2026 Preview: Catchers and Outfielders

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Injury law made personal, that's ain't gonna law.

From your favorite source for Chicago White Sox Talk, delivering news, interviews,

analysis, and more, this is the Sox Machine podcast with your hosts, Jim Margolis, James

Began, and Josh Nelson.

Thanks, Rob, and welcome to a new episode of the Sox Machine podcast.

I'm your host, Josh Nelson, and it's Thursday night, March 12, 2026, as we record this new show.

In this episode, we'll continue our 2026 position preview episodes.

Last show we previewed the White Sox infielders.

This time, we'll preview the White Sox catchers and outfielders, once again,

playing Yeh or Nay, and over under, speaking of White Sox catchers.

There's some big injury news on that front, as Kyle Teal is going to miss.

The next four to six weeks due to a hamstring strain, and joining me to discuss that further,

is Sox Machine's pre-reported James Began, and managing editor, Jim Margolis, and hello,

gentlemen. Kyle Teal is having a good time against Team USA, hit a home run,

but on his double, as soon as he rounded first base, he felt some pain in his lower half,

immediately took himself out of the game, and James Began, we find out that it's a hamstring strain,

and he's out four to six weeks. I guess for the White Sox in the catching situation,

what's the latest here? Is it as simple as just assuming that it's going to be

Edgar Carro and Corey Lee for the White Sox catching situation on opening day?

Yeah, sweet. I guess it works out. I mean, this is something that you have alluded to though,

James, about like the concern and maybe the hesitancy during the winter meetings when there was

some rumors, or maybe the whole pursuit of the Boston Red Sox trying to get Kyle Teal and the

rumor of, well, we're not going to trade Kyle Teal, but what about Edgar Carro? I guess it works

out for the White Sox from that perspective of holding on to Carro that unfortunately for Kyle

Teal, he's going to miss at least the first month of the regular season. You have someone that

you have some confidence in Carro to be able to carry most of the load. It's certainly like

catcher is supposed to be high damage position or like a high physical toll position.

So while they explored it this off season, and I'd probably expect them to explore it pretty much

every off season, it's certainly always like, yeah, they have a really pressing need and

you know, trading some of the excess can solve it. And you feel like decent about your backup,

like it's always worth considering. But I don't think they're going to like

not, it's not going to not be useful. It's not going to be like, I could see it if they both

like get really good. You know, it being somewhat of a limit to the personal satisfaction to be

their one to not get like full-time reps necessarily. But as far as just like being deep in the

position where like, there's a lot of like, normally it's not going to be pulling hamstrings in

mid-march. And you know, Chris gets talking reporters seems a little bit like this is the risk that

they feel like they take on allowing them to play out there. Is that they're going to be running Max

effort? Kyle Teal, definitely seen him running hard. It's been training game before.

You know, he's someone who likes to use his speed. So it's it's part of like something that is a

risk for him, I guess. Out there, like, you don't think of that as like what catchers are,

or how they're getting injured all the time. It's full of hamstrings,

linking out extra base hits. But this is a benefit of this. And you know, it's not like you're going

to resent or regret giving a 22-year-old Edgar Carro. You know, kind of a longer list of reps

especially since he was the one who kind of seemed like he was getting second-fiddle as far as

what they're allotting to him. I'm like, oh, he's going to start against lefties as a catcher,

which seems like more limited role. Teal seemed like the one who were there going to commit to

like, well, this is going to be basically treated like our primary starting catcher. Or the one out of

the two of them, you certainly expect to see heavier at bats and reps. So this is a window for

Carro to play more, which obviously you can use in the major league level. He's only 22. And as,

you know, multiple areas of this game that we probably think he can get better at,

like, there's still latent upside on. Not just like saying, this is a weakness as far as this

framing or more power. But like, things he's been working on. And now you get an extended run to

see how much you can improve on it. So it's not beneficial. Teals is probably like your second-best

player in the lineup for a large portions of the second half last season. And this,

you know, lower the ceiling, you know, however many, like, degrees for the, you know, two and a half

weeks he could, or three weeks he could miss. But, yeah, you, as much as any area on the roster,

certainly positional side, you can feel like, okay, we don't feel bad about we're plugging in here,

especially since Gory Lee is, you know, solid, major league backup. And now he gets to be that.

Now you don't have to, you know, answer that question of whether he put him through waivers at

the end of spring and whether he gets through or work out a deal or whatnot. Now he has a chance to

play in these well-liked in the clubhouse. And, you know, certainly hitting this spring,

both of us far when he hits it. We'll see how much he's making contact with it, you know,

in backup reps. But it's, it's, it's not good, but it's something that they're more

positioned absorb. It's not like other moments of the last rebuild of somebody pulling up and

be like, all right, all those lost. Let's go walk into the lake together. It feels a little bit

better than that. That the follow up, James, it hasn't been decided yet if Teal would need some

type of rehab assignment, right? Like he's got enough at bats and spring trading world baseball

classic. Like he would not need that or is that something that you're not going to hear about

until he's closer to return? You're certainly not going to get it determined for you. He's going

to need to like ramp up or in game action of some form, especially if he's like, you know,

seems unlikely that he would play in spring again, especially if he's supposed to be down

four weeks. So does that come in next then in spring, which will definitely still be hopping

by the time of like early April? Does he actually get out the Charlotte? Kind of guesswork and

it's kind of six into one hand and a half does the other. You generally would like to see them

face triple A pitching rather than the backfields pitching to get ready for the big leagues,

but it's also like, do you want to yank him out to, you know,

Charlotte or with depending on where they're at when he's coming back and is at the better use

of time and resources and also like flights take a toll in terms of like, yeah, you're trying to

rehab a like something that is affected by dehydration. Do you want to go on a bunch of flights?

