2021 Ideas to Improve the Sox, Part III

[vegandork]

When you are top 5 in baseball in exit velocity, which he was that year, it's far more sustainable.

The COVID thing worries me about Moncada. Not that he shouldn't be fine. But since he had it, the vaccine will be an issue for him. The people I know that had Covid that work in the medical industry are all not working and haven't been since getting the shot because the first vaccine shot caused extreme joint and muscle pain. It didn't subside when they went in for the booster.

[ChiTownTrojan]

The COVID thing worries me about Moncada. Not that he shouldn't be fine. But since he had it, the vaccine will be an issue for him. The people I know that had Covid that work in the medical industry are all not working and haven't been since getting the shot because the first vaccine shot caused extreme joint and muscle pain. It didn't subside when they went in for the booster.

See a few posts back referencing today's article in The Athletic where Moncada says he is 100% recovered and has been working out in full with no issues.

[Domeshot17]

I know prospects don't always pan out, but I believe it is kind of crazy to assume a window of contention will close because the very promising arms (plural emphasized) don't pan out. They can easily extend that window through deals and guys taking the next step. Our farm is riddled with intriguing arms, albeit young, but the core offense and defense is already in place and will be for a very long time.

I do agree that the strongest window of contention is now, but it could become high again if Kopech, Cease, Crochet, Thompson, Stiever, Vera, Kelley, Dahlquist, etc. come anything close to their projections.

But that doesn’t take anything away from the fact you have a huge window THIS YEAR RIGHT NOW. Nothing is promised next year. Guys regress, guys get hurt, other teams improve. I don’t think anyone is clamoring to make a move to sell the farm off but yes right now with the AL wide open I’d sure as hell call Trevor Bauer and say well give you 2/60 to come win a ring.

[vegandork]

See a few posts back referencing today's article in The Athletic where Moncada says he is 100% recovered and has been working out in full with no issues.

I don't think you understood what I said. I'm not concerned he's still suffering. I'm saying if he gets the vaccine, which is likely, that it will do it to his body all over again. Because it's a known consequence of the vaccine for people who have previously had Covid.

[FourGoldGloves]

I don't think you understood what I said. I'm not concerned he's still suffering. I'm saying if he gets the vaccine, which is likely, that it will do it to his body all over again. Because it's a known consequence of the vaccine for people who have previously had Covid.

I don't really know what I am talking about here, but I think you have to distinguish the symptoms of the immune system kicking into gear in response to the vaccine (muscle aches and joint pain), an effect that will likely be amplified if the system has seen the virus before, versus the effect of the virus itself in an active infection. There is some of each going on during an infection, probably accounting for some of the individual variation. If Moncada's lingering malaise was caused by damage done by the virus itself then no problem. He might miss a couple of games while his immune system peaks, but recover quickly with no further damage, as is apparently common experience with the vaccine. If Moncada's malaise was caused by autoimmune damage caused by his own immune system attacking his body, triggered by the virus, then it may be possible for the vaccine to trigger more of the same. But that part is not a known consequence of the vaccine. I think if it were common it might have been picked up in the trials, but who knows?

Even at this stage I believe it to be the case that we still do not understand what it is that causes the damage.

I am not an MD and I do not pretend to play one on WSI. Maybe a real MD can correct or amplify?

[Dumpjerry]

I don't think you understood what I said. I'm not concerned he's still suffering. I'm saying if he gets the vaccine, which is likely, that it will do it to his body all over again. Because it's a known consequence of the vaccine for people who have previously had Covid.

I would love to hear your science behind this. The vaccine contains zero COVID viruses, not live or dead. The vaccine is a messenger vaccine which send signals to your cells to reject the COVID viruses' attempts to attach (and subsequently infect) to the cells.

Do you have a link or links to legit studies that back up your assertion?

[rdivaldi]

Let's not get too excited about Moncada just yet: he has had exactly one good season.

Can we stop this nonsense? He's a former #1 prospect that put together a MVP quality season at a meager 24 years of age. It's time to stop doubling/tripling down on #bustwatch.

[rdivaldi]

Cant we just be realistic? It’s fantastic that Moncada feels great. But the guy has never been an all star or a top 20 MVP vote getter - so statements like “we got our MVP candidate back” is such an overstatement. A healthy
Moncada is a great thing to have but let’s let him earn his accolades.

He earned his accolades by being the #1 prospect in baseball and then tearing up the major leagues at 24 years of age. He's an All Star caliber third baseman that has the ability to put up MVP numbers. I can't see why it's not "realistic" to point out how talented he is.

[voodoochile]

He earned his accolades by being the #1 prospect in baseball and then tearing up the major leagues at 24 years of age. He's an All Star caliber third baseman that has the ability to put up MVP numbers. I can't see why it's not "realistic" to point out how talented he is.

Just want to add that even last year when he was struggling offensively he was the 16th ranked defender by Fangraphs. Not at 3rd base, for all positions. He was actually 3rd at 3rd...

[Mohoney]

That Fangraphs article about the White Sox bullpen mentioned possible continued interest in Colome, even with Hendriks already on board.

[DeployEloy]

But that doesn’t take anything away from the fact you have a huge window THIS YEAR RIGHT NOW. Nothing is promised next year. Guys regress, guys get hurt, other teams improve. I don’t think anyone is clamoring to make a move to sell the farm off but yes right now with the AL wide open I’d sure as hell call Trevor Bauer and say well give you 2/60 to come win a ring.

He's not coming here for 2/60. The guy is going to want more than what Cole got and for just as long. I can't imagine anyone giving him that, but its likely to be close. That screams Jason Heyward contract to me. If we can sign him to a 2 year deal, I'd be for the risk. I just don't see it panning out that way.

[rdivaldi]

Just want to add that even last year when he was struggling offensively he was the 16th ranked defender by Fangraphs. Not at 3rd base, for all positions. He was actually 3rd at 3rd...

Which is pretty amazing considering how mediocre/bad he had been at third base when he was in the minors and his first season. Personally I thought he was in the lineup at second base permanently. Glad to be flat out wrong about that.

[rdivaldi]

He's not coming here for 2/60. The guy is going to want more than what Cole got and for just as long. I can't imagine anyone giving him that, but its likely to be close. That screams Jason Heyward contract to me. If we can sign him to a 2 year deal, I'd be for the risk. I just don't see it panning out that way.

I can't imagine that Bauer (or his agent) is expecting to get Gerrit Cole money. He does not have Cole's track record, he's older and Covid still looms large. Maybe he'll get Lester type money, but I doubt it.

[ChiTownTrojan]

That Fangraphs article about the White Sox bullpen mentioned possible continued interest in Colome, even with Hendriks already on board.

And then it linked to a tweet from a week or two before Hendriks was signed, which said that the team had stayed in touch with Colome. There's nothing to suggest that they are still interested now that they signed Hendriks.

[vegandork]

I would love to hear your science behind this. The vaccine contains zero COVID viruses, not live or dead. The vaccine is a messenger vaccine which send signals to your cells to reject the COVID viruses' attempts to attach (and subsequently infect) to the cells.

Do you have a link or links to legit studies that back up your assertion?

None, just friends of mine who are three doctors, an EMT, and two nurses who are all both experiencing this and all completely unable to work because of it. It's been debilitating for them. I'm not trying to have a political argument and I think they'd all still agree you should get the vaccine. But from what I've seen, regardless of what Pfizer says, is that this reaction is to be expected for people who battled COVID and then get the vaccine.