South Side Hit Men

He will need 193.6 hits per season through his age 39 season to reach 3,000. It’s going to be a challenge.

Yes and no. Vaughn is young, same age as Robert’s first season, slightly older than Eloy. Also is destroying LHP early in his career (1.057 OPS), albeit a small sample. Mercedes is 27, beyond old for a rookie. Doesn’t mean he can’t rebound, just saying he doesn’t have the same long term upside as the other three players, and unlike Vaughn doesn’t provide any value or serviceable position defensively. It’s not smart to risk Eloy to further trips to “Heaven”, or suffer through his LF “fielding”.

Nice video narrated by one of my all time favorite players C. C. Sabathia, and Jim "Mudcat" Grant. Much respect to two of the fifteen Black Aces!!

If Crochet graduates this threshold, reaches Kopech level or close in 2022 (say 120 reg season or 140 total innings, carefully managed like Kopech), he could start for most of 2023, maximizing his value. Katz is tending to the little things to keep pitchers healthy and effective. I don’t think Kopech and Crochet even get this far 2 1/2 months in under Cooper, not to mention Rodon and Cease’s health and effectiveness, when both showed little in close to a combined decade under Cooper. Tampa Bay has had the benefit of modern pitching coaches for a decade, the Sox are just starting to make that leap. Haven’t heard anything about a “pitching lab” as teams like the Astros and Cubs have, but pitchers like Rodon are working with outside labs (ProX). Perhaps Michael Reinsdorf will find the benefit of investing in-house on this front once his father is out of the picture.

I concur on the greatness of TB's FO and Manager/Coaches managing the entire roster. Can you imagine SoxTalk if the Sox had Wander Franco, kept him in the minors hitting .933 OPS in AAA, the Sox trade their starting SS in May, and still kept Franco down? I also agree with you regarding load management for Sox starters and two young bullpen arms. That said, the Sox are doing a good job managing their load. I expect a few more IL stints, hopefully minor and/or phantom ailments as has been the case to date, to help them get extra rest when needed. Rodon is the major concern in terms of lasting the whole season. They are managing Kopech well, and I don't expect him inserted into a starting role into the end of the season, if at all. Crochet is bullpen only regardless, so he is likely around 80-90, perhaps near 100 if they reach the WS. Keuchel is here to eat 5-6 innings a start and try to keep opponents to 3-4 runs. Overpay for those expectations, but it is what it is. He doesn't throw hard, isn't a huge injury risk, but even if he did get hurt and missed 2 + months, that buys the Sox flexibility in 2023 shedding $20M. Would help with a FA acquisition and/or Lynn extension if warranted. The Sox should have a big enough lead to screw around with a minor league starter for 6-8 starts this season (Lopez, Lambert, whatever) and not worry about any impact on the divisional race, either by going 6 man for a strech; juggling load management IL stints, or having one legitimate lengthy IL injury.

The problem is platoon only / bench players are playing everyday. There is a place for three of the four on a postseason roster (sorry Yermin, if Eloy returns). Wouldn't be averse to keeping Hamilton over either Lamb or Eaton, depending on how things go. Yermin is gone unless there is a major turnaround (May OPS .619; June .462) Vs. RHP (ML Career OPS Splits) SS Anderson .719 3B Moncada .819 1B Abreu .849 DH Jimenez .864 CF Robert .737 C Grandal .794 (C Z Collins .706 for Lucas and Carlos - Bats 8th / Eaton & Lamb move up to 6th and 7th) RF Eaton .796 LF Lamb .803 2B Mendick .759 Vs. LHP (OPS Splits) SS Anderson .849 CF Robert .866 1B Abreu .926 DH Jimenez .801 3B Moncada .702 C Grandal .795 (C Z Collins .416 for Lucas and Carlos - Bats 8th / Vaughn and Leury move up to 6th and 7th) LF Vaughn 1.057 2B L. Garcia .682 RF Engel .689

“When you’re trailing by two, you can’t be picked off. I don’t know why you’re running there in the first place.” -Darrin Jackson, befuddled once again by late inning decisions.

Tony is going to save that message from Hahn on his text machine telling him to move Leury down in the order. He already showed it to Leury for motivation. And just like that, the Sox are back in the mix.

Reports said he rejected the Sox offer, since they wouldn’t guarantee he play near everyday in the OF.

