Before He Sheets

 

I will give the 2024 White Sox credit, their series with the Mariners was positively gripping.

It ended up being a pretty fair matchup, as both teams have had stars in the starting rotation, and both teams have had several cases of the lineup just not showing up. So seeing games where both pitchers go far without giving up many runs made for a cool and impressive atmosphere, not befitting of a last-place team who'll likely be losing 100 games. Even if the Sox only ended up winning one of these, it was still a tense matchup between Garrett Crochet and Emerson Hancock. Still, even the pitchers that started in losses, including Jonathan Cannon, Erick Fedde and newcomer Drew Thorpe, only gave up a run or so, and mostly have the bullpen to blame for further tomfoolery. 

So I will give the White Sox that credit. Even while stinking it up, they've managed to compile a fairly strong rotation of people like Crochet, Fedde, Cannon, Thorpe and honestly Chris Flexen who can go deep into games and keep runs down. Unfortunately I'm not sure if Fedde, Flexen and Crochet will still be around in a month or so. I'm not even sure if it's a good business move to trade those guys, as Fedde's signed til next year and Flexen and Crochet are still under team control for a bit, but like...they're good players and the Sox are trying to rebuild.

I can say with some certainty that Luis Robert Jr. will probably be dealt this year. He's the only real tentpole piece left on this team, the majority of the contract is through, and even in an injury-shortened year he's shown elite numbers and big hits. Robert has 7 homers and 10 RBIs in 16 games. Most of this team don't have the kind of production to hit those numbers until a month of play has passed. Having him on this team, healthy and hitting, will give the Sox a slight boost, and give them a bit more of a reason to exist, but it'll make it very clear how much he needs to be on a more balanced roster as well. 

The rest of the Sox is just a mix of mediocrity all throughout. Gavin Sheets leads the team in RBIs with 28  but is also hitting .238. Korey Lee is outhitting Martin Maldonado and starting behind the plate, but I feel like if he's trying to do this to stick it to Houston then he should probably know that they actually have a decent backup this year and have already forgotten who both of them are. Oscar Colas and Corey Julks are hitting consistently at an MLB level, but the team they'll be inheriting is not the one they thought they would a couple years ago. And Andrew Vaughn is hitting .225, which is enough to get Sox fans to want Jose Abreu back, EVEN NOW.

It's still a dire situation, even if the pitching picture has improved. You have to hope that the steps are being taken to improve the quality of play but I don't know how many people have to leave for that to happen at this point.

Coming Tomorrow- You blink and all of the sudden this guy's hitting well and his team's in 2nd.