South Side Hit Men

Hopefully @Vote4Pedro will return with a game thread, but the Sox appear to be going all out with the lineup tonight. Wonder if Benintendi will also find his way to the IL with his injured hand. CWS Batters AVG HR RBI SB 1Anderson, TiSS .253 0 10 7 2SheetsRF .225 7 22 0 3Robert Jr.CF .264 16 35 4 4Jiménez, EDH .262 6 25 0 5Burger3B .250 15 35 1 6Vaughn1B .248 8 40 0 7GrandalC .268 5 18 0 8FrazierLF .244 0 2 3 9Andrus2B .195 1 13 6 Dodgers look weak after their Top 3. Hopefully Cease can get through 6-7 with the bullpen used a lot yesterday. Heyward cleanup DH, yikes. 1BettsRF .263 17 43 5 2Freeman, F1B .331 13 44 9 3Smith, W.D.C .290 10 35 1 4HeywardDH .244 7 14 2 5PeraltaLF .266 4 25 1 6Vargas, M2B .225 6 29 3 7OutmanCF .227 9 30 7 8Taylor, Ch3B .208 10 22 7 9Rojas, MSS .217 0 6 3 Lineups subject to change

There were purges after Government / Corporate Mandated Lockdowns, purges this month, and will be more purges. This isn't severance, it's paying out his legally binding contract. Severance would be to do the right thing by subscribers and their employees and finish the season, and then giving him an actual severance package above and beyond the bare contractual minimum they are paying him now. That would be the humane, decent and smart thing to do, for their employees and customers (current and potential).

The Athletic is paying him and the other MLB writers under contract through October. They only save on travel costs for the remaining 8 road trips if they would have released him and the other MLB writers after the season. Just poor timing/decision making. James declined finishing the season because he was being paid either way. Just a bad decision by what appears to be a badly run business. The timing for the NBA and NHL writers make sense.

Yoan and Anderson were the two position players that have put up one or two legitimate All Star 4-5+ fWAR seasons. Robert is the one White Sox with the potential to join them. Burger has contributed well in the DH role, if he can play 3B acceptably, he has a chance to peak beyond his age 27 season. Vaughn is still young and can improve, but average 1B seems to be his peak value a few years from now. Eloy hurt his thumb as a fetus sucking too hard on it. He stayed in the womb an extra 2 1/2 months, has been injured perennially since. Career fWAR age 12/31/23 (Highest fWAR season) 19.0 Tim Anderson 30 (4.6 2021) 13.8 Yoan Moncada 28 (5.5 2019) 9.1 Luis Robert 26 (3.4 2021 - 2.5 YTD 2023) 5.3 Eloy Jimenez 27 (1.7 2022) 1.7 Jake Burger 27 (1.2 YTD 2023) -0.5 Andrew Vaughn 25 (0.3 YTD 2023)

All the good markets are gone. Vegas TV market is 40th, below Milwaukee, the lowest current MLB market. They won't have the same fanbase for an 81 game schedule as they do for the 10 Raiders games or 40 NHL games in a 1/3 smaller arena. This was pure and simple a scam for billionaires and bribed politicians to steal a half billion from taxpayers. Nashville (27) and possibly Charlotte (21) are the final markets anyone wants, and both will either be pawned off for a billion plus expansion fee, with Baltimore possibly fleeing their dead metropolis for Nashville. Portland (22) is one of the few cities to repeatedly say go f*** yourself to billionaires looking for welfare handouts. Canada doesn't play the welfare game with billionaires for free stadiums, so Montreal's TV Corp will have to build their own stadium. Either the territory is already controlled by another team, or nobody wants The MLB in Orlando (17), Sacramento (20), Raleigh-Durham (23), Indianapolis (25), Salt Lake City (29), San Antonio (31), Columbus (32), Hartford (34), Austin (35), Greenville-Spartanburg (37) and West Palm Beach (39). There certainly are not any "Brooklyn Dodgers" scenarios, save if baseball expanded to Tokyo and perhaps a couple more Japanese cities, and possibly Mexico City might be worth something despite the lower per capita income.

