White Sox general manager Rick Hahn met with reporters yesterday as pitchers and catchers reported to camp, touching on a number of topics pertaining to a bolstered 2021 roster. Perhaps most notably, Hahn indicated that top prospect Andrew Vaughn, the No. 3 overall pick from the 2019 draft, is “very much in the mix” to make the Opening Day roster (Twitter link via Daryl Van-Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times). Chicago was at times connected to potential DH candidates throughout the winter, but part of the reason the Sox opted not to bring in a dedicated DH was due to their belief that Vaughn could emerge as early as this season.
While the 22-year-old still has just 55 professional games under his belt thanks to the absence of minor league play in 2020, Vaughn fared well in that time, slashing a combined .278/.384/.449 with six homers, 17 doubles and nearly as many walks (30) as strikeouts (36). Vaughn’s numbers at Cal teetered on absurd, as he batted .374/.495/.668 with 50 long balls in 745 plate appearances. He’s universally ranked among the game’s Top 30 or so prospects, and once he makes the roster he could split time with Jose Abreu between first base and designated hitter.
More on the South Siders…
- The White Sox will be without lefty Jace Fry for the first month of the season, Hahn also announced this week (Twitter link via James Fegan of The Athletic). The 27-year-old underwent a back operation over the offseason and isn’t expected to be an option until at least May 1. Fry has been a high-strikeout, high-walk part of the Chicago ’pen for the past few seasons, working to a combined 4.43 ERA and 3.92 SIERA with a 29.6 percent strikeout rate but a 13.7 percent walk rate. Between Aaron Bummer and 2020 first-round pick Garrett Crochet, the Sox should still have a pair of lefties to put in the bullpen.
- Speaking of Crochet, while the organization views him as a starter in the long run, Hahn indicated that the lefty could be used in multiple roles, including a bullpen setting, for the coming season as the club monitors his workload (via MLB.com’s Scott Merkin, on Twitter). The same is true of top prospect Michael Kopech, who’ll be back in the mix for a spot on the pitching staff this spring. Kopech, also regarded as one of the game’s best pitching prospects, underwent Tommy John surgery late in the 2018 season, missed all of 2019 and opted out of the 2020 campaign.
- Though there are still more than a few unsigned players of note, Hahn suggested that the bulk of the White Sox’ offseason work is complete, Merkin tweets. While the Sox are still in touch with several free agents, Hahn said that the “expectation is that any additions would be more of the non-roster invite variety if at all.” The ChiSox added Liam Hendriks and Adam Eaton via free agency over the winter and also swapped out righty Dane Dunning for Lance Lynn in a trade with the Rangers. While they’ve been connected to other potential free agents along the way, though, it seems their roster is largely set.
They’ll keep Vaughn down for a couple of weeks in the end… I wonder why…
hasnt played in the High Minors. imo they’d be silly not to when his natural position is the same as the reigning MVP. unless you think he’ll be a huge factor in the 1st few weeks its not worth it.
Tim Anderson in camp leading by example. This is going to be good.
I detest manipulation, but agree that he needs to start in the minors. That is a lot to ask a player to jump from A ball to the opening day roster.
That’s why I still think they should have added someone to compete at DH.
Vaughn just 245 ABs in minors. Counting college he has over 1000 ABs, so he’s getting there. Ideally I like to see 1500 minor league ABs.
It seems the term “manipulation” is thrown around a lot with the Sox, but if there is an organization that it really doesn’t apply to, it is the Sox.
They are one of the few organizations that actually avoided manipulating by signing deals with players (Jimenez and Robert), before playing at the MLB level, and taking heat for it.
False.
They purposely refused mid-summer call ups when both were ready, then pretty much threatened them that they would start the season in the minors the next year if they didn’t sign deals.
They are the absolute worse, because most teams now just call players up and extend, like the Padres just did.
That’s why I think there is zero chance Vaughn us on opening day roster, not that I think he should be.
Nope. Max is wrong once again. Look at the sheer number of young players who signed long term deals early- not to mention the long term value the Sox generated by signing the likes of Sale, Q, and Eaton to deals that in being forward thinking, became team friendly. To paraphrase a favorite movie, Max Velocity are you being purposely obtuse?
All Sox fans know the shift in philosophy that came with Jimenez “he needs to work on his defense by not playing in September,” Robert “he’s soooo tired,” and Madrigal “Leury Garcia gives us the best chance to win.”
Really?! Check your facts instead of just making up something that sounds good.vaughn will start when he is supposed to and it will have nothing to do with manipulation. The White Sox are doing things right under Hahn and don’t deserve haters like you giving them a bad rap. Try talking more baseball and less trash.
I see your point but don’t know why manipulation is seen so poorly. The teams follow the Collective Bargaining Agreement that the players agreed upon. As rational actors teams will maximize their advantage under the rules.
EXACTLY.
It’s permitted under the CBA. And so what, anyway? Why should teams accelerate early promotions–when players inevitably are LESS productive–instead of maximizing the back end, when players are MOST productive?
Heck, as a rival of the Sox, I’d be thrilled if the Sox threw away an extra year of control of Vaughn by promoting him before he’s ready to make a full contribution. Do it, Sox! Listen to your dumb fans and do it!
The Sox have a good reputation for paying their players early to avoid service time manipulation…Anderson, Sale, Quintana, Robert, Eloy & Bummer all got early extensions.
If Andrew Vaughn rakes through camp like he did last spring and at the White Sox alternate site this past summer there’s a good chance he will open the season as the White Sox DH and backup first baseman. If he does look good a contract extension might precede his opening day MLB debut, the same as it did for Eloy Jimenez on the eve of the White Sox 2019 opener. The team also signed Luis Robert to a contract extension in January of 2020 all but guaranteeing him a spot on their active roster before his own MLB debut in last summer’s delayed July 24th season opener.
Jimenez and Robert each had highly successful debut seasons and I would expect the same from Vaughn in 2021.
Both Robert and Jimenez had a lot of time in AAA doing very well before both contract extensions and successful MLB debut seasons. I do not think there is much possibility the Sox extend Vaughn in the same way until he does well at AAA also. I think expecting a bit much for Vaughn to have a great 2021 on the Sox without any time in the minors, and when he was only decent in his time in the minors in 2019.
I hope they give the DH job at the start to whoever looks better in the spring between Vaughn, Mercedes, and Collins. It seems likely that they are going to wind up totally wasting Mercedes, who is going to hit pretty well for some team eventually. I think would be rushing Vaughn to start him at DH on opening day, personally. And with the service time issue, I just don’t see it. Unless he absolutely kills it in the spring and looks clearly better than Mercedes and Collins, I doubt he winds up DH for the first half until he kills it at AAA. I think one of Collins or Mercedes is going to be a plus MLB hitter if given some at bats.
Every team manipulates the cba, and any other agreement. That’s just the way it is. No point crying about it
I think that come mid-ST Khris Davis might be traded to the White Sox. The Rangers don’t need him, and if he shows some good ability in ST again then I think the Rangers would dump him off pretty quick. Davis provides a stop gap for the Sox’ DH slot, and then he becomes a nasty bench bat once Vaughn is finally up (assuming he isn’t up on Opening Day).
Would not mind David Dahl coming over from Texas.
Vaughn and Abreu will split time at DH and 1B once Vaughn is called up, which shouldn’t take long at all. You also have Zack Collins as a potential option there. I don’t see the fit for Khris Davis here.
the sox have a looming problem that hasn’t been seen yet. collins can’t hit…can’t field. the sox know this. however, even if vaughn hits, he can’t play first base! this problem will rear its ugly head some time in april or may. my guess is that the backup first base job will go to mendick.
No chance. He’s bad and expensive.
Nah Khris Davis to the sox? I doubt it. I see Khris Davis doing sweet nothing this year and Texas burying him on the bench or dfa, hes done.
so is CHW committing to Crochet in the pen then?
I think they should, at least for a year or 2
Not a CHI fan but I’d honestly prefer that. He’s proven to be an effective arm in the pen and with the small injury he had in his last(?) outing, I don’t think Chicago would want a literal copy of Chris Sale that comes with the injuries.
Solid 1-2-3 at the moment, 4 with Koppech on the way. Emergency scenario, flip Crotchet to the rotation if things start going south.
Although I have to admit that I’m not sure what a “literal” copy of Sale is but I’m fairly sure the White Sox would absolutely love having Crochet pitch as well as Sale did for them. He averaged nearly 30 starts/season after he came out of the pen. His injuries came after he left the Sox. If Crochet is Sale 2.0, they have a real stud.
I have my doubts though.
Oh ok, like I said, I don’t follow the Sox so I didn’t know Sale’s injuries came after he left. That’s all I was referring to.
All the power to them then!
You don’t need to hedge on this one—Crochet is a stud. So is Kopech. With so much talent, I’d be surprised if this wasn’t a historic pitching rotation for the Sox from 2021-2024.
Your absolutely right Chisox. Except I believe you understate just how great these Chisox are. I think it’s a complete waste of time that the actual season is even played. Let’s just go straight to the post season and see who makes it far enough to meet the Chisox in the AL championship to go directly to the World Series. Between the unbelievable pitchers and bats on this ball club, it’s an injustice to waste time playing all the slackers on other teams.
@Dogbone
Like your sarcasm. I find it humorous that a team that has a 33 year old as a #2 and a 34 year old as #3 is ready to embark upon a historic stretch of starting pitching. I venture to say Sox fans shouldn’t peek back a couple of years to see just what Keuchel and Lynn are capable of in bad years. Should one or both of them pratfall–and I’m VERY interested in seeing Giolito pitch without his best buddy McCann–then the Sox might have a disappointing season no matter how much their lineup mashes.
Yeah a historic pitching staff that doesn’t even have a real #1. Lol see if one of these guys can keep an era in the twos and then we can talk about them even being the best pitching staff in the crappy central before you just jump the gun to historic. Mets and Sox fans have to be the most delusional around after this offseason. Indians staff will still be better thanks to that real ace they have and Plesac at the top plus their starting pitcher tree that produces aces year after year.
