South Side Hit Men

Sox up 6-0, game thread be like

Romy comes through for the third time in four games! Chicago White Sox 4 Cleveland Guardians 0

It's Burger Time! Moncada scores, nice Sacrifice Fly.

Nine up, nine down. 6 Ks. Only downside is 40 pitchers. Looks like Kopech is determined to keep the ball out of play for 6-7 innings, and hopefully the Sox can add and put in Haseley to lock down another win.

Tim Anderson comes through again. Chicago White Sox 1 Cleveland Guardians 0

I'm listening today, but will likely pee my pants every time a ball is hit to RF or CF. The last time I considered peeing my pants was for a good cause (2007), though I cancelled after my young niece cried because I was going to pee in my pants on purpose. https://afsportsforum.com/threads/pee-your-pants-for-the-brewers.6309/

Well they have six weeks to prove it on the field and prevent a sell-off, perhaps buy a piece or two. I think much of the pessimism before Opening Day was not filling the 2B and RF positions, par for the course, and the offseason swapping out Abreu's salary for a corner OF with no power and a 5th starter with various issues. I stayed away from here for 3 months, but came back and have been grateful being engaged with the Sox playing well. Perhaps they are playing bad teams now, but I remember when the Sox were solid and lost to these same bad teams, so I'm glad they are taking care of business and perhaps they will have a healthy Eloy, Tim, and Liam back when the stronger teams hit the schedule in June.

An overlooked aspect is the Sox don't have a 2019-2021 Leury Garcia and a 2020/2021 Adam Engel on the team. Leury Garcia shouldn't have gotten 3/$16.5M contract, nor did it appear his health and or abilities allowed him to continue in 2022/2023. Tony's continued regular usage as though he was a starter and not a solid 60-70 game per season player didn't help keep him healthy and on the field. That said, Leury was a very valuable reserve player under the 13 position player roster. He provided cromulent defense across infield and outfield. 1.3, 0.7 (60 Game season) and 2.1 across 2019-2021 really helped the Sox when players were injured or just off for the day and they had an adequate replacement player. Same with healthy Engel, who was a superb outfielder who also figured it out at the plate in a limited role until he got hurt and never recovered (2020 36 Games .811 OPS, 2021 39 Games .832 OPS). The Sox have not replaced either of these two players, and the results show especially with the injury prone Eloy and Robert, and continued black holes at 2B (all garbage) and RF (Sheets WTF). bWAR 2023 2B / RF Starters and INF/OF Reserves -0.4 Elvis Andrus (39 Game 2B Starter) -0.9 Oscar Colas (25 Game OG RF Starter) 0.0 Clint Frazier (3 Games OF Reserve) -0.7 Romy Gonzalez (25 Games INF/OF Reserve) 0.0 Billy Hamilton (3 Games OF Reserve) 0.0 Adam Haseley (23 Games OF Reserve) 0.4 Gavin Sheets (36 Game RF Starter post Colas demotion) -0.7 Lenyn Sosa (22 Games INF Reserve) 2021 2B / RF Starters and INF/OF Reserves 0.0 Adam Eaton (58 Game 1st Half RF Starter) 1.5 Adam Engel (39 Game OF Reserve) 2.1 Leury Garcia (126 Game overplayed INF / OF Reserve) -0.5 Brian Goodwin (72 Game 2nd Half RF Starter) 0.3 Billy Hamilton (71 Game OF Reserve & Heart and Soul of the Team) -0.7 Cesar Hernandez (53 Game 2B Starter) 0.0 Jake Lamb (43 Game Friend of Tony) 1.2 Nick Madrigal (54 Games - Traded with Heuer for horseshit, Rick Hahn's self-admitted "best idea") -0.4 Danny Mendick (71 Games - INF Reserve)

I'm glad nobody stole the thread on you today @DoUEvenShift! No, the scary part is having both Frazier and Sheets out there. When they sit Robert, they should have Haseley playing one of the two spots, at least until Billy Hamilton returns. Hope Kopech doesn't press to get only strikeouts today to keep the ball out of play. The Sox need to keep out of 4 and 5 out innings, and there is a heightened risk today until at least one of them are pulled.

