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Gavin Sheets


Dick Allen

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What do you think about Gavim moving forward?. Obviously defense isn't his thing, but can he be a nice platoon left handed DH type, who you hide on the field occasionally and hope it's not hit his way? Or is he a Palka, Delmonico type, never really highly regarded but had some early success before the league adjusted?

I really have no idea myself. I was quite surprised with all the big hits he supplied last season. 

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I love Gavin, but I don't think the Sox should be married to keeping him around if he can be used in a deal to make the team better. Historically, he is terrible against LHP. I look at him as a solid strong side platoon bat, and I think the league will figure out a few things about him. How he adjusts, we'll see, but I'm not opposed to the idea now might be the time to "sell high."

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Sheets was a 2nd round pick who made a steady, albeit deliberate, progress in the minors. His lights came on, when the stage lights were off: at the ATF in 2020.  We heard murmurs of his leap 2020, and then when the lights came back on in 2021, we saw it.
His OBP was solid; Palka's was 298.   Sheets advanced through our system; Palka had already been through two other systems, released by the last.

He's one of the few LH hitters we have; he absolutely  raked last year.  The idea that "he has no future with this org." is just beyond me.  Sure he may be a platoon hitter.   So what -plenty of winning orgs platoon.  Yes, he may be a Palka - it's more than worth the wait to find out.   "Selling high" (there's always a first time, I guess)  still won't be particularly bountiful.

And another, largely coincidental and "apropos of nothing", the Sox haven't had a 2nd round pick who ended up worth a hoot in 30 years.  Maybe we finally do.

Edited by GreenSox
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Great depth piece. Fits team needs well. But he’s isn’t a guy I am making AV into a weak side platoon player for. Stash in AAA; he’ll be needed in no time if Sox stupidly plan to play Eloy in LF everyday. Just a matter of time. If Sox don’t sign a RF, run him out there at DH. 

I still think Brandon Moss is a great comp for him all around. 

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Sheets was a 143 wRC+ hitter against right handers.

The Sox have only one player who hits right handers better - Grandal. 

He hit one of our few postseason HRs.  He is just coming into his own.  

I saw a stat showing his numbers the first time against a pitcher, and the second, and it was a massive leap.  This tells me he's making the adjustments and will only get better. 

He should play ALL THE TIME against right handers, whether that's DH, RF, 1B, or LF.  

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RHP's historically get ~70% of the starts.  Gavin and his .900 RHP OPS has to be the DH for all of them in 2022 until he shows he can no longer get it done or the Sox find a better LHB for DH.  He can also sub at 1B & RF and be a late inning LH PH.  He's just too valuable right now on a team with so little LH punch. 

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5 minutes ago, VAfan said:

Sheets was a 143 wRC+ hitter against right handers.

The Sox have only one player who hits right handers better - Grandal. 

He hit one of our few postseason HRs.  He is just coming into his own.  

I saw a stat showing his numbers the first time against a pitcher, and the second, and it was a massive leap.  This tells me he's making the adjustments and will only get better. 

He should play ALL THE TIME against right handers, whether that's DH, RF, 1B, or LF.  

Playing Sheets everyday means 1 of 3 things: 

1) Sox didn’t sign a real RF.

2) Sox traded Vaughn. 

3)  Sox are making Vaughn, a former #3 overall pIck, golden spikes winner and legitimate top prospect in the game, a part time player as a 24 year old. 

You don’t make those decisions based on a 150 PA SS, and even less so based on a postseason HR. 

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Sheets was put into favourable matchups all season.  Let’s not pretend he was a world beater based on a small sample size.  Or that he basically made the jump to the Majors from A ball w/o much minor league time and showed he belongs the way AV did. 

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Sheets' swing looks so smooth when he's confident. The latter half of the season, after he made some adjustments, he had great plate presence and looked confident that he could find a ball to drive. 

I'm excited to see that develop into what it could possibly be. Maybe that's as a White Sox or maybe that's with someone else, but he's one of those lefties where you can see some real potential to do some damage from that side of the plate.

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I’m a big Sheets fan but I’m still split on whether I’d see him on or off the Sox roster. We need lefty bats but we’ve got a righty version of Sheets that projects for more upside (Vaughn). We have a glut of bad defensive corner outfielders, first basemen, and DH candidates. He doesn’t quite fill any needs. Yet I really like what he can provide for the roster as a hitter.

