Baseball

Series Recap – Sox Take 2 of 3 From Rays: The Long Road Home

By Andy Jonathan 1083 0

Game 1: White Sox 9 – Rays 2

Game 2: White Sox 2 – Rays 1 (11 Innings)

Game 3: White Sox 2 – Rays 4

 

Well that’s a bit more like it.  Taking two outta three from a team in the playoff chase like the Tampa Bay Rays is kind of what I was hoping for in Oakland.  Alas that was not to be (or the next 4 in Kansas City, but I digress), but the team made up for it here.  The most exciting thing about this series was the starting pitching for the Sox, as Reynaldo Lopez has now strung together 3 pretty darn good starts in a row.  On top of that we saw Lucas Giolito return to form, mowing down Rays like like the propeller of a drunken Floridian’s speedboat off the Tampa coast.  Oh yeah, James McCann is pretty clutch too.

BULLET CLUB TIME

 

Numbers Don’t Lie

 

-All three Sox starters this weekend went at least 5 innings.  This was a welcome sight, because after the 7 game losing streak coming out of the All Star break the bullpen was reaching critical mass.  Especially with Kelvin “Everything Hurts” Herrera heading back to the IL with an oblique strain.  Speaking of the bullpen, it was aces this series.  It allowed no runs, 2 hits and 3 walks in 9.1 innings to a Rays team that isn’t without pop in it’s lineup.  Jace Fry and Josh Osich in particular stood out.  This is a good thing, and I would like more of it please.

-James McCann went 2 for 14 this weekend and saw his average dip below .300 for the first time in quite awhile.  That didn’t matter so much, however, thanks to his clutch ass dinger in the top of the 9th in game two, with two people out.  Even if regression is here (I think it probably is), I’ll take a catcher who hits .275 and has power in the clutch any day of the week.

-Watching Jose Rondon hack his way to an eye-bleedingly bad .190 average and play sub par defense is not making for good television viewing.  Please, please, please let Tim Anderson’s evaluation go well tomorrow.  My retinas can’t take much more.

-Especially when Rondon is combined into a 1-2 punch of wretchedness with Wellington Castillo.  Ole Big Beef is back below the Mendoza line after Sunday’s 0 for 4 display, putting on a clinic of What Not To Do with runners on base.  The Sox continue their mystifying tradition of having complete stiffs playing the DH position, and it’s getting to the point where I hope the team has a road trip to NL parks soon so I can watch Giolio and Lopez out-slug Wellington by .100 points of OPS.

-Dylan Cease got himself into trouble with walks today, having issues controlling his fastball again.  The stuff is clearly there, it’s just going to take time for him to get comfortable on the bump up here in the bigs.

-Nick Madrigal hit his first home run in AA the other night, checking another box in the pages long list of them that only Rick Hahn knows what it contains.  Luis Robert continues to rake in AAA, playing in that broom closet of a park with a ball that has an enriched uranium core.  I wonder if one of the boxes on Rick’s list is X amount of dollars of property damage before Robert is called up to the main club, because he’s really not slowing down.

-Next up is the Miami Marlins of Cuba, who wander into town tomorrow night.  They’re ready to showcase their wares to the dozens of GM’s lining up to be the next person to fleece Derek Jeter by convincing him that this bag of magic beans is totally worth Caleb Smith and Jordan Yamamoto.  Honestly you’re kind of doing him a favor, as these beans are going to be top 10 in Baseball America’s next prospect list.  Seriously, would I lie to you?  You’re a hall of famer, Derek!  If anything, YOU’RE hoodwinking ME.  Why sure, I guess I’ll take Brian Anderson too.  He’s probably a career AAA guy anyways.  You owe me.

 

 

 

 

Baseball

Series Preview – White Sox vs. Rays: The Road Goes On Forever And The Party Never Ends

By Sam Fels 1205 0

vs.

RECORDS: White Sox 42-51   Rays 56-43

GAMETIMES: 6:10 Friday, 5:10 Saturday, 12:10 Sunday

TV: NBCSN Friday and Sunday, WGN Saturday

LEFT TURN SIGNAL ON: DRays Bay

PITCHING MATCHUPS

Reynaldo Lopez vs. Brendan McKay

Lucas Giolito  vs. TBA

Dylan Cease vs. TBA

PROBABLE WHITE SOX LINEUP

Leury Garcia – RF

Yoan Moncada – 3B

Jose Abreu – 1b

James McCann – DH

Welington Castillo – C

Jose Rondon – SS

Jon Jay – LF

Yolmer Sanchez – 2B

Adam Engel – CF

PROBABLE RAYS LINEUP

Austin Meadows – RF

Tommy Pham – LF

Ji-Man Choi – DH

Nate Lowe – 1B

Yandy Diaz – 3B

Kevin Kiermaier – CF

Travis d’Arnaud – C

Joey Wendle – SS

Michael Brosseau – 2B

 

The White Sox will take their traveling carnival with defective rides down to the airplane hangar of Tropicana this weekend, for three games with the wildcard chasing Rays. The Rays will think this is the perfect tonic after losing three of four to the Yankees in the Bronx, which pretty much ended their hopes of any division crown. Especially with Eloy laid up. Even still, eight games back with 63 to go would be quite the trick.

The Rays haven’t gotten here through offense, or at least not sheer offense. It’s been timely, but mostly middling in every category you’d look at in the AL. Pham, Lowe, Meadows, and Diaz have been more than serviceable, though all have gone cold of late. They can’t slug with the Yankees, which is part of the reason they went from ahead early to watching the pinstripes disappear over the horizon of late.

