Baseball

All The Boys In The Band Know How To Get Down – 2019 Sox Player Reviews: Tim F’n Anderson

By Andy Jonathan 1539 0

Here he is, ladies and gentlemen: Your 2019 American League Batting Champion and Gold Medal Winning Bat Flipper……

TIM ANDERSON

/PYRO GOES OFF

/CROWD GOES BALLISTIC

/NED YOST SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUSTS

 

 

2019 Stats

.335/.357/.508

2.9 BB% 21.0 K%

18 HR 56 RBI 86 R

.363 wOBA 130 wRC+ 3.5 WAR

Defensive Runs Saved -9

 

 

Tell Me A Story: In a season where Rick Hahn really needed some pieces of The Future™ to break out and give the rebuild a nice new glossy shine, Tim Anderson stepped up and not only gave Hahn a success story (along with Yoan and a few others), but the White Sox organization a face and an attitude they can market the living shit out of if they do it right. This season can be classified as nothing but a giant plus for Tim Anderson and the team, and while there are a few questions going forward, it’s nice to finally have something to energize the fan base and get people excited about the product on the field again.

Looking at Anderson’s stats this season there are a few things that immediately leap out at you, the first of which is obviously his AL leading batting average and his .508 slugging percentage. The .357 OBP tells you the thing that we’ve known all along as Sox fans, mainly that Tim Anderson is not up there looking to take a walk. His 21% K rate is league average however, which means that he’s able more often than not to put the ball in play. So the big question is how was Tim able to boost his batting average by almost .095 this season? His .399 BABIP suggests a good chunk of those gains were of the batted ball luck variety. Looking at his contact rates shows everything pretty close to his career averages especially in terms of his hard hit rating (32.2%) and his line drive percentages (23.8%). Even looking at his batting average chart shows a player that has very little preference as to where the pitch is. If Tim thinks he can get to it (he does), then he’s going to swing at it.

So a fair chunk of Anderson’s offensive increases this season had something to do with batted ball luck, which is fine. This is the 2nd year of his 4 year career where he’s had a BABIP over .350. The first was his rookie year where his BABIP was .375 which is pretty high. Despite that he still hit .280, so BABIP in and of itself is not the only explanation for his high average. In reality, if his BABIP regresses next season to around .320 (which is statistically likely) you could expect Anderson to hit around .280-.285ish next season. I don’t know of anyone out there who wouldn’t take that from your likely #6 hitter next season, especially if the power numbers stay the same. Again, his slugging percentage was about .100 above his career average and I don’t think anyone expects that to stay the same but .450 would be more than acceptable for that spot in the lineup.

Defensively Tim had a pretty rough year, as the -9 DRS score is the worst of his career. In fact, he’s been negative twice for DRS out of the 4 years he’s played as in 2017 he was a -8. The other two years he was 0 and +6 giving him an average of -2.75 DRS per year. If you add in all of the other advanced fielding metrics like UZR and total errors, Tim grades out to be the worst shortstop defensively since 2017. The question then becomes one that is going to be repeated for the Sox in the search for a right fielder. Are you willing to sacrifice defense for offensive ability? Can Tim Anderson improve enough at SS to creep into the middle defensive tier where it’s a little more acceptable? The talent and ability to play solid D is definitely there, as he proved his rookie year when he was 15th out of 30 defensively in the league. He also has some of the better range and arm strength around. It’s a tough question, and one that Rick Hahn is going to have to answer before he hits the shopping market this off-season.

In addition to all the stats stuff, Tim Anderson is just a fun player to watch. Bat flips aside, he clearly has a ton of fun playing the game. He’s also extremely active in the community, and as a prominent African American playing baseball on the South Side of Chicago, that’s something that cannot be measured. His organization League of Leaders was founded in 2017 after a friend of Tim’s was shot and killed trying to help someone who was being beaten in an attack. In addition to that work, Tim donated $500 to the Anti-Violence network for every stolen base he had this past season. Jose Abreu may be the de facto leader in the clubhouse, but if you combine Tim’s charity work with the passion he shows on the field there’s no doubt the Sox have someone on their hands who can attract a younger, more diverse crowd to their product.

Contract: Signed through 2022 at $4.15 million with team options in 2023 and 24

Welcome Back Or Boot In The Ass: It’s not even a question, as a founding member of The Future™ and a member of the MLB “Let The Kids Play Until We Don’t Want Them Playing So Hard Because It Makes Old People Mad” group, Tim Anderson isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. That being said, there are a few questions this off-season that are going to need to be answered.

