Ronald Acuña Jr. had a relatively disappointing showing at the plate in 2022, coming off his season-ending right ACL tear in July 2021, but the dynamic three-time All-Star believes he will be back at full strength leading into 2023. “I’m feeling 100 percent and I’m ready to go back to normal, and I definitely don’t want to play DH anymore,” Acuña told Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Saturday.
Acuña delivered a combined .925 OPS in his first 1,764 major league plate appearances between 2018-2021 before sinking to a .764 OPS in 533 plate appearances last year. He made 27 starts at DH for the Braves in 2022, after logging — or requiring? — only one total DH start across his entire four previous MLB seasons. In general, he’s averaged 38 home runs and 34 stolen bases for every 162 games played as a big leaguer. Last year: 15 homers, 29 steals in 119 games. As he moves further and further away from that knee injury, the reigning NL East champs should become all the more dangerous.
Acuña is going to DH in the Venezuelan Winter League finals, per Toscano, and he has also stated a desire to represent his native country in the Winter Baseball Classic. But the 25-year-old outfielder noted to David O’Brien of The Athletic that the Braves’ medical staff is unlikely to clear him to play in the upcoming WBC because it is more of a time and physical commitment than Winter League. Essentially, they just really want him to stay in camp.
- Mike Clevinger signed a one-year, $12MM contract with the White Sox earlier this winter. Soon after, he received a platelet-rich plasma injection to aid in the healing of a knee injury that hampered him down the stretch with the Padres last season and led to a disappointing overall 4.33 ERA. With his knee on the mend, and his November 2020 Tommy John surgery fully in the rearview, the White Sox believe the 32-year-old right-hander can get back to being his old top-of-the-rotation self. “We broke down some biomechanics stuff after we signed him to kind of show him the differences,” pitching coach Ethan Katz told James Fegan of The Athletic. “Where he was different in all aspects of his delivery, which was probably in correlation to the knee … Now that he is healthy, he is working on it. His bullpens and the videos that I have seen, there’s been no kind of restrictions or anything that’s slowed him down from being able to be aggressive on that back leg.”
- Ryan Rolison, the Rockies’ top selection in the 2018 MLB Draft and perhaps a big rotation piece for their future, is said to be 100 percent recovered from the left shoulder surgery that knocked his pro career off track last season. He did not pitch in MLB-affiliated ball at all in 2022 and ultimately went under the knife in June. “We are better than we were a year ago,” Rockies GM Bill Schmidt said to Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post in a recent chat, making note of Rolison’s rebounded health. “We have created some competition for some guys,” Schmidt added. “And, overall, our organizational depth is better.” Germán Márquez, Kyle Freeland, and José Ureña would seem to be locked into the top three rotation spots for Colorado. Rolison could perhaps battle with Austin Gomber and Connor Seabold at the back end. Peter Lambert (elbow) is also expected to be healthy heading into camp and might get another look for MLB starts at some point in 2023.
Acuna’s Statcast hitting metrics were mostly in the red and he’s drawing walks. He’ll bounce back.
Free Acuña. Atlanta holding him as a political prisoner
Yeah, he’s ONLY making $17M in 2023. Oh the humanity!
That man can barely afford eggs at $17M.
1 dozen eggs are $100,000 now a days
(Me, holding up a mug of beer) Here’s to Acuna & a great 2023. Time to silence the critics & restart that legacy. Go Braves (and Manfred can go suck eggs).
So prisoners get to decide where they get imprisoned and how many millions they’ll make…
don’t laugh we are heading there as a society.
Of course there’s a separate mention of Jose Ureña in the same post with an Acuña update.
I have seen several mentions of Urena with Acuna here. Please enlighten me as to the reason. I rarely watch NL East games. Did they have issues when Urena was a Marlin?
Yes. Urena hit him a handful of times, including one ugly incident when Acuna was a rookie who had homered to leadoff 4 consecutive games. Urena drilled him in the upper body with the very first pitch of the next game, got ejected, and set off a bit of a tussle. It was particularly frustrating because for 5 minutes or so it looked like Acuna was seriously injured and Urena wouldn’t be penalized
Braves fans hate Urena.
Thank you for the info. The downside to knowing so much about my Rockies is that I miss a lot of stuff about other teams.
Yeah Urena’s a bit salty. Or colorful, if you prefer.
