Chicago White Sox

Nice! Downtown Nashville and the surrounding neighborhoods are awesome!

Welcome aboard! Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I hope to god a 35 year old, overpaid Blackmon isn’t their plan for a bat. His defense has also deteriorated, which makes a very poo acquisition IMO.

Oh no doubt they can win, but adding a 2B shouldn’t be cost prohibitive so there really isn’t an excuse.

Alright boys, the Sox have a huge series in Milwaukee this weekend as it could be a preview of this year’s World Series. Both teams are starting their top three arms and all these guys are currently ranked in the top 21 in terms of fWAR. These six guys will make up the top two rotations come October and our offense is really going to be put to the test these next handful of days. Today’s matchup is arguably each team’s #3 based on results with Lucas Giolito (8-6, 3.66 xFIP, 2.3 fWAR) facing Freddy Peralta (7-3, 3.70 xFIP, 2.4 fWAR), but that’s understating just how talented these two dudes are. Peralta enters today with the 6th highest K/9 amongst starters at 12.40, which has helped him put up a 95th percentile xwOBA. Freddy doesn’t have overwhelming stuff velocity wise, but his 4 seamer has gotten a tremendous 31% whiff rate this year due to a mix of plus spin & deception. However, his real weapon is a slider he introduced this year that he’s thrown 27% of the time with a 45% whiff rate. This pitch in particular is going to give our right-handed bats real problems today. Beyond those two pitches, he also throws a curveball & changeup that are primarily used against lefties. Both are effective pitches with ~30% whiff rates and it’s remarkable how Freddy has been able to grow from a two pitch pitcher who relied heavily on his fastball into a legit starting pitcher with a diverse arsenal. As the appetizer of the series, he will not be fun. While Peralta has made significant strides this year, Lucas has definitely underwhelmed to some extent. His core numbers are mostly down, with a decreasing K rate (down 1.0 to 1.5 per 9) and rising HR rate (up 0.3 to 0.5 per 9) being the core of his problems. From a fastball perspective, his velocity has been very similar to the past two years, sitting right around 94 MPH on average. And despite Balta’s spidertack theory, the spin rate on his 4 seamer hasn’t dropped that significantly (down ~2% in his last start) and his carry remains very strong. To me, I think the problem is primarily location and the fact that people are starting to catch onto his change-up heavy repertoire a bit. He’s generating less whiffs on all three of his main pitches, but only the 4 seamer is seeing a significant up-tick in damage vs. prior year, with most of it coming against righties. Lucas needs to more consistently hit his spots above the zone with the fastball or find a way to wipe out guys more frequently with the slider down & out as both pitches are catching a bit more of the zone this year. The good news for us is that Milwaukee doesn’t have a great offense, ranking 22nd overall in terms of wRC+ at 89. For comparison, we are 2nd overall at 112 despite all our injuries. With Yelich underperforming, the offense has been carried by former White Sox catcher Omar Narvaez (126 wRC+) and mid-season addition Willy Adames (153 wRC+). This is simply not a lineup worth fearing and Giolito has held their hitters to a .565 OPS over 37 plate appearances (SSS admittedly). The Sox should have a slight edge today, but it will be a battle and finding a way to start both Goodwin & Sheets in the OF would make a ton of sense given how much better Peralta is vs. righties. Let’s fucking go!

Don’t hate my super clever pun Ron!!

I’d wager sizable amounts of money they add a 2B. If the Sox go into October with the RF platoon you mentioned (two guys on hot streaks plus arguably the worst hitter of the last half decade) in addition to Leury at 2B, they don’t deserve to win a World Series. Adding a 2B will easier, cheaper, & more impactful which is why it’s more likely than a OF addition.

100% agree. And as much as the fans like Billy Hamilton (myself included), he’s a role player that should primarily be used for late inning defense and pinch running. Goodwin is the better fill-an in the corners and Engel is the better fill-in in CF. There is zero chance they DFA him over Hamilton or the young guys for that matter. It’s blatantly obvious that Burger goes down for Eloy. Once Robert comes back, either Sheets will be sent down or Hamilton will have a phantom injury. And when we finally acquire Escobar or another 2B, it will almost certainly be Mendick on the chopping block. I think the only way that Goodwin or Hamilton is DFAed is if we acquire someone like Starling Marte for RF. Otherwise, the Sox will try to hold onto to as much depth as possible, with only Jake being a guaranteed sacrificial lamb.

