Any Takers?

Wow, White Sox reliever Jordan Leasure gave up a walk-off, two-run homerun to Luis Urias with one out in the bottom of the tenth inning for a 3-2 A’s win. Who’d have thought that was possible, I mean, other than me? Not Sox manager Will Venable, that’s for sure. If I’m Venable (perish the thought), I’d take note of what Leasure said after the game: “At the end of the day, if I could go back in time, I’d probably make the same exact pitch and do it again. He [Urias] just be me that time, and sometimes that happens.” [quote from online story in today’s Tribune] Only with Leasure pitching, that’s going to be the result more often than not. Not to be cruel (but maybe a tad masochistic), look at Leasure’s stats, 0-4 with a 5.88 ERA over two seasons. So far this year, in just over a month, he’s appeared twelve times and given up runs four times. That translates into a 0-2 record with two saves and a 4.50 ERA. Any takers on that ERA going up in the not too distant future? Any takers on Tim Elko putting in an appearance at first base before long? Elko is an unheralded if large—as in 6’3”, 250 pounds—at Triple-A Charlotte. Picked in the tenth round of the 2022 draft, the 26-year old righthanded hitter has amassed 60 homeruns and 215 RBIs to go with a .292 BA in his three-plus seasons in the Sox system. Elko isn’t a top-30 prospect, but— It's getting hard to ignore the numbers he’s putting up and the numbers Andrew Vaughn isn’t. Yesterday, Elko hit two homers, giving him nine on the season, good for four RBIs, and twenty total, along with a .354 BA. Like I said, hard to ignore. And then there’s Vaughn. As we head into May this week, the Sox starting first baseman is hitting an anemic .157 with three homers and eleven RBIs. Yesterday, he went 1-for-5, a single. He also grounded out three times, including the tenth inning when he hit into a double play with runners on the corners and one out. A hit meant a run at least and would’ve extended the Sox lead until maybe it was Leasure-proof. A 26-year old rookie can establish himself; the odds are on the long side, but it happens. And with Vaughn going the way he is, we may soon find out what Tim Elko has to offer.

Say What?

We live in strange times. It used to be April meant baseball, and plenty of it. Now, football has bullied its way onto the calendar with its annual draft. For reasons beyond me, a whole bunch of people out there appear to care about who takes whom in the seventh round. I say this after having watched a clip of a zoom call the Bears’ seventh-round pick had with WGN Sports. If only I could find a baseball story that made sense. Instead, the Tribune ran one today straight out of the “Twilight Zone,” where major-league teams employ a “director of hitting” and a “biomechanist.” The White Sox pay Ryan Fuller to be their director and to talk about third baseman Miguel Vargas (.189 BA) like this: Being able to have where his hands could go to with his first move stay a little bit higher to cover the top part of the zone when they were going high to low; his barrel was underneath. He crushed the bottom part of the zone but a pretty good hole in the middle, top part where he was getting attacked swinging to find a solution for that part of the zone.” Got that? Maybe the gibber makes sense to a hitter tuned in; Vargas is, I admit, starting to hit, batting .308 (8-for-26) over his last seven games. But here’s a thought—what if he’s just a good low-ball hitter? Can the biomechanist really increase his hot zones? The Sox are tied with the Bluejays for 26th place in runs scored (93) and rank dead last in team batting average at.209; their on-base percentage (.284) put them at 28th. The figures don’t lie. It’s the people doing the talking I wonder about.

