11 hours ago11 hr Just for fun, here is our fWAR by position and how we rank in the AL:1B: 2.2 (4th)2B: 1.7 (1st)SS: 2.1 (4th)3B: 2.5 (2nd)LF: 0.4 (10th) | Antonacci = 0.5 | All Other = -0.1CF: 1.3 (6th) | Peters = 1.8 | All Other = -0.5RF: -0.6 (13th) | Montgomery = 0.4 | Pereira = 0.2 | All Other = -1.2DH: 0.7 (5th) | Grichuk = 0.3 | Pereira = 0.2 | Benintendi = 0.2CA: -0.6 (15th)SP: 4.4 (12th)RP: 1.5 (9th)As you can see above, there is reason to believe the OF production will be much better with the current group of players (if healthy). And obviously Teel will be a huge help at catcher, where we currently rank dead last in the AL. If everyone is back & healthy though, this is a legitimate top 5 positional group IMO.Pitching is the real problem as everyone knows. There are some nice pieces there and some internal reinforcements coming, but it’s portion of the roster that could hold us back. Still, one good SP and two good relievers from outside the organization would go a long way of stabilizing this group moving forward.
11 hours ago11 hr 2 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:Just for fun, here is our fWAR by position and how we rank in the AL:1B: 2.2 (4th)2B: 1.7 (1st)SS: 2.1 (4th)3B: 2.5 (2nd)LF: 0.4 (10th) | Antonacci = 0.5 | All Other = -0.1CF: 1.3 (6th) | Peters = 1.8 | All Other = -0.5RF: -0.6 (13th) | Montgomery = 0.4 | Pereira = 0.2 | All Other = -1.2DH: 0.7 (5th) | Grichuk = 0.3 | Pereira = 0.2 | Benintendi = 0.2CA: -0.6 (15th)SP: 4.4 (12th)RP: 1.5 (9th)As you can see above, there is reason to believe the OF production will be much better with the current group of players (if healthy). And obviously Teel will be a huge help at catcher, where we currently rank dead last in the AL. If everyone is back & healthy though, this is a legitimate top 5 positional group IMO.Pitching is the real problem as everyone knows. There are some nice pieces there and some internal reinforcements coming, but it’s portion of the roster that could hold us back. Still, one good SP and two good relievers from outside the organization would go a long way of stabilizing this group moving forward.Two high 1st round pitching picks busting would be brutal. Hagen Smith not looking so hot. Schultz really needs to pan out.
11 hours ago11 hr I started out thinking this was a 77-78 win team, to feeling better about .500+, to now thinking they actually have a shot with this offense to make the playoffs. Looking at the injuries around the league, I start thinking there's a lot of green in front of the White Sox. They're dealing with the roughest stretch and looking like they could come away from the Phils, Braves, Dodgers, Yankees, Guards and Tigers over .500 for that stretch. Then the schedule gets easier. Then they get Mune and Teel back. Then some of their starting pitching depth should be throwing and percolating up to the parent club. Then they have depth to deal from to shore up the rotation and bullpen. I don't want them to blow it all up for one post-season run, but they certainly have the horses and depth to make an interesting go of it.
11 hours ago11 hr 22 minutes ago, ron883 said:Two high 1st round pitching picks busting would be brutal. Hagen Smith not looking so hot. Schultz really needs to pan out.I’m still 100% confident that Schultz will be a solid mid-rotation starter at minimum with the potential for much more than that. Health is really the only concern there. Smith is much harder to get a grasp on, but way too early to write him off. Worst case scenario, I think he ends up a high leverage reliever, which still has a lot of value from the left side.
11 hours ago11 hr 8 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:I’m still 100% confident that Schultz will be a solid mid-rotation starter at minimum with the potential for much more than that. Health is really the only concern there. Smith is much harder to get a grasp on, but way too early to write him off. Worst case scenario, I think he ends up a high leverage reliever, which still has a lot of value from the left side.FRP bust all the time and TINSSAAPP of course. It's not the end of the world getting a setup guy and a 4th starter on pre arb deals out of a couple, your scenario would be fine. Smith I get the handwringing a bit given who was drafted behind him, but yea, not something to really fret over given where the big club is at right now.
