Baseball

The Long, Slow March To The Future – White Sox At The Halfway Mark

By Andy Jonathan 1111 0

So here we are just about the halfway point of this halfway season in what feels like the 8th season of the White Sox rebuild.  There’s quite a bit to unpack , but what does it all really mean?  I feel like there’s been measurable progress this season for the first time ever with the rebuild.  Not that there wasn’t progress with the team before, but it was all measured by what trades and prospects that Rick Hahn was able to hoard either in the offseason or at the trade deadline.  Now this season we are starting to see some of the core of the rebuild coalesce and start to cut their teeth on some series wins.  So let’s dig in and see what’s what, shall we?

The Sox currently sit in 3rd place in the AL Central with a 37-41 record, a whopping 14 games behind this weekend’s opponent, the dirty Twins.  They’re also 6.5 games out of the wild card conversation, though just a few weeks ago they had that number down to 2.  They’re 4th from the bottom in the AL in runs scored with a -63 run differential, and third from the bottom with a team 5.03 ERA.  On the surface, this looks pretty terrible and would make me want to not watch another Sox game for the rest of the season let alone write about them.  Yet the games have been pretty fun thus far, and they only sit at 4 games below .500.  What does it all mean?

I think it’s safe to say that based on the squad that took the field at the beginning of April that this White Sox team has performed slightly above expectations.  ZIPS projections had the team at 71 wins for the entire season, a .444 win percentage.  The Sox current win percentage sits at .474, which projects out to a 77-85 season.  Compared to last season’s 62 wins that’s a drastic improvement.    The Sox have made this step forward even while dealing with Carlos Rodon’s exploding joke elbow, or in spite of the fact that they find their 5th starters for the rotation under the Green Line L tracks next to the Hockeenight home office.  The projections also included Jon Jay, who just this past week finally found his way into the Sox outfield.

We’ve seen solid progression from Yoan Moncada, Tim Anderson, and Eloy Jimenez.  Lucas Giolito has transformed into a legitimate top of the rotation candidate.  James McCann is going to be an All Star this season.  There’s a lot to be excited about, yet I can’t help but feel a little frustrated.  With all of the bad luck the Sox have endured, i feel like an 81+ win season was right there for the taking if the front office had any interest in doing so.  Instead we got the ridiculous song and dance with Manny Machado, which lead to nothing other than Yonder Alonso being set out by the trash yesterday.  If the Sox front office had any interest in putting a winning product out on the field this season Ivan Nova would be somewhere else, as would Jon Jay.  The Sox starting rotation would have an ERA under 6, and the OF would have a combined WAR of more than 3 (2.3 of which belongs to Eloy).  Dylan Cease wouldn’t continue to waste pitches down in AAA, working towards some invisible finish line that Rick Hahn has set for him.  Instead we are left to wonder where the Sox could’ve been at this point. It’s frustrating, but also worrisome at the same time, as the Sox will need to add outside talent to the core if they have deigns on competing next season and I don’t feel like Hahn knows how to add via free agency.  That’s further out, however.  Closer to now is the back half of the season.

Looking to the 2nd half of this season depends entirely on how long Yoan Moncada and Tim Anderson are out.  If it’s a lengthy absence for either (or god forbid both), the 77 win season isn’t gonna happen.  The Sox -61 run differential is also begging for a market correction, as a team with offensive stats like that is coasting along on some luck.  In addition to that, there’s the question of whether or not the Sox sell off some pieces in the coming weeks.  Alex Colome, despite the blown save in the Red Sox series, would be a nice addition to any team looking to add for a stretch run, as would Aaron Bummer.  Wellington Castillo could be had for parts, and if there’s an offer for James McCann that blows Rick Hahn’s socks off I’d expect him to at least consider it.  Add all these parts up, and I feel like the ZIPS projection of 71 wins might be right on the money.  Dylan Cease coming up, or Zack Collins getting consistent playing time may alter those numbers slightly, but not much more than a win or two in either direction.  Adding 8 wins to the Sox total from last season is a solid improvement, and I’m in no way upset about it.

Just kinda disappointed.

Baseball

Series Recap – White Sox Lose 2 of 3 to Red Sox: Complete Meltdown Avoided

By Andy Jonathan 1087 0

Game 1: White Sox 5 – Red Sox 6

Game 2: White Sox 3 – Red Sox 6

Game 3: White Sox 8 – Red Sox 7

 

I had a good portion of this recap typed up and ready to go after Alex Colome blew the save in the 8th inning today, little did I know that Jose Abreu still had one in the chamber to save the day with a blast over the green monster.  That dinger salvaged what was shaping up to be a disastrous 3 game stint against the BoSox.  Up until that point, the bullpen was burning through goodwill like it was an open methane pipeline on the side of a landfill.  In addition to that, it looks like Tim Anderson is going to be on the shelf for a good amount of time after a high ankle sprain Tuesday night.  Hopefully you weren’t on Twitter, because a phalanx of trolls came oozing out of the sewers to proclaim that Timmy is getting what he deserves for daring to have fun playing baseball.  Oh, and Moncada got drilled on the knee by Sale and left the game too.  Things don’t get any easier this weekend with a series against the Twonkies looming.

