South Side Hit Men

Six innings to hit, ye of little faith.

I’d agree with the command, or lack thereof. Thankfully Cease and Dunning performed well to start the series. Sox still in it, have confidence in hitters plugging away once Odorizzi is out or enters the third time through the lineup.

Have to disagree regarding the horrid staff, Lopez the only starter not pitching well, most of the relief pitchers are also having very good years, despite all the fretting in the game threads. Name Age IP G GS R RA9 RA9opp RA9def RA9role RA9extras PPFp RA9avg RAA WAA gmLI WAAadj WAR ▼ RAR waaWL% 162WL% Salary Acquired Dallas Keuchel (10-day IL)* 32 53.1 9 9 14 2.36 4.58 0.46 0.23 0.00 100.4 4.37 12 1.3 -0.1 1.7 17 .640 .508 $18,000,000 Free Agency Matt Foster 25 21.1 17 2 3 1.27 4.34 0.34 -0.18 0.00 100.2 3.83 6 0.6 1.21 0.0 0.8 8 .536 .504 Amateur Draft Alex Colome 31 19.0 18 0 3 1.42 4.20 0.41 -0.26 0.00 100.8 3.56 4 0.4 1.90 0.1 0.8 6 .525 .503 $10,533,000 Traded Dane Dunning 25 27.0 5 5 8 2.67 4.35 0.38 0.22 0.00 99.8 4.18 4 0.5 0.0 0.7 7 .594 .503 Traded Lucas Giolito 25 60.1 10 10 26 3.88 4.29 0.32 0.22 0.00 99.5 4.17 2 0.2 -0.1 0.7 8 .517 .501 Traded Evan Marshall 30 21.2 22 0 6 2.49 4.29 0.36 -0.27 0.00 100.2 3.67 3 0.3 1.76 0.0 0.5 5 .513 .502 $1,000,000 Free Agency Codi Heuer 23 17.2 16 0 4 2.04 4.41 0.37 -0.27 0.00 100.7 3.79 3 0.3 1.25 0.0 0.5 5 .521 .502 Amateur Draft Dylan Cease 24 50.2 10 10 22 3.91 4.19 0.44 0.21 0.00 101.4 4.02 0 0.0 -0.1 0.5 6 .504 .500 Traded Ross Detwiler* 34 17.1 14 0 4 2.08 4.62 0.42 -0.29 0.00 99.5 3.90 3 0.3 .71 -0.1 0.4 5 .525 .502 $100,000 Free Agency Aaron Bummer (60-day IL)* 26 7.1 7 0 1 1.23 4.30 0.27 -0.27 0.00 101.1 3.80 2 0.2 1.11 0.0 0.3 3 .530 .501 $1,000,000 Amateur Draft Jace Fry* 26 13.2 14 0 5 3.29 4.57 0.33 -0.28 0.41 99.4 4.35 2 0.2 .88 -0.1 0.2 3 .511 .501 Amateur Draft Alex McRae (40-man) 27 3.0 2 0 0 0.00 3.89 0.39 -0.24 0.00 101.2 3.30 1 0.1 .07 -0.1 0.1 1 .556 .501 Free Agency Jonathan Stiever 23 3.2 1 1 1 2.45 3.67 0.35 0.19 0.00 98.0 3.43 0 0.0 0.0 0.1 1 .539 .500 Amateur Draft Jimmy Lambert (60-day IL) 25 2.0 2 0 0 0.00 4.45 0.44 -0.27 0.00 102.0 3.82 1 0.1 .15 0.0 0.1 1 .543 .501 Amateur Draft Jose Ruiz (40-man) 25 2.0 2 0 0 0.00 4.58 0.44 -0.28 0.00 98.0 3.78 1 0.1 .12 0.0 0.1 1 .543 .501 Waivers Brady Lail 26 1.1 1 0 0 0.00 4.54 0.54 -0.28 0.00 98.0 3.64 1 0.1 .07 0.0 0.0 1 .555 .500 Free Agency Ian Hamilton (40-man) 25 4.0 4 0 2 4.50 4.05 0.40 -0.25 0.00 101.6 3.45 0 0.0 .27 0.0 0.0 0 .488 .500 Amateur Draft Bernardo Flores Jr. (40-man)* 24 2.0 2 0 2 9.00 4.00 0.58 -0.25 0.00 102.0 3.24 -1 -0.1 .07 0.0 -0.1 -1 .439 .499 Amateur Draft Kelvin Herrera 30 2.1 2 0 4 15.43 4.99 0.43 -0.31 0.00 98.0 4.17 -3 -0.3 .03 0.1 -0.1 -3 .371 .498 $8,500,000 Free Agency Gio Gonzalez* 34 27.1 8 4 16 5.27 4.27 0.44 0.10 0.00 100.7 3.96 -4 -0.4 .81 0.0 -0.2 -1 .452 .498 $4,500,000 Free Agency Carlos Rodon (60-day IL)* 27 5.2 2 2 6 9.53 4.06 0.46 0.20 0.00 103.9 3.96 -4 -0.3 0.0 -0.3 -3 .349 .498 $4,450,000 Amateur Draft Steve Cishek 34 17.1 20 0 11 5.71 4.26 0.43 -0.26 0.00 100.8 3.59 -4 -0.4 .82 0.0 -0.3 -2 .480 .498 $5,250,000 Free Agency Reynaldo Lopez 26 14.2 5 5 11 6.75 4.29 0.46 0.20 0.00 97.3 3.91 -5 -0.4 0.0 -0.3 -3 .414 .497 Traded Drew Anderson 26 1.1 1 0 6 40.50 3.91 0.65 -0.24 0.00 98.0 2.95 -6 -0.3 .99 0.0 -0.3 -5 .159 .498 Free Agency Jimmy Cordero 28 19.2 23 0 13 5.95 4.41 0.48 -0.27 0.29 100.0 3.95 -4 -0.4 1.30 -0.1 -0.4 -2 .481 .497 Waivers Zack Burdi (40-man) 25 7.1 8 0 11 13.50 4.25 0.46 -0.26 0.00 98.6 3.48 -8 -0.7 .62 0.1 -0.6 -7 .407 .495 Amateur Draft Team Total 27.8 423.0 225 48 179 3.81 4.34 0.40 0.01 0.03 100.2 3.98 6 1.2 1.12 -0.6 4.8 50 .505 .501 $53,333,000