1. Is shortstop the ultimate position for Tim Anderson?

2. How much regression is coming for his hitting?

3. Will the new Royals manager hate Tim as much as Ned Yost?

The answer to the first one (in my opinion) is yes. With the impending arrival of Luis Robert and the expected signing of a right fielder in the off-season combined with the fact that you don’t really have a replacement for Tim at short makes me think the Sox are going to be willing to deal with the defensive shortcomings for the foreseeable future.

As to the regression question, I personally would expect something along the lines of .285/305/.790 for Tim next year, using my tried and true mathematical method of pulling numbers freely out of my ass. Anything more than that and you have to start moving his comps up to the Xander Bogaerts level, which I’m completely fine with. Anything less than that would not agree with my model, and therefore is considered an outlier to be disregarded.

As for question number 3, that’s going to be a hard yes forever and ever.

Fuck the Royals.

 

 

 

Baseball

All The Boys In The Band Know How To Get Down – 2019 White Sox Player Reviews: Yolmer Sanchez

By Sam Fels 1031 0

In a rebuild, sometimes there are fan favorites who get left behind as the younger and more serious players are moved in. There was hope that Yolmer Sanchez would be the upset this year, a player not originally supposed to be part of the Sox upswing, could carve himself out a role when the games matter again. Yolmer didn’t really do that, but he might not have lost out totally either. Let’s run it.

2019 Stats

149 games, 555 PA

.252/.318/.321

7.9 BB%  21.1 K%

74 wRC+  .281 wOBA  .638 OPS

7.0 Defensive Runs Saved  1.0 WAR

Tell Me A Story: Coming into the season, the hope must’ve been that after two full seasons on the Southside and entering his prime years at 27, Yolmer would see a jump in his offense to go with his above-average defense. And hey, his walks improved! That’s like, something, right? Sadly, the rest of his offense collapsed.

Two years ago, Yolmer managed 12 homers and a .400+ slugging, which for a third middle-infielder with a plus-glove would be almost a bonus. However, even with the flubber-ball in use this season, Yolmer homered exactly twice and slugged .321, which is like Patches and Poor Violet porous. Worse yet, Yolmer had a sub-30% hard-contact rate, so you can’t even argue a shred of bad luck for him. The mud is getting deeper here.

There was a difference in approach for Yolmer this year, as he was focused on going up the middle and the opposite way. Or he just couldn’t catch up to a fastball, your pick. But for a hitter like Yolmer who isn’t hitting the ball very hard, going up the middle and the other way can lead to even more soft contact and easy grounders and flares to a severely unimpressed and bored right or left fielder.

Another big difference for Yolmer this year was he simply couldn’t handle fastballs, and if you can’t do that you’re pissing up a rope. He hit .295 on fastballs in 2018, and that dropped to .201 this year. His work on everything else was acceptable-to-better, but if you can’t deal with a fastball that’s all you’re going to get, because most every pitcher in the Majors can execute a fastball (unless you’re MY GUY Dillon Maples).

As a left-handed hitter. Yolmer developed a hole in the upper part of the zone, which again, can quickly become death. For the visually-inclined:

Yolmer also saw huge jumps in the amount of whiffs at the top of the zone either middle or inside as a lefty. Whiffs above the zone you can live with. In the zone, well, you’re basically signed on for a pretty shitty year. Which is what Yolmer got. It was also a problem right-handed as well. Still, Yolmer was able to handle fastballs much better from the right side, hitting .317 against them then. He also had a an even 100 wRC+ as a righty, which may indicate where his future is.

Still, there’s nothing wrong with Yolmer’s glove, which is probably going to keep him in a job somewhere. Of all qualified second basemen, Yolmer had the best DRS in the American League and only trailed Kolten Wong in the whole of MLB. Considering he can fill in at third too when needed, he’s a good glove to have. Especially for a Sox team that could get a little goofy defensively.

Contract: Arbitration eligible, projected for $6.2M

Welcome Back Or Boot In The Ass: That arbitration figure is getting awfully high for a player that appears more and more to be glove only and is about to have his full-time job taken by Nick Madrigal. Which would make him an excellent candidate for a non-tender. He would be a nice security blanket late in games, but are you paying over $6M for that? Seems a stretch. Which sucks, because every team needs a guy with some goofy eyewear.

Baseball

All The Boys In The Band Know How To Get Down – 2019 Sox Player Reviews: Jose Abreu

By Andy Jonathan 1572 0

2019 Stats

.284/.330/.503

33 HR 123 RBI

5.2 BB% 21.9 K%

.344 wOBA 117 wRC+ .833 OPS

-4 Defensive Runs Saved

 

Tell Me A Story: It’s kind of hard to believe that this was the final season of Jose Abreu’s initial contract with the White Sox. When he was signed in the 2013 offseason I was ecstatic that the team was not only spending (at the time) big money on a free agent, but that they were dipping heavily into the Cuban pool which was rapidly becoming the best international market around. It seemed the Sox were ready to get serious about taking back the AL central from the Indians and the Royals with this move. Ohhh how wrong I was.

