When 'just play the kids' doesn't work ...

White Sox fans have been screaming into the void on social media, calling for the team to discard veterans and "just play the kids."

It's understandable, because the team is 20 games below .500 on May 22. The Sox are going nowhere fast in 2024, and it's time to look ahead to 2025 and beyond.

Nobody wants to watch dead-end veterans such as Mike Clevinger, Chris Flexen and the recently DFA'd Brad Keller start games for the Sox. Hell, I don't want to watch these guys, either.

Those types of pitchers are short-timers. They won't be in the majors much longer, and they are just here to eat innings and cross days off the calendar.

Those players are here because "the kids" aren't ready. Fans who wanted to see rookie right-hander Nick Nastrini pitch got their wish Wednesday night, and boy, that did not go well.

Nastrini gave up seven runs in the second inning, plus two more in the fourth, in a 9-2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.

His final line was brutal: 3.1 IP, 7 H, 9 R, 8 ER, 6 BB, 0 K, 1 HR. 

Six walks and no strikeouts? My goodness, it was like the Blue Jays knew what was coming. This is the type of performance that can kill a young pitcher's confidence. 

It sounds as though Nastrini will get another start next Monday, against Toronto once again. Let's keep in mind, the Blue Jays are in last place in the AL East. It's not *that* difficult of an assignment. If Nastrini gets bombed again, I'm not going to be able to make a case for him to stay in the bigs.

If he has to go back to Triple-A, get ready for more Michael Soroka in the rotation, like it or not. That's what happens when you don't have any "kids" who are ready to pitch in Chicago. 

White Sox call up 3B prospect Bryan Ramos, win series at St. Louis

In a surprise move, the White Sox called up the No. 4-ranked prospect in their farm system, Bryan Ramos, before the start of Saturday's game against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Danny Mendick went on the 10-day injured list with a back strain, and with Yoan Moncada (adductor strain) still months away from a potential return, the Sox found themselves with a hole at third base.

Both Lenyn Sosa and Ramos were already on the 40-man roster, and with Sosa having fumbled his previous opportunities in the majors, the Sox decided the time was right to give the 22-year-old Ramos a shot. 

This was unexpected because Ramos was off to a slow start in Double-A Birmingham this season. He was batting .182/.265/.307 with two homers and 11 RBIs in 24 games at the time of his recall. But, he was on a eight-game hitting streak.

Ramos got his first start with the Sox on Sunday, and he showed well. He went 1 for 3 with a single, a sacrifice fly, an RBI and a run scored in a 5-1 victory over the Cardinals.

The Sox won two out of three in the series. Here's a look back at the weekend:

Friday, May 3

Cardinals 3, White Sox 0. The problems in the first game of a series continued for the Sox. In those situations, they are 1-10 and have been outscored 61-13.

The Sox managed only three hits in this game off St. Louis starter Sonny Gray (4-1) and two Cardinals relievers. 

Brad Keller (0-1) made his first start since joining the Sox, allowing three earned runs over 4.2 innings pitched. 

Saturday, May 4

White Sox 6, Cardinals 5 (10 inn.). Tommy Pham's RBI single with one out in the top of the 10th put the Sox ahead to stay, but this win didn't come without some drama.

The Cardinals loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the 10th inning before Sox reliever John Brebbia rallied to strike out Lars Nootbaar and Masyn Winn. Sometime during Winn's at-bat, it started pouring rain. 

Brebbia fired strike one to Nolan Gorman with the bases loaded and two outs, but with the field quickly becoming a muddy mess, umpires called for the tarp. The rain delay lasted three hours, three minutes.

After that delay, Brebbia had to be pulled from the game. Lefty Tanner Banks relieved him when play resumed, and St. Louis countered by sending right-handed-hitting Ivan Herrera to the plate to pinch hit for Gorman. 

Five pitches later, the game was over. Banks struck out Herrera looking on questionable call to pick up his first save of the season.