We'll see. Like it's probably not something that affects his timeline in some big way,

but I would expect to be figured out closer to when he's coming back.

The white socks fly them private, right? That's what I thought.

Kidding. Jim, as far as spring training injuries go, it sucks that we're not going to be talking

about Kyle Teal on opening day and being part of the festivities in Milwaukee, but compared to

other spring training injuries that we have talked through over the years. Luis Roberts,

Eli Heminez, Duncan, the outfield wall. Teal's a very good player. Teal was going to be counted

on, but it doesn't seem like his injury has a great deal of impact right now for the white

socks to start 2026. Is that fair to say? Yeah, this is kind of like a simulation. If they

try to get crochet for a different package, you know, with the red socks like Marcel Meyer or

something like that, somebody who was a top prospect and kind of blocked and the white socks

traded for them. Instead, and they would settle for a combination of Kero and Lee, which I think

going into that trade, everybody was more or less okay with. You know, maybe Lee is somebody

who'd swap out with somebody else because he hadn't really done much to distinguish himself,

but Kero, you know, based on the way he'd been playing for the age that he was at the levels he

was playing at, certainly had future catcher all over him. Whether it was like future regular,

future all star, you know, somebody required some more help and ensuring the time behind the

plate remain to be seen, but he was certainly fine. And the acquisition of Teal kind of surprised

people in that regard saying, well, now you got two catchers. Do you have to trade one of them?

And that question still remains to this day. So yeah, it makes a lot of sense. I think Lee is somebody who,

you know, I think he probably gets one more good period of run with an organization because like,

he's physically talented enough to be like a an all star catcher in terms of like the power you can

hit with the speed that he runs, like he's physically compelling in a way most catchers are into

just the rest of the game, the contact or at least like the play discipline, allowing him to get

to those best contact, the soft skills of like game managing, receiving or lagging a little bit,

but like the arm, the power, the speed is like, hey, that's a catcher. So it's, it seems like

there's probably at least one period of time where maybe he gets like a month of regular play for

some organization just to see if he can do it. Yeah, my guess is if he could do what he'd done it by now,

but such are his skills and at least like the his physical tools behind the plate that

you got to give him a shot somewhere. And so like it's a nice opportunity for him here. And it's

something he can parlay probably into a better opportunity somewhere else, uh, should Teal return

a smooth timetable and Carol is blocking him. And the white socks still have Jury Roma who will help

out in Charlotte. So that's the catching situation for the white socks. We'll talk more about the white

socks catchers in a moment. Kyle Teal is having a very strong world baseball classic for team

Italy. He went four for six with a home run at a double. Sam Antonacci, you see him all over social

media. He had a big home run against team USA. He is so far two for 11 in the world baseball

classic, but he has scored four runs. And he also had a pretty nifty defensive deac on a base

runner against team Mexico to pick up another out and force a two plans of Sam Antonacci's doing all

right for team Italy. Big thanks to our sponsor, Better Help for partnering with us for this important

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H-E-L-P dot com slash 89 to get started. The Bleacher Report app is your destination for sports.

Right now, the NBA is heating up, March Manus is here, and MLB is almost back. Every day there's a

new headline, a new highlight, a new moment you've got to see for yourself. That's why I stay

locked in with the Bleacher Report app. For me, it's about staying connected to my sports.

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Margin, the United States will face Canada on Saturday, Friday night. I'm sorry, it's

7 p.m. Central time, Logan Webb will get the ball for the Americans, Mike Soroka, old friend will

get the ball for Canada. The winner of those games will face each other on March 15th at 7 p.m.

Central time on Fox Sports 1 over in the other side of the bracket for Saturday, Puerto Rico against

Italy. That game will be at 2 p.m. Central time. So if you want to see Sam Antonacci continue to play

for Italy, that'll be the time. And then Minotaka Murakami and Team Japan will take on Venezuela

at 8 p.m. Central time on Fox Saturday night. The winner of those games will play against each other

on March 16th and the championship will be on St. Patrick's Day, March 17th at 7 p.m. Central time.

Will TV USA get there? Well, they got a little lucky to make it to quarter finals, even the

March of Rosa, uh, misspoke Jim. Uh, I don't know if that is misspeaking and what he's trying to claim,

but he probably just thought, oh, where he's gonna beat Italy and they ended up getting paddled,

uh, down 8 nothing, but they made a late run at the end. Uh, here's my hot take after watching