Tanner Banks is the only available pitcher tonight not used last night (Crochet pitched 35 Tuesday, so likely out until Friday/Saturday). That said, Middleton and possibly Kelly are likely the only two not probable to be available tonight. Pitches Thrown Yesterday (previous outing) 16 Middleton (Sunday) 14 Kelly (Saturday) 12 Graveman (Sunday) 9 Lopez (Saturday) 9 Santos (Saturday) 9 Bummer (Sunday) 0 Banks (11 on Tuesday)

Sox have two tenth place guys listed: DH Burger 57,408 C Grandal 52,035 Not in top ten: Vaughn under 34,701 Andrus under 38,420 Moncada under 67,944 Anderson under 43,651 Entire OF under 108,982 Burger, Robert Jr. or Santos really the lone three deserving of consideration for the auto pick.

If the Sox had a good and smart incoming front office, it would be interesting to see what value they could get this or next month for a guy like Burger. Of course they would need to stop pretending publicly they are attempting to field a competitive team anytime in the 2020s. Perhaps a 2027 or 2028 carrot at this stage to keep hope alive. Don’t want Hahn making any deals beyond the inevitable salary and international slot money dumps Jerry is rubbing his hands in anticipation to complete next month. “It’s the most wonderful time of the year.”

Miss Rongey on the post game, especially after drunken call ins after White Sox losses.

That looks pretty good, but I'd literally kill for an In-N-Out Burger right now. Haven't had one in California since January, or on Earth since Vegas in February. I don't eat many chain food, but In-N-Out is the exception. Perhaps because they are not here.

The Great 3B Jake Burger 2-5, 2 HR, 3 RBI CF Luis Robert 2-5, HR, 2 R, 1 RBI The Good C Yasmani Grandal 3-5 DH Eloy Jimenez 2-5, 2 R, 1RBI RF Clint Frazier 2-5, RBI LF Andrew Benintendi 1-4, 2 RBI, 1 R 1B Andrew Vaughn 1-4, 1 BB, 1R 2B Elvis Andrus 0-2 2 BB RP Reynaldo Lopez 1 Clean IP, Win RP Keynan Middleton 1 IP, Hold RP Kendall Graveman 1 IP The Ugly - Moncada and Clevinger - Likely IL Personally, I'm good Moncada getting surgery, or resting and rehabbing until he can play well batting from both sides of the plate. Scholtens is pitching well, so I'm cromulent with this swap.

Ha Ha, the Sox Flagship ESPN 1000 lost the radio connection with Los Angeles. Connor McKnight will read Gameday to close things out. He's saying they lost power in Los Angeles.

Grandal got the meats!

That was huge by Benintendi, sore hand, grits out a hit.

In n Out.

Thankfully Tony isn't around to walk Heyward on a 1-2 count to get to Muncy.

Jerry, Kenny and or Hahn are the lone three who have any decision making ability in this organization before or after Tony La Russa.

Yes, but senile asshole al davis also drafted the drunk Sebastian Janikowski first (17th overall) in 2000. NFL First Round Kicker Picks: Two (Oakland Raiders) One Each: Washington (Charlie Gogolak) and New Orleans (Russell Erxleben)

Their deals will be primarily for salary relief. Jerry be broke these days.

Merkin reported yesterday Liam's arm was barking even before he embarked on that rushed half ass rehab Hahn and staff scheduled. Hahn should be fired for that alone, not counting the hundreds if not thousands of other reasons.

OK, thanks, but that wasn't germane to the post quoted (Sox OF) Can't blame him. Look at the talent level. Actually, he was on the teams, but when the playoffs came, they benched his ass because he is not a major league capable catcher beyond pitch framing.