 

To the bullets:

Numbers Don’t Lie

-So the bullpen seems to have reverted to being shitty again.  The White Sox had leads in every one of these games, and in every instance the pen coughed it up.  Ruiz, Marshall and Minaya were particularly heinous this series, giving up 7 earned runs in 5.1 innings between the 3 of them.  Fry and Colome were unable to keep the BoSox at bay in the 8th inning today, getting beat by themselves and a boneheaded play by Jose Rondon, who was filling in for Moncada at 3rd.  On the plus side, Carson Fulmer looked more than serviceable Tuesday night working solidly through the first two innings of the bullpen game, striking out 3.  Hopefully this is just a blip on the radar before the pen settles back down to the more efficient version that had been showing up before.

-The defense was pretty abysmal as well.  The aforementioned blunder by Rondon, who decided to try and come home to peg Eduardo Nunez (who was halfway to the dugout by the time the ball got to McCann) on a ground ball instead of taking the easy out at first.  Tim Anderson in game 1 trying for the cross body throw instead of going to 3rd to try and save the game except Moncada really wasn’t covering the bag so whatever.  Speaking of not covering, Reynaldo Lopez threw one in the dirt that McCann had trouble with so instead of covering home like a big boy he got mad at himself and hung his head while Devers motored home uncontested.  Not a good look all around.

-The hitting, however, looked very good all series.  Realistically if you score 16 runs in a 3 game series you should probably end up with more than one win, but see the section above about the bullpen.

-Losing Tim Anderson hurts.  Just when it seemed like we had finally gotten rid of Cordell in the starting lineup with the arrival of Jon Jay, this forces Leury to SS for the foreseeable future, bringing Cordell back into the CF picture.  Things get even ickier if Yoan is forced to miss any time from his kneecap getting zapped by Sale today.  Maybe this means the return of Palkamania, but with Collins already up and not playing because of Alonso reasons I can’t see that being much help.

-Speaking of that scenario, why in the frozen fuck do you bring up Collins and then sit him for the gigantic waste of space Yonder Alonso?  Just DFA him already, his OPS is less than Nick Madrigal’s batting average in AA.

-Favorite Son Lucas Giolito looked better this time around than he did against the Cubs.  He was definitely getting squeezed by home plate ump Bill Welke, who’s zone was only slightly better than the one in Giolito’s previous start.  He seemed to be overthrowing his fastball, resulting in a definite loss of the zone at times and netting him 4 walks on the evening to go with 7 Ks.  He mentioned his body flying open during this start, which was a concern for him all last season.  Hopefully McCann and him can come up with a solution quickly, as the Twins aren’t going to give him much of a break.

-Speaking of the Twins series, the Sox have a “TBA” starter listed for Friday night’s game.  While I’d love to see Dylan Cease show up and mow down some Twins, I can’t see the Sox making this his first MLB start after his last few subpar outings in Charlotte.  More likely than not we are looking at another bullpen game, which is not even a coinflip the way some of them are throwing right now.  If they DO have a pen game on Friday night, I’d like to see Fulmer get more than 2 innings this time around.  It’s not like he’s close to being the worst starter they’ve thrown out there the past few weeks.

Onward…

Baseball

Series Recap – Sox Lose 2 of 3 Against Rangers: SSDD

By Andy Jonathan 1115 0

Game 1: Sox 5 – Rangers 4 (10 Innings)

Game 2: Sox 5 – Rangers 6

Game 3: Sox 4 – Rangers 7

 

Same shit, different day.  That’s the only way you can sum up the stream of drizzling shits the White Sox starting rotation oozes out series after series.  If Giolito isn’t pitching the Sox offense is going to have to carry the day, unless it’s the 1 out of 5 starts where Nova or Lopez is useful.  I’ve seen 5000% more Odrisamer Despagine starts then I’ve ever cared to in my entire life, and yet I know Hahn and Renteria are going to trot him out there again to kick off the Twins series next weekend.  I’d be willing to bet Vegas sets the over/under for that game somewhere around 18 runs to start.

I understand that injuries are a thing, and the Sox staff has been hit with more than their fair share of them this season, but so have other teams.  The Yankees have had every single one of their starters hurt at one point or another this season, and yet their games seem to be eminently watchable.  Can you imagine the frothing fury of the New York media if Brian Cashman signed Despagine for any reason OTHER than to carry buckets of sunflower seeds to the bullpen?  The New York Post would spontaneously combust in people’s hands (which is probably best for everybody involved).  Yet here the Sox sit, Hahn never really having to answer to anyone as to why he thinks this rotation is acceptable.   He gets to hide in the shadow of the North Siders, and we are stuck watching it.  On top of that the Hawks traded Pittsburgh for a cantaloupe on skates, and the Predators sent PK Subban to New Jersey for some seashells and a bottle of isopropyl alcohol.  Sigh.

