Giveaways

Truth be told, I think the White Sox overpaid for starter Jeff Samardzija.  Of the four players we gave up, I like Marcus Semien, Josh Phegley and Chris Bassitt, so it was as if the Sox were probing my subconscious to see who to get rid of.  Semien proved to be a surprisingly good clutch hitter while Phegley looked like he had finally figured things out at the plate the last week of the season, which brings us to Bassitt.

A righty starter, Bassitt was brought up at the end of August to face the Tigers only to get rocked; he improved markedly in his second start, pitching six innings of one-run ball against the A’s, his new team.  Even better, he talked about pitch location and knowing what the count is and the need to keep working on all his pitches.  In other words, Chris Bassitt wasn’t taking anything for granted.  He also seems to have an idea on how to treat fans.

Clare told me Bassitt was using social media to give away his gear.  He tweeted, “Dear White Sox fans, I got traded and have a lot of White Sox stuff.  I want you guys to have it.”  Winners were determined by some sort of tweeting contest I’m too old to figure out.   But I do know how to read the box scores and will be paying more attention to Oakland than usual.