Beckham, Keppinger to DL

[cabiness42]

CHICAGO – The Chicago White Sox have placed infielders Gordon Beckham (strained left oblique) and Jeff Keppinger (recovery from right shoulder surgery) on the 15-day disabled list, both retroactive to March 21.

 

Beckham, 27, appeared in 10 Cactus League games before suffering the injury. He last played on March 14.

 

Beckham was the White Sox Opening Day second baseman from 2010-13. He hit .267 (99-371) with 22 doubles, five home runs and 24 RBI over 103 games last season.

 

Keppinger, 33, is continuing his recovery from right shoulder surgery on September 26, 2013. He appeared in just six games this spring, with his last appearance on March 10.

 

Keppinger batted .253 (107-423) with four home runs and 40 RBI over 117 games last season, his first with Chicago.

 

Following the moves, the White Sox active roster is at 25. The 40-man roster remains at 39.

[BlackSox13]

Hopefully Semien plays well enough to make Ventura think long and hard about what to do when Beckham comes back. IMO, if Semien plays well then its his job to lose while Beckham rides the pine as the backup.

[JohnCangelosi]

Hopefully Semien plays well enough to make Ventura think long and hard about what to do when Beckham comes back. IMO, if Semien plays well then its his job to lose while Beckham rides the pine as the backup.

There is no way this happens even if Semien hits 1.000. They need to give Beckham a full year to see if he is worth it or at worst deal him at the deadline and get something in return for him. If Semien does hit well I'd love to see him fill in at 3B for a while though, or at SS if we trade Alexei.

[Feeky Magee]

Big takeaway from that article was that apparently Keppinger had 107 hits last season. Must've missed them.

[nitetrain8601]

There is no way this happens even if Semien hits 1.000. They need to give Beckham a full year to see if he is worth it or at worst deal him at the deadline and get something in return for him. If Semien does hit well I'd love to see him fill in at 3B for a while though, or at SS if we trade Alexei.

 

You're nuts. Beckham has had his chances. I'm not going to give him another year. Screw that. If Semien plays good, he should play, period.

[BlackSox13]

There is no way this happens even if Semien hits 1.000. They need to give Beckham a full year to see if he is worth it or at worst deal him at the deadline and get something in return for him. If Semien does hit well I'd love to see him fill in at 3B for a while though, or at SS if we trade Alexei.

Beckham has had 5 straight years of over 400 plate appearances in each to prove him self, how much time does he need? Would his return in a trade be worth as much as the experience Semien would gain this year playing 2B for the Sox?

[Balta1701]

Beckham has had 5 straight years of over 400 plate appearances in each to prove him self, how much time does he need? Would his return in a trade be worth as much as the experience Semien would gain this year playing 2B for the Sox?

Would the emotional joy of getting rid of Beckham be worth the risk of having Semien jump to the big leagues without much time at AAA (when we already saw him struggle somewhat last year with the 2nd jump, with his walk rate declining both from AA to AAA and then big time from AAA to the big league cup of coffee)?

[caulfield12]

They're not going to just dump or completely bench DeAza and Beckham.

 

Hahn will wait until/unless he can get a reasonable return, if possible.

Edited March 30, 2014 by caulfield12

[Quin]

You're nuts. Betemit has had his chances. I'm not going to give him another year. Screw that. If Beckham plays good, he should play, period.

 

 

Betemit has had 4 straight years of over 300 plate appearances in each to prove him self, how much time does he need? Would his return in a trade be worth as much as the experience Beckham would gain this year playing 3B for the Sox?

 

 

Would the emotional joy of getting rid of Betemit be worth the risk of having Beckham jump to the big leagues without much time at AAA?

 

[Balta1701]

Would the emotional joy of getting rid of Betemit be worth the risk of having Beckham jump to the big leagues without much time at AAA?

 

-In hindsight....no.

[caulfield12]

Wilson Betemit's a different situation.

 

He was a busted prospect from another organization, and he wasn't sitting with a guaranteed $4-5 million contract.

 

And Beckham was a legit Top 20-30 prospect in the majors at one point, compared to Semien being on the outside of the Top 100. Semien wasn't even in/on most organizational Top 10 lists before 2013.

 

Two years ago, Tyler Saladino was Marcus Semien.

[Quin]

Wilson Betemit's a different situation.

 

He was a busted prospect from another organization, and he wasn't sitting with a guaranteed $4-5 million contract.

 

And Beckham was a legit Top 20-30 prospect in the majors at one point, compared to Semien being on the outside of the Top 100. Semien wasn't even in/on most organizational Top 10 lists before 2013.

 

Two years ago, Tyler Saladino was Marcus Semien.

 

Ah, so...we want to put the not Top 100 prospect in the same situation that caused the legit Top 20-30 prospect to fail?

[Eminor3rd]

You're nuts. Beckham has had his chances. I'm not going to give him another year. Screw that. If Semien plays good, he should play, period.

 

This ^

[Eminor3rd]

Would the emotional joy of getting rid of Beckham be worth the risk of having Semien jump to the big leagues without much time at AAA (when we already saw him struggle somewhat last year with the 2nd jump, with his walk rate declining both from AA to AAA and then big time from AAA to the big league cup of coffee)?

 

If Semien is even average, he goes down for seasoning, IMO. But there should absolutely have the opportunity to steal the job. If he decides he's going to break out this year, the FO would be insane to interrupt it.

