Jacob Gonzalez hit 3 more dingers today and now leads the minors with 18 HRs and 58 RBIs. At what point does he get a shot? He has to have more value than Acuna?? Now or never for this former first rounder.

Edited 19 hours ago19 hr by RudyLawRules

Right after the All Star break is my guess. Where would he play right now? He would definitely be an upgrade offensively over Acuna, but it also doesn’t make sense to call him and force him into a tiny bench role. Let him cook for another month or so and reassess in mid July. Maybe by then we find a way to open up more playing time for him.

Unrelated, but Charlotte's stadium has such a great outfield skyline.

Same suggestion I had a month ago: call him up for DH, and to spell other infielders a few times per week.
Dump Beni.
Low-risk move.
Another thing I like about him is that his K rate is reasonable. The big club Ks too much, as do the 2 top prospects.

Before anyone says Benintendi is hitting well lately: He's got .148/.148/.333 over his last 7 and .204/.273/.600 over his last 15.

For a guy that's played 3 innings of defense all years, that's horrible.

12 minutes ago, Quin said:

Before anyone says Benintendi is hitting well lately: He's got .148/.148/.333 over his last 7 and .204/.273/.600 over his last 15.

For a guy that's played 3 innings of defense all years, that's horrible.

As I posted in the other thread, Benintendi is the one who needs to go eventually if he can’t turn up the offense a ton. He’s essentially unplayable in the OF and he’s not hitting enough to be a regular at DH.

If you cut Andrew, this offense has a chance to be substantially by year end:

Lineup:

1. Antonacci, LF (L)

2. Murakami, 1B (L)

3. Vargas, 3B (R)

4. C. Montgomery (L)

5. Teel, CA (L)

6. B. Montgomery, RF (S)

7. Gonzalez, DH (L)

8. Meidroth, 2B (R)

9. Peters, CF (L)

Bench:

• BC: Romo (S) / Quero (S)

• OF: Hays (R) / Grichuk (R)

• OF: Pereira (R)

• OF: Hill (R)

7 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

TristAs I posted in the other thread, Benintendi is the one who needs to go eventually if he can’t turn up the offense a ton. He’s essentially unplayable in the OF and he’s not hitting enough to be a regular at DH.

If you cut Andrew, this offense has a chance to be substantially by year end:

Lineup:

1. Antonacci, LF (L)

2. Murakami, 1B (L)

3. Vargas, 3B (R)

4. C. Montgomery (L)

5. Teel, CA (L)

6. B. Montgomery, RF (S)

7. Gonzalez, DH (L)

8. Meidroth, 2B (R)

9. Peters, CF (L)

Bench:

• BC: Romo (S) / Quero (S)

• OF: Hays (R) / Grichuk (R)

• OF: Pereira (R)

• OF: Hill (R)

Tristan Peters is the honestly the top of player that makes me slowly change my opinion on Betz. Such a crazy good pick up.

Bring up Gonzo! Imagine Ozzie at the helm with all this flexibility at DH. They could easily rotate between players/have a rotating DH.

trade all of our young players and bat benintendi lead off. how is this a question

6 minutes ago, Quin said:

Tristan Peters is the honestly the top of player that makes me slowly change my opinion on Betz. Such a crazy good pick up.

I love that Getz actually valued having respectable depth in AAA and went out and acquired major ready guys who were part of a roster pinch. Both Peters & Pereira were smart pickups on that regard and cost basically nothing.

2 hours ago, Chicago White Sox said:

As I posted in the other thread, Benintendi is the one who needs to go eventually if he can’t turn up the offense a ton. He’s essentially unplayable in the OF and he’s not hitting enough to be a regular at DH.

If you cut Andrew, this offense has a chance to be substantially by year end:

Lineup:

1. Antonacci, LF (L)

2. Murakami, 1B (L)

3. Vargas, 3B (R)

4. C. Montgomery (L)

5. Teel, CA (L)

6. B. Montgomery, RF (S)

7. Gonzalez, DH (L)

8. Meidroth, 2B (R)

9. Peters, CF (L)

Bench:

• BC: Romo (S) / Quero (S)

• OF: Hays (R) / Grichuk (R)

• OF: Pereira (R)

• OF: Hill (R)

If you go by non Charlotte numbers, he's around a 750-760 ops?

If you look at his entire career up until now ... can imagine him hitting with favorable pitching match ups at DH, but to play in the field means moving Meidroth or Colson.

But really it's him versus Chase, as he's a below average big league SS defensively, has no OF experience and just 18 milk games at 3B.

I'm convinced. Jacob Gonzalez has matured into legitimacy. He is a better option than Benintendi as a lefty DH. He can play some second base on days when Chase moves to short, Montgomery to third, Vargas to first base etc. I can't see JR eating Benintendi's contract so maybe find a trade partner who will take a portion of it, or cut Acuna.

2 guys about to come off the IL. Plus, bring up Jacob G. Send Rikku back and DFA both Beni and Acuna, Easy.

8 hours ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Right after the All Star break is my guess. Where would he play right now? He would definitely be an upgrade offensively over Acuna, but it also doesn’t make sense to call him and force him into a tiny bench role. Let him cook for another month or so and reassess in mid July. Maybe by then we find a way to open up more playing time for him.

16 minutes ago, oldsox said:

2 guys about to come off the IL. Plus, bring up Jacob G. Send Rikku back and DFA both Beni and Acuna, Easy.

JR won’t throw away what’s owed to Beni, at this point probably over 23 million. If they bring up Gonzo, he needs to play but where is the question, no doubt Acuna has to go but I don’t want Gonzo as a utility guy. Another problem is that Hays should be off the IL soon, we will have an abundance of outfielders, my guess is Nishida goes back to Charlotte.