Team USA in the World Baseball Classic. I know you picked them to win it all, Jim, uh, for maybe not

baseball reasons. Now it's even the world is working. Now it's even more joyless because I

have this controversy over it. Right. And that's kind of why I don't want to see the major

leagueers in the Olympics. Team USA appears to be the only ones not having fun. Bryce Harper's

comments about the world baseball classic, like you'd rather play the Olympics to the WBC,

then why are you playing right now? Bryce, why are you go back to clear water then have somebody

else play first base for Team USA if you don't want to do this. It's clear you don't care about

the playing for the country. You just want the attention. That's why you mentioned the Olympics

because you'd rather play for Team USA in the Olympics because to your point, more attention

more eyeballs on you. Okay. That's your real motivation. And I get it. The Olympics completely changed

its schedule to allow major league baseball to have their players participate because in 2028,

the baseball part of the summer Olympics is July 15 to the 20th. So instead of the normal

all-star break, major league baseball could take that break off for a week and have the players

for their respective countries play in the Olympics. But if this is how they're going to be now in

the world baseball classic gym and what two years from now in the Olympics, a lot of these guys,

let's be honest, are going to be kind of washed. So it might be different type of major leagueers,

hopefully younger stars still on Team USA. But after this and watching this, I'm out. Let

let the under 23 year olds represent Team USA in the Olympics. That's my vote in. That's my hot

take. Yeah, I think there's an inherent, I guess disenchantment or the major leagueers, American

major leagueers can't really afford to be impressed by the world baseball classic because they do

play in the best league in the world, which is hosted in their country. So to elevate something else

on the same level when they're already doing the damn thing as they might think, I can understand

why they might be jaded or at least like they have nothing to gain from it because if they

lose to another country who's been gearing up for and has more experience playing as like a national

unit, they look exposed or it's like, oh, you should have lost. And so like if they wouldn't

suspect it and nobody really celebrates it the way Dominican mighter, Japan might celebrate

or even Cuba national triumph. And if they lose, they're kind of just, you know, kind of the

butts of jokes. I think, you know, deros's comments took it to another level because like it

did appear that he did not misspeak based on the way the strategy that he laid out was not playing

to win, deleting the evidence on mlb.com. You know, we talked about Chris gets his comments about

Luis San Helicunia, you know, being a switch hitter and like, maybe appreciate his approach more

of just like gentle humor saying like, ha, ha, you know, you know, I do believe he must spoke,

but in the case of like, he didn't get defensive about it or like trying to backtrack, he just

rolled within a little bit and made fun of himself. And, you know, the stakes are, I suppose,

lower to where he could, but like, you know, Derosa being a morning talk show host, basically,

who's managing a game like you would think that he would have that club in his bag of just being

able to do some self deprecation, a flavored PR and didn't do it, skit and touchy. So it's, yeah,

definitely, you know, even uglier to this extent, but yeah, it's, it's fun watching the other

countries have fun. You wish that the American flavor of baseball would have more of that in its

versus being very stoic and not shaking hands and and and being hardos about it when they're not,

you know, and then they have to back in. So it's like, they're trying to be a machine and they're not.

And that kind of makes it look even sadder. So yet, they're really having trouble, I think,

finding the right notes of, you know, where do they fit in with this

international competition when everything they do is international competition on daily basis

effectively. And, you know, they play in the World Series, which is, you know, obviously two

countries, but still like has world in the title is the biggest stage. And doesn't quite matter

to them the way that, you know, clearly playing for homelands for Japanese players or Dominican

players of Venezuela's, you know, clearly matters more. Yeah, I forgot the whole cow rally and

Randy Rosarino. You guys are teammates, cow. Like, come on, it's a, it's a teammate. Yeah, just,

yeah, rolling eyes, dismissive jerking motion type response of that. Just like, what are you trying

to do? They seem to be in a similar spot of the, um, US national team for basketball, where

basically, they, you're, there's a limit on how much fun you're going to have because anything

out of them dominating is a failure. So all, like, all the teams having fun or being scrappy

underdogs, being thrilled to be there. Like, I don't think like a major league laden, like,

US team is ever going to have that vibe because all of his, like, well, you have the best talent in

the world. You're supposed to, like, crush every game, um, even like them beating Brazil. It's like,

they didn't do it by enough. Like, you wouldn't have that dynamic if you had college players because

you'd kind of be thrilled by everything they're able to accomplish. And because their talent level's

not ever blowing anyone away, you can kind of have this satisfaction of anything they do is, like,

through effort or execution or, like, preparation and all these things, like, we want to root for,

whereas every US, like, is examined to the lens of, like, are they maximizing what they have

enough? And no, no product other than winning like 30 to nothing, every game will really do that.

And even then, like, well, that was joyless. Like, that was like watching a carpet bombing. Like,

who, why are we hearing for this? So, like, I think it's pretty difficult for them to really have

that dynamic. But also, like, the, yeah, Bryce doesn't want to be there. And like, it seems like

it's for eyeballs. That's what everyone's there for. Like, that's why the stars are there. That's

what they're trying to make this event is it's full of stars. And it's something you have to watch

because it has, like, just so much whole or gravity that it's almost like relevant to the

national scene to not have it. So, while I think you would be happier watching college stars,

just like the way I was happy you're covering the 2019 white socks than the 2021 white socks.

Um, I don't, I don't see how you could ever turn like the car around at this point. Since it's

the whole thing is like trying to get more star participation to make this like a musty television

event than something that's like, I'm going to get watched in its own merits by being this scrappy

fun event, you know, with, with people with the players that like people don't really know. Like,

the samples as they're talking about like Sam attitude 11, like they're meaningless unless you're

kind of already bought into like, who these players are and whether they're showing up in the moment.

