VAfan

I wrote a piece before the season comparing Lance Lynn and Trevor Bauer. Here's the link. And here was the post.

Even before the All-Star game, I added a post on my thread about Vaughn, Burger, Sheets and Mercedes that the Sox should move Moncada to 2B to open up 3B for Jake Burger's bat. I asked if it was an insane idea, but now I think more and more that it's the right move. But during the All-Star game, when they interviewed Kris Bryant and showed how many games he'd played at 5 different positions, I thought that an All-Star player can in fact move around successfully. Yoan Moncada has played 200 games at 2B. He's plenty capable of moving over there tomorrow. Jake Burger, meanwhile, is a rookie, but he's off to a hot start after a torrid season in AAA, and looks like a much better hitter than Leury Garcia or Danny Mendick. One option was to try Burger at 2B, but that's a poor choice when Moncada can do that job much better. Anyway, the final evolution in my thoughts about this would be for Moncada to volunteer to make the move. This eliminates any pressure to do so by the club, and keeps everyone happy. If he makes the move and Burger flames out or stops hitting, he can easily move back to 3B. He can even move back on a game-by-game basis. But if Burger keeps hitting, or improves, the Sox will be a better team, and Moncada will be seen as a selfless guy who only wants the team to win.

Which of these is the best option? 1. Trade Burger and other prospects for Adam Frazier, if the Pirates are willing. We don't know how the Pirates would value Burger in this swap. We don't know if they would think of him as a major part of the deal, or would be the extra they would accept behind someone else. 2. Trade Burger and potentially other prospects to Arizona for Escobar. Same as above. It this Burger and a throw-in, or someone else with Burger thrown in? 3. Move Yoan Moncada back to 2B for the rest of the year and install Burger at 3B. Is this idea insane? How would Yoan feel about it? Will he do whatever is best for the team? He played 200 games at 2B in 2017-18. 4. Keep everyone and play Leury Garcia as the primary 2B for the rest of 2021. The Sox seemed to be testing out Leury at 2B prior to the break as the fall-back if they can't pry a better 2B in a trade the Sox can live with. I don't think the Sox have easy options. My main concern is that Jake Burger could become a very good hitter. He exploded back onto the scene this year in AAA with almost no prep the last few years. He's been rocking it for the Sox in his first 23 PAs, with a 1,006 OPS. Sure, he's 25, but so far he's crushing it as a 25-year-old. He doesn't look like he needs any more AAA seasoning. I'm not going to say he's better than Moncada after 23 PAs, because you have no idea of the trajectory of the 2 players. But for those 23 PAs, his OPS has been better, and his fielding at 3B has seemed very good. Is it Yermin-like flash in the pan? Or is it sustainable? Certainly Burger has a quality pedigree, which suggests he's not a flash-in-the-pan. So, while this may be crazy, I think if I were the Sox I would try option #3. There have already been a lot of sacrifices and player position movements this year for the team. Why not Moncada? Sure, you lose some defense. But I wonder if this might spur Moncada to have a better second half because he would have competition for his spot. He wouldn't want to leave any doubt who should play 3B going into 2022 and beyond. The upsides of this move are: A. Puts the best offense on the field -- with Burger likely much better than Garcia and Mendick. B. Finds out what you have in Jake Burger. His value is much more likely to go up, perhaps significantly, than down. C. Keeps you from underselling Burger when you don't really have enough info to properly evaluate him. The downsides? A. Could piss off Yoan Moncada, and perhaps other Cubans if they feel he's being mistreated. B. Would likely hurt defensively, as Moncada is a gold glover at 3B but wasn't as good at 2B. I doubt this is going to happen, but if it does, I'll be ready to claim I told you so!

Vaughn certainly had a nice day today, with 2 HR and 4 RBI. Whether it's crap pitching or not, it's a welcome step forward. I don't think he will ever be the Sox best hitter, but who knows what is his upside is?

