South Side Hit Men

Does Hahn appear on their flagship radio station outside of perhaps a “White Sox weekly” prerecorded segment before SoxFest? On the score, Theo and now Jed appear regularly to face real questions and provide real answers. Very informative and entertaining as a baseball fan, even though I’d much prefer hearing from the White Sox GM.

McCann was valuable as the only active pitching coach on the staff during his time here. With Katz here, McCann’s role would primarily be as Lucas Giolito’s personal catcher.

Abreu has a good handle on the strike zone. The difference between the two is Jose takes it upon himself to carry the offense, and will swing if there is a chance to knock in an important run. Grandal most at bats is content with letting a pitch go by, and let the next guy try to knock him in. Sadly, the next guy in 2021 is typically Leury Garcia, a prime reason why Grandal’s walk rate is well above his career norms. It won’t be sustainable once real ML hitters return to hit behind Grandal, and pitchers bother to pitch to him. Grandal SO/BB 2018 124/72 2019 139/109 2020 58/30 2021 32/37

Based on several player tweets last week, they largely tune Tony out / ignore him. The problem is he makes the lineup and calls upon the bullpen. Im hoping he steps down after passing John McGraw for the number two spot in early Summer. I agree with the assessment the bullpen has two significant handcuffs (Kopech and Crochet) in terms of availability. This is exacerbated when they pull Kopech out of the bullpen to start, which has already happened twice. There should be a ninth reliever and four man bench (Bye Jake), but one can only speculate what, if any, say Hahn has with Tony there. At least with Ricky, there was ongoing dialogue and manager accountability, including FO involvement in the lineup and pitching plan for each playoff game.

Asking for a favor, which others may appreciate as well. Did the Sox broadcast mention whether Eaton in LF was a one time event, primarily due to Yankee Stadium dimensions, or did they or La Russa pre/post state the Sox are looking to create flexibility with Eaton in LF? Would like the option of Engel RF Robert CF Eaton LF in Sept/Oct. Thanks in advance.

Ricky Renteria 5-4 the Bronx. Tony La Russa 0-3. Guess the Sox will have to wait a few years and hope Tony is gone before the “multi championship” window closes. As long as Tony is happy, that is all we should be concerned with.

This was the first time the White Sox were swept in Yankee Stadium since Robin Ventura’s 2014 team. Rick Renteria’s tanking teams finished 5-4 in the Bronx. The Sox are now 6-9 against teams this year currently over .500. How many times will the Sox get burnt by La Russa brining in a reliever for a second inning? Hope the Sox get a manager focused on getting White Sox wins, as opposed to Hendriks saves, before the window closes.

Not sure if Lamb in RF and Eaton in LF is a specific response to the dimensions of Yankee Stadium, or if this signals a willingness to have Eaton adjust to LF to allow Engel to play RF and Vaughn/Eaton LF when Robert and Engel return. On ability, Engel should never play LF in any defensive combination the Sox have, but thought Tony may never ask Eaton to play LF, because veteran / “he’s earned RF”. The defensive flexibility employed this season, including Vaughn and Mendick in the OF corners, has been encouraging, regardless of who is driving these moves (Hahn, Tony, or both).

Luis Robert was named the 7th most irreplaceable player in MLB based on his proJected fWAR, and the Grand Canyon sized gap between Luis and his pathetic replacements. Not sure how you can argue Leury Garcia or Billy Hamilton are not 0 WAR players. The gap is not as large with Eloy, since he is the worst defensive LF in MLB, so outside of perhaps Jake Lamb, you get a LF defensive upgrade. Also, the drop off is not as wide in offense with Vaughn as the drop off in CF.

No big contracts are coming off the books after 2021. “The money has been spent.”