It’s on the mound where the Rays stand out, leading the AL in ERA and FIP as a team among their starters. Which is kind of weird, as they only boast about three starters but have mastered the idea of the opener. Tyler Glasnow has been on the shelf and might not return this year. Ian Snell and Charlie Morton have been great, though the Sox might not see either this weekend. But aside from that, Ryan Stanek usually gets the opening duty. He’s made 27 starts but only thrown 43 innings. Yonny Chirinos sometimes follows him or starts himself. Brendan McKay will be a normal starter tonight, but beyond that the Rays haven’t said what they’re going to do. Chirinos and Morton started yesterday in New York so they’re definitely out. Snell looks odds on to take Sunday’s start.

As you’ve probably guessed, the Rays have a host of options out of the pen that you’ve never heard of but all work, because that’s just how they do down there. Emilio Pagan and Diego Castillo are splitting the closing duties of late, but Kittredge and Poche can get big outs too.

For the Sox, Adam Engel has returned to dutifully man center field and go up to the plate with his pool noodle bat. They’ll throw what are probably their two best guns in Giolito and Cease, with Lopez trying to find it again tonight. It’s been a road trip from hell for them, and playing in the quite expanse of The Trop will probably seem more like purgatory. There’s a long homestand waiting after this one, but the Rays will need some get-back too so if the Sox are already thinking about the plane home, they may find this one goes to 10.

Baseball

Series Wrap – White Sox Swept By Royals: All Seven And We’ll Watch Them Fall

By Sam Fels 1221 0

Game 1 Box Score: Royals 5, White Sox 2

Game 2 Box Score: Royals 11, White Sox 0

Game 3 Box Score: Royals 7, White Sox 5

Game 4 Box Score: Royals 6, White Sox 5

It’s one thing to get swept by the Athletics in their usual, second half surge (they made a movie about that kind of thing, remember). It’s another to get pumped by the bottom-feeding Royals for four. And it appears the players in the clubhouse are getting a touch restless, though hardly anywhere near a mutiny. The Sox never had much depth, and being relieved of Tim Anderson and then Eloy Jimenez for all but one game this series didn’t help. The depths of the rebuild are apparent now, after some exciting moments in the first half.

Let’s get through it:

-It probably deserves its own post down the line, but some of Giolito’s stuff has lost just a touch of shine. He put up a quality start, one should against the Royals, but of late his change doesn’t have as much fade or sink away from lefties as it did earlier in the year. It’s only a fraction, but that can make the difference between a whiff and contact, and as we know anything can happen on contact. 14 strikeouts in three starts is not embarrassing, but it’s a noticeable drop from the eight per start he had been averaging through May and June.

-Who knows what’s going on with Eloy, as I can’t say I’ve heard of a bruised nerve before, especially from a position player. Hopefully it’s just a couple weeks, as the Sox can’t keep losing guys who need MLB ABs for development. One fears Eloy might be headed for the DH slot before he turns 25, though.

-Much improvement from Dylan Cease, at least control-wise. He got eight ground-outs of the 18 outs he got, and seven more via strikeout. He wasn’t helped much by his defense clearly, and didn’t get any righteous BABIP Kung Fu Treachery. Only thre extra-base hits. His slider was the main whiff weapon opposed to his change in his debut. Baby steps to the elevator.

-Getting it upside the head from Glenn Sparkman, no matter who is in the lineup, isn’t really acceptable on any level.

-If you’ve had enough of Ivan Nova pitching against anyone but the Cubs, it would be very understandable. Also teams are slugging over .700 on Nova when they see him for a third time, so might be best to avoid that whenever possible, which is always.

-When you’re on your 10th starter of the season, your expectations can’t be all that high. Ross Detwiler probably met them. At some point you’re just too deep into the reserve.

–“We need them. We’re missing them. But we need to deal with what we have here. Until the organization gives us a chance to bring the people up that can help us here.”

I don’t know if Jose Abreu is calling for Luis Robert to be promoted, but I certainly don’t know that he’s not either. You sort of wonder how long current major leaguers were just going to play along with service time manipulation, and you could read this if you want as Abreu starting to warm up to the idea of not. These guys know what Robert is doing in the minors. They know they’ve been eating it in the majors. Abreu has never played a game that really matters with the White Sox. He would be forgiven if he’s just a touch tired of it. He’s also got some leverage with his upcoming free agency, though it’s impossible to imagine the Sox just letting him walk.

But Abreu won’t be the last and it won’t just be the White Sox that have players speaking out about the mechanizations of their front offices. Everyone knows the drill now, and the next time a team tries to keep the next Robert or Bryant or Jimenez down just to delay a clock, it will not be shocking when players in that clubhouse start calling bullshit in the press and putting more pressure on GMs. Here for all of it, really.

 

 

Baseball

Why Doesn’t Eloy Hit The Ball Very Hard?

By Sam Fels 1522 0

I know where this will go. I’m just a bitter Cubs fan tying to rationalize to himself the trade of Eloy Jimenez. And I’ll cling to anything and everything like Linus’s blanket that will make it ok in my mind while Eloy spends the next decade raining projectiles onto the Dan Ryan. Feel free to think this.

It can be universally agreed, I think, that Eloy Jimenez has had something of a choppy rookie season so far. There have been flashes of brilliance, mutant power, and intelligent approach while at the same time a heavy slapdash of whiffs, curious decisions, and at times bad luck. All of it has led so far to a tick above average 107 wRC+, and a pretty on the nose of average .330 wOBA.

There’s little doubt that Eloy is going to be a very good player one day, perhaps even great. There’s probably a little more discipline at the plate to be harvested, which should lead to better pitches, which should lead to more balls landing the in the shrubbery. Another spin or two around the league couldn’t hurt either.