Nighty Night

It was 11 PM last nighjt and I’d had enough reading about the Battle of the Somme. After a quick check of the White Sox game, they were down 5-3 going into the bottom of the eighth against the A’s in Sacramento (!), time for bed. Daddy doesn’t stay up late anymore to catch the latest installment of the Reinsdorf Follies. Sure enough, I woke up this morning to find the (un)lovable misfits lost 6-5, in large part because of a porous bullpen and the continued atrocious play of centerfielder Luis Robert Jr., who went a whopping 1-for-4 with a walk, a run and three strikeouts. Robert is batting .143 on the season with a godawful six RBIs. Jacob Amaya, who would never be confused with a major-league hitter, has four RBIs in 46 at-bats (to Robert’s six in 84). The one thing that Robert excels at right now is striking out, 33 times so far for a 39 percent rate (throw in his fourteen walks, and it goes down to a slightly less egregious 33.7 percent). And still he bats up in the order (second last night), and still manager Will Venable calls upon his inner Mickey Mouse to offer excuses. Robert also had an error in the field that cost the Sox a run in the sixth inning. The future Mouse defended the 27-year old, telling reporters afterwards, “I'm not sure if it [either the ball or Robert’s career, at this point it’s hard to say] snaked on him or what happened as he got to it. It was unfortunate that the play went that way, but he's going out there and giving everything he's got.” No, Skipper, he isn’t, and pretending otherwise only makes it worse. [quote from today’s story on team website] A stopped clock gets the time right twice a day, or so the saying goes. Starter Shane Smith and utilityman Brooks Baldwin would be the Sox front-office equivalent of that, Smith a Rule-5 pickup by Chris Getz and Baldwin a twelfth-round draft choice by Rick Hahn (!!) in 2022. Baldwin hit a two-run homerun in the ninth last night to set up the final score of 6-5, A’s. The unheralded Baldwin has twelve RBIs in 68 at-bats. Maybe he could offer some batting tips to his teammate Robert? Continuing with the broken-clock metaphor, we also have Hahn (!!!) to thank for Edgar Quero, acquired from the Angels in exchange for Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez about a month before Hahn was shown the door in late August of 2023. Quero looks to be a keeper, and there was no way Reinsdorf was going to sign either Giolito or Lopez, who were in their walk year. Also keep an eye on the Sox possible shortstop of the future, and I don’t mean Colson Montgomery, he of the .169 BA at Triple-A. I do mean 20-year old William Bergolla, a middle-infielder at Double-A Birmingham; Getz got him last summer from the Phillies for reliever Tanner Banks. Bergolla hit .300 for two teams in High-A last season and is hitting .328 this season for Double-A Birmingham. Colson Montgomery is the anointed one at short in large part because he fits the analytics-driven profile of what a hitter should be, tall (6’3”, 230 pounds) and strong (eighteen homeruns and 21 doubles at Triple-A Charlotte last year). Too bad he only hit .214, which happens to be 45 points higher than he’s hitting right now. No doubt it’s just a problem with his mechanics that can be tweaked once his swing his analyzed with the right gizmos. The Dr. Frankensteins who control most front offices in baseball wouldn’t take a second look at Bergolla, who stands a mere 5’9”. Yeah, nice eye and some speed (27 stolen bases last year, nine already this season), but not enough hard contact. Lucky for Bergolla the White Sox organization is so dysfunctional he has a real shot at making the major-league roster by this time next year. I can dream, right?

Full Circle

On Christmas Eve 1992, I carried my thirteen-month old daughter into Grandstand Sports on the corner of 35th and Wallace. Michele was working, and I had to pick up my Christmas gift, a 1938-41 White Sox varsity jacket reissued by Mitchell and Ness. For over 30 years, I wore that jacket. It had a red, wool body and tan, leather sleeves. The logo went on the left side of the chest, a large blue S with a smaller O and X fitting inside the two loops of the S. Sox great Billy Pierce saw me wearing it once and approved. I wore and wore the jacket until the leather wore in places, with holes by the cuffs and creases that threatened to turn into rips.. On Wednesday, Maeve was over when another 1938-41 White Sox jacket arrived; it really does pay to shop on eBay. This one has virtually no signs of wear, as if it had been hanging next to the one I bought at Grandstand all those years ago. If our daughter ever had any doubt we were a White Sox family, that jacket taught her otherwise. With luck, this one will do the same with our granddaughter.

Random Observations

Last night in Minnesota, the White Sox needed seven pitchers just to lose to the Twins by a score of 6-3. Speak not the name of the pitch they teach not. But I will: knuckleball. Last night, Luis Robert Jr. went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. This afternoon, he went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in a 3-0, seven-inning 3-0 Sox win (Shane Smith’s major-league first, by the way). On the year, Robert is hitting .138 with 30 strikeouts in 80 at-bats. So, why does Will Venable insist on batting the enigmatic one second or third? At 6’3” and 225 pounds, Bobby Dalbec looks like your typical right-hand hitting first baseman. Indeed, he’s started 221 games at first since his rookie year in 2020. You do not expect to see him at shortstop, although he did start two games there during his time with Boston. Today was game #3 with the White Sox. Bobby Dalbec, Jacob Amaya (.087)—this tells you how bad Colson Montgomery is doing in Triple-A.

