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Spring Training Thread

BigKen

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Time to change your Sox color.

Red Sox Are 9-0-3 in Spring Training this year.
 

Lake Shore Drive

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Time to change your Sox color.

Red Sox Are 9-0-3 in Spring Training this year.
That's nothing. Last year our Bears were undefeated in preseason, going 4-0, not even a single tie!!! And of course they ended up in the regular season going.....................uh, never mind.
 

Lake Shore Drive

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Jake Burger is doing his damnedest to make the squad. Had 2 dingers today in a losing effort by the Sox, he now has 4 in the early going. And our boy Oscar Colas racked his first 4 bagger in a pinch hitting role, with his BA currently at .407 - not bad kid!!
 

Mingo

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The best thing about Colas is he is coachable - a very hard worker - and he wants badly to be a major leaguer. He's the only international player I can remember who came to the US in the year he got his $2.5 million bonus - therefore voluntarily paying taxes.

I think Burger is in direct competition with Sheets for a spot on the roster. With Benintendi and Colas being lefties - RH Burger off the bench is more reasonable and the need for LH power less of an imparitive.

Bryan Ramos - is making a name for himself - as a potential Moncada replacement at 3rd.
 

Lake Shore Drive

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The best thing about Colas is he is coachable - a very hard worker - and he wants badly to be a major leaguer. He's the only international player I can remember who came to the US in the year he got his $2.5 million bonus - therefore voluntarily paying taxes.

I think Burger is in direct competition with Sheets for a spot on the roster. With Benintendi and Colas being lefties - RH Burger off the bench is more reasonable and the need for LH power less of an imparitive.

Bryan Ramos - is making a name for himself - as a potential Moncada replacement at 3rd.
Nice way of looking at it and makes one ponder......Burger vs Sheets when it all boils down. A year ago the decision is already made: Sheets and it's not even close. But as you point out, we now have possibly added two lefties - one for sure in Benintendi, the other Colas, whose likelihood of making the roster seems to be growing by the day. This reduces the necessity of carrying Sheets, altho one can argue you can never have enough lefty bats on the roster. Still, I can see where Burger can win the battle if his bat remains this hot thru the rest of ST. Good stuff as always Mingo!
 

idseer

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the more i see of garcia the less i want to see of garcia. it really pisses me off he'll be on the team this year. he's worthless imo.
 

Lake Shore Drive

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Today's game with the Angels ended in a 1-1 tie. The only run for the Good Guys came off of Colas' bat - his 2nd dinger in consecutive days. The even more encouraging news is Kopech made his ST debut tossing 3 innings of no hit/no run/no bb. He only struck out one, so I'm assuming he wasn't throwing his heater that often. But regardless, it's good to see him early in good form. I've said it before, there are two huge ifs that need to come thru if the Sox are to have any shot at taking the Central:

IF 1: Heath, heath, and health. We need our roster to play a full season with minimal time collectively spent on the IL....for a change!!
IF 2: Our rotation, in addition to staying healthy, needs to be a top 10 in performance. That would be top 10 in all of baseball. Yes, the rest of the roster needs to pull its weight as well, but it all begins with a solid rotation.
 

Mingo

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One thing I did not know: If Oscar Colas wins the Rookie of the Year award - the Sox will be awarded a draft pick between Rd1 and Rd2. This is how MLB has tried to incentivize MLB teams to not stash top 100 rookies in the minors to steal a year of control.

Kopech has really bulked up his legs after surgery - so he now gets more power in his pitch from his legs with less wear and tear on his arm.

Andrew Vaughn has changed is batting stance - holding his hands much higher in the batter ready position. I presume this is to even out his swing for the high fast balls he was getting killed on late last season.

It's nice to see Yoan Moncada play with joy on the Cuban team - maybe he gets a shot of confidence back that will carry him into this season. He may be like me and my golf game - the more advice I get the worse I play.

One spring faceplant has been Romy Gonzalez - who (small sample size) has been looking up at the Mendoza line. This after the Whitw Sox happy talk about Romy's success in off season batting cage action.
 