But looking up Eloy’s numbers this year, I was struck by something weird for a player with such obvious power. Eloy doesn’t hit the ball very hard, at least not consistently. Yet ≥

Jimenez currently has a 35% hard-contact rate, which isn’t terrible but isn’t anywhere near what you would expect a genuine slugger to have. For reference’s sake, your leader in hard-contact rate is Christian Yelich at 54.6%, though no one would expect Eloy to already be performing at an MVP-level. Eloy’s 35.5% mark would rank 123rd in the Majors if he qualified, right in between Andrew Benintendi and Kevin Pillar. Fine players to be sure, but not exactly where you picture Eloy.

Eloy’s line-drive rate of 14.5% would also be borderline abysmal, though you wouldn’t fret much about it if he were hitting a lot of flies hard. Which he’s not.

Statcast-wise, it’s not a prettier picture. Eloy’s average exit-velocity of 90.3 MPH is good for 108th in the league. His barrel-percentage of 9.9% ranks 98th. Again, you wouldn’t expect Eloy to already be among the giants of the game, but given the power he has flashed at times you would think he would be making more loud noises more consistently, even if they didn’t always produce runs. Which leads one to believe his .271 BABIP isn’t really all that much bad luck

It’s a little tricky to see why this might be, but let’s try. For one, with over half of Jimenez’s contact on the ground, you might conclude that he’s had a roll-over problem (much like old Jeeps). And that seems to be the case. When Eloy puts it on the ground, 63% of the time he’s pulled it. Conversely, he gets the most amount of fly balls when going the other way, or just about half the time. It’s not that Eloy doesn’t have power the other way, he should just have more of it.

Right now, when going to right field, Eloy only has a 24.5% hard-contact rate, though a better than normal 19.5% line-drive rate. Strangely, the numbers are even worse when he pulls the ball. The hard contact is just about the same, but the line-drive rate is a measly 11.1%. How can a guy like this not be producing line-drives when pulling the ball?

If you’re about to suggest that Eloy should have a more Goldilocks approach, I’ll stop you and say you’re right. When he stays up the middle, his hard-contact rate is 54.2%. Now we’re talking.

Of course, it’s not that simple. You can’t just hit anything up the middle, it depends on how you’re being pitched. And based on where Eloy’s power has been, it’s a tougher riddle. Eloy is something of an iconoclast this year when it comes to hitting. Most hitters these days have found ways to lift low pitches for power and are vulnerable at the top of the zone. Not so much with Eloy:

But, MLB pitchers being what they are, Eloy doesn’t see a ton up there. This is where Eloy sees fastballs:

Mostly not up. And weirdly, he’s turning a ton of them into grounders:

As you might have already guessed, Eloy sees almost all of his breaking pitches low and away, and his only power off of them has been on mistakes that hang in the middle or high in the zone. That’s going to be true his whole career.

Eloy needs to stay up the middle for a while, and figure out how to lift low fastballs. Which I have no doubts he will one day. Because someone like this should have better contact numbers, even in this nascent stage of his career.

Baseball

Series Preview – White Sox at Royals: Feel Good Hit Of The Summer

By Andy Jonathan 1298 0

VS 

RECORDS: White Sox 42-47   Royals 32-62

GAMETIMES: Mon/Tue/Wed 7:15, Thurs 12:15

TV: WGN Mon, Tue/Wed/Thurs NBCSN

ALL YOUR BBQ ARE BELONG TO US: Royals Review

PITCHING MATCHUPS

Game 1: Lucas Giolito vs Jake Junis

Game 2: Dylan Cease vs Glen Sparkman

Game 3: Chevy Nova vs Danny Duffy

Game 4: TBD vs TBD

 

 

PROBABLE WHITE SOX LINEUP

Leury Garcia – SS

Yoan Moncada – 3B

Jose Abreu – 1B

James McCann – C

Eloy Jimenez – LF

Jon Jay – RF

AJ Reed – DH

Yolmer Sanchez – 2B

Ryan Cordell – CF

 

PROBABLE ROYALS LINEUP

Whit Merrifield – RF

Alex Gordon – LF

Adalberto Mondesi – SS

Jorge Soler – DH

Chelsor Cuthbert– 1B

Hunter Dozier – 3B

Bubba Starling – CF

Nicky Lopez – 2B

Martin Maldonado – C

 

Another week, another series against the Royals for the Sox.  Yet these teams couldn’t have started their post All Star break more differently.  The Royals handily took their opening series against the moribund Detroit Tigers, while the Sox got their lunch fed to them by the A’s.  Apparently having 3 days off in a row turned the Sox into a bunch of slap hitting singles monsters, as in the first 2 games they managed a whopping ZERO extra base hits.  The Royals, meanwhile, banged out a boatload of them, and also ran wild on the basepaths.

Yet nothing seems to be the cure for what ails the Sox like this KC Royals team, as so far they’re 7-3 against them with two of the losses coming in the opening series of the season.  This Royals lineup looks mostly the same since the last time these two teams faced off, with one exception.  KC called up their “Feel Good Hit Of The Summer Local Boy” in Bubba Starling right before the All Star break.  Starling, the Royals 1st round pick in the loaded 2011 draft (taken 5th over all), had the distinction of being one of three players taken in the top 30 of that draft who had yet to reach the majors.  Some of the notable names from that draft taken after Starling include Javy Baez, Anthony Rendon and Francisco Lindor, making Starling the 2011 MLB version of Sam Bowie.  He also hails from Gardner, Kansas which is about 60 miles SW of KC.  Starling seems to have pushed light hitting speedster Billy Hamilton out of the starting lineup, which will probably preclude his trade to a contender who has a need for speed in the postseason.