Can’t we say this about a lot of teams though? Kershaw is getting old, what if he has a terrible year. What if Darvish is the bad Darvish from 2 years ago? What if Snell continues to regress from is Cy Young year? What if Kenta Maeda’s year was an aberration? What if Judge and Stanton miss more time than they usually do every year? What if people get injured? What if? What if? What if? On paper, the Sox looked stacked! A better 5th starter and DH to start the year would be nice, but other than that, they look great? Are there what ifs? Of course, but there’s what ifs for every team in the league!
Avory, what you said is true of every team in the league. Like Maximum, you’d rather be proven wrong later than take, , a risk and take a chance on believing in the talent and upside displayed before your very eyes (if you actually watch the games).
No one with a trained eye believes the top three starters for the Sox are overrated or overestimated. I think yours (and Maximum’s) comments suggests more about your insecurities being projected than anything else. The rotation is as deep and as talented as we Sox fans have seen since ‘05. Maybe in a lifetime.
Lastly, FWIW, the bullpen is being acknowledged as the best in baseball. So that’s something (hopefully) you guys can be positive about.
The White Sox have had, on paper entering the season, three pretty solid starting pitchers , and in some case a promising fourth on several occasions, on several occasions, most recently in 2013, with Sale, Q, Shark, and a healthy Rodon. You can easily make an argument that, given the seasons the top four had enjoyed the previous year, that the 2013 staff was deeper, since you still had John Danks in the fold, needed to be nothing but average.
The 2011 staff also proved to be solid with Sale, Q, a healthy Peavy, and Floyd.
I would also argue that the 1993 rotation of McDowell, Alvarez, Fernandez and Bere was impressive as well.
Once again, pointing out that the team would have benefited from another veteran are is not being negative.
None of those rotations were as deep in terms of stuff or velocity. We have guys who can throw 100 in the backend w/Cease, Kopech and Crochet (who like it or not, is destined for a starting role). We still have Rodon and Lopez providing occasional starts from the bp (hopefully). That is amazing depth and talent. I’m glad Hahn chose not to sign some innings eater like Paxton because we already guys like that on the roster.
The article specifically states that Crochet isn’t starting this year, and that Kopech may not start either. Beyond that, the back end is Cease, who hopefully will get it together this year, followed by Lopez, who has been brutal the past two years, and Rodon, who hasn’t been healthy in the past five.
And ranking a staff based on stuff and velocity is not a thing, nor does that mean this staff is better than previous staffs. Your entire argument is based on projection rather than results. Other staffs were just as highly touted as the one, and frankly deeper with proven talent.
LOL
Name one staff in the MLB that has PROVEN talent 1-5. I’ll wait…
And for the record, Kopech will earn a spot in the starting rotation. Crochet will be a starter at some point this year as well.
You keep shifting the goalposts. But the 2006 White Sox and 2009/10 White Sox each had five pitchers who, while not necessarily world beaters, had proven experience in the league as starters. others like the 2005 and 2015 White Sox had four.
But you keep missing the point.
In a season in which you gave up a young, controllable prospect for a one year rental, it makes more sense to ensure you have a rotation that can remain competitive for 162 games.
I have no doubt Kopech and Crochet will be able to contribute. I like the front three. But you keep ignoring the fact that the White Sox don’t event believe they can contribute as starters this year.
That leaves the back end with Cease, who has potential, but command issues, Lopez, who has been one of the worst starters the past three years, and Rodon, who can’t stay healthy.
What in God’s name is the problem with adding a vet like Q, Shoemaker, Walker or s someone else on a short -term deal for depth?
Do you really think a year out of the pen for Kopech and Crochet, or moving Lopez to long relief is going to hurt the team? The team is likely to do this with these players anyway if the spot goes to Rodon.
We are literally talking about an additional 6 million in payroll or less between Rodon and the three veterans I just mentioned. I seriously don’t understand your complaint.
I agree that there is no such thing as too much depth. My guess (or hope as a fan) is that the Sox want to see what Katz can do with Cease, Lopez, Rodon and Kopech before they make any more additions. They have flexibility to add before the deadline if needed. There are also some free agents who won’t be signed before spring training so if they think they need depth they could always still add. And let’s not forget they made a move like this last year by adding Gio and he was among the worst starters they had. Adding a “name” for depth isn’t always the best move if that name ends up stinking it up!
Crochet is going to pitch out of the pen this year with the intention of him becoming a starter next year. He remains on the starter path.
@dogbone
Slow down lmao we have all seen stacked rosters that flop. It’s a 150+ game season and the games need to played. I think white sox have the division but it’s a long season, things happen.
The article clearly says they still want him as a starter but the rotation is full this season…
Andrew Vaughn is ready. Let’s just go ahead and unleash that stick right out of the gate!
I think manipulation games suck, but with the rules as they are, the Sox would be fools not to get another year of control. I doubt that his missing two weeks is the difference in that division. Even if it is, I’d rather have him another year.
So why do manipulation games “suck”?
Your recommendations make perfect sense to me. What would “suck” is rushing a guy and giving up a year of control in the process.
The CBA structures the rules…there’s nothing sucky about it.
This is exactly why you are going to see a strike once the new deal is up.
The owners are going against decades of practice to suppress the earning power of players.
It’s probably the worst anti/labor practice in professional sports.
And it was COLLECTIVELY BARGAINED! The players AGREED to it!
Blame the players for not striking last time, I don’t care, but don’t go around saying the owners are somehow jerks for trying to maximum their investment in players..
It may not matter to the White Sox (though I suspect it does) but for small market teams who have no chance for consistent competitiveness without the ability to control their best players through their prime, the difference between six and seven years of control is huge.
Now if players want to change the system, fine, the next CBA is their opportunity. But for god’s sake, don’t go around talking about the predatory nature of major league baseball when the sport has showered more prosperity and security on players than any other sport. You want to talk about pathetic labor practices, go sniff around the NFL why don’t you?
I actually think manipulation is bad competitive practice, because it forces players to waist time in the minors when they could be taking valuable reps in MLB.
Robert and Jimenez struggled mightly in their first few months in the league. That could have been taken care of by calling them up in the summer when they were actually ready, giving them an offseason for adjustments.
And they STILL could have extended them before the next season, possibly for even a more favorable deal, which is exactly what the White Sox did with Sale, Quintana, Eaton and Moncada. It’s what the Padres did with Tatis.
Manipulation just stunts growth and narrows the competitive window, and it’s not even necessary.
It’s pretty disappointing that the White Sox are not going to at least try to add more depth.
While Lynn was a find, and Hendriks is an expensive upgrade, they still potentially have the very same holes they have had for years at DH, in RF and at the back end of the rotation, especially if they are suggesting (which I agree with) that Crochet and Kopech are not set for the rotation.
A team that is trying to win it all should expect and want better than Adam Eaton, Zack Collins and Reynaldo/Lopez filling key roles in the lineup. They could have and should have done better, especially with Lynn essentially on a one-year deal.
I agree the bench is light.
Why do you need to make all your additions prior to the start of the season? Still plenty of time ahead of the trade deadline. It is best to wait. A whole lot of teams are going to be selling. Far better buying opportunities ahead, and we will know exactly what we need.
Why? Because the Sox don’t own that division. If they keep their holes through July, they may well cede enough ground to the Twins that they have to try for a WC.
I will worry about additions to the bench later!!! No need to bring in a DH when we have Vaughn! We are fine. Let’s get this season started!
Largely agree. Vaughn is an unknown, Eaton is declining, ReyLo has one chance left. I get that Jerry is cheap, but I’d rather have Rosario, Scwarber, or Grossman than Eaton, and any of them could platoon at DH when not in the field. ReyLo bothers me less, as he’s just a placeholder until Kopech, but Paxton, Odo, and even Quintana would have been preferable.
Eaton better defensively than those guys. Eloy is in the outfield. Cannot sacrifice defense at the other corner slot. Luis is already covering Center and Left.
Eaton was better defensively. Rosario makes bonehead plays, but he, Scwarber, and Grossman aren’t miles behind the Eaton of last year.
I would of signed Schwarber And Quintana for #5
Or if we where big market went got Darvish
Eloy gets hurt 2/3 times a year could of rotated Kyle in 60-70 games
LH bat of bench end games just thought the match made sense
Pass on ALL of those options. Knock it off with this Schwarber nonsense! Darvish? GTFOH! You should go back to the north side!
No way flame. This lineup had a ton of swing and miss and you want to add Schwarber? Terrible idea. Eaton will show the free swingers how to take professional ABs. And the speed with Roberts at 7, the Adams 8, Madrigal to Anderson to Moncada will be fun to watch with old-school LaRussa unafraid to run as the new-school managers are.
Exactly which American League team is so far ahead of the Sox that we need to worry about playing catch up with right now? The rest of the American League is currently trying to figure out how they are going to deal with the White Sox. We have fewer holes than the rest of the AL,
Yankees may be better. Lot of question marks in that rotation, but that lineup is very strong. Twins get JD back and will still be tough. Blue Jays got much better and, even though the Rays took a step back, they have baseball’s best farm and usually manage to be competitive. Sox are good, but not nearly good enough to let hubris set in
the Yankees are better if everyone is healthy but theres no guarantee anyone in the rotation or outfield is going to be healthy.
I think Lopez could be a top reliever, as well as Rodon, but we have seen enough from both to not have faith in them. Lopez only has two pitches and Rodon has significant health issues.
I would have been happy with a guy like Arrieta, since top of rotation is solid, and Cease is at least a 5, but they don’t have anyone who they even think they can could on if Kopech and Crochet are not going to start. Season is too short for so many risks.
The Adams should be solid in right, especially since Eaton has even splits. They can always make moves if it implodes but I especially think Eaton will be a lot better if he can be rested more often.
As for DH, why? We tried that already. Abreu/Grandal/Collins/Eloy will more than fill out the DH spot.