It wasn’t Urena that hit him to start a game. It was Pablo Lopez.
apnews.com/article/ga-state-wire-fl-state-wire-atl…
Smacky, in that very article of yours it tells us that Ureña had done it already. Lopez was tossed after one pitch thanks to the history of the 2 clubs. Re: Ureña and Acuña
The Lopez incident came much later. The Acuna and Urena bad blood was already established.
Obviously! Saying it was someone other than Lopez that hit him with the first pitch of a game is just entirely wrong. I saw the game and know the history. Lopez didn’t mean to do it but he had to get tossed after all the other times Don Mattingly called the beanball on Acuña.
youtu.be/_MWm-WBSqN8
While not the very first pitch of the game, it was the first pitch for Ureña/Marlins.
I don’t care that you saw Lopez do it. Urena beaned Acuna with the first pitch in 2018 and it was a FAR bigger scene than when Lopez did it accidentally. Nobody associates Acuna and Lopez as they do Acuna and Urena.
Ureña hit Acuña with the first pitch of the game in 2018: youtube.com/watch?v=_MWm-WBSqN8
Elisier Hernandez hit Acuña with the first pitch of the game in 2019:
youtube.com/watch?v=H7RhYSgv7HY
Jorge Lopez hit Acuña with the first pitch of the game in 2021: youtube.com/watch?v=6SMuiQi93Vg
Are you seeing a theme? Acuña needs some lessons in the hitting cage with Chubbs from HAPPY GILMORE taking some to the chest, and liking it.
RAJ doesn’t want to play DH anymore but he will make a exception for the World Baseball Classic. Typical RAJ. He still thinks he’s the boss.
Well, you want your best player to be happy and engaged. A lot of players have said they don’t like being DH because it upsets their routine and mindset. He doesn’t seem to be himself when he’s DH. He knows he’s an asset when he’s in RF and leading off. Just say you don’t like him instead of making a mountain out of a molehill.
DH’ing sucks. Hard to stay focused.
I don’t like his ocassional laziness and showboating.
So that makes him the boss? No logic
What are you taking about. The Braves gave him permission to play in Venezuela winter ball only if he was a DH. He probably wants the same deal. It’s not bossing by one side or another. It’s called a compromise. He wants to play in the Classic but knows the Braves won’t allow him to play the field like in winter ball.
Urena threw at acuna several times. Including on the very first pitch of a game.
It was his hardest pitch of the season according to statcast.
You mean Pablo Lopez hit him with the first pitch of a game?
apnews.com/article/ga-state-wire-fl-state-wire-atl…
No, Urine is responsible for him having to wear that elbow guard. He didn’t wear it before.
Not sure how urine would make it so he had to wear an elbow guard. Greg Maddux used to pee on people (Chipper) in the showers but that was a different time. I guess it could be b:c of the gout. I don’t know, you’re going to need to explain how urine now requires him to protect his elbow.
Urena= Urine. Get it Smacky. Not actual urine but because Jose Urena is trash, Urine it is.
No, we mean Urena famously hit him with a first pitch.
Read the article he didn’t Ted. I don’t know why you’re arguing this. Here’s the box score. Hopefully you’re better with numbers than you are reading comprehension.
espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401228277
It was Lopez.
Lol speaking of reading comprehension Smacky.
bleacherreport.com/articles/2791360-jose-urena-sus…
It was Urena. Lopez might have beaned him too but we’re talking about Urena.
Who’s the only Marlins pitcher to hit Acuña with the first pitch of a game? I’m awaiting your answer.
Again, espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401228277
Dude that game is from 2021, the game we’re talking about happened in 2018. Way to double down on being wrong homie.
Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Urena has been suspended six games and fined an undisclosed amount of money for hitting Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. with the first pitch of Wednesday’s game, according to Joe Frisaro of MLB.com.
That’s the first paragraph of the article.
I can only imagine how damaging Clevinger’s windup is going to be long-term. It’s analogous to a batter moving arms, legs, and bat before and during a swing. Less consistent, less effective, more problems as he ages.
@Clipper, Clayton Kershaw just sighed. Thankful the Dodgers didn’t take the movement out of his windup.
Yeah, that’s a great point, man.
That’s a sad situation if Urena is locked into any teams top 3. They have to be looking to add someone else to that group, otherwise it’s tragically bad. Would be nice to what Rolison could do, fans have been waiting awhile for his debut
I was going to post the same thing. Tigers hit the eject button on him as a 5th starter. When he’s your 3rd starter things are not better this year than last year as the GM claims!