Scout and Draft

Where are you, Matt Davidson and Daniel Palka and Nicky Delmonico and Yolmer Sanchez and Adam Engel, when White Sox fans turn our lonely eyes to you? Gone, replaced by the likes of Jacob Amaya, Joshua Palacios and Nick Maton. This is a rebuild devoid of personality. Instead, we have a manager, Will Venable, who insists on starting Jacob Amaya at shortstop. Yes, Amaya managed his fourth RBI of the season last night in Minnesota. That goes with a.089 BA, three singles and a double in 45 at-bats. Venable also appears fond of Maton (.167) and Palacios (.182). Last night with the Sox down by three in the top of the ninth, bases loaded and nobody out, Palacios faced Twins’ closer Jhoan Duran and did pretty much what you’d expect. He struck out, which he’s done seven times in 22 at-bats. This and that happened afterward, Byron Buxton robbed Andrew Benintendi, and the Sox lost—again—by a score of 4-2. A big part of the reason this team is in this situation is a longstanding inability to scout and draft the right players. Imagine Steven Kwan batting instead of Palacios. Kwan didn’t go until the fifth round of the 2018 draft; we took pitcher Jonathan Stiever instead. Stiever has since retired. We could’ve had Alek Thomas batting instead of Palacios. The Sox front office had some idea who Thomas was because his dad Allen was the strength and conditioning coach for the Sox at the time, and the younger Thomas spent a lot of time around the team shagging flies. He also played at Mt. Carmel, just a few miles down the Dan Ryan from 35th and Shields. Instead, Thomas went to Arizona while Rick Hahan opted for Steele Walker in the second round of the 2018 draft. Walker later netted Nomar Mazara in a trade, and both are out of major league baseball. That’s sort of how a team ends up with Joshua Palacios batting in a crucial situation. Last but not least, the Sox could’ve had Corbin Carroll batting. Carroll was a first-round pick by the Diamondbacks 2019, when the Sox selected Andrew Vaughn. Carroll has a career WAR of 11.3, and this season he’s batting .323 with seven homeruns and nineteen RBIs (plus 21 runs scored because he’s fast). And Vaughn? A career WAR of 0.4 isn’t much, and neither are his stats for the year, a .145 BA with three homers and ten RBIs (plus five runs scored because he’s slow, and there’s no one to bat him in those few times he’s on base). Last night, Vaughn went 0-for-4 and grounded into a double play. Kwan went 2-for-4 with a run scored in a Guardians’ win against the Yankees while Carroll went 1-for-3 with two runs scored in a Arizona win over the Rays. But, hey, Thomas didn’t do anything, just like the Sox.

You Get What You Pay For

In sports like the rest of life, you get what you pay for, and the White Sox are nothing if not cheap. I mean player development and compensation, not prices at the ball mall. So, news that starter Martin Perez was placed on the 60-day IL shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. Perez, 34, was signed to a one-year deal, to be flipped or to flop, it didn’t matter all that much to be bottom-dwelling Sox. GM Chris Getz took a chance on Perez’s left elbow. After 1595.2 innings, Getz looks to have lost his bet. Not to worry, and not to expect any of the team’s Double-A talent to step in, not while Mike—Bad Penny—Clevinger is still around. Clevinger was DFA’d last week; cleared waivers (as in no orthwe MLB team wanted him); and assigned to Triple-A Charlotte. Apparently, the plan is for Clevinger to go to Arizona and get stretched out so he can return to starting. If all works out, he could be back on the South Side sometime this summer. Oh, fingers crossed.

Where Were They?

Baseball has rules against a straight-tank, which is why the White Sox won’t be drafting first come June despite losing 121 games last season. Anyway, tanking in April is bad form. But here we have the White Sox with Will Venable penciling in lineups only Mickey Mouse would understand or appreciate. Yesterday in Boston, rookie catcher Edgar Quero didn’t get the start despite going 2-for-4 the day before. When Quero did appear, he pinch hit in the seventh inning with his team down a run, runners on second and third. Quero hit a shot up the middle good for two runs and the lead. So, Quero started today’s morning game, it being Patriot Day and all. But where was Andrew Vaughn, who hit a two-run homer to cement Sunday’s 8-4 win? Nowhere to be seen. Nick Maton and Brian Dalbec at first sure looks like tanking to me. Red Sox 4 White Sox 2.

By the Numbers

We could start with these: a 4-16 record after a ten-inning, 4-3 loss to the Red Sox. A 0-8 record on the road to go with 2-14 over their last sixteen games. Wait, there’s more. Andrew Vaughn batting .135, which happens to be 37 points higher than Jacob Amaya’s .098. Both Vaughn and Amaya are back in the lineup today unlike rookie catcher Edgar Quero, who went 2-for-4 with a double while throwing out a baserunner. Maybe Quero needs to get that batting average down a little so he can play more. But enough of the travails of these purported big-league White Sox. Let’s go down on the farm, where, supposedly, a rebuilt system will be developing more Queros and Chase Meidroths (both of whom came from other systems, by the way). Odd how the records don’t reflect all the talent I keep reading about. Triple-A Charlotte is 7-13; Double-A Birmingham ,7-6; high-A Winston-Salem, 5-9; and single-A Kannapolis, 7-7. They all must be playing tough schedules at the same time. In which case, let’s see what the talent is doing on an individual basis. Top prospect Noah Schultz—and how many times have I seen him compared to Randy Johnson?—is 0-1 with a 4.97 ERA at Birmingham. Prospect #2 Kyle Teel is hitting .215 with nine RBIs at Charlotte. Prospect #3 Hagen Smith is 1-0 with a 3.72 ERA at Birmingham. Prospect #4 Colson Montgomery is batting .162 with five RBIs at Charlotte. And Prospect #4 Braden Montgomery is hitting .326 with seventeen RBIs for Kannapolis. Funny how Braden Montgomery is just like Quero and Meidroth, from a different organization. There are some people further down the list who look like they’ll be cracking the top five soon along with a few unranked players who could be drawing attention before long. If I’m Andrew Vaughn, I’d be worried about multiple first basemen in the system. If I’m a Sox fan (and I am), I’d be worried about following a team with a solid shot at 110 losses, at least.

