The Business of Baseball

White Sox rookie Rikuu Nishida has a personality so infectious it would make even Ted Williams smile. But Nishida wasn’t hitting all that well (7-for-29, all singles), and Braden Montgomery looked to be ready. It only made sense to move one prospect up and the other down. Derek Hill had himself some nice hits as a spare outfielder for the Sox, including a pinch-hit homerun that beat the Royals back in May. Like Nishida, the veteran Hill was a positive presence in the clubhouse. But Hill is 30, and Everson Pereira clocks in at five years younger, with some pop in his bat. The smart move was to trade Hill, which GM Chris Getz did yesterday in a move with the Phillies, and active Pereira from the IL, where he’s been since late April with a pectoral sprain. Not that Pereira should feel too comfortable. Munetaka Murakami will be coming off the IL, late this month if his hamstring heels quickly. That means Pereira or rookie Jacob Gonzalez will go. And when Kyle Teel is activated, either Edgar Quero or Drew Romo most likely will have to find a new home. Even teams evoking talk of Cinderella and magical seasons go about the business of baseball.

Tuning Out the Static

We lost power just before 4 o’clock yesterday afternoon; it didn’t come back on for close to ten hours. Did I mention it was a little hot and stuffy in the house? Instead of sweating in the dark, I decided to spend much of the evening on the back porch, windows open radio in lap, trying to get the White Sox game, only it was all static until the bottom of the sixth inning, lightning bugs flashing, Sox ahead of the Braves, 2-0. Len Kasper’s voice faded in and out, loud if I pointed the antenna one way, then a whisper if I repositioned the radio for a second. It was dark by the time Bryan Hudson locked down the save in a 2-1 Sox win. Oh, to beat Chris Sale. I like how winning starter Davis Martin put it. He looked out at the scoreboard, where his and Chris Sale’s career strikeouts marks were posted, “mine at 250 punchouts and he had 3,000 or 2,000 or something like that. Some crazy big number. And I was just like, ‘Man, this is fun.’ This is who you want to play against and this is why you want to be in the big leagues.” [Tribune online story today] Yes, indeed. I’m guessing Braden Montgomery feels pretty much the same. The 23-year old rookie followed his walk-off homerun debut the night before with a 2-for-4 performance, both hits doubles, the first one coming against Sale and leading to a run in the fourth inning. The Sox picked Hagen Smith over Montgomery in the first round of the 2024 draft; now, they have both. Like I said, pinch me. I must be dreaming.

Pinch Me

Pinch me. I must be dreaming. Since when does a White Sox rookie hit a walk-off homerun in his major-league debut? Well, it happened last night in the bottom of the tenth inning when Braden Montgomery connected off of Braves’ closer Raisel Iglesias. Sox 6 Braves 5. Where to start? It was Montgomery’s second RBI hit of the night, following a fourth-inning single. Iglesias entered the game with a 0.87 ERA and thirteen saves in 22.1 innings of work; he had yet to give up a homerun this season. Well, that changed. And let’s not forget fellow rookie Jacob Gonzalez, who also had two hits on the night, along with an RBI. Or Miguel Vargas, who hit a two-run homer. Or (gulp) Erick Fedder, who pitched five innings in relief, giving up two runs, one earned. As for the following, best to remember in order to stop doing. By that, I mean the Sox had two runners thrown out at the plate on failed squeeze attempts and a third trying to score on a two-out single from second base. Hard to win games when you do that, especially against the best team in baseball. And you don’t want to do anything like that against tonight’s starter, ex-Sox lefthander Chris Sale. Clean baseball, smart baseball, winning baseball. Please.

Bears and Sox

I’ll do the silly stuff first. On Friday, the Bears announced they were moving forward on plans for a new stadium in Indiana. They also signaled a willingness to keep talking to the relevant powers that be in Illinois. Huh? Oh, it gets better. Today, a state Republican legislator announced he’s going to introduce a bill to give Bears-like megaprojects the power to negotiate payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) with local governmental bodies. The bill also provides a property-tax relief provision. Only you can’t square a circle. The lower the payment negotiated, the greater the need for the affected governmental body to make up for the loss revenue, that or cut services. The greater the tax relief, the less willing governmental bodies will be to sign off on those payments in lieu of. Good luck with getting this thing to fly, sir. Now, for something completely different—the White Sox just called up outfielder Braden Montgomery. Alleluiah, alleluiah. May Hagen Smith follow soon after.

Chris Getz, Meet John Ford

The White Sox had enough hitting—five runs, ten hits—but next to no pitching against the Phillies, with an opener and three of four relievers coughing up nine runs on ten hits. The Sox could’ve scored as many as five more runs with some clutch hitting and along with a little luck; the wind kept two balls in the park. Not that it kept the other guys from cranking two out. Philadelphia 9 Chicago 5. We won’t talk about the Sox going into the bottom of the fifth up 5-4. If this were a John Ford movie (and baseball is a form of entertainment, right?), the cavalry would be showing up to save the day. In case anyone is wondering, Hagen Smith struck out nine batters in 4.2 innings of scoreless work for Triple-A Charlotte yesterday while Braden Montgomery upped his BA to .315 (with a .417 OBP!). Help could be on the way, and would be with Ford at the helm. But someone else is in charge of this production. He needs to send in the cavalry. Now.

Get Used To It

The White Sox are going to be the White Sox, very unpredictable, and I can either get used to it or go crazy. I’ll take door #1, please. Yesterday, they jumped all over Phillies’ starter Adrew Painter, scoring four runs in the first inning on their way to a 6-3 win. Later, Colson Montgomery homered, his sixteenth, though he still doesn’t look good at the plate. Rookie Jacob Gonzalez, who does look good at the plate, also went deep for his first major-league homerun. Go figure. Sam Antonacci went hitless but got the first inning started by getting hit for the fourteenth time this season, most in the majors. Tristan Peters has come out of nowhere to claim a starting job in the outfield with a combination of hitting—3-for-4 with an RBI—and fielding. We’re talking Ken Berry-caliber glove here. So, it’s going to be a roller coaster of a season. All I ask is for Chris Getz to call up Braden Montgomery. Montgomery hit .313 at Double-A Birmingham, which earned him a promotion to Triple-A Charlotte. The pitching must be tough in the International League. The 23-year old outfielder is “only” batting .312. Montgomery and a heeled Kyle Teel added to the lineup, oh my. Now, that I could definitely get used to.

Not Ready for Prime Time

If the White Sox want to play with the big boys, they’re going to have to do better than they did last night in Philadelphia. Given a 2-0 lead going into the bottom of the second, starter Anthony Kay turned it into a three-run deficit, courtesy of four hits and a walk. At the end of the night, it was Phillies 8 Sox 6. The Sox actually tied the game at six in the seventh, only for the bullpen to go south. Bryan Hudson gave up a run on his own and was charged with another when Seranthony Dominguez bounced a ball past catcher Edgar Quero. Bad pitching was followed by bad luck in the eighth and maybe some bad decision-making in the dugout. The Sox put two runners on with nobody out when Rikuu Nishida lined into a double play. Maybe baserunner Jacob Gonzalez was to blame for not getting back to second base in time, but why was Nishida swinging away in the first place? Speed is the essence of Nishida’s game. Him bunting puts pressure on the defense. First baseman Bryce Harper had already misplayed a ball in the inning to put on a baserunner. What’s to say he wouldn’t have done it again? So, again we’re going to see what this team can do in a tough situation. Some good starting pitching would be nice, and timely hitting, too. Oh, and some help out of the bullpen Yes, a tall order, but that’s what you have to do in order to beat the big boys.