Balta1701

Minnesota is not that bad.

2 runs in 3 innings is an ERA of 6.

No way I’d let him go past 4. Throw 80 pitches and be happy he survived.

Well that was better

Crap.

Come on Lucas.

54 pitches through 2. Lopez started to warm right before that out.

Over 50 pitches already, needs to find a groove just to finish 4.

All 3 of Nicky Lopez’s steals this year are against the white Sox.

Len says he was feeling quite bad for several days but thought he bounced back pretty quick.

Keep ‘em scoreless here and buy time to warm up and settle in.

I had some fun with stats just now while walking the dog. I want to submit to you that yes, it is vital to play with urgency now. We have noted repeatedly how the White Sox offense is underperforming their expected results based on contact more than the rest of the league. Turns out that is also true for the Twins, by a nearly comparable amount to the Sox. Furthermore, based on expected statistics, the Twins pitching is better than the White Sox and their hitting is better than the White Sox, and to top it off the white Sox have baseball’s worst defense. In other words, if things like Abreu and Grandal correct to their contact profiles, the Twins are still better. A couple things are left though. The Sox do have Lynn coming back and perhaps more pitching upside. The White Sox also have overplayed their run differential so they aren’t as far out as they could be. The difference between these teams though - both teams have winning records against the AL East and West, the White Sox gained a bit of ground against the Cubs. The difference right now is that the White Sox have a terrible record against the AL Central. Both teams on expected stats look like decent teams, but right now the Twins look better in all aspects of the game. The White Sox not only have ground to make up, but they have to do so against a schedule comparable to the Twins’s remaining schedule. I will submit to you that if the white Sox play like this and get Lynn back, they will still miss the playoffs. Rather, the team that wins the head to head matchups and specifically handles the weak and banged up teams in the AL Central will win the division. Every game punted against the AL central is a game where ground could be made up. The Twins have taken advantage of this so far and the white Sox have not. Final point - there will be no October baseball if the White Sox do not play substantially better. If the Twins go all out to win the Central and the White Sox save themselves for the wild card round, the Twins will be in the playoffs and the White Sox will not.

They scored 3 on him a couple weeks ago so I’m not betting on a shutout.

While these are true, there's also some serious weirdness in Jose Abreu's numbers this year. Abreu is showing a career low in launch angle of 9.5 degrees which is on the lower side of the league. Abreu has a high ground ball rate, in the highest 10% of the league. Highest of his career. Abreu is at the very bottom of the league in line drive rate. Lowest of his career by almost a factor of 2. There is absolutely an indication that Jose Abreu is doing something quite screwed up at the plate. He may be hitting the ball as hard as he has in his career, he is also hitting those balls on the ground or hitting them straight up rather than driving them.

By the way, one of my favorite subtle things about the 2012 team was how well they handled rundowns. Run toward the runner, then a single throw to get him. Fewest chances for a mistake, a clear sign that they practiced that basic skill. Solidly coached. Last night there was a rundown with Taylor and Kasper gave up on trying to call out all the throws.

Prediction: the White Sox win 1 or both of the next 2 games against the Royals, taking the series, moving over .500, and this talk quiets. Then they go to the Bronx. By Sunday, people aren’t happy.

(Posts are not endorsements of content)

The White Sox were tied for 19th in MLB in home runs in 2021 so if they’re built for power they have a long running issue.

We were specifically talking about the injuries here. Do the White Sox get to say "No team could ever replace a 0 WAR outfielder on the IL for a week that's just impractical to believe any team is ready for that kind of loss. The guys we've lost clearly are better than the guys the Twins had go on the IL, after all we lost a 0 WAR outfielder and they couldn't match that kind of loss."

Last time out the White Sox got 5 hits and 3 runs off Greinke in 6 innings, including a Burger home run. Lucas hasn't faced Kansas City yet this year but somehow he had a 5.57 ERA against KC in 2021 in 4 outings. Hard to believe their offense can put up those kind of numbers against him especially with Perez out.

See, here's a great example of what we mean by "overrating our own players". Andrew Vaughn right now is a 0 WAR player on the season. You called him "The real deal" right after Robert, who is actually a legitimate strong player.

None of those were added when he first came on board? Lance Lynn was added in his 9th season?

That's...not true at all? His big addition his first offseason was Jeff Keppinger. That team collapsed and won 63 games, sufficient to earn their manager a contract extension...somehow?