WestEddy

Can't really count on wins, anymore; the White Sox have been shut out once in the last 36 games.

Today. Thorpe. Maybe Sosa?

Because the infusion of talent that Robert brings back will hasten our improvement to competitiveness. It will take a lot longer for the White Sox to fill out their roster with stars if they only use the draft and free agency to do it.

And paired with Sleepy Harold's update at FutureSox, there isn't anything you shouldn't know about White Sox' minor leagues. https://www.futuresox.net/2024/06/10/trending-on-the-farm-quero-torches-tn/

Jim Margalus has a nice, deep write-up of how the Sox' top prospects have been doing over the last fortnight. https://soxmachine.com/2024/06/white-sox-pitching-depth-drew-thorpe/

No, I'm talking about somebody spilling the beans on the 2024 clubhouse. Like, Wilson being traded, then quoted with "Man, that place is bonkers", or something like that. I could see this team not trading Robert or Crochet, plugging in Cannon, Thorpe...maybe Bush, getting Yoan back, and actually playing just bad baseball. Maybe after the draft and trade deadline, they even start plugging Toussaint, Bush, Eder, Adams, some of their depth, into the big club's bullpen.

And we won't have an actual "data" on how this clubhouse is until after the trade deadline, when maybe somebody will go on a run with their new team and have to explain themselves.

I've even read reporting that this year's clubhouse is fine. Maybe it's not, and they're all just saying that to hold off the wolves. Everybody's calling Moncada lazy, who injured himself trying to beat out an infield single. 26 guys don't have to like each other to a man. There's always going to be a couple guys who have their own pace.

I don't even see the quotes from the article as players "ripping" on the Sox. The most damning one is the last. I can't imagine that Getz and Grifol are buddies. Getz' recent, luke-warm statement that they'd reevaluate the manager's position after the season seems to put the crosshairs right on Grifol. I don't know if Grifol does that bibbledy-babble thing in private, too, but if rookies and bullpen guys are getting mixed messages, or have ever-changing rolls, that's frustrating, and can make it a grind even coming to work. And most of those quotes seem like they can include past seasons. I would think that Getz, Bannister, Barfield, Janish, Shirley - they're all on the same page. Grifol doesn't seem to be in the information chain, or he has a horrible way of not giving out private information.

Jesus Christ!!! Just put in Soroka at this point.

"Mr. Sheets will let you know when you've thrown a strike."

He costs about as much as the rookie minimum.

You know the Sox are paying right around the minimum for Stassi's services this year, right?

Jim Margalus wrote about this at SoxMachine in 2022: https://soxmachine.com/2022/03/lucas-giolito-shows-limitations-of-white-soxs-approach-to-extensions/ And he draws from James Fegan's Athletic article: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/3206034/2022/03/23/disconnect-on-a-contract-extension-between-lucas-giolito-white-sox-predates-arbitration-impasse/ Maybe I'm mixing up the "player rep resolute on Free Agency" story with Samardzija. Giolito's regular talking point was that he wanted to sign an extension. But the model didn't really work for players when his turn came up.

Giolito was a player rep, and committed to trying out the market, as I recall. Cease took on Boras, and had no interest in being "cost-controlled". Besides Lopez and Kopech, they haven't had anybody to extend since. (They did give an extension to Lynn.)

Of course Lee should have come in. I'm just going off of Grifol saying he wanted to give Lee a full day off.

Pretty early during the Wannstedt era, I got tired of being angry all year. Sports radio didn't help, stupid, repeatable canards to just whine 24/7 about anything. I stopped following the Bears. My life is richer for it.

A little off-topic, but an interesting article from Fangraphs about pitchers who had high percentages of their team's wins, and where Crochet and Fedde fall in, historically. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/garrett-crochet-and-erick-fedde-are-finding-wins-in-unlikely-places/

Julks is a pretty good base stealing threat, in his own right. And while Julks isn't that great, defensively, I don't think he needs a late innings' replacement. Grifol should have pinch hit for Maldonado in the 8th. Let Mendick catch the 9th. Use the guys you have to win the game you're playing.

Because it helps make Kopech more marketable. Got yer back.

Oh well. I thought they were higher on him.