Purely for the Scouts

 

Well, Luis Robert hit another home run today. That puts him at 9 on the season, in 29 games. And you can be sad that the number's so low, due to injuries, but...honestly, considering that Robert is essentially playing to get out of Chicago, it doesn't really matter.

That's really how you can sum up a lot of the best players on the White Sox right now. They're playing well enough, but are really auditioning for the deadline. You have enough people, like Erick Fedde, Drew Thorpe and Korey Lee, who you can guess will be here after August, but guys like Paul deJong, Michael Kopech, Tommy Pham, and especially Garrett Crochet and Luis Robert, are clearly trying to show off to people. And that's what this recent Robert stretch has felt like, y'know, hope the scouts are digging this because it might not get the Sox anywhere. 

It's been telling how Pedro Grifol has been working with Crochet in the past few weeks. He's aware that he's had an extremely dense workload, and he's trying to ensure that he doesn't blow his arm out, like Giolito did last year, and he relaxes a little in July so that they don't get another GM mad at them. And this is honestly the first thing I've ever agreed with Grifol on. Yes, if you're dealing with a guy who's been injured for the last 2 years and is starting for the first time, and doing well, you wanna make sure he doesn't get injured again right when things are going well for you. If they were being really evil about it, they'd keep him going to ensure that he injures himself right before the deadline, but I think the White Sox are in full rebuild mode and need some more key pieces. 

So, like, if the White Sox cap Crochet at like 4 innings or less, even if he's killing it, and put in a longman like Soroka or somebody til 7, that's more efficient for all involved parties. And plus, it gives Crochet a midyear reprieve so he can slowly work back up to 100+ pitches wherever he gets dealt to. So by this metric and only this metric, Pedro Grifol knows what he's doing. Everything else? I mean...yeah.

Robert is less of an issue in terms of innings limiting, obviously he's been in great shape and is hitting really well at the moment. The Phillies and Braves have already linked in trade talks to Robert, amongst...many others I think. And yes, Robert is one of the most powerful hitters of this deadline season, and could be a great addition to any roster that goes for him. The Sox are gonna be in trouble once he goes, but, again, the hope is that they rebuild and come into the next superstars eventually.

So it'll be something just to see what Robert and Crochet look like this month, as their White Sox days probably wind down. What they can still contribute to a team that can't rebuild til they leave.

Coming Tomorrow- If Ranger Suarez had gone on the IL I'd have probably put out a hit on this guy.