He is really more the #3 by default since Senzatela is injured. And he did pitch pretty well for the Rockies with a couple of REALLY bad games thrown in. So the numbers look bad, but if you look at effective outings vs ineffective outings, I think he was good enough for another year with the club.
I remember him in Miami and thought he would be good way back when. I guess he has found a home in Coors if he turned it around. He took the ball every fifth day when he was with the Tigers but not much more and it was time to see what the young pitchers had to offer there. I was surprised Colorado didn’t sign a pitcher or two this offseason . I don’t think they are as far out of it as most people do.
To be honest, the Rockies bigger problem is hitting over pitching. Their starting rotation has been relatively better than their hitting going all the way back to the contention years of 2017-18. Bryant is great when healthy, but the rest of the lineup strikes out way too much. There is not much power and when homers are hit they are too often solo shots. Hopefully the shift ban will help somewhat, but we will see.
Not sure what the Sox are thinking cheaping out on the off season but yet giving Benintiendi and Clevinger more money than they deserve. I have no faith that Clevinger will either be good or stay healthy for that matter and that money could of and should have been spent a lot better. I hope I’m wrong but I thought In was wrong was but I was mistaken. As for what they paid Benintiendi they could of gotten Profar for a lot less and probably got the same production.
I hope I’m wrong but I thought I was wrong once but I was mistaken is what Unclemike tried to say. My Bad. sorry Spell check doesn’t always work like you want it too.
Both players improve the team so not sure why you’d be unhappy with them.
You’d be unhappy if you thought that money could be spent in other ways that improve the team more…
Do they? I guess we’ll find out. Is Benintiendi any better than Pollock? Is Clevinger any better than Cueto? I say no but you say yes so I agree to disagree. I just think they’re more expensive failures waiting to happen.
Sorry but that post was meant for DTD. Either my computer is acting weird or this site is acting weird because things aren’t ending up how I type them and odd things are going on. It could be me. I restarted my computer so we’ll see.
Yeah, there’s some weird things going on. I commented five times in one article and somehow they ran consecutively and made no sense.
Benetendi should be a better fit on the White Sox than Pollack. He, IMO, is better defensively, and a much needed lefty bat. As to Clevenger vs Cueto, Clevinger was more expensive because of his potential higher ceiling. Signing Cueto would have possibly allowed some money for a 2B. It was an expensive market this year.
Yes, they do. Pollack is a platoon player that can’t stay healthy. Benintendi is a solid everyday player, a better hitter, a better fielder, and isn’t an injury risk. Cueto had a decent yr but there’s flags are all over the place. Clevinger is now 2 yrs removed from major injury, is younger, and actually provides some upside. And neither was expensive compared to the crazy contracts being given out.
BSOHL
Is Rolison 100% removed from being a racist tho?
How many stupid things did you say when you were 15?
My guess is a lot since he’s still saying stupid things
I would say yes since he apologized for the one egregious Tweet as a young teen. Seems he and everyone else is moving forward from an isolated incident 11, 12 years ago… why aren’t you?
He tweeted that he wanted to shoot President Obama. The closest I came to an accusation of racism was this article:
blacksportsonline.com/2018/06/rockies-draft-pick-r…
I’m not entirely sold that this statement came from a place of racism. This could simply be a conservative expressing their ire about a left wing president. Obama certainly isn’t and wasn’t left wing. His office was very much centrist but an easy way to turn conservatives to wolves frothing at the mouth is to call everyone who isn’t a republican a crazy, tree hugging leftist.
However, if it came from a place of racism, I still wouldn’t take this too seriously. He retracted and apologized for a comment that came from when he was a teenager.
Marcus Stokes lost his scholarship for less than that.
No, Stokes actually used a racial slur in his song.
Wasn’t his song he was singing along to someone else’s song. And he had no malicious intent like Rolison.
You know I’d love to be critical of Hahn here but I still question how much of the decision making is his own. I have no faith in Kenny Williams and we all know who made the LaRussa decision so I hate to start throwing shade. I’m betting that if somebody is looking for a GM they should be trying to lure Hahn away from a bad situation. whoever gets him will get somebody good while rescuing him from the meddling Sox Hierarchy that I suspect is more involved than they pretend. He’s playing the good soldier but I’m not sure he’s doing himself any good there. The people above him are just using him as a mask for their own incompetence.