The Sox will toss out their best 3 starters to kick off the series with Giolito, Cease and (sigh) Nova to take the bump in that order.  Giolito will attempt to right the ship after taking losses in his last 3 starts.  He did manage a scoreless inning in his All Star game debut.  Dylan Cease will make his second career major league start on Tuesday against moon-faced yahoo Glenn Sparkman.  If Cease can command his fastball at the top of the zone, and dot the bottom with his breaking pitches the Royals shouldn’t have an answer for him.  Nova will look to continue his “streak” of giving up less than 5 runs, which I guess is considered progress for the Sox starting rotation these days.  Game 4 looks to be a bullpen one for both teams, as the Sox have no days off this week.  After his disastrous start against the A’s on Saturday, Dylan Covey might not be the guy to turn to, and instead we will see some more of Hoss Detwiler.

With no Tim Anderson to throw at this series, Ned Yost will have to find something else to get pissy about if he’s gonna show his young team HOW TO PLAY THE GAME THE RIGHT WAY.  The Sox get a chance to redeem themselves after the Oakland series, and Sox fans get this year’s version of “Free Eloy” as Luis Robert moves up to AAA and his first taste of the juiced balls at that level.  Judging by the 2 dingers and 7 RBIs he had in his first appearance, you’re gonna hear Rick Hahn talking a lot about the holes in his defensive game before too long.

Let’s Go Sox.

 

 

Baseball

Royals Spotlight: Everybody’s Selling?

By Andy Jonathan 1333 0

As we head into the 2nd half of the season, the league is increasingly divided into two sections: sellers and buyers.  As has been the case since their 2015 World Series victory, the Royals find themselves solidly in the former category.  This year, however, they don’t really have a whole lot to offer playoff contenders except for Whit Merrifield, who would probably bring quite the ransom back to a team that is desperate to bring some excitement back to BBQ City.  Merrifield is having another great year for the Royals, getting his first ever All Star team selection last week.  He’s currently slashing .309/.360/.497 with 11 HR and 44 RBI, and has added 14 stolen bases to his line.  He plays primarily at 2B, but can be slotted anywhere on the field with plus defense at the majority of positions.  Were he to continue on this pace, he’d be worth 5.4 WAR at the end of the season.  On top of that, he’s signed to a team friendly contract with 3 more years of control to any team that could acquire his talents.

Yet therein lies the rub for any team looking in on his availability, as Royals GM Dayton Moore has already come out and said that he’s not planning on moving Merrifield as he means too much to the team and no one could possibly entice them to move him.  While this might just be a GM attempting to set the market impossibly high to sell his player, it seems more likely that Moore plans on building around Merrifield and other younger players.  The Royals already have the uber-exciting Adalberto Mondesi and Hunter Dozier having success up at the major league level in addition to Merrifield.

If this is truly the case, Dayton Moore either thinks that his rebuild will be far enough along in the next three years for the team to compete, or that Merrifield puts enough butts in the seats that it’s better for the Royals to keep him around and potentially see him walk in 3 years as opposed to flipping him at the deadline for a king’s ransom of young talent that could supercharge his team’s rebuild.

So which is it?  Looking a little closer at the numbers, it seems it’s neither.  As it stands right now, the Royals farm system ranks somewhere around 19th in the league after this years entry draft last month.  They have 3 top-100 prospects in addition to the dearth of youth currently playing at the major league level.  Were the Royals to move Merrifield they’d easily jump into the top 10, much like the Sox did with the Sale/Quintana/Eaton trades.  As far as league attendance goes, the Royals pulled in about 1.7 million last season, about 400,000 below the AL average.  This is a precipitous drop from 2016 (Merrifield’s first season in the majors) where the Royals drew 2.6 million.  This season has them at 850,000 thus far, which puts them in line with last year’s numbers.  So the idea that Merrifield puts asses in seats doesn’t really pan out either.

So looking at those numbers, the smart play for the Royals would be to move Merrifield to a team desperate for leadoff infield help.  Based on a quick glance at the contenders, he would be an instant upgrade for the Dodgers at second base solidifying an already terrifying lineup.  The Dodgers also have a top 10 farm system loaded with the kind of talent that could push the Royals rebuild up a few years.  The A’s farm system is also pretty well stocked, and could use an infield upgrade on the left side.  There should be no end of suitors for Merrifield’s services, but unless Dayton Moore has a huge change of heart (or some type of brain transplant) it looks as though he’s staying put in KC.  Which in the long run is best for the White Sox as a whole, since it pushes back their competitive window even further behind the one Rick Hahn is looking at.

Baseball

Series Recap – Sox Get Swept By A’s: Meh.

By Andy Jonathan 1720 0

BOX SCORES:

Game 1: White Sox 1 – A’s 5

Game 2: White Sox 2 – A’s 13

Game 3: White Sox 2 – A’s 3

 

Well shit.  That’s not exactly how I would’ve drawn up the start to the second half of the season, but whatever.  The Coliseum has always been a house of horrors for the Sox for as long as I can remember, and this turned out no differently.  The Sox forgot how to hit during the All Star break, and Dylan Covey forgot what the strike zone looked like so he could avoid it with the cookies he was serving up.  All in all it was a pretty shitty weekend of baseball for the Southsiders, and on top of that Brock Lesnar has the goddam title again.  Ugh.

 

NUMBERS DON’T LIE

 

– Lets start with the positives, shall we?  Reynaldo Lopez looked pretty damn good today.  Moved his fastball in and out of the zone, located his changeup and slider and basically kept the A’s hitters off balance for most of the day.  I’ll take 6 innings of 1 run ball from him every damn start of the week and twice on Sunday.  He even left with the lead after Eloy launched number 17 to the deepest part of that goddamn canyon they play in.  Granted, Evan Marshall gave that up 3 pitches into the next inning but whatever.