If we only look at hitting for a second Sheets would be a great piece for our roster. He has good strikeout and walk rates for a power hitter. He’s fast enough on the base paths for being that power hitter. He can punish fastballs, sinkers, and changes. The only pitch he is below league average against is the slider where he is absolutely terrible. Our roster does tend to get exposed by sliders more often but we don’t look great against sinkers either. I think he could be a productive platoon/pinch hit bat and the Sox don’t have anyone nearly as suitable for that role.

But the questions are where do you put him, who is kept out of the lineup by him, and if traded which player would the Sox actually get to fill his 26-man roster spot? I could live with him being off the Sox, either in AAA or on another team, but I don’t have faith it’ll happen in a satisfying way.

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1 hour ago, Tnetennba said:

Sheets was put into favourable matchups all season.  Let’s not pretend he was a world beater based on a small sample size.  Or that he basically made the jump to the Majors from A ball w/o much minor league time and showed he belongs the way AV did. 

I don't really see the value in comparing the two. Sheets is his own player and as a lefty he has a huge advantage over Vaughn getting those matchups. I like'em both FWIW and I don't see a huge reason to move Sheets right now there's ABs for him at DH and 1B. Jose is going to sit and probably be hurt more and more as he continues to age.

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I’m a big fan of Sheets.  He has two things we need: power and success against rhp.

I really like the idea of keeping Vaughan down in 23 to gain the seasoning he never received.  
Add a real RF and platoon Eloy and Sheets in LF and DH. 

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2 minutes ago, black jack said:

I’m a big fan of Sheets.  He has two things we need: power and success against rhp.

I really like the idea of keeping Vaughan down in 23 to gain the seasoning he never received.  
Add a real RF and platoon Eloy and Sheets in LF and DH. 

Ha, come on. Vaughn held his own against MLB pitching there's nothing for him to "season" down in AAA. The rest of his seasoning will need to be done against his talent peers in MLB.

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2 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said:

Ha, come on. Vaughn held his own against MLB pitching there's nothing for him to "season" down in AAA. The rest of his seasoning will need to be done against his talent peers in MLB.

It frees up a roster spot, gives him experience, helps him develop his defense more, and adds a year.

I see no downside. 
 

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9 minutes ago, black jack said:

I’m a big fan of Sheets.  He has two things we need: power and success against rhp.

I really like the idea of keeping Vaughan down in 23 to gain the seasoning he never received.  
Add a real RF and platoon Eloy and Sheets in LF and DH. 

Sheets played his age 22 season in A ball and then his age 23 season in AA. Vaughn played his age 21 season in A ball, then missed a competitive year because of COVID, and then played his age 23 season in the major leagues. And Vaughn’s numbers weren’t much different last year than what Sheets did in AA at age 23. 

I think people underestimate how good of a hitter Vaughn can be. 

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10 minutes ago, SoxBlanco said:

Sheets played his age 22 season in A ball and then his age 23 season in AA. Vaughn played his age 21 season in A ball, then missed a competitive year because of COVID, and then played his age 23 season in the major leagues. And Vaughn’s numbers weren’t much different last year than what Sheets did in AA at age 23. 

I think people underestimate how good of a hitter Vaughn can be. 

This. So many on this board are so down on him. Dude is gonna be an elite hitter. Be more patient. 

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1 minute ago, ChiSox59 said:

This. So many on this board are so down on him. Dude is gonna be an elite hitter. Be more patient. 

I'm not down on him at all.  There just isn't a place for him on this roster if they add a real outfielder.

I'd rather he get a full season of at bats in the minors and work on multiple positions to improve his value to the 2023 big league club.   

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4 minutes ago, black jack said:

I'm not down on him at all.  There just isn't a place for him on this roster if they add a real outfielder.

I'd rather he get a full season of at bats in the minors and work on multiple positions to improve his value to the 2023 big league club.   

The guy who does not have a place is named Gavin Sheets. 

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5 hours ago, Rounding_Third said:

RHP's historically get ~70% of the starts.  Gavin and his .900 RHP OPS has to be the DH for all of them in 2022 until he shows he can no longer get it done or the Sox find a better LHB for DH.  He can also sub at 1B & RF and be a late inning LH PH.  He's just too valuable right now on a team with so little LH punch. 

you know TLR isn't going to give most of those ABs to a young player.

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