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Sox Spring Training notes


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  On 2/25/2025 at 6:27 PM, chitownsportsfan said:

Nothing in his profile suggests he'll ever hit but as you noted they might as well trot him out there and see if he can at least play a cromulent 3B, as that's the only way his bat will ever play as a regular. It was a really poor scouting decision that led to acquiring him so I hope if he's hitting 180/230/300 in late June they just cut bait and rotate in someone else.

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*Nothing* in his profile? He OPSed .860 or above in 5 full minor league seasons. BA, MLB and BP had him as a top 40 prospect in the game. I get that he's had a rough go of it in 3 major league stints. We don't have to pretend that he never had any business walking onto a baseball field. 

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  On 2/25/2025 at 6:38 PM, WestEddy said:

*Nothing* in his profile? He OPSed .860 or above in 5 full minor league seasons. BA, MLB and BP had him as a top 40 prospect in the game. I get that he's had a rough go of it in 3 major league stints. We don't have to pretend that he never had any business walking onto a baseball field. 

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Let me rephrase: there is nothing in his recent profile that suggests he'll hit. I don't really rate minor league stats at this point. What tools do you see when you watch him that will allow him to succeed in MLB? He's not powerful, he's not a long lever guy or a quick twitch type. He has good straight line speed but can't leverage it in the field for much, and if he's not on base often that won't help much either. His statcast data is really, really bad so he fails the metrics as well as the eye test there.

As always, I hope he gets hotter than s%*#, but there's no recent data that suggests he's anything other than a utility guy at best.

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Hearing about the hot radar guns this early...anyone not feel great about that? Like it's better than hearing some are mid-eighties but I'm nervous late march is just going to be 8 TJS

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  On 2/25/2025 at 7:31 PM, bmags said:

Hearing about the hot radar guns this early...anyone not feel great about that? Like it's better than hearing some are mid-eighties but I'm nervous late march is just going to be 8 TJS

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Give it two weeks we'll probably have half a dozen guys dealing with "dead arms". I agree, it's almost like they are pushing these velocity reports as a distraction from how awful everything else so far this spring.

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  On 2/25/2025 at 7:31 PM, Capn12 said:

"You had your shot, Bryan, with those 99 ABs. We're going to go with a more proven answer, in Vargas."

 

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Getz has to justify his trades.  That means Vargas starting and Fletcher still having life.  Fletcher is terrible and it’s obvious the Sox don’t like Colas but he is afraid to cut either one to add a 24 year old outfielder with power in Canario?  It doesn’t make much sense.

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  On 2/25/2025 at 8:13 PM, WhiteSox2023 said:

Getz has to justify his trades.  That means Vargas starting and Fletcher still having life.  Fletcher is terrible and it’s obvious the Sox don’t like Colas but he is afraid to cut either one to add a 24 year old outfielder with power in Canario?  It doesn’t make much sense.

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Getz has literally gone out and added three veteran OFs to block Fletcher.  It’s clear where he stands in the org…not trading for a prospect with huge contact issues and no options remaining in Canario doesn’t change that.  And as we just saw, not a single club was willing to give up more than cash for Canario.

Writing off Vargas right now would be the definition of insanity.  Right or wrong, our scouts liked him just a half year ago and he performed incredibly well in the minors last season.  At 25 years of age and with his strength issues hopefully behind him, he’s still got a chance to turn it around.  And unlike with Fletcher, Vargas has elite plate discipline and a supposedly plus hit tool.  We didn’t really see the latter last year, but it’s what drove top 40 prospect ranking.  I can get being concerned about him playing 3B (or 2B & OF for that matter) as defense has always been a concern with him, but not giving him three or four months to prove himself with the bat would be just be dumb.

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  On 2/25/2025 at 7:23 PM, Capn12 said:

Ramos and Rojas must love the Vargas news.

"He sucks there, but by god...we're gonna prove it was a good move!"

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 While it's mostly a meritocracy certain concessions have to be made . The options situation and his previous status as a very good hitter  combined takes priority.  He'll be the 1st one out the door along with Sosa if neither  one  can step up.

