caulfield12

How does Hahn keep his job? He gave Ventura only Sale/Q/Robertson/Jones to work with. Sale and Q have pitched great. Hahn went cheap on the rest of the pitching staff and didn't make any offseason additions to improve the bullpen (other than the idea that Nate Jones was "like" an addition). Rodon's the big question mark...maybe he's injured. PTAC has been concerned about him since the day he was drafted, so it might be that he'll just be our version of Liriano, he'll have some amazing streaks and then some stretches where you wonder what all the hype was about and where his control went, why he's throwing 92-93 MPH instead of 95-98 and where is that illusive change-up as the 3rd pitch he hasn't even gotten completely comfortable throwing. Now he's added James Shields when it's likely TOO late this year and 3-4 years too late in Shields' career.

Didn't realize it was actually the Washington Generals vs. the Harlem Globetrotters in this one...

QUOTE (soxfan85 @ Jun 7, 2016 -> 08:44 PM) I think it would fit right in. This team is just one huge ball sac. Except we're missing one or both about right now. Basically, we're Varys, Theon Greyjoy and the Unsullied all rolled into one.

Surprise, another lefty reaches base against DUKIE. It has become the opposite of Melky Cabrera against LHP last year. Just abysmal this past month. But hey, that $5 million is much better spent on him than player development/talent procurement.

QUOTE (Alexeihyeess @ Jun 7, 2016 -> 08:37 PM) Rollins makes that play and it's still a 1 run game. Sox won more games with Rollins as the primary SS than Saladino. But that's also part of the "superstitious" justification for Latos staying in the rotation over Gonzalez, because the team's record was better in his starts. Or they were too afraid to tell Mat he was being moved to the bullpen when they "promised" him a starting opportunity and chance to rebuild his value for 2017. That value is pretty much disappearing out the window. Just the anomaly of those first 4 starts of the year to hang onto.

Harrelson, Stone and fan/crowd reactions to this meltdown? Might as well burn through the entire pen tonight...they'll try to preserve Jones/Robertson and put multiple innings on Purke at the end.

What is the White Sox bullpen ERA these last 25 games? We should include 26, because that Frazier GS game had some bullpen issues as well, a high wire act with Jennings there, among others.

Rendon is going to get chewed out for not getting to 2nd there, unless he was blocked from seeing the play.

Tim Anderson, your Charlotte watch is near an end. In the only good news of the night so far, Nelson Cruz just homered to put the M's up 2-0 over CLE early.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 7, 2016 -> 08:24 PM) Seems like a lot of Sox pitchers are down in velocity since April 1) There's no doubt Ventura pushed Albers to the limit when he had that hot streak. 2) There's no doubt Albers is not in the greatest shape physically/stamina-wise. 3) There's also no doubt Albers was actually throwing 94-96 MPH in that game against the Mets where he doubled and scored the winning run. Unless the Mets' radar game is just jacked WAY up to record 100 MPH pitches for Syndergaard.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Jun 7, 2016 -> 08:20 PM) The Sox always seems to be a short a couple of big pieces every year. It's 100% on the disloyal White Sox fans for not supporting this splendid product.

If Shields gets rocked tomorrow night and Gio shuts down the White Sox Thursday...it's going to be interesting to see how long the front office can keep up a brave face with the media. Wish Shields would have pitched tonight so he could have faced KC on Sunday. That would have made for quite a story. I guess there's always the possibility he gets knocked out of the game early tmrw night and then they move up Shields to Sunday to face the Royals and skip over Latos for the time being until they figure out what to do next.

An 8 game lead over the Tigers on May 6th turns into a 1/2 game lead for DET over the White Sox 24 games later. Not even a month. Pretty incredible. Nobody saw the Tigers coming until this weekend, although their pitching has quietly been coming together and 1-9 (especially with Maybin raking) that's the best overall line-up in the Central.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Jun 7, 2016 -> 08:09 PM) Rodon is out for only one start PTAC didn't seem convinced a shoulder muscle injury would lead to nerve impingement or sensations radiating down the arm. We'll see.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jun 7, 2016 -> 08:10 PM) And I just want to say I don't blame Robin for the pitching issues tonight. He had no choice but to pull Latos and Jennings probably made the most sense given the situation. Didn't work out, but the strategy was right. Is Purke still on the roster?

Gotta love these 4 hour games. We might finish this one ahead of the Indians in Seattle. It's a possibility. We're going to have to use our entire bullpen, and then we have Shields and Gonzalez going the next two days. Great!

Trading Ramos for a reliever has to be one of THE dumbest moves in Twins' history. Dumping JJ Hardy isn't very far behind. Catchers who can hit (although Ramos hasn't been able to stay healthy) are such a rare commodity today.

Now we're using Albers in the 5th of a game we're losing? Guess that OFFICIALLY means Zach Putnam has supplanted him as the 7th inning guy and a member of the "A bullpen," so to speak.

But at least we've held the leading hitter in baseball without a hit!!! Dreaded third time through the line-up KO's Latos. Now who's the fifth starter to replace Latos, since Gonzalez has to be our 4th starter with Rodon out (for now)?

That doesn't count as a blown save, does it? Doesn't a save opportunity have to take place from the 6th inning onwards?

Here comes the bullpen with only 14 outs to record, starting with Bryce Harper.

Osuna escapes further damage after int. walk to Victor Martinez, K's JD Martinez and retires Castellanos. Royals and Tigers would be tied for 2nd place if the Tigers win in extras, KC with a six game losing streak, the Tigers would have a five-game winning streak.

Tigers rallying. Down by just one now, runner on 2nd and no outs in the bottom of the 9th. Would be a shame with how Aaron Sanchez dominated that game. Osuna will face Romine/PH (Maybin), Cabrera, Martinez. Hmm....

Rick Hahn didn't commit to anything with that statement about Anderson. More lawyerly double-speak. With Rodon out for now, we really did need another starter in order to keep up with the Indians. The problem is we can't even rely on Latos anymore. Just goes to show how fragile the depth situation is...and also the Shuck/Garcia DH thing isn't going to be A thing.

Looks like the White Sox are going to be chasing the Indians and Tigers. Advanced scouts help...Ventura threw 76% fastballs last time out, the O's jumped on KC for 4 runs already (almost all the swings on first pitch FB's) and it would be 6-0 if not for an amazing leaping catch by Cain over the fence. Realistically, KC isn't in a position to add this summer with payroll bloated and the minor league system offering limited high upside players (not to mention Zimmer's hurt and Mondesi is out for PEDs). Of course, having said that, KC will probably win 2/3 or 3/3 this weekend somehow. So that's the note for Sunday's game, White Sox. BE READY FOR FIRST PITCH FASTBALLS, AND SWING.