With the trade deadline coming up and the Sox in need of an upgrade at 2nd base at least, the question arises as to who the Sox might be able to offer in trade. I don't want them giving up any high-upside minor leaguers because we don't have that many left in the system. Most of them have already graduated to the major league club or are here to fill in for injured players. That led me to write this little piece about 4 guys who have similar abilities. All of them are hit-first players with limited defensive options. All of them are rookies, which means it's an unknown which of them will be the best player in long run. I think at this point, most of us would conclude Mercedes would come up last on this list, but I added him in anyway. 1. Andrew Vaughn. 6' 215 lbs, 23 yrs, 98 days. 3rd pick of first round of 2019 draft. vs RHP 69 176 159 18 35 8 0 3 12 1 0 9 46 .220 .267 .327 .594 52 3 3 0 5 0 6 .278 61 67 vs LHP 42 87 74 18 23 10 0 5 10 0 0 12 21 .311 .414 .649 1.062 48 2 1 0 0 0 1 .375 182 189 Rakes against lefties. Still finding his way against right handed pitchers. Was brought up to be a DH/1B, but he was thrown into left field when Eloy got hurt and Yermin was hitting, and has done quite well. Likely to be able to remain an outfielder for foreseeable future, with Eloy coming back to DH and Abreu entrenched at 1B. Has played some 3B in spring training, but is not likely to be more than an emergency option there. Has a strong enough arm to play RF. 2. Gavin Sheets. 6'5", 230 lbs. 25 yrs, 78 days. 2nd round of 2017 draft. vs RHP 10 33 26 5 9 3 0 3 9 0 0 6 3 .346 .455 .808 1.262 21 1 0 0 1 0 0 .286 148 247 vs LHP 5 7 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 -100 -100 Rakes against righties, in limited action. Complete zero against lefties in 7 career ABs. Sox let him compete against Vaughn in Spring Training for the DH slot, but I'm not sure it was ever a fair deal. They brought him up as other guys got hurt and Mercedes went down to AAA, and he's done very well to start. He's even tried playing RF to find a position other than DH/1B. Probably not as good as Vaughn has been in the outfield, but he also hasn't had much of a chance to show improvement there. Could he have a role as a platoon partner with Vaughn? 3. Jake Burger. 6'2", 230 lbs. 25 yrs, 91 days. 11th pick of 1st round of 2017 draft vs RHP 5 12 12 2 6 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 3 .500 .500 .833 1.333 10 2 0 0 0 0 1 .667 186 268 vs LHP 5 7 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 .000 .143 .000 .143 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 -61 -55 In the minors, he was crushing lefties, but he hasn't done so here in only 7 ABs. Way too early to draw any conclusions about his ML bat. Plays 3B, and has made some good plays over there. Was tried at 2B in the minors after Madrigal got hurt, but so far TLR hasn't used him there. Could also be another 1B/DH option, and might even be able to learn the outfield. As a 3B, his arm strength must be good enough to play either corner outfield spot. 4. Yermin Mercedes. 5'11", 245 lbs. 28 yrs, 146 days. Minor league Rule 5 draft pickup. vs RHP 64 192 175 17 43 5 0 5 26 0 1 15 40 .246 .307 .360 .667 63 7 1 0 1 0 3 .290 83 88 vs LHP 34 70 65 9 22 4 1 2 11 0 0 5 6 .338 .386 .523 .909 34 0 0 0 0 1 2 .351 147 149 Obviously hits lefties much better than righties. But that's not the whole story. Need to also provide his early and later splits. April/March 22 21 88 82 10 34 5 0 5 16 0 1 6 12 .415 .455 .659 1.113 54 1 0 0 0 1 1 .446 202 217 May 28 25 106 95 9 21 2 1 2 14 0 0 9 20 .221 .292 .326 .619 31 4 1 0 1 0 1 .257 70 75 June 18 16 68 63 7 10 2 0 0 7 0 0 5 14 .159 .221 .190 .411 12 2 0 0 0 0 3 .204 14 Through April, he was raking. In May, over 28 games, he was hurting the team. And in June, he was worse than useless. TLR gave him a long rope, but Yermin unfortunately hung himself with it. WHICH OF THESE GUYS WOULD YOU KEEP? WHO WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO TRADE? AND WHY? These are the questions I would ask myself if I were Rick Hahn. Let's take them one at a time. 1. Yermin. I would be willing to trade Yermin in a heartbeat, but I don't think he has much if any trade value at this point. He would first have to reestablish his ability to hit at the major league level, and there is no reason for the Sox to bring him back up if they aren't going to use him as a backup catcher. Everyone would take Vaughn, Sheets, and Burger ahead of him at DH at this point, and in 3 weeks, Eloy will be back. So Yermin may have already had his cup of coffee so to speak. You could bring him back when rosters are expanded to 28 in September as a pinch hitter against lefties. But I don't expect him to ever get the extended chance to prove himself at the major league level for the Sox. It's too bad. The Yerminator helped save the team offense in April. 