Chicago White Sox

I’m doubling down on two relievers added.

Why is Bummer still pitching?!

Which is absolute insanity and proves that La Russa doesn’t look at splits.

I would love to know La Russa’s thought process for batting Leury ahead of Collins & even Engel against a RHP.

Vaughn is so awesome. I’m still dying at the idea that tray wanted to trade five years of Vaughn plus other things for one year of Buxton ???

Fuck, you’re like 10 seconds of my feed

At least Peralta is awesome, but point still stands.

Good work Jose! Time to take the lead Yoan!

Let’s get some fucking runs. Zero each excuse to not get at least one off of Houser.

FIFY

I love me some Collins

I totally missed the mark on that and just assumed it was because he was always posting their tweets. Regardless, I will never under what people like Orlando are trying to accomplish by being a fake insider. Kind of sad what people will do for attention, even when it’s an anonymous internet account.

Yeah, I think if you throw in Crochet you might start getting their attention

I still can’t believe that was Orlando, almost wish I could go back and read through his tweets and see how obvious it was.

Frazier for Kopech + Vaughn...who says no?

Hopefully this motivates Giolito

Yup, and he has shown nothing that suggests he’s worth keeping on the 40 man roster.

Spiders should have definitely been the name.

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.