South Side Hit Men

Ashley Rodon's Twitter account on fire tonight.

Posted put a laughing mark on my pregame post, not sure why.

94 pitches. Weak team, but looked good getting out of a few jams. Nice to see him with killer instinct. Likely Kopech (2 IP) Marshall (1 IP) and Crochet (1 IP) to close it out. Maybe Hendriks gets an inning to avoid rustiness.

This, which is why I didn't understand the gnashing to start the year of keeping him up. Makes more sense for him to play at Charlotte once the AAA season begins, and he can play for a solid stretch. Can also play LF everyday if that's going to be a thing they will try beyond self induced WS emergencies.

"Or my pocketbook."

Much better - Just illustrating those behind Hamilton. Yermin 1.563 Grandal .872 Abreu .793 Robert .683 Hamilton .661

Glad they got out of it, though this junk isn't going to work against a team of actual major league hitters.

White Sox OPS YTD in the game today: Hamilton .661 Madrigal .564 Moncada .488 Leury .308 Vaughn .222 Time for the bats to wake up. Nice to see Kopech up.

Rodon's getting a little shaky here, needs to try to at least get 4 tonight. Any mention of pitch count target tonight?

Tatis just went down, don't think he's coming back soon. https://www.mlb.com/news/fernando-tatis-jr-injured-on-strikeout

You just killed the rally. Watch the postgame.

Andrew with his biggest at bat this year!!!

Bo knows Baseball! Leury knows bunts!

Rodon is dealing. Wonder if he had any substance on that 3,587 spin rate pitch. https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/gamefeed?date=4/5/2021&gamePk=634551&chartType=pitch&legendType=pitchName&playerType=pitcher&inning=&count=&pitchHand=&batSide=&descFilter=&ptFilter=&resultFilter=&hf=playerBreakdown#634551 Pitches Swings Pitch Velocity Exit Velocity Pitch Type Count % Swings Whiffs % CS CS+Whiffs CSW% Fouls BIP Max Min Avg Yr-Avg +/- Avg Min Max 4-Seam Fastball 31 58 17 4 24 5 9 29 9 4 98.4 92.3 95.4 92.8 2.6 ↑ 80.1 63.5 96.0 Slider 20 38 11 8 73 2 10 50 3 0 87.7 72.3 83.8 83.4 0.4 ↑ Changeup 2 4 2 1 50 0 1 50 0 1 86.4 85.1 85.8 84.3 1.5 ↑ 92.3 92.3 92.3 53 30 13 43 7 20 38 12 5 98.4 72.3 90.6 82.5 63.5 96.0 Pitches Spin Vertical Break Horizontal Break Pitch Type Count % Max Min Avg Yr-Avg +/- Max Min Avg Yr-Avg +/- Max Min Avg Yr-Avg +/- 4-Seam Fastball 31 58 3587 2136 2318 2254 64.0 ↑ 14 8 11 15 -4.0 13 5 9 7 2.0 Slider 20 38 2690 1245 2387 2404 -17.0 ↓ 62 32 40 40 0.0 11 4 7 9 -2.0 Changeup 2 4 2008 1656 1832 1808 24.0 ↑ 21 21 21 29 -8.0 18 16 17 14 3.0 53 3587 1245 2326 62 8 22 18 4 9

DJ Speculated it may have been coming from the dugout.

Oh my. WTF? DJ speculated it might be coming from the bench, otherwise he doesn't know what the hell is going on with all of the throws to first.

Moncada = Nada.

The process, tunnel vision, overvaluing a player when superior options existed.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports-saturday/2020/12/11/22170759/2017-draft-revisited-mitch-trubisky-topped-a-lot-of-charts https://www.mlb.com/news/nick-madrigal-taken-4th-overall-in-mlb-draft-c279777574

Danny Mendick: 19-10 Nick Trubisky: 17-12

There are no credible fans who believe teams have guys sitting around who can replace the top players in the league. I cringe at times when I hear people rip on the insertion of bench players, even though regulars need rest, and for bench players to get playing time to stay fresh. Many only look at this particular moment, and not the broader picture. It's what scares me most about La Russa, especially when it comes to truly valuable talents ensuring Kopech is a starter capable of at least 140-150 innings next season. That said, the White Sox have by and large failed in areas of player acquisition beyond Cubans and tanking trades. Failed top ten draft picks. Other picks (and top free agent dollars) concentrated in areas you already have surplus and strength (DH, 1B, C). Terrible non tanking trades and FA acquisitions. Not having a single ML ready corner OFer, and relying on two DHs (Eloy and Vaughn) to play one corner, and an end of career player in RF. Guys like Hamilton and Lamb who are negative WAR players. Poor roster construction. The same problems that has plagued this team the past decade. Spending less FA money this offseason than your already cheap Division opponents. Penny pinching now, and wasting $60M on a few veterans during tanking. It's not going to change until Jerry and his cronies are all swept out, consistent with what the Chicago Bulls did once Jerry finally left the building. Never knew @ptatc or @Texsox's followed teams. I liked both the Cubs and Sox until I was 8, than only White Sox. I adopted the Expos and Mets at that time. Sadly the Expos were destroyed by MLB decades later, and the Mets were destroyed by the Wilpons. I gave up the Mets for several years, but have returned to the fold with the new owner. Thankful Reinsdorf's power has waned over time, and his hand picked puppet ownership group (A Rod/ J Lo) were. denied. I'm hopeful baseball also returns to Montreal if MLB ever expands. I stayed White Sox only, because we were also a working class family without a lot of money. I really appreciated the free White Sox tickets Bill Veeck gave to school children with perfect attendance and or good grades. Made me a fan for life. Such a smart promoter and overall great human being.

I do it to accentuate a point for the benefit of others. I don't believe it is prudent to extrapolate the impact last year and this of a COVID / Owner induced 60 game farcical schedule to avoid paying players. There is no indication of a long term change in the mindset across most teams, that the top rotation pitchers are expected to target 6+ IP, and the bottom to target 5+. Giolito, Lynn and Keuchel should target 190-200 IP, Cease and Rodon 150 IP. Give Kopech 90-100 + IP this year, let him go 150-160 next year, and 190-200 for the rest of his career. Time will tell what Crochet's arm will handle.

COVID / aborted season skews last year's numbers. This year's numbers will be skewed as well. Expect a return to normal (#1-#3s SPs 6 IP, #4s-5 SPs 5 IP) in 2022, assuming baseball is played after a successful CBA implementation.

They have a solid shot at winning the next two, with Lucas on the bump tomorrow and LH starters the next two nights. Hopefully they got some sleep and are into the game from the start. Hopefully Moncada can break out of his funk to start the season. I have a good feeling about Rodon tonight. Did they fly him to Seattle early?

Not to mention the fact 3 of Hendrik's 4 outs came after the Sox increased the lead to six. Yet, in a tie game, Hendriks warms up, sits down because he can't get a save, and they have Ruiz start the 9th, than have nobody else warming up to face the heart of the order before rushing Foster who promptly lost the game. Four close games, your best reliever pitches in one, you lose three.