 

NUMBERS DON’T LIE

-At least there was some fun stuff this series.  Zack Collins finally got to start a game, and rewarded Renteria with a 3 run shot to dead center field.  He waited until Jurado made a mistake with a 2-2 slider and stepped into it for an exciting start to his career.  It was his only hit of the series, but at least he made it count.  His first time behind the dish was catching for Despagine, so I guess the jury is going to remain out on his ability to catch a major league starter for a bit longer.

-Tim Anderson seems to be heating up again, hitting safely in all 3 games and absolutely pummeling the Rangers pitching staff in game 2 to the tune of 4 RBIs.  He only sees about 8 pitches a game, but if he wants to swing like Javy Baez and he can have the same results I’m all for it.  Like Sam said in our round table for the Cubs/Sox series, there are going to peaks and valleys to players who treat plate discipline like it’s pizza in St. Louis, but as long as the peaks are as high as Timmy’s have been so far it’s gonna be fun.

-Ryan Cordell is nice and all, but he’s not a major league starter.  As soon as they’re able to voodoo Jon Jay back to life, he needs to shamble his ass out to right field because I’m kinda done with Cordell.  Bryce Harper woulda looked pretty good out there too, but whatever.

-Don’t look now but Jace Fry and Kelvin Herrera have a pulse.  Both have looked pretty solid over the last few appearances, and Herrera even scored the win in game 1.  Combined with Colome and Bummer, the back end of the Sox bullpen is looking pretty tasty right now.

-Reynaldo Lopez gave up a bundle of runs early then settled down to a decent line in night one.  His changeup was not locating well, unless you were sitting in right center field and looking for a souvenir, but he was able to (mostly) use his fastball to keep the Rangers off balance.  I don’t know quite what it is, but if Lopez can get through the first inning OK it usually results in a pretty solid start for him.  Maybe lay off the monster energy drink in his pregame routine, I dunno.  Either way, the Sox need to see more of him if they’re gonna pencil him in as the 5th starter for the 2021 world series team.

-Yonder Alonso fucking sucks, and from here on out he should never start over Zack Collins unless they accidentally leave Collins on the bus and he gets stuck in Texas.  Maybe not even then.

 

Next up is a trip to Beantown.  If anyone happens to see Brad Marchand sitting in/next to a dumpster please send pictures.

 

Baseball

Series Recap – Sox Split With Yankees: The Boulder Rolleth Down Again

By Andy Jonathan 1234 0

Game 1: White Sox 5 – Yankees 4

Game 2: White Sox 10 – Yankees 2

Game 3: White Sox 4 – Yankees 8

Game 4: White Sox 3 – Yankees 10

 

 

This series against the Yankees this Father’s Day weekend was the entire season in a microcosm.  You had the dizzying highs of watching Giolito twirl another gem, Eloy bombing 2 HR in a game, or Leury Garcia win an 11 pitch battle against Adam Ottavino to send the game winning home run over the right field fence.  Then you had the terrifying lows of the back 3/5ths of the worst starting rotation in the major leagues being unable to find the strike zone, to Ricky Renteria’s mystifying lineup decisions to getting a taste of .500 and having it snatched right back from you.  There have been plenty of times in the past I’ve been frustrated with the White Sox front office, but their insistence on filling the rotation with trash heap rejects might be the worst it’s ever been.

To the bullets

NUMBERS DON’T LIE

 

 

– Watching Leury Garcia and Tim Anderson take game one by the nuts and drag it over to the White Sox side of the win column was a thing of beauty.  Timmy went down and popped a pitch that he had no business getting to and put it over the center field fence to tie the game when Nova tried his best to gift wrap it to NY.  Then watching Leury go down 0-2 to Adam Ottavino (who is no joke in the reliever department) and fight off 8 more pitches before he finally got one he could do something with was just awesome to behold.  I see Leury as a Ben Zobrist type of player where he will be in the field every game, just not in the same position.  Fangraphs has him at a 2.6 defensive WAR which is highest on the whole damn team by more  than a full point (McCann is next at 1.2).  For that price, he’s well worth the roster spot.

– Eloy is blazing hot right now, as he now sits with 11 home runs.  That doesn’t seem like much, but when you consider the fact that he’s hit 8 of those 11 since May 20th that picture becomes a little clearer.  On top of that, he’s seeing the ball better in the box and laying off more and more breaking pitches out of the zone.  His K rate is still kinda high, but if he’s averaging one tater every three games I’ll take it.  Plus the kid is hilariously awkward on TV:

– Lucas Giolito wasn’t at his sharpest in this game, but he certainly did enough to keep the Yankee bats at bay until the Sox could respond to the Luke Voit solo shot he gave up in the first.  He walked 4 on the night, which is the most he’s had since the last time he faced the Yankees back in April.  The fact that you’d pitch a little more carefully to this team speaks more to the heavy bats of the Yankees (Now even heavier with the acquisition of Edwin Encarnacion from the Mariners) than to a lack of control from Gio.