Agree. The only thing is, I think Reinsdorf has to take a lot of the blame for turning the team into a rebuilding one in the fourth year of their original five year rebuild. He hired his friend to manage, who not only turned a contender into a .500 team, he demoralized the players. I doubt he’s given Hahn much money to sign anyone other than minor leaguers, a player from the independent league and reclamation projects. Why didn’t the re-sign Cueto and Andrus? They were two of the best players on the team and they wouldn’t have cost very much.
They should of signed Andrus, Cueto and Profar and would of had money left for a couple of bullpen guys to boot. 27 million for Benintiendi and Clevinger and then 4 more years of Benintiendi. And they still don’t have a 2B. Bad use of resources. It’s like they took Pollocks lame contract and multiplied it by 5. I agree Avenger.
@unclemike
I agree that Andrus and Cueto would have made sense, but you lose me at Profar. You do realize that last year was Profar’s career year offensively, and not likely to be repeated. Also, do to his throwing yips, no GM is looking at him for 2B. When a players ceiling is average, that’s not a guy you guarantee ABs to as a starter, or sign for multiple years. That’s what Profar would require to sign.
Stymee- I wasn’t even suggesting that Profar play 2B. I was saying that Profar at 1 year and 10 million say was a SH LF who would save the Sox 70 million bucks in the future and 5 this year for a LF. Now the only thing the Sox farm has going for it it is young OF’s who are now blocked by Robert and Benintiendi. How’s that gonna work out?
Some fans just can’t see the forest from the trees.
You do realize that the signing of Andrew Benintendi accomplished four main priorities for the White Sox this offseason.
1-Adding an impact left-handed hitter to a batting order that leaned heavily right-handed.
2-Adding a high BA/OBP contact bat to a batting order that had too many aggressive swingers and produced too many SO’s.
3-Adding a bonafide top of the order hitter that will give new manager Pedro Grifol another option besides Tim Anderson. My preference in 2023 would be to retain TA7 in the leadoff spot as the more accomplished base stealer and let the more patient Benintendi fill the traditional role of the #2 hitter behind him. Both figure to be excellent table setters for the lineup thunder that follows.
4-Adding a Gold Glove LF to a White Sox OF that was among the worst defensive units in the history of a team I have been watching since their ‘Go-Go’ days of the early 1960’s. Benintendi replaces the Eloy Jimenez/Andrew Vaughn LF combo of 2022 while rookie Oscar Colas should do the same in RF by replacing the atrocious duo of Gavin Sheets and Vaughn. With hopefully healthy Gold Glove winner Luis Robert manning CF, the White Sox defense on the grass could go from pathetic to elite in just one season which should also do wonders for the team’s pitching staff.
Meanwhile, the White Sox will still retain the potential thunder of Jimenez, Vaughn and Sheets in their batting as they fill the roles of DH/1B where their defense won’t be a hindrance to the team. It’s too bad they had to sacrifice fan favorite Jose Abreu to make this all work. That’s on Hahn for his decision to draft and trade for too many 1B/DH types and also on his owner Jerry Reinsdorf with his strict budget limitations.
As for the rotation, on the mend Mike Clevinger has far more potential to become the ace he once was at 32 than soon to be 37-year old Johnny Cueto does in the twilight of his excellent career. That said, the White Sox certainly could have signed both this offseason to provide more depth to a rotation that has the potential to be elite but also could also succumb to injury and production issues like it did in 2022. That’s less on Hahn and more on his his miserly boss Reinsdorf.
With a less frugal owner, Hahn might still have the option of signing Elvis Andrus to man 2B and provide insurance for Anderson at SS. We both know that is very unlikely to happen. 🙁
Andrus is still available. Profar can’t play 2nd. They can afford whatever bullpen pitcher they want, they choose not to spend on them.
Calling Benintiendi an impact LH hitter is looking at him through extremely Rose colored glasses. I guess you see what you want to see. Not to mention that Sox Park is where LH hitters go to die. The Sox still have the same problems as last year. Too many guys who are DH-1B types and not enough guys who play winning baseball. They need to start making deals. Since Benintiendi is now here to stay they need to start dealing Sheets, Jimenez, either Colas or Cespedes since one of them is now blocked or just deal Robert and get it over with. Robert would probably bring back much needed assets and Benintiendi could play CF. For the life of me I can’t figure out why they don’t put Moncada at 2B and Burger at 3B and solve all their problems at once. Moncada is a bust at 3B anyway.