The Sox will need him to turn it on soon if they want a shot at a winning season. The two most SoxTalk hated position players are the only regulars over the White Sox Mendoza line during the "Trying Era". 2020-2023 White Sox TWTW Standings through May 22, 2023 (Player Win / Loss Records Over / Under .500 in games played Bold since "Trying Era" (Career if pre 2020 member)) .808 105-25 Liam Hendriks .778 21-6 Alex Colome (.730 65-24) .729 62-23 Kendall Graveman .622 46-28 Billy Hamilton .609 78-50 Aaron Bummer (.553 140-113) .589 33-23 Joe Kelly .575 46-34 Michael Kopech (.571 48-36) .555 162-126 Tim Anderson (.473 383-426) .546 178-148 Yoan Moncada (.475 314-347) .530 35-31 Garrett Crochet .523 230-210 Chicago White Sox 2020-2023 .522 117-107 Eloy Jimenez (.488 169-177) .517 31-29 Lance Lynn .513 40-38 Dylan Cease (.500 46-46) .513 142-135 Luis Robert Junior .503 156-154 Andrew Vaughn .502 143-142 Yasmani Grandal .500 56-56 Reynaldo Lopez (.476 88-97) .500 13-13 Hanser Alberto .500 7-7 Davis Martin .500 5-5 Carlos Perez .500 1-1 Clint Frazier .482 41-44 Lucas Giolito (.490 75-78) .480 61-66 Seby Zavala (.477 63-69) .472 17-19 Adam Haseley .470 102-115 Gavin Sheets .444 4-5 Mike Clevinger .444 4-5 Jake Marisnick .443 43-54 Jake Burger .413 45-64 Matt Foster .402 33-49 Elvis Andrus .400 18-27 Andrew Benintendi .382 26-42 Jimmy Lambert .379 25-41 Romy Gonzalez .375 6-10 Kenyan Middleton .348 46-86 Jose Ruiz (.315 56-122) .320 8-17 Oscar Colas .303 10-23 Lenyn Sosa .256 10-29 Jake Diekman .231 9-30 Tanner Banks .182 4-18 Gregory Santos .000 0-1 Nicholas Padilla .000 0-1 Sammy Peralta .000 0-3 Jesse Scholtens Awaiting First White Sox Game: Bryan Ramos & Jose Rodriguez.

Thankfully I began to tune in just around then (wasn't on SoxTalk in February, March and the first half of April). Sox are 8-5 this season when I listen or watch. That is an 100-62 record if I listen or watch every game. South Side Hit Men 2023 ESPN 1000 AM Record 8-4! 8 Wins (5/2, 5/3, 5/5, 5/16, 5/19, 5/20, 5/21, 5/23) 4 Losses (5/4, 5/14, 5/17, 5/22). South Side Hit Men 2023 TV Record 0-1. (4/22 - I don't have cable, but perhaps will catch a game at a bar or national TV Game). My Game Threads are on pause until there is a new GM and or Owner.

Well that and the fact he only had one decent starter. Hahn Executive of the Year, Ricky extended 63 games earlier Fired. Does not compute.

"It could happen. but I'm pulling for second place as always." "Second Place Cigar. I love it when a plan comes together."

78 wins will be what is needed to "win" the AL Central in 2023.

I believe Len said right foot on the radio broadcast, but the tweet from James said it was right hip tightness after an 8th inning defensive play, and that he is considered day-to-day. Wouldn't be surprised if he sits out a noon start tomorrow.

Andrew Benintendi wants a five year run in LF with the White Sox.

That it is.

Luis Robert out of the game, WTF?

I always loved Ricky, didn't understand why he was fired. Should have been given 2021, or at least replaced by a solid manager.

"Join the club, zombie."

Looks like a hamstring injury for Joe Kelly.

A lot of that is due to the inability for Hahn to field actual corner outfielders. Vaughn has no business regularly playing corner outfielder (139 Games in LF, 63 Games in RF) as he did his first two seasons. I don't think any other team would have done this, especially one in a "multi-championship window", I do think he needs to significantly improve at 1B or be traded or shifted to DH. He is likely too small to be a successful 1B defensively. Baseball Reference (Games started) 2023 bWAR -0.1: 0.0 Offense; -1.3 Defense (44 1B, 3 DH) 2022 bWAR -0.2: 1.7 Offense; -2.6 Defense (40 LF, 39 RF, 29 DH, 22 1B) 2021 bWAR 0.1: 0.9 Offense; -1.3 Defense (86 LF, 14 RF, 10 1B, 4 DH, 1 2B, 1 3B) Fangraphs 2023 fWAR -0.2: -3.2 Offense; -5.9 Defense 2022 fWAR -0.5: 4.9 Offense; -27.4 Defense 2021 fWAR -0.3: -7.6 Offense; -11.8 Defense That said, he is in his Age 25 season, so he may continue to develop and improve the next few years. Sheets and Burger (Both 27) are already at the typical peak age, haven't shown much either to this point. Sheets 2023 fWAR -0.2: 1.4 Offense; -3.4 Defense (17 RF. 6 DH, 5 1B, 2 LF) 2022 fWAR 0.2: -2.7 Offense; -8.8 Defense (78 RF, 15 DH, 9 1B, 2 LF) 2021 fWAR 0.3: 3.2 Offense; -6.1 Defense (21 DH, 11 RF, 10 1B, 3 LF) Burger 2023 fWAR 1.1: 8.1 Offense; -1.0 Defense (20 3B, 9 DH) 2022 fWAR 0.3: 1.6 Offense; -5.0 Defense (36 3B, 8 DH) 2021 fWAR 0.2: 0.4 Offense; 0.5 Defense (7 3B, 3 DH)