South Side Hit Men

Ain't no sunshine today, beyond watching Norm's old clips. One of the GOATs

Between COVID IL stints and the fact players went from a 60 game to an 162 game season makes this a universal, and expected problem. Hopefully the owners won't lock out players again in 2022, and players can fully adjust to a full season over the next two seasons.

The two Bowmans remain in their roles with the Chicago NHL OrganIzation, Stan also continues, for now, as GM of the US Olympic Men's Hockey Team, though there are calls by child sexual abuse advocates to suspend him from that role. Rocky Wirtz, the other remaining high ranking official from this period, remains as Chairman of the team. The team's non-independent sham investigation continues.

Rodon is a bigger risk but also has bigger upside than Lynn if he can continue to ramp up innings and perform as he has this season. Sure it's a bigger health risk, but there is also a risk Lynn declines due to age, his knee becomes a chronic issue which deteriorates further, etc. Under the current CBA, can a player resign with a club after rejecting a qualifying offer? Are these rules (qualifying offers) in place this offseason with the 12/2/21 end of the CBA? If yes to both, a QO is a near certainty, they can always extend the term on dollars to reach a deal. Depending on the future of a "luxury tax", some big market clubs may still continue to pass on big $ free agents, leaving the Mets and Dodgers as the only two possibly willing to blow through the 2022 threshold, and leaving the Sox in good shape if the Dodgers and Mets decide to pursue other options.

Yes, every future game is TBD, likely trying to slot their 5-6 man rotation through end of season / first playoff round. Perhaps they will skip a turn for Dallas and or Reynaldo. Days since last start: 2 (9/12) Lance Lynn 3 (9/11) Dylan Cease 4 (9/10) Carlos Rodon 5 (9/9) Reynaldo Lopez 6 (9/8) Dallas Keuchel 14 (8/31) Lucas Giolito

Yes, I thought he would be ramped up to 2-3 IP appearances after the All Star Game. Perhaps he physically needed to take it slow to get to this point, he had spotty performances. Rodon also hit a wall approaching 100 IP this year, though he was working off a much lower baseline (34 in 2019 and 7 last year). The rest really helped him regain his velocity last start, and he should be fresh going into the Playoffs. Overall, they have done a great job managing Kopech and Rodon to get to this stage, and Kopech can still hit 70-80 + innings depending on how far the Sox advance.

I don't recall seeing this anywhere, but James Fegan slipped in the Sox are currently using a six man rotation. I wonder if that is for the rest of the season, or just to get through the Cleveland series, and then setting up the playoff rotation with the final short week (5 games).

Everything has a place, and this game is great enough for both to be covered. Sabermetrics isn't everything, but it does a solid job quantifying attributes beyond counting stats, and is an upgrade defensively vs. looking at less errors vs. greater range. Steve Stone can point out specific details and nuances that impact why a player is hot or cold, why a pitcher is losing command/regained command. TWTW leads to maximizing one's talent, and should ultimately lead to better numbers (old school and sabermetric) than a player who is playing injured or not giving a full effort. Sabermetrics is the equivalent of Bill Parcell's "You are what your record is", gives you as full a picture as possible in terms of overall contributions., more so than cherry picking stats. Someone stated "Yoan Moncada sucks because he has 11 HRs and 54 RBIs in September". Would it be better than he expanded his strike zone and generated maximum bat speed more often to hit several more HRs, losing significant BA/OBP in the process? Most would say no. Ichiro or Ty Cobb could have hit more home runs as well, but choose to maximize their contributions by staying consistent steady hitters.