10 hours ago10 hr 1 hour ago, WestEddy said:I always cringe when a player leaves, and the dialog is "they just lost 25 HR. Where are they going to get those 25 HRs from, now?" Production comes in different shapes. It's pretty stark when Mune goes down, and the team kind of morphs to become a slightly different mode of run production."The 2005 White Sox lost the best player in franchise history for the season. How are they going to replace that?" 😄
10 hours ago10 hr Also, if it wasn’t obvious above, Meidroth is currently leading the AL in fWAR amongst 2B.
9 hours ago9 hr FanGraphs has us 7th in their power rankings, in the solid contenders tier (despite their system giving us a 31% chance at the postseason).
9 hours ago9 hr 58 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:Also, if it wasn’t obvious above, Meidroth is currently leading the AL in fWAR amongst 2B.Tristan Peters is 4th among CFers in the AL, even though I don't think he qualifies yet based on his # of PAs.
9 hours ago9 hr 1 hour ago, Chicago White Sox said:Also, if it wasn’t obvious above, Meidroth is currently leading the AL in fWAR amongst 2B.Some on this board wanted to bench him a week into the season. lol I made some point that he was on pace to be like a 2 WAR player and I was ridiculed, now he's basically at 2 WAR with 60% of the season left.
8 hours ago8 hr 1 hour ago, Chicago White Sox said:Also, if it wasn’t obvious above, Meidroth is currently leading the AL in fWAR amongst 2B.Trade him while he's hot!
8 hours ago8 hr 35 minutes ago, chw42 said:Tristan Peters is 4th among CFers in the AL, even though I don't think he qualifies yet based on his # of PAs.He’s also 4th in fWAR amongst all rookies after Wetherholt, McGonicle, & Murakami. That’s some really good company to be in.
8 hours ago8 hr 18 minutes ago, nrockway said:Some on this board wanted to bench him a week into the season. lol I made some point that he was on pace to be like a 2 WAR player and I was ridiculed, now he's basically at 2 WAR with 60% of the season left.Color me still skeptical, and I was certainly one of the original doubters. He's running a .350 BABIP, and I think his profile was actually more reliable last year when he was making more contact. His bat speed is still abysmal so it's not like he's traded some contact for power by swinging harder.This is a really ugly offensive profile:ImgBBChase hosted at ImgBBImage Chase hosted on ImgBBWhich has worked so far, but I'm not sure I see a lot of sustained success. He's a nice defensive player, and those wall scraping homers have helped him a bit this year. I'm still firmly in the camp of the Sox should be playing Antonacci at 2nd in the long run and if they can get something for Meidroth, they should. He still projects as a utility guy for me in the long run.
8 hours ago8 hr 12 minutes ago, ron883 said:Trade him while he's hot!100% they should move him if some other team will give up something for him. He's basically the same player from last year under the hood, but he's had more production this year.
8 hours ago8 hr 22 minutes ago, nrockway said:Some on this board wanted to bench him a week into the season. lol I made some point that he was on pace to be like a 2 WAR player and I was ridiculed, now he's basically at 2 WAR with 60% of the season left.What’s crazy is I still think there is room for growth. Yes, some of his expected numbers suggest regression will be coming, but I also think he’s still developing as a hitter who is trying to get more impact with his swing. The ISO is up YoY as he’s improved his launch angle and barrel rate, but that’s come at a bit of a cost when it comes to contact & chase. I think with another year of playing time he’ll find a way to maintain his improved power while enhancing contact & walk rates to some degree. His fWAR may not change vs. his SL projection today, but my hope is he will offset any regression and remain a 2.5 to 3.0 win type player.
8 hours ago8 hr 21 minutes ago, ron883 said:Trade him while he's hot!From this fans’ perspective, he may be the most important member of the clubhouse. Seems like he brings the energy and Colson is BFF’s with him. I’d rather not trade him under any circumstance.
8 hours ago8 hr 10 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:100% they should move him if some other team will give up something for him. He's basically the same player from last year under the hood, but he's had more production this year.His launch angle and barrel rate are materially different. For a guy with elite bat to ball skills, tweaking your swing / approach can lead to materially more power without adding a ton of bat speed.