– Luis Robert had about 32 RBIs in his first weekend at AAA and (seriously) started off his career there with a grand slam.  I can hear Rick Hahn practicing mumbling excuses for why he’s not here in September already.

– That’s about it for the positive stuff.  The Sox suddenly turned into a bunch of pool noodle armed weaklings in the first 2 games.  They banged out 17 hits in those 2 games, approximately ZERO of which went for extra bases.  That’s pretty mind boggling right there.  I’m willing to chalk that up as an aberration if you are.

– Dylan Covey flat out sucked to high heaven Saturday.  There’s no other way to put it.  He claimed he was too amped up to be facing his old team, but maybe he’s just not meant to be a starter.  He’d make a great opener, though.  If only there was a cool baseball story this weekend that illustrates how valuable an opener can be to a team with no 5th starter.  Oh well.

– Nova once again gave up too many home runs, which really has been his only problem as of late.  If he can cut down on those, I guess he’d make an OK 4th starter here.  Not gonna hold my breath, however.

– Jose Rondon sucks.  DFA his ass into the sun when Timmy gets back, which hopefully isn’t too far away as he’s apparently begun baseball activities in his rehab back from a high ankle sprain.

– This series sucked, but I’m not going to look too deep into anything.  If the Sox have trouble scoring against the Royals this week and their collection of recycled arms then I may sound the alarm.  Otherwise I’m just going to forget this weekend happened and redact it from the official scoresheet.  Moving on.

 

 

 

Baseball

Series Preview – A’s Vs White Sox: To The Coliseum

By Andy Jonathan 1748 0

   VS.

 

RECORDS:  A’s 50-41  White Sox 42-44

Game Times: Friday 9:05/Saturday & Sunday 3:05

TV:  Friday & Saturday NBCSN/Sunday WGN

Still Bashin’ Bros: Athletics Nation

PITCHING MATCHUPS:

Game 1: Mike Fiers vs. Chevy Nova

Game 2: Chris Bassit vs. TBD (Probably Dylan Cease)

Game 3: Brett Anderson vs. Reynaldo Lopez

 

PROBABLE A’S LINEUP:

1. Marcus Seimen – SS

2. Robbie Grossman – LF

3. Matt Olson – 1B

4. Khris Davis – DH

5. Matt Chapman – 3B

6. Josh Phegley – C

7. Ramon Laureano – CF

8. Mark Canha – RF

9. Franklin Barreto – 2B

 

PROBABLE WHITE SOX LINEUP

1. Leury Garcia – SS

2. Yoan Moncada – 3B

3. Jose Abreu – 1B

4. James McCann – C

5. Eloy Jimenez – LF

6. Jon Jay – RF

7. Yolmer Sanchez – 2B

8. Ryan Cordell – CF

9. Zack Collins (hopefully)- DH

 

 

So now begins the back nine of what can be considered a fairly successful first half for the White Sox, despite the sub .500 record.  There are a couple of storylines that bear watching, mostly the usage of the younger members of the Sox roster from here on out.  Kicking off the 2nd half is a series against the Oakland A’s, a team with playoff aspirations and the record to back it up.  They’re currently locked in a battle with the 2 Texas based teams, jockeying for position in the AL west.  The smart money is on the Astros to sew it up on the back 9, and the regression monster finally coming for the surprising Rangers.  This leaves Team Moneyball to take their standard spot as the other AL wild card team, destined to be smoked by Tampa Bay or Boston.

The A’s have made it this far mostly living off their surprising starting pitching, anchored by Mike Fiers and the surprising Frankie Montas, though I guess it’s not THAT surprising since he just got popped with an 80 game suspension for performance enhancers.  Fiers actually has been one of the better AL starters since May, tossing a No-No earlier.  He currently sports a respectable 3.87 ERA, with a 1.10 WHIP.  He doesn’t strike many people out, but he keeps the ball in the yard, especially at the canyon-esque Coliseum he calls home.  He’s also a giant dickhead, and is probably upset he’s missing out on a chance to throw at Tim Anderson’s head.  Brett Anderson and Chris Bassit have also been solid, even if most A’s fans couldn’t pick them out of a police lineup.  Their bullpen is also lights out, and is set to eclipse the 6.0 WAR they put up last season during their surprising wild card run.  Fangraphs currently has them as the most successful pen in the majors so far this season.  Closer Blake Treinen has for the time being lost his spot to Liam Hendricks due to a rotater cuff strain, but should resume the gig now that he’s off the IL.  He wasn’t exactly lights out before the strain, however, posting a 4.17 ERA and blowing 4 saves.  His slider, which had been his out pitch in previous years, has been ditched for a new cut fastball.  Apparently it’s not cutting enough, because it’s being hit harder than any other of his offerings.

The A’s hitters, while not the murderer’s row offered up by the Dodgers or the Twins (ugh.  Really?), can still hurt you top to bottom.  They currently sit right in the top third of the league in hitting according to Fangraphs, and the team BABIP actually shows they’ve been the victim of some bad luck thus far.  Matt Chapman leads the way again, building off his impressive breakout season last year.  He’s already knocked out 21 dingers thus far, and maintains an .887 OBPS, which is exactly the type of player that gives Billy Beane night sweats.  Khris Davis, though hampered by some injuries so far, continues to provide pop in the heart of the lineup.  Old Friend Marcus Seimen continues to provide much improved D up the middle, and has added a little pop to his game, slugging .105 above his career average.  Even though Timmy has SS locked down for the future, this trade still stings seeing what Seimen has turned into.