Corey Knebel became the 50th Dodgers hitter this season on 9/9, grounding out to first base in the fifth inning. Both the Mets and Dodgers remain three back of the all time record of 53 hitters used. The Chicago Cubs have sent 49 hitters to the plate, Miami 48. On the pitchers side: The Baltimore Orioles have claimed the AL lead with 40 pitchers used, two off the MLB and AL record, with four recent debuts. Former White Sox Zack Burdi pitched a scoreless inning (1 K, 1 BB) on 9/6. Eric Hanhold gave up 2 earned runs in 1 2/3 innings on 9/12, his first ML appearance this season (and fourth ever). Manny Barreda has appeared in three games (2 2/3 IP, 4 ER) since being called up on September 7th, before being sent down on Sunday. Mike Baumann made his ML debut on 9/7 (3 2/3 IP, 1 unearned run) and was then hammered for six runs in three innings against Toronto. He remains with the club. The Tampa Bay Rays have also shot past Toronto, reaching 39 pitchers with these recent debuts: Projected pre-season closer Nick Anderson pitched his first inning of the season yesterday, giving up a hit and a walk. David Hess was called up to pitch an inning on September 7th, before being returned to Durham. David Robertson, yes that David Robertson, was called up when rosters expanded on September 1st, and has pitched in five games since (5.40 ERA).

Not sure where you get that idea, he has two incredible bWAR seasons (including a 7.2 season with the Mets in 1996). Top Eight White Sox Centerfield Seasons since 1968 as measured by bWAR: 6.1 Lance Johnson (1993) 5.9 Chet Lemon (1977) 5.8 Chet Lemon (1979) 5.7 Aaron Rowand (2004) 5.2 Adam Eaton (2014) 4.9 Chet Lemon (1978) 4.8 Chris Singleton (1999) 4.7 Ken Henderson (1974) Top 6 Career fWAR Leaders - Chicago White Sox Center Fielders # Name G PA HR R RBI SB BB% K% ISO BABIP AVG OBP SLG wOBA xwOBA wRC+ BsR Off Def WAR 12 Page size: 37 items in 2 pages 1 Fielder Jones 1153 5077 10 693 375 206 10.8% .057 .269 .357 .326 .337 116 2.2 97.7 38.4 32.3 2 Johnny Mostil 972 4096 23 618 376 176 10.1% 8.2% .126 .328 .301 .386 .427 .380 114 -4.3 70.9 20.9 22.9 3 Chet Lemon 785 3198 73 403 348 45 8.8% 11.8% .163 .309 .288 .363 .451 .365 127 -8.8 90.7 23.7 22.8 4 Jim Landis 1063 4183 83 532 398 127 11.5% 14.5% .135 .279 .250 .346 .385 .330 104 9.6 32.8 42.9 20.3 5 Happy Felsch 749 3129 38 385 446 88 6.6% 8.0% .134 .312 .293 .347 .427 .369 121 -1.8 75.1 1.6 19.7 6 Lance Johnson 945 3820 17 483 327 226 5.5% 6.8% .087 .303 .286 .325 .373 .312 91 16.1 -23.5 71.0 17.3

I hope Kopech is given a chance for at least a few months next season. Really disappointed he is at 57 innings, though he seemed to be pitching better his last longer outing (his first since May), and hopefully he can pitch 2+ solid innings when called upon in the postseason.

Tony said earlier this month they were going with three catchers. Still possible next weekend for the five game series in Cleveland, but this is perhaps a good sign regarding Grandal’s ability to catch the rest of the season. The few times Tony appeared animated/upset are when he was “ignored” by rookies (Yermin and Seby) or for “unwritten rule violations” (Yermin, shoved Guardians catcher (Perez) after Jose was hit). I was really excited when the Sox hired a catching instructor, as the Sox have desperately needed to develop catchers (Narvaez & Olivo improved after leaving). Perhaps it’s just poor raw materials at this point, but the Sox need to invest in catcher development, either Jerry is able to help develop young catchers or they bring someone in who can do the job. Flowers and Karkovice were the last catchers they developed that stuck at the ML level over the past four decades.

“Some”? Follow the Science. ?

This post aged well.