Ha-ha

What a joke, or series of jokes, each one worse than the last, all of them at the cost of White Sox fans. Last night, the Hapless Hose lost their fifth straight, this time 10-3 to the Red Sox at Fenway. They’ve started the season a team-record-breaking 0-7 on the road. Wait, there’s more for our 4-15 patsies. Today’s starting lineup—against Garrett Crochet, no less—features six “hitters” with batting averages under .200, ranging from a high of .190 (Chase Meidroth) to a low of .103 (Jacob Amaya). How do you say “six in a row”? Now, consider the standup routine manager Will Venable is working on. Martin Perez, last night’s starter, looked bad and exited after yielding four runs in three innings of work; Perez mentioned arm fatigue as a possible factor for his crappy performance. Whatever. So, Venable felt the need to tell reporters, “We need Martin. We need the things he does on the mound, the things that he does in the clubhouse.” Ha-ha, very funny, Skipper. Because we all know Perez is gone come the trade deadline if Chris Getz can get anything in return. Wait, there’s more. Miguel Vargas, Getz’s “get” for Michael Kopech, is stinking up the joint at third base, at least with the bat. Vargas is “hitting” .145 with six RBIs in 69 at-bats. But Venable has detected some recent signs of life in the 24-year old’s bat. Considering Vargas is 3-for-26 in last seven games, he must be using top-secret criteria. “That’s what we were waiting to see a little more of, where he’s making good swing decisions, having quality at-bats. Just need to impact the ball a little bit more, but [I] feel like it’s coming [around] for him.” [both quotes from today’s Sun-Times] Vargas is in the lineup today facing Crochet, who struck him out three times their last meeting. Ha-ha, joke’s on us.

Tell Me Why

The White Sox lost to the A’s 8-0 yesterday afternoon, their third shutout loss in a very young season. Three players hit four singles for the weakest-hitting team in baseball (collective .196 BA). And hitting coach Marcus Thames has a job why, again? Sox starter Davis Martin gave up four runs in 5.1 innings. I don’t know what I dislike more, the two homeruns Martin threw or his insistence that he and catcher Edgar Quero “executed” both pitches how they wanted to. [story in today’s Tribune] I’m also not a fan of a pitcher saying, “It is what it is. Some days, it’s a popup. Some days, it’s a homerun. You just live with the fact that you executed the pitch the way you wanted to and move on.” [today’s Sun-Times] Some days a popup? The gopher ball to Lawrence Butler traveled 414 feet, the one to JJ Bleday 372 feet. Outside of the Grand Canyon and or the wind blowing in from a hurricane, those are balls that are going to be out of just about any ballpark. One of the jobs of a pitching coach is, or should be, to make sure his charges are honest with themselves. I don’t see that here. You’d think that the pitching coach for a team with a 4.26 ERA could at least do that. Ethan Katz has a job why, again?

Jerry's Kids

The two Chicago sports franchises that Jerry Reinsdorf mis-owns both played in town last night. Did I mention they both lost? The Bulls stunk up the United Center from the get-go during their play-in rematch with the Heat. Down by eleven after one quarter, the home team managed to dig an even deeper hole by halftime, trailing Miami, 71-47. It was, as the saying goes, a team effort. Billy Donovan either did not or could not elevate his team, which shouldn’t have been hard given that they were playing at home in front of a full-house ready to go crazy, if only given the chance. Didn’t happen. The Heat kept going after Josh Giddey, who obliged every time. In what qualified as the biggest game of his career, Coby White came up beyond short, scoring a mere seventeen points on 5-of-20 shooting. White also committed a team-high seven turnovers. Did I mention the Bulls managed seventeen on the night? There is where I also mention the team enters its offseason trying to figure out what’s next. Arturas Karnisovas in possession of a clue? Good luck with that. Me, I’d sign Giddey to an extension—at least he scored 25 points to go with ten rebounds and four rebounds—and trade just about everyone else to get a real center under the age of 100. Ok, 28, then. As for my beloved White Sox, another game, another loss, this time 3-1 to the A’s. As long as they keep thinking Jordan Leasure is a major-league reliever, they’ll get the same results. No better way to kill a season than by giving up a two-out, two-run triple in the sixth inning. But, hark, do I spy a glimmer of hope through acts of subtraction and addition? First, the subtraction—Mike Clevinger was DFA’d yesterday. My daughter is ecstatic beyond belief. “What does it say about your organization when you have somebody like him on your roster?” Clare asked this morning. Nothing good, was the only right answer. Next, addition—catching prospect Edgar Quero was called up and will start today’s game behind the plate. Hallelujah. Too bad Omar Narvaez has to go, but he should have enough left in the tank to catch on with another team. Oh, and Andrew Benintendi was activated. Wow. Prospects Chase Meidroth and Quero both starting, along with an improving Brooks Baldwin. It’s enough to give a fan hope, maybe, keeping in mind the decades-long ineptitude of a certain owner.