In my opinion, the Lynn trade was questionable for some of the reasons mentioned. I felt like Dunning was too high of a price to pay for one season of Lynn, when there were plenty of very decent upside options on free agency that could have been had at similar salaries to Lynn’s, including Corey Kluber and Garrett Richards. I understand Lynn is more dependable than those guys, but the point is that I would rather have both Dunning and Richards/Kluber/whoever than just one season of Lynn.
That’s a solid critique, especially with how long it’s taken pitchers to sign, and how cheap some have signed for.
Ban, I don’t know why you assume the White Sox won’t bring Lynn back if he has a good year. They would. Perfect age bracket for the Sox because he won’t cost 9 figures to sign.
And Lynn might be comfortable slotting in as one of the top 3 instead of being relied on as the ace + he already has a strong relationship with Tony. Lynn has also received strong compliments around the league for being a mentor to younger pitchers which ups his value vs Dane, who while solid, may have reached his peak.
Lance Lynn will likely be the White Sox #3 starter if only to have southpaw Dallas Keuchel slotted between him and fellow RHP Lucas Giolito. Some might consider it a ‘stretch’ that Keuchel is among the best #2’s in MLB but it is safe to say that Lynn is one of the very best #3’s and that Giolito is a certified ace. The top of the White Sox rotation is among the best in the game.
Giolito has quickly become one of MLB’s best TOR’s. With good health that ought to continue with his long time mentor Ethan Katz on hand to guide him on a daily basis. Giolito is among the favorites for the 2021 AL CY young Award and nobody will be surprised if he wins it.
Keuchel was excellent last season. He has won a Cy Young Award, has ample postseason experience, sports a World series ring, owns 4 Gold Glove Awards and is a certified inning eater in every season he has been fully healthy. His 33-year old age is less concerning because he was never a hard thrower to begin with. He gets his share of whiffs but mostly throws ground balls which was ideal pitching in Houston’s HR-friendly Minute Maid Park and is more than welcome in hitter-friendly GRF. Keuchel is basically the new Mark Buehrle on the southside of Chicago and should age just as well. No Sox fan would complain about Buehrle slotted in as a #2 pitcher and the same should apply to Keuchel.
Lynn is 8 months older than Keuchel. He has had a similarly successful career with less health issues. Lynn has averaged 32 starts and 196 IP’s since becoming a regular in the Cardinals rotation in 2012. He also has a World Series ring from 2011 as a rookie pitcher in manager Tony La Russa’s final year as skipper in St. Louis. Lynn was a steady inning eater with the Redbirds through 2017, hit a bit of a speedbump with the Twins and Yankees in 2018 before taking his game to a new level the past two seasons in Texas when he was a #5 and #6 CYA finalist.
In fact, all three of the top White Sox starters received CYA votes last season, finishing 5th, 6th and 7th. This bodes well for the 2021 rotation and could get even better with Katz now teaching ‘young’ power arms like Dylan Cease, Michael Kopech, Reynaldo Lopez and Carlos Rodon who all figure to get starts this season when all is said and done. And then there is that White Sox bullpen that could be even more elite…….
Good stuff Aaron.
I would honestly have been happy had they signed Eaton and another guy like Rosario, because, frankly, they could have just created an Eaton/Rosario Engel/Mercedes platoon, and had Rosario in the fold if/when Eaton gets hurt. But now you are in position of not only having to trust Eaton’s health, but thinking Vaughn will be ready.
This isn’t the season to roll the dice.
not collins…pecota puts him well beneath the mendoza line!
Maximum, you’re the type of fan that can’t see potential beyond household names. The reality is you can’t have a known quality at EVERY position on a team. And you don’t need an All-Star team to win a championship. You need talent, chemistry, reasonable depth, and a leadership. The Sox have it all, with room to grow the roster as needed later. Have faith in some of these young kids because they’re really good ballplayers. They just need a little time to develop.
Potential? You mean like Blake Rutherford? Carson Fulmer? Carlos Rodon? Matt Davidson? Reynaldo Lopez? Jake Burger? Zack Burdi? Ian Hamilton?
The White Sox are in win-now mode. They hit on a number of players, but also whiffed or had bad luck with others.
Teams that are constantly competitor like the Twins, Rays and A’s are so because they mix solid amateur development with good pros scouting and depth.
This team has no depth, and numerous injury prone players, so it needed to add free agents to put it in a better position to deal with any potential setbacks.
The White Sox, as usual, are simply unwilling to expand payroll to a competitive level, and hoping that guys who always get hurt aren’t hurt, guys who haven’t looked good look good and that players who are probably a year or two from stardom blossom early.
That can work, but it usually doesn’t, especially when you lack quality depth in the farm system.
No, I mean potential like Lucas Giolito, Yoan Moncada, Tim Anderson, Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert, Nick Madrigal, Dylan Cease, Aaron Bummer, Michael Kopech, Garrett Crochet, and Codi Heuer. If you can’t appreciate the young talent on this roster, I don’t know why you watch baseball. Many fans of other teams would be excited to have the Sox’s roster right now.
I left out other guys with potential, but are still unknown quantities due to no minor league play last season.
If your expectation is perfection in all areas at all levels of the organization. I’m sorry, but that is not possible (well, maybe if you’re the Dodgers and have unlimited resources and you’re getting spoon fed blue chip prospects like a newborn).
The Sox as currently constructed are a championship contender. Most fans can live with farm system dropping to 15th overall ranking with a contending team. Especially with your top 4 prospects poised to play major roles on the big league club in this upcoming season.
Chisox, commenting on your dialogue with maximum. I think the team is better than he gives them credit for and I am still optimistic, but he is spot on when it comes to grading them on their offseason. RF was their only main position weakness, and the only reason they don’t have a good rightfielder who is likely to be healthy is they did not want to spend to get one. They have a payroll ranked 14th, in the 3rd largest city, with the 10th richest owner. I know perfection isn’t possilbe, but it is a no brainer to think of how they could have done better than Rodon, Lopez, Eaton in a year when they are supposedly all-in. Reinsdorf is cheap, and the quality of the team is probably going to fall short of World Series caliber when all is said and done, because of that. Maybe not, I hope I’m wrong, but with some better moves this team could be a juggernaut going into this year, not a team with high expectations that may or may not fall short.
There are more reasons to be optimistic than not, but baseball is highly competitive. And things like injuries happen. And I feel like many that this offseason was pretty much pathetic for them, when Hendricks is the only player they added who will even be with the team in 2022. They have a very good team that still might be great. But Eaton and Rodon are awful additions and near injury guarantees for a team with a 14th ranked payroll trying to win a championship. No team with a payroll lower than 12th has won in the past decade. If they don’t win, the reason will be this offseason, and their 14th ranked payroll. I hope your optimism proves right.
Jhomeslice, 100% agree with you bro. As Sox fans, we all know Jerry Reinsdorf—he is a beancounting cheapskate. I give him zero credit for “finally opening the purse strings”, or however Hahn’s mandatory sycophantic musings during his interview worded it. That’s his freaking job as majority owner! But I digress.
The Sox should have, and could have done more to address the glaring hole in RF that’s been a weakness since Jermaine Dye retired. I was extremely frustrated that the Sox passed on Springer and Brantley, and voiced my opinions as such. The fact remains, the Sox picked up the best closer in The Show this offseason.
The also have potential MVP candidates and Cy Young candidates all over the roster. Even Hendriks got Cy Young votes last year. So we really need to stop complaining and enjoy watching this team settle in and dominate. Why? Because winning ballgames puts pressure in ownership.
I hope Eaton is back to his old self (contact hitter who gets on base at a good clip, makes smart heady decisions running the bases and in RF), but if he doesn’t play well or gets hurt, the Sox will have to trade for a RF who is BETTER than Eaton. Championship contending club—what choice will Hahn have?
Same deal for DH. If they’re not getting enough production out of the DH position, one should hope Hahn gets the green light to fix it before the trade deadline. Personally, I’m not worried about DH because the White Sox have absolute THUMPERS everywhere you look on this team. They can’t all have miserable years like Encarnacion did last year. Some combination of Juan, Eloy, Grandal, Vaughn, Mercedes, Collins and Luery should get it done.
Point is, they gave a TON of talent on this team already. Aside from adding elite players like Springer and Hendriks, I don’t think they need to do much else at this point. Sure, Nelson Cruz would have been one hell of a shot across the Minnesota Twin’s bow. But we need to give our young talent some ABs and innings to develop and earn roles. Adding veterans with significant contracts blocks young players. And realistically, Cruz was going back to the Twins anyway. The Sox aren’t done rebuilding. But most of the work is done. We just have to be patient a little longer.
Chisoxcity agree with your optimism. I think health is the main issue. If their pitchers stay healthy, they will have a great staff. If they have a great staff, it makes the need for an even better offense less important, so Eaton or whoever is in RF would not matter as much. Let’s not forget that Engel may be better than most people think if given a chance. I’m not sure he isn’t better than Eaton, unless Eaton is the healthy and productive version of himself that he may or may not be this year. Engel would probably do way better than the 2020 version of Mazara, so there should be improvement no matter what, even if it isn’t great.
Same with DH. Nobody is going to hit .150, certainly not staying in the lineup all season if they did. Between Mercedes, Vaugh, and Collins, one of them should be an improvement, for sure.
Anyway I just wish the ownership acted with more cajones, but the team has a lot going for it in spite of that. Looking forward to the season, a little over 5 weeks away I think…
Agree with Chisoxcity on this point. The Sox have a bad track record with free agent DHs, aren’t two Adams, an Edgar and one Edwin enough? Like the idea of a time share and a break to keep Jose fresh down the stretch. Could see this working much the way the Sox broke in Paulie to share time with the big hurt.