As for the Sox, while it was fun seeing Giolito, McCann and Abreu in the All Star game (despite Jose going GIDP in his only at bat) it’s time to get back to doing what they do best: sit just below .500 while playing entertaining baseball for most of the time.  With no starter officially listed for Saturday yet, one would have to assume it would be start #2 for Dylan Cease.  If not, I guess we get to see more of Hoss Detwiler, though Covey may be available as well.  I’d much rather Covey slot into long relief, as it seems to be his destiny on this club.  Nova gets the start tonight, and it will be interesting to see if he can build on the little streak he had for himself before the break.  With 2 of the 3 A’s starters set to be RHP, this would be a good time to give Zack Collins a few starts either behind the dish or at 1B to give Jose a breather.  Will it happen?  With Palka being sent back down, you’d think so but we shall see.   Having a few extra days off will probably help a few of the Sox starters, as nagging injuries to Leury and Yoan could’ve used the extra time.

While the Sox -71 run differential screams 2nd half regression, some of that could be mitigated by having more than 2/5ths of an actual MLB starting rotation.  Either way, I’m hopeful for the future (and a Luis Robert September callup) and excited to see what the trade deadline and the 2nd half brings to the team.  Time to crank it up, fire it up.

Let’s Go Sox!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baseball Everything Else

Those With Glass Ceilings Should Not Throw Baseballs Too Much Or They Will Inevitably Get Hurt: Ranking The White Sox Top Prospects

By Adam Hess 1824 0

Now that we have arrived at the MLB All-Star Break, it’s about as good a time as ever to review the list of the White Sox’ top prospects, because outside of the obvious candidates at the major league level, it’s not like there is too much more to get excited about with this team. So AJ and I took a stab at ranking our own personal top-15 prospects, drawing our line at 15 because getting there is hard enough and trying to get beyond it is splitting hairs, especially given all the long-term injuries in the Sox’ system.

Our lists matched up in some places but varied a lot in others, so we will divide this up into tiers and just have our individual rankings and justifications attached, along with MLB Pipeline’s ranking for the players for a bit more context. Please remember that neither of us are scouts but also might be the smartest Sox Writers you know. Also the Pipeline rankings are gonna change a lot soon but we are doing this now. Thanks.

The Cream of the Crop

Luis Robert, OF

Ranks: Adam – 1; AJ – 1; Pipleine – 1 (5 in MLB)

Adam: I have thought for a while that Robert, along with Yoan Moncada, has the highest ceiling in the entire system, even higher than Eloy’s. Robert basically grades with 60’s across the board and probably has 70 grade speed. He’s gonna be a great hitter and an excellent defensive center fielder that might find his way into MVP conversations in the future if it all goes according to plan.

AJ: This one pretty much sets itself as Robert continues to own every level he’s sent to now that he’s healthy. The only things holding him back from making the September callups is his health and Service Time Manipulations.

The Elite Arms

Michael Kopech, RHP

Ranks: Adam – 2; AJ – 3; Pipeline – 2 (16 in MLB)

Adam: Kopech is probably close to as good as any pitching prospect in baseball on pure talent, and the only real questions about him are how he will bounce back from Tommy John surgery and, to a lesser extent, how much his control issues will hold him back. If he gets back on his trajectory from before the surgery, this is a future ace.

AJ: Elbow or now, we’ve seen what he can do. The only question is which category he falls in: Successful Tommy John or Not.

Dylan Cease, RHP

Ranks: Adam – 3; AJ – 2; Pipeline – 3 (18 in MLB)

Adam: Everything I said about Kopech might just apply to Cease, minus the TJ and with a bit more concern about the control. If his change flashes as good moving forward as it did last week, the control will matter less.

AJ: We saw Wednesday what that nasty curveball can do when it’s thrown at the bottom of the zone. Once he starts locating his fastball, his off speed stuff will make him something else.

The Future Big Leaguers Who Could Be More

Nick Madrigal, 2B

Ranks: Adam – 5; AJ – 4; Pipeline – 4 (39 in MLB)

Adam: I liked the Madrigal pick in 2018, but in some ways it lacked imagination. There’s little doubt about his bat and glove, and he’s practically a lock to be a big league regular, but if he can’t hit for power there are legitimate questions about this ceiling. If he does hit for power, he could be a star.

AJ: The kid can flat out hit (though not for much power), and his eye for pitches is Joey Votto-esque. Seems like he plays plus defense at 2B, which pretty much sets the Sox infield in stone for the foreseeable future. I’d expect him to compete for a job next year.

Andrew Vaughn, 1B

Ranks: Adam – 4; AJ – 7; Pipeline – N/A

Adam: Pipeline hasn’t ranked him on the Sox top 30 yet because they haven’t added the 2019 draftees to the league and team rankings. But Vaughn can mash, and might be something of an Eloy clone in the bigs. If he can play plus defense, this guy is another potential star. At the very least he should be a good or very good player.

AJ: I wasn’t super excited about Vaughn being picked up in the first round by the Sox, but by any measure he was the best player available at the time and that’s my strategy for every draft ever. Vaughn can hit for power, has a good feel for the zone and plays average D at 1B. He profiles out to a Konerko type player, and I’m OK with that. Worst case scenario is he’s moved in a Reverse Quintana for controllable pitching assets later (Hello Marcus Stroman!)

Dane Dunning, RHP

Ranks: Adam – 7; AJ – 6; Pipeline – 5

Adam: Doesn’t have the lively stuff of Cease and Kopech, but every pitch is solid or plus and his plus command should make him a lock as a starter in the bigs, with the only real question being how high his ceiling is. Shares the TJ recovery concerns, though.

AJ: Another elbow casualty. Dunning was mowing people down in 2018 before the elbow strain, and was looking like he’d be in Charlotte by the end of the year with a possible September call up. Now we’ll have to wait till Spring Training next year to see if he’s still got it. The tools are all there, however.