Like, same analogy, you hit a home run off of the best pitching prospect at baseball. He's

having a great classic as far as I'm concerned. Like, this has, because, you know, that's where he's

at, developmental wise where it's like, he's basically, you know, hitting things off and off,

awesome, majorly picture. That's a separate rant. But like, I'm just saying,

I get what you're saying and also will never happen. Your, your dream, but we'll never live on

beyond this podcast. Yeah. Again, that's why I label as a hot take. But here's the thing,

my, my final thing about Team USA and all these major leagueers, Japan's one more.

Japan is one more world baseball championships. Japan beat Team USA. They got Otani. He's

better than all of you. There should be a chip on Team USA shoulders. And it just seems like

they're very corporate. Like, we're here because we're getting paid. And I just like, the vibes have

been off for, like, America to me, baby. I might be a case where like, yeah, having marked

a Rosa being at the head of it is like, yeah, not important. Like, whereas like with Team USA basketball,

like, having a Mike Shoshewski, while not a, you know, not Phil Jackson, in terms of commanding

the respective NBA players, like clearly an important basketball figure in America, who has

experienced running a team, you know, that at least signified status. But that was Spain, right?

Spain was the one that was really challenging, like LeBron and Kobe and their prime with Coach

K as a head coach. If I remember, yeah, it's Paul Gasol and whatnot. But now Serbia is kind of

taken up. And certainly France going forward is, is possibly going to their lunch. But I think

even like, while you're true about the way Japan's performed as well, like, I don't think it's going

to take longer. It's going to make more sustained run from Japan to not have the underlying sense of

like, well, if we really put our best out there, we should win every time, which I think the US,

the basketball team is under the impression of the baseball team is like, Eccalease going to have

that underlying expectation. It's going to be a while before Americans really think like, well,

we're really the underdogs of Japan. So if we can just stay in it, like, we're good. Like, that's

not, that's not the mentality yet, even after losing to them once or twice.

Yeah, I do understand. I do. It'll be very fascinating if they struggle against Canada.

I mean, I guess that'd be Canada's revenge. America beat Canada in hockey, in the Olympics for

the women and the men. Be funny if Canada beat USA and baseball in the world.

Ridiculous. I mean, that Canada team couldn't beat the Panama team that was fighting each other

in the dugout. The Bleacher Report app is your destination for sports. Right now, the NBA is

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Well, now we continue our 2026 position previews, and we just talked about the catchy

situation for the Chicago White Sox, and that's where we're going to start with the White Sox

Catchers preview. Looking at the begota projections for Kyle Teal and Egger Carro, as we were

projecting that they would be splitting majority of the time as the Chicago White Sox Catchers.

Kyle Teal's Spacota projection, batting 234 with a 319 on base percentage slugging 377.

That's a 696 OPS with 13 home runs and 48 RBI's.

Spacota likes Egger Carro a little better offensively, as Carro projected for a 254 batting

average slugging 326. I'm sorry, on base percentage of 326 slugging 386 at the 712 OPS with 12

homers and 54 RBI's. Jim, I'll start with you. What does a successful season look like now

for Egger Carro, seen as how he looks to be the starting catcher for the White Sox at opening day?

I would say on the whole that he's, people want trade for him. In a way that meets the White Sox,

asking price or at least is more about teams really want Egger Carro the way we heard about teams

really wanting Kyle Teal or even the Boston Red Sox wanting Kyle Teal back.

He didn't quite get that clamoring over Carro because of just, yeah, he's not as ethnically gifted.

Doesn't necessarily have the power upside of Teal. Receiving is rougher.

Carro has things going for him, switch hitter. I think he can get to more power than he's shown.

I think he hit 15 homers in a season. Seems like I think get to like a 400 slugging,

depending on whether that's kind of more average dependence or whether he kind of taps the more

power and doesn't necessarily need the average to get up that high to the ISO more than compensates.

Ideally, if he gets to more power than the plate discipline that he showed in the minors,

plays up a little bit because pictures have to be, you know, tread a little bit more carefully

around him. So I think offensively, there's room for him to grow and being above average

hitter, maybe not like an all-star level offensive contributor, but if you're talking like a,

you know, 110 WRC plus, like I think you could maybe get there. Maybe if not this year,

then maybe a couple years down the road. But I think like if he can lay a road map to where

whether it's the White Sox, keeping him or whether it's another team looking to acquire him,

like they can see that ability of just like, yeah, he can get there. And even if the framing

struggles to get to average, he's somebody who can be a starting catcher in Major League. Major

League's gonna like be a 1a catcher for a team's death chart that actually wants to compete is not

just like the best catcher available. So let me flip it over to you, James, for Kyle Teal.

Now understanding that he might miss most of April, if not all of April rehabbing his hamstring,

what does a successful 2026 season look like for Kyle Teal?

