Banks and Burger

[CentralChamps21]

13 hours ago, vilehoopster said:

Burger seems to be doing just fine against right handlers the last two days. That sample size means as much to me as his small amount of at bats against righties before this series. 

I said this like a month ago, however bad he is or was against righties, he was leading the Sox in homers last year before he got hurt and was then later replaced by Moncada. Why is he not in the lineup?

Play him at 1st or 3rd or DH, but it seems completely obvious that the Sox need to be getting him lots of at bats and have him in the lineup everyday.

If Eloy ever gets hot, sell high on him and let Burger take over the DH spot.

[The Kids Can Play]

On 4/8/2023 at 9:37 AM, ChiSox59 said:

It’s very hard to find at bats for Burger if Eloy and the rest of the roster is healthy and Sheets is better than Burger against RHP, which is more of a team need than more lefty mashers. 

Tanner Banks sucks. Is he better than Diekman? Maybe. I certainly would make that move now, but there are 4 million reasons Diekman was on the OD roster. Pens are fickle AF, Diekman has a good arm and has been a useful enough pen piece that he’s hung around the big leagues for over 10 years. It’s reasonable to expect him to be more effective than a 30 YO career minor leaguer. That said, I am all aboard the DFA Diekman train at this point. Also, depth is important. Cutting guys like Diekman and Ruiz to make room on 26 man for guys already on the 40 man (like Banks) doesn’t make a ton of sense until you have to. 

I am only going to discuss the Sheets vs Burger part. Sheets is not better than Burger against RHP. Burger is 6-17 .353 overall, but 3-6 .500 vs RHP. He has 3 HR's 2nd on the team, of which 2 HR's vs RHP this season. Sheets is 7-25 vs RHP .280, but most importantly he has zero extra base hits, along with of course zero home runs. 

Burger right now has the power over Sheets. I don't care if it's RHP or LHP, I would feel more comfortable with Burger hitting over Sheets in the lineup. 

[The Kids Can Play]

On 4/8/2023 at 9:53 AM, zisk said:

It's always about Sheets being better against righties. But Burger has only had about 30 ABs against righties in the majors.

And Sheets isn't real good against lefties. He's just ok. Given the opportunity, Burger would end up better from either side of the plate.

You are absolutely correct here. Burger is actually hitting LHP better than Sheets this year. Burger has 2 of his 3 HR's vs RHP this season and Sheets doesn't even have a home run or extra base hit yet. 

[kitekrazy]

On 4/8/2023 at 7:15 AM, CentralChamps21 said:

Why were these guys not on the OD roster?

Burger provides more value than Sheets, and Alberto/Romy are somewhat redundant.

Banks is clearly a better option than Diekman.

Just wait till Hahn trades him for a NL arm with a 4+ era to "solidify the pen". 

[Rusty_Kuntz]

Burger is just better than Sheets, as many people have already said. Don't know if you can get anything for Sheets but it's time to try, a mediocre bullpen arm would be an upgrade for this team. 

You also have to pencil in at least 40 missed games for Moncada and probably for Eloy. He gives Vaughn a rest here and there too. No reason why Burger shouldn't be in the starting lineup 100+ times per year and pinch hitting most other days. 

[Eminor3rd]

I think the answer is handedness plus the insane belief that Sheets can technically play RF. If you are also on the type of drugs it requires to agree with the second part of the previous sentence, it makes sense.

But I agree it was the wrong decision still, simply because I just don’t think this team can afford to prioritize preserving the floor they get from replacement level players at the expense of the upside available from others. Burger could look useless in a few weeks, but giving the ABs is still the better decision IMO.

That said, it’s still pretty challenging to keep both Jiménez and Burger on the same roster, particularly one as thin on defensive versatility as this one. 

[kitekrazy]

2 minutes ago, Eminor3rd said:

I think the answer is handedness plus the insane belief that Sheets can technically play RF. If you are also on the type of drugs it requires to agree with the second part of the previous sentence, it makes sense.

But I agree it was the wrong decision still, simply because I just don’t think this team can afford to prioritize preserving the floor they get from replacement level players at the expense of the upside available from others. Burger could look useless in a few weeks, but giving the ABs is still the better decision IMO.

That said, it’s still pretty challenging to keep both Jiménez and Burger on the same roster, particularly one as thin on defensive versatility as this one. 

He's not good at 1b either.

[Tomtom]

On 4/15/2023 at 7:14 PM, 35thstreetswarm said:

It’s weird that the org and fan base just seem to have a hard time believing in Burger even though he’s a first round pick.  I think he’s hampered by the fact that people just wrote him off and forgot about him during his injury nightmares (myself included).  Maybe it’s time to consider that he might be a legit major league hitter. 

I would be willing to bet that if they gave him the full time DH spot, he would hit 30 - 35 homers and lead the team..and isn't that what the Sox need!  Of course, they will still need to address the bullpen if they want to actually win games.

 

 

Edited April 17, 2023 by Tomtom

[tray]

Platoon Burger and Sheets at first. Trade Vaughn for pitching.

[wegner]

A couple of years ago, I remember a consistent theme from Steve Stone about Burger was that he was also auditioning for other clubs, obviously hinting at him being on the trading block.  I do not hear that anymore.