Regardless of how those seasons turned out, Jose Abreu has been worth every penny of that first contract with the Sox. He’s generated 21.2 WAR in his time with the team, never been lower than 115 in wRC+, and if you throw out the 2018 season (far and away his worst, on a terrible ass team with no protection) he’s never had less than 100 RBI or 25 HR in a year. He was also Rookie of the Year in 2014 and been an All Star three separate times.

So what did he do this season? Well despite setting a career high in strikeouts this season and enduring a pretty rough stretch in June and July, Abreu still managed to post the highest RBI total of his career, in addition to his 3rd-highest amount of extra base hits. Just another day at the office for the most consistent producer the Sox have had since Frank Thomas manned 1B.

Back during his midsummer swoon I found myself preparing to say goodbye to Abreu at the end of the season. It seemed a foregone conclusion that him and the Sox would be parting ways both due to his age rising and his production seemingly dropping off a cliff. How foolish I was, as once the page turned to August, Abreu returned to his uber-productive ways by slashing .324/.386/.946 the remainder of the season. He also hit a wacky .338 with runners in scoring position, which was top 15 in the league for that stat.

The thing that really stands out is most of his contact numbers are in line with his career averages. His line drive rate was only .7% above his average, and his hard hit rating about the same. The only interesting thing is his pull rate jumped almost 5% from 39% to 44% which may have been part of the reason for his mid-season dip in production as when Abreu is locked in at the plate, he hits to all fields of the park. Even his BABIP was in line with his career averages, so it’s not like he was the beneficiary of good luck at the plate. All in all, Abreu did this season what he’s done every season. He’s the Swiss watch of AL first basemen, and a model of consistency.

The other thing about Jose Abreu is his effect on the younger Cuban players in the locker room. Both Eloy Jimenez and Yoan Moncada have been quoted about looking up to Abreu and learning from his experience both as a baseball player and an immigrant from Cuba. In addition, Abreu does a lot of charity work through his organization “Abreu’s Amigos” which does outreach work to kids with special needs in the community. Check out this link from the blog WhiteSoxPride if you want to have your cold, dead Sox Fan heart warmed up a few degrees.

Contract: Free Agent in 2020

Welcome Back Or Boot In The Ass: As I said above, in the middle part of the year the answer here would have been a boot in the ass (or more likely a pat on the back and a handshake. Jose is too classy for anything else). Then August and September happened, and he lead the team and the entire AL in RBIs while knocking 33 dingers out of the park. All of this, combined with his role as mentor of The Future™ of the Sox AND his stated desire to continue with the team and see the rebuild through all but guarantees his return.

Honestly, that’s how it should be. Are his skills going to decline as he heads into his mid 30s? Most likely, though I wouldn’t put it past him to continue being the metronome of 1st basemen. Will he still be able to play 1st base as his back ages more? Probably, but age comes for us all in different ways and times (See; Seabrook, Brent).

Jose Abreu deserves the chance to see this rebuild through to the other side and get a taste of the postseason. He’s been a model soldier to an organization that’s done some ridiculously dumb shit in his time with the Sox, and has been a quiet clubhouse leader. He may not take a large discount to come back, but I would think an additional three years at his current salary of $16 million would be enough to get the job done. Rick Hahn has pretty much all but guaranteed they would be able to get a deal done, and I would think it would be in place before the winter meetings in a month and a half. Let’s be honest, you want to see Abreu batting in the middle of a lineup that includes Tim Anderson, Yoan Moncada, Luis Robert, Eloy Jimenez and (hopefully) JD Martinez or someone like him (Grandal). He deserves it, we deserve it, and I’d be shocked if it doesn’t happen.

Baseball

All The Boys In The Band Know How To Get Down – 2019 Sox Player Reviews: Zack Collins

By Andy Jonathan 1337 0

2019 Stats

.186/.307/.349

3 HR 12 RBI

13.7 BB% 38.2 K%

.285 wOBA 77 wRC+ .656 OPS

-4 Defensive Runs Saved

 

Tell Me A Story: While not on the same level of anticipation for the likes of Luis Robert and Eloy Jimenez, Zack Collins’ minor league career was watched very closely this season with the expectation he would be up and making a difference with the big club sooner rather than later. The waiting game ended on the 19th of June when Beef Welington went on the IL with some type of brain damage and Collins’ contract was purchased by the White Sox, officially putting him on the 40-man roster.