Like I Swiss a boil into one thing or I don't know, he's got it like some reason I put myself in a

format where I need to come up with one number that encapsulates his success. Like something that marks

maybe the number of wins he provided over replacement. I don't know. I would say like plus five framing,

you know, that's kind of the potential they're putting as far as like how we did distinguish

yourself from Carol for one. And just I think a vision of like Teal being a regular two to three

when player season to season is like him achieving above average framing that they think he's capable of

not just, you know, scratch like he was last year, which is great for rookie start. But 20 home runs

seems a little metal, you know, heavy metal as far as like an expectation, especially if he's gonna

miss let's say more two to three weeks rather than taking out the whole month of April at least at

the stage. It can be pessimistic later. 340 OBP. I think the the raw pop is there in the

sense like if he's on base that much that kind of insinuates that he's making enough contact

that I trust a reasonable amount of home runs are. So if I'm trying to list out as many like or

as few numbers as possible, like one, I'd like to give him 200 games, especially after that kind of

this this issue in spring. But so that's why I put it more in terms of rate sets. So if if he's

in that just clearly above average, it doesn't even need to be five. I'm pointing out as like kind of a low end

benchmark of like not someone is going to compete for the top of the not like the next Patrick Bailey

level crazy framing. But just like someone who clearly demonstrating that sort of above average

skill, he's going to grow at and he was getting on base at 340 OBP. I think the power is there that

you're going to be pretty happy with that player on both sides of the ball if he's doing those things.

Not saying he's like perfect at controlling running game or blocking at this point. But if those

baseline strengths are there, I feel like you're still thinking like how it feels your number one

catcher going in the next year, which is obviously what they view for a long term.

And that's kind of well, I'm glad you mentioned the defensive metrics. Like for agar caro,

what would be successful in 2026 if you took a big leap forward on the blocking and the receiving

portion, even though with ABS, there's an opportunity for caro to help out his pitchers.

This upcoming season, be nice to not have to scroll to the bottom and see where caro is ranked

among other catchers, a major league baseball defensively. That brings me to yay or nay,

because before Kyle Teal's injury gym, I would say Teal is going to have more starts

a catcher for the white socks and agar caro. Now that caro, let's be optimistic to James's point,

is going to get a couple of week head start as far as games. Yay or nay,

agar caro leads most starts as white socks catcher in 2026.

I'm going to say nay, but I had to think about it. It's a good question. I think there's enough

to aware, you know, if caro doesn't make that next step forward with his offense,

if the receiving still lags behind and Teal does make a stride, you know, if it gets to a point

where they feel like he's not being served being kind of a catcher's playing, you know, 35,

40% of the time behind the plate needs more time. Like I could see a case where they break him up

and goes back down to Charlotte if he's in a rut and he's just not getting the time to break out

of it. So I think there's enough, the white socks have enough invested in Teal and you know,

I think this, there's a little bit of tension now between the two catchers, but just in terms

of just the situation and two guys looking to get enough playing time to distinguish themselves

as major league starters to where like something might have to give and I think caro might be the

one who has to give if Teal's healthy. So that's why I think there's, while caro has a head start

now, I think there's enough that could develop in season to where he could be drawing the short straw

if like the playing time allocations need to change. So that brings me over to James for the

over under for white socks catchers. You mentioned it'd be great if Kyle Teal could play 100 games.

I put in the over under James vegan 81 and a half games played by Kyle Teal in 2026. Are you

taking the over or under? I feel like I'm predicting like something bad to happen is life to take

the under so I'm going to take the over so that I can sleep at night. Who's the one that we're

trying not to make angry because we keep forgetting about them? Is that Antonacci that we didn't

mention him? I'm not trying to make anyone angry, but you know, Sam seems pretty good natured

even while you know, generally saying things that seem to standard deviations more intense and

most payments I run across. I mean, there's a chance I just want to make him a character. Yeah.

Confronting him with the quote that he had about him, he said, if you duck out of the way of a

slider at your knees with two strikes, I don't think you want to win very much. And he responded with

like sounds like me made it seem like there's a level of self-awareness about this persona that he

puts on to get through games that I think he's with us a little bit on seeing the entertainment

value and what he does. He did duck his or he did dip his shit into a pitch a two strike slider

though during the WBC. So like he is he is walking the talk. Yes. There's still a chance that both

can play over a hundred games, right? Teal and Carol. Yeah. That's realistic. I think so.

So that's the catching situation for the white socks. Even though Teal will miss some time,

I'm still optimistic that the white socks will get quite a bit of production behind home plate.

And we can be more confident what holds for the future for the white socks with these two young

catchers. Let's go to the position group that I am still very worried about entering the middle of

March entering St. Patrick's Day getting closer to opening day. And this is the outfield. So let's

start with the least worrisome spot. I guess. And that's left field for the white socks. And we're

projecting to Andrew Bennett's handy. We'll be getting the majority as starts and left field for

the Chicago white socks. Dakota is projecting for Bennett's handy a dip in power production in

2026 and 111 games. Dakota's projecting a 244 batting average a 314 on base percentage slugging

374 with 11 home runs and 45 RBI's. Bennett's handy the last two seasons for the Chicago white socks

has hit 20 home runs. James, we've talked about the Achilles Andrew mentioned to you during spring

training that he is going to try to get himself physically ready to play as much as possible and left

field manager will vennable wants to take it game by game at least to start to see and how Ben

