2026 Spring Training Thread

[Chicago White Sox]

49 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

In retrospect, it was 100% Roman Anthony...

I don’t know in what world Crochet was bringing back Roman Anthony.

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

8 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

It’s not really that crazy when you consider his injury history and the fact that he had one year of SP experience 

That's why he only signed for 170 million though, which made him more affordable to the Sox.

Nothing about my perspective on that trade has changed since before it happened, so I won't beat a dead horse here. 

[caulfield12]

10 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

I don’t know in what world Crochet was bringing back Roman Anthony.

https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/proposed-blockbuster-tigers-trade-sees-201515950.html

That at least made more sense than this one...

[BrittBurnsFan]

19 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/proposed-blockbuster-tigers-trade-sees-201515950.html

That at least made more sense than this one...

Yeah...that is laughable!  The Pirates wouldn't even answer the phone if they thought that was the proposal from Detroit!  

[ptatc]

52 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

It’s not really that crazy when you consider his injury history and the fact that he had one year of SP experience 

Correct. It was only the injury, surgery and ground breaking rehab program that the Sox used that allowed him to reach that starter potential. There is still a risk it all falls apart.

[WestEddy]

5 hours ago, tray said:

Last season Meidroth had 12 errors, one of the worst at his position. A notable error occurred on May 6, 2025, when a pop-up hit his head, contributing to a 4-3 loss against the Royals.

Meidroth should not be worried about losing the 2B job to Sosa. Sosa is going to get ABs at 1B, 2B and DH because he was one of the best hitters last season, and one of the clutch hitters. Sosa also has a strong arm where Meidroth doesn't. But Meidroth was just not very good last season. That is why Antonacci could come up at some point in 2026, especially if he continues to hit the ball and Meidroth becomes a weak out. And yes, HRs are an important offensive metric, especially the way MLB has evolved. Think how  3 pointers changed college and pro basketball. You have to have them, and a lot of them to win. 

Meidroth had 3 errors at 2B and 9 at SS. Neither were anywhere near the most at either position. 

[pcq]

Meh

Edited yesterday at 04:19 PM by pcq

[46DidIt]

3 hours ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Im more shocked so many people celebrate Getz for that move. He gave up one of the three best pitchers in baseball and if Montgomery isn't a + big leaguer it's a guaranteed loser... and I think Teel is an all-star caliber catcher but he's not a unicorn talent. 

Yeah. Sox would probably going to playoffs here in what would have been crochett's final season with the team if he hadn't made that trade. We lost so much

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

19 hours ago, Chicago White Sox said:

You continue to make this same argument that ignores everything but power when it comes to the 2B spot.  Both Chase & Antonacci are going to get on base at a significantly higher clip and will provide positive defensive value.  The overall value equation is likely higher with both of them, especially against RHP where Sosa is simply league average.  I don’t your willing to acknowledge how bad Sosa was defensively last head, with 2B being a real challenge for him.

Im conflicted here.Sosa wasn't that bad defensibly at 2nd base. He was far from the top defender there but so was Chase. 

They had almost the same fWAR. Sosa slightly higher 1.4 to 1.3 for Chase .WAR and projection system hate Sosa because of the poor chase rate ,low walk rate and defense. 

fWAR had Sosa slightly negative in offensive and more negative in defensive WAR but somehow his overall WAR was 1.4.

The projection models are much kinder to Meidroth than perhaps any other Sox player as far as projected WAR. Not sure why that is. Maybe walk rate, chase rate and defense are more steady stats that make it easier for a counting stat like WAR to incrementally move forward because a good approach is a key to being a better hitter. You might not be able to say Sosa is a professional hitter because of his approach but he is a pretty good hitter.

WAR and projection models look at Sosa and basically say we don't understand why he and Meidroth had similar WAR but it won't happen again. Its like the single best contact you can make doesnt even count as much as a walk.

[DoUEvenShift]

 

[chitownsportsfan]

1 hour ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

Im conflicted here.Sosa wasn't that bad defensibly at 2nd base. He was far from the top defender there but so was Chase. 

