And that he is your depth at 3B.

That's what I mean. He is a bench player at best. Same with Mercedes. They might be very nice players in their own right, but are guys without a starting position as the Sox roster is currently constructed.

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You are probably right about Mendick being a bench player, but I am intrigued by him. I would like to see what an entire season of ABs would get you. The only way I see that happening is, if Moncada is out for the year, Madrigal gets hurt, or Madrigal is not actually close to being called up.

I think he's very valuable to the Sox and that's all that matters. Keeping Grandal fresh without losing production at THE premier position is glorious. Grandal catching only 100 or so games should pay dividends offensively for both guys.

Grow up. Argue all that you want to about baseball and players but don't make shit up about what another person says. McCann is ranked high by baseball people. He is a good two way catcher.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

I think that he is. He is certainly a good two way catcher. People forget, I think, that McCann has been a starting major league catcher his entire career. His weakness was always hitting which is not unusual for a catcher. Last season, he looked like he figured things out. HE still has to prove that last season was not a fluke offensively. IF he does, he will be in line for a very big pay check.

I think that he is a valuable asset. You don't think he is even a starting catcher. We will see how real baseball experts evaluate him sometime in the future.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

Mercedes was buried in the Dominican league for three years. That is where he lost time in his development. Once he was "discovered" he progressed very nicely through the minor league system. He also has some rough edges as a catcher especially with pitches in the dirt.

What you said about McCann is pretty much true except I think that he is more valuable than low minor leaguers. I say that because good two way catchers are very valuable to a team and McCann showed last year that he can really help a pitching staff as a receiver. That has also been his reputation ever since he was with the Tigers.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

I just hope Ricky is committed to catching him 60 games. Encarnacion may be the fly in the ointment because theoretically, that's who Grandal will be taking ABs from.

Yes, I have been bullish on Mercedes and Mendick. Don't forget, before the White Sox took over the winter meetings with terrific free agent signings and a couple of good trades, we were looking for prospects to fill some of the spots on the team. And that was the scenario where I tried to find some players who just might have a shot of not only making the team but also being good major league players.

So now things have changed from a roster standpoint. They went out and signed one of the best DH's in the game, Encarcion and have a kid in Madrigal who will be their second baseman pretty soon. That doesn't change, however, the potential of both Mercedes and Mendick as potentially good major league players. Encarnacion is at the end of a good career and will have to be replaced probably next season by someone. McCann will probably go free agent next season and leave the team for a good contract somewhere else. And Mendick will get a chance, I think, to prove himself a first a valuable utility player for the Sox this year and down the road as a potential starter for probably a different team.

I've got no illusions about either Mendick and Mercedes. I just like it when kids battle their way through the minor leagues and get a legit chance to play in the major leagues. I've coached a lot of similar type kids who got drafted or signed low and this stuff happens very rarely because of a variety of reasons. It takes a lot of skill to make it to the majors but it also takes a bit of luck and really hard work to do it

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

That is very true. The Sox have the best catching over-all in all of baseball. It is a great luxury. Think of it. Grandal, McCann, Mercedes, and Collins. That is a lot of talent, especially offensively.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

Another player who has impressed me starting last year is Flores, a lefty with three good pitches and really good balance throwing the ball. Not over-whelming stuff but all of his stuff moves and he can control it. Don't think that he will stick with the major club when they break camp but down the road I can see this kid make it as a starting pitcher.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

I will be in attendance at the White Sox/Brewers game on March 17th.

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

Luis Robert with an RBI double off Lester in the 2nd

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I love Timmy but he has to make those plays

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

Robert posting a 1.290 OPS this spring

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

Totally can carry that throughout the year.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to put down money on Bovada for him to be RoY

_________________
“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

I see more of a benefit having an extra year of control over Madrigal when he’s closer to the prime of his career than having him for an extra month right now while he’s struggling to hit .200. I know I’m in the minority with this one. That said, here’s who I’d like to see on the opening day line up. I can’t see Mercedes getting many at-bats unless EE gets hurt, but he’s probably the best bat off the bench.
1. Grandal
2. Abreu
3. Edwin Encarnacion
4. Leury Garcia
5. Moncada
6. Eloy
7. Robert
8. Mazara
9. McCann
10. Mendick
11. Mercedes
12. Engel
13. Delmonico

Grandal is the far superior defensive catcher, and it’s not close. According to Fangraphs, Grandal Defensive Runs above average was 23.4, Moncada was 6.2, and McCann was 1.8. Grandal had the third-best pitch framing in the league out of 64 catchers, so its elite. Grandal's Runs Extra strikes was +13. McCann was dead last, and he was the worst by a long shot. His poor framing led to 16 extra runs while the next worst was -9. Check out this chart I made which compares McCann and Grandals Strike rate: https://imgur.com/gallery/l8exB3Z
https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/catcher_framing

Grandal tends to cheat a little more to the right while McCann expands the zone to the left, but the most significant difference is along the bottom of the strike zone, where Grandal extends the strike zone much more skillfully than McCann. It’s safe to say that McCann is the worst in the league at 63 out of 63 at expanding the zone in the bottom corners.
There’s no way McCann could return an ace starter, but a team with a lot of good relief pitchers may trade a decent one away if they needed a catcher. That might be worth it for us.