[ScottyDo]

If Semien is even average, he goes down for seasoning, IMO. But there should absolutely have the opportunity to steal the job. If he decides he's going to break out this year, the FO would be insane to interrupt it.

If he breaks out in the majors, he should destroy the minors. The whole Beckham experience has convinced me that you can't necessarily learn pitch selection at the major league level. For that reason, I say give Beckham another chance unless Semien forces the issue from AAA (and I guess if he absolutely lights it up the next week or so, then you can talk but I wouldn't buy a good week as actual progress anyway). This is legitimately Beckham's last shot, though. For the first time, there are actual competitive options to shorten his leash.

[BlackSox13]

Would the emotional joy of getting rid of Beckham be worth the risk of having Semien jump to the big leagues without much time at AAA (when we already saw him struggle somewhat last year with the 2nd jump, with his walk rate declining both from AA to AAA and then big time from AAA to the big league cup of coffee)?

Its not about emotional joy, its about moving forward from a player that has had more than a fair chance for 5 seasons now. I agree with what you say about Semien's declining walk rate and I myself would prefer he had more time at AAA BUT the Sox obviously feel he's possibly ready when you consider his September callup last year, his spring training this year and confidence in him to at the very least fill in for Beckham while he's out.

 

As far as the cup of coffee, isn't filling in for Beckham just that, a cup of coffee? All I'm saying is if Semien plays well then he deserves his shot and the Sox should stick with him ONLY if he shows he can play major league ball. If not then we try and build Beckham's value while Semien gets more time at Charlotte.

 

Honestly, what kind of return can you realistically expect for Beckham? Think about it , if Beckham had decent value would we be discussing this right now? No, Beckham is 27 and would factor into this teams future but his bat has shown otherwise the last four seasons. The fact that Beckham has guys like Semien, Sanchez and Johnson starting to nip at his heals makes it easy to consider moving on from Beckham.

[Balta1701]

Its not about emotional joy, its about moving forward from a player that has had more than a fair chance for 5 seasons now.

So in other words, it's an emotional reaction.

[BlackSox13]

So in other words, it's an emotional reaction.

Come on Balta, you're better than this. This post is something I would expect from Marty.

 

I clearly explained where I was coming from and why.

 

 

[Balta1701]

Come on Balta, you're better than this. This post is something I would expect from Marty.

 

I clearly explained where I was coming from and why.

"Beckham has had a fair chance for 5 years" is, by my definition, an emotional judgment. It's basically saying we're tired of him. It's simply not the best thing for this roster right now.

 

Consider what "we're going with Semien" means right now. It means fully releasing Beckham, eating a couple million dollars unless someone claims him, and getting nothing in return. If there was a solid trade sitting there waiting for him I'd imagine we'd have made it already (same statement applies for 3 guys on this roster).

 

There's no reason to do that. Semien can still get plenty of big league time this year and can have time at the minors as well. Semien in the big leagues this year is the same sort of rushing of guys upwards we've done over and over in this franchise with virtually no success whatsoever.

 

No matter how many "Chances" Beckham has had, he's the starter right now and there shouldn't be any way for him to lose that job because of this injury. That was the statement they made when they offered him arbitration and by all accounts that was the right move at the time.

[ptatc]

Come on Balta, you're better than this. This post is something I would expect from Marty.

 

I clearly explained where I was coming from and why.

However, it's not just about Beckham being out of chances. It's about Semien being ready. Even if he plays well early on, the coaching staff may decide there are thins he needs to work on before being ready for a full season in the MLB. I'd rather wait a little too long in making him the full time 2B than bring him up too early just because the current starter sucks.

[Quin]

Most people here seemingly want Semien to turn out like Beckham by rushing him.

 

Let him develop a bit in AAA first. Please.

[Rowand44]

Most people here seemingly want Semien to turn out like Beckham by rushing him.

I still hate this line of thinking.

[Quin]

I still hate this line of thinking.

 

I hope Semien proves it wrong if it happens, but I want him to get some AAA experience first instead of heading right to the bigs. I'm cautious after what happened with Gordon.

[Balta1701]

I still hate this line of thinking.

I get why the comparison isn't apt, but man, Semien's history and his numbers last year just scream "give me a couple months at AAA".

[BlackSox13]

"Beckham has had a fair chance for 5 years" is, by my definition, an emotional judgment. It's basically saying we're tired of him. It's simply not the best thing for this roster right now.

 

Consider what "we're going with Semien" means right now. It means fully releasing Beckham, eating a couple million dollars unless someone claims him, and getting nothing in return. If there was a solid trade sitting there waiting for him I'd imagine we'd have made it already (same statement applies for 3 guys on this roster).

 

There's no reason to do that. Semien can still get plenty of big league time this year and can have time at the minors as well. Semien in the big leagues this year is the same sort of rushing of guys upwards we've done over and over in this franchise with virtually no success whatsoever.

 

No matter how many "Chances" Beckham has had, he's the starter right now and there shouldn't be any way for him to lose that job because of this injury. That was the statement they made when they offered him arbitration and by all accounts that was the right move at the time.

Well, that's by your definition. If a player can come up and play ball better than a guy that's had five years to put it together but hasnt , that's not emotional at all. Its about a young guy getting a chance and ends up playing better ball than his predecessor so the team stays with the young guy.

 

Speaking of emotions. If Semien plays well, sticking with Beckham despite Semien playing well and despite Beckham having five seasons to prove himself is an emotional attachment to Beckham.

 

Now were both just full of "emotions" now aren't we...