South Side Hit Men

I’m happy with it. No risk, possible reward. He was a 1st rounder and was solid a few years ago. Many pitchers leave Pirates and vastly improve with additional coaching. Hoping Katz can turn him into a bullpen piece this year or next (should be a low cost arb piece if he can show improvement this year).

Because all games today are this evening, and they didn't want teams with afternoon games to pull / not start players under consideration.

Yes, but it’s better he saves his Australian pal as the closer for low leverage 3/4 run leads, than Kimbrel and Kopech (sadly stuck in Tony’s bullpen spiderweb), who could pitch in far more important situations. Still think he’s headed to Boston or the two teams that don’t give a rats ass about the bullshit “luxury” tax (NYM / SD), with NYY being a long shot if the Cubs eat the entire salary (they too fret over the luxury tax despite record revenues).

Wonder who is going to pitch for the Twins the rest of the season besides Maeda and if they hold onto him, Pineda. Can see Happ DFA’d soon, even though they are desperate for arms. If they trade Buxton your looking at a possible 100 loss team. Of course, the Sox only have one more series left with them.

Cesar Hernandez, Ryan Tepera, Deivy Grullon. "It's all aimed toward maximizing our chances to win (editors note - AL Central) championships over the course of this upcoming window." - Rick Hahn

https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/pirates/2021/07/30/pittsburgh-pirates-mlb-trade-deadline-rumors-deals-phillies-Braeden-Ogle/stories/202107300118 https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/

TWTW

Andrew Vaughn up to 12th in WAR among all rookies per Fangraphs, with Madrigal one of the twelve ahead of him. Baddoo or Haase may be his biggest competitors for AL ROY honors. https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2021&month=0&season1=2021&ind=2&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&startdate=&enddate= # Name Team G PA HR R RBI SB BB% K% ISO BABIP AVG OBP SLG wOBA xwOBA wRC+ BsR Off Def WAR 12345678910... Page size: 479 items in 16 pages 1 Jonathan India CIN 91 373 8 53 39 7 13.1% 22.5% .138 .353 .276 .401 .414 .363 .348 125 -3.0 8.6 1.0 2.2 2 Akil Baddoo DET 82 290 10 40 40 14 10.3% 26.2% .221 .351 .275 .348 .496 .359 .318 128 2.2 12.0 -2.3 2.0 3 Adolis Garcia TEX 91 375 22 45 62 8 5.1% 30.1% .231 .309 .254 .299 .486 .333 .317 112 -2.4 3.1 2.6 1.9 4 Patrick Wisdom CHC 55 169 15 29 26 3 8.9% 39.1% .327 .361 .268 .337 .595 .390 .354 145 0.5 10.2 0.6 1.6 5 Eric Haase DET 55 213 17 34 41 1 6.6% 31.9% .310 .277 .244 .300 .553 .359 .340 128 0.1 7.2 0.6 1.5 6 Nick Madrigal CHW 54 215 2 30 21 1 5.1% 7.9% .120 .324 .305 .349 .425 .336 .287 115 1.1 5.1 1.7 1.4 7 Randy Arozarena TBR 93 401 13 60 47 11 9.0% 26.7% .166 .328 .256 .334 .421 .328 .288 112 0.8 6.8 -6.9 1.4 8 Dylan Carlson STL 100 426 11 52 43 0 9.9% 24.4% .161 .321 .255 .338 .417 .328 .329 108 -0.1 4.2 -4.7 1.3 9 Tyrone Taylor MIL 66 184 9 24 32 5 7.6% 23.4% .216 .297 .259 .342 .475 .351 .331 119 0.4 4.8 1.4 1.2 10 Ramon Urias BAL 48 156 4 18 23 1 8.3% 22.4% .135 .353 .284 .353 .418 .339 .340 116 0.6 3.6 3.1 1.2 11 Tyler Stephenson CIN 82 262 5 40 30 0 10.7% 17.2% .124 .326 .280 .370 .404 .341 .320 111 -2.1 1.5 1.7 1.2 12 Andrew Vaughn CHW 88 318 11 43 31 1 6.9% 23.0% .192 .309 .262 .321 .455 .332 .332 112 -0.7 4.1 -3.3 1.2

I'm thinking he comes back this weekend, probably give him any extra day off so that he is 100% clear on Saturday in whatever role. Tony didn't seem to upset about it, just hadn't checked with the trainers after the game.

Tony said post game he has nothing "official" to add at this point. They will give it 24-48 hours and see how he is.

https://www.tsn.ca/boynton-investigators-probing-alleged-abuse-of-former-blackhawks-players-ask-who-knew-1.1674971

Billy Hamilton, still awesome!

Would really like to see Hahn come back tomorrow with Kimbrel for nothing major, per the Athletic Boston seems to be the one team in the running. Not sure why the Dodgers wouldn't be interested. https://theathletic.com/2738577/2021/07/29/rosenthals-mlb-trade-deadline-news-latest-from-major-league-sources-on-craig-kimbrel-kris-bryant-max-scherzer-more/

Honest question: Who is on the hook for Tepera's incentives, the Cubs or Sox? Want the answer more so for Dallas Keuchel or other future acquisitions/trades. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/07/cubs-trade-ryan-tepera-white-sox.html Already earned $1.1M this season. He will get $50K more after spending his 120th day on the active roster. He will get $100K more after two more games (reaching game #45). He will get $150K after reaching games 50 (7 more games) and 55 (12 more games). He will get $200k if he reaches 60 games (17 more games).

It took brass balls to open the game thread with that lineup.

White Sox perspective https://theathletic.com/2739085/2021/07/29/white-sox-acquire-cesar-hernandez-from-cleveland-to-fill-second-base-need-as-al-central-race-peters-out/?source=rss&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter Cleveland perspective Miller is getting the first shot, Gimenez will not come up at least until after the Toronto series, since he is applying for permanent US residency, and cannot leave the country during the process.

Hoping to see Lopez (4-5) Heuer (6), Crochet (7) and Ruiz (8) today.

They could use a 1-2 more relievers (7-8 inning guys), transition Kopech to long relief / starting. Happy with the deal, glad they didn't send Lopez.

I'd keep Jake Lamb over Goodwin, Tony won't play Lamb in CF.

Yes, but the Sox needs him to pitch the 8th with a four run lead. Win today, Kopech can start when/if Tony ever leaves.

Nobody looks good against Minor, Keller and Bubic.

Vaughn may be pitching the 8th today.

Well, it may get ugly early today. Wouldn't mind seeing Carlos have a 4 inning outing, save his arm.

Carlos starting at the 92-93 MPH 4 seem range, hope it rises early with the heat. https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/gamefeed?date=7/29/2021&gamePk=633141&chartType=pitch&legendType=pitchName&playerType=pitcher&inning=&count=&pitchHand=&batSide=&descFilter=&ptFilter=&resultFilter=&hf=pitchVelocity#633141