Ramos will get his chance but it's not like he's healthy or forced the issue. Also Rojas knows his role is to play well enough to get traded and play wherever they stick him.

If Vargas proves once again that his fielding at 3rd is subpar but his hitting starts to come around Venable likely gives him more ABs at DH.

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  On 2/25/2025 at 7:31 PM, Capn12 said:

"You had your shot, Bryan, with those 99 ABs. We're going to go with a more proven answer, in Vargas."

 

giphy.gif?cid=6c09b95219sd4zz02mupxu1qyj

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Baseball players understand how options and all work. It's fanciful to pretend that a 26 man roster is "the best 26 men available", when in fact, there's guys you don't want to lose because they're out of options, signed a major league deal, etc. If a rookie doesn't understand that, and decided he's going to give up because somebody else got an opportunity he thought should have been his, he probably would fail after the first bad strike call on him. 

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  On 2/25/2025 at 8:53 PM, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

 While it's mostly a meritocracy certain concessions have to be made . The options situation and his previous status as a very good hitter  combined takes priority.  He'll be the 1st one out the door along with Sosa if neither  one  can step up.

Ramos will get his chance but it's not like he's healthy or forced the issue. Also Rojas knows his role is to play well enough to get traded and play wherever they stick him.

If Vargas proves once again that his fielding at 3rd is subpar but his hitting starts to come around Venable likely gives him more ABs at DH.

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I would argue, Vargas has shown even LESS at the level it matters at, than Ramos, in almost 600+ PAs.

 

That isn't to say, I don't want Vargas to succeed. I hope he puts it all together. But, to anoint the position on him mid February is a tad egregious overall. We'll see, once everyone is healthy.

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  On 2/25/2025 at 8:13 PM, WhiteSox2023 said:

Getz has to justify his trades.  That means Vargas starting and Fletcher still having life.  Fletcher is terrible and it’s obvious the Sox don’t like Colas but he is afraid to cut either one to add a 24 year old outfielder with power in Canario?  It doesn’t make much sense.

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Or maybe they see Canario as a AAAA outfielder who is out of options, and isn't a sure bet to hit in the bigs. Not every player the White Sox pass on is a sure fire Hall-of-Famer. It sure is fun to pretend, though. 

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  On 2/25/2025 at 9:00 PM, WestEddy said:

Or maybe they see Canario as a AAAA outfielder who is out of options, and isn't a sure bet to hit in the bigs. Not every player the White Sox pass on is a sure fire Hall-of-Famer. It sure is fun to pretend, though. 

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Of course not.  I just don’t see the point in not trying someone new that is younger with power, when your options are a midget that has zero power and can’t hit and yet another Cuban player that the Sox are obviously sick of by now because he wears his glove on his head and doesn’t know what a relay throw is.

Edited by WhiteSox2023
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  On 2/25/2025 at 9:00 PM, WestEddy said:

Or maybe they see Canario as a AAAA outfielder who is out of options, and isn't a sure bet to hit in the bigs. Not every player the White Sox pass on is a sure fire Hall-of-Famer. It sure is fun to pretend, though. 

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I would take Canario over Vargas or Fletcher in a heartbeat.

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  On 2/25/2025 at 9:06 PM, WhiteSox2023 said:

Of course not.  I just don’t see the point in not trying someone new that is younger with power, when your options are a midget that has zero power and can’t hit and yet another Cuban player that the Sox are obviously sick of by now because he wears his glove on his head and doesn’t know what a relay throw is.

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MLBTR chat counterpoint:

  Quote
Steve Cohen
1:55
Did the Mets just pull off a heist? Alexander Canario is only 24. At age 22 he hit 37 homers & had 23 steals. Last year in only 247 at bats in AAA he had 18 homers. Yes he strikes out a lot but so do most sluggers.
 
Steve Adams
1:57
You're colossally underselling his lack of contact skills. Canario's contact rate in Triple-A was 63.5%. I think you could charitably grade his hit tool at 30 on the 20-80 scale. Might be a 25 or 20 though.

I expect the Mets to DFA him and try to pass him through waivers before the season opens. He's out of options and I can't see any way he makes the team.
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I think he's interesting. Again, 28 other teams took a pass. 

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