Sox Scoops 43.019: Black Sox Set Platoon-Heavy Opening Day Roster

[HoosierVic]

By Mike Talley
Black Sox Beat Writer
Chicago Sports Online

Welcome to Platoon City.

The Chicago Black Sox have announced their Opening Day roster and tentative starting lineups, which will feature lefty/righty platoons for a majority of positions through the lineup.

This season’s edition of the Black Sox will introduce several new faces, including OF Grant Lee; SS Jaime Ramírez; OF/RP Paul Kemp; and, for the time being at least, Rule 5 draft acquisition RF Juan Solís.

The Sox entered the off-season with multiple missions: improve the woeful production they got out of the center field position last season; improve at shortstop without sacrificing infield fielding, which the groundball-heavy pitching staff relies on; and improve the offensive attack against left-handed pitching.

General Manager Benny Vitale added one caveat to those goals: accomplish each without trading away any of the young pitching prospects winding their way through the Chicago minor league system. Coaches believe SP prospects Romeu Tameiro and John McClain are at least one (and, in the case of McClain) perhaps two seasons away from their big league debuts.

“Our window for realistically competing for the Heartland Division title should begin to open in 2044 or 2045,” Vitale said. “Of course, that does not mean we don’t mean to compete hard this season. That was the reasoning behind the acquisition of Mr. Lee and Mr. Ramírez. We had some trade discussions about center field and shortstop possibilities, but every deal involved one or more of our pitching assets, which we simply are not willing to do.”

By 2045, the Sox hope to have a starting rotation of Amayas Moelling; David Bates; Luis Gonzáles; Tameiro; and McClain.

“Obviously, that can’t happen if we trade either of our starting pitching prospects away, and our calculus is that the rotation is more important than adding a center fielder or shortstop who would be only incrementally better than Mr. Lee or Mr. Ramírez,” said Vitale. “Time will tell if we were correct.”

Here, then, is the roster – for now, at least.


Outfield

Vs RHP	Left Field	Center Field	Right Field
Player	José Figueroa	Grant Lee	Hao Hang
Ratings	9/8/6/4/8	5/5/6/5/6	8/9/9/7/5
Defense	7/6/9	8/10/10	5/7/8

Vs LHP	Left Field	Center Field	Right Field
Player	Hao Hang	Jim Lorenzen	Grant Lee
Ratings	6/6/7/5/4	5/6/7/6/4	7/6/7/6/6
Defense	5/7/8	10/9/7	8/10/10

The idea here is to arrange the outfield to maximize both the offensive and defensive strengths of the roster: Lee is solid at the plate and in CF against right-handers, but better-than-solid in right and against left-handers, while Hang terrorizes righties and is OK (but better than Figueroa) against lefties.

Lorenzen is brutal against right-handed pitching, but does well against lefties. He’ll also provide late-inning defensive help in center.

This crew should be a decided upgrade against left-handed pitching, at least, over last season’s outfield incarnation, which forced Lorenzen and light-hitting Manny Cleide into the lineup far too often.


Infield

Vs RHP	3B	2B	SS	1B	C	DH
Player	Tomás Durán	Rocky Wattson	Jaime Ramírez	Mark Simpson	Diesel Dave	Aarnaud Budding
Ratings	8/8/6/5/8	7/8/7/4/7	6/5/1/3/8	4/6/7/11/5	5/6/9/2/2	9/12/9/7/5
Defense	6/8/6/9	8/7/3/7	9/11/10/10	6/4/3/3	7/8	4/3/4/1

Vs LHP	3B	2B	SS	1B	C	DH	DH
Player	Luis González	Rocky Wattson	Jaime Ramírez	Henry Jones III	Hotha Popo	Paul Kemp	or Juan Solís
Ratings	7/6/2/6/9	8/9/8/5/7	6/6/1/3/8	8/6/7/4/6	5/4/4/10/7	8/8/7/4/8	9/9/3/3/9
Defense	7/8/8/8	8/7/3/7	9/11/10/10	1/5/4/3	8/7	N/A	N/A

The Sox will continue platooning Durán and González at third to take advantage of their batting skills, while Wattson and Ramírez will play full time. The platoon at catcher also will repeat from last season – although Dave may get some starts against left-handers in homer-friendly ballparks.

In something of a surprise, the Sox also plan at least a partial platoon with Simpson and Jones at first, with the two splitting the playing time against lefties. This arrangement likely will evolve, depending on how Simpson performs to start the season.

Budding figures to DH full-time against right-handed pitching, with Kemp and Solís splitting time there against lefties. The Sox need to provide flexibility here because two-way player Kemp will also fill a key role in the bullpen.

This arrangement figures to provide a significant upgrade to Chicago’s offense against left-handed pitching – a key requirement, since Louisville, Twin Cities and Yellow Springs can throw multiple talented southpaws in their rotations.

OF Manny Cleide and last season’s starting shortstop, Miguel Valdéz, round out the position players on the roster – for now, at least.

Starting Rotation

Rotation	1	2	3	4	5
Pitcher	Amayas Moelling	David Bates	Luis Gonzáles	Pepe Jaramillo	Juan Nicto
Handed	R	L	R	R	R
Ratings	8/8/8	6/8/6	8/5/7	7/6/6	6/7/5

This should be a familiar group: each pitched in the rotation last season, too. Moelling finally established himself as the staff ace last season, going 16-6 with a 4.07 ERA, and coaches say his skills have bumped a bit over the off-season. Bates returns as the No. 2 arm on the staff after a fine rookie season, while Gonzáles and Jaramillo each need to step up after uneven seasons 2042. Nicto had a surprisingly strong season in 2042, and will hold down the No. 5 slot in the rotation.

Bullpen

Role	CL	SU	SU	MR	MR	LR
Pitcher	Gilberto Sosa	Brian Smith	Frits Brinson	James Matarazzo	Juan Alfonzo	Paul Kemp
Handed	R	L	L	R	L	L
Ratings	12/7/7	8/7/7	8/6/6	6/8/7	7/6/6	6/8/7

This, of course, is a temporary arrangement necessitated by the moderate day-to-day shoulder injury suffered by Francisco Salgado at the end of Spring Training. The club sent him to the Injured List for a week to fully recover and not risk further aggravating the injury. When he returns, he figures to either fill a set-up role or join Sosa in a stopper role. Eventually, the club plans on bringing last year’s top draft pick, Gilberto Cordero, to join the throng and perhaps form a three-headed stopper corps with Sosa and Salgado. Coaches, however, believe Cordero needs some further seasoning at AAA before they throw him into a major league role.

Smith and Brinson have both proven themselves capable bullpen arms, as has Alfonzo. Matarazzo likely will head to AAA Carolina when Salgado returns from the injured list, while Kemp – who has excelled as a starting pitcher in the minors – will provide long relief and emergency SP services.

Bottom line: The Sox bullpen has the talent to be a powerhouse unit but needs to start translating promise to actual results.

This team doesn’t yet look like it’s ready to contend with Louisville or Yellow Springs but should have enough to stay in the thick of the wild card hunt this season. That could change, though, in 2044 if Chicago’s SP prospects stay on course.

[RonCo]

I could see Chicago in the mix for the division.