I Say Hello...

Either out of nihilism or sadism, Chicago sportswriters keep talking about who the White Sox are likely to trade, Garrett Crochet and/or Luis Robert Jr. And I can see one or both of them going. But the dark horse candidate in my book is Gavin Sheets, hero of yesterday 6-1 win over the Red Sox. Sheets went 3-for-4 with a grand slam. On the season, the lefthanded-hitting first baseman/right fielder/DH is batting .246 with seven homeruns and 27 RBIs, but there’s more to him than that, a .348 on-base percentage in particular. Sheets has 28 walks in 191 at-bats vs. 38 strikeouts. Maybe you can teach patience at the plate and knowledge of the strike zone, maybe not. But it looks like the son of Larry Sheets has both. The short porch in right at Yankee Stadium suggests one possible destination. Even if the Yankees were to overpay for him, Sheets should stick around. He’s lefthanded, camera-friendly and dedicated to the point of making his tight-end body into an adequate outfielder; he also kept his cool during spring training, when people kept saying he’d be sent down because he still had an option left. Personally, I’d keep Sheets, Crochet and Robert while building a team around them. But what do I know?