The expectation among sportswriters, bloggers, and fans alike was that Collins would be getting ample playing time at catcher, first base and designated hitter. What would the point of him being up at the major league level if not to see what he can do? In Collins’ first full game against the Rangers on the 21st of June, he showed just a taste of what he could do by smoking an Ariel Jurado fastball just right of dead center in Arlington (estimated at 445, no cheapie) for his first ever major league hit and home run.

Unfortunately that would be the only highlight of his first stint in the majors, as he played less than half the time before he was sent back down to Charlotte on July 14th. During that three-week span that he was up, Collins only started in seven of a possible 21 games, losing playing time and at-bats to White Sox legends like AJ Reed and Yonder Alonso. Why did the White Sox call up Collins and start his service time clock to park him on the bench 66% of the time? I honestly have no idea, and I have a sneaking suspicion neither does Rick Hahn or Renteria. Hahn would later claim that they saw something wrong with his approach at the plate and banished him back to AAA to work on it.

Credit where it’s due, after being sent down to Charlotte to work on that nebulous issue Collins began to absolutely rake at the plate. He slashed .281/.403(!)/.951 the rest of his time down there until he was inevitably called back up during roster expansion this past September. After being called back up, Collins got consistent playing time the rest of the month, both behind the plate and at 1B. He started out slowly after his return, but caught his stride the last 12 games of the season, hitting .293 with an .882 OPS and just under half of his hits being the extra base variety.

Behind the plate, Collins seemed to struggle to manage the game effectively. Runners stole bases on him at will, only being caught 11% of the time. He was at least able to keep the ball in front of him, however, only accounting for one passed ball which makes him look like a young Pudge Rodriguez compared to Welington Castillo. Granted he only started 6 games at catcher after being recalled, which again is kind of weird considering the Sox would certainly want to see what he has defensively if he’s going to be in the mix for catching in The Future™.

Contract: Team control next season, arbitration eligible 2023. Base salary is $550,000

Welcome Back or Boot In The Ass: Unless there’s a team out there who tosses an offer Rick Hahn’s way that he absolutely cannot ignore, Collins is coming back to the Sox in 2020 and will most likely be with the big club the entire season.

The main question concerning Collins’ playing time will be answered here shortly in December at the winter meetings. If Hahn is able to secure a player like Yasmani Grandal to play with the White Sox in 2020, Zack Collins’ positional future is gonna be in flux. In that scenario, Collins would most likely be splitting time between first base and designated hitter, with occasional starts behind the dish at catcher.

Even if the Sox don’t land Grandal, Hahn will most likely be shopping for a backup catcher as long term profile for Collins doesn’t show much more than occasionally spelling James McCann full time behind the plate. In a perfect world, the Sox sign Grandal and create a rotating conga line between 1B, DH and C for Grandal, Collins and Jose Abreu (who is almost certainly a lock to return.)

If Collins is able to progress at even half the rate Yoan Moncada or Eloy Jimenez has, the Sox will have themselves the kind of player who can get on base at an excellent clip (I don’t expect him to have a +.400 OPB again, but even .370 isn’t out of the question) and occasionally hit for power from the left side of the plate. Guys like that don’t grow on trees, and with some advancement in skill it will be worth the Sox time to try and find a spot in the lineup for him, wherever that may end up being.

Baseball

All The Boys In The Band Know How To Get Down – 2019 Sox Player Reviews: Welington Castillo

By Andy Jonathan 1480 0

2019 Stats

.209/.267/.417

12 HR 41 RBI

6.4 BB% 29.5 K%

.287 wOBA 78 wRC+ .684 OPS

-10 Defensive Runs Saved (ouch)

 

Tell Me A Story: Ahhh Beef Welington. The latest in the long line of White Sox free agent signings that made me go “I like it!” and ended with “give this asshole to Elon Musk and let him fire him to the moon.” Almost immediately his two-year, $15 million dollar contract proved to be a ginormous mistake when he was busted for PEDs in May of 2018. This resulted in an 80-game suspension that lasted till the middle of September, after which he hit a very pedestrian .241/.293/.478.

Castillo said he was going to double down on his efforts over the winter to make sure the Sox got their money’s worth out of him. Undeterred, Rick Hahn came up with a Plan B in the form of James McCann, which turned out to be a very wise move indeed. Castillo came out of the gate in April sputtering, only managing to hit .204 while McCann blasted everything thrown at him. It wasn’t long after where Castillo began to lose more and more playing time to McCann, essentially relegated to being Reynaldo Lopez’ personal catcher before long.

Castillo was brought aboard the team strictly for his ability to hit for power, which while not ending up as Yonder Alonso-levels of shitty, was still not what the Sox thought they’d be getting when they signed him to the deal. In 2017 with the Orioles he hit .282 with 20 home runs with a 25% K-rate. With the Sox, his K-rate spiked to 29% and he only managed to hit 12 bombs. His career line drive rate of 21% was merely wishful thinking in 2019 as it fell to a career low 16.5%. His hard hit rate also dropped about 6% during his tenure with the Sox. I’m not going to say the lack of PEDs in his system resulted in this power dip, but I’m also not not saying it.