2. Vaughn. As the 3rd pick in the 2019 draft, and the youngest of these guys by 2 full years, Vaughn is going to get every chance to try to become a star for the White Sox. There was so many in the offseason suggesting he get traded for a starting pitcher or any number of guys, and if you read stuff today, some writers have him going to Pittsburgh as part of an Adam Frazier deal. He's not going anywhere. Being able to play the outfield has made him much more useful because no one wants to see Eloy risk further injury in LF once he returns. But Vaughn is not a complete player yet. His splits against right handers so far are BAD, even though he's had twice as many ABs against them as against lefties. So it's not yet a matter of not having enough opportunities to get better. Everyone expects improvement there, but it may take some time. 3. Sheets. Sheets seems the next most valuable guy behind Vaughn at this point, mostly because a left hander with power and the Sox are badly in need of that. Grandal has 10 of his 14 HRs batting lefty, but his OPS+ is much higher as a right hander (194) than as a lefty (111). Yoan Moncada hits better as a lefty (131 OPS+) than as a righty (104 OPS+), but only has 5 HRs as a lefty in 239 plate appearances. Sheets has 3 HR in 33 PAs against righties. The issue for Sheets is where will he play? Until Eloy returns, he's a logical platoon guy at DH. But does he play LF well enough to platoon with Vaughn once Eloy is back and hogging all the DH ABs? This may not be a perfect role for Sheets, but at least it's a role. And the hitting side of it against right handers looks strong enough to be worth keeping. 4. Burger. We haven't really seen enough of Burger to have a sense of his potential. But he's had an amazing year considering how long his multiple injuries kept him away from baseball. He didn't get to play in the alternate site last year, having to make due with much lower competition. He's also playing a position with an entrenched but young vet in Yoan Moncada who plays gold glove defense at 3B and is a switch hitter offering very little in the way of playing opportunities. So you would have to think Burger is the mostly likely guy to trade of this group. Even so, I would have to wonder if he didn't get hurt if the Sox might never have drafted Andrew Vaughn. Burger was drafted as hit-first player in the first round, only 8 slots behind Vaughn. Here is his Charlotte line. 2021 25 -1.8 Charlotte AAAE AAA CHW 42 185 171 29 55 15 1 10 36 0 0 12 45 .322 .368 .596 .964 102 4 1 0 1 1 10 HRs and a .964 OPS coming off years of inactivity look very good. They were also better than Gavin Sheets' numbers in Charlotte. 2021 25 -1.8 Charlotte AAAE AAA CHW 41 176 161 23 47 8 0 7 33 1 0 15 35 .292 .352 .472 .824 76 1 0 0 0 0 Doesn't Burger look like the better hitter? He's also looks a bit more well-rounded in his splits. CONCLUSION We really don't know enough at this point about the major league trajectories of these players. We can write off Yermin because he has no positional value and he's not supplanting Eloy at DH. But what about the other 3? Logic says trade Burger because he's been injured a lot, has no obvious position to play, and probably has more trade value than anyone but Vaughn. I just wonder if he might become the best hitter of all of them. You have to like Vaughn because of his youth, but it's no guarantee he will be better in the long run. So, I would probably trade Burger, but not for a 2021 rental. He has too much upside to his game. With Yoan in year-2 of his power decline, when will we see 25-HR Moncada again? Is he still feeling the effects of Covid? Burger likely has more power right now than Yoan. I would keep Sheets for now as a platoon partner for Vaughn. But he wouldn't be untouchable. For the right offer, I would trade him. Overall, it's an interesting group of young players.