The White Sox have far better starter depth than the Rays. Yarbrough (29 starts past three seasons; 14 career high) Glasnow (34 starts past three seasons; 14 career high (this year)) Hill (21 starts past two years; 13 high (this year) Lynn is defiantly one of the top three White Sox pitchers this year, and Lucas has a good shot of finishing as one of the Sox three best pitchers.

Leury could have done that.

Perhaps Tony was waiting for Yermin to come back from a trip to the ATM.

I have no argument, just stating what I believe are Tony’s reasons. Even if it’s Game 163 to determine a playoff slot, and the lineup with everyone healthy is as follows, since it’s counted as a regular season game, mum is the word. SP R. Lopez CF Y. Mercedes 2B B. Goodwin DH B. Hamilton 3B L. Garcia SS D. Mendick RF Y. Grandal LF Z. Collins C T. Anderson 1B J. Lamb ?

I understand and agree many would consider other changes with the late scratch. Based on Tony’s prior comments regarding presenting the players their place and position in the lineup well before the game, and also regarding showing players respect, I could see those two factors overriding any strategic concerns of batting one of your worst hitters third. Just stating Tony’s probable thought process. I pledged on Saturday not to call out Tony’s lineup for the remainder of the season, and I will hold that pledge. I’m glad it’s only a cold / congestion and nothing serious for Yoan.

If Yoan was a late scratch, I can see Tony keeping his planned lineup the same, and just plopping Leury in there as a logical/reasonable position. My first question after asking about Yoan's status is what were the considerations regarding starting Jake Lamb either at DH, RF or 3B.

Literally laughed out loud seeing Leury in the three hole. This is Leury's first major league start, possibly first at any level, batting third.

Tampa released their lineup, still waiting for the White Sox: 1. Brandon Lowe (L) 2B 2. Randy Arozarena (R) LF 3. Ji-Man Choi (L) 1B 4. Austin Meadows (L) DH 5. Joey Wendle (L) 3B 6. Taylor Walls (S) SS 7. Mike Zunino (R) C 8. Kevin Kiermaier (L) CF 9. Brett Phillips (L) RF

Again, your obsession re my posts (^^^ case in point). The two times I addressed the Cubs here was last September, when I stated I wanted the Cubs to beat Cleveland, our actual division rival, to help the Sox win the Division; and then recently when I stated there are more important Sox rivals than the Cubs. I don’t give a rats ass whether you or anyone else bash the Cubs.

What’s with the “sorry” after the Cubs record in your post?

Didn’t forget anything, including your endless cubsession and obsession regarding my posts. There is nothing to rectify with the teams in your weak ass post.

The White Sox own a .539 winning percentage against the Tampa Bay Rays (89-76), second best among AL opponents to Texas (.545). Tampa is the only American League opponent team the White Sox have a winning road record (43-41). One area the Sox will hopefully rectify this season is their postseason record against Tampa (1-3 .250, tied with Baltimore), and possibly Oakland, Toronto and Los Angeles. 1-3 Tampa Bay 2008 1-3 Baltimore 1983 1-2 Oakland 2020 2-4 Los Angeles Dodgers 1959 2-4 Toronto 1993 3-5 Cincinnati 1919 (Lost on purpose)

Yes, go with you're eyeball assessment over years of data for Goodwin, or all the data available for the entire careers of Eloy and Andrew. There is one thing "lame" in this discussion, and it's not what I presented. Doubt at this point whether you truly believe or understand anything you type here.

It'll likely be 2022 or 2023 the latest. Lynn is up 0.6 fWAR (2.0 vs. 1.4) YTD. Not saying it was a bad acquisition, just that people are underestimating Dunning's season at this point. Dunning has a higher fWAR than Lucas (1.1) or Keuchel (0.5), and is within 0.4 of Cease.

Except for the fact Hamilton would never be in LF. Engel, who should also not be playing LF (should be CF or RF when in the game) is the only person on the active roster who could have caught that ball from where Vaughn was positioned. https://www.mlb.com/whitesox/video/rodon-s-no-hit-bid-ends-in-7th?t=t145-default-vtp

Andrew Vaughn is a better fielder than Brian Goodwin or Eloy Jimenez. Fangraphs statistics lay this out. The first month in LF, Tony pulled him late to protect his confidence (hitting and fielding). However, the past month he has stayed in the entire game, and a few times was inserted late. Tony himself said Andrew Vaughn is an above average OF.