I think what we'll see happen is Avi gets his chance and will be re-evaluated when June comes around. If Avi is struggling in June, the Sox start shopping for a LH OF bat. Until then were stuck with the Avi experiment.

 

My hangups with Loney are based on him only being a 1B and his bat is just not impressive. If the Sox were going to carry a five player bench I would be open to the idea of Loney but they are only carrying four on the bench so versatility from the last spot becomes more important, IMHO. Ishikawa/Sands bring the versatility that Loney cannot provide. I just don't see Loney being a significant enough of an upgrade to push Ishikawa/Sands out of the picture. At this point I would rather stick with what the Sox have and see how they look in June.

 

Versatility wise, they have 5 OF (between 3 OF spots, DH and Shuck) as of right now so another guy who can play OF isn't really necessary for the last bench spot.

Edited March 31, 20169 yr by soxfan2014

I think what we'll see happen is Avi gets his chance and will be re-evaluated when June comes around. If Avi is struggling in June, the Sox start shopping for a LH OF bat. Until then were stuck with the Avi experiment.

 

My hangups with Loney are based on him only being a 1B and his bat is just not impressive. If the Sox were going to carry a five player bench I would be open to the idea of Loney but they are only carrying four on the bench so versatility from the last spot becomes more important, IMHO. Ishikawa/Sands bring the versatility that Loney cannot provide. I just don't see Loney being a significant enough of an upgrade to push Ishikawa/Sands out of the picture. At this point I would rather stick with what the Sox have and see how they look in June.

Avi has an 84 wRC+ against RHP in 800 PA in his career. That's terrible. Loney's bat might not be impressive, but even his uninspiring 2015 RHP splits are still way better than Avi's career numbers against RHP. I hope the Avi experiment has a short leash.

Avi has an 84 wRC+ against RHP in 800 PA in his career. That's terrible. Loney's bat might not be impressive, but even his uninspiring 2015 RHP splits are still way better than Avi's career numbers against RHP. I hope the Avi experiment has a short leash.

Agree. And it's not like a Loney/Avi platoon needs to be strict. You can split their time against righties, plus Melky and Austin can sit at times.

While I am not a big James Loney fan, he is better at baseball than Travis Ishikawa. I'd rather have David Murphy than either, but its not very hard to upgrade on Ishikawa. If Travis breaks camp with the club, I anticipate it won't be long until some other LH bat finds their way to the Sox. If the Sox could get Loney for less than $1.5M, it may be worth the minimal risk. I'd shoot for closer to the minimum.

 

Travis Snider is another idea. No great shakes, but a LH option for the bench. I have to imagine the Sox have been in contact with David Murphy.

 

while loney is not the most enticing candidate, at this time. but considering who is available, esp at the cost the sox will be willing to pay, i think loney will be the right choice.

I think what we'll see happen is Avi gets his chance and will be re-evaluated when June comes around. If Avi is struggling in June, the Sox start shopping for a LH OF bat. Until then were stuck with the Avi experiment.

If Avi struggles, they'll probably bring up Davidson.

If Avi struggles, they'll probably bring up Davidson.

 

Assuming Donaldson breaks his trend of being awful, while Avi doesn't.

Versatility wise, they have 5 OF (between 3 OF spots, DH and Shuck) as of right now so another guy who can play OF isn't really necessary for the last bench spot.

True, but two of those OF are Melky and Avi so I would use the term 'outfielder' loosely with them.

 

Avi has an 84 wRC+ against RHP in 800 PA in his career. That's terrible. Loney's bat might not be impressive, but even his uninspiring 2015 RHP splits are still way better than Avi's career numbers against RHP. I hope the Avi experiment has a short leash.

I'd bet the house that Avi will be on a short leash. The Sox have other in-house options ( Shuck/ Ishikawa/Sands/Davidson/Coats) to experiment with in case Avi's fails before June and if those options fail then I suspect Hahn and his cell phone will be very busy making phone calls in June.

 

I think there's too much focus on the LHB aspect of things. What really matters ( should Avi fail) is finding a bat, any bat, that can be productive regardless from what side of the plate he swings.

 

 

True, but two of those OF are Melky and Avi so I would use the term 'outfielder' loosely with them.

 

 

I'd bet the house that Avi will be on a short leash. The Sox have other in-house options ( Shuck/ Ishikawa/Sands/Davidson/Coats) to experiment with in case Avi's fails before June and if those options fail then I suspect Hahn and his cell phone will be very busy making phone calls in June.

 

I think there's too much focus on the LHB aspect of things. What really matters ( should Avi fail) is finding a bat, any bat, that can be productive regardless from what side of the plate he swings.

 

They seemingly spent the winter trying to replace Avi. I have no doubt that if he flops again, they will keep looking to replace him.

Assuming Donaldson breaks his trend of being awful, while Avi doesn't.

I'd love to get Donaldson.

Assuming Donaldson breaks his trend of being awful, while Avi doesn't.

Yeah. Winning the MVP award is awful. Come on Donaldson!

I'd love to get Donaldson.

 

 

Yeah. Winning the MVP award is awful. Come on Donaldson!

 

Blah. Davidson.

They seemingly spent the winter trying to replace Avi. I have no doubt that if he flops again, they will keep looking to replace him.

Yep. When I said " bet the house", I was being serious. Believe it or not.

 

I'm hoping Davidson continues to hit at Charlotte to force the issue. Same for Sanchez who presents another scenerio in which Lawrie could be moved to DH to replace Avi and Sanchez to 2B to replace Lawrie.

 

The nice thing is that the Sox have some in-house options to fall back on until June arrives. Who knows, maybe the in-house options prove to be the solution and then the Sox could be looking to use LaRoche's 13M charity donation towards acquiring a SP to replace either Danks or Latos.

 

 

Formality

 

https://twitter.com/whitesox/status/716399670461730816

 

The #WhiteSox have reassigned RHP Phillippe Aumont, INF Travis Ishikawa, OF Jacob May and C Hector Sanchez to minor-league camp.

Edited April 2, 20169 yr by flavum