Tony LaRussa has been ejected 88 times in his career. He's never had a season without an ejection. So far this year he's been clean. Don't expect it to remain that way. I will add, however, that he tends to have fewer ejections during the years his teams have won the Pennant or World Series, with no more than 2 in any of those seasons.

I observe, just like everyone else does. The difference is TLR has a record, and a very good one. In some respects, it's a record no one is likely to surpass, and they definitely won't if he can guide the White Sox to another WS crown.

I don't expect anyone who didn't like TLR to ever change their tune. They will always find something about him they don't like to hang their hat on. TLR is not a perfect manager, by any means. No one is. He has his strengths, and weaknesses. But he didn't get into the HOF and help his teams win the most games in integrated baseball by being an idiot. He has reasons for the decisions he makes. They don't always turn out, but often they do. Before the season and during the early part, the biggest problem I had with TLR critics is the way many of them came off thinking they are smarter than TLR, and somehow would be more qualified to be a MLB manager than he is. That struck me as complete BS. One reason is that there's a whole lot more to managing than deciding the lineup or when to take out the starter, etc. You have to be a manager of people and a clubhouse, and you need to get guys pulling the same direction. There's a lot that goes into managing that no one on the outside who has never been in those shoes has any real clue about. I still think the TLR hire was a good one, and was way better than hiring AJ Hinch, who couldn't keep his team from blatantly cheating their way to a WS win. I think the resilience of the team in the face of all the injuries and the breakdowns in what was expected to be a great bullpen is due at least in part to TLR. I expected nothing less. But, as much as I've defended TLR, I agree that it's a long season and we aren't done yet. The Sox need to get their horses back and to add at the deadline if we want to beat Boston or Houston or Tampa or Oakland in the playoffs. So far, we've crushed the weaker teams but not matched up nearly as well against the top ones. TLR isn't going to make that difference. We need Eloy and Robert and Yazmani and others back, and an upgrade at 2B and RF if we want to win in the postseason.

We're in early June. Yes, several members of the bullpen have had issues. But that doesn't mean they will continue to have issues for the rest of the year. Cody Heuer, Matt Foster, Garrett Crochet, and Michael Kopech are all rookies with less than a year of service time. Evan Marshall, who's 31, had a great 2020 season. and pitched reasonably well in 2019. Bummer has been wild at times, but when he controls his slider, can be unhittable. Hendriks has had a few outings where he could have been better, but seems to be in stride now. All of those guys could look better in September than they do now.

Everyone is saying TLR is now #2 all-time. What they fail to point out is that John McGraw only managed segregated baseball, and Connie Mack only managed 4 seasons (out of 53) without complete segregation, and it was hardly integrated, as only Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby and maybe a few others were playing from 1947-50, Mack's last year. If you divide integrated baseball from segregated baseball, TLR has the same 2,764 wins, and he's way ahead of #2. Next up is Bobby Cox with 2,504. Joe Torre with 2,326 Sparky Anderson 2,194 Walter Alston 2,040 Bruch Bochy 2.003 That's the list of managers who only managed integrated baseball who exceeded 2,000 wins. Dusty Baker at 1,923 is likely to get there before he's done.

Mendick is the easy call. 1. He has an option, so it the easiest to send down and recall when needed. 2. Lamb is the much better hitter, and is a lefty, which we could use more of. 3. Garcia is more versatile because he can also play CF, and switch hits. He's been overplayed this year, but that's because he's covering for injured players. 4. Hamilton has had some nice games where he's made real impact. HRs in back to back 3-1 wins over Baltimore. Great catch with the bases loaded yesterday. He has value for spot roles.