-Kelvin Herrera came in game one and struck out the side in the 8th to set the table for Aaron Bummer’s first save of the year. Apparently Colome was not available after throwing almost 40 pitches in his 5 out save the previous game.  Bummer looked competent in the role, which may be where he ends up if Hahn decides to move Colome for another Tommy John surgery in the making at the trade deadline.

-Reynaldo Lopez really only had one bad inning in his start, but it was enough to do him in.  He’s still not attacking the zone enough, but his underlying talent and promise continue to merit him a start every 5 days.  It’s not like there’s anyone else to take the job from him anyways.

-Yonder Alonso has played 5 games in the month of June and gone 1-15 in that span.  Jon Jay is dead in a ditch somewhere, and Manny Machado and Bryce Harper are not here.  What a bang up free agency season for Rick Hahn (OK fine James McCann has been awesome, but there is not a single person out there who thought he was going to be anything other than 1 game a week).

– O-Driss went from being a very small, novelty pumpkin to a gigantic first prize in a county fair one with his start on Sunday.  Happy Fathers Day to all those Sox Dads out there who had to watch that steaming pile of shit that he shoveled out there.  I know the Yankees fans appreciated it.

– Next up are the 2 games up in Wrigley against the Cubs.  Who’s pumped to try and take back the Crosstown Cup Sponsored By BP Oil and Probably Papa John’s Pizza or Maybe Ankin’s Law Office With Ozzie Guillen?

-Sisyphus White Sox meme idea courtesy of @TheBennettK

 

 

Baseball

Series Recap – Sox Swept In DC: Swiss Army Fail

By Andy Jonathan 1190 0

Game 1: Sox 5 – Nats 9

Game 2: Sox 4 – Nats 6

 

That’s what I get for being overly positive in my previous recap.

The Sox came into this shortened series against the Nats on quite the roll, having won 6 of their last 7.  In those 6 games, they found quite a few different ways to win games.  In this 2 game series, they found a bunch of ways to lose them, unfortunately aided and abetted by their coach.  God, the only thing dumber than sac bunts in baseball are the “unwritten rules.”   To the bullets.

 

NUMBERS DON’T LIE

 

– As I mentioned above, the Sox created ways to lose these two games.  In the first, it was a complete and utter meltdown by Reynaldo Lopez.  He was staked to a 5-0 lead by some nifty hitting in the first two innings, not the least of which was Yoan’s 11th dinger of the year which was an absolute BOMB.  In addition to that it was some timely hitting by (who else) James McCann and surprisingly Eloy, who worked the count in his favor by laying off some curveballs just off the outside of the plate forcing Strasburg to come inside with a fastball.  He laced it into the outfield for a run scoring single.  I’d like to see a lot more of this from him, it gives me hope.

-Sadly, the first 2 innings were the only ones that featured any offense from the Sox as 6 of their 8 hits were contained within.  After that it was a parade of soft contact against a tired Strasburg and the Nats dumpster fire of a bullpen.  They didn’t even really threaten again until the 9th, but that fizzled out quickly with Abreu popping out in the infield.

– Reynaldo Lopez just didn’t have it tonight.  Even though he got through the first 2 innings unscathed he threw a ton of pitches, and the cracks burst open the next 3.  Nothing he threw around the edges of the plate was close enough for a strike call, and the fastballs he did throw well caught way too much of the plate, as evidenced by the fact that Rendon positively ate his lunch with 5 RBIs off a double and a dinger.  This is 2 shitty starts in a row for Rey, both featuring him not being able to command his fastball with any degree.

– The 2nd game was a literal comedy of errors, as the Sox committed blunder after blunder in the field, most of which resulted in runs.  Dylan Covey didn’t pitch too poorly and deserved better than what his D gave him.  Yolmer made an error cutting in front of Tim Anderson, then Tim responded by dropping a pop fly in the infield.  The Sox looked like they wanted nothing more than to leave DC as fast as they could, and Renteria helped them along as best he could.

-Jose Abreu and Wellington Castillo tied the game for the Sox in the top of the 8th with a pair of home runs, which held up until the top of the 9th.  Timmy led off with a single, which brought Ryan Cordell to the plate.  Renteria promptly had him lay down a bunt to try and move Tim into scoring position.  Naturally it was a terrible bunt that ALMOST turned into a double play, but Cordell barely beat the throw to first.  Rondon laced a single that Robles had trouble with and would’ve resulted in Timmy most likely being on 3rd with 1 out, but instead it was 1st and 2nd.  Ended up being a moot point since All Around Good Guy Sean Doolittle struck out both Leury Garcia and Yoan to end the inning.

– Not to be outdone by his previous Galaxy Brained decisions, Renteria brought Colome in even though it was a non-save situation.  He proceeded to throw 7 straight balls, then gave up a walk off home run to Turner, bringing this short but brutal series to an end.

– The Sox now sit 3 games below .500, and need a sweep against the Royals to get back to where they should be.  So I’m guessing they’ll lose 2 of 3.  Fuck.