Catcher Korey Lee lead the Sox offense, going 2 for 4 with a two-run single in the sixth inning that tied the game at 5. Michael Kopech (1-3) pitched a scoreless bottom of the ninth for his first win of the season.

Sunday, May 5

White Sox 5, Cardinals 1. A four-run top of the seventh broke open a 1-all tie and propelled the Sox to one of their cleaner victories of 2024.

Eloy Jimenez started the seventh-inning rally with his fourth home run of the year. Gavin Sheets doubled and scored on another double by Paul DeJong. Ramos singled to put runners on first and third, then Braden Shewmake's RBI single made it 4-1. A sacrifice fly by Robbie Grossman scored Ramos to cap the scoring.

That made a winner out of Garrett Crochet (2-4), who tossed six innings of one-run ball. He struck out six, walked nobody and allowed only three hits. Steven Wilson, Jordan Leasure and Brebbia each worked a scoreless inning out of the bullpen to close the series.

The Sox are 8-26. They next head to Tampa Bay for a three-game series that begins Monday night.

White Sox blown out in Kansas City (again)

The top of the first inning gave me some really bad vibes Wednesday night.

Kansas City starting pitcher Brad Keller is the American League leader in walks issued. He had walked 28 batters in 34.2 innings pitched coming into his start Wednesday against the White Sox.

And he walked Tim Anderson and Andrew Benintendi to start this game. Eight of his first 10 pitches were out of the zone. Good start for the Sox, right? 

Then Andrew Vaughn swung at a bad pitch and grounded into a double play, and Luis Robert Jr. struck out flailing at a breaking ball in the dirt. Keller got off the hook, and I laughed out loud, knowing what was coming next.

The Royals pounded Lance Lynn for four runs in the bottom of the first inning. Keller settled in, and Kansas City went on to an easy 9-1 victory.

It was the second time in three days the 11-27 Royals have blown out the Sox, who dropped to 13-25. 

This game was over in the first inning. Against the Royals. In the middle of an alleged "contention window" for the Sox. Let that rattle around in your head for a bit, and tell me you still think the Sox are going to rally to make the playoffs.

Sorry, I don't see it. 

Lynn gave up seven runs on nine hits over five innings. He's now 1-5 with a 7.51 ERA over eight starts.

By way of comparison, Dallas Keuchel made eight starts for the Sox last season. He went 2-5 with a 7.88 ERA before being designated for assignment.

Yes, Lynn is in Keuchel territory.

But no, I'm not calling for Lynn to be designated for assignment. The fact is the Sox have nobody at Triple-A Charlotte who looks like a viable replacement, so they are just going to have to hope he turns it around. If he doesn't, he'll be wearing it all summer long.

Fix this: White Sox are 1-5 when Lucas Giolito starts

Lucas Giolito

It's probably too early to look at the AL Central standings, but let's look at them anyway. After all, the next 13 games for the White Sox are against two division rivals -- the Kansas City Royals and the Minnesota Twins.

Here's how the division stacks up entering Friday's action:

1. Cleveland 17-13
2. White Sox 16-13
3. Kansas City 16-14
4. Minnesota 11-19
5. Detroit 9-23

There are two surprises here. First, the Royals are playing better than .500 baseball. Sure, they just got swept four straight at home by Cleveland, so they might be coming back to reality. But it's been a good start for Kansas City. The Sox will be on the road this weekend against the Royals, and they can't expect to win this series easily. This isn't the same Royals team the Sox went 9-1 against in 2020.

Second, the defending AL Central champion Twins are playing bad. Real bad. In the past, the cure for whatever ails Minnesota has been games against the Sox. Can the Sox keep the Twins on the skids when they play them in Chicago next week? We shall see, but first things first.