I've said my piece about this topic for the most part, but I'd like to add one more point. Tony LaRussa put the take sign 3-0 to Yermin up 15-4 in the 9th inning. Take signs are not controversial, and most of the time, no one other than the batting team even knows the sign is on. Why did he put up the take sign? 1. Because he knew it would piss off the Twins and cause them to retaliate against his player, which they did the next night. He didn't want to risk getting his player hurt. 2. But an even better reason to give the take sign is because then there wouldn't have been all the BS written about this situation, he wouldn't have to admonish Yermin for ignoring the sign, etc. And NO ONE would have known he gave the take sign 3-0. Do all of you trashing TLR really think a 3-0 swing was worth all this vitriol? If may have actually cost the Sox the next game by waking up a sleeping Miguel Sano, who jacked 3 meaningful home runs the next night. Also, remember that Tony LaRussa didn't write the rule - but he knew from experience where the line was and he didn't think hitting a meaningless HR (if he did) was worth crossing it because of the danger and the crap that followed it.

I discussed this point in my long post. I take those comments as intending to defuse the situation so the Twins don't try to throw at any more of his players.

I've said my peace about this subject. Yermin created the controversy, not TLR. TLR's motive was to protect his player and the team, which was the right motive. TLR saw what was coming in retaliation, and was proven correct. Yermin could have still had his fun if the 3-0 pitch was called a strike by jacking the hell out of the 3-1 pitch. Y'all just want to hate on TLR, but he made the right call here.

But as fun as Yermin is, if he doesn't play for the team, and decides to just chuck the signs and do his thing, he's not helping the club as much as he could be.

Here's James Fegan's quote from the Athletic. “I don’t ever want to give the other team an excuse to take a shot at one of our players,” La Russa said. “You say ‘unwritten rules,’ but they’re just common sense.”

So you think TLR was just LYING when he said he and the 3rd base coach gave the take sign?? How do you know what the signs were?

Anderson wants the game to change. He doesn't want retaliation for those swings. I would agree with him on that. But he's not the manager, who has to assess the likely consequences and assess the risk/reward of his player getting plunked versus a meaningless 9th inning run in a blowout.

You missed the TLR quote where he said if it was 3-1, he was fine with hitting the crap out of the ball. TLR KNEW where the line was in the Twins eyes, and he was proven 100% correct in that assessment.

I don't have a problem with running up the score. I didn't have a problem with Yermin swinging. Buf if I KNOW, because I've managed 5,000+ baseball games, that hitting a HR in that situation is going to get the other team to throw at my player, then I'm giving him a TAKE SIGN 100% of the time for that one pitch. Because the risk of him getting hurt is real. Winning 16-4 instead of 15-4 is completely meaningless.

I'm not missing the point. First off, I don't know the context of the Tatis slam, so let's leave that out. As I said, from a fun standpoint, Yermin swinging made total sense, which is why I didn't have a problem with it in the moment. But TLR knew what the repercussions would be, and they in fact played out. So to avoid the risk to his player, he put up the take sign. One pitch. Yermin would have been free to swing away on any other count. Those who claim TLR was wrong are ignoring the fact that the game HASN'T changed to the point where the Twins would just take it and not retaliate. It's wishful thinking. TLR knew, and was right. And again, had Yermin JUST FOLLOWED THE TAKE SIGN, then NOTHING would have happened.