Grandal is a great defensive catcher, however, zoning pitches is not the only criteria for being a good defensive catcher. In fact, as more and more camera's get involved to call real strikes, I think pitch framing will go by way of the dodo bird. The other thing about pitch framing is that a lot depends on the control that a pitcher has over his stuff. The Sox staff last year was over-all young and young pitchers are typically wild. Being able to quietly move your glove over an inch or two is a lot easier when your pitcher can pitch to the glove so to speak. A text book example of that were Glavine and Maddox with our guy Buerhle not a slouch either in getting off of the corner strikes.

McCann is a very good defensive catcher particularly in controlling the running game where he has averaged just short of 40% of the runners being gunned down in his major league career. That ranks very high among catchers. He is also very good as a receiver with only three passed balls against him last season.

Also in fantasy rankings last year, McCann was rated the 6th best catcher in all of 2019. Grandal was rated 3rd over-all.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

fantasy rankings....this fucking guy

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

What do you think that the so-called "ratings" services do in evaluating players? They all use the same metrics and information, some of which is objective and some of it being subjective. Baseball Prospectus, Baseball America, and Baseball Savant among others all crunch the numbers. So do fantasy rating sites. IT's all the same kind of crap. And teams themselves also have their own player evaluation systems and metrics that they use in both trade negotiations as well as salary and arbitration decisions.

Bottom line, McCann had a very good season for himself and his value as a player went up significantly. He is probably very disappointed that his season didn't land him a multi-year contract with the White Sox. I would be disappointed also if I were him. The Sox made a business decision and I think it was a smart one. McCann still has a chance at landing a very good contract after this season with another club.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

There is never a situation in a baseball discussion that fantasy rankings should be brought up...unless you are actually talking about fantasy baseball. There are plenty of rankings and stats to use to argue your case. It just makes you look desperate. But hey you do you...

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Defensively is where Grandal really separates himself as a player from McCann. Until machines start calling balls and strikes, McCann is bad on defense. Throwing out 2-3 guys more a year than Grandal won't compare to the extra strikes Grandal is getting. And their time to second base was only 0.02 seconds different on average last year (2.05 seconds to 2.07 seconds). .02 seconds probably won't account for even 2-3 extra outs, let alone runs.

I don't need anything of the such to know how baseball players get evaluated. Fantasy ranking are just about as bullshit as other ranking systems that are around. It is all in the eyes of the beholder and are pretty subjective in the whole.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

You're wrong about McCann being bad on defense.And we will see computers calling strikes pretty soon.Probably in the next contract with the umpires union. He is a very good defensive receiver and has a very good arm and does a good job blocking balls in the dirt. He also is considered a good handler of pitchers as in calling the game. I'm not saying that he is as good all around as Grandal but calling him bad defensively is total bullshit. I would expect also with the addition of Kuechel and Gio to the pitching staff will result in McCann improving on his pitch framing.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

Thanks for making my point.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I'll stand by the statement that he's in the bottom group of pitch framers in the league. Even if the metrics are a little off, 63rd out of 63rd is pretty bad. He's a good major leaguer at mostly everything else but he's a AAA pitch framer at best.

I'm excited about the jump the pitchers could make because of the expanded strike zone, and I don't think it's being accounted for in the projections. I think it's something that isn't going to jump out at people but by midseason, the beat writers will be on it if the Sox are exceeding expectations. I know I'm getting a little too excited about a 10%-15% bump in strikes outside of the zone but I haven't really seen or heard anyone talking about it either.

Your welcome. I'm somewhere in the middle on thinking about all of the advanced metrics that try and rate players. To me, it is still dependent on the eyes of the beholder to a large extent. When you start trying to statistically rate pitch framing, for example, what pitches do you rate the catcher on? For example, if a catcher sets up for a high strike and the pitch is not near his target yet gets called a strike, does he get credit for framing a pitch even though his glove moves significantly? Same kind of thing for catchers with throwing out base runners. IF the pitchers on his club, can't hold baserunners worth a shit, he may get rated lousy in that category even throw he is getting the ball off quickly and has a strong arm.

Another interesting factoid about catching in baseball. It has become the least valuable position in all of baseball in terms of rating major league players. In the player rankings of all of the 2019 major league players, only one catcher, Grandal, was rated in the top 100 players in all of baseball and he was something like 78th or so. But I'd bet if you asked a lot of major league managers and coaches about it, they'd say that a good catcher is much more valuable to them than a statistical rating that gets crunched out by a compute system. BUt how do you put a rating for calling a game and managing a pitcher through a game?

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

I agree that McCann is considered bad in pitch framing.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip