Sox Officially Sign Edwin Encarnacion (1YR/$12M), Kodi Medeiros DFA

[Moan4Yoan]

Just now, Jack Parkman said:

Lol. Don't remind me that Renteria is still the manager you fucking buzzkill. 

(Half joking)

Hopefully another offseason move that Hahn can pull off?  ?

[Jack Parkman]

1 minute ago, Moan4Yoan said:

Hopefully another offseason move that Hahn can pull off?  ?

Not likely. The players and FO like him. 

[Moan4Yoan]

Just now, Jack Parkman said:

Not likely. The players and FO like him. 

Now that there are expectations of competing for the division and each and every game will likely count for something, the lens will be focused a lot more on Renteria’s in-game management.

[Jack Parkman]

Just now, Moan4Yoan said:

Now that there are expectations of competing for the division and each and every game will likely count for something, the lens will be focused a lot more on Renteria’s in-game management.

Hopefully 2020 is Renteria's last year. 

[mqr]

Just now, Jack Parkman said:

Hopefully 2020 is Renteria's last year. 

With a roster that doesn’t have 9000 black holes I think you’re likely to find he’s not as bad or as big of a deal as most think. 

[hi8is]

At times Mazara has seemed to be turning the corner against LHP and is still young.

I think they give him a shot to see if he can round that skill set out and become a stud.

If not after a quarter of the season, platoon him in house and target RF guys who mash lefties at the break.

[Moan4Yoan]

Just now, mqr said:

With a roster that doesn’t have 9000 black holes I think you’re likely to find he’s not as bad or as big of a deal as most think. 

Eh, he’s bad.  He was bad with the Cubs and he is bad with the Sox.  His niche is working with young players, not game management.  I wouldn’t mind him as a bench coach but not as a manager.

[Jack Parkman]

2 minutes ago, mqr said:

With a roster that doesn’t have 9000 black holes I think you’re likely to find he’s not as bad or as big of a deal as most think. 

He has to stop bunting. Out of all of the players in this lineup, Madrigal is the only one that should be bunting. 

How to Bunt:

1. Don't. 

2. Hit a dinger. 

[mqr]

3 minutes ago, Jack Parkman said:

He has to stop bunting. Out of all of the players in this lineup, Madrigal is the only one that should be bunting. 

How to Bunt:

1. Don't. 

2. Hit a dinger. 

I’m like 90% sure he will once he stops thinking the roster needs to be taught. 

[South Side Fireworks Man]

2 hours ago, Jake said:

What would Pillar be for?

Kevin Pillar, the 31 year old with the lifetime .296 OBP and the .701 OPS?

Would he be any improvement over Adam Engel, or even as good?

[Moan4Yoan]

5 minutes ago, South Side Fireworks Man said:

Kevin Pillar, the 31 year old with the lifetime .296 OBP and the .701 OPS?

Would he be any improvement over Adam Engel, or even as good?

Look at his splits against lefties.  The idea is that Pillar would be a bench bat that starts in RF against lefties and yes, he is better than Engel.

Edited December 26, 2019 by Moan4Yoan

[The Sir]

36 minutes ago, Jack Parkman said:

Lol. Don't remind me that Renteria is still the manager you fucking buzzkill. 

(Half joking and 100% ball busting) 

Honestly, it's the only thing that unnerves me going into this season.

[South Side Fireworks Man]

7 minutes ago, Moan4Yoan said:

Look at his splits against lefties.  The idea is that Pillar would be a bench bat that starts in RF against lefties and yes, he is better than Engel.

Career .313 OBP & .766 OPS.  Color me unimpressed. 

Just sign Castellanos.

[caulfield12]

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/white-sox-win-now-intent-014114973.html

Sox Win-Now Intent Becomes Obvious

Edited December 26, 2019 by caulfield12

[caulfield12]

11 minutes ago, South Side Fireworks Man said:

Career .313 OBP & .766 OPS.  Color me unimpressed. 

Just sign Castellanos.

It seems Castellanos/Ozuna are moves that are no longer going to happen with the addition of EE and Mazara...they need this year to wait on their 2020 platoon to develop, to see what they have in their four minor leaguer outfielders and also to wait on the mid-season trade market and of course monitoring the rest of their rehabilitating Top 30 minor leaguers, 9 coming off major injury setbacks.  Lots of moving parts, lots of possibilities. 

Of course, Ozuna could end up signing just a one-year deal and waiting for next offseason, like Grandal did this past year, or Moustakas.  Castellanos is more likely to get paid based on his last two years and relatively youth.  

Edited December 26, 2019 by caulfield12

[nickofypres]

Vs:

Cleveland: 246/330/482 (813) - 11 HR
Detroit: 261/347/484 (831) - 16 HR
Kansas City: 275/371/485 (856) - 16 HR
Minnesota: 287/386/568 (954) - 27 HR

[shakes]

1 hour ago, Quin said:

And the farm system is significantly deeper, even past the top guys.

Here's a look at what the Top 30 was back then: http://www.chicagonow.com/future-sox/2016/01/top-30-white-sox-prospects-preseason-2016-full-list/

That list hurts my soul.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

3 hours ago, oneofthemikes said:

A couple pages ago somebody said that they were excited at the possibility of Encarnacion working with Mazara on his launch angle. Do we have any reason to think that’s the case? I mean, it’d be awesome but does he have any history of actively being a mentor to younger guys? Have other teams that he’s been on shown launch angle improvements as a result of his being there? Just curious. 

