caulfield12

Bieber, McKenzie and Quantrill have been solid. The big problem has been with Cy Civale. But Bieber isn’t quite at his Cy Young form from 2-3 years ago. Twins in the middle of the pack pitching wise, but better ERAs and BAA than Sox, #15 compared to #18/20. WHIP 13th vs. White Sox 26th. The Twins have already had to go ten deep across the rotation. The White Sox have used Martin, VV, Cueto and Lambert, so actually pretty similar although Twins clearly worse off now with Lynn coming back soon. That would be ten for the Sox as well. Keuchel and Paddack gone. Twins might get Maeda back in the second half, and much more freedom financially and minor league depth chart to make deals. Attendance trending much better in the last 2-3 weeks, too.

You’d think Leyland would have tried to talk JR and Hahn out of it. Seems he and Dombrowski must be totally removed from that inner circle…

But they don’t have to play the White Sox…! That could have both positive and negative interpretations. Of course, the first thought is we have played the better teams more competitively than some of the lower tier squads. That obviously has to change.

And I will just ask Maggs why I was the only one who has been right about the Twins consistently since the very beginning of the season. Everyone laughed and said they would collapse…be under .500 in May, the White Sox would win 109 games, etc. I once predicted 7-8 games back for the Sox heading into early June, and it was “just 5-6 ahead” instead because the entire Twins organization was injured or on the Covid list and they had to go ten starters deep. This was also due to a recent 3-6 streak against the Royals and Tigers, or it would have been spot on. In addition, Cali and I were the only ones arguing on behalf of Buxton’s potential and what a steal that $100 million extension would be. If you follow all the division teams closely, it’s far easier to be objective about your own team’s strengths and weaknesses. The Guardians might even be scarier with a lineup featuring one Astro, two Mets and five Padres castoffs…all they need is one more starting pitcher, a reliever and another bat like a Josh Bell or Benintendi to be right there. They are VERY hard to beat at home. You almost expect them to come back almost every single game. And Clase is becoming the best closer in the division at a pittance of what Hendriks makes. Not to mention they have the best topline minor league depth by far of any of the five teams with Witt Jr. and Melendez moving up for KC and all the injuries across the Tigers’ system.

You’re either a Top 3-5% star level player or you’re going to be up the creek without a paddle. Look at the Bryant and Baez deals. Just more Heyward deals, and he signed that at his absolute prime as a player, not 30-32. Those two sticking around at the dollars they got would have simply crippled the Cubs. And giving Contreras one in his thirties will for the next team desperate enough to overpay for a Top 5 catcher. As it stands, they really rolled the dice with Stroman and Suzuki considering their relative competitive position…but to what end now? The Giants have clearly figured all this out. They are the best run organization in terms of optimizing talent without running a Top 5 payroll. Without a doubt. The Braves, Rays, Brewers all fit here as well.

Because there aren’t many good examples anymore because teams are getting much smarter. Semien? Ray? Goldschmidt or Arenado are closer. Votto. Cabrera is the poster child, along with Pujols. What is the definition of long term? Three or four years? Five? We can basically only say that Rick Hahn constantly overpays veterans in their thirties, but never true mega deals because we only care about risk mitigation at the back end of deals, and we still have to worry about Keuchel, Grandal, Kelly, Hendriks and Lynn. So we haven’t really eliminated anything in the end if they are all blowing up in Hahn’s face. In fact, I would argue discussing anything under $100 million is pointless. But that’s the only comfort zone ($40-75 million) where the White Sox are willing to operate until they prove naysayers wrong.

Pakistan’s western borderlands…? Even ISIS and Al-queda know Davis Martin now after three outings.

So you have to be the Rays, A’s or Guardians…or Dodgers/Mets on top of the scale. But that doesn’t exactly explain Jose Ramirez, Mike Trout, Machado or Buxton…to name just a few who are performing on long extensions. Alvarez, Harper, Goldschmidt, JD Martinez, Betts, George Springer. Devers is one of the few on a one year deal, like Judge and Trea Turner whose extension is ending. Contreras another one expiring, and at the top of the TDL want list for many teams. Extension are perfectly fine for the true superstars, just not the next couple of tiers down.

Nobody in baseball would claim Grandal's contract...

Boo! Why would Moncada give up switch hitting when he looked good yesterday against a lefty? He hasn't had Jose Valentin-esque splits since the end of 2018...

But the White Sox used to own LHP. We had that long consecutive victories streak against them at the beginning of last season...

To remind Lucas of the late morning Patriots Day Massacre at Fenway last season?

Otoh, Cano and Trayce Thompson 4/47. Rick Hahn could hit more NBA 3 pointers in nearly fifty attempts in an empty United Center. Maybe.

Buxton, Arraez and Correa might disagree. The crazy thing is that of the six teams in the current fight for the #6 AL Wild Card position, the White Sox at -52 RS/RA are a full 40 runs behind the “worst” team of that grouping, the Mariners at 6 games under .500. Boston and CLE lead at +39 and +35 respectively. Angels and Rangers at +7 and 0/Even. Mind boggling they’re still even in the heart of that race, let alone the division.

By that argument, McGuire, Grandal, any lefty or SH playing against RHPers…it wasn’t a bias against Vaughn so much as he was L/R/L obsessed against RHP and the defense weighing. Pollock was losing at-bats for the same reason (LH hitter obsession), although not off to the same offensive start. If there was no Abreu around, AV would get 90-95% of playing time, though.

Or Mazara is now Brett/Gwynn/Jose Ramirez…

Not even Top 5. Leury Legend, Kelly,TA7, Hendriks, Harrison

You have a tough lefty and they should see if Grandal could get some momentum going finally…play McGuire Sunday.

Luis Gonzalez at .309 and Nomar Mazara .421 (8/19) as of this moment…

Try the Celtics crowd tonight with Draymond Green. Didn’t quite go as intended in the end.

Mazara starting out 8/19, .421. Probably more hits than Cano and Trayce Thompson combined on the year.

Grandal's first XB hit since April 26th. Wow.

Burger single non-play turned out to be the key to the inning. 3-4 lose plays by Rangers tonight. Like mirror opponent. Garcia or Calhoun probably get to the Walker ball. Holy hell, 5 Harrison RBIs and now a Mendick bomb.

Thought it bounced over wall/fence.

Victim of the White Sox slow footed corner defense camp. 3 RBI's to 15. Thought it was ground rule double.