Garbage

It’s a bad sign when the team website doesn’t even bother talking about the team’s latest game, which, in the case of the White Sox, was a 12-3 humiliation at the hands of the visiting A’s. But I did read what ex-Sox infielder Micah Johnson is up to these days. For fun, before the game I took a look at the Sox lineup, consisting of five players with batting averages of .194 or lower; that group managed three of the team’s six hits. Andrew Vaughn got himself a three-run homer, Miguel Vargas managed a double, Joshua Palacios a single. Again, hitting coach Marcus Thames has a job why? After a strong Opening Day start, Sean Burke has been god-awful, going 0-3 with a 7.56 ERA. In none of those three starts has Burke made it through the fifth inning? Again, pitching coach Ethan Katz has a job why? Burke gave up five earned runs last night in 3.1 innings. As for the other seven runs, that was the work of Penn Murfee (four) and Mike Clevinger (three). All these numbers add up to two more questions, starting with, GM Chris Getz has a job why again? And Jerry Reinsdorf gets to run a franchise into the ground because why?

Will This Amount to Anything?

For two straight years now, the Bulls have finished the regular season at 39-43, with a play-in game against the Heat. Same-old same-old? Yes and no. I think. For one, this Bulls’ team looks different from the other one, which featured Alex Caruso, DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine. Matas Buzelis, Josh Giddey and Kevin Huerter are a younger, faster, more athletic threesome. Same for the bench. Where once you had the trundling presence of Andre Drummond on the court, you now have the likes of Zach Collins and Jalen Smith. At least these guys can run. The Bulls have lost two straight play-in games to the Heat, so they definitely want three to be a charm. They have momentum, with fifteen wins in their last twenty games. They also have injuries, especially Giddey’s painful right wrist. Enter Coby White and Nikola Vucevic. The one has to keep leading the offense, the other has to keep up and make the occasional three-pointer while grabbing some rebounds. We’ll see.

Money's Worth

The Red Sox paid big bucks, as in $170 million over six years, to extend Garrett Crochet, who rewarded them with 7.1 innings of no-hit ball against his old team. The White Sox responded by starting Shane Smith, their Rule-5 find. Ex-Sox, new-Sox Chase Meidroth broke up the no-hitter with a grounder that bounded past shortstop Trevor Story. Two batters later, the score was 2-1 Boston with White Sox runners on second and third. And the White Sox proceeded to get what they paid for. Journeyman Joshua Palacios struck out pinch-hitting for journeyman Jacob Amaya. Future journeyman Miguel Vargas—who struck out three times against Crochet, twice with what can only be called a lumberjack swing—followed with a harmless flyball to left field. Final score: Boston 3 Chicago 1. Let me be blunt—this team has next to no hitting, not on the major-league roster, at the very least, with the jury out on Triple-A prospects Colson Montgomery (who upped his average to .122 with two hits yesterday) and Kyle Teel (hot early but now batting .192). Hats off to Smith for putting up a 2.04 ERA in three starts over 17.2 innings. But you can’t win a game unless you score runs. And that the 4-11 White Sox have yet to show they can do.

Perspective

By walking off the Red Sox, 3-2, with a Brooks Baldwin single against Aroldis Chapman, the White Sox doubled their win total on the season to four, this in under 24 hours, no less. They were 2-12 at the same point last season. So, Yay! for the two-game improvment, and a little perspective. The season before last, the team was 5-9 on its way to 101 losses. Those numbers dampen the excitement. In which case, I’ll try some others. In his rookie season last year, Baldwin needed 114 at-bats to reach eight RBIs; he has seven already in just 39. Cause for hope, maybe. If everything goes really, really well, Baldwin could turn into another Jeff McNeil. Of course, the Sox need another Pete Alonso and Juan Soto, too. But at least it would be a start.

Is He Anything?

