South Side Hit Men

Nope, watch the play, the heel sticks into the clay as he was sliding. He was going full "Eloy" speed rounding third through home, came up limping after planting his heel before home plate. https://www.mlb.com/news/eloy-jimenez-to-miss-final-series-of-season Then again, he hurt himself jumping up and down after Giolito's no hitter.

Was a very costly and stupid slide. Jose had the go in standing sign.

Was hoping Eloy could play over fWAR at DH, but as good of a lineup as can be expected without Eloy. Hope Leury had good at bats in Schaumburg, Hope not to see Parrot or Mazara again this season.

White Sox are slight underdogs for the series (+ 115), +650 to win the pennant, and +1200 to win the world series (8th choice).

http://m.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/postseason-roster-rules-eligibility Reset for each series. However, if a player is swapped for injury within a series, they are ineligible the following series.

Twins play great at home, but the Astros have good pitching beyond Verlander, surprised few there picked Houston. Oakland should be slight favorites based on being accustomed to their ballpark and last at bat, but it's a pretty even series on paper. Marlins have good young starters as well, wouldn't be surprised if they advance.

Gonzalez and Lopez out for Round 1, makes sense being a short series. No big surprises, happy to see Collins on the roster indicating McCann / Grandal can DH with confidence.

Don't have the same confidence I had in 1983 or 2005 heading into the postseason, but looking forward to this series and beyond. Planning on hitting Goose Island Clybourn to watch the game, may audible to Fulton which opened specially today (typically closed Tuesdays) just for the game. Most anxious to see the roster for the first round, hoping it is released online before I hit the train. Cheers!

Posted the full salaries because previous posts including with "Mods", or other posters, are unaware of the actual salaries paid this season. This six players identified as "completely worthless" were all negative WAR players.

I agree on the bunt aspect. What I mean by sacrifice is taking a pitch to allow a runner to steal second, like in Sunday's game where Tim had the base stolen, but Nick fouled it with one strike. You will NEVER EVER read a post of mine advocating for sacrifice bunts from any player beyond a very very narrow circumstance.

Could be (Sox pod worst). If betting, I would take the Reds of the four on the other side. They are playing the best right now, and have the best starting pitching in the pod. Marlins gave good young starters, Cubs could be in trouble there. I expect Houston to beat the Twins. No excuse not to reseed (vs. set brackets). The other three sports reseed. Now the best team has an additional hurdle, possibly playing the best remaining team in Round Two. Is Manfred MLB expecting massive interest due to office bracket pools? Note to Manfred, nobody is working in offices these days.

Nick could be considered hitting second with more experience. He needs to be able to sacrifice some at bats to allow a runner to run or move guys over. They have him lower now to allow him to think one thing, hit the ball. Needs to work on base running as well. The only lineup changes I proposed during the year, which I continue now, is swapping out Parrot (Grandal/McCann & Abreu/Eloy for rest days) and playing Engel more (RF in season, LF now for Eloy). Eloy should DH in the playoffs unless 100%. Grandal will sit out at minimum with Lucas starts under this scenario, I’m good with it, not sure Hahn would allow it.

Excellent post. Ricky had a bad week last week for certain, but the overall management of the bullpen beyond Jimmy Cordero worked, the bullpen overall performed above expectations. Matt Spiegal had a good balanced segment on hit and run on Saturday regarding Rick Renteria which mirrors my thoughts on his tenure and last week. It’s worth a listen if you are opened minded. Spiegel: Should Rick Renteria be on the hot seat? https://www.radio.com/670thescore/podcasts/hit-run-with-matt-spiegel-59

Lost meaning / importance at this point with literally a team in the bottom half of MLB is now a "playoff participant", and two teams two games under .500. Playoffs used to signify a quality season, wild card cheapened it, 16 teams destroyed it. Now it's worse than the NHL (31 teams) and tied with the NBA (30) as the least meaningful regular season.

