Opening Day Roster

[A. Cavatica]

It looks like Collins, Heuer, Lambert, Delmonico and Cuthbert made the roster. Not Madrigal, but Cuthbert is keeping his spot warm for a week.

Collins beat out Mercedes.

Heuer beat out Hamilton.

Lambert beat out Dunning, but they could easily have kept both.

Delmonico stands to lose his spot when Mazara recovers.

Detwiler is a questionable call, but they apparently wanted another lefty.
Fulmer was finally DFAed and Romine was released. Ryan Goins (who wasn’t as bad as Romine) was signed to the taxi squad.

[thomas35forever]

And Madrigal has been left off the Opening Day roster. I understand why, but stuff like this is gonna be a talking point when the league has a lockout after next year. https://twitter.com/whitesox/status/...295389698?s=19

[DeployEloy]

This is what we are looking at to start the year.

notable takeaways

1. Fulmer DFA
2. Madrigal not on 30 squad yet
3. Collins on main roster

[Frater Perdurabo]

I understand the service time thing (although I don’t like it), but I still think it’s dumb not to have Madrigal as the opening day 2B.

[DeployEloy]

Since there are dual posts about this, I’ll just copy the graphic and add here for people to check out

[Frater Perdurabo]

The only defensible argument for keeping Madrigal down is because they need/want Cuthbert to back up Moncada at 3B.

[ChiSoxNationPres]

Not sure how Madrigal is going to get "development" in a taxi squad situation. But I expect to see him in early Aug.

Hopefully this means Delmonico gets all the starts in RF vs righties.

Fulmer looked bad, and hasn't had good results at any point really. Not batting an eye with him not on the team.

I want Dunning to get some more low leverage situation/games to get back to form before he gets a taste of the big leagues. Might be a pen addition down the stretch if he progresses and there's a spot for him.

Heuer looks good, stuff is good. Need him in the pen immediately, so that was nice to see.

[KW1989]

And Madrigal has been left off the Opening Day roster. I understand why, but stuff like this is gonna be a talking point when the league has a lockout after next year. https://twitter.com/whitesox/status/...295389698?s=19

What a joke. Madrigal is the best 2B on the roster right now, and he needs to play as much as possible to improve rather than waste time in Schaumburg. The Sox are a better team with him in the lineup and Leury as the super sub who can play 7 positions and give players breaks--that's going to be huge with 60 games in 66 days.

Yeah, I understand the extra year of control, but I still question the wisdom of the service-time manipulation games. Look at the ****storm taking place on the North side between Bryant and the Cubs over this exact thing. It's pretty clear that Bryant has held it against them from the start, and will likely be gone the first chance he gets.

Meanwhile, the Sox have always struck me as being above this, buying out the option years for Eloy and Robert to render it a non-issue. Treating players well is probably what allows them to sign guys like Sale and Quintana to long term, team friendly deals that end up paying dividends down the road.

[ChiTownTrojan]

I thought for sure that Madrigal would be on the roster after Mazara hit the IL.

[Hitmen77]

And Madrigal has been left off the Opening Day roster. I understand why, but stuff like this is gonna be a talking point when the league has a lockout after next year. https://twitter.com/whitesox/status/...295389698?s=19

What a joke. Madrigal is the best 2B on the roster right now, and he needs to play as much as possible to improve rather than waste time in Schaumburg. The Sox are a better team with him in the lineup and Leury as the super sub who can play 7 positions and give players breaks--that's going to be huge with 60 games in 66 days.

Yeah, I understand the extra year of control, but I still question the wisdom of the service-time manipulation games. Look at the ****storm taking place on the North side between Bryant and the Cubs over this exact thing. It's pretty clear that Bryant has held it against them from the start, and will likely be gone the first chance he gets.

Meanwhile, the Sox have always struck me as being above this, buying out the option years for Eloy and Robert to render it a non-issue. Treating players well is probably what allows them to sign guys like Sale and Quintana to long term, team friendly deals that end up paying dividends down the road.

Yeah, I stand corrected since I doubted they would leave Madrigal off the opening day roster. It could have at least passed the smell test if we had no pandemic and a normal season with minor league teams in full operation where he could be playing live games. Yet another move to sew disgruntlement between players and management. I don't see Madrigal commanding "superstar" money down the road, either......and that's not to say that I don't like him as a player.

[Chez]

The only defensible argument for keeping Madrigal down is because they need/want Cuthbert to back up Moncada at 3B.

Madrigal's service time is a far more defensible argument than keeping Cuthbert to back up Moncada. Madrigal's service time is the only reason he's not on the active roster. And the Sox made the right call. He'll be back in six games.

[ChiTownTrojan]

I understand the service time thing (although I don’t like it), but I still think it’s dumb not to have Madrigal as the opening day 2B.

Agreed. I thought he'd for sure be on the team with Mazara out. I will say though that in the little I saw of him during spring/summer training he wasn't all that impressive (I only saw weak contact in his ABs), but I'm going off the reports of others that said he was the best of the 2B candidates.

Remember that rosters thin out over the course of the season, so for someone like Dunning to get a shot he'd have to jump over a bunch of relievers (or a bunch of guys in front of him get injured).

[ChiTownTrojan]

Madrigal's service time is a far more defensible argument than keeping Cuthbert to back up Moncada. Madrigal's service time is the only reason he's not on the active roster. And the Sox made the right call. He'll be back in six games.

That's obviously the reason, but it's not a "defensible" reason because service time manipulation is supposedly against the rules.

[Chez]

That's obviously the reason, but it's not a "defensible" reason because service time manipulation is supposedly against the rules.

All the cool kids manipulate service time.

[DeployEloy]

Must be missing this, but do rosters expand further at any point more than they currently are?