The White Sox snapped their eight-game losing streak last night, thumping the visiting Red Sox, 11-1, with rookie Chase Meidroth making an immediate contribution. The 23-year old played a nice second base and went 1-for-1 with three walks and two runs scored. Does it mean anything? As you might expect, the team website today said Meidroth “made great impression vs. former club in MLB debut.” OK, but Zach Remillard had an even better first game back on June 17th, 2023, when he went 3-for-3, driving in the tying run against the Mariners in the top of the ninth and the eventual winning run in the eleventh. From what I can tell, Remillard is now retired. Along with Danny Mendick, another compact infielder who came up with the White Sox. In fact, Meidroth looks to me to be Mendick with better plate discipline. We’ll see. Ditto for tomorrow, when Garrett Crochet gets the start. Talk about brutal. Crochet made some remarks to reporters before the game yesterday that, under ordinary circumstances, would get posted in the clubhouse for motivation. Only they work even better as a warning to Meidroth and his new teammates. Crochet said going to spring training this year “felt like the big leagues, you know?” As for his White Sox experience, “it was not very hard to move on, honestly.” And does he care if the trade works out for his old team? “Not really, no.” [quotes from column and story in today’s Sun-Times] Yikes. Add that to Gavin Sheets saying the other day how Dylan Cease told him he’d love playing in San Diego, and you can’t help but think there’s something rotten in Denmark, I mean, the South Side.

Repeat Season

With their 6-1 loss to the Guardians yesterday, the White Sox lost their eighth straight game to fall to 2-10 on the year, which comes out to a .167 winning percentage. That compares to .253 last year. As if that weren’t depressing enough, manager Will Venable continues to channel ex-manager Mickey Mouse, who never had enough good things to say about the opposition. For Venable yesterday, it concerned Cleveland starter Gavin Williams, from the sound of it, the second coming of Bob Feller. Williams, now 7-15 on his career with a 4.00 ERA, “has really good stuff,” at least against a lineup with five of the “hitters” batting under .186, and that didn’t include Luis Robert Jr. (.154 BA) who had the day off. Oh, Venable’s team “had some opportunities, [and] he [Williams] made some really good pitches, and we weren’t able to string some things together. Credit to him.” No, skip, shame on you. The Sox rank dead last in baseball for runs scored and second-from-last for batting average. Why does hitting coach Marcus Thames still have a job? The team ERA is 3.96, or seventeenth out of thirty. And I’d say that stat is misleading because during those eight straight losses, the staff has given up six or more runs five times. How exactly is pitching coach Ethan Katz helping his young starters? Let’s not forget the front office in all this. The team has been hit with a rash of injuries, including catcher, the one position where they have some promising talent in the minors. So, who do they bring up to replace Korey Lee, on the 10-day IL with a sprained ankle? Why, 33-year old Omar Narvaez, of course. GM Chris Getz did see fit to bring up someone younger in the person of 24-year old Chase Meidroth, one of the prospects acquired in the Garrett Crochet deal. Meidroth could start as early as tonight, most likely at second or short. It doesn’t matter which. They suck at either position.

Strat-O, 101

I’ve been playing the board-game version of Strat-O-Matic Baseball since eighth grade, when LBJ occupied the Oval Office. So, I learned a long time ago you don’t let someone like Smoky Burgess run the bases if the game’s on the line. Instead, you go with a pinch runner. I guess White Sox manager Will Venable didn’t play Strat-O growing up and never saw it happen during his nine-year major league career. With the White Sox down 3-1 in the top of the ninth yesterday against the Guardians, bases loaded and two out, Venable opted not to pinch run for Mike Tauchman, just off the IL with a strained right hamstring. Tauchman represented the tying run at second base. Miguel Vargas took the first pitch he saw from Guardians’ closer Emmanuel Chase and grounded it past shortstop Brayan Rocchio into left field. Jacob Amaya scored easily, Tauchman, not so much. No, he pulled up lame midway between third and the plate, an easy out for catcher Austin once he caught a so-so throw from left fielder Steven Kwan. Final score: Cleveland 3 Chicago 2. And Chris Getz fired Mickey Mouse why, again?

Just Your Run-of-the-Mill Edge of the Abyss

First, the good news—Rule-5 find Shane Smith no-hit the Guardians for 5.2 innings and shut them out over six. Now, the bad news—Smith’s supporting cast couldn’t hit their way out of a paper bag. Sox hitters—and I use that term very, very loosely—managed two singles on the day. Luis Robert Jr. and Andrew Vaughn each failed to drive in a runner in scoring position. In fact, Vaughn managed that trick not once, not twice, but three times. The team batting average stands at .199, second-worst in all of baseball. Yet hitting coach Marcus Thames gets to keep his job. Maybe Mike Clevinger won’t be so lucky; I can hope. Clevinger started the ninth by failing to corral a low throw from second basemanLenyn Sosa while trying to cover first. Three walks later, and the Guardians had themselves a nice 1-0 win. Nothing in the three stories I read indicated Clevinger’s job was in jeopardy. Oh, well. Then again, why should I expect anything different? The team website ran a story, “Hungry for wins, White Sox front office still has faith in long-term plan,” that pretty much says nobody in the organization possesses much of an appetite. Consider this comment from assistant general manager Josh Barfield: “The worst thing we can do is get in our own way by trying to force something,” as in trying to find ways to win ballgames, I guess. Wait, there’s more. According to Bob Nightengale in Sunday’s USA Today, “White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, 90 [actually, 89], has made it perfectly clear to friends that he has zero interest in selling as long as he remains in good health.” Wow, Reinsdorf has friends. Who knew?

