamer projections it sure looks like a 100 wRC+ is probable. Candidly speaking, if Murakami hits his projection I think we could crack the top 10, which would require a 105 wRC+. During their best extended stretch last year they were at about 94... if you shrink it down a little more you can get to 98. The problem with that group is they were terrible defenders (4th worst in baseball) and base runners (3rd worse in baseball), so even if they get that number to 100, you'd be looking at a position group in the top 14 in wRC+ but the bottom 10 of overall value. That said, the position group has much more reason for some optimism than the pitching group, which is bottom 5 in baseball. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Sacamano Posted 20 hours ago Share Posted 20 hours ago 17 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said: During their best extended stretch last year they were at about 94... if you shrink it down a little more you can get to 98. The problem with that group is they were terrible defenders (4th worst in baseball) and base runners (3rd worse in baseball), so even if they get that number to 100, you'd be looking at a position group in the top 14 in wRC+ but the bottom 10 of overall value. That said, the position group has much more reason for some optimism than the pitching group, which is bottom 5 in baseball. Yeah I’m not at all optimistic on the pitching side (outside of a couple arms). It would be fun to actually add 2 more legit starters to the rotation and try to at least go for a “lightning in a bottle” situation where maybe if everything clicks and guys don’t regress and some guys take steps it can be a competitive season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicago White Sox Posted 13 hours ago Author Share Posted 13 hours ago 2 hours ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said: During their best extended stretch last year they were at about 94... if you shrink it down a little more you can get to 98. The problem with that group is they were terrible defenders (4th worst in baseball) and base runners (3rd worse in baseball), so even if they get that number to 100, you'd be looking at a position group in the top 14 in wRC+ but the bottom 10 of overall value. That said, the position group has much more reason for some optimism than the pitching group, which is bottom 5 in baseball. We had a 98 wRC+ from July 1st forward. The only real losses since then are Tauchman and Slater who combined for a ~105 wRC+. If we keep Sosa and use our bench guys appropriately from a platoon standpoint, I think will be a little bit stronger than it was last year. To go from average to good will certainly require Murakami to achieve his projections as previously mentioned. The defense being bad is very much a TBD to me. Robert, Colson, & Meidroth should be fine up the middle. Benintendi is terrible in LF but sounds like they are trying to play him substantially less there. Baldwin was awful in multiple spots, but I think he can improve in the outfield more reps. Hill is a tremendous defender and Pereira should be more than solid in a corner. Vargas is a question mark at 3B, but didn’t look terrible to me. I have no idea how Murakami be at 1B, but I’d hope he’s not awful if he could play 3B in Japan. Catcher is a bit of a wild card but hopefully the rule changes help Quero a bit and I think both him and Teel will continue to improve with time. Don’t think it will be a good defensive unit, but not ready to say it will be bottom five or anything like that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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