Your negativity is exhausting! How old are you and how long have you been a White Sox or MLB fan? I’m 67 but you are definitely acting like the crusty old curmudgeon here. 🙂
I’m 66 and I am crusty. I’ve also seen this same team with the same problems underachieve for the last 3 years. If you can’t see it may I suggest Lasik? Because even Stevie Wonder can see they need changes.
The White Sox hardly underachieved in 2020 and 2021, the first two seasons following their rebuild that they had a prayer of competing. They competed well enough with a mostly young core to break their playoff drought since 2008 while also reaching the postseason in consecutive years for the first time since the beginning of MLB’s modern era in 1901.
The White Sox clearly underachieved last season as prohibitive AL Central favorites. It was arguably the most miserable season endured by southside fans including this one.
Clearly there are forces at play in the White Sox front office that are tying Rick Hahn’s hands including budgetary limitations well below the CBT threshold that most big market GM’s don’t have to deal with. That said, Hahn still needs to be held accountable for some poor decisions and trades when the White Sox competitive window opened following their seemingly successful rebuild.
Hahn’s first poor decision was to fire manager Rick Renteria which opened the ‘Pandora’s Box’ of owner Jerry Reinsdorf’s decision to hire his pal Tony La Russa. When the dust settled with La Russa’s departure, the White Sox hired another manager in Pedro Grifol this past offseason who comes with exactly the same qualifications and traits that Renteria brought to the table as he navigated the White Sox rebuild and broke the team’s long playoff drought. In the meantime, two years were wasted with TLR at the helm of their playoff window.
The excuse in firing Renteria was that the White Sox needed a more experienced manager to get them to the next level. How did that work out with? Perhaps what the White Sox need is a new GM to get them to that level, aside of course from a brand new owner on the southside of Chicago.
Hahn and Williams have both failed to build within their budget. At their position, there is no excuse for not knowing your budget. They both spent to their max limit before getting every thing on the grocery list of needs. The next sell off should be fun to watch.
Aaron;
The White Sox are not – and have not been since at least WWII – a large market team.
They may be playing in the City of Chicago, but they don’t bring in but a fraction of the revenue the Cubs do. You live there and know better than I do why that is. But relatives I have there love the Cubs and only watch / follow the Sox if the Cubs aren’t playing at that time, or the Sox are in the post-season and the Cubs aren’t….and even then they’re not as excited if they have to watch / follow the Sox.
@Samuel
The White Sox routinely outdrew the Cubs at the beginning of my fandom in the early 1960’s. In fact, the White Sox cracked the 1MM mark in attendance in every season of their ‘Go-Go’ era from 1951 through 1965 aside from 1958. The Cubs failed to draw 1MM even once from 1953 through 1967.
The big turnaround in Cubs attendance began in the late 1960’s but really escalated in 1984 when they finally broke their 38 year playoff drought that dated back to the final WWII year of 1945.
Unclemike1526;
There are times I have a problem with your posts. Other times they seem OK. This one nailed the Sox situation.
–
The thinking seems to be that: Abreu is old and clogging up 1B when that’s where young Vaughn (and Sheets) play. Solution #1: Let Abreu go. Vaughn and Sheets can come in from the OF to play 1B or DH – with playing out of position behind them both can settle sown and concentrate more on hitting. Solution #2 – Sign Benintendi to play LF – now both 1B and LF defense is better.
Problem #1 – Giving Benintendi a 5 year contract is why the Sox are in the shape they are. It’s the 4 year Yasmani Grandal contract redux….they just don’t don’t learn.
The Clevinger contract is confusing – $8MM in 2023, with a $12MM mutual option for the 2024 season that has a $4MM buyout. So…we get that if Clevinger sucks in 2023 the Sox pay him $4m to leave. But what’s the mutual option mean? If Clevinger has a return to glory and wants to leave for a big payday at big bucks, are the Sox on the hook for the $4m as well?
It seems the Sox could have gotten a Kyle Gibson, Corey Kluber , Johnny Cueto, Wade Miley, Rich Hill, Michael Wacha, etc. – someone that healthy, would sign for one year at low dollars to eat up innings at the back of the rotation. Do the Sox really believe they’re WS contenders in 2023? If Clevinger returns to glory, is the rest of the roster solid…or will other disappointments from people the FO likes?