Here are the pitching matchups for this weekend in Kansas City:

• Friday: Carlos Rodon (4-0, 0.72 ERA) vs. Brad Keller (2-3, 8.06 ERA)
• Saturday: Lance Lynn (2-1, 1.82 ERA) vs. Daniel Lynch (0-0, 5.79 ERA)
• Sunday: Lucas Giolito (1-3, 4.99 ERA) vs. Mike Minor (2-1, 5.23 ERA)

What am I watching for in this series? I'm wondering whether the Sox can win a game with Lucas Giolito on the mound. The ace of the staff has made six starts this season, and in those games, the Sox are 1-5.

Some of Giolito's woes are self-inflicted. He had a real clunker against the Boston Red Sox on April 19. However, he could also sue his teammates for non-support. The Sox have scored only 19 runs in those six games, and 10 of them were in one game. So, in Giolito's other five starts, the Sox have provided only nine runs of support.

In two of Giolito's starts -- both against Cleveland -- the Sox gave him no runs whatsoever. In one of those games, he managed to keep the Indians off the board and got a no-decision in an eventual loss. In the other, he gave up one earned run and lost. Basically, he forgot to throw a shutout, or give up negative runs.

That's one thing that has to change if the Sox are going to stay in the division race and potentially win it this year: They need to win consistently on Giolito's day to pitch. Let's see if this trend reverses on Sunday.

The Kansas City Royals are intent on teaching Tim Anderson the unwritten rules

Touchdown celebrations are allowed in football.

Goals in hockey? Raise your stick, pump your fist, let out a yell and hug your teammates.

A slam dunk or a 3-point play in basketball gets everyone fired up, right?

However, in baseball, if a batter hits a home run, he is to drop his bat quietly, lower his head and solemnly round the bases -- quickly. Otherwise, he might hurt the tender sensitivities of the pitcher who just gave up the hit.

That's the message the Kansas City Royals sent White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson on Wednesday. Anderson hit a mammoth two-run homer off Kansas City starter Brad Keller in the fourth inning at Guaranteed Rate Field. After making contact, Anderson tossed his bat javelin-style back toward his own dugout and appeared to exhort his teammates, as if to say, "Let's go!"

Now, now, now, Timmy, that show of emotion is not acceptable in this stodgy, ole game of baseball.

Keller -- who is probably the best pitcher on the butthurt, last-place Royals, which isn't saying much -- drilled Anderson in ass in the sixth inning as punishment. Not satisfied, Royals players and coaches came on the field and started chirping at Anderson for his transgression as he slowly made his way down the first-base line. Of course, benches and bullpens emptied. Anderson and Keller both were ejected.

I don't know what Kansas City pitching Cal Eldred is thinking about. His team has one of the highest bullpen ERAs in the league. Perhaps he should be more concerned about that than teaching Anderson a lesson, but yelling at a player on the opposing team for hitting a home run off one of his pitchers seemed to be a high priority today.

Look, I'm not a real fan of the celebration of mundane things. And celebrating a home run in the fourth inning of an April game between two bad teams is not real high on my to-do list.

But, I'm also not going to go into "old man yells at cloud" mode either. A new generation is coming into the game, one that doesn't mind celebrating hits in the fourth inning, and one that doesn't mind charging onto the field as if they've won the World Series after a ninth-inning victory. Times have changed, and I'm OK with that.

More over, all 30 teams in baseball "pimp" home runs now, so in my mind, any team that gets pissed off about another team celebrating a home run is living in a glass house.

Get over yourselves, Royals. If you don't want Anderson to celebrate, get him out next time.

Does anyone else wonder whether these bizarre "unwritten rules" are among the reasons some young people today find baseball boring?

You know, baseball is a game. It's OK if the people playing it have some fun.

If Keller strikes Anderson out in that situation, I wouldn't have minded it if he had pumped his fist for pitching out of a jam. So, why should anyone mind if Anderson flipped his bat when he had success?

It's time to lighten up.

For the record, the Royals won, 4-3, in 10 innings, but the Sox took two of three in the series. So, the Sox (7-10) are in fourth place and the Royals (6-12) are in last. That's probably where these two teams will stay all season.