Zack Collins, C/1B/DH

Ranks: Adam – 8; AJ – 5; Pipeline – 11

Adam: I have a lot of concerns about Collins, mostly about his defense and K-Rate, which are pretty big concerns for me. But the elite plate approach feel for the strike zone, along with his power, will keep him an MLB lineup for years, I think.

AJ: Another player with an excellent eye for the strike zone. Pity Renteria would rather play Palka than give him time in the field. There’s still questions as to where he plays in the field, but we will never know until he gets consistent playing time.

Steele Walker, OF

Ranks: Adam – 6; AJ – 9; Pipeline – 10

Adam: Walker strikes me as an MLB regular all day. He can almost definitely play center field but hopefully won’t have to, and a a move to left will benefit him well. He has a plus hit tool with average power and has performed well against Low-A and High-A pitching this year. He’s the non-top-tier guy I’m most excited about, as my ranking makes obvious.

AJ: Walker has been destroying the ball lately, and plays a solid corner OF spot. Walker should be in AA by the end of the year, and start the season in AAA if he keeps hitting at this pace.

Other Guys That Made Both Lists

Micker Adolfo, OF

Ranks: Adam – 11; AJ – 8; Pipeline – 7

Adam: If Adolfo could’ve stayed healthy these past few years, he could’ve been a top prospect in baseball and in the bigs already. He has huge pop and a cannon of an arm to match, which will play in right field if his fielding stays solid. He just needs to stay healthy and his ceiling could be sky high, but with the health issues there are too many questions here raised by so much missed time.

AJ: Man I like this guy, but his elbow is made of paper mache and elmer’s glue. We haven’t really seen him at full strength, but I feel like when we do it’ll be Robert-like.

Luis Gonzalez

Ranks: Adam – 9; AJ – 12;  Pipeline – 9

Adam: While he’s struggled a ton in AA this year, that’s a hard league to hit in, especially with Regents Park in Birmingham as your home field. He’s only a year removed from murdering both levels of A-ball, though, so there is still reason for optimism here. I imagine he will make his MLB debut for a team other than the White Sox, though.

AJ: Another Sox prospect having difficulty putting the ball in play down in Birmingham. I like what little Ive seen of him so far, especially the 4 triples this year. I feel like this time next year he will be hovering around #5.

Luis Alexander Basabe, OF

Ranks: Adam – 10; AJ – 11; Pipeline – 6

Adam: Another guy with a high ceiling being dragged down by injuries. Similar to Adolfo, if he’d stayed healthy he might be in the bigs. Instead he’s been hurt, and then struggled at AA this year. Still could project as a solid RF in the future though, especially with a solid profile at the plate as a switch-hitter.

AJ: Is constantly hurt, and hit so shitty to start he got demoted to A ball from Birmingham. All the shiny tools are there to be a solid CF for the Sox but he needs to hit. The trip to Kannapolis woke him up, but he promptly got hurt again.

Konnor Pilkington, LHP

Ranks: Adam – 12; AJ – 14; Pipeline – 19

Adam: Similar profile to Dunning but the stuff is not as good. The control is not a concern, meaning if the stuff can play up he is back-end starter. At worst, he’s a fine bullpen buy or decent trade chip.

AJ: Every time I see his name I think of one half of The Ascension tag team in WWE. He’s moved pretty quickly through the lower levels, but probably tops out at “5th Starter, 7th inning” kinda guy.

Blake Rutherford, OF

Ranks: Adam – 13; AJ – 10; Pipeline – 8

Adam: I have a feeling that Pipeline ranking is going to keep with the trend and plummet again at the next update. He’s come on a bit more recently, but the power that some projected in the past hasn’t been there, and he can’t play center field. An outfielder who can’t play center and can’t hit for power is something of a bad outfielder. Another guy I think debuts for another MLB club.

AJ: Rutherford has rebounded from a disatrous start to the season and gotten himself to a respectable .262/.298/.371. That being said, the Sox have seemingly hundreds of OF who can OBPS their way to a sub .700 so the power is going to need to show up soon.

Made One List But Not The Other

Gavin Sheets, 1B

Ranks: Adam – 14; AJ – N/A; Pipeline – 17

Adam: I did not like this draft pick at all, and for a few years it just kept looking awful. He’s a 1B-only guy who hadn’t mashed when the one thing 1B-only guys need to do is mash. The bat is finally catching up, though, and he actually has finally been mashing the past few months. He’s another guy I think gets traded, specially now that he’s blocked by Vaughn. Getting him to AAA with the golf balls soon to boost his trade value could be wise.

AJ: Another 1B only Sox prospect, Sheets has decent pop but hadn’t shown it until this season.  Solid D at first, but hasn’t done anything to dissuade the Sox from taking Vaughn this year.

Alec Hansen, RHP

Ranks: Adam – 15; AJ – N/A; Pipeline – 14

Adam: Hansen went from potential top pick, to plummeting down the draft boards, to pitching like a top prospect, to getting hurt and then struggling (something of a theme, no?). I still have some hopes he can be effective in the bigs, maybe as a bullpen guy at the very least. And maybe some other team still likes the ceiling enough to take him in return for a piece the Sox will eventually need.

AJ: I didn’t choose Hansen for my top 15 as his control seemed to dive off a cliff.  If he can gain some semblance of it back, the stuff he possesses would max him out as a high leverage reliever in the Josh Hader vein.

Zack Burdi, RHP

Ranks: Adam – N/A; AJ – 13; Pipeline – 15

Adam: He was a first rounder because the Sox thought he’d be quick to the majors as a reliever, but then he got hurt and wasn’t quick to the majors. I can’t keep him in my top 15 due to injuries, but he could still be a future closer.