When the offseason started, I wanted Springer, Bauer, Hendriks and Cruz/Ozuna/Brantley (pick one). I also knew that wasn’t realistic. Even after Lynn I wanted Bauer the most, but I know the Sox generally don’t pay for starters. I will say at the end of the offseason if all we have to nitpick is who out of three options is going to be our 5th starter and our bench is light, I’m not going to complain that much. Engel showed some upside, Leury can play almost any position, both of which leave some flexibility for Jimenez to get some DH reps. Grandal and Abreu can DH here and there. This is before even bringing up Vaughn.
Mercedes unsurprisingly tore up ST last year and will be ready to show WSox fans he is ready to be a good DH early on (at least part time) if management gives him a real shot. Vaughn last year looked a bit overmatched if one didn’t have blinders on-which is fine given he didn’t play above high A yet. No rush with him. Let him get a groove in the minors.
Why are people so much higher on Mercedes than Collins?
BMW Drivers.
Fans have been disappointed with collins for a long time. We were sold on a left hitting catcher who had a great hit tool and good power, but he has struggled to make use of those tools. Mercedes was a triple A rule 5 draft pick who gave triple A a ride in 2019. He has made us excited despite no prior hype. Thats why the people want yermin! Give the people what they want
Collins needs to play. He should have played last year, and the year before that.
I was high on Collins, but I’ve seen enough. He reminds me of aging Adam Dunn, and that’s not a good thing. His catching is subpar as well.
Mercedes is a much better pure hitter, who will also draw walks. Too bad he has no ideal position other than DH. If you haven’t seen some of his play in Charlotte as he kept hitting well at every level (or footage of first ST last year in Arizona), enjoy. He’s got an “it” factor of confidence even though he was never a true prospect. Madrigal was even saying he may not be the conventional baseball player, but that guy can hit.
Mercedes can actually hit.
collins struck out in 7 of his first 11 at bats at rookie ball!!! and the handwriting was on the wall that we had another jared mitchell or courtney hawkins on our hands. in his first 102 at bats for the white sox, collins has struck out 42% of the time. if you project a 42% strikeout rate through a full season, you have a new major league strikeout record! how would you like that kind of “production” from your dh??? and to top it all off, collins is bad behind the plate!.
Calcetines, people are higher on Mercedes because he produced better numbers at AAA in 2019 than Luis Robert in every category. Collins was good too but Mercedes had better numbers, and Collins so far has looked pretty overmatched at the MLB level. That’s not fair to Collins, he hasn’t had that many at bats, but still… AAA numbers would predict Mercedes to be the better hitter. He probably is. I hope they give him a chance and don’t waste his ability, trying to force Vaughn to perform well at the big league level with zero games at AAA. Unless he kills it this spring and shows himself to be a clearly better hitter than Mercedes, it’s flat out dumb to rush him.
Kopech is one of baseball’s more interesting wildcards for 2021. No reason to rush him at the start of 2021.
I want to see him up soon though. His development will go a lot faster being around Katz/Keuchel/Lynn and pitching against MLB players. You can always send him back down if he gets shelled, but at least he’ll know what to work on.
I would honestly rather see Kopech out there as the number 5 starter come opening day than Reynaldo Lopez, Carlos Rodon or Jonathan Stiever. Lopez and Rodon are very unreliable at this point, and Stiever isn’t ready. Unless they plan on acquiring one more starter, I say give the job to Kopech and see what he’s got.
I wasn’t a huge fan of the Eaton signing or the Lynn trade (at least not at the cost of Dane Dunning, who I quite like), but there is no doubt that this is going to be an exciting team to watch going forward, with a nice blend of young, up and coming talent and veteran leadership. When Vaughn comes up, it will give the Sox a Hell of a talented young infield. I see them and the Twins battling it out all season long for the division title.
For sure. And since they’ll almost certainly be in the race, they’ll have plenty of time to see what they have between opening day and the trade deadline. I mentioned in my previous post that Kopech is an interesting wildcard. The same can be said of Vaughn. If they both add value as the season progresses, it’ll be like making two deadline additions without surrendering anyone. Some fans are looking for things to complain about, but no question the White Sox will be fun to watch. White Sox-Twins games are among the best reasons for fans in other cities to get MLB.TV. I will be tuning in for sure.
Engel is the wildcard in the outfield. If he plays like he did in the short season he will be in the lineup more often than not. He has the skills.
You guys are making too much out of minor league development – triple a is a rehab league, double a pitchers test/refine secondary pitches / hitters show they can hit major league talent & velocity; below, single a pitchers develop secondary pitches and hitters learn to hit with wood and below that is a cultural adjustment to being a pro your on your own figure it out be professional….if Vaughn is ready he’s ready who cares
One size fits all is a dangerous concept. Not everyone develops at the same rate. There is no harm in waiting out Vaughn for a small amount of time, regardless of how some people will view it. If he’s good, the White Sox will try to extend him early anyway.
I think you underestimate how bad pitching is in A ball. A ton of WS prospects have hit the wall in Birmingham, including players who eventually made it.
Vaughn was OK in his first year, then worked against largely mediocre prospects over and over again in extended COVID camp.
Give the guy a few month to see professional command and breaking stuff in the high minors before you throw him in the lineup.
Andrew Vaughn raked a year ago in spring camp and was reportedly very impressive at their alternate camp last summer against the best arms in the White Sox farm system including pitchers who received promotions like Jonathan Stiever and Garrett Crochet. If you don’t believe me just read the praise ace White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito heaped upon Vaughn in this recent local article: nbcsports.com/chicago/white-sox/rick-hahn-andrew-v…
Giolito may have taken a page out of the classic baseball film “Major League” (fanbuzz.com/mlb/ricky-vaughn/) and inadvertently given his teammate a nickname as good as the one that Charlie Sheen had in portraying pitcher Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn: Andrew “Pain In My Ass” Vaughn! lol
I think Vaughn will be good. But as we have seen with guys who have had more that 500 at bats in the upper minors (Jimenez, Moncada, Robert), the learning curve can be very steep.
Asking a rookie who missed a year of competitive action to play a significant role
Aaron, I’m high on Vaughn, but there’s no guarantee he comes in and rakes. Vlad, Jr., was rated even more highly and, while he hasn’t been a bad hitter, he’s hardly lived up to his potential. Luis Robert had an MVP-caliber first month, and then a horrible second month. Moncada and Giolito were also top prospects who struggled at first. I think we can agree that Vaughn will be a quality 1B/DH, but I’m not sold that that happens this year, and maybe not even next year.
It’s not my personal opinion that Andrew Vaughn will rake out of the gate and should be in the White Sox opening day lineup. All I’m saying is that if he has a strong camp on the heels of the same last spring and his reportedly impressive showing in Schaumburg last summer the club will likely promote him to their lineup on April 1st. Based on their recent history his MLB debut is all but guaranteed should an extension precede his promotion.
Nobody has been more vocal about the White Sox adding one more bat this offseason than I have been. However, I’ve also been wanting a more versatile player and not just a strict DH. I’ve also been of the mindset that Vaughn will make his White Sox debut sooner rather than later in 2021 and have stated that the acquired versatile hitter would probably be a short term addition who could man a corner OF position and allow Tony La Russa the added flexibility to have defensively challenged and injury prone Eloy Jimenez get some reps at DH.
I’ve thrown out FA names like Yasiel Puig, Joc Pederson and Kyle Schwarber and also suggested some trade candidates like Andrew Benintendi and Kris Bryant, the latter being a player who the White Sox should have some serious interest in next offseason as their final core piece in either LF or RF depending on the defensive improvement of Jimenez along with the production and health of Adam Eaton in 2021.
even if vaughn hits, he’ll never be more than a dh. the word is that there’s no reason for vaughn to own a fielder’s glove.
You need to find a different “word” source. Andrew Vaughn might not become a Gold Glove first baseman but he can field the position and is fairly athletic considering his well below average foot speed. Vaughn also possesses an above average arm at 1B as noted by the fact that he was also a pitcher in his early college career who possessed a low 90’s fastball.
Because of reigning MVP Jose Abreu at 1B, himself a former defensive liability and now a more than adequate fielder, the White Sox had Vaughn playing some 3B at their alternate camp last summer. “Word” is that Vaughn has also taken some reps in the outfield as well.
vaughn’s reportedly impressive showing in schaumburg was strictly offense, aaron. the fact that he got some reps at 3rd base and in the outfield was an act of desperation by the sox. if you ever see him play first base, you’ll see that he has poor range, can’t “pick it” very well, and is generally clumsy!
i completely agree with you that the sox spent poorly in the off-season. once the season starts, it will be obvious that the sox needed springer and brantley a lot more than they needed lynn and hendriks.
Where are you getting all this first hand knowledge? Certainly not from the White Sox themselves while the media only had very limited access to the alternate site.
Clearly Andrew Vaughn was selected as high as he was and continues his elite prospect status due to extraordinary hitting skills. How many first baseman get drafted that high and become top-20 prospects based on their glovework?
It’s also clear that his arm is above average at 1B as a former college pitcher. White Sox fans are all too familiar with below average first baseman as well with Hall of Fame slugger Frank Thomas along with Jose Abreu for most of his years on the southside. Thomas had stone hands and a puss arm and eventually transitioned to DH. Abreu was also seen as a likely DH but has turned his defensive game around by losing weight and with hard work on the diamond.
The first baseman who might be the best comp to Vaughn is White Sox fan favorite and World Series hero Paul Konerko. As slow afoot as Vaughn is, he can’t possibly run any slower than ‘Paulie’ did. lol Like Vaughn, Konerko also had a decent arm as a former catcher early in his career. The White Sox are more than confident that Vaughn will be competent at 1B and feel he will exceed the skill level of Konerko, Abreu and most certainly the ‘Big Hurt’.
there have been hints about vaughn’s defense all along, aaron…and at least one firm comment that i wish i could pinpoint for you. i think it was by chris getz commenting on vaughn’s work in schaumburg. i don’t deny that vaughn has a good arm, but if throwing was an important skill for a first baseman, frank thomas would never have played a game there. like you, i’ve observed the strides that abreu has taken at first base. he’s always been good on the 3-6-3…and he’s making more difficult plays, now too.
everything seems to be “wait and see” for the sox. i think that they’ll GET to the world series, but the dodgers, padres and mets all seem to have made moves aimed at WINNING the world series.