His defense became an issue as well. In the past, Castillo was a bat-first defender but had posted a few years with a positive DRS score, most recently in 2017 with the Diamondbacks when he was a +3. In the month of September in 2018 he managed a -6, and then in 2019 it all fell apart. Any ball in the dirt or above his shoulders was going to the backstop, and he made the entire thing look like he was being attacked by a swarm of bees.

The Sox were in the bottom 3rd of the league in allowing passed balls with 13. A whopping nine of them were attributed to Castillo. When you consider the fact that he was only the primary catcher in less than a quarter of the games the Sox played, that’s pretty fucking terrible.

Contract: Team option for 2020 at $8 million dollars with a $500,000 buyout, which the Sox will exercise.

Welcome Back Or Boot In The Ass: Big ole boot in the ass for this one. The Sox will exercise the $500,000 buyout for Castillo’s last year and send him on down the road like sad Bruce Banner in the Hulk TV show. With Zack Collins and James McCann available for catching duties and the looming possibility of Yasmani Grandal being available it makes zero sense to keep Big Beef Welington around. I’d say it’s been fun, but that would only be true if I were comparing it to the time Yonder Alonso spent here. Hard pass on both.

Previous Sox Reviews

James McCann

 

 

Baseball

All The Boys In The Band Know How To Get Down – 2019 Sox Player Reviews: James McCann

By Andy Jonathan 1795 0

2019 Stats

.273/.328/.461

18HR, 60 RBI

6.3 BB% 28.8 K%

.333 wOBA 109 wRC+ .789 OPS

5.0 Defensive Runs Saved

Tell Me A Story: Well lets kick this thing off with the best thing Rick Hahn did during the off-season, which was sign James McCann to a 1-year deal at a value of $2.5 million dollars (with an additional year of arbitration control for the White Sox). When this move was initially announced during the winter meetings back in December, I was supremely disappointed as Yasmani Grandal was still just sitting out there, like Fry’s dog in the Jurassic Bark episode of Futurama waiting for someone to sign him. Up to that point Grandal had better stats in pretty much every category available to us including the all-important framing ones. At the end of the season? Well Grandal still outperformed him in most categories except defensively where he was a -1.6 DRS, but the differences between the two were not the chasm I assumed they would be at the start of the season.

McCann started out the first half of the season pretty gangbusters, as he pelted opposing pitchers to the tune of .317/.374/.883 with 9 dingers through the end of June. This performance earned him his first ever All-Star nomination and the rave reviews of his teammates. You all know what happened next, however. After the All Star game McCann’s stats went plummeting off a cliff, resulting in a .224/.273/.667 line through the end of August. At this point folks began to question whether or not McCann was the real deal (and rightly so). He was able to lock things in again in September, however, and brought things back to a more respectable .242/.324/.763 to close out the campaign.

Whether or not McCann was pressing during July and August to justify his All Star selection we will never know, but one interesting thing popped up to me. McCann has been given a lot of credit to the turnaround of one Lucas Giolito this season. When I looked at their game logs for the first half of the season when McCann was raking at the plate, Giolito was doing the same on the mound. Then after the All Star break ended and McCann dove into his swoon at the plate, Giolito similarly fell off as well, though not to the extent that McCann did. It may be coincidence but it’s definitely worth noting.

Either way, Giolito credits James McCann for a good portion of his turnaround this season, and it’s certainly hard to deny the results. Giolito was an absolute mess by any measure last season, and turned into the Must See TV Ace Of The Future™ this season that we all know and love. Stuff like that can’t be discounted in the slightest. Defensively, McCann was above average this year in every category compared to most of his past seasons except for runners gunned down attempting to steal. He was 5th in the AL with 17 catches, which was a low for him. The Sox were 3rd best in the AL catching category with McCann behind the dish, which is a marked improvement from the previous half decade.

CONTRACT: One year of arbitration left, then unrestricted free agent in 2021. Would expect a raise of about 1.5 million this off season if the Sox tender him (They Will)

Welcome Back Or Boot In The Ass: Unless the Sox think that Zack Collins is the catcher of The Future™ and will be able to play 100+ games behind the dish (they don’t), then expect the Sox to tender him this off-season and then work out a long term deal with him shortly thereafter. Doing so would not hinder you from offering up a contract to Yasmani Grandal if you so desired.