8 hours ago8 hr 38 minutes ago, nrockway said:Some on this board wanted to bench him a week into the season. lol I made some point that he was on pace to be like a 2 WAR player and I was ridiculed, now he's basically at 2 WAR with 60% of the season left.You weren’t ridiculed. I said I wasn’t a fan and you “ridiculed” me, except there was no actual ridiculing either way, we disagreed
8 hours ago8 hr 1 minute ago, Chicago White Sox said:His launch angle and barrel rate are materially different. For a guy with elite bat to ball skills, tweaking your swing / approach can lead to materially more power without adding a ton of bat speed.Barrels are a pretty noisy stat (in fact, they're so noisy that he's actually squared up fewer balls this year by a good bit than last year, but has more barrels), and I wouldn't worry much about launch angle for a guy with a 67 MPH bat speed.. plus a 7.2 vs 6.7 (last year) LA is hardly a measurable change. For slow bat speeds (bottom 10%), the ideal launch angle sits between 12-15 degrees. If you look at successful profiles in that player type (Steven Kwan and Luis Arraez types) you'll see a different profile all together.I know he's your guy, and I would defend my guy the same way so completely get it. I just find it nearly impossible to project out a better performance for the guy than he's shown this year. He seems maxed out.
8 hours ago8 hr 18 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:Color me still skeptical, and I was certainly one of the original doubters. He's running a .350 BABIP, and I think his profile was actually more reliable last year when he was making more contact. His bat speed is still abysmal so it's not like he's traded some contact for power by swinging harder.This is a really ugly offensive profile:ImgBBChase hosted at ImgBBImage Chase hosted on ImgBBWhich has worked so far, but I'm not sure I see a lot of sustained success. He's a nice defensive player, and those wall scraping homers have helped him a bit this year.I'm still firmly in the camp of the Sox should be playing Antonacci at 2nd in the long run and if they can get something for Meidroth, they should. He still projects as a utility guy for me in the long run.There's a point to be made there but I think I prefer his slugging approach. He's already essentially matched his K total from last season, at the same time matching his doubles and home runs in ~215 fewer plate appearances. It's an interesting if not outright bizarre shift in profile. What's funny about that Savant screencap is that all of those ~25th percentile ratings were first or second last season. Meanwhile the contact-related metrics have dropped from ~90th to ~70th, yet he still has a higher batting average than last season. One imagines the .350 BABIP is doing the heavy lifting there and might expect it to decrease, but I feel like he'll run a pretty high one since contact hitters generally do.You wonder if he can put it all together, hit 15 home runs, 25 doubles, .380 OBP. Doesn't seem out of the question. Regardless, the guy has really impressed me, I was ready to trot out Lenyn and his .490 OPS at 2b.
8 hours ago8 hr 37 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:100% they should move him if some other team will give up something for him. He's basically the same player from last year under the hood, but he's had more production this year.Great idea if you want to completely derail what seems to be going on in the clubhouse.
8 hours ago8 hr 40 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:100% they should move him if some other team will give up something for him. He's basically the same player from last year under the hood, but he's had more production this year.I was half joking, but I've said before that they're going to need to move some of the middle infield depth at some point, and he's the first guy I'd move. There's plenty of other options available now and in the future with Antonacci, Gonzalez, Bonemer, Roch (assuming we draft him). It would suck to trade him now when he's performed really well and is seemingly a big piece in the clubhouse. But I completely get it and agree with you that his current play may be his ceiling and/or not sustainable.
7 hours ago7 hr 7 minutes ago, PaleAleSox said:Great idea if you want to completely derail what seems to be going on in the clubhouse.The Sox should be worried about sustaining success not friendships. The Sox are going to run into a situation of which they need to trade position players for arms since they have very little pitching. They need to pick the right guys to trade. Meidroth has, by far, the safest profile to trade IMO. It's also a profile that won't sustain imo.
7 hours ago7 hr 9 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:The Sox should be worried about sustaining success not friendships.The Sox are going to run into a situation of which they need to trade position players for arms since they have very little pitching. They need to pick the right guys to trade. Meidroth has, by far, the safest profile to trade IMO. It's also a profile that won't sustain imo.Fangraphs thinks Chase is a perfectly cromulent starting 2B, projected for another 1.4 fWAR 70 or so odd games. I get what you're saying with his profile but there's zero reason to trade him right now. He has turned himself into an above avg defender at 2B and in today's MLB you don't need much more than 250/330/350 to be a solid starting middle IF.
7 hours ago7 hr 5 hours ago, chw42 said:We're somehow 6th in the mlb.com power rankings.MLB.com has been higher on the Sox than the Athletic or ESPN all year. I’ll be shocked if ESPN has the Sox in the top 20 this week.
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