AJ: Plus fastball with control issues and Tommy John surgery. It’s like they’re all following a script. The initial reports of Burdi’s velocity demise may be unfounded, but his control issues persist.

Jake Burger, 3B/1B

Ranks: Adam – N/A; AJ – 15; Pipeline – 12

Adam: Too many injuries. At this point I just think of him as the guy the Sox got after missing on Jo Adell by ONE PICK!!! AJ says it better than I could, anyway.

AJ: Missing and presumed dead.

Guys Not On Our Lists That You Should Watch For

Danny Mendick is an intriguing guy to me. He’s something of a non-prospect and doesn’t show up on many lists, but all he’s done since being a 22nd round pick in 2015 is hit at every level he’s been to and consistently rise through the system. He also can play all over the infield. If the Sox non-tender Yolmer this winter, which I can see happening, Mendick is an intriguing potential replacement.

Bryce Bush is a 3B/OF who made noise after being picked in the 33rd round last year and then dominating rookie ball. He has struggled in Low-A this year and also battled injuries, but has had flashes of brilliance as well and is still just 19 playing at a full season affiliate, so there is hope yet. RHP’s Matthew Thompson and Andrew Dalquist were taken in the 2nd and 3rd rounds this year and have high ceilings, though they won’t pitch for affiliates this year. James Beard is an OF they grabbed the 4th round this year who can flat out fly and has a progressing bat, and has drawn Andrew McCutchen comparisons because his swing is similar and he has the hair to match. Bush is currently on Pipeline’s top 30 list for the Sox, and the other three should all be on the list once they update it in the coming weeks.

Getting real deep (and way off any top prospect lists), in the Arizona Rookie League, SS Jose Rodriguez has a .283/.306/.633 slash line, OF DJ Gladney has a .324/.366/.620 line, and 3B Bryan Ramos has a .375/.463/.625 of his own. Gladney is a former Sox ACE guy drafted out of Illiana Christian in the 16th round this year, while Rodriguez and Ramos are both former international signings. They’re all far away from the bigs but all could potentially be on this list in the future.

Our Lists, TL;DR’d

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Baseball

Series Wrap – Cubs And Sox Split: Everybody Go Away

By Sam Fels 1418 0

Game 1 Box Score: Cubs 6, Sox 3

Game 2 Box Score: White Sox 3, Cubs 1

I could use this to ram home the constant narratives about the Cubs, though that would seem excessive after they had scored 17 runs in the previous two games. This afternoon’s loss was frustrating, and had a mini bus-is-running feel to it, but the themes are constant for them.

For the Sox, it was basically the series at Wrigley over again, with Giolito rediscovering his control problems to get paddled around, but this time Ivan Nova’s blanking of the Cubs came after and still with an Eloy home run. Nothing we didn’t know, really.

Let’s do the bullets and get out of here.

The Two Obs

-Hendricks was missing his spots by a large margin today, which cost him against Jimenez. He wanted to go inside, he didn’t get it there, and you saw the result. It was probably to be expected, as he had only thrown three innings since his injury, which makes his next start over a week away feel a little antsy too.

-On the flip side, Lester was effective enough, though one thing Maddon might want to change is still considering Lester his ace and not the 3-5th starter he really is now. 99 pitches after six innings, he should have been pulled last night. Maddon sends him back out there, two runners on, and they score. Lester isn’t giving you complete games anymore, and if you get six innings out of him with one run that’s the max you can hope for.

-Giolito just couldn’t locate on Saturday night, and for once the Cubs were happy to not try and overdo things. He’s hit something of an oil patch of late, failing to get a quality start in three of his last four. It’s not always going to be easy, of course, and that’s what the rest of this season is about.

-I’m sure the homers against the Cubs by Eloy are extra enjoyable for the black-clad, but the OBP under .300 needs to be noted.

-Most frustrating for the Cubs today was Anthony Rizzo. During one of the two innings the Cubs led off with a double, Rizzo struck out on a pitch that nearly hit him in the dick. After Bryant walked on four pitches in the 8th, Rizzo swung at the first pitch that was on his knuckles. That’s just a shit approach.

This isn’t to  pin everything on Rizzo, but the team is built on the idea he’ll be great, which he usually is. Since July 1st, he’s been below average. He won’t stay there, but it’s a problem now. I would be utterly shocked if Rizzo was just going through the motions and is one of any players who have chucked it on Maddon. So the Occam’s Razor is that he’s pressing, which those ABs would certainly prove. But he’s the bellwether on this team. If he takes the patient ABs in big spots the Cubs are crying out for, they keep saying it’ll be contagious. I have no problem with him or Contreras opting to try and do more than just move a runner over. They’re paid to drive in runs, after all. But there has to be a better approach to do that.

-And that’s the biggest disconnect for the Cubs right now, and probably why Theo has been so vocal and threatening of late. We keep hearing Maddon say the Cubs have gotten away from their successful approach and they need to get back to patience, opposite field, that sort of thing with runners on. Fine, but you’re the manager, so you’re supposed to be the one saying it. Either Maddon isn’t, or they’re not listening, and that’s the disconnect. And what has to change, but I tend to put this on the players more than Joe.

-Despite the homer to Robel, Bummer might have the best stuff out of the Sox pen and might fetch more than a lottery ticket by the end of the month. They can come from nowhere.

Note: I’m gonna take the All-star break as well. So it might be a bit sparse around here for the next couple days. The minions will handle any Hawks news or whatever else tickles their fancy, and I’ll be back on Friday. Just feel like I could use it. Hope you don’t mind, and we’ll talk soon.