Hitting - 90 ABs + (Batter, Primary Position, bWAR (Plate Appearances) - Comments Starting Nine: Jose Abreu 1B 2.8 (262) - Top 10 MLB Finish, LeMahieu (2.9) lone AL hitter higher. Tim Anderson SS 2.2 (221) Luis Robert CF 1.6 (227) - dWAR > oWAR 1.0 vs. 0.8 Eloy Jimenez LF 1.1 (226) - Defense really hurt with a -0.6 dWAR Yasmani Grandal C 0.6 (194) - Doubled after final game (0.3). Yoan Moncada 3B 0.5 (231) - Hopefully he will regain full health next season, looked good to close the season. Nick Madrigal 2B 0.4 (109) - 7th best OPS among starters / key reserves, nice rookie year but needs improvement in baserunning and added gap power. Nomar Mazara RF -0.3 (149) - Adequate defense saved him from finishing last among the starters. Edwin Encarnacion DH -0.5 (181) - Brutal signing, would like the real story as to whether Hahn or Ricky continued to want him in the lineup after Labor Day. Bench James McCann 1.2 (111) - 50 more ABs at C or DH would have been prudent. Danny Mendick 0.6 (114) - Adequate fill in / reserve. Adam Engel 0.5 (93) - 50 more ABs at RF / LF would have been prudent. Pitching: (IP) WAR Starters Dallas Keuchel (63) 2.0 - Great first season with the Sox. Lucas Giolito (72) 0.8 - Nice season, flashes of brilliance. Key rotation piece. Dane Dunning (34) 0.1 - Nice exposure for the rookie, may need more seasoning in the minors to build on his success. Dylan Cease (58) 0.1 - Took the ball each time with mixed results, needs to gain command of his pitches to gain the next step. Biggest ??? coming into next season. Carlos Rodon (8) -0.4 - Should be joining Carson Fulmer as a former White Sox first rounder this offseason, unless he agrees to return as low $ / incentive laden contract. Reynaldo Lopez (26) -0.6 - Not sure he will ever be able adequately perform at the ML level. Relievers Alex Colome (22) 1.0 - Great season for future free agent, hope he returns. Codi Heuer (24) 0.8 - Excellent unexpected season for the 2018 6th rounder. Matt Foster (29) 0.7 - Excellent unexpected season for the 2016 20th rounder. Evan Marshall (23) 0.6 - Another solid season, hope he is on for the playoffs. Aaron Bummer (9) 0.3 - Injury major blow, though allowed Heuer and Foster to gain valuable exposure and experience. Garrett Crochet (6) 0.3 - High impact for a mere 3 innings, hope he can transition to a starter by 2022. Jace Fry (20) 0.1 - Adequate middle reliever. Gio Gonzalez (32) -0.3 - Likely the end of the road with the White Sox. Jimmy "Everyday" Cordero (27) -0.8 - WAR crushed on the final day, possibly his last as a Chicago White Sox. My final grades are B+ for the starting nine, B+ for the bench, B for the starting pitching and A for the bullpen, the sum of which is B+ for the entire class.

Surely science and technology has improved over the next two decades to make this feasible for Eloy's remaining tenure in Left Field.

I don't recall seeing this mentioned here, but I like the fact the White Sox will avoid Tampa, New York and Cleveland until the ALCS, due to the fact there is no reseeding. It's a tournament style bracket this season. Tampa has a hard second round match-up guaranteed, and the Dodgers have no picnic with San Diego looming. The Cubs' pod is the worst of the four.

For TV, games will either be 2 / 3 or 9 CDT. With eight games on Wed and Thur, I’m expecting a day game after a night game if it goes 3. TB Toronto will be the first game each day.

Hahn has several IDs here, Kenny has a few. Ricky doesn’t know how to log on.

Brutal call, still appreciate the battling back. Clean slate, see you all Tuesday!

You need to pinch hit here, bring in McCann.

Tim Anderson Batting Average after 9/22 .353 Batting Average 5 days later .322

Nick is the dumbest player I can recall since The Dyber.

Sorry, that is Cooper's seat. He will breathe on you mask-less until you move.

Cleveland up 7-6. runner on 2nd. Gas up the plane.