Bringing in Grandal could create a rotating quadfecta at 1B and C, with Abreu, Collins, McCann and Grandal each taking time at C/1B/DH as the year goes along (Abreu won’t catch obviously). Even if they don’t get Grandal, McCann has proven enough this year to deserve another look behind the plate as the primary catcher. With Beef Wellington gone this winter the Sox will need a catcher to spell McCann if they don’t think Collins can play that many games back there.

I would think a 4 year deal at 4.5 million each would most likely be enough to buy McCann out of his last year of arbitration and keep him working with the young Sox pitching staff for seasons to come. With Michael Kopech returning from Tommy John surgery very soon and Carlos Rodon/Dane Dunning shortly thereafter, having a calming presence behind the plate goes a long way towards solidifying the rotation.

The other option would be to tender him, then flip him for whatever you could get at the winter meetings if you think you need to sell high on him or that this year was a fluke. With the progress Giolito made this year, I think this is very unlikely. The Sox got the most production out of the catcher position since Carlton Fisk hung up his cleats, and I don’t think they’re likely to give that away, which is totally fine with me. Besides, it would be really hard to replicate the FAR (Fashion Against Replacement) he brought to the clubhouse this year.

Baseball

Series Preview – Tigers at White Sox: Here At The End Of All Things

By Andy Jonathan 1323 0

VS

Records: Tigers- LOL  White Sox- Sigh

Game Times: Friday 3:40 and 7:10(ish)/ Sat 6:10/Sun 2:10

TV: Fri & Sun NBCSN/Saturday WGN

Crazy Cat People: Bless You Boys

SERIES PREVIEW POSTS

Depth Charts and Pitching Staff

Looking Into The Future Of The AL Central

 

This is it. The bitter end. Honestly, the only reason anyone would be watching this series is Tim Anderson’s chase for the AL batting title and as long as he doesn’t shit down his leg this weekend it’s looking more and more like it’s his for the taking. Otherwise all you’re going to be watching is Ivan Nova’s quest to be .500 for the season and The Future™ pummeling the shitty Tigers pitching senseless. Which in and of itself is pretty fun but at some point it turns a little sadistic (cue Simpsons gif)

 

Not much has changed in the week since the Sox last saw the Tigers except the number in their loss column. If the Sox can split the 4 game series this weekend (or Friday gets rained out, which is looking increasingly likely) the Tigers will not break 50 wins in a season for the 2nd time in team history dating back to when the league went to 162 games. They’ve already sewn up the first overall draft pick in June (which is pretty impressive since the Orioles were a special kind of shitty the first half of the season) and have even less than normal to play for. Other than pride I suppose, but I think most of that left Detroit with the last auto jobs in the late 80’s.

For the Sox, it would be nice to close out this year on a high note before the long dark of winter steals the breath from our lungs and the hopes of Garret Cole are swept away on the wind. Tim Anderson is the story, and as long as he can hit .275 on the weekend it would take a herculean effort from DJ LeMahieu to catch him. The other 2 in that race are too far back to be of consequence other than being a footnote. Though if the Sox had pursued Michael Brantley in the last off-season they could’ve had the distinction of having 3 of the 4 top hitters in the AL and still missing the playoffs. Expect to see more Ross Detwiler and Carson Fulmer this weekend.

This is the end, Mr. Anderson. For better or for worse. Finish it out on a high note and after some time off we will come back and pick over the bones of this season and look to the future.

Let’s Go Sox.

Baseball

Tigers (AL Central) Spotlight: Into The Swirling Mists of the Future

By Andy Jonathan 1293 0

Seeing as this is my last spotlight of the season, and it happens to be a meaningless series for both teams (with the notable exception of Tim Anderson) and most likely for both fan bases I thought I’d eschew the normal spotlight (and honestly, who am I gonna spotlight for the Tigers? The bullpen catcher?) and instead peer into the murky future of the American League central division for the year 2020.

Granted this is only a quick glance, as this season is not complete yet and there’s still free agency to go, but we can get a blurry picture of what will stand in between the last year (hopefully) of the White Sox rebuild and the promised land of MLB post season play. I’ll also leave the Sox out of this as I still want to have something to write about later on other than how amazing Jimmy Garoppolo and the undefeated 49ers are playing (I kid) (sort of).

 

DETROIT TIGERS:

How’d They Do This Season?

Not wanting to keep anyone in suspense, the Tigers decided it would be best if they locked up the first overall pick in next June’s entry draft a full week before the season ended. In addition, they’re almost a lock to win less than 50 games for the second time in team history since the league expanded the schedule to 162 games back in 1961. The team run differential is currently a hilarious -320, with the next closest team being Baltimore at a sparkling -259. Essentially if tanking a baseball season were an art the Tigers would be Picasso, Monet, Da Vinci and Van Gough rolled into one.

What’s Their Shopping List?