I would go with Lucas, both as the Ace of the staff and his overall success against Houston over his career (.610 OPS allowed, 3.71 ERA, 1.000 WHIP). I can see arguments for any of the three, so it will be interesting as to how they line things up, including whether they choose to get creative with the fourth spot (Kopech opener, other options).

The Sox have clinched at worst a tie over the Minnesota Twins, the 0 will turn to eliminated with the next Sox win or Twins loss. This applies to all teams (the Sox magic number is 10 to eliminate Cleveland, 9 to clinch a tie with Cleveland). 0 Minnesota 3 Kansas City 5 Detroit 9 Cleveland AL Seeding: 27 Tampa Bay 22 Houston Six teams are already eliminated from a division championship: Arizona, Baltimore, Chicago Cubs, Colorado, Pittsburgh, Texas. Minnesota (1), San Diego (3), Kansas City (4), Washington (4), Detroit (6), Saint Louis (6), Cincinnati (6), Los Angeles Angels (8) may all join these six later this week, leaving sixteen teams vying for the six division titles.

Full glory would equate to: Two 14 team leagues Round robin schedule (13 opponents, 6 Home and Away = 156 games). World Series lone playoff (held the first week of October) and lone inter-league games. Return all minor leagues to independent status. Promotion/relegation of two last place teams throughout all levels. Yes. It made sense to switch to a division format with the 1969 (and subsequent) expansions. Ownership greed for expansion fees was short sighted, consistent with most of their major decisions. They are now splitting a far greater revenue pie (internet/National TV contract) across more franchises, while also subsidizing a bunch of teams that refuse/cannot compete. Baseball has historically rewarded the teams which successfully navigated the legendary grind. It stood out against all other sports, and rewarded the strongest / most legitimate championship in North American sports. Now all games become meaningless, as any team with a pulse can be deemed “World Champion” playing 4 games over .500 in October.

I don’t understand why the Sox would want to pick up Kimbrel’s option, unless they have a set trade partner. Can’t risk tying up yet another $16M on an older player, as a set up reliever/Liam insurance, with far more important holes to fill (SP, RF, likely 2B).

Leury most certainly will start in playoffs, either at 2B, or beyond a full recovery allowing Engel to play as a regular starter, RF. The RF hole has never been adequately addressed, with most here stating Eaton was a poor acquisition in December, both for likely poor production and health. Engel was considered the fourth OF heading into camp, and perhaps one day he can stay healthy enough to be a regular 3rd/4th OF, but it sadly hasn’t been this season. I would rather have Leury in RF over Goodwin, especially for defense. I agree he shouldn’t be an everyday starter on a WS team, but it is what it is.

The Brewers were seeking a starting second baseman, and Heuer would have been a key set up man this season, so both teams would have benefited this season. Plus many thought the Cardinals were a lock after acquiring Arenado, not sure what the Brewers’ FO felt heading into this season.

The tax was for Kimbrel’s option year, not the fact that it was a crosstown trade.

Indeed, though don’t get frustrated with the large lead, more disappointed at times. But I (and most) had a great August / early September watching the team. Comeback Game 1 win vs. Cubs Lucas’ domination of the Twins Field of Dreams game / comeback Sox comeback win in Tampa Bay Grandal’s 8 RBI return vs. Cubs The Legend of Leury Game These were great games even though these all occurred after the division was pretty much wrapped up. I wouldn’t trade one of those games to add a fourth playoff coin flip series the Sox (or other top teams) need to clear, making it harder for the best teams in baseball to win the World Series.

They didn’t give up much for Tepera either. Part of the deal was making the bullpen “Tony proof”. Crochet is also effective, but not sure what confidence Tony has in him. If they would have used Kimbrel to free up Kopech to return to a multi inning rule that would make more sense, and maybe they will after his performance yesterday. The Sox still have enough solid one inning guys if Kimbrel doesn’t turn things around, and Kopech is saved for 1-2 plus high leverage middle innings. Comfortable with Crochet in the 8th, he has handled it well, and Tepera / Bummer preceding.

Snopes says this is: True