Chicago White Sox

Wish there was audio because some wild defensive s%*# just happened. Looked like Gordon caught a liner and should have doubled up the runner at 1B, but threw the ball away. Luckily, the guy on first somehow came off the bag at 2B and ended up getting tagged out for a bizarre double play. Or at least that what it looks like happened.

Is there no audio on this Kannapolis broadcast?

Schultz with 5 K’s now through two

Thanks Eddy. Yeah, I’m hoping Sosa can show something. Just need some reasons to watch. Honestly, I’ve enjoyed watching the pitching for the most part, with some obvious exceptions. The lineup is just so brutal with its mix of underachievers and just plain bad hitters. Got to hope some of the young guys can slowly grab more of the playing time. Even if they end up being nothings, being able to dream the slightest of dreams with guys like Shewmake & Lee is more fun than witnessing the complete mediocrity of the two Andrew’s

I will continue to say it’s way too earlier to make any call on Fletcher, but he greatly improves his floor if he can play a solid CF.

Cutting Moustakas and going with Sheets isn’t making the roster older. And yeah, I didn’t like the Fletcher trade because of the specific players involved, both who we gave up and who we acquired. And I didn’t necessarily dislike the Horn trade, just felt it was a bit odd given where we are at in our rebuild. Losing Matt Thompson isn’t a real concern of mine. And guess what, I’m probably one of the biggest fans of the Cease trade (and even like Wilson). I just gave Getz credit for the Fedde signing and moving Crochet to the rotation and Kopech the bullpen. I don’t look to hate to feed any intrinsic desire to be miserable. I’m simply confused by some of these moves and general strategy and will continue to be skeptical of Getz until the vision becomes more clear and he has some wins under his belt.

Fletcher in CF and Sosa at 2B. Two of my asks already being met!

lol…I have complained about who? DFAing the 26 year old Speas and 22 old Rodriguez? Who else? And you’re right, I’m complaining about Getz’s general roster management and not specifically Popeye. I have now said this five times in this very thread. I get it, the world would have imploded if we would given Speas the handful of innings that went Leone and his double digit ERA.

When is Clevinger going to be ready? Also, have they totally reversed course on Nastrini? It seems like he was a lock for the major league rotation after one turn through the rotation. I’m not complaining as we’re only like a week away from securing an extra year of team control, but it seems like they have pivoted on their plans for some reason.

Please win

3.9 more seasons

At least they aren’t trading international bonus slots to fund the Clevinger addition (yet).

They don’t have the time? Bro, we got nothing but time. I have watched every single game this season and we are YEARS away from being competitive. We should be prioritizing the long-term over the short term wherever possible. And we have plenty of fat. We don’t need both Pillar & Grossman. We don’t need both DeJong & Lopez. You say we don’t have time for Popeye to f*** around in AA for another season, but we do have time for Sheets to clog a major league bench spot up for another year? I still don’t get what we’re doing with Cousin. Will he even be in the Barons’ rotation? If he can’t even crack that rotation, then why are we using up a 40 man spot on him? Those are all easy cuts for me. Honestly, Shuster is also probably a waste of a 40 man roster spot, especially when you have Touki sitting in AAA in the event of an emergency. As for DeLoach, he had 600+ plate appearances last year in AAA. If he needs a lot more development time there, then it was stupid to make him a key part of the Santos trade. Now is the exact time to see what you have in the kid. Again, this isn’t about Popeye. It just feels like Getz is panicking a bit and trying to put lipstick on a pig by giving Grifol a few more bad, cheap veterans to f*** around with.

Speas was already rostered.

If Robert is out any extended period of time, I’d like to see Fletcher shifted over to CF and DeLoach called up to play RF. Pillar & Grossman can be their platoon partners against LHP while Robert is out. Colas gets another month in AAA and potentially replaces Fletcher or DeLoach if he performs well and they struggle. For the infield, I really think we should get rid of one of DeJong or Lopez. I’d like to see Shewmake at SS against RHP for a month or two. He probably fails, but I think it would be a better use of playing time there until Montgomery forces the issue. I also think Sosa should be getting the bulk of the playing time at 2B if he’s going to be on the major league roster. If they want to give him another month or so in AAA, I could support that. I just don’t want him rotting on the bench. That being said, eventually we don’t need both DeJong & Lopez. Pitching wise, I’d keep Nastrini down in AAA a few weeks, but call him up around the end of April or early May. At that point, Flexen gets pushed to the bullpen (with Clevinger in the fold) and can be the mop-up man. That means both Leone & Shaw are pushed off the 26 roster. After that, I’m hoping Banks gets sent down once Drohan is healthy or Horn is ready. And hopefully come July we start seeing real reinforcements with Thorpe, Eder, Cannon, & Berroa. The roster would still suck, but those few moves make the team a bit easier to endure in the near term.

By who?

He’s definitely not major league ready, but I’d rather give him one last chance in the upper minors before cutting bait. There is plenty of fat to trim on this 40 man roster. For example, why do we need both Pillar & Grossman? Why did we trade for DeLoach if we won’t even give him a shot when injury opens up an opportunity for him? Save that spot for one of the garbage arms that’s needed to fill innings and keep someone like Popeye or Speas.

Then let’s cut those dudes and not the 22 year old middle infield prospect.

Yeah, not rushing prospects is actually a smart thing Getz is doing. But at some point adding all these bad veterans is counterproductive if you’re out of 40 man space.

You think Speas would have an xERA above 23.0?

Why do we need a 22 year middle infielder with some tools to be major league ready right now? This team isn’t competing any time soon and we should be willing to roster some kids who might be able to provide some value in the future. I get Popeye is a long-shot to be more than a UT guy, but the players we’re keeping over him are pure roster filler and provide zero long-term value. And just to be 100% clear here, if we were DFAing Popeye because we were adding a kid like Montgomery then I wouldn’t be complaining here. I simply don’t like adding more 30+ year olds who don’t move the needle and aren’t good enough to be flipped at the deadline. We have plenty of bad veterans who can provide leadership in the clubhouse already, we don’t need more of them in hopes of Pedro maybe winning one more game this year.

This isn’t just about Popeye for me. Why can’t Speas be given the innings that are going to Leone? What would be the difference in actual production?

Other teams passing on him is irrelevant to the point being made here. Other teams actually have legit talent on their 40 man roster and Popeye isn’t a good prospect to force his way onto every other club’s roster. Our 40 man is lacking proven young talent and has tons of veteran trash that will be gone five months from now. As such, Popeye has more intrinsic value to us than most clubs. Also, when you say we already have “better options on the 40-man”, in what context do you mean? Better to win right now? Better bet to be a long-term solution at some spot?

How is Leone helping us get outs with his 11.57 ERA and 20.32 FIP?