–
Then you’ve got the Jerry loyalty thing going. He wanted the Sox to be the destination point for all Cuban players. That’s nice. But most that they signed have not played well, and especially seem to eschew fundamental play. They want to hit HR’s and celebrate, or K a lot of batters and celebrate. Apparently that’s the way baseball is played in Cuba. so what do the Sox do? They sign a Cuban-American as manager.
–
I’ve never been impressed with Kenny Williams – Ozzie had to argue with him for players, and Ozzie was the only time that team won since Williams has been there. Is Hahn along for the ride? Sure. It’s great gig! Like working for the government – show up, do what you’re told, don’t make waves – you get job security and outrageous benefits and so what if things go wrong….someone will finagle something somewhere and a generous retirement awaits.
Samuel: Thanks. We all know what the LaRussa thing was. It was an attempt to right a wrong for him hiring Harrelson to be the GM and letting him fire LaRussa in the first place. Problem was LaRussa was over and never should of been hired back.
Next- If the Cuban Players just want individual stats and do whatever they want, whose fault is that? It’s the Managers fault. It’s his job to implement team goals and fundamentals so you caan’t blame Hahn for that.
Next- If Clevinger opts out he doesn’t get the 4 million. He only gets it if he opts in and the Sox opt out.
Next- The only person who was ever impressed with Kenny Williams is Kenny Williams and maybe Reinsdorf.
Next- The Grandal contract was for way too many years. 5 years for a C isn’t really smart. But he can play other positions(1B-DH) unfortunately the Sox already had 5 of those guys.
Next- Abreu- He was great here but the Astros paid him silly money and the Sox were absolutely right to walk away. Plus they already have guys to move on from him. Only smart thing they did IMO.
I agree with what you’re saying for the most part also.
Unclemike1526;
Pretty much agree, but Jerry has a bit of SJW attached to him. He promoted Williams above another GM candidate that had been successful with the Sox. That was a nice thing to do. But Jerry’s given the man a leash that few – if any – MLB POBO’s (or whatever his title is) get.
The same thing with the Cuban players. The objective in America is not to give people positions because of our nationality, etc. It’s to give us opportunities based on our credentials and working record. I believe they gave Pedro Grifol the managers job because all things being equal between candidates, they felt that he might have insight into the thought processes of those raised in Cuba. (Of course Grifol was born and raised in Miami, but surly understands the Cuban culture.) Maybe they felt that Larussa was ineffective because he was preaching fundamental baseball play in America and a strong minority/Cuban presence on the Sox roster rejected his ways of going about it. I don’t know. I wasn’t there every day. But I do think this…..
José Abreu came to the Sox in 2014, and they immediately said they’d go after other Cuban players. But that was going on 9 years ago. Other MLB teams – particularly the champion Astros – have many Cubans as well as players from outside the US that have been able to learn to play winning fundamental baseball. It appears the Astros have created an inclusive environment while at the same time getting the players to understand that the objective of the organization is for everyone to produce in a way that helps the team win.
It’s not just the Cuban players on the Sox that shortcut things. It’s pretty much all their players. At some point the owner needs to hold his POBO responsible for this happening through multiple managers….as well as hold the GM responsible for bringing in players that year-after-year play the worst defense in MLB – throwing the ball around the yard as little league HR’s happen. Short of the national baseball media that dabbles in personalities and selected statistics, no one watching MLB believes a team that plays the way the Sox do can possibly win games in October.
My biggest fear for the Sox is that they do exactly what they’ve done the last 2 years-nothing. Then Williams swoops in, Blames everything on Hahn, Fires him, And then proclaims himself Savior in Chief again and completely trashes what could of been a good era on the South Side.
Clevenger is done, glad he found a team willing to throw some money at him
Sadly, you’re right.
Encouraging news regarding the health of Mike Clevinger as spring training nears. The White Sox just might be adding another ace to their rotation in 2023! ⚾️
Yeah well as far as the ACE thing goes…. No. And remember this a medical report from the worst team Dr’s and Trainers in professional sports today. Look no further than the amount of games missed from one of the youngest teams in baseball, So you might want to temper the drinking this early.
The White Sox have had issues with their training staff since the retirement of Herm Schneider. They’ve gone through some changes recently and hopefully those issues will be alleviated this season.
I don’t understand the criticism of the “Dr’s”. The White Sox utilize a crack team of doctors with a wide range of specialties, many of whom are on staff at nearby Rush University Medical Center.