I am looking at revenues, and revenues as a percentage of invested capital to purchase the team. 2019 Operating Income Rank / 2019 Record San Francisco #2 $96M / 77-85 Pittsburgh #10 $66M / 69-93 Chicago AL #11 $66M / 72-89 Texas #12 $61M / 78-84 Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in Orange County in Alta California in the United States of America in North America on Planet Earth #13 $61M / 72-90 Baltimore #14 $57M / 54-108 San Diego #15 $52M / 70-92 These seven teams in the top half of net profit sucked last year. They could have spent $10M-$50M less on payroll, negligibly impacted attendance, and it all would have increased Operating Profit. That in addition to the fact the smaller market teams cost far less to purchase, thereby increasing their ROI/ROE with a smaller operating profit. Miami's net operating profit was an anomaly last year, but their profit typically exceeds what they spend on payroll. Tampa had a good record, but their profit was close to payroll, even if they stunk last year their net profit would have marginally suffered since their local revenue is near zero.

Can you point to a source for this? I do agree the top teams have an advantage in terms of revenue, but my comments are geared to the "small/mid" market teams, several of which earn the highest profits for fielding lousy teams. I use Forbes for my frame of reference, and their return on invested capital. Big market teams sell for the most, so despite the fact they earn more revenue, they don't necessarily earn a higher % rate of return. Hell, the White Sox are paying about a million less to Encarnacion and Mazara this season than what Jerry and partners paid for the team (setting aside inflation). https://www.forbes.com/mlb-valuations/list/

Agree with the top of the table (though Leicester City did break through $$$ sure helps), but the bottom of the table really gives incentive to try hard to retain the portion of revenue they received. MLB teams have perverse incentives to lose / spend least, since the majority of revenue is "earned", regardless of success on the field. (National TV, MLB.com, "competitive balance tax" which is contractually obligated to go to payroll but clearly doesn't). Winning baseball teams actually hurts net profit, unless you can significantly increase revenue/attendance to offset the added payroll. Hence the lone one advancing playoff team of Reinsdorf's 40 year (and sadly counting) tenure. Hope you liked 40 years of carrots !

Well, my Liverpool is back, hopefully to stay. (Grandmother and cousins born and raised there, many still there though most like the Protestant (though working class) Everton squad.

They will never have byes for 1 or 2 teams. Owners don't give a rats ass about the competition, they care about money. Period. Jerry would rather have a lower seed and asses in the stands than the number 1 seed. Plus, unlike the other sports, while a long layoff (9 days), gives your players rest, it can hurt a pitchers control and a hitters timing. 3 Days is fine, which is why I prefer a 3 team format, all division champions, #2 vs. #3 with no travel for 3 games, winner plays a rested but not stale #1 seed, again all home games. Now THAT would give teams incentive to win, but once again owners would never go for that either. The EPL and other leagues with season round robins and no playoffs AND RELEGATION is the best format for professional competition. Want to tank, send the team to AAA the next season to work things out. Would really give teams an incentive to field competitive teams. American owners would never go for it, their monopolies and tax payer funded stadiums guarantee profit, win or lose.