Torpedo That

I wonder if the Mariners or Royals had opened their season by hitting a whole bunch of homeruns with a different kind of bat how long it would’ve taken the national media to take note. Because the Yankees did it with the so-called bottle bat, baseball fans have been hearing about it 24/7. And— So what? A hot team beat a cold team (the Brewers’ pitching staff gave up fifteen longballs), and one of the cold team’s starters, Nestor Cortes, used to pitch for the hot team, which may be why they knew what to expect. Cortes, who grooved five pitches over two innings, is now on the IL with elbow issues. So, there’s all that to consider. Plus the fact that after sweeping a cold team, the Bronx Bomber have gone 3-4, including yesterday’s 6-2 loss to the Tigers. Those torpedo bats haven’t helped Carlos Rodon much. Rodon’s record slipped to 1-2 with a 5.19 ERA on the season. Oh, and no homeruns for the visiting New Yorkers. Before the torpedo bat with its bulging barrel (one person’s torpedo is another person’s humpback whale, by the way), we had the cupped bat; the maple bat; and the ash bat, to name a few types and fads. And did I mention the bottle bat? Nellie Fox used one in the 1950s and ’60s, and it looked pretty much like a bottle, if more 7-Up than Coke. My point is, different bats work for different players for different reasons. It’s too early to say that the torpedo bat is the wave of the future. Maybe a torpedo bat in hickory…

A Different Tune

No unicorns and rainbows out of the mouth of White Sox manager Will Venable after yesterday’s 4-3 loss to the Tigers, set up by a bullpen collapse. Nope, it almost sounded like the skipper was ticked. Lefty reliever Fraser Ellard nearly got himself a double play in the ninth, which would’ve meant two out and nobody on with the Sox ahead, 3-1. Instead, with one out and a runner on first, Ellard proceeded to walk Zach McKinstry and Riley Greene, both lefthanded hitters. That brought in Jordan Leasure, who is so early last year. It took all of two pitches for Leasure to give up a walk-off double to Spencer Torkelson, leaving the Sox at 2-7. As for Venable, he told reporters after the game, “Just too many walks out of the bullpen. We expect better out of those guys.” Venable added that Fraser was “in the game to get those guys out, and we’ve got to make them put the ball into play.” [quotes from today’s story in the Sun-Times] Nice to see the manager hold his players accountable in public, so very unlike the previous two seasons, four, really, given how Tony LaRussa never said a bad word about his players. Now I want to know if the manager and general manager care enough to at a minimum move the deck chairs around. You can’t keep sending out the same people if they keep giving you the same results; that’s crazy. Do the sane thing and find the right mix of pitchers, no matter how long or painful the process.

What he Said

Davis Martin pretty much stunk up the joint in Detroit yesterday, allowing seven runs on nine hits over five innings in a 7-2 loss, their fourth in a row. And I thought this was old last season, and the one before that. All of which reminds me of something former GM Jim Bowden said last week on CBS Sports, that this Sox team couldn’t win a championship at the Double-A level even. Bowden cited young pitching and a “lineup filled with fourth and fifth outfielders, fifth and sixth infielders on other teams.” If only he were wrong. But consider today’s lineup against the Tigers. There’s Matt Thaiss (.231); Miguel Vargas (.172); and Jacob Amaya (.111). All three have been written off by other organizations. As for Luis Robert Jr. (.143) and Andrew Vaughn (.154), well, it’s like waiting for Godot, and Godot ain’t coming. Michael A. Taylor and Mike Tauchman? Did Bowden say something about fourth and fifth outfielders? The Sox have a game in Detroit followed by three in Cleveland before coming home to face the Red Sox. Things could get ugly at (Cut)Rate ball-mall by next weekend.

Meet the New Boss?

