Calming Down A Bit

The tweet storm known as Clare seems to have calmed down since the announcement Thursday of Tony La Russa’s hiring as manager of the White Sox. But she did call twice yesterday to inform me of team transactions. GM Rick Hahn cut his losses by declining to pick up the options on non-hitting dh Edwin Encarnacion (.157 BA) and non-pitching swingman on the pitching staff Gio Gonzalez (4.83 ERA). Encarnacion and Gonzalez join reliever Steve Cishek as 2019-offseason moves that didn’t pan out. The good news is first-base prospect Andrew Vaughn looks to be first in line for the dh job. The Sox also lost infielder Yolmer Sanchez, again; the Orioles claimed Sanchez off of waivers. Well, it’s good to be wanted, and, maybe if Yolmer puts his mind to it, he can hit almost as good as he fields. Fingers crossed. As for the LaRussa hiring, if there’s anyone in favor of it outside of a few good-puppy sportswriters, I haven’t much evidence of it. The good news is that, when the going gets tough, Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf has a tendency to disappear. Though on Halloween, you’d think he’d want to move around freely with all the other ghouls and goblins.