A Baseball Game of Musical Chairs

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: Don’t get too attached to a White Sox player, especially an infielder or anyone named Andrew Benintendi. With promising middle infielders up and down their minor-league system, the Sox will have to find room for the best of them, and sooner than later. How long before Caleb Bonemer puts up Triple-A numbers that can’t be ignored? Or Roch Cholowsy? But what happens to incumbent shortstop Colson Montgomery? He could slide over to third base to make room for one of the above, but then what happens to Miguel Vargas? Well, he could switch over to first base, but that means something has to give with Munetaka Murakami. GM Chris Getz could let Murakami walk after next season, which would be a real gamble given Murakami’s power and popularity on the South Side. Or he could sign Murakami to an extension and install him as the primary DH, Benintendi’s role right now. The 32-year old Benintendi is signed through 2027. I’m pretty willing to bet the bank he’ll be gone after that, if not sooner. Shortstop is the highest-skill position in baseball, with centerfield coming in second. So, one of the stable of young shortstops could make the switch to the outfield a la Robin Yount back in the day. Then, what happens to Tristan Peters? Like I said, don’t get too attached to anyone on the 2026 White Sox. They might not be here for long.

A Hard, Necessary, Conversation

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree; great minds think alike; like father, like daughter—take your pick. Whatever the reason, Clare and I were asking the same question last week when the White Sox picked Landon Thome with the 34th selection in the draft. “Would you tell him to sign or go to college?” daughter asked father, or vice versa. We both agreed, “Go to college.” Let’s count the reasons why. Start with the fact that the Sox are full of middle infielders, and that’s not even counting number-one pick Roch Cholowsky. Five of the top eleven prospects in the Sox system are middle infielders. How exactly does the eighteen-year old Thome expect to jump over them? Also consider the middle infield on the major-league level with Chase Meidroth and Colson Montgomery, plus Miguel Vargas at third and middle-infielder Same Antonacci forced to play left field. Where exactly does Thome fit in? The younger Thome stands an even six feet and weighs 177 pounds; he looks like he has another year or two of high-school eligibility left. Yes, the White Sox will wait for him to fill out, but the expectation for a professional, as opposed to a college, player is to perform from day one. I’d argue there’s a lot more pressure playing at Single-A Kannapolis than Florida State, where Landon Thome has committed to attend. And any high-school player making the jump puts his body at risk that first year, as it adjusts from playing just 50 games a season to 130-plus games. College offers players a chance to grow both physically and emotionally before jumping into the pros with its expanded schedule. That’s what Clare would be telling her son. Me, too.

The Big Stage

Ordinarily, I don’t care about the All-Star Game, outside of the American League winning. And they did that last night in Philadelphia, 4-0 on a three-hitter by more pitchers than I have fingers. What stood out, though, was Miguel Vargas of the White Sox; he did two things of note. First, he appeared on the red carpet with his parents alongside him. Classy move, that. Then, the native of Havana, Cuba, hit like the game mattered. In the top of the fifth inning, center fielder Andy Pages robbed Vargas of a sure double with a running catch in right-center field. Which set up the eighth inning. Vargas took a slider down and in from former minor-league Dodgers’ teammate Justin Wrobleski and deposited it 433 feet into the second deck at Citizens Bank Park. A giant-sized shot from a regular-sized player (6’2”, 225 pounds) by current baseball standards. Oh, if only that line drive had fallen in. Vargas and not Cody Bellinger, with a two-run single in the first, could’ve been named MVP. Oh, well. What stands out here is both Vargas’ humility and intensity. Both bode well for the White Sox in the second half of the season, starting Friday in Toronto. I can’t wait.

Traditions

If it’s the day before the All-Star Game, that means Home Run Derby, which means watching it with Clare. Evidence of her winning and tying two such contests available on request. Of course, we had hot dogs, and of course we rooted for Munetaka Murakami of the White Sox. He did better than the Yankees’ Ben Rice, so I’m happy. Leo was more bothered than I was that Munie didn’t move on to the second round. MLB may want to take note of this—my grandson, three weeks short of five years old, grew tired of it all after 1-1/2 hours. He left the adults on the back porch to watch the ballplayers while he went into the living room to turn on Bluey. I wanted to join him.

Throw a Righty Against the White Sox—

And you’re asking for trouble. That’s what the A’s did yesterday, and it led to a 9-1 drubbing at The Rate. Noah Schultz, aka The Tall Enigma, put his team in an early 1-0 hole by serving up a two-out gopher ball in the top of the first inning to Shea Langeliers, but Sam Antonacci took care of that with a leadoff homer of his own, thank you very much. More hits and runs followed, capped by a three-run line drive off the bat of Braden Montgomery that just cleared the fence in right to finish off a six-run inning. After that, Schultz pitched up to his potential, tossing five innings while giving up just four hits and no walks. With that, we come to the All-Star break, the unofficial halfway mark of the season; at 50-45, the Sox passed that point a few games ago. What happens next? As long as it’s nothing dumb, who cares? Dumb would be GM Chris Getz trading young talent for a rental player or two. Nope. Challenge the coaching staff to do their jobs. If they come through, the Sox win the Central Division, and maybe get a shoutout from the Pope in Rome. It’s as simple as that.

Feast of a Famine

The A’s started another lefty yesterday, and the White Sox lineup managed all of five hits and a run. But it was enough to win 1-0 when Chase Meidroth doubled in Colson Montgomery for the game’s only run in the sixth inning. For what it’s worth, three righthanded hitters collected all five hits—oddly, three of them doubles—for the Sox. So, I guess this is a good thing. Now, for two tips of the cap in recognition of players I usually say little nice about, starting with Erick Fedde. The veteran righthander ditched the Houdini routine with four shutout innings during which he gave up just two hits and a walk. The 33-year old Fedde is 4-1in his last seven games with a 2.64 ERA over 30.2 innings. You can’t argue with that. Or the way Luisangel Acuna has been playing, for that matter. Acuna six for his last eleven? Yup. But wait, there’s more. The ex-Met (how are you guys enjoying the non-production of Luis Robert Jr.?) has been playing mean defense at shortstop. Yesterday in the top of the eighth with the tying run on third, nobody out and the infield in, Acuna snared a 104.2 mph grounder off the bat of Tyler Soderstrom for the out. I’m not sure that Colson Montgomery makes that play, and I mean no disrespect to Montgomery. If Acuna can keep hitting, his glove and his speed become all the more valuable. One more game before the All-Star break, and the A’s are starting a righthander. This is when good teams pounce.

They Hit

Talk about a perfect Friday night. Michele and I stood, oh, no more than 35 feet from a stage holding members of Los Lobos, if not the greatest rock-and-roll band still standing, then on the short list. Bertha, don’t you come around here anymore. And then to come home to find the White Sox were in the process of demolishing the A’s, 14-1, with Sean Burke pitching seven innings of one-run (and zero-walk) ball while Tristan Peters hit for the cycle for the seventh time in franchise history (and I’ve been around for all of them except for Ray Schalk’s in 1922). Not only that, Sox announcer John Schriffen actually sounded both exciting and professional calling Peters’ eighth-inning triple that completed the cycle. Mercy. Not to break the mood, but the Sox couldn’t touch opener Jacob Lopez, a lefthanded sporting a 7.04 ERA. Good thing the A’s decided to bring in righthander—and ex-Sox—pitcher Aaron Civale; that was good for four runs over the next 2.1 innings. Here’s the thing, though. The A’s are starting lefty Gage Jump, and he doesn’t stink. So, we’ll see, Bertha, we’ll see.