 

 

Baseball

Series Wrap – Sox Take 3 of 4 From Tribe: Feelin It

By Andy Jonathan 1207 0

White Sox 10, Indians 4

White Sox 6, Indians 1

White Sox 2, Indians 5

Lucas Giolito and Tim Anderson 2 – Indians 0

 

Is…is this what pride in your team feels like?  It’s been so long, I suppose I’d forgotten how nice it was.  While the Sox still have quite a ways to go hauling themselves up the side of the Sisyphean-esque mountain that Sox management has created for itself, this is a nice marker for a team that may just have deigns on competing this year.  Even if (when) the bottom drops out and the boulder rolls back over them, it’s cool for a weekend to own a team that has knocked their collective junk in the dirt the last 5 years.   Make no mistake, while the Sox are climbing up one side of the mountain it seems the Indians are picking up speed on the other side, hurtling down towards the burning shores of the Cuyahoga.

Let’s talk about some stuff, shall we?

 

NUMBERS DON’T LIE

 

– If you would’ve told me two weeks ago that Manny Banuelos and Dylan Covey would outduel Carlos Carrasco and Trevor Bauer I would’ve laughed and pushed you into the street (I’m a terrible person).  Night one saw Carrasco unable to keep his breaking pitches out of the zone, resulting in quite a few of them going back the opposite direction at speeds normally associated with satellites falling out of orbit.  Banuelos did just enough to keep the noodle-armed tribe off the basepaths and in the field, then let his offense do the rest.  Abreu, Alonso and Eloy had 7 RBIs between the 3 of them, with Jiminez breaking the ice with a 2 run double.  It’s nice to see Alonso contribute something to the equation, but he still shouldn’t be hitting fucking 4th.

 

-Night 2 saw the Covey give up a lead off bomb to Francisco Lindor (God it’s gonna suck when the Cubs sign him) that killed a Super Ropes vendor in the right-center seats.  This had me primed for another Covey Special, where I can turn the game off in the 2nd inning (the outcome predetermined) and fire up Mortal Kombat on my PS4.  I decided to keep it on a little longer, and was rewarded by the other side of the lineup jumping Bauer for 6 runs (2 earned) and making the Indians pay for some seriously shoddy D.  Covey ended up getting a quality start on the evening, plus his first win since August of 2018(!).  I’m happy for him, but if this team has any interest in making this season more than just a stop on the Eternal Rebuild Train, then he can’t be the 5th starter much longer.  Time for me to start beating the Marcus Stroman drum, eh?

 

– Game 3 was the lone blight of the weekend, with the Sox repaying the Cleveland error-fest of the previous night with the type of base running normally seen when I’m playing MLB The Show shitfaced in my basement.  The Sox ran into a double play with the Indians not even having to throw a pitch.  If you really wanna see it, you can watch the video here, but I’m not going to waste any more time on it other than to say that Yolmer and Tilson know what they did, and they better not fucking do it again.  The Sox stranded a shitload of players, Renteria left Nova in too long and pitched Herrera too much.  Fart.

 

– Game 4 was another masterful performance by Lucas Giolito, and another blast by Tim Anderson.  Seriously, I’m running out of superlatives as to just how good Gio has looked these last few outings, so instead just watch this curveball over and over again.  It’s hypnotic.  Gio ended up going 7.1 innings, with Bummer and Colome finishing off the Tribe for the series win.  The only downer on the day was Eloy striking out in each plate appearance today, still seeing a steady diet of breaking pitches.  I’m not ready to call him Pedro Cerrano yet, but the similarities are getting somewhat striking.  I still have faith he’s gonna get his timing down and send Alonso to the bottom 3rd of the order where he belongs.  Timmy continues to be the most entertaining thing since Ozzie Guillen, and his pose after he murdered the cutter from Plesac (who actually pitched pretty well) made me cackle like a mental patient.  More please.

 

Next up is a quick 2 game series against the Nats.   Thankfully the Sox manage to dodge Stephen Strasburg, who is back to his old dominating self.  The Sox currently sit 1 game out of .500 and 2 games out of the 2nd wild card spot.  The Nats are a beatable shitshow right now, then it’s another helping of the Kansas City Trash Goblins.  There’s no reason for the Sox to be anything but at least 2 games above .500 by the end of the week.  In the past, this is where the trap door would open and the Sox would plummet to the depths of the AL.  I have a feeling this time might be different.  ONWARD!

 

 

Baseball

Series Wrap – Sox Sweep Royals: KC Trash Edition

By Andy Jonathan 1310 0

 

Game 1 Box: Sox 2, Royals 1

Game 2 Box: Sox 4, Royals 3

Game 3 Box: Sox 8, Royals 7

 

 

The Sox managed to sweep a moribund KC team this week with some excellent Giolito pitching, solid offense in games 2 and 3, and a little help from Mother Nature in game one.  What does it all mean?  In the grand scheme of this season, not a whole hell of a lot.  The Royals are intentionally bad, with not much in their future that’s going to change the situation (unless watching Billy Hamilton bat .185 is your thing), and the Sox are 3 starters away from having an average MLB rotation.  That being said, the series was pretty fun, with some added spiciness tonight to add to an already simmering Hate Stew for these two teams.