Attendee is doing health wise playing in the field. What does a successful 2026 season look like

for Andrew Bennett's handy left field is a position you feel best about in the outfield given the way

you're talking about Andrew Bennett's ending yeah yeah um I would tip like I would characterize

the way Andrew put it as he feels good like from his off season like he thinks he's in position

to play left field less so than like he's getting ready to play left. What he's saying is that like

he thinks from the way he feels that if they ask in the play every day out there that he'd be fine

with it and he wouldn't feel like hey what were we doing got to manage this. Vennable saying and you

know gets kind of acuying what gets said at the GM meetings of the off season of like we we're not

reasonably going to ask him given what he's gone through the last two years to play like every day

reps out there. Obviously if like he's playing like gold glove defense again and talking about how

great he feels and it's stretching into June even as they're avoiding like playing him you know

whatever the plan is if it's not more than like back-to-back and he builds up to that and that like

he usually doesn't play in the field three days or oh something something that or the other

and he continues to show well from that maybe he can earn that sort of status but they're not going

to be like I know we said we're going to be careful but he said he's fine so forget it like that's

I think the the way they're managing it I still think he could play out there you know two out of three

or four out of seven or five out of seven over the course of like a week and we'll kind of see

how it goes and certainly see like if he performs or if he still like performs like someone that you

lean towards maybe not playing out there if you have both three other outfielers that you feel

matchup well in that outfield and are probably going to play better defense of him that's also

something that obviously ever since Pereira books about Oldman and Louis on Helikunia Jared

Calonick like pretty much everyone but Austin Hayes and this mix not really being proven

to hit enough to take it fast regularly and you have to see like how how who is going to stick

before you shake out like exactly how those assignments are going to work but I think at this point

picking the field Andrew Penn and Tendi seems like the closest to being a regular out there in left

field that said if he's D.H. anymore especially with teal out Austin Hayes has played in left field

plenty in the past and played out there at these amount of spring and maybe if other guys step up

Austin Hayes plays just as much left field as Andrew Penn attending this year. It's a fluid situation

and you know not just because fluid build up happens a lot over the course of long seasons.

So moving over to Yeh or Nay for Andrew Bennett Tendi Jim Margulis Yeh or Nay Andrew Bennett Tendi

finally reaches two-war season with the White Sox. I'm going to say Nay just because

seems like a lot of things have to go right just in terms of playing time in terms of like

if he's hitting enough does that mean he plays in the outfield more than he should and the defense

eats into his value to where like you look at his number and he's like wait that only got you

1.3 wins and like yeah look at his metrics like I that's we've seen those seasons before

that you learn how much poor outfield play can really just damage a guy's ability to accumulate value

in that regard. So I think getting that number requires like most things to go right for him

and I just yeah based on what he's shown first three years based on how it seems like you know

in his thirties he's yeah statistically less likely to be in better shape especially when it comes

to legs and like full out effort in the outfield. Not sure you're getting that back and I think

you know probably his role is just this overpaid functional corner bets can rotate

out of DH teams don't hate having in lineup but just sign a contract at different time he's not

that guy and not just a matter of how do you get him in a role that makes use of his strengths

without like making people resentful whether it's like fans being like man he's still out there and

and you know gumming up the works for you know right now they don't have that problem like right

now the white socks need average bats he's fine but should they get to a point where they just

can't have him a DH because other guys need you know other guys who are a bigger part of the future

could use those played appearances like what do you do with that's um yeah I'm based on the

trajectory of his white socks career so far hard to bet against that outcome so I guess I'm just

sticking with that hoping for you unlike just because it's uh in terms of how much it might dwell

over discussions like how'd rather have a a tone shift for left field and be like oh he's all right

and then you can talk about other things but uh it's been kind of a constant conversation of just

what do you do with them and I could see that kind of lingering uh well into 2026 so that

brings over to the over under so James vegan over under 19 and a half home runs hit by Andrew

Bennett Tundee in 2026 I don't know man he didn't have the oblique scare already in spring so

it wasn't like super encouraging that they are kind of deeper in a way that they don't necessarily

need to spam him into every matchup uh because he's like always going to be like their most valuable

they're valuable like hitter necessarily against left handers if they if things shake out for them

and he said maybe he doesn't need to hit as many home runs this year with the thunder behind him

maybe needs to be kind of a more back to slash and dash and get on base kind of got so he's been

hitting ball hard in spring which means absolutely nothing I don't know I said it I'll go under uh

just because if his approach bears out along with like literally any dip in playing time or injury

things like it seems like it's it doesn't seem like a wise thing to bet on I don't I don't know uh

I think a season could take different shapes and still be successful as opposed to the last

of years where it felt like if he didn't hit 20 home runs uh then it wasn't wasn't good so yeah

that's my justification for why I feel I'm saying somebody's going to have a bad year but

Jim over under 19 and a half for Ben attendee I'd say under for the same reasons

yeah well we're reasoned well justified yeah no notes I'm we're all under 19 maybe let's guilt

uh would have been made made a better segment let us know either in the youtube comments or on

the podcast post and socksbitching.com if you are taking the over or under 19 and a half home runs

for Andrew and your Ben attendee in 2026 moving over to center field and we are projecting for the

white socks that Luis and hell akunia will be the starter out there it's going to be a very fluid

situation we're probably going to see a lot of faces out there uh playing center field for the

white socks in 2026 but goda is projecting 102 games for akunia in 2026 batting 246 with a 293

on a base percentage slugging 353 with seven homers and 36 RBI's but projecting 24 stolen bases

for akunia and Jim margoless what does a successful season look like for Luisa and hell akunia in 2026

uh to carry on my theme of like not putting a number on it immediately I would say that we're not

talking about a lack of options or just uh how do you move them up and down or waivers or how do

you play him he's just like oh he's a center fielder whether he's like more of a center fielder in