In Cleveland, he made positive impacts on emergent stars Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez, and with the Blue Jays he could do the same for Guerrero and crew.

It’s a role that at this point of his career, he relishes.

“In Cleveland, we had a lot of young players with great talent,” Encarnacion says. “They knew how to play the game right but sometimes you need a veteran guy. Sometimes they get in a slump and that’s a good opportunity to talk to those guys and it’s a pleasure for me to do that because when I was a rookie a lot of guys helped me with that. I feel blessed to help those young kids coming up.”

This is not launch angle specific but since Encarnacion and Mazara are both Dominican and he seems to like helping the youngsters it seems very plausable if it is something the Sox coaching staff deems necessary.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/blue-jays-reunion-edwin-encarnacion-benefit-young-stars/

Since the statcast era began in 2015 the launch angle phenomena has gained a solid footing in the sport and many clubs are adopting it . There are players who talk about being big proponents of it and that makes other players curious about it. So there is a type of word of mouth grassroots type deal at play or was in the beginning of the statcast era.

I also found this article about the Indians interesting about smaller players like Lindor and Jose Ramirez being taught something more than launch angle but contact point and pulling the ball to hit more home runs. The basic philosophy being when you pull the ball and hit it at the right contact point the launch angle takes care of itself. Also obviously when you pull the ball the chances of hitting a HR increase because you just can't hit as many HR's to CF or the opposite field when you are limited in size and strength.

This kind of philosophy seems to go against how we hear about advanced hitting approaches letting the ball get deeper and hitting the opposite way. So each player has to find what's best for them. Mazara is a big guy and has huge strength so perhaps he doesn't have to do it like Lindor or Ramirez and just a swing plane/path/launch angle difference would allow him to still go the other way and continue what he knows best which is being a gap to gap type hitter and create enough loft to carry the ball over the fence to all fields.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/cleveland-has-taken-the-fly-ball-revolution-to-the-next-level/

Eloy Jimenez is another Dominican and also could benefit with an improved average launch angle. Eloy was in the top 8% in the league in hard hit % and many of his HR's go to right and CF but he was below league average in average launch angle, If he increased his launch angle and contact point to pull the ball more no telling how good he could become. However he does seem to have that same kind of hitting style as Mazara so perhaps again all he might have to do is just increase the launch angle a bit more and those hard hit outs he's making on the ground or line drives right at people end up going over the heads of infielders instead and also over the fence more.

Edited December 26, 2019 by CaliSoxFanViaSWside
added Eloy stuff

[ptatc]

4 hours ago, Jack Parkman said:

Encarnacion hit his 34 HR in 109 games last year. Wowzas. I was thinking they might use him in 100-110 games with Collins getting the rest. 

When does McCann play?

[fathom]

2 hours ago, Jose Abreu said:

 

On that subject: 

 

Amazing post!  It’s so true though, hopefully gone are the days of AAAA players.  It was ridiculous how little power the team hit for last year.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

9 minutes ago, ptatc said:

When does McCann play?

When he catches against lefthanded pitching, perhaps also if still used as Giolitios personal catcher and at 37 Encarncion will need rest so against LH's when resting EE.

[Richie]

12 minutes ago, ptatc said:

When does McCann play?

James McCann will be our 2nd catcher. Which is right where he belongs on any respectable MLB roster. 

[Richie]

2 hours ago, mqr said:

I’m like 90% sure he will once he stops thinking the roster needs to be taught. 

Ricky basically came out and said that "sabermetricians can kiss my ass". The guy clearly still manages the game like it's the mid 1980's.

I doubt he stops bunting. 

This is sort of "bar room bull shit" talk... but... Sometimes you can figure why a manager (or coach in any sport, really) has certain tendencies by looking back into what kind of a player they were. Ricky was a 5'9 170 pound utility infielder who slashed .237/.285/.322 over 184 big league games and only really ever stuck at that level for one season. He had to learn every fundamental, hit the other way, play great defense.... BUNT... and be a good ole fashioned "scrappy ball player". Hell, it's probably why he got recommended as a coach/manager. That was his identity and everything he prided himself on. It was "how the game should be played". 

For him to accept that those things have proven to be over-valued (or even borderline useless like bunting) is basically to admit that everything he's held to be true and everything he valued in himself as a ball player to be a total and complete sham. Hell, seeing as he clearly values those things as a manager. It's basically to admit that the game has passed him up and no longer needs him. 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 26, 2019 by Richie

[JuliusO1274]

3 hours ago, mqr said:

With a roster that doesn’t have 9000 black holes I think you’re likely to find he’s not as bad or as big of a deal as most think. 

Renteria sucks and me thinking he sucks has had nothing to do with the White Sox losing games. In regards to the line up issue the black holes don't justify the nonsense Ricky was doing last year. All he had to do was put the good players he had available at the top of the line up and keep them there.

[Chicago White Sox]

2 hours ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

When he catches against lefthanded pitching, perhaps also if still used as Giolitios personal catcher and at 37 Encarncion will need rest so against LH's when resting EE.

EE should never rest against LHP.  And Grandal should be getting at least 140 starts next year whether at C or 1B / DH.  From an offense only perspective, Collins is a much better fit for a backup role now that we’ve signed EE.