Here's my take on the Yermin 3-0 HR. 1. Tony LaRussa, who has managed more than 5,000 games, knew EXACTLY what would happen if Yermin teed off on a 3-0 pitch up 15-4 in the 9th inning. 2. TLR KNEW, I'm sure because he'd seen it happen before many many times, that the Twins would be pissed, AND WOULD THROW THE BASEBALL AT YERMIN or another Sox player in retaliation because of Yermin's swing. 3. TLR also KNEW that the risk of injury to his player from being thrown at, while not high, was INFINITELY more important than hitting a HR or a base hit in the 15-4 blowout and showing up the Twins. 4. So, to PROTECT HIS PLAYER, and HIS TEAM, TLR gave the TAKE sign to Yermin on the 3-0 pitch. 5. This was ABSOLUTELY the correct call. 6. TLR was thinking AHEAD at the repercussions of swinging 3-0. 7. Yermin, meanwhile, was completely consumed into himself when he ignored the TAKE sign and swung away. He didn't know the likely repercussions, because he'd NEVER been in this situation in a major league game. Tony LaRussa, on the other hand, had managed more than 5,000 such games. 8. So when Yermin ignored the take sign and hit the HR, LaRussa said he would be disciplined, because he put his health and the team at risk. Whatever discipline it was did not keep Yermin out of the next two games, so it was not severe. But it was enough to get across the point that you need to respect the take sign. There was a logical reason behind it meant to protect his health and the team health. 9. LaRussa's other comment about Yermin "playing his game" was also appropriate. Players have to play for the team. Tony isn't reigning them in for no reason. He said if he's swung away at 3-1, he would have been fine with it. But LaRussa knew were the line was in the Twins eyes, and he was 100% correct about that when the Twins threw at Yermin the next game. 10. Who started the dissension here? Not TLR. He put on a take sign that NO ONE would have known about if Yermin hadn't blown it off. 11. The controversy, and the risk, was started by Yermin Mercedes, who ignored the sign because he couldn't help himself, and who certainly wasn't thinking through the consequences. 12. I'm not defending in any way the Twins getting pissed and throwing at Yermin. But it was nearly 100% certain to happen once Yermin jacked the ball out of the park. And TLR knew it. 13. So, I think TLR was the ONLY one thinking ahead, and the only one to put Yermin's health and the team ahead of a meaningless HR in the 9th inning of a 15-4 game. 14. When I read that Yermin had hit the HR, I personally didn't have a problem with it. Now that I've read some articles about it and realized WHY TLR put on the take sign, I believe that TLR is right. 15. This has NOTHING TO DO with Old School v. New School. It has to do with TLR knowing, because he's managed 5,000+ baseball games, EXACTLY what was going to happen if Yermin jacked that 3-0 pitch. He also KNEW that the game hadn't changed to the point where the Twins would just overlook this and not retaliate. Anyone thinking that WOULDN"T happen is just naive. 16. Lastly, a lot is being made of TLR not having a problem with the Twins reaction. I don't think he encouraged or condoned it. I just think he knew that was going to happen, and when it did, it drove home the point of why he gave Yermin the take sign in the first place. 17. There have been a LOT of guys injured over the years from being hit by a pitched ball. There have been ZERO games outcomes changed by swinging at a 3-0 pitch with a 15-4 lead in the 9th inning. 18. So, anyone criticizing TLR is effectively ignoring the risks of the former for something that might be fun, but has ZERO benefit to winning a baseball game, which is the point of playing them. I'm not apologizing for TLR here. I'm saying he was WAY more savvy about the situation than any of his critics have been. And certainly WAY more savvy than Yermin Mercedes, who appears to have only been thinking about himself.

Yes, should have been merged. I missed the other thread.

The White Sox have the best record in baseball, the best run differential, the best ERA in the AL, and are ranked #1 in the Athletic and ESPN power ratings. Yet, the team has a lot of guys in their first full year of MLB, if you consider that last year was a truncated season. DH - Yermin Mercedes LF - Andrew Vaughn CF - Luis Robert 2B - Nick Madrigal Backup catcher - Zack Collins SP/RP - Michael Kopech RP - Garrett Crochet RP - Codi Heuer RP - Matt Foster That's 9 guys on a 26 man roster who are playing significant roles. Do any other teams with winning records have this number of rookies playing significant roles? This is a good and a bad thing. Good in that these guys should get better. Bad in that they all may still have some growing pains. Still, it's an impressive group.

Ditto