White Sox interested in Athletics Catcher Sean Murphy

[SoxBlanco]

9 minutes ago, Vote4Pedro said:

What have you seen from him to show he would magically break out of that slump? Having a catcher who can’t catch and now can’t hit doesn’t seem worth guaranteeing a starting position on a “championship contender” if he wasn’t making as much as he is he would have been DFA’d this off-season/end of last year. Was literally unplayable and he’s only a year older. Having a younger catcher who can handle a pitching staff and has a decent bat isn’t easy to come by. Depending on the cost I would be fully onboard 

I haven’t seen anything, but I’m not claiming he WILL bounce back. I have no clue, and you have no clue. 

What I do know is that Grandal is only 14 months removed from a time when he was completely carrying the team on offense. I don’t expect to see that Grandal again, but I do think a wRC+ in the 105/110 range is more likely than the 68 he put up last year. 

[fathom]

2 minutes ago, SoxBlanco said:

I haven’t seen anything, but I’m not claiming he WILL bounce back. I have no clue, and you have no clue. 

What I do know is that Grandal is only 14 months removed from a time when he was completely carrying the team on offense. I don’t expect to see that Grandal again, but I do think a wRC+ in the 105/110 range is more likely than the 68 he put up last year. 

The only thing I do expect from Grandal is another lower body injury.

[Tnetennba]

2 minutes ago, fathom said:

The only thing I do expect from Grandal is another lower body injury.

I expect him to start too much, play worse defense, enrage us with empty OBP and long stretches of sub par production, and a likely lower body injury that takes three times as along as normal to return from. 

[chw42]

4 minutes ago, fathom said:

The only thing I do expect from Grandal is another lower body injury.

If Yaz could get back on the juice and give us at least half a season's worth of good production before he gets caught, that'd be great. 

[chw42]

Just now, Tnetennba said:

I expect him to start too much, play worse defense, enrage us with empty OBP and long stretches of sub par production, and a likely lower body injury that takes three times as along as normal to return from. 

God empty OBP is right. The guy is so slow that it takes 3 singles to score him. 

[Vote4Pedro]

43 minutes ago, fathom said:

The only thing I do expect from Grandal is another lower body injury.

But he’s been working out with the bulls training staff this offseason (notorious for fixing bad knees ???) and is in the best shape of his life” sorta story…..

 

edit: Blackhawks training staff but still sad he has to get help outside the organization because the Sox seem to be incompetent 

Edited November 12, 2022 by Vote4Pedro

[bmags]

6 minutes ago, fathom said:

The only thing I do expect from Grandal is another lower body injury.

There should be optimism. The front office that thought Rodon was hopelessly  injured is now searching for catcher replacements for Grandal.

If anything that means grandal AS selection,

[hi8is]

It’s comedy hour at Soxtalk I see ?

[Chicago White Sox]

12 minutes ago, fathom said:

The only thing I do expect from Grandal is another lower body injury.

At least he’s apparently doing something this offseason and going outside the organization for help has proven to work in the past.

 

[SoxBlanco]

11 minutes ago, chw42 said:

The guy is so slow that it takes 3 singles to score him. 

This is honestly the most concerning thing with Grandal. He might have been the slowest runner in the history of baseball last season. 

[YonderLaroche]

Trade Yasmani straight up 

[southsider2k5]

1 minute ago, bryank1202 said:

Trade Yasmani straight up 

What bad contact would you like to take on?

[Sleepy Harold]

5 minutes ago, SoxBlanco said:

This is honestly the most concerning thing with Grandal. He might have been the slowest runner in the history of baseball last season. 

Hey now, Yadi had the slowest sprint speed. Yaz was second to last.

[YonderLaroche]

2 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

What bad contact would you like to take on?

I was being sarcastic grandal is finished , can't hit or catch 

[Snopek]

32 minutes ago, Vote4Pedro said:

But he’s been working out with the bulls training staff this offseason (notorious for fixing bad knees ???) and is in the best shape of his life” sorta story…..

I get being cynical, but would you actually prefer to hear about him that’s realistic? He’s not getting traded, he’s not getting DFA’d (yet), and when the season starts he’s going to be the starting catcher.

[pcq]

I think he is toast due to injuries time to move on. 

[Tnetennba]

1 hour ago, chw42 said:

God empty OBP is right. The guy is so slow that it takes 3 singles to score him. 

He gets on base, which is great, but is far too often stranded on the bases or the front half of a double play.  Yaz drawing walks does little to help the team score runs.

[SoxBlanco]

19 minutes ago, Tnetennba said:

He gets on base, which is great, but is far too often stranded on the bases or the front half of a double play.  Yaz drawing walks does little to help the team score runs.

Maybe if we started hitting more home runs that would be different. 

[ChiSox59]

This makes pretty much zero sense. So I doubt it happens 

[zisk]

18 taters and 37 doubles in Oakland. What does that translate into on the south side?

[Tnetennba]

32 minutes ago, SoxBlanco said:

Maybe if we started hitting more home runs that would be different. 

I’d be happy if the 8 or 9 hitters hit enough homers for Yaz’s walks to be impactful.  If he’s hitting any higher I’ll just assume Hahn failed miserably in the off-season yet again. 

[Tnetennba]

23 minutes ago, ChiSox59 said:

This makes pretty much zero sense. So I doubt it happens 

For a team already signaling that they won’t spend to fill holes or spend over bad money, it really doesn’t. 

[Balta1701]

So the part of this that really annoys me? The White Sox shouldn’t need a catcher the next few years unless they do one bad thing they’ve done before.

It is not that hard to get average production from your catcher spot. The White Sox got nearly 2 WAR from Seby Zavala last year and also picked up and then traded away a 1 WAR catcher in Reese McGuire.

Luke Maile put up a .627 OPS, got 200 plate appearances, and still put up 0.7 WAR for Cleveland.

All you have to do to be a valuable catcher is not be terrible defensively. 

The White Sox decided Omar Narvaez had no skills as a catcher and dumped him. He found organizations with better coaches and became a solid defensive catcher. Last year he played half the season, put up a .597 OPS, but still was a 1.1 WAR catcher.

Right now the White Sox have Carlos Perez, a 26 year old who hit 21 home runs last year at Charlotte, and Seby Zavala, a 2 WAR catcher last year, both pre arbitration. The only reason these two can’t cheaply give them 2-3 WAR, maybe better, as soon as 2024 is that they aren’t being coached so they can’t be counted on to be average defensively. That’s true even if Seby can’t repeat his 2022 offensive performance, if he can then he might be better than that alone.

While Murphy would be an upgrade over that, it’s not worth trading away a guy you hope will be a star himself in Montgomery in order to avoid having to deal with teaching your young catcher things when that’s all the upgrade you get.

[Eminor3rd]

I'm trying to imagine what would be going on in KW/Hahn-land that would have them considering this.

Given the scenario where the Sox are trying to reduce payroll, this move only really makes sense if they are planning to trade Vaughn for Murphy, let Abreu walk, and move Grandal to 1b. If you then don't sign any OF, you put Sheets in RF until Colas usurps him?

That all makes a certain kind of sick, depressing logical sense for someone wanting to shuffle deck chairs while being cheap, and so I find it plausible for the White Sox braintrust.

[MiddleCoastBias]

With everyone saying he's toast and physically can't play, what latitude does a team have to void a contract for health reasons or force IL stint and collect insurance to offset the salary?

I wonder if this Murphy rumor is because the team knows his health is so bad that he physically can't play and they have a way to get out of the contract (without selling the farm).