Having a first baseman with a decent and accurate arm should not be minimalized. As we both noted, Jose Abreu has become better around the bag, something Frank Thomas was never able to achieve in large part due to his poor arm. You might recall that the White Sox had one of the premier pick-off artists in Gold Glove southpaw Mark Buehrle. There were more than a few instances when Buehrle would catch a base runner leaning and they would break for second base. It was a safer bet knowing that there was an excellent chance Thomas would make a poor throw and the runner would wind up getting credit for a stolen base rather than being picked off. Thomas also had trouble with the throws on the 3-6-3 double plays or any other cut-off toss that might be needed. When Paul Konerko took over at 1B and Thomas transitioned to DH, poor throws by their first basemen became far less of an issue.
The White Sox now have another Gold Glove southpaw on the mound in Dallas Keuchel. The White Sox feel a lot better about Abreu at 1B now and should also be fine with Vaughn when his time comes. The White Sox also have three other options who have backup experience at 1B and each are catchers, veteran Yasmani Grandal and youngsters Zack Collins and Yermin Mercedes so throwing from their first basemen shouldn’t be an issue going forward.
Fielding and throwing won’t be an issue for Gavin Sheets either should he ever make his way to the southside of Chicago. Sheets’ chances have improved with a new batting approach that should result in more power along with his recently added versatility as a corner outfielder, to say nothing of being a left-handed hitter which is something the White Sox could certainly use as presently constructed: mlb.com/whitesox/news/gavin-sheets-ready-for-sprin…
Yeah, I think it is too early to suggest Vaughn can’t play 1B. He’s certainly athletic enough for the position, and a lot of recent White Sox first basemen became adequate to even above average players have several years of reps, notably Konerko and Abreu.
His only major drawback is that he is shorter than desired, but that doesn’t mean he can’t play first.
I think the Sox are confident in Vaughn. They must have liked what they saw of him in Schaumburg. If he struggles, there is Collins and Mercedes as options.
If needed, there should be decent bats available at the deadline, and they did retain some financial flexibility to do so.
the only option for collins is first string “dancing for dubs.” that skill will play very nicely at charlotte.
If the Sox are ‘all in’ on going for the World Series title this season, then this idea of using Vaughn as their DH is a head scratcher.. very few AL teams that are playoff contenders do not have gaping holes at DH, and RF. If you really are ‘all in’ you get the best RF and DH you can find on the market.
“All in” is a relative term. The Sox are never going to be as all in as other teams with higher payrolls. I think they still have some payroll left, but probably want to give internal options a shot, first.
I actually am looking forward to seeing Jake Burger this spring.
Agree. Burger has had such a rough go of it in his pro career. He was still the 11th overall pick a few years ago. It’s not unthinkable that he and Vaughn can one day be the 1B and DH. For now, I just hope he can stay healthy.
that’s easy…collins stinks. he has never had less than a 33% strike out rate at any professional level, and with 102 major league at bats, he has a 42% strikeout rate. mercedes has an incredible 17% strikeout rate in more than 1000 minor league at bats. mercedes is miles better in every offensive metric!!! collins is perfectly in the mold of jared mitchell and courtney hawkins, 2 other white sox first round draft choices who couldn’t meet ball with bat. so far, collins has 102 more mlb at bats than he deserves. and…on top of all that he can’t field his position. he is good at dancing for dubs.
Vaughn is gonna be fine whenever they decide to work him in. Great eye, great power, takes a walk. He’ll have protection wherever they slot him in the lineup. But Sox still need better defenders and deeper bench to catch the Twins.
You can easily flip that around: Twins need a better rotation and offense to catch the Sox. Last year (without JD), the Twins were a slightly above average offensive team. The Sox were #5 in runs scored. The Twins had one pitcher finish in the top 10 in MVP voting. The Sox have four. It took a late-season nosedive last year from the Sox for them to lose that division. And then this offseason, they made upgrades while the Twins are about where they were at the end of last season. I don’t think the Sox have to catch them anymore.
I think Vaughn will be very good. But more often than not, players struggle once they reach the majors, and in some cases mightily.
Robert, Moncada, Jimenez and going back, Konerko and Ventura all took some time to develop, and they all had the advantage of time in the high minors.
While I don’t think Vaughn will be terrible — he may very well be better than the slop they have put out the past few years — It’s asking a lot to expect a guy who has never seen top pitching to come in and contribute on a contending team, and it could very well stunt his growth by leading him into bad habits.
If the team wanted to try a young option at DH, they should have given a chance to Mercedes and Collins last year, when they still had McCann to fall back on if there was a problem. But that’s what they are intent on doing, so will will see what happens.
I don’t know why they aren’t giving Sheets a bigger shot at DH if they plan on going young. He at least can give you solid at-bats form the left side, which is more than you can say right now about Collins.
Maximum, spot on with your thoughts on Vaughn. I love his future, but how many instances do teams put a guy in their opening day lineup without any experience in the minors above A ball? There aren’t many examples I can think of, and none on this Sox team. Not only is Vaughn probably not as major league ready as Mercedes, there is a risk by rushing him that he slumps and it hurts his confidence. There are multiple reasons not to bring a guy up way too soon. And there is little to no chance he will start on opening day because of service time if nothing else.
They should have given Mercedes the DH role the last month of 2020 at least, as you said. He was probably the best DH in their organization in 2020, and yet did not get an at bat. I swear, Mercedes totally reminds me of Pablo Sandoval. Not an all star but was a very solid hitter a few seasons. I could totally see him raking like that, and allowing Vaughn as much time as he needs to develop.
Jace Fry… Ain’t he the one whose former fianceé publicly dumped him and outed him for cheating multiple times?
I don’t know how the Sox will ultimately do this season (though I believe they will be good), but this will be a fun team to watch. I am very excited to watch them this year.
This is the start of their window of contention. They’re definitely not the WS favorites this year (and probably not the A.L. favorites), but they are definitely good enough to make the playoffs, and all you need to do is get in and get red hot.
I see the window of contention as being ’21-’25 (possibly longer, but it will be a few years before anyone knows if the window will go past ’25). That’s 5 years of good to excellent baseball on the South Side. Hopefully they will get at least 1 WS ring in this window, but they have to win the first one before worrying about multiple rings.
I know I’m ready for this fun ride. I can’t wait until it starts April 1.
New tweet per James Fox @ FutureSox: twitter.com/JamesFox917/status/1363244418254467073:
“It sounds like the #WhiteSox might be planning to use the big league pitching staff in a way we haven’t seen before. Lots of high upside types with premium stuff in multiple roles and they could all start in the majors. It will be fascinating.”
This actually makes great sense on the heels of an abbreviated 2020 season where no starting pitchers were stretched out sufficiently. The White Sox were looking at strict innings limits on their top young arms like Michael Kopech and Garrett Crochet, to say nothing of Carlos Rodon who has had minimal work with all his arm issues the past 4 seasons. This potential new approach could take advantage of those limitations by spreading innings out for all of them and more, with new pitching coach Ethan Katz on hand to supervise.
It was assumed that Kopech would begin the 2021 season at AAA Charlotte after not having pitched an official inning since September of 2018 due to TJ surgery and his 2020 opt-out. Kopech showed that he was more than healthy last spring but the remainder of camp and the start of the season was delayed 3 months and when it finally resumed he opt-outed for personal reasons. Kopech showed up to Arizona in great physical and mental shape and now may actually make the opening day pitching staff with the organization’s apparent new novel approach to the upcoming season. I love it!
It’s interesting to note that White Sox “official” beat writer Scott Merkin produced his likely opening day White Sox roster over this past weekend: mlb.com/whitesox/news/white-sox-2021-opening-day-r….
Merkin’s 26-man squad has three catchers on it including minor league NRI veteran Jonathan Lucroy and young Zack Collins each backing up starter Yasmani Grandal. Merkin also includes Andrew Vaughn as the White Sox primary DH. After speculating all winter that Michael Kopech would start the 2021 season at AAA Charlotte, Merkin now has him in the White Sox opening day bullpen along with his other 100+ mph power armed teammate Garrett Crochet.
This was posted on Saturday and James Fox likely ran with this information with his subsequent Sunday tweet along with other ‘insider’ info he may be privy to.
First of all, most pitchers are not throwing their best stuff during Spring Training games. Most of of these pitchers are loosen up their arms after a few months off from pitching in MLB games. In the meantime, a lot of MLB teams don’t want their pitchers throwing their best stuff in an early Spring Training game with the risk of getting hurt during an out because they are tin complete shape for the upcoming season.
Vaughn is a great player who can hit. There is no doubt Vaughn is going to tear it up ok the minor leagues but as I mention in the last paragraph these pitchers are not throwing their best stuff to hitters. In a nutshell, Vaughn needs some seasoning in AA and AAA to face pitchers who have some good pitches or developing a pitch before he comes up in the MLB.
Exactly BeeVee. I mean the Sox are a great young team, and there are almost no examples anywhere, on their team or other, of a player coming up and being in a teams starting lineup without playing in the minor leagues above A ball. There is no need to rush him, which would clearly be the case with him. The only consideration would be if he looks CLEARLY like the best hitter between Collins, Mercedes, and him. But that’s a big if, and he would have to tear it up big time while the other two didn’t look good in the spring. My guess is Mercedes will show he is the best hitter in the spring, because right now he probably is the best of the 3 for 2021, and be their opening day DH. We’ll see.
You are talking more about the spring training of yesteryear when players would often show up out of shape and use camp to get fit. All that has changed in the newer modern era. Most players come to camp in excellent shape and are ready to roll. Clearly pitchers need to stretch their arms out but most have already been in an offseason pitching routine, especially the younger ones who have been in camp earlier with organizational pitching instructors. I’m not sure how COVID-19 has affected early instructions this year but in the recent past the White Sox have had a pre-spring training camp for most of their advanced minor league players along with those returning from injuries. It should also be noted that this past week, young pitchers like Dylan Cease and Michael Kopech were already lighting up the radar guns during their first throwing sessions. White Sox fans have also been able to see this through a good portion of the offseason with zoom videos of some of these same pitchers.
It’s often true that pitchers who have spots guaranteed will use spring training and even game appearances to work on certain aspects of their game which would give a hitter looking to claim a spot an advantage in a matchup. But the younger pitchers and any veterans who are fighting for a spot on an MLB pitching staff are generally going with their best stuff in camp and represent more of a challenge to a young hitter like Andrew Vaughn who also had an opportunity to display his elite skills versus the very best White Sox arms at their alternate site last summer.
Aaron at their alternative site last summer, which was very brief, Vaughn was not facing major league quality pitching in game situations. The Sox don’t have anybody at AAA who is on the brink of coming up that might make the team that anybody is talking about. Schaumburg could hardly be considered any kind of proving ground for his readiness against authentically good pitching. It was hardly a substitute for a season at AAA or even AA. Look I’m bullish on Vaughn long term, I think he will be a huge hitter, maybe even one of the best on a very good hitting team. But there are almost no instances of guys having no experience above A ball being rushed into the starting lineup of major league teams. People talk about bringing up Kopech gradually, what about Vaughn?
He didn’t kill it at A ball in 2019 either, really. It’s speculation at best at this point, but again almost no instances of players with no exp above A ball getting called up. But I think safe to say he would have to show that he was clearly better than both Mercedes and Collins this spring to be given serious consideration. But with the service time issue it seems a safe bet we won’t see him for a little while at least. I have high hopes that once Mercedes gets some at bats as their DH, people are going to be talking about how good a hitter he is, not when Vaughn will come up. I think they will wind up with a good DH in 2021 in Mercedes, and a great one in Vaughn eventually.
None of know the exact routine that was occurring at the White Sox alternate site. All we know is which players were participating and that its primary purpose was to:
1-Provide a reasonable substitute for the cancelled AAA season.
2-Be used as the camp for players coming and going from the active roster.
Because of purpose #2, the site was fluent with promotions, demotions and as a rehab site for players that included pitchers rehabbing from injuries. Among them where Aaron Bummer and Carlos Rodon. We also know that top prospect arms like Garrett Crochet and Jonathan Stiever spent the bulk of their summer at Schaumburg before their promotions to the active roster. Dane Dunning also spent time at the alternate site stretching out his arm until his promotion later in the season. Gio Gonzalez was another who there working through his arm issues. As I recall, the White Sox also added top high school draft choice Jared Kelley to the alternate site later on.
Andrew Vaughn would have likely faced all those pitchers and others as a regular in Schaumburg all summer. He was more or less on-call along with Yermin Mercedes, Luis Gonzalez and other MLB ready prospects with the latter two actually getting brief debuts with the White Sox last season. Clearly the players at Schaumburg weren’t playing official minor league games but you can be rest assured they were facing strong enough competition in case they did receive their call to the show.
As already stated, Vaughn was impressive during spring camp last year when more eyes were on him including during intrasquad contests and exhibition games where he certainly impressed, none more than White Sox ace Lucas Giolito who called Vaughn, “a pain in my ass”.
All Mercedes did was rake during ST last year—didn’t get one AB all season long.
People will believe whatever they want to support their opinions. I highly doubt that a couple months at Schaumburg with all the restrictions that were going on is close to the equivalent of a season at AAA in anybody’s eyes. So we don’t know where Vaughn is really at. What we do know is that Mercedes put up better numbers at AAA in 2019 than Luis Robert did.
I want them to have the best DH possible for their team in 2021. Perhaps it is Vaughn. But if Mercedes has a better spring and looks the part more than Vaughn, they would be idiots to force the issue just because Vaughn has a higher longer term ceiling. And for that reason, unless Vaughn looks beastly in the spring (which would be great, of course) and clearly looks better than Yermin and Collins, I doubt he is their opening day DH. And even if he did, I’ll bet they wait until fulfillment of the service time issue to bring him up. We won’t know for a little while and to speculate is pretty baseless and useless at this point. We’ll see soon enough.
@ChiSoxCity
For what it’s worth, Yermin Mercedes did get one PA in 2020, pinch-hitting for DH Edwin Encarnacion in the 8th inning of a White Sox 9-2 victory at Kansas City. Mercedes grounded out and stayed in the game as the DH but never got another chance to hit. (baseball-reference.com/boxes/KCA/KCA202008020.shtm…)
Mercedes was recalled from the White Sox alternate site (taxi squad as a road game) on August 1st when SS Tim Anderson went on the 10-day IL. Mercedes was optioned back to Schaumburg on August 3rd when Nomar Mazara was activated from the 10-day IL after missing the first 9 games of the White Sox season recovering from a bad case of strep throat. That was it as far as official appearances for Mercedes in 2020 although he may have been on other road trip taxi squads and even accompanied the team to Oakland for their 3-game ALWC series postseason loss to the A’s.
Ok, thanks for digging that up. Still makes no sense why Mercedes wasn’t used more, considering Edwin looked lost most of that season. Ah well, hopefully he gets a break or two from the Sox. Seems like they’re in love with Collins and Vaughn at the moment.
if there’s any love remaining for collins it’s only because the sox don’t want to admit to another disastrous first round draft choice. we should have learned a lesson after the recent first round draft failures of jared mitchell and courtney hawkins…2 others who rarely made contact with the baseball. and mitchell and hawkins weren’t nearly as bad defensively as collins. i predict that even if collins makes the 26 man roster…he’ll never get a major league at-bat after this season.
It appears that the White Sox are “in love” with more than a few of their top young players/MLB ready prospects when it comes to the opening day roster with the latest reports surfacing from Glendale, Arizona.
It was already assumed that Nick Madrigal will be their starting 2B assuming there are no physical setbacks in his recovery from his October left shoulder procedure. It was also apparent that Garrett Crochet would hold a spot in their 2021 bullpen as he continues on the “Chris Sale path” to a future rotation role. It is also safe to assume that Zack Collins will be one of the White Sox two backup catchers in 2021 behind Yasmani Grandal, joining veteran Jonathan Lucroy on the 26-man opening day roster.
It seems more apparent that Andrew Vaughn could very well be their opening day DH with Collins also seeing some time in that role. It now also appears that Michael Kopech might be joining Crochet in the bullpen to begin the season.
Kopech, Crochet, Carlos Rodon and Reynaldo Lopez may all be part of a new revolutionary plan that could have each of them as piggyback openers in 2021 with the added potential of the White Sox utilizing a 6-man rotation at some point during the season. Who is better suited to implement this plan than new HOF manager Tony La Russa?.
La Russa had always been among the most progressive skippers when it came to managing a pitching staff and bullpen in the past. He did it with long time pitching coach Dave Duncan in Chicago, Oakland and St. Louis. He can now take all of this to new level with analytic pitching coach Ethan Katz at his side.
@rjh
What’s up with the incessant bashing of Zack Collins? Your narrative regarding Collins only being considered for a role with the White Sox because of his first round draft status is false, especially when comparing him to other failed prospects like outfielders Jared Mitchell and Courtney Hawkins who never made an MLB appearance.
Mitchell was a standout college athlete who excelled in both baseball and football at LSU but had his pro career cut short in great part due to a devastating ankle injury. Hawkins was a high school draft pick who showed promise but fizzled when he reached the upper levels of the minor leagues. They were each famously Kenny Williams picks, himself an outstanding athlete who never reached his ceiling as a professional baseball player.
Collins was drafted later when Rick Hahn had assumed the ‘active’ GM role from Williams. Collins was not a multi-sport athlete like many of William’s previous first round picks. He was actually the first of many Hahn picks who were considered to be among the very best advanced college hitters in their draft classes. He followed the Collins pick with other elite 1st round college hitting prospect selections: Jake Burger, Nick Madrigal and Andrew Vaughn, each of whom still figure prominently in the White Sox plans going forward, along with Collins.
As a catcher, Collins naturally needs more time in his development. His hitting was always considered ahead of his defensive acumen, even as an amateur. Collins has made great strides in learning the art of catching and now has long time mentor and fellow University of Miami grad Yasmani Grandal to help him complete the process. Grandal took Collins under his wing when the latter was a prep high school player who had committed to UM. This connection continued when Grandal was entering pro ball and with Collins ready to assume a starting catching position in college. Collins also benefited with tutelage from James McCann before Grandals arrival in Chicago.
Collins may never hit for a high BA and might also continue to whiff at above average rates but he has always displayed excellent power and OBP numbers at every minor league level. The fact that he possesses a left-handed power bat, shows great plate discipline and is an intelligent hard worker intent on improving his ability behind the plate is a much greater factor in his being a part of the White Sox 2021 roster than the fact he was a former first round draft pick.
sticking up for collins is fine until he fails…which should happen before the 26 man roster is determined. if he happens to make the 26 man roster (whether or not it’s just because he was a first round draft choice)…he will still have a strikeout rate somewhere near 40%, and he still won’t be playable at catcher. the handwriting was on the wall when collins struck out in 7 of his first 11 at-bats in ROOKIE BALL!!!!!!!!!!!! by the way, minor league obp (like minor league anything) does not translate equally to mlb. collins has an obp of .286 in his first 102 mlb at-bats. to give you an idea of just how dismal .286 is, consider this: the lowest obp in THE HISTORY OF MLB for any player with 6000 or more at-bats is .287. that record happens to belong to ozzie guillen, who was the worst team player i ever saw play the game…he swung at everything even though hall of famer, tim raines was in the on-deck circle.
i like all the research you’ve put into your posts, aaron. it makes following this thread more fun. but, regarding zack collins, i’m afraid that he just stinks, and i’m sticking to my prediction…he’ll never get a major league at-bat after this season (and shouldn’t have gotten the those first 102 at-bats, either).
@rjh
Not a big fan of Collins, eh?
Easy, Tiger. That 102 ABs are such a huge sample size. Give a guy a legit chance, and if he fails, then by all means say “I told you so.”
I could say he hit a HR in his first career MLB game, so he’s destined for the HOF. See how silly that sounds? Now look at some of the things you’ve written (.286 OPB in 102 AB, K’ed in 7 of first 11 AB in rookie ball, for example), that’s just as silly.
Let’s let him play more than once a week and see how he does. If he still sucks that badly, then feel free to laugh at the rest of us for putting a little faith in him.
You’re making Dogbone look like one of the greatest experts in MLB with some of these rants.
by the way, i’m a huge sox fanatic…so, i’d so much like to be WRONG about collins, but i’ve followed baseball too many years, actually played the game, and i’ve seen hundreds of players with high hopes come and go. collins has all the earmarks of a total bust. and i’d much rather have seen him in the batting cage or taking catching instruction from mccann or grandal than what i did see him doing…dancing for dubs. so, my impression (right or wrong) is that collins doesn’t even have the work ethic to become a credible back-up mlb catcher.
but, none of the above is even the point. can anyone show me even the slightest sliver of evidence that collins will EVER, even on his best day, hit as well as mercedes on his worst day???!!! there is no such evidence. and the evidence that mercedes can rake is overwhelming! he has an incredibly small strikeout rate of 17% in more than 1000 minor league at-bats! that’s hard to imagine for a slugger who hit 17 home runs in just over 180 at=bats at AAA charlotte!!!!!!!!!!!!! that rivals comparisons to all-time great hitters, hall-of-famers. so, please pardon my frustration with those who promote collins to the exclusion of mercedes. i also prefer a fine craft beer to lite beer from miller!
What happened to making prospects EARN a spot on the big league roster? Collins has done nothing in that regard. Mercedes went on a rampage during ST last season. He earned the privilege to atleast a time share with Encarnacion. Instead he rode the pine.
the whole catching problem is actually due to the fact that neither collins nor mercedes is actually fit to play defense. mercedes would be the backup catcher…hands down…if he could function behind the plate, but reports are that he’s even worse than collins!!! which brings us to seby zavala. i felt (before the lucroy signing) that zavala would actually win the backup catcher job…simply because he can handle the position. the last thing we need is a bunch of young pitchers throwing to a catcher in whom they have no confidence. but, of course, zavala can’t hit. it’s a real conundrum. i think that zavala could hit maybe .220-.230, but that’s awful! it’s miles better than the sub-mendoza collins will hit (pecota projection in the .190’s)…but it still stinks. hopefully the jerry narron signing will result in bringing mercedes up to where we can actually put him behind the plate, instead of just a fall-back option in case vaughn doesn’t meet expectations at dh. .
You fret too much about the White Sox catching and Zack Collins in particular.
Yasmani Grandal will be starting 4-5 games per week and Jonathan Lucroy will be his primary backup if healthy with Tony La Russa’s preference for veteran players in backup roles. Collins will be the White Sox #3 catcher on opening day assuming there are no health issues with Grandal or Lucroy. He will also function as a left-handed power bat off the bench and a potential platoon partner at DH.
Collins makes more sense than Yermin Mercedes because he is a better defensive catcher and his high OBP left-handed bat fits more of a need in the currently constructed White Sox batting order, especially if Andrew Vaughn makes the opening day roster as the primary DH. If Vaughn begins 2021 at AAA then a Collins/Mercedes time share at DH would work just fine for me until the former is promoted or unless the front office surprises us with one more addition in the coming days or weeks like a free agent signing of Yasiel Puig or Yoenis Céspedes.
If Grandal suffers a prolonged injury then that will be bad news for the White Sox unless Lucroy can revert to his past form as an All-Star catcher. You can say the same for virtually any other team if they happened to lose their #1 catcher although the White Sox do possess more depth at the position than most.
You are also minimizing the fact that Collins, Mercedes and Zeby Zavala all have great experiencing catching many of the young White Sox pitchers during their minor league careers.
hi aaron. as much as i like reading your posts, you’ll have very little credibility with me until you say say that some player, any player, STINKS. you seem to view the sox world through rose colored glasses, and if this were deserved, we’d be discussing as many PAST sox championships as we’re discussing the possibility of future championships. a case in point:: after i mentioned two of the most disastrous first round sox draft choices (jared mitchell and courtney hawkins), neither of whom made it to mlb for even one game, you went on to defend those choices based on some successes they had in high school and college!!!!!!! did it ever occur to you that the same year the sox chose jared mitchell, they could have drafted MIKE TROUT or NOLAN ARENADO, instead????!!!!!!!!!!!! when they drafted courtney hawkins, they could have had COREY SEAGER!
like some of the coolade drinkers in our front office, you choose to ignore the FACTS about zack collins…namely that pecota says that he’s not even a mendoza level hitter!!!!! marginally knowledgeable baseball followers are aware that a strikeout rate such as that sported by collins at the minor league level projects to a player who STINKS…a total bust!!!!! then you go on to say that collins and mercedes could SPLIT duties at dh if vaughn disappoints or plays in the minors! did you bother to check mercedes minor league platoon splits before you posted such nonsense? in 2019, mercedes slashed .300/.368/.540 against right handed pitchers. although that was a ton worse than his .361/.435/.680 against lefties…zack collins has a zero percent chance of hitting anywhere close to what mercedes can hit!!!!!!!!!! and there is exactly zero evidence that collins can hit AT ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! where do you think those pecota projections come from???????? they come from EVIDENCE! i would rather have any rostered player on the sox serve as dh than collins…including some of the PITCHERS! i would rather have mercedes bat blindfolded against any pitcher than have collins bat with his eyes wide open against a high school righty or lefty. just tell me, aaron…which player stinks? are you just too nice a guy to say that any of our guys do?
I’m not a fan of whiners and at 65 even less tolerant of them. Life’s too short with mine being considerably less than the majority of commenters here just based on my age. I’ve found being a positive person throughout my life has been a benefit and certainly a better choice than the alternative. My outlook has probably contributed greatly to my fine physical and mental health thus far. It’s likely also why I have been happily married for 38 years and counting, have two grown children with similar dispositions and have no known enemies.
This is not to say that constructive criticism isn’t warranted. I’ve done plenty in my life as a husband, father, friend, co-worker, manager and business owner. I also don’t get too crazed over things I can’t control.
As for MLB, I am one of the few fans who goes to games and actually watches it like I’m scouting or managing it. Clearly my style is more along the lines of Walt Alston and less like Billy Martin. You won’t see me with my ear attached to a cell phone. I cheer for my team, applaud great plays and can’t actually remember the last time I booed anybody including an umpire. I used to be a decent ballplayer back in the day but certainly nothing on the level of a professional one. As such, I don’t feel the need to berate players like so many fans. I’m consider myself a more astute observer and the absolute anti-fanboy.
i do get worked up over baseball, aaron, and it’s obvious that your posts are well thought out. i didn’t intend to berate you…only to drive home some equally well thought out points. i apologize if you took it otherwise. we have some things in common re our backgrounds.
by the way, i would never berate a player. i always assume that a player is doing the best he can at a difficult game. the only player that i’ve ever booed is ozzie guillen. he was the most selfish, least team oriented player i’ve ever had the displeasure of watching. it still disgusts me to this day!
i just joined this blog as a member, and i’m looking forward to reading and responding to some of your posts. if my ideas are contrary to some of yours…believe me…it’s not personal.
rjh
Aaron
Good conversation men. I’m glad I came back to check on this article.
rjh I can tell you love the game and have great compassion for our White Sox.
Aaron I am catching up to you as I am 64 and a half.
See you guys on the next Sox article.
Aaron- in Campanellas auto biography Alston was portrayed as a force nobody would mess with. I always looked at him as a quiet grandfather type but I guess he was a tough guy. I was surprised to find that out.
* Seby Zavala.
New article today regarding Andrew Vaughn and the White Sox opening day DH from their mlb.com beat writer Scott Merkin: mlb.com/whitesox/news/andrew-vaughn-hopes-to-be-wh…
My take from this article is that it’s becoming more probable that the White Sox DH on opening day will be one of their young players or MLB ready prospects and that it’s Andrew Vaughn’s job to lose.
i hope that vaughn is up to the job. and i hate hoping. i really like KNOWING, which is why i thought that off-season spending to get springer for rf and brantley for dh would have been much smarter than spending to get eaton and hendriks. which team is going to beat a sox team that would have averaged 6 runs per game?
i think that all the wild-card upsides on the sox are found on the pitching staff…would anyone be shocked to see cease break out this year? kopech? even rodon or lopez? and i think at least one of them is CERTAIN to break out. if that’s the case, did we really need to sign lynn for one year? would anyone be surprised if our young relief corps…anchored by bummer, heuer, crochet, marshall, foster…and which ever among lopez, rodon and/or kopech did not remain a starter…clearly becomes the best in mlb? so…i was so on-board with keeping dunning as part of that young staff. i wonder how many of our fans would rather have just springer, brantley and dunning INSTEAD of eaton, hendriks and lynn. you can count me among the fans who would opt for that offense. i’ve lived through seeing enough “pitcher’s duels.” when i go to a game, i want to see opposing oufielders chasing down our extra base hits. i want to see plays at second base, third base, and home plate! i went to dozens of games in 1967, when the sox pitching staff featured peters, horlen and john…by far the best staff in mlb. and they had wilhelm and bob locker in the bullpen (among others)…also, probably the best mlb relief staff. however, that team was last in mlb in almost every offensive metric. there was so little action on the field that i had to work hard at getting anyone to go to a game with me. and they lost the pennant that year even though they were the odds-on favorite going into the final five games. the sox LOST all 5 of those games against the 2 weakest teams in the league.
by the way aaron…what does ” * seby zavala” mean as a post?
Lost a double header to Kansas City that final week. Chuck Dobson and Catfish Hunter beat Peters and Horlen
@rjh
First, I apologize for the tone of my previous post to you. After reading what you’ve written since, I understand your frustration.