Edited 9 hours ago9 hr by The Mighty Mite

This is a good problem to have.

Let him keep raking in the minors. Never know, a spot can open with an injury to someone or he plays himself into a trade chip for a starter with control.

Beni is a sunk cost. What it would cost is the additional salary for a mlb minimum player to replace him. They are out the cash regardless. I think Gonzo would probably be better, but I doubt they do it.

36 minutes ago, The Mighty Mite said:

JR won’t throw away what’s owed to Beni, at this point probably over 23 million. If they bring up Gonzo, he needs to play but where is the question, no doubt Acuna has to go but I don’t want Gonzo as a utility guy. Another problem is that Hays should be off the IL soon, we will have an abundance of outfielders, my guess is Nishida goes back to Charlotte.

Maybe he can work as an every day utility guy. Cut Beni, DH Gonzo but let him play around the infield to give guys a little rest at the DH spot. Or for a full day off.

In the mid 1990's Cleveland was so stacked with position players that they had to move Brian Giles, Richie Sexson, Sean Casey, Jeromy Burnitz, and David Bell. I am probably omitting somebody, but that list had some big-time studs on it. Cleveland could rake, run and play great defense, but their Achilles heel was pitching.

Let him continue to cook… in the minors.

But this is crazy. Has there ever been a prospect that literally sucked at hitting in the lower levels and then did this at the higher level?

Looking at our team right now, the weakest positional guys are Acuna (-0.7 fWAR), Benintendi (-0.5 fWAR), Quero (-0.4 fWAR), & Hays (-0.3 fWAR). Ignoring Rikuu, every other active player is positive fWAR on the season and has a wRC+ above 100. Periera fits the billing whenever he comes back.

The infield is incredibly strong right now with Colson & Murakami on pace for ~6 fWAR, Vargas on pace for ~5 fWAR, & Meidroth on pace for ~3 fWAR. These guys are also playing almost every single day, so the role of a backup infielder is going to be highly limited. For context, players other than the four above have combined for 74 total plate appearances at those four spots. That’s about 213 plate appearances over a full season. There could be an opportunity to sit one of Chase or Vargas against tough righties and increase that figure, but I don’t think you want to rush Gonzalez up only to ride the bench the bulk of the time.

Gonzalez doesn’t play the OF, but I will address the current situation briefly due to broader considerations that impact him. Right now, our OF has combined for a total of 0.4 fWAR. However, this is highly misleading. Peters is currently on pace for a 3.5 win season as the strong side of a CF platoon thanks in large part to his defense. Hill is a perfect platoon partner for him with a 142 wRC+ against LHP, but he also serves value as a late inning defensive replacement and pinch runner. Get rid of Acuna’s negative production and CF looks very solid overall.

Antonacci is also playing pretty much everyday in LF and is currently on pace for a 2.5 win season. That production is coming entirely against RHP, although I think we should continue to expose him to LHP and see if he can improve there. RF is the problem spot at the moment. Grichuk & Pereira are both LHP killers and I think there is a chance Everson could be an everyday guy with time (but comes with risk). We lack a capable LH option at the moment as I am skeptical of Rikuu being more than just a minor role player.

We also have Hays who has been both bad & injured this year, but who has a history of dominating RHP and being slightly above league average against LHP. If he ever can get healthy, his ability to play most days would prove very useful somewhere in the OF (or even DH), but that looks questionable at the moment with multiple injuries & setbacks on the year. I still believe Braden will be ready for a shot around the All Star break and that would give us an option for RF who can hopefully handle RHP.

Ultimately, the point above is there is a path to a productive OF, but one that is heavily reliant on platooning and will be very crowded. This makes Benintendi as our primary DH even more challenging. He is never going to hit enough to be more than replacement level there. Cutting bait on Andre and using the spot to rotate multiple guys through makes sense. Gonzalez could certainly get a lot of run there, but it also opens up some time for Murakami & Vargas there which provide Jacob more chances in the infield. It also allows some of the OF guys to rotate through there as well, which could be a big positive for Hays’ health.

TLDR - Cut bait on Acuna & Benintendi and eventually free up the DH spot for a rotation that would include Gonzalez.

Let’s maybe let him continue to be in the top rated AAA ballpark for hitters a wee bit longer, before we crown him the replacement for someone in Chicago.

He didn’t just become a power hitter coincidentally at the same time he went to the hitter friendly Charlotte park.

10 minutes ago, Capn12 said:

Let’s maybe let him continue to be in the top rated AAA ballpark for hitters a wee bit longer, before we crown him the replacement for someone in Chicago.

He didn’t just become a power hitter coincidentally at the same time he went to the hitter friendly Charlotte park.

I mean the EVs speak for themselves and as I posted in the minor league game thread, his swing is now transformed. He was a slap hitter with almost no real load mechanism when drafted, now he's got a big load and big EVs. He's apparently capable of playing a passable 2B, 3B, SS. Sounds like Acuna's days are numbered. Hill can be the emergency CF.

I'd get rid of Acuna and Tendi. Let Chase backup short when needed (hopefully not much), and the DH becomes a rotation of infielders instead of outfielders.

4 minutes ago, PaleAleSox said:

I'd get rid of Acuna and Tendi. Let Chase backup short when needed (hopefully not much), and the DH becomes a rotation of infielders instead of outfielders.

it would def be nice to be able to DH Colson and Vargas a bit and keep them fresher. Colson especially is playing his first full MLB season and he will wear down at some point this summer I'd imagine.