Record Date: 1/5/2023
Rundown:
- Josh and Jim welcome the new Patreon Veteran Committee members.
- Andrew Benintendi is introduced officially with the Chicago White Sox. He backs up an earlier talking point on the podcast about why we could see more power from him in 2023.
- Rick Hahn did a lot of GM speak in his last Zoom call but did say he would be fine if second base were handled internally. Is that route acceptable?
- Pedro Grifol was on the “Baseball is not Boring” Podcast and shared his insight about the 2022 White Sox from his perspective on the Kansas City Royals bench. Can he help address and improve these areas of need?
Link to Grifol interview
Really pulling for Grifol. He seems smart and likeable and really wants to win. He’s basically the opposite of TLR.
Me, too. He’s walking into a tough gig.
sox got jake mirisnik, minor league deal and invite, probably some minor league OF depth for charlotte especially with payton going to Japan
Kind of a similar player to Engel. Similar age. A little slower than Engel, but maybe a better fielder. Similar batting projection, but you can’t dream on him returing to Engel’s 120 wRC+ (Marisnick’s own recent best hitting year was very small sample and the xwOBA shows that it was a mirage). Battled a lot of injuries, like Engel. Good minor league signing.
I saw a hung over Jake Marisnick play for the Cubs two years ago on Mothers day. He probably told Ross he didn’t want to play, they started him in CF and he dove 3 seconds late for a blooper in the 1st inning then didn’t get up. Should do fine in night game work though.
A few more hours of recoup time and let’s light the candle!
In an interview the new WS Manager says the OF last year was fundamentally unsound. Sox bring back 1B/OF coach, and very questionable human, Daryl Boston.
Not defending Boston, but no way he was going to fix 3 DH’s covering 200 games in the corners.
He didn’t talk about atheticism or reaction times.
Even DH’s can be taught to throw to the correct base.
Looked up Carlos Perez’s winter league stats. Was surprised to see that he has been playing first base instead of catching. Wonder if that is precautionary because the White Sox are worried about him getting injured, or if he is presently injured and unable to catch, or if his team thinks he is worse defensively than the 4 other players they’ve played at catcher.
Enquiring minds want to know…
The scouting report on Perez is that his main problem is he can’t really throw guys out, a 30-grade arm per FG, but the rest of his receiving skills are fine. So that probably is less than viable in Venezuela, where the league plays a more traditional style of baseball that emphasizes speed and defense.
Can he play RF?
Who are the other North Dakota fans!?