I’m not saying you’re wrong about Collins, you may prove to be right. They do need to give him a legit chance to succeed (or fail), not just stick him in there once a week. They should’ve done that last year instead of blowing $12MM on EE. And I would like to see Mercedes also up in April (assuming Vaughn doesn’t make it on the 26-man on OD). Give both Collins and Mercedes a fighting chance, and if neither work out, hopefully Vaughn will be ready by then.
As much as Springer would’ve been a huge boost to the lineup, I don’t think it was feasible from the Sox standpoint. Springer wanted CF, which isn’t a big deal by itself, but with COVID hurting the bottom line of many teams, it would’ve been hard for JR to part with the money needed to sign him. Not that I’m giving JR a free pass on this, because he was probably too cheap to pay him anyway, but if he really did lose 9 figures between the Sox and Bulls, that would explain the relatively inexpensive moves this Winter. It could’ve been worse, JR could’ve done what the Reds did this winter.
Actually the Sox might’ve grabbed their finishing piece (better yet, most important piece) in Ethan Katz. He already performed his magic on Giolito. If he can bring out the best in any of the combination of Cease, Kopech, Crochet, and Lopez, that might be all it takes to put the Sox over the top. Lopez is better suited for the pen, but he could make that pen absolutely devastating if the best is brought out in him. I know these are huge ifs, and we will have to see if Katz is the real deal, but him replacing Cooper was the best move Hahn made this Winter.
The offense is already loaded. They have 6 of the 9 who could be All-Stars any given year (Abreu, TA, Grandal, Yoan, Eloy, Robert) and a 7th who possibly could be in Madrigal (though it’s WAY too early to lump him in that group). DH and RF are the ?’s, though Vaughn will fix that once he comes up (whenever that is). Though RF won’t be fixed this year, barring a miracle, Cespedes could be that missing puzzle piece (though again WAY too early to tell).
Could this lineup be more proven with other options (like Springer and Brantley, for example)? Absolutely. But I’m fine with the way the team is constructed. Too many young guys are ?’s that could go either way, and we need to find out which way each guy is going. That’s where April, May, and June (and obviously beyond) will tell us who becomes what. There’s always the July deadline to make adjustments, they may find their finishing piece (as a player).
I’m excited for ’21, and I’m even more excited about ’22. Another year of experience for these younger players. Hopefully the work stoppage don’t interfere in any way with ’22.
EDIT:
So I don’t catch a ton of flack from the majority, change All-Stars to great players.
Aaron I have to admit it is starting to sound like Vaughn will get serious consideration. I hope he gets the job only if he wins it by performing the best out of their DH candidates in the spring, and not because he has the highest ceiling. He should get the job only if he is their best option NOW, and not because his future is bright. I strongly suspect that Mercedes would be a very adequate DH for 2021, and just would not want to see Vaughn be in there prematurely and perform like Mazara or Encarnacion did last year, with Mercedes possibly being their best hitter for 2021. That would not be good for the team, or Vaughn’s long term confidence. If Vaughn is going to struggle at all, he should do so at AAA. If he gets the job, he has to show he can hit major league pitching to keep it.
Hopefully whoever they pick performs adequately. It should not be hard to top what their production was in 2020 at DH. If Vaughn is truly ready, which we would only know for sure once games get played in April, I’m all for it.
Andrew Vaughn signed a $7,221,200.00 signing bonus with the White Sox. There is nothing wrong with the White Sox wanting to protect to its investment with having Vaughn start off the season in the minors to get some seasoning against pitchers who are trying to make it to the big leagues rather than facing pitchers in spring training who are not throwing their best pitches at opposing hitters.
@BeeVeeTee
Agree. As much as talk is getting louder that Vaughn may break camp with the Sox, I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see him at Charlotte for the first month or two. If he starts with the Sox, I won’t complain, but realistically he should spend at least a month in AAA (unless he is just tearing it up in ST and forces the Sox to put him on the 26-man).
i agree with all of those who think that the sox are better served by starting vaughn at charlotte. if he rakes there, we can bring him up. the hype surrounding vaughn has been so huge that the fall could be devestating if he starts as dh for the sox and produces encarnacion numbers. besides that, the evidence of how he’ll perform on the sox (his minor league stats) are not even close to the merely anecdotal reports of how great he looked at statisticless schaumburg. while we’re talking about vaughn at charlotte, the sox dh has to be mercedes. we’ve seen the ok garcia, engel and mendick and the very not ok collins…isn’t it time to try mercedes for at least the 102 atrocious at-bats that collins got (without the slightest bit of evidence that he could hit)?! in the case of mercedes, there is plenty of evidence that he CAN hit for power and average!
and, hello to you, “83sox.” your observation that ethan katz could be the most important piece that the sox have added is very astute. and, it has the potential to be a very long-term piece, too. the long time accepted maxim that good pitching beats good hitting gives me hope that the sox can pull off a few world championships and many upcoming years of serious contention. i was hoping to get a more offense-centric team (with the likes of springer and brantley) to make attending the games more exciting, but considering the bad years we’ve endured since 2005, i’ll take pitching-centric. maybe the rise of a right fielder like oscar colas or even yoelqui cespedes could make the offense more exciting in the next few years, or maybe luis robert’s less-than-expected offense will improve to near soto, acuna or yordan alvarez levels…which would make the sox a mighty force!.
RJH what I heard in a podcast from Keith Law was not encouraging about Cespedes. He could be wrong, but all else equal it would have been good to hear a more positive opinion of him. It sounded like in his opinion and according to his sources, Cespedes did not have a ceiling like his brother and is unlikely to be an impact player the likes or Luis Robert or anything close to that. Hope they are wrong… but they may need to (gasp) sign a free agent to fill that need. I hope they are looking at guys who could fill that role for multiple years this offseason rather than stopgaps like they did this year. Engel and/or Eaton should still be better than 2020 Mazara, so we’ll have to settle for that improvement for now. Always a chance Engel is better than we think, maybe better than Eaton… I really like the way he played last year. Why he didn’t get more at bats when Mazara was that terrible I will never understand.
i was kind of afraid of that. what i had heard is that there’s at least a chance that he can hit .260 or better at the big league level, but that it’s very unlikely that he’ll develop the power to profile as a corner outfielder. unfortunately, the ONLY credible free agent candidate next offseason is michael conforto, and based on all evidence, there’s just a snowball’s chance in hell that we can outbid the mets for his services. i would be happy to bid for kris bryant (despite his cubbiness) and put him in right field, though. we’ve had so many chances to solve our rf problem, but failed every time! it seems that eaton is trying hard to not be such a clubhouse cancer this time around. i hope he can keep up the effort. frankly, i’ll take a slash something like .260/.340/.425 out of eaton…and not resign him for 2022.
@jhomeslice
I can see that. Most of the time, a sibling or child of a great player doesn’t live up to that production (or even come close, for that matter). Still, I’d like to see how he does in AA or AAA (or wherever he starts the season), but that is definitely in the back of my head.
If Madrigal and Vaughn even come remotely close to their potential, then RF is their only problem on offense. Not too many teams can say they have just 1 hole out of the 9 offensive players. The rest of the Sox lineup can easily mask the RF, whoever it ends up being any given year.
Do I want a strong RF to complete the offense? Absolutely. But having a less than average RF isn’t going to doom this offense (or team). I’m sure they can find someone capable. Even Sheets may end up being a decent enough RF (apparently he has added OF to his repertoire over the last several months). They can always trade for one.
I’m not too worried about RF as long as it stays the only hole on offense (once Vaughn comes up to fill the DH hole).
The White sox may not have a RF hole in 2021 or 2022 if Adam Eaton can stay healthy and produce like he has been capable of during his 9 year MLB career. Another benefit in having Eaton as the regular White Sox RF this season and next is that he offers a few components to the batting order the team mostly lacks as presently constructed. Eaton provides a left-handed bat, one that is patient, can work counts with minimal strikeouts, draw walks and produce a solid batting average provided he is healthy.
Of course injuries have been a major concern for Eaton throughout his MLB career including his time spent in Chicago. However, if he can manage to stay healthy in 2021 it’s not unreasonable to expect offensive numbers that he produced for the Nationals in 2019 when he was a huge part of their championship run. The White Sox have similar ambitions of their own this year and next with Eaton under team control through 2022 with their team option.
The ‘Spanky’ of 2019 would provide the White Sox lineup with some additional thunder and speed and his repeated postseason success from the Nationals final two playoff rounds could be the element that puts the team over the top in 2021. The Eaton from his final 2016 season in Chicago would be even better as a RF Gold Glove finalist. The White Sox also have another elite RF/CF defensive player with fleet and improving right-handed hitter Adam Engel available as Eaton’s likely lesser side platoon partner in RF.
@83 You are absolutely right… if RF is their only hole they will be in great shape. And Eaton/Engel might not be terrible, either. The fate of this team will likely be determined by starting pitching. If Kopech and Cease can produce this year, with Kopech fully taking over the 5th spot in the 2nd half, this team will do just fine. Maybe better than fine.
Aaron I agree of course that 2019 Eaton would be fine. The only problem is if you look at his last 4 seasons, 2019 is the only desirable one where he was both productive and healthy. If he is less productive than that, I’m not sure Engel isn’t their best RF. Obviously Engel will play vs lefties but if Eaton spends any time on the DL (a few weeks is expected based on his track record just based on the law of averages), we’ll see what Engel can do vs righties as well. I’m not convinced that there is no chance he would not be as good if not a better player than Eaton. Eaton has a career high of 65 rbi’s or something… I think Engel might have 20 homers in him and prove more valuable than Eaton anyway. In any case they should combine for better production than 2020 Mazara, I think that is a safe bet.
I just hate that their offseason additions were in part guys who you have to go back 2 to 5 seasons for their last healthy and productive campaign. They could have done a lot better than that without approaching a big contract like Springer. Just pick guys without significant injury histories, DUH! That’s one theme we’ve all seen more than enough of.