Much as the night is darkest just before the dawn (thanks, Harvey Dent), the Tigers just need to push through this rebuild to the other side. Seeing as though GM Al Avila has already traded away anything that wasn’t nailed down, their shopping list should just read as “parts.” They should be looking to sign the type of players the Sox have the past few seasons. Reclamation projects on 1 year deals that can be flipped at the deadline for anything of value. Aging veterans on the downside of their career looking for bounce back deals. If the Tigers could find 3 or 4 guys like Nick Markakis or Charlie Morton they’d be good to go.

What’s Their Prognosis?

DOA.

Unless the Tigers completely abandon their current rebuild and throw all the money at free agents in the off-season this team is destined to lose another 100 games next year. Some help may be on the way from AAA as the Tigers are pretty loaded with pitching prospects, but offensively they are going to continue to be offensive.

KANSAS CITY ROYALS:

How’d They Do This Season?

The Royals are about a year ahead of the Tigers in their rebuild, as they’re gonna end up in almost the exact same place they were this time last year. 2018 saw them winning 58 games total, and that’s where they sit right now as of this article being penned. So what do they get for losing 100+ games back to back years? Odds are it’s the #4 overall pick in the draft, as they just aren’t as shitty as the Tigers, Orioles or the Marlins. They just don’t have the tank game down pat like Detroit does, as they’ve actually managed to win double digit games in September. In happier news, manager Ned Yost decided he was going to hang up his clown shoes and head off into the sunset as he announced his retirement a few days ago. Good riddance, asshat. You won’t be missed.

What’s Their Shopping List?

The Royals are an interesting case here, and kind of a wild card. With the team about to be sold by penny-pinching skinflint David Glass it’s not totally clear what path the new ownership wants to chart through the muddy waters of their rebuild. The Royals have some good pieces on this team offensively, with Jorge Soler, Whit Merrifield, Adalberto Mondesi and Hunter Dozier all above 2 WAR in production. The pitching staff is a wasteland of guys like Danny Duffy, and the team overall is 24th in the league in pitching. So unless the new ownership wants to go and sign both Gerrit Cole and Zack Wheeler odds are the Royals should probably do what Rick Hahn did this season and look to guys like Ivan Nova to fill out the holes.

What’s Their Prognosis?

On life support.

If the new ownership goes bananas and buys up all the shiny new pitchers in sight and nobody regresses on the offense and you squint really hard then potentially this team could compete in 2020 for maybe a wild card? Odds are they take a step forward and only lose about 95 games next year. Their window is 2021 more likely.

CLEVELAND INDIANS

How’d They Do This Season?

Good, but just maybe (hopefully) not good enough. As of writing this, the Indians are a game and a half back of the Tampa Bay Rays for the 2nd wild card spot in the American League. As usual, the Tribe sit in the top 5 of the league in pitching thanks to lusciously locked Mike Clevinger, Shane Bieber and a solid bullpen. Offensively the team is a solid +135 in run differential despite the year long struggles of Jose Ramirez.  They swung an interesting deal at the deadline, sending Twitter Edgelord Trevor Bauer to the Reds and recieving Yasiel Puig and Franmil Reyes in return to shore up a barren outfield. Was it enough? Doesn’t look like it.

What’s Their Shopping List?

A lot of what Cleveland does this off-season depends on what they think of Francisco Lindor and his contract. If they want to extend him this, this is the off-season where it will happen. If he’s not amenable to a new deal, then I wouldn’t be surprised to hear the Tribe shopping him and Cory Kluber at the winter meetings in December. Those two could bring the type of MLB ready pieces that could keep this team at or near the top of the AL Central division for a few years to come. If they don’t shop either of those two, they’re still one bat short in the outfield, but as they’re a fairly thrifty team don’t expect them to be in on anything above the Adam Eaton level.

What’s Their Prognosis?

Stable

The Indians have been a model franchise along with the Oakland A’s for keeping payroll down and competitiveness up. They aren’t afraid to move players who are going to price themselves out of the Indian’s budget and GM Mike Chernoff has done a pretty solid job of getting a good return on those pieces. I would expect the Tribe to compete for the AL Central crown next season, especially if the horseshoe that currently resides in the ass of the Twins offense falls back to earth. Can they compete with the likes of the Astros and Yankees? No, but for a team like Cleveland that’s not the goal.

MINNESOTA TWINS

How’d They Do This Season?

God I hate this fucking team. Somehow they managed to lead the league in slugging for about 95% of the season before a late tear by the juggernaut offense of the Astros went by them. They still ended up 4th in the league for hitting, 3rd in the AL. They also won the AL central by a fair margin, and will most likely be facing the Yankees in the first round of the playoffs before being dusted like half the planet when Thanos snapped his fingers.