Look, I applaud your view on labor matters, but baseball is a unique animal and it’s not fair to expect the Sox to play by a different set of rules. And by the way, minor leaguers do have some protections, achieving minor league free agency after so many years of control and only being able to be optioned three times. Yes, the minor league living conditions are sickening and those should be changed, but no one in life is entitled to a $500k+ job and the Sox don’t need to release Yermin just because he may see a quicker path elsewhere. Again, if the Sox have no use for Yermin, the 40 man roster rules would have forced us to remove him from the org one way or the other.

Cool...and if he’s done in Chicago guess what would have happened? They would traded him or DFAed him. A guy like Yermin with practically no defensive utility isn’t going to survive long on a crowded 40 man roster if he’s the “31st-32nd” guy. This would have all taken care of itself, but instead he’s thrown a hissy fit and has almost certainly impacted how other teams value him. And that sucks for him because he could have gotten a shot elsewhere if he just kept producing and didn’t do this publicity stunt.

Is this a Jack Parkman post?

You are actually asking the Sox front office to set the precedent that a player can force his way off the roster through the media?

No one is forcing him to play baseball. If Finance wasn’t a financially viable profession for me, I’d simply do something else. I agree that the minor league conditions suck, but the dude isn’t entitled to a release just because the Sox won’t give him an immediate major league opportunity

I think Dan is greatly undervaluing Ramos and I have no idea why the D-Backs would want Yogurt.

Honestly, I think the latter is better. Escobar is a massive offensive upgrade over Mendick, you aren’t forced to play Eloy everyday in LF, and generally speaking you have a stronger defensive OF. And while it’s obviously a bit premature, Cruz doesn’t help much during road games in the World Series.

We definitely need to add a bat, but right now 2B is a bigger priority than RF.

Thanks...that’s a bummer as I had a mid 40’s pick in my mind, but would still be fun to have the extra pool to work with.

I can get Kopech. He only has four years of control (three of which are arbitration) and right now his ability to be a full season starter next year is at stake due to a lack of innings. And while he looks like the real deal coming out of the bullpen, he hasn’t proven anything as a major league starter and I’m sure that’s being held against him. Don’t get me wrong, I think he’s super valuable, but I get their argument for not including him at the moment. The Eloy exclusion is much more egregious IMO and more or less indefensible unless you play the “he will always get injured” card. If he does stay healthy, I think he’ll quickly develop into a top 10 hitter. His mix of hit tool & power makes him so special and his contract is super reasonable (maxes out at $18.5M), even if he ends up spending a lot of time at DH.

Is that where a Rodon comp pick would be as well?

Two things worth pointing out. First, Yermin hasn’t communicated any plans to the Sox, so as of this moment he hasn’t technically “retired”. Unless there is something dark behind this, it’s entirely possible a quick conversation with the front office / Tony changes gets him to change his “plans”. Part of me thinks / hopes this is just a dude who’s a little entitled after having some success and is basically throwing a pity party. I guess we’ll find out soon enough. That feeds into point two which is Yermin was incredibly productive for Charlotte and likely would have a gotten a shot elsewhere. The universal DH is almost certainly coming and I’m sure there are some NL clubs who would take a chance on him if the cost were reasonable. Even if this public retirement ends up being short-lived, he’s probably made getting another opportunity that much harder. Again, hopefully there isn’t something dark behind this, but it’s very possible a lack maturity will end costing him in the end.

Thanks...I was not aware of those rule changes.

Oh I totally agree, but aggression typically gets exploited more against more advanced pitching. Not a huge deal at the moment, but something worth monitoring going forward.

I’d say his lack of patience is the one box he’s not checking and that’s what could get him exposed as he moves up the system. Still plenty young enough to make strides in that area though.

100% agree

No doubt the league adjusted and Yermin did not.

20 SBs too. Didn’t realize he was swiping that many bags. He’s a super exciting talent.