1. How did it work out for Harry? Well after he rejected Jerry Reinsdorf’s offer to announce for his pathetic pay per view scheme which collapsed as an utter failure, Harry made more money, increased his audience by turning a former 50/50 Sox/Cubs town into a 70/30 Cubs/Sox town, and became a national icon. Jerry Reinsdorf, a pariah and architect of a completely dysfunctional mess in two organizations. 2. There are no reports of Yermin carrying a criminal record. You know who is a recidivist criminal, someone no parent should want their child emulating? Your guy Tony. 3. Tony also did not make up steroids, but like the Olympic Games, both have benefited from a steady dose of steroids for decades.“Sportsmanship”

Hopefully Tony will be occupied walking the stands confiscating the “disrespectful bobble-heads” and allow the Sox to play to win without him fucking up another game. COVID Vector Ground Zero

As long as he swings the bat at decent pitches when the situation calls for it, both the walks and attempts at hits will provide much value. He has been scoring at a solid rate in multi walk games. His good command of the strike zone is a good reason for his walks, but there are a substantial number of times he is hitting in front of the “pitcher” at the bottom of the order, similar to an 8 hole hitter in the NL. I expect pitchers to attack him more (and him to correspondingly swing more, get more hits) once (if) Leury finally becomes a bench player behind Engel, and later Robert and Eloy. (Hitter Yasmani batted in front of) 2021 Multi walk games 4/7 4th (Collins) 3 BB 0 Hits 0 Runs 4/8 6th (Williams) 2 BB 0 Hits 1 Run 4/29 6th (Vaughn) 2 BB 0 Hits 2 Runs 5/1 7th (Lamb) 4 BB 0 Hits 2 Runs 5/4 7th (Garcia) 2 BB 0 Hits 1 Run * 5/5 6th (Garcia) 3 BB 0 Hits 0 Runs * 5/6 6th (Vaughn) 4 BB 0 Hits 0 Runs 5/12 6th (Vaughn) 2 BB 1 Hit 3 Runs 5/17 6th (Garcia) 4 BB 0 Hits 3 Runs 5/18 6th (Vaughn) 2 BB 1 Hit (HR) 1 Run * - Cincinnati (Pitcher hit 9th)

How long have teams shifted him to this extreme? I do expect improvement, but not necessarily a return to career norms.

Tony gets off on ripping certain types of athletes who raise his ire. Likes making a big production out of it, telling anyone who will listen that his way is the right way. Doesn’t matter if they play for him, or even play the sport of baseball. Kapernik, Tatis, Yermin. Ozzie Smith, Ron Gant. There will be new names to this list before all is said and done. Just find it interesting he doesn’t pay attention to a game when it’s close, leaving pitchers like Foster and Lucas in to wilt and die, but when a game is a blowout, he’s suddenly interested.

To the FBI, or Steve Stone’s Twitter feed?

Carl Everett now admits dinosaurs do in fact exist, and he does not like them one bit.

Better yet, the rookie he loves as if he were David Eckstein, Nick Madrigal.

Based on Tony’s statements today, it sounds like he would be more at home in the Twins broadcast booth than in the White Sox clubhouse.

Indeed, been very happy with what Adam has brought, with effort and attitude. A very pleasant surprise, even if he can no longer perform at the rate he did before the trade. Perhaps someone should show Tony video of Josh Donaldson kicking dirt on home plate, you know, out of sportsmanship and respect.

“Feed me!” ?

Mendick really needs to be playing more games for the Chicago White Sox.

And people say I hold a grudge. So glad I have Len and DJ.

Runs and RBIs are largely a function of what others adjacent in the lineup to you do (beyond HRs, which is moot in this discussion). If Madrigal can do what he did in 2020 (OBP .376) or April (OBP .369), his WAR will be high/valuable, and his runs will be at a solid clip batting 9th in this lineup. His May production (OBP .200) is abysmal, he isn't even MLB roster worthy at that level of production. Pitchers have adjusted, how he adjusts in return will go a long way as to whether he will be a valuable contributor or not. It's likely somewhere in between these two points, but needs to be over .330/.340 to be a regular player, unless he is able to develop some power without sacrificing his ability for contact, a trade off nearly every ML hitter considers.