WestEddy

Maybe they can still teach Hagen Smith to play RF.

commas separate items of a list. I think we're all pretty aware of why Grifol is still here.

I call keeping Grifol a restraint the hypothetical new GM has to deal with. You're agreeing with me, then pretending you're dunking on me. You really don't make any sense.

Maybe they should have. You're talking about a prospect where, graduating through the minors and becoming a big league 1B is one outcome. A trade is another. Moving to another position (which a lot of prospects do) opens 1B for a lesser athlete who can still hit.

With all of the same restraints that Getz has? (Cut budget, 4 players under contract who get injured or suck, bad PR around league, has to keep Grifol). Maybe he does a little better. I don't know. If new guy came in and cleaned house, I think the rebuild might take longer.

Sheets is a pre-arb, lefty bench bat. Unless they're trading Vaughn and have no one else, I don't really see a reason to pay him $4m to play 1B/DH in 2025. But there is value in a guy who, like I said, is a lefty bench bat. As far as Julks, when you posed a question about whether I would pencil in any of Getz' OF acquisitions into next year's lineup, I said Julks. Big deal. I'm not sure why you think it's some big victory when somebody thinks a player could work out and they don't. Or they work out, just not enough to make a difference. Julks is currently in a corner OF platoon right now regardless of what I'm saying. Please explain to me how 43 PAs in a half season is a small sample size, but 76 PAs across a whole season isn't. And a hitter having neutral or reverse splits for a season doesn't mean they suck and should be cut. Platoons also work for and against pitchers. Some lefty pitchers just get hit better by righty hitters. The end. MLB's average OPS is .709 in 2024. So both Julks and Sheets are both a hot week away from being an average ML hitter. The problem is that you don't have a point beyond not liking Chris Getz. Any move he makes, you scream that it's horrible, then use small sample sizes, ignore ML trends and averages, whatever, to pretend that anything supports your hyperbole.

More value, more options. If he can provide good defense in RF, it's a bit of a hedge if his power doesn't fully translate to wood bats and the pro game.

And that was my point. Not that they would be magically unbeaten, just not as bad.

Regardless. Perhaps by the end of the season, you'll admit that I've been calling Sheets a lefty bench bat, and Julks the weak half of a corner OF platoon. Baby steps.

The White Sox started the season 2-15. As of game #82 (a couple days after Robert & Jimenez were both back), the White Sox are 6-11. I think you would agree that 6-11 is a better record than 2-15.

I think that if Eloy can't be traded, there's really no need to give him at-bats after the All-Star break. I think a lot of people here agree with that. And you agree with my premise. You just admitted that in my hypothetical, the Sox wouldn't have been as bad as they are. I'm not sure why it's so painful for you to admit that you agree with a simple, logical point.

Well, I picked 68 wins on the year. I was one of the more optimistic. Pretty much everybody expected 100-110 losses. Removing 5/9 of their production from the lineup probably took some of the steam out of that 62 win team.

Hmmm. No laughing emojis on the question I posed, maybe you're hearing voices? See how painless trying to make sense is?

Nobody laughed. SS2k5 answered it, you ran away in a snit. And I didn't expect anything. Their 3 best offensive players were out 11 games in, and the next two started in horrible slumps. I'll ask you again, and try not to crap your pants running away. If Eloy, Yoan and Robert don't get injured, AND if Benintendi and Vaughn hit like their career averages, are the Sox sitting with 71 losses at the break?

Well, if you're going to mock me for a months old argument, that was my whole premise about their horrible start. The question stands. would they still have 70 losses at the break?

I'll pose the same question to you: If Robert, Eloy and Yoan didn't get injured this year, and Benintendi and Vaughn both hit like their league-average selves, are you claiming this team would still have 70 losses at the break?

I'd really be on board with a DFA in 17 days.

If Brit Burns, Richard Dotson, LaMarr Hoyt and Harold Baines didn't leave you with anything to hope for, you should probably find some kids hitting the ball around at the park, and ask them to explain the game of baseball to you.

We won't really start to get a feel for what kind of a GM Getz is until after this draft and TDL.

I think that same guy also mocks people who see hope in a player posting a batting line that's well above their career norm. You should watch out for him.

There's a guy around here who is quick to mock others who use small sample sizes to talk about baseball players. He'll probably be along, soon.

I guess we can stop dreaming about a Soroka for Holliday trade now, huh?

Did they just trade Shuster in the middle of the inning?

And if he's as athletic as everybody's claiming, they can give him a couple of years to learn how to play a corner outfield position.

SoxMachine pregame notes: https://soxmachine.com/2024/07/pregame-notes-luis-roberts-plate-discipline-is-growing-right-as-his-future-with-white-sox-is-in-doubt/