I agree. Grandal/Abreu 1B/DH when McCann catches, McCann can DH sparingly, but others beyond Parrot can rotate in the DH spot as well. The split should be based on pitcher, with Grandal starting for Keuchel, Cease and the #5 (though would keep Stiever with McCann if brought back), and Giolito and Dunning paired with McCann. Regardless if whether McCann is coming back next year, no sense to break something working now in anticipation. Theoretically, there will be a regular spring training to sort things out, and a new backup if James doesn't return that Giolito and or Dunning may prefer next year. It's clear these pitchers like working with McCann, and the ERA reflects it. No sense catching Grandal 120-140 games ever, he should always catch 3 starters (90 games) and start at DH/1B another 50-60 games, to keep his legs and bat fresh. I don't care if the backup hits .100-.150, hitting is the least important aspect of a catcher in terms of importance vs. everything else they bring to the table.

Baseball leads to fan strategic mind play. Many fans think they can manage better than the manager, regardless of the fact they are at times going off of limited information (player injuries, GM pressure). The anti-Rick Renteria bias is very strong here. I recall when many b****ed about Ozzie in 2005, though not to this level. Renteria's primary strength is building confidence and cohesion among his players and remaining patient (at times a strength, other times perhaps a weakness). Ozzie's strengths were kicking the team in the ass when it was helpful, and sticking with his veteran starters longer than many preferred, to build up stamina and confidence during the season which paid off on the playoffs. This year is an anomaly, between the aborted spring training and schedule, and the fact the Sox have key pitchers coming off of injuries and or rookies with limited prior workloads. A few won't be able to pitch a full season next year (180-200 +) due to the fact their previous professional max was 120-140, which they will not broach again this year. Thinking Dunning, Stiever, Rodon and Kopech. Thankfully they have enough depth to get through 2021, build up the IP count further, and have them ready for full seasons in 2022.

He's under control for next season, wouldn't be surprised if Hahn, the one who brought him here, tried to salvage something with one more year. Would rather have McCann bat behind Robert, gives him some semblance of protection vs. Joe Borchard 2.0.

Four playoff teams per league leaves some semblance of meaning for the regular season. In a perfect world, three playoff teams would be max (best of three - Division Winner #2 hosts #3, top league record hosts the winner in LCS, no travel, all home games to the home team). 8 playoff teams per league beyond this aborted year / season would render the season meaningless for most teams “not tanking”. JR will have to change his advice spiel to other FO executives from offering fans second place carrots to fourth place carrots. Steve Stone tweeted recently about expansion, so I’d expect 16 + playoff teams to be permanent, once a few crumbs are thrown to Tony Clark to accept the scheme. The owners greed & avarice knows no limits, and 2 billion give or take in expansion fees are a bird in hand, whereas shaking down taxpayers by threatening to move to the remaining few viable cities (Montreal, Vegas, perhaps Portlandia if they don’t burn down the stadium first) will likely not be as successful as in the past in this post COVID apocalypse world. Perhaps owners can go back to Congress for an exemption to pay minor league AND major league players below minimum wage. The average person cheers for clothes / patches anyway, cannot name more than one or two players dating a reality TV “star” or other “celebrity”. Good news for Kopech if the pitching gig never pans out.

Travel plus one less week going against college football / National Felon League.

We thought they had a good chance so took the morning drive to Detroit. About 4,000 there, a few thousand Sox fans, the rest Detroit fans. Will always be a great memory.

Nice job Dane! Nice job Foster! Nice job James! Nice Job Adam! Nice job Tim! Nice Job Fry! Nice slide Luis! Nice Job Ricky!

Cleveland and Oakland down late. Tampa won. Excellent inning Fry!!!

They are not going for a high cost FA pitcher per Stone, the focus is on acquiring a ML RFer. I think McCann comes back on a reasonable deal in a depressed FA market. McCann not a 120 game catcher, but perfect here if utilized correctly (60 games at catcher, 30 ish at DH).

“Haters gonna hate”. - James McCann

Roid Rage!

Awesome performance Dane!!! Liked the confidence shown by Ricky there.

Thought it was dumb to pursue Machado with the roster at the time, glad they couldn’t land him. Poor contract, poor attitude, poor roster construction. Tim Anderson WAR 2019 3.7 2020 2.1 Machado 2.6, 2.3

I’m a Tim Anderson MVP Stan!

OK with the babying, first year back since 2018 (86 IP), weird Spring Trainings, etc. Hope he can go 120-140 next year.

Excellent start by Dunning. Wonder if Ricky will have start the seventh until he gives up something. Would be ok with it if the Sox score here.

Phi Nguyen @stevestone situational baseball. O just gave U 3 more runs and you walking batters. C’mon man! Steve Stone @stevestone Replying to @Try_Phi He’s a kid man. First year man. Coming back from surgery man