Lake Shore Drive

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One thing I did not know: If Oscar Colas wins the Rookie of the Year award - the Sox will be awarded a draft pick between Rd1 and Rd2. This is how MLB has tried to incentivize MLB teams to not stash top 100 rookies in the minors to steal a year of control.

Kopech has really bulked up his legs after surgery - so he now gets more power in his pitch from his legs with less wear and tear on his arm.

Andrew Vaughn has changed is batting stance - holding his hands much higher in the batter ready position. I presume this is to even out his swing for the high fast balls he was getting killed on late last season.

It's nice to see Yoan Moncada play with joy on the Cuban team - maybe he gets a shot of confidence back that will carry him into this season. He may be like me and my golf game - the more advice I get the worse I play.

One spring faceplant has been Romy Gonzalez - who (small sample size) has been looking up at the Mendoza line. This after the Whitw Sox happy talk about Romy's success in off season batting cage action.
Make that two people who didn't have a clue about the potential draft pick scenario.
 

Lake Shore Drive

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Here's the tentative roster when the team breaks camp:


Might be looking like Leury as the odd man out for the pine, with veteran Hanser Alberto being his replacement. He's been tearing it up in ST, as has OF Adam Hasely. I think Hasely tho will be ticketed for AAA ball and should be on a short list for making occasional trips to the parent roster when situations dictate.

The waters might be a bit more muddied in the bullpen. Two key contributors, Liam Hendriks and Garrett Crochet are naturally on IL for the time being. Hopefully either or both will be back on the roster by mid-late summer. In the meantime, others will have to step up and hold down the fort.
 

Mingo

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Here's the tentative roster when the team breaks camp:


Might be looking like Leury as the odd man out for the pine, with veteran Hanser Alberto being his replacement. He's been tearing it up in ST, as has OF Adam Hasely. I think Hasely tho will be ticketed for AAA ball and should be on a short list for making occasional trips to the parent roster when situations dictate.

The waters might be a bit more muddied in the bullpen. Two key contributors, Liam Hendriks and Garrett Crochet are naturally on IL for the time being. Hopefully either or both will be back on the roster by mid-late summer. In the meantime, others will have to step up and hold down the fort.
Leury is going - going gone. Yes, the Sox will eat the $11 million owed. They would eat the $11 million anyway if they kept him, but the Sox can replace him for league minimum and have the prospect of Leury signed by someone else for league minimum which will come off of what the White Sox. Since Leury is a 10 year guy - his league minimum is higher by league rules and therefore the Sox could conceivably recover some money in the deal as every dollar Leury earns discounts what the Sox owe in their guarantee.

I still think there is a strong possibility that Burger makes the roster and Sheets gets his ABs in AAA Charlotte. Burger has the better Spring stats - with Benintendi and Colas on the rosters LH bat off the bench isn't as necessary. On Opening day in Houston, you could see Burger at DH and Eloy in RF with Colas on the bench - taking some pressure off Colas to perform.

Among relief pitchers Gregory Santos might make the team - he has been flawless in the innings he has pitched in Spring Training.
 

Lake Shore Drive

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So as expected, the starting rotation is set and no surprise as to our opening day starter:


Cease
Lynn
Giolito
Clevinger
Kopech


Or if there's any "surprise" it might be Clevinger getting the nod ahead of Kopech. But then again, he has a lot more starts under his belt, so if we label this a surprise, it would rank as one of the mildest ones in the game. I'll say it again, if these five stay relatively healthy thruout the season, it can be one of the stronger rotations in the league, realistically even a top 5. But there's that 'i' word again.
 

Mingo

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So as expected, the starting rotation is set and no surprise as to our opening day starter:


Cease
Lynn
Giolito
Clevinger
Kopech


Or if there's any "surprise" it might be Clevinger getting the nod ahead of Kopech. But then again, he has a lot more starts under his belt, so if we label this a surprise, it would rank as one of the mildest ones in the game. I'll say it again, if these five stay relatively healthy thruout the season, it can be one of the stronger rotations in the league, realistically even a top 5. But there's that 'i' word again.
That way Clevinger is not the home opener starter and Kopech gets more protection in his pitch and innings count.
 

Lake Shore Drive

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