South Side Hit Men

Kudos to Tony. A two inning Kopech is very valuable now and even more so in October.

Sox talk have been clamoring bunts, hit and run and other win probability lowering 19th century strategery.

He hit it well, xBA .510.

Moncada having a great game today, hope they can get him in.

Nice Keuchel has settled down, keeping the Sox in the game.

Love the sweatshirt, Pal!

Goodwin is a perennial DFA, not an everyday or even a solid platoon outfielder. Guys are hurt now, so I understand, but the Sox are in trouble if he’s playing at all in the playoffs.

Have to hope they are healthy come October. Cease should be the fourth option. Reynaldo Lopez the fifth since the shut down Kopech beyond 1 inning.

47 pitches through 2, will need to throw strikes and hope to only give up 1 or 2 more HRs to get through 4-5 innings. He only made it through 3 1/3 innings in the playoffs. $75M should get you more than this. Still waiting for Hahn’s first good external free agent signing.

He’s going to have to eat it, even if he gives up 10. The Sox have a tough week and can’t throw everything and the kitchen sink to try to salvage this albatross’s start.

I don’t see Kopech or Crochet ever getting to start as long as La Russa is here, unless Hahn acquires six more $15m / year relievers to placate Tony. Go with a $100M bullpen.

With one out.

Hope Keuchel can settle in. He is going to need to go 4 or 5, regardless of his effectiveness. Lopez isn’t completely stretched out and he’s starting tomorrow. The bullpen is thin, and Tony has pigeon holed Kopech into 3 out Hold situations, after being very effective in a swing role the first two months.

A majority of hitters are impacted. Perhaps let the guy with 86 RBIs do his thing.

Protecting for Tony’s hit and run?

I had a nightmare yesterday of Sale beating the Sox in an elimination game, pulling out a Sox jersey and scissors from his back pocket, and cutting the Jersey to shreds on the mound to celebrate.

The Sox / Tony have been very conservative using challenges, almost to the point of wanting to guarantee a reversal before considering using it. Tony stated he does not like using them early, because they might be more important later in the game. I believe two ways to improve the process is to have the players be involved a little more, instruct them to notify Jerry/Tony immediately if they are sure they were safe (or the opponent was out on defense). The second is to be less conservative using them early / don’t even wait for the replay late like the seventh inning call. The goal must be to win as many reversals as possible, not to achieve a perfect reversal rate.

The American League Chicago White Sox have also been around for 120 years. Geoff Blum has played in 1/3 of this club’s trophies haul, and has hit 1/12, or over 8% of White Sox World Series Home Runs over 120 seasons. White Sox Baseball, messy indeed. ? ?

Perhaps, depends on who he brought in for bench coach and or the review videos. Jerry Narron isn't necessarily a spry chicken at 65 years old, young in Tony's orbit but a generation removed from A. J. Hinch and his peers. One of several areas the Sox would definitely improve on would be defensive shifting. Hinch's Tigers are 4th in baseball, Sox 27th from last, with the Tigers shifting at just under twice the rate (38.4% vs. 19.7%). Not sure what unwritten rules intelligent defense violates in Tony's mind. The Sox under Ricky Renteria were just under league average, and (34.2% vs. 29.3%), and employed 48.7% more than Tony does it. https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/visuals/team-positioning?teamId=117&venue=home&firstBase=0&shift=1&batSide=&season=2021 Would really help accommodate his platoon fetish and the terrible defensive "pseudo outfielders" (Lamb, Sheets) and Goodwin who ranks (423rd in MLB in Outs Above Average out of 473 total defenders).

From the Chicago Sun Times Article by Steve Greenberg: https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2021/8/15/22626399/white-sox-and-their-replay-system-need-to-sharpen-up Michael Kashirsky is listed in the Sox website as a "Pre Game Instructor", and is the person named in the linked article as the person who reviews the replays, and discusses challenges with Jerry Narron. We are left to assume that Jerry tells Tony whether to challenge based on this article.

Notable fWAR (Filtered for age 27-34 seasons) (B Added the highest White Sox / partial (1 or more year on Sox between ages 27-34) White Sox (Plus the Wizard) through top 500: 50.1 Eddie Collins (23rd all time) 41.4 Minnie Minoso (56th) 40.8 Ozzie Smith (61st) 37.6 Luke Appling (89th) 33.0 Robin Ventura (151st) 31.2 Albert Belle (174th) 31.0 Frank Thomas (177th) 29.6 Tim Raines (205th) 28.9 Dick Allen (220th) 28.7 Nellie Fox (227th) 26.1 Sherm Lollar (294th) 25.5 O-D-O Magglio Ordonez (315th) 23.9 Ray Durham (345th) 23.7 Lance "One Dog" Johnson (355th) 23.3 Yasmani "Mr. fWAR" Grandal (373rd) 22.7 Jose Abreu (395th) 22.1 Luis Aparicio (414th) 21.0 Todd Frazier (454th) Among the very good, just not "greatest MLB of all time". Also, Konerko played until he was 38. If you back out Harold Baines' Age 39-42 seasons (1988-2001, 367 games, 2.1 fWAR total): 36.3 Harold Baines over 24.0 Paul Konerko https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=8&season=2021&month=0&season1=1871&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=27,34&filter=&players=0&startdate=&enddate=&page=1_50

Miguel's Boys Don't Quit

I still hate Tony La Russa.

I love Jose, and it's nice Tony supports his players, or at least the ones he likes, but this must be an awfully large list. Also have to consider Jerry and Tony jammed another "great" player into the HOF, the same committee which previously rejected Dick Allen who Jerry claims is not a HOFer. Career fWAR (All Time MLB Rank among Position Players) 72.1 Frank Thomas (54th) 67.6 Ozzie Smith (74th) (https://bleacherreport.com/articles/941717-ozzie-smith-tony-la-russa-lied-and-acted-like-a-coward) 61.3 Dick Allen (111th) - Not a HOFer per BBHOF VC and Jerry Reinsdorf 38.5 Harold Baines (356th) - HOFer per Jerry Reinsdorf and his committee which rejected a far superior Dick Allen. 24.0 Paul Konerko (727th) 22.7 Jose Abreu (798th) Even if you adjust for Jose's age 24-26 years stuck in Cuba, and are generous with his remaining career, he would be approaching Harold Baines, a very good player but not among the greatest players in ML history.

Boone on the hot seat in New York. Tony is guaranteed a job for life. Boone sweeps La Russa 5 games to 0. Life as a fan of a team operated at peak cronyism.