GT 5/4: SOX at CIN

[Chris Sale]

Driving down with my girlfriend to Cincinnati to catch both games. Never been to the Great American Ballpark so looking forward to that. Was worried about the weather but all forecasts are giving a pretty clear window for it between 7 and 10, so fingers crossed! 

[poppysox]

2 minutes ago, chw42 said:

You can do a lot with Tim and Madrigal in the top 2 spots. If Tim gets on you can try some hit and runs since Madrigal rarely swings and misses.

Flashback to the days of Nellie & Louie.

[ScootsMcGoots]

I really like Madrigal hitting 2nd

["The Kids Can Play"]

1 hour ago, chw42 said:

This is actually a pretty decent lineup.

Agreed provided Eaton, Abreu and Grandal start hitting like they should. 

[Lillian]

Eaton batting behind Abreu. I hope that Jose can restrain himself and take some of the pitches, he's liable to see out of the zone. He's been cold, but if you were the opposing pitcher, wouldn't you still go around him, to get to Eaton? Perhaps they can't afford the luxury of leaving T. A. in the leadoff spot. Until they add some thunder, he probably needs to hit in the middle of the order. With this roster, why not have Madrigal lead off, Moncada 2ND, Abreu, then Anderson?

[ChiSox59]

2 minutes ago, Lillian said:

Eaton batting behind Abreu. I hope that Jose can restrain himself and take some of the pitches, he's liable to see out of the zone. He's been cold, but if you were the opposing pitcher, wouldn't you still go around him, to get to Eaton? Perhaps they can't afford the luxury of leaving T. A. in the leadoff spot. Until they add some thunder, he probably needs to hit in the middle of the order. With this roster, why not have Madrigal lead off, Moncada 2ND, Abreu, then Anderson?

Moving forward, I would do Madrigal, Moncada, TA, Abreu, Mercedes, Grandal, Vaughn, Eaton, Garcia/Hamilton, personally. 

But the lineup tonight is pretty solid.  

["The Kids Can Play"]

2 minutes ago, Lillian said:

Eaton batting behind Abreu. I hope that Jose can restrain himself and take some of the pitches, he's liable to see out of the zone. He's been cold, but if you were the opposing pitcher, wouldn't you still go around him, to get to Eaton? Perhaps they can't afford the luxury of leaving T. A. in the leadoff spot. Until they add some thunder, he probably needs to hit in the middle of the order. With this roster, why not have Madrigal lead off, Moncada 2ND, Abreu, then Anderson?

I like that idea. Abreu better be patient tonight because there is no way that Abreu sees any pitches in the zone with Eaton behind him. I would also drop Grandal and let Mercedes catch. 

[ChiSox59]

4 minutes ago, ejm3 said:

I like that idea. Abreu better be patient tonight because there is no way that Abreu sees any pitches in the zone with Eaton behind him. I would also drop Grandal and let Mercedes catch. 

There is a reason Mercedes hasn't caught a game yet this season.  He isn't a major league catcher.  

[wegner]

14 minutes ago, Lillian said:

Eaton batting behind Abreu. I hope that Jose can restrain himself and take some of the pitches, he's liable to see out of the zone. He's been cold, but if you were the opposing pitcher, wouldn't you still go around him, to get to Eaton? Perhaps they can't afford the luxury of leaving T. A. in the leadoff spot. Until they add some thunder, he probably needs to hit in the middle of the order. With this roster, why not have Madrigal lead off, Moncada 2ND, Abreu, then Anderson?

I actually prefer Anderson as a table setter and love him at the top of the lineup.

Jose needs to heat up soon and he knows that, unfortunately that might cause him to chase trying to do too much. 

["The Kids Can Play"]

14 minutes ago, ChiSox59 said:

There is a reason Mercedes hasn't caught a game yet this season.  He isn't a major league catcher.  

Well we wont know that until we at least give him a start. At least Mercedes would add some offense where as Grandal is pretty much a routine out every at bat. I get Mercedes isn't going to get much if any catching starts this season. Yet next year he better work his ass off in the off season to correct that.  

[ChiSox59]

Just now, ejm3 said:

Well we wont know that until we at least give him a start. At least Mercedes would add some offense where as Grandal is pretty much a routine out every at bat. I get Mercedes isn't going to get much if any catching starts this season. Yet next year he better work his ass off in the off season to correct that.  

The Sox know exactly what Yermin provides behind the plate.  And ~20% of the way through the season he has 0 appearances at catcher.   Yermin is a DH-only player, and an emergency catcher/1B.  He will never be playing defense with any regularity in the big leagues.  