the fourth outfielder mode to where you'd rather not have him starting uh the majority of the

games but sometimes you have to and at least he can go and get it well enough to where like you

bet I'm not maybe turns lineup over you get his legs involved to with some of the better hitters

coming up and yeah kind of like the Larry Garcia lead off era of uh now who you want leading off

but when he gets on base he scores some runs because he knows what he's doing out there well enough

to uh to make something happen um yeah Garcia was a popular comp just because of the yeah maybe

too popular because of the switch hitting uh comment that gets made but just in terms of somebody who

uh in his final form should be able to play some infield probably will take to the outfielder

outfield better than people thought initially and then you throw in you know what should be plus

base running and if his OBP started with a three uh and the defense was plus uh then he's a

major leager of some kind um especially in the right lineup to where you don't need him to be uh

you know hitting ten homers offensively or yeah really um providing a boost it's more a matter of

like can you catch it uh if you get on base can you score and he seems like you can do those things

moving over to yay or nay James vegan yay or nay akunia plays well enough that he

solidifies a center field position for the white socks not only for two thousand twenty six

but also the 2027 season uh that seems a little spicy um and it's kind of beyond the boundaries

of just the successful season for him that he he cured cancer and bought everyone lunch too type of

prognostication i don't think like even they're like view of him as like a good player is necessarily

everyday center fielder i i think it's like versatile guy who bounces around so

he'd have like the profile would have to change uh in a meaningful way not just like he has a good year

to be like this is not only like we're happy with how this went but this is what our center field is

known out in in 2027 it's not like there's a center fielder the future in the system or like

that's what i think they should like but i'm bringing him out come where he's played out the

out of the gate or something but i don't think like even a good lewisau on hill akunia year is like

well we've got our center of field in the future we can stop looking for one now like if you know

any good post high center field prospect like comes available like no no we got akunia we want

we're not in that business so i i think that would be like he hits 30 home runs and plays like

plus 10 defense in center field like level of success which i'm sure great that'd be awesome

but i i i bet it's more likely he doesn't do that um okay and that's not an octave

that moves over to our over under for akunia so i think the one thing that he can provide other than

maybe some position versatility for the chicago white socks getting some starts in center field

might get some starts within the infield as well they've talked about second base for akunia

for the white socks not only do they need more power but it could also help to get more stolen

bases especially after trade and release robber to the new york mets for kota's thinking 24 stolen

bases gym margolus over under 23 and a half stolen bases for akunia in 2026 i want to say over

just because we look at it last year when you look at what he's done in the minor leagues like

minor leagues full-season you're stealing 40 plus even the majors last year at the mets 95 games

like a bench player pinch runner stole 16 bases in 17 attempts like this is going to be his

meal ticket and i think like with what we've seen so far in spring and uh just how akunia's

got to define himself as a major league or like i think he's going to be able to run whenever he

can or like he's going to get an automatic green light more or less and i think depending on

how this outfield shakes out like if the white socks are in a position to where

they have to scratch out some runs or they have to take the extra base that to be real aggressive

about it's with like secondary leads and such like he they might be at the mindset to where if he's

on base we want him running like we we want him uh having a worse success rate because that means

he's running more that means he's taking more chances he can and uh you know be great if you

were stealing you know 94 95 percent of the time but like if he's um you know creating more

opportunities for himself and occasionally gets burned like i'm sure the white socks would be great

with that too just because that means like he's leveraging his best skill so um yeah i would say over

as long as he's healthy and like just getting on base or guys are getting on base for him and he's

more of a late game sub to where like they need those 90 feet so i can imagine him doing that too

because uh he with the metsy was somebody who would run when everyone knew he was going to run

and i think in this era of you know fewer pitch outs and limited pick-off moves that it's uh

environment which he can thrive so james how about you over under 23 and a half stolen bases for

akunya uh i watched him get to infield singles in this game uh that's going on while we're recording

this one of them was like to the second basement people we talked a little bit about him cutting his

head open on a stolen base attempt uh the starter spring we did not talk about him being safe uh i

think he can do it he's gonna get the plane time to do it it looks plenty fast and like his jumps

are good and uh you know his older brother uh probably has some tips the tricks that he can uh share

so i think he's in a good spot for that all right so we're all over because i will also take the over

on 23 and a half stolen bases for akunya in 2026 again let us know in the podcast

host on sockspushing.com i'm in the youtube comments if you're taking the over or under 23

and a half stolen bases for akunya in 2026 and that brings us to the last position that we will

preview in this podcast episode and that is in right field i'm projecting that austin haze will

get most of the playing time in right field for the white socks that could obviously change depending

on who makes a 26 man roster but becota for austin haze the new guy is projecting 102 games in 2026

batting 236 with a two 92 on base percentage and slicking 388 with 12 homers and 46 rb i's

and jim i feel like with austin haze he's here for a fun time and not a long time because it's a

one year contract with the mutual option so what does a successful season look like for austin haze

with the white socks but what if they pick up the mutual option um what if james what if that happens

that'd be awesome i'd love to cover such an event oh yeah successful season is that he does not

finish the season with the white socks i think is the idea here austin slater um yeah

christ gets says conflated them before um in a way that did not settle arms that you know he was

talking about it just easy to make like i had to uh remember which one was which one the white

socks uh science later just to make sure like i had the skill sets right and like the track record