 

TO THE BULLETS

 

-RIGHT TO THE SPICE!  With Tim Anderson missing the first two games because of a sore wrist, it looked like we might not get a continuation of the shenanigans that occurred the last time these two teams met.  That ended up not being the case, as Tim was in the lineup tonight and the first pitch from Glenn Sparkman sailed right over Timmy’s eyebrows and off the visor of his batting helmet.  Granted this was probably not an intentional pitch (it was a changeup that Sparkman lost the grip on and not a 4 seamer), but with the officiating crew well aware of the dumb shit that went down a few weeks ago, home plate ump Mark Carlson wasted no time sending the moon faced Sparkman to the showers.  This prompted Ned Yost to stop digging in the dugout trash long enough to come out and vomit some old timey coachins on home plate, but Carlson was not to be swayed.  Much to Anderson’s credit he kept his cool and walked down to first, later to get the last laugh in the bottom of the 8th, when he laced a double off a good Ian Kennedy slider to put the Sox ahead for good.

 

-Timmy shouldn’t have had to be so heroic however, but the continued mismanagement of the pitching staff by Renteria lead to the Sox blowing a 7-1 lead.  Going into the 6th, it was pretty clear that Rey Lopez was running out of gas.  That combined with the dreaded 3rd time through the order lead to him being charged with 4 runs in the inning.  Lopez ended up going 5.2 and throwing 118 pitches, 32 of which came in the 6th when it was clear he didn’t have it anymore.  Jace Fry and Marshall came in and performed admirably, but then it was KHT (Kelvin Herrera Time) and all of a sudden the game was tied.  It wouldn’t shock me to see Herrera on the IL here shortly, as he hasn’t been right since he tweaked his back awhile ago.

 

-Alex Colome had himself a heck of a series, getting the win in the continuation of game one yesterday, then getting the save later that night.  Tonight he was called on again to close out the win as well, pitching a solid 9th for his 11th save of the year.  With the emergence of James McCannonballs as a legit (at least for now) backstop, the trade that brought Colome here can be viewed as one of Hahn’s better moves in the past few offseasons.

 

-Lucas Giolito is now officially A THING.  It looked like his start against the Astros might have been a mirage if you watched the 1st inning in game two.  He started out pretty wild, walking one and plunking one, then giving up a bomb to Alex “Soul Stone” Gordon.  After that shot, Gio pulled his shit together and mowed the Royals down for the next 7 innings, never throwing more than 16 pitches in an inning.  His changeup is a thing of beauty, and his fastball has some pretty hilarious movement on it.  Top that off with 2 more offspeed pitches and he looks like a legitimate “top of the rotation” kinda guy.  To think this time last year I watched him give up 8 runs in 1.2 innings to a god awful Orioles team.  It’s a very welcome change.

 

-Jose Abreu and Yoan Moncada are hitting for power again!  They’re both still striking out too much, but I have a feeling once the weather settles into a warm pattern those folks sitting in the first 10 rows of the OF need to pay attention.  Moncada’s dinger tonight was also opposite field, which is awesome to see him taking what the pitcher is giving him.

 

-Eloy is still seeing nothing but a steady diet of sliders and curveballs.  When he gets his eyes timed with his wrists he’s gonna be right back to murdering the ball, mark my words.

 

-Leury Garcia started out the year with a brutal stretch, but over the past few weeks has turned things around completely.  He’s a Marwin Gonzalez-type player, with value all over the diamond and can also provide a little offense.  His robbery of Jorge Soler tonight was a well-timed thing of beauty, resulting in Soler tipping his cap to the diminutive center fielder.  I still don’t care for him leading off, but you can do a lot worse than him right now.

 

-Yonder Alonso is now batting .172, which is exactly what you want out of your fucking cleanup hitter.  /wanking motion.

 

-Next up is a 4 game series with the Tribe, with 3 of those starts featuring some form of Banuelos, Covey or Nova.  I’m sure Jose Ramierez will be hitting .340 by Monday.

 

 

 

Baseball

Let’s Talk About Tim Anderson Because We Need Fun

By Sam Fels 1303 0

I think we can all agree that Tim Anderson’s emergence goes just a little bit beyond the field, and it goes into areas that I’m probably not qualified to talk about. Not only could the White Sox seriously use this season from Anderson being real and repeated, so could all of baseball. It’s been a ride so far,  that’s for sure.

Strictly as a player, and as a batter more to the point. Anderson is the type of player that used to piss me off. Not for his brashness, because I’ve always loved that as someone who has no swagger to him at all, but his undisciplined ways. As basically a zealot of Moneyball, I looked through glares and furrowed brows at any player who didn’t walk or even take a pitch, Anderson would have been one I would have been waving garlic at or something. Of course, if he were a vampire that would only make him cooler but that’s a much sillier discussion to have. Anyway, given Jim Hendry’s ways you can see why I was probably the most miserable Cubs fan on Earth, and that’s saying something.