It’s early, I know, but new White Sox manager Will Venable is starting to sound more than a little like old White Sox manager Mickey Mouse, and that’s not a good thing. Yesterday, Jonathan Cannon labored through 3.2 innings in a 7-4 loss to the Tigers; Cannon threw 88 pitches. But talk about a glass full. “He did a nice job getting ahead and just wasn’t able to put guys away, and the pitch count got up on him,” Venable in spin mode told reporters after the game. Oh, and Cannon “did a nice job dealing with some traffic,” as in three hits, three walks and two hit-by-pitch. [quotes in today’s Tribune] Down at Triple-A Charlotte, heir apparent at shortstop Colson Montgomery continues to struggle. Last night, Montgomery went 1-for-3, which raised his average to .087, with sixteen strikeouts in 23 at-bats. According to Venable, not to worry. It’s early, a weekend hot streak will give him good numbers. Montgomery “left spring training in a good spot. I don’t think anyone’s going to look too deeply at 20 [now 23] at-bats.” [quote in today’s Sun-Times] Ah, Skipper, Montgomery was not in a good spot at the end of spring training, because he got sent down instead of opening the season at shortstop for the Sox, as just about everybody—including you, I’m sure—expected. He didn’t hit well last year at Triple-A (.214), so the worry is, or should be, that this is a continuation of that. There’s a difference between accentuating the positive and living in an alternate reality, where Mouse pitched his tent for close to two years before getting what he so richly deserved. Do you really want to join him?

Front and Back

Everything was backwards—I pitch out front and play catch in the yard. No, wait. I did out front with Clare. Leo wanted to hit in back. Everyone came over for dinner yesterday (White Fence Farm fried chicken, family pack, hush puppies to die for), and there was enough time for a half-hour of hitting. Leo also wanted to show off his new shoes. “They’re fast,” he declared before losing a race with the dog to the kitchen. “Why is Penny faster?” “That’s because she runs on four paws,” I answered with the wisdom of a grandparent. It was also dinnertime, and my dog will not be beat to her bowl. In another two months, I’m going to switch out bats so that my grandson is swinging the same one his mother did at that age (3-5/6 years). What impresses me isn’t so much that he can put plastic balls into the neighbor’s yard so much as his doing it off of live pitching instead of a tee. Maybe that makes him further ahead in development than his mom, maybe not. I never even thought to pitch to Clare at the exact same age. But it should get interesting come June.

The Real World

The greatest clown show on earth, aka the Chicago Bears, were at it again yesterday, promising another hundred years of mediocrity while displaying an arrogance to take your breath away. Munsters’ chair George McCaskey, at the NFL owners’ meeting in Palm Beach, told reporters, “We’ve said for many years we intend to own the Bears for as long as possible. Another hundred years would be great.” Read it and weep, fans. Then we had team president and CEO Kevin Warren perform the latest version of his shakedown dance for public money to help build a stadium, anywhere, somewhere. For the past year or so, Warren has tried to generate public support behind a behemoth on the lake south of Soldier Field. Yesterday, he signaled that suburban Arlington Heights was in play as well. Wait, there’s more. In true “cake and eat it too” fashion, Warren wants the Bears to own the project while paying next to no taxes on it. “We don’t want tax certainty for the first five years with a building you hope lasts for 30 or 40 years. We want to pay our taxes, but you don’t want to find yourself in the position where fifteen years down the road, your tax bill quadruples.” [all quotes from today’s Tribune] Kevin, real estate taxes go up all the time in Cook County, and it doesn’t matter—at least for homeowners—how unfair or onerous it might be; if the assessed property rate goes up, so does the tax bill. Given that you keep promising a unicorn entertainment/stadium district, that means the value of the property will increase yes? But it should be other property owners who pay full freight on their tax bill? Sorry, but that’s not how things go in the real world. You should visit sometime.

The Path Not Taken

The White Sox have had themselves a nice little run of starting pitching the first five games of the season, including last night, when Rule-5 acquisition Shane Smith threw 5-2/3 shutout innings against the Twins. Too bad Smith lost his control and walked the final two batters he face3d. That led Will Venable to call on his bullpen, as if he had one. A 3-0 lead turned into an 8-3 loss. Of course, Smith and Martin Perez might not be with the Sox if management had decided to keep Garrett Crochet, someone the Red Sox think enough of to award a six-year, $170 million extension. But, hey, we got a whole bunch of minor leaguers in exchange for the 25-year old lefty. Who cares if Kyle Teel sits in Triple-A? Crochet and Sean Burke and Jonathan Cannon and Davis Martin and Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith? We don’t need no stinkin’ high-priced ace. That’s big-market ball. The White Sox prefer to develop, then trade. It’s the path they’ve taken, every time.

Deals Past and Future

My, my, four games into the season and the White Sox are at .500 thanks to some fine pitching, including yesterday’s 9-0 whitewash of the Twins. I wonder who Chris Getz will be looking to move for prospects? Martin Perez, who pitched six no-hit innings? Oh, he could get a second-rounder in return. Maybe Andrew Benintendi, who cranked a three-run shot in the second, or Andrew Vaughn, who did likewise in the first? Vaughn’s still under control, so Getz might not want to let him go. But I bet Benintendi could be had for a song. I mean, this is an organization that traded Jake Burger for Jake Eder, who as of last Wednesday “pitches” for the Angels’ organization. By the way, I see that Burger homered for the Rangers yesterday and Gavin Sheets drove in four runs for the Padres. Who would’ve thought those two would amount to anything?