[ptatc]

9 minutes ago, ejm3 said:

Well we wont know that until we at least give him a start. At least Mercedes would add some offense where as Grandal is pretty much a routine out every at bat. I get Mercedes isn't going to get much if any catching starts this season. Yet next year he better work his ass off in the off season to correct that.  

They know. They've seen him in the minors for a few years.

["The Kids Can Play"]

1 minute ago, ChiSox59 said:

The Sox know exactly what Yermin provides behind the plate.  And ~20% of the way through the season he has 0 appearances at catcher.   Yermin is a DH-only player, and an emergency catcher/1B.  He will never be playing defense with any regularity in the big leagues.  

That might be true, but it doesn't make any sense for the Sox to close the door on that assumption until they at least attempt to train him to learn how to either be an effective catcher or 1B. So what happens next years if hypothetically Mercedes has a great year, Vaughn too has a great year and Robert and Eloy are back healthy? Do they keep Mercedes at DH, Vaughn to left and Eloy to right?

["The Kids Can Play"]

2 minutes ago, ptatc said:

They know. They've seen him in the minors for a few years.

Then maybe its time to have him learn an easier position than catcher, like IB or the outfield.

[Balta1701]

12 minutes ago, ejm3 said:

That might be true, but it doesn't make any sense for the Sox to close the door on that assumption until they at least attempt to train him to learn how to either be an effective catcher or 1B. So what happens next years if hypothetically Mercedes has a great year, Vaughn too has a great year and Robert and Eloy are back healthy? Do they keep Mercedes at DH, Vaughn to left and Eloy to right?

Honestly, you figure out that problem when it actually becomes a problem. Having too many bats has been a lifesaver early this season. See if Yermin can keep up hitting for the year, see if Vaughn can handle LF without being benched, see if Eloy comes back healthy, see if Abreu stays healthy, see if there is no lockout. 

[ChiSox59]

16 minutes ago, ejm3 said:

That might be true, but it doesn't make any sense for the Sox to close the door on that assumption until they at least attempt to train him to learn how to either be an effective catcher or 1B. So what happens next years if hypothetically Mercedes has a great year, Vaughn too has a great year and Robert and Eloy are back healthy? Do they keep Mercedes at DH, Vaughn to left and Eloy to right?

Theoretically it is a good problem to have.  If that were to play out and the NL adds the DH this offseason as widely expected, Yermin is probably traded.  Yermin isn't displacing Eloy or Vaughn.  

I sure hope Mercedes keeps it up, but we're a ways away from that being a reality. 

[South Side Hit Men]

1 hour ago, Lillian said:With this roster, why not have Madrigal lead off, Moncada 2ND, Abreu, then Anderson?

Tim’s high BA sets the table for the top to knock him in, in the middle of the current roster lineup he’ll be stranded more with the poor options behind. 

Leadoff is also a tricky position, similar to closer in terms of comfort level. Wouldn’t want to put too much pressure on Madrigal, he’s still new to the ML.

TBH, I’m more worried about Tony playing the best players regularly at this stage rather than their lineup order. Baby steps. Hopefully Hahn inserts more influence in terms of who should get regular playing time, especially now that two of the primary five core players are out (Anderson Abreu and Moncada remain).

[flavum]

Senzel scratched. Naquin in.

[reiks12]

Cease will throw 6 very solid innings tonight, i can feel it.

2ER, 8Ks, 2BB, 3H, 6IP

[2Deep]

I like this line-up.  It looks even better when Yermin hits 5th, Eaton 6th and Grandal 7th.   Yasmani has to hit lower in lineup until he can start hitting again.

We have to get YAZ and Abreu going to their career numbers and if they can then the rest of the line-up is fine.  

[harkness99]

what time is this game starting now?

 

[DirtySox]

12 minutes ago, flavum said:

Senzel scratched. Naquin in.

Man. I really like Senzel, but dude can't stop getting hurt.

[fathom]

Just now, DirtySox said:

Man. I really like Senzel, but dude can't stop getting hurt.

Saw him bat once on Sunday and couldn’t believe how bad he looked

[Bob Sacamano]

2 minutes ago, fathom said:

Saw him bat once on Sunday and couldn’t believe how bad he looked

They suggested his name on the Score yesterday for the Sox since the Reds have Akiyma working his way off the IL and a few other OFs like Winker and Castellanos. 

[flavum]

As much as I like Hangin' with Hurt, these rain delays are getting old.