Over the past couple years, I’ve grown to appreciate players like Anderson who look at our narrow vision of what an approach at the plate should be (or did), stick one finger up at it, and then go about it the opposite way. There was probably a time I would have looked at Javy Baez crossly as well, but he’s another who decided he was going to swing at even more pitches, and simply get to more of them and that’s how he would increase his numbers. As both Anderson and Baez are having their best seasons, certainly what’s become clear is that there are a few ways to skin a cat. If you’re a sick fucko, that is, because who else would come up with that phrase? Seriously.

Anyway, Anderson. He did raise his walk-rate last year to 5%, which is just about something you’d notice. But that’s clearly not for him this year, as he’s swinging at more pitches out of the zone, inside the zone, so yes, overall. And he’s making more contact on pitches outside and inside the zone than he ever has. So it’s not a huge surprise that he’s seeing less and less pitches inside the zone than he ever has, or getting less first-pitch strikes than before. It’s how these things go. Hasn’t mattered all that much, or it didn’t in April. But the theme of the day seems to be parsing out players struggling in the month of May, so here we are.

Clearly, Anderson’s May is not as good as his April. Whereas he had a .425 wOBA in the opening month, that’s cratered to .294 in May. Yes, he’s not getting nearly the rub of the green in May, but a .302 BABIP isn’t unholy. Let’s see if we can get to the bottom of this other than luck. Because Anderson never hit the ball hard enough to get that much luck, and probably needs to live with this kind of fortune.

One oddity of Anderson’s season is that he hasn’t hit the fastball well at any time. In the season’s opening throes, he hit .296 on fastballs, which is barely ok, but slugged the same exact number, which is hardly so. Anderson made up for that by hitting everything else into oblivion. .467 average and a .733 slugging on sinkers, .400 on changes, and the big improvement from previous seasons was inhaling and spitting back out sliders to the tune of a .435 average and a .738 slugging. Those last two numbers were far more than he’s ever done before.

Well, Anderson is still seeing the same percentage of fastballs, but it’s getting worse. He’s hitting .158 on them in May, while maintaining good-to-great averages on pretty much everything else. Again, like we did earlier today, has the location where he’s getting those fastballs changed? Sure looks like it:

Pitchers are going away from Anderson more, and to his credit he’s gone the opposite way more as well in May (21% in April, 35% in May). The problem for Anderson is when going the other way he just doesn’t have much pop, at least not this year. He’s got a 20% line-drive rate when going to right field, which is down significantly from last year but in line with his first years on the Southside. He’s got a decent enough 25% line-drive rate when going the other way, which is what he’s had in every season in the majors. But he’s slugged .371, with an ISO of .086 when going to right so far this year, and until that improves, that’s where pitchers are going to go at him. But it’s in him, because he’s slugged over .550 in the previous two seasons when doing that.

Anderson has seen big gains when pulling the ball this year, along with getting it in the air more. But it didn’t take pitchers long to see that came at the cost of what he used to do well. Now we see if he can combine the two.

 

 

Baseball

Series Preview – Blue Jays vs. White Sox: Striving for .500

By Adam Hess 1187 0

vs.

RECORDS: Blue Jays 17-25, White Sox 19-22

GAMETIMES: Thursday and Friday 7:10, Saturday and Sunday 1:10

TV: NBCSN+ Thursday, NBCSN Friday and Saturday, WGN Sunday

THE TORANNA BOYS: Still just follow Zubes on Twitter

PROBABLE PITCHERS

Marcus Stroman vs. Dylan Covey

Aaron Sanchez vs. Ivan Nova

TBD vs. Lucas Giolito

Trent Thornton vs. Reynaldo Lopez

PROBABLE BLUE JAYS LINEUP

Freddy Galvis – SS

Vladimir Guererro Jr. – 3B

Justin Smoak – 1B

Rowdy Tellez – DH

Fun Police Randall Grichuk – RF

Brandon Drury – 2B

Teoscar Hernandez – LF

Danny Jansen – C

Jonathan Davis – CF

PROBABLE WHITE SOX LINEUP

Leury Garcia – CF

Yoan Moncada – 3B

Jose Abreu – 1B

Yonder Alonso – DH

James McCann – C

Charlie Tilson – LF

Tim Anderson – SS

Yolmer Sanchez – 2B

Ryan Cordell – RF

 

MLB scheduling has done me no real favors by having these two teams go at it on back-to-back weekends, because Sam appropriately said all the necessary things in last week’s preview, but that doesn’t mean we can’t talk rehash some stuff or get a find a few new things to touch on. Since we last left the Jays on Sunday, they had Monday off and then split a two-game interleague set with the Giants out in the Bay. The most important development in that series was pretty obviously Vlad Jr. hitting the first home runs of his career, and doing so in exciting fashion with two in one game. They were both monster bombs, as well.

