Problems Good and Bad

The White Sox beat the Braves last night, 13-9. Yea. That said, there were all sorts of problems on display. Let’s start with the good ones. Lenyn Sosa homered for the third time in four games. He also had four RBIs, giving him 54 on the season. But where does he fit in long-term? Of the Sox top-30 prospects, sixteen are position players, ten of them infielders. Of that number, eight are listed as playing shortstop and/or second base. Is Sosa better than all of them? Should he be traded in the offseason? Or do you move him to first? I don’t know. Kyle Teel had four hits on the night, including his third homerun. Is he your #1 catcher, or Edgar Quero? Do you keep both, or trade one? If trading, which one? What would a trade of one of them plus Sosa bring back in return? Brooks Baldwin homered, scored two runs and walked three times, all at the bottom of the order. Baldwin is batting .318 (14-for-44 with three homers) over his last fourteen games. The 25-year old switch-hitter has played six positions so far this season, which right now qualifies him as a poor-man’s Ben Zobrist. Will GM Chris Getz and his manager see the value of that? Now, for the bad problems, as in starting and relief pitching. Sean Burke got sent down to Triple-A Charlotte, where he joins Jonathan Cannon, who’s been pretty mediocre in two starts there. All of a sudden, the rotation features Aaron Civale and Martin Perez. Nothing special there. Why not bring up people from Double-A Birmingham or Charlotte? I mean, other than Owen White? C’mon, four runs in .1 inning. Again, nothing special. It’s odd that an organization with a boatload of minor-league relievers having career years won’t bring any of them up. Now, for last problem, Colson Montgomery. Good news—he looks really good at shortstop and third base. Bad news—he’s hitting .148 over his last seven games, .167 over his last fifteen. Those are concerning numbers. The good news is the rookie doesn’t have a long swing or chase all that much, though he does have 42 strikeouts in 132 at-bats. He’s not chasing after pitches so much as he is swinging through them. Which is what Brooks Baldwin was doing until about seven weeks ago. Brooks, talk to Colson, tell him what adjustments you made to get back on track. That could take care of a big problem.