rights and which one was the all star so i think the yeah it's a case where he plays well enough to

give the white socks um a credible corner outfielder and help this project of winning games

and make the offense look better and then by the end of the season he gives way like he

he gets straight into a team that can use his skills immediately and clears the way for

brave montgomery or like jared kelnik if he somebody who can at least you know regain a platoon

bats uh future forum and you know who knows maybe more but i think the white socks are more

invested in guys with more service time in front of them uh to wear like haze is just as soon as

they can trade them for somebody compelling they will and you know hopefully it's a case where

you know montgomery is knocking down the door behind him where kelnik is just overqualified for a

part-time role and needs to get stretched out more um yeah there are lots of forces both

external and internal that should make this a you know half season engagements uh who know

make me less if it all if it all goes well so that brings it over to the yay or nay james

vegan austin haze plays well enough to get traded before the deadline yay or nay

uh i mean sure he looks good uh i suppose that there's successful

versions of his season where i don't know if the socks are like contention but

uh they don't want to break up what they're doing and he's part of the vibe or something and

um you know he's good in solid he's playing a role he's matching lefties uh but maybe not

this hugely valuable piece where if like it's kind of if he really doesn't want to be traded kind

of the way like similar to talkman was productive last year but like wasn't necessarily gonna bring

it in a hall and they like to have him around and he had reasons for wanting to be there

so i i don't think like that's the only measure of success or if he stays here it's a failure uh

but he's looked great in spring he's been healthy uh he's with the hitting coach he's had success with

before he's described why they work well together uh says he's a very visual learner and

fuller loves his power points so um match made in heaven so yeah sure i buy it uh there's no reason to

look at what he's done since coming in the socks uniform uh and be like bearish on him uh being

a movable piece of deadlines uh been a movable piece of deadline when his life was in danger so

now that he's healthy and happy um you know hopefully has even better production

well the question is plays well enough does he get traded that's up in the air Mike talkman played

well enough right get traded last year yes sure so is it make my reputation?

to be a trick question James but i make questions our trick questions a trick question for myself

you you don't even need to be involved so we're all hoping that Austin Hayes and we're optimistic that

he will bring a positive impact to the Chicago White Sox in 2026 so while he is with the White Sox

i'm putting the over under at 14 and a half home rents it by Austin Hayes Jim Margoliss

he'd take it the over or under gonna say under um thought about it's just because there is a way

where like yeah he hasn't get traded either like the the shape of his season doesn't quite line up

or he just yeah the the White Sox he's see too much value in him hanging around but i think if he's

hitting you know 14 homers by like June or July like when they get traded i'm like that's the

White Sox are probably doing better than you think and that makes it harder to deal so yeah

i think probably ends up somewhere around you know nine and ten before a deal um also let's see

like how the outfield play shakes out if he's able to resume being a full-time player and uh

getting the kind of workload but yeah i would say like i'm thinking you know Austin Slater hit five

that was like a strict platoon role Hayes shouldn't be that hemmed in but yeah i think even like

the platoon got to uh 14 i think if i'm thinking of talkman's uh total rights and that was over uh

you know more full season so i'm gonna say something closer to ten all right how about you James

you'd take it the over or under 14 and a half i could certainly see it especially like you know

it's a good ballpark right handed pull hitters like that dugouts inviting um it's not crazy looking

at like his four full healthy productive seasons and seen 22 16 16 and 15 doesn't make me think i

should do it over on like 14 f by two thirds of the season that seems a little spicy again

okay you mean the uh bullpen's inviting or both you said the dugouts inviting

so like he's gonna be smoking the bullpen's inviting the dugout will be

uh i will also take the under i think he gets close though i'm they need 12 homers with the white

socks before getting traded but to the point that James made if the white socks are doing better

than expected and Austin Hayes likes being with the white socks and the white socks can't find a

suitable partner to trade him maybe he stays with the white socks all season long if he does i think

he's got an honest chance of reaching 20 homers in 2026 so yeah like a heater from Austin Hayes starting

out like you get into that jury depotal range of like how uh you know if the white socks are like

fairing okay and you know the internal um numbers and projections are saying like this is going to

fall apart you get that like trading kindle graven and you know trading your closer uh when you're

you know ostensibly contending or at least on the periphery of contention and how does it affect

the clubhouse like it he's somebody like if if everything's breaking right with him and like the

rosters holding together it could be one of those trades it tells you a little bit about like how

transactional gets his willing to be um i think the trades he could make he has made more or less

and uh the ones that he hasn't just like the either just the return would have been worth it so

yeah i do think like he could pose uh a challenge in terms of getses either attitude approach

salesmanship abilities um obviously depoto stills job the mariners are as good as they've been

since he's been GM so like yeah it didn't kill him but uh he definitely had to uh work on

either um being more mindful the clubhouse or just work on his conflict skills have just like

yeah my clubhouse cemented me so what like curious to see how uh gets handles that chapter of his

career yeah especially the former player that uh that's a good point Jim but let us know again in the

comments section on the podcast page are on their youtube channel at youtube.com slash socks machine

if you're taking the over or under 14 and a half home runs for austin haze with the Chicago wide

socks this 2026 season and that will do it for this episode of the socks machine podcast thank

you guys so much for listening if you just discovered the socks machine podcast he's

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jim margolus and james vegan i'm Josh delson thanks for listening and watching

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