They had almost the same fWAR. Sosa slightly higher 1.4 to 1.3 for Chase .WAR and projection system hate Sosa because of the poor chase rate ,low walk rate and defense. 

fWAR had Sosa slightly negative in offensive and more negative in defensive WAR but somehow his overall WAR was 1.4.

The projection models are much kinder to Meidroth than perhaps any other Sox player as far as projected WAR. Not sure why that is. Maybe walk rate, chase rate and defense are more steady stats that make it easier for a counting stat like WAR to incrementally move forward because a good approach is a key to being a better hitter. You might not be able to say Sosa is a professional hitter because of his approach but he is a pretty good hitter.

WAR and projection models look at Sosa and basically say we don't understand why he and Meidroth had similar WAR but it won't happen again. Its like the single best contact you can make doesnt even count as much as a walk.

It's mostly just minor league numbers propelling Chase in the projections. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Both are limited players in their own way and we'll see how they perform this year. Chase needs to prove he can still work counts after the book is out on him. Sosa needs to show his 2nd half power surge wasn't a fluke and continue to improve his defense at 2B.

[fathom]

8 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said:

It's mostly just minor league numbers propelling Chase in the projections. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Both are limited players in their own way and we'll see how they perform this year. Chase needs to prove he can still work counts after the book is out on him. Sosa needs to show his 2nd half power surge wasn't a fluke and continue to improve his defense at 2B.

And can’t give away at bats with lazy fly balls to right field

[chitownsportsfan]

7 minutes ago, fathom said:

And can’t give away at bats with lazy fly balls to right field

Yea that was when he was trying to attack early in the count after pitchers started attacking iirc. Good call.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

36 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said:

It's mostly just minor league numbers propelling Chase in the projections. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Both are limited players in their own way and we'll see how they perform this year. Chase needs to prove he can still work counts after the book is out on him. Sosa needs to show his 2nd half power surge wasn't a fluke and continue to improve his defense at 2B.

True .I had looked at Chase's MiLB numbers and it still all came back to plate approach and walks ,and the consistent steadily high OBP and better fielding though it is only slighly above average . 

Both show that there is more than one way to skin a cat.

Both made it to the majors. Chase because of great approach which resulted in decent but not powerful hitting stats yearly. Sosa because he'd have a down year then adjust so ,as we often hear with prospects, his path was not linear. Projection systems are less tolerant of the inconsistenies of non linear development. 

Edited 22 hours ago by CaliSoxFanViaSWside

[tray]

Meidroth will not be replaced by Sosa, but eventually he might be by a player like Antonacci who can play good defense and has some power.

Sosa is a back-up infielder and DH who will get a lot of ABs once again because he is a proven hitter with power. Always exciting to see him come to bat because he hits the ball hard. 

[chitownsportsfan]

20 minutes ago, tray said:

Meidroth will not be replaced by Sosa, but eventually he might be by a player like Antonacci who can play good defense and has some power.

Sosa is a back-up infielder and DH who will get a lot of ABs once again because he is a proven hitter with power. Always exciting to see him come to bat because he hits the ball hard. 

I'm pretty close to this as well. One of them will settle into average regular, other guy probably mildly useful utility IF.

[Chicago White Sox]

43 minutes ago, tray said:

Meidroth will not be replaced by Sosa, but eventually he might be by a player like Antonacci who can play good defense and has some power.

Sosa is a back-up infielder and DH who will get a lot of ABs once again because he is a proven hitter with power. Always exciting to see him come to bat because he hits the ball hard. 

Fully agree with all of this.  Chase needs to live up to his AAA hype and fast or could be relegated to reserve infielder status once Antonacci is ready.  That being said, Chase was dealing with several injuries last year and it certainly impacted his performance as the season progressed.  I expect improvement in terms of both impacting the ball and getting on base next year.  His BB rate has significant room for growth and that getting closer to 12% is what will make or break him.