What’s Their Shopping List?

The same thing it is for the Twins every off-season, pitching. Not since the days of Johan Santana and Joe Nathan have the Twins been able to produce pitchers worth 4+ WAR. This season looks to be the one when Jose Berrios finally took that step forward and became the ace they were hoping him to be, even though he’s been beaten like a drum since the calendar flipped to August. Jake Odorizzi will probably end up a 4 WAR pitcher, but as he’s a free agent he’s likely gone. Brusdar Graterol might be the next one to grab the reigns but he’s only started 3 games so far and is largely untested. Michael Pineda was solid most of the year until he got busted for a banned substance. So while the Twins should probably be throwing bags of money at Garret Cole, they’ll most likely end up with someone like Brett Anderson or Tanner Roark.

What’s Their Prognosis?

Good (sadly)

Despite half their rotation most likely gone via free agency next season (Odorizzi, Gibson) or suspended (Pineda), the Twins are set to be annoyingly good for years to come. Their offense is young and powerful, and most importantly for them, under team control for the foreseeable future. Perhaps this is the off-season where the Twins spend the money to buy themselves another ace, or the perhaps swing a deal for one involving their 2 prized offensive prospects Alex Kirillof or Royce Lewis. If that were to happen this team could become a monster with legitimate world series aspirations. Either way they have enough offense to keep them involved in the playoff picture for the time being, making the Twins the most likely challenger for the White Sox if they want to own the AL Central from 2020 on out.

 

Baseball

Series Preview – Indians vs. White Sox: Last Chance At Real

By Sam Fels 1129 0

vs.

RECORDS: Indians 92-64   White Sox 68-87

GAMETIMES: Tuesday-Thursday 7:10

TV: WGN Tuesday, NBCSN Wednesday/Thursday

THEY’RE STILL SHITTY: Let’s Go Tribe

PREVIEW POSTS

Depth Charts & Pitching Staffs

Indians Spotlight: Could Frankie Lindor go?

The White Sox begin the last homestand of the season, and half of it will be against a team that still has a lot on the table. So while it’s not games that matter for them, they can play a “spoiler” role, if that indeed matters to players. This seems like a bunch it might to. Sadly, their rotation is on the spoiled side already.

With Lucas Giolito being shut down for the year, the Sox will have a bullpen game or two in here, sending out Hector Santiago and Ross Detweiler and then diving behind the couch. Dylan Cease will get a chance on Thursday to make it look like an actual baseball game. Meanwhile, the Indians have their two big guns of Mike Clevinger and Shane Bieber lined up for this, with Clevinger available for Sunday and Bieber ready to go for any wildcard game.

As that’s what’s on offer for Cleveland. They sit a half-game behind the Rays for the right to go to Oakland next Wednesday, and they have the extra game to play, which comes Thursday. They’ll finish in DC, which could be an issue as the Nationals are playing for the same thing in the other league. But they might have it wrapped up by then, and the Indians could get three games against an opponent twiddling its thumbs and keeping powder dry for the coin-flip.

Right now the schedule is in Cleveland’s favor, as the Rays have two home dates with the Yankees, and the Yanks still chasing the AL’s best record to not have to deal with the noise in Houston a fourth time (which got them just two years ago). But that could flip at the weekend with the Rays getting the long-dead Jays and as mentioned the Tribe heading to the capital.

It’s kind of a miracle the Indians are still here. They lost Jose Ramirez a month ago, though he’s starting to make noise like he could come up for air in the season’s last week even though it was thought a broken hand would end his season. The same malady definitely has ended Jason Kipnis‘s season, who was having something of a revival season but now is on the shelf. They’ve parsed out the responsibility, but the big hand should probably go to Franmil Reyes over the past month. After his trade to The Land he was simply lost, but over the past 30 days has lit up with a 130 wRC+.  The rest of the lineup has been average or better, so it’s mostly been a death by 1000 cuts sort of thing.

Civale and Adam Plutko have saved them in the rotation with Kluber nowhere and Carrasco only just coming back in the pen. But he got whatever the rest of the pen has got the past month, as it’s been gasoline out there in September.

You certainly wouldn’t fancy seeing the Indians in a five-game series, except if they have to blow Bieber and possibly more in the coin-flip and only have Clevinger for more than one start. And considering how gettable the pen has been, they might be the same rollover belly-tickle they’ve been in the first round since their WS appearance in ’16.

Still, for the Pale Hose it’s at least better to play a game with stakes in the last week than when the Tigers show up for the two of them to perform some elaborate funeral interpretive dance. Cleveland is still a team the Sox will have to get by next year, and throwing some bombs at them in their chase this one at least sets a precedent. This used to be a rivalry. It can be again.