Major League Medical Staff:
Lead Team Doctor Dr. Nikhil Verma
Head Athletic Trainer Emeritus Herman Schneider
Senior Medical Advisor Mike Reinold
Team Physicians Dr. Jeremy Alland, Dr. Josh Blomgren, Dr. Julie Bruene, Dr. Joseph Hennessy, Dr. Scott Palmer, Dr. Kathleen Weber
Team Orthopedics Dr. Bernard Bach, Dr. Charles Bush-Joseph, Dr. Brian Cole, Dr. Brian Forsythe, Dr. Grant Garrigues, Dr. Gregory Nicholson
Team Ophthalmologist Dr. David Orth
Team Optometrist Dr. R. Tracy Williams
Team Psychologist Dr. Jeffrey Fishbein
Team Cardiologist Dr. Kousik Krishnan
Team Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. John Segre
Btw: Rush was the hospital that helped save Danny Farquhar’s life back in 2019 following the near-fatal rupture of an aneurysm in his brain in the White Sox dugout. Herm Schneider was also in the dugout during that fateful evening.
Seriously did you just list the whole Sox medical staff like that’s supposed to mean anything? The only thing that means anything is all the games the Sox have lost in the last 3 years with the youngest team in baseball. So the only logical deduction any reasonable person could make is that they’re unprepared, and not properly trained. But then you’re not really logical or reasonable are you? Wow
I’m not the one who suggested here that the White Sox have “the worst team Dr’s and Trainers in professional sports today”.
The list of physicians/specialists the team utilizes is a direct copy and paste from their official MLB website and included for all to see under the White Sox Front Office page. I’m guessing none of those professionals are on board with your criticism. I’d also venture a guess that few White Sox fans would be as critical of their contribution to the team as you are.
ACLs tend to take a long time to get 100% he will be playing left field for the Rangers by end of year
Since the DH started in the NL last year not sure how Acuna was going to DH outside of road interleague games before last year. seems a weird argument by the writer.
NL had the DH in 2020 as well.
2020 didn’t happen.
Is it too early to say that Acuna’s long injury history, has already taken some of his ability to be a super star?
Yes, very early. If you’re not comfortable or confident coming back, you’ll struggle. Even with that struggle, he still had a respectable yr. He seems confident now. I expect nothing less than an upper 800s OPS and a 30/30 season and neither should anyone else.
Drafting him first round on fantasy. I think he will finish top 5 in mvp voting
My hope is that he picks his base-stealing opportunities better. He made some ill-advised attempts last year.
Clevinger is probably also hurting from all the beating he took after depositions from the Trevor Bauer accuser had to address her relationship with Clevinger and Ringworm Jr.
His baby momma had every right to take action.
I think his potential is strictly in his past.
I joked about domestic violence between Mike Clevinger and his baby’s mother. Now that official reports are coming to light that this was actually fact, I would like to point out that where there is smoke, there is fire.
There are certain truths about human behavior. Statistical truths about human behavior as well. If people understood these truths, informing themselves responsibly, so much of this planet would be better off. This includes who you vote for, kids…
For those of you who don’t know, Mike Clevinger was doing freaky things with Trevor Bauers accuser. He was doing those things when his girlfriend was pregnant with their baby
Using rate stat per 162 games is misleading when the player has never played 162 games in a season. The closest Acuna came is 2019 at 156. Since then he hasn’t played more than 75% of his teams games and that was in 2020. That is the entire problem with Acuna.
He has averaged 26 home runs per season in which his team played 162 games. That average is skewed by the 41 he had in the 2019 juiced ball season.
Stay healthy for a full season and then we get to see what kind of player he is or if 2022 is the real Acuna.
I like Clevinger as a rebound candidate in the AL.
It will never get how Jose Urena has a rotation spot locked down when he’s had an ERA above 5 the last 4 seasons.
Clevinger’s pre-delivery rockabilly needs a plasma-rich injection. His knee cartilage wears down bit-by-bit before every pitch. His actually pitching the ball is far less physically damaging.
Since that OCD be bop takes so much time, and drives so many viewers crazy, wonder how the pitch clock will be handled with him. If the rule is actually releasing a pitch before the gong sounds, he’ll never make it.
Acuña’s bat handle looks like it’s attached to the tomahawk on his ballcap.
I’m all about RAJ getting the opportunity to play in the WBC however, being ready to go for opening day and the season should be the priority here. They are DH’g him in the winter league and being cautious with his full recovery. Be smart Bravos