Vlad uncorking dingers now and potentially getting off the early career shnide is the kind of development that would make this season much more tolerable for Jays fans, in no dissimilar way to the explosions of Moncada, Anderson, Giolito, etc. has been able to make this a much more tolerable, fun, and interesting start for Sox fans. There was never really a doubt that Vlad would hit, hit, and hit, in the bigs, and even the most hyped prospects tend to get off to slow starts. Still, I have to imagine Jays fans were hoping for a bit more from him, just like Sox fans were hoping for a bit more from Eloy, who was in a similar boat in terms of his hit and power tools projecting to MLB. Still, both Jays and Sox fans are gonna have to be patient, and I am sure that most of them have no problems with that either.

Speaking of Eloy, his return to the roster and lineup has a potential to be a positive development for the Sox in this series, as well. He went down to Charlotte for a rehab stint the past two nights, and was pulled in the 6th inning of Wednesday’s game. If he’s healthy and ready to return, there is certainly no sense in leaving him AAA just to rehab – he needs MLB at bats more than anything. So I wouldn’t exactly be surprised if he ended up in the lineup on Thursday, though I am not confident enough in that to list him the probable lineup above.

Giolito getting the Saturday home start after dominating the Jays last Sunday is certainly promising, and having seen him pitch so well in his last few times out, him having one more go at a pretty anemic lineup is more than fine by me. I can understand people having reservations about buying into Gio considering he’s turned in his recent dominance against bad lineups, but don’t forget that last year he was getting hit hard by everyone. And also, good pitchers should dominate bad lineups. I don’t necessarily think Gio is the ace of the future, but he’s the ace right now, and MLB scouts with a lot more baseball knowledge than me used to think he was a future ace, so that talent and potential might still be in him somewhere. I am not gonna complain about him pitching well at all.

If the Sox can take 3-of-4 from this weekend, they’ll be one game shy of .500, and if they can take a sweep somehow, they’ll be one game above .500 on May 19. Just like we all predicted.

Baseball

Series Wrap – Sox Take 2 of 3 From Blue Jays: The Long Slow Climb Out Of Hell

By Andy Jonathan 1226 0

This is a little more what I expected from this White Sox team: to be competitive against the bottom rung of the AL, and to show a little fight but ultimately get mushed by the top.  This very easily could’ve been a sweep against the light hitting Jays team were it not for 2 bad pitches by Dylan Covey, but boy were those 2 pitches shitty.  The Sox still have a ways to go before I will consider this rebuild on track, but a few more performances like this out of Giolito and I might allow myself to feel hope again.

 

 

YOU GOT A BULLET(S) IN YOUR HEAD

 

-Dylan Covey’s start was…not great.  The problems that plagued him last season (high pitch count, no punchout pitch) were on full display in the first few innings.  He’s a sinkerball pitcher who’s pitches aren’t sinking right now.  They either fly out of the zone, or just sit there belt high, begging to be pummeled into orbit.  That’s exactly what Randal “No Blanket Like A Wet Blanket” Grichuk did in the 1st inning Friday night.  Covey couldn’t get past strike 2 on anyone, and Grichuk made him pay.  Teoscar Hernandez did the same thing the following inning, and that was about it.  If Covey is going to be filling in for Carlos Rodon’s shredded elbow until Sox management decides Dylan Cease has dominated AAA enough to make an appearance at the big league level, then he’s gonna have to figure out how to get that sinker down, otherwise I’m just gonna skip each of his starts.  There’s only so much beer in my fridge, and it can’t handle Covey pitching every five days.

 

-Ivan Nova’s start, however, was pleasant enough.  Basically a repeat of his start against Cleveland, Nova worked both sides of the plate effectively keeping the light hitting Toronto team off balance.  The offense, perhaps worried that he’d melt down like a popsicle in a toddler’s hand, banged out 9 runs of support for him.  Quality starts are nice, more please.

 

-Speaking of the offense, James McCann is now officially a thing.  He went 6 for 9 (nice) in the series, and gunned down Vladdy Jr’s attempted larceny on Saturday.  It actually made me swear out loud when a Danny Jansen foul nailed him right in the McCannonballs (Hat tip to @WriteSox for that one).  It’s getting to the point now where there’s really no excuses to play Wellington Castillo much anymore, not that it’ll stop Renteria from doing so.

 

-Lucas Giolito is making a very strong case to be a large part of this rebuild.  His changeup looks like a completely new pitch, and it’s been there for him even when the fastball hasn’t.  Case in point the first 2 innings today where he couldn’t spot the fastball at all, but the change was still there to get him the strike when he needed it.  His FIP and BABIP are where you’d want them to be (3.45 and .301), so there’s no reason to believe that he can’t keep this up.  That being said, I’d like to see him take another turn at the Red Sox, or the Cubs for that matter as a true test of his stuff.  I’m very optimistic, however.

 

-Yonder Alonso hit a dinger, but he still sucks.

 

-Tim Anderson ALSO smoked a dinger to center field, but it did not lead to a bolt of lightning crashing through the TavaresDome and striking down Randal “Mayonnaise” Grichuk like I had hoped.  Next time.

 

Two games against the Tribe this week, which might also feature the return of ELOY to the lineup.  That would be nice, as I like Charlie Tilson as a 4th outfielder, but his 32 MPH exit velocity is not exactly MLB material.