Audit on bad White Sox starting pitching in 2019

Without looking it up, I was guessing the White Sox started a pitcher who didn't belong out there in about a quarter of their games. Turns out, my instinct was close to right.

Looking over the numbers, I identified 43 of 161 Sox games that were started by pitchers who probably will not be in the major leagues next season:

1. Ross Detwiler. 3-5 with a 5.84 ERA in 12 starts. The Sox went 6-6 in those games.
2. Dylan Covey. 1-7 with an 8.45 ERA in 12 starts. The Sox went 3-9 in those games.
3. Manny Banuelos. 2-4 with an 8.05 ERA in 8 starts. The Sox went 4-4 in those games.
4. Carson Fulmer. 0-1 with a 12.00 ERA in 2 starts. The Sox went 0-2 in those games.
5. Hector Santiago. 0-1 with a 5.79 ERA in 2 starts. The Sox went 0-2 in those games.
6. Ervin Santana. 0-2 with a 9.45 ERA in 3 starts. The Sox went 1-2 in those games.
7. Odrisamer Despaigne. 0-2 with a 9.45 ERA in 3 starts. The Sox went 0-3 in those games.

Add it all up, and the Sox went 15-28 in games started by these seven men. Considering the team was 17 games below .500 overall (72-89), we can see how the back end of the starting rotation was a major problem. This list above represents 13 games below .500 right there.

This needs to be fixed this offseason.

An important September series at Guaranteed Rate Field ... for Cleveland

Mike Clevinger

With one week remaining in the regular season, the closest playoff race is in the American League.

Three teams are fighting for the two wild card spots, with Oakland (94-62) holding a two-game lead for the first spot over Tampa Bay (92-64) and Cleveland (92-64), which are in a dead heat for the final playoff berth entering Monday's games.

I think the A's are going to secure home-field advantage in that wild card game this week. Their six remaining games are all on the road, but they are against the bottom two teams in the AL West. Oakland plays two against the Los Angeles Angels and four at Seattle. A 3-3 record this week should be good enough for the A's. They'll manage.

The battle between Tampa Bay and Cleveland is much more interesting. I think the Rays are the better team, but based on strength of schedule, the Indians have a slight edge in this race.

Mainly, that edge involves Cleveland getting a chance to play three games against the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field from Tuesday through Thursday.

To be fair to the Sox, they have more than held their own against the Tribe this season. Chicago owns a 9-7 edge in the season series. However, the pitching matchups this week strongly favor Cleveland:

Tuesday: Mike Clevinger (12-3, 2.54 ERA) vs. Hector Santiago (0-1, 5.23 ERA)
Wednesday: Shane Bieber (15-7, 3.23 ERA) vs. Ross Detwiler (2-5, 6.98 ERA)
Thursday: Aaron Civale (3-3, 1.82 ERA) vs. Dylan Cease (4-7, 5.79 ERA)

The first two games of the series, the Indians are throwing starting pitchers who will get Cy Young votes. The Sox are throwing starting pitchers who are lucky they are still in baseball. It will be Thursday before the Sox use a pitcher who could make the game interesting, and even then, the rookie Cease is no sure bet.

Meanwhile, the Rays are playing the Boston Red Sox on Monday night. They then will host the AL East champion New York Yankees on Tuesday and Wednesday before an off day Thursday.

So, between now and Thursday, the Indians have a golden opportunity to seize the lead in this race.

Once we get to the weekend, the schedule tilts back in Tampa Bay's favor, as it will go on the road to face also-ran Toronto, while Cleveland travels to Washington. The Nationals still are fighting to secure home-field advantage in the NL wild card race, so they likely will have something to play for.

From the Sox perspective, it sure would be nice to play spoiler against the rival Indians, but if we're making an honest assessment of the situation, the Sox would be fortunate to take one out of three in this series.

When you have five relievers, you have no relievers

In a different sport, commentators sometimes say, "When you have two quarterbacks, you really have no quarterbacks." The thinking is, if either of your quarterbacks were actually good, he would be playing, and the lesser guy would be sitting on the bench. There wouldn't be a need to toggle back and forth between players.

Likewise, if the White Sox had a reliever available they could trust Sunday, maybe they wouldn't have needed to use five of them in the eighth inning of a ghastly 11-10 loss to the Seattle Mariners.

You see, the Sox's reliable relievers -- Alex Colome, Aaron Bummer and, to a lesser extent, Evan Marshall -- were not available Sunday.

That left the rest of the bullpen to protect a 10-5 lead in the eighth inning. It should have been doable. Hector Santiago had done much of the heavy lifting. He replaced a struggling Ivan Nova in the fourth inning, and he tossed up zeroes in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.

But Santiago tired in the eighth, allowing a two singles and a walk to start the inning. But the veteran lefty left the mound with the Sox still in decent shape, leading 10-6.

Unfortunately, Kelvin Herrera gave up a three-run homer to Kyle Lewis. 10-9. Then Jace Fry came in and walked the only batter he faced. (Surprise, surprise.) Then Jimmy Cordero faced one batter and struck him out.

Maybe Cordero should have been left in ... nah, why do that when we can go with some more stupid lefty-righty matchups?

Josh Osich entered and finished the eighth inning, but not before walking another batter and surrendering a game-tying single to Mallex Smith. The lefty-on-lefty stuff didn't work there, did it? 10-10 after eight.

The Sox had a pathetic offensive inning in the top of the ninth. Tim Anderson, Yoan Moncada and Jose Abreu all swung for the fences. All of them struck out on pitches out of the zone against Austin Adams (2-2). Great discipline, guys.

Jose Ruiz (1-3) became the sixth reliever used in less than two innings in the ninth. Long story short, Anderson and Ryan Cordell made defensive mistakes behind him, an intentional walk was issued to load the bases, and then Ruiz walked in the winning run.

Good job, good effort.

The Sox dropped two out of three in the weekend series to the mighty Mariners (62-88). That means the South Siders have now lost three consecutive series, all to losing teams -- the Angels, Royals and Mariners.

And we're told we should be excited about 2020. Well, you know, you have to have more than four people who can get opposing batters out on your pitching staff in order to contend.

The Sox are now 65-84 on the season. There's a ton of work to be done over the winter to get anywhere near contention, and team brass has no track record as far as signing the right free agents.

They will have to sign the right free agents, because there are no internal solutions here. Colome and Bummer have had good seasons, but two pitchers does not make a bullpen.

White Sox salvage 1 out of 3 against Los Angeles Angels

Tim Anderson is leading the AL in hitting.

The White Sox kicked away a winnable series at Guaranteed Rate Field over the weekend, losing two out of three games to the Los Angeles Angels.

It's disappointing because the Angels (67-77) had lost 11 out of 13 games coming into the series, and Mike Trout left in the middle of Friday's game and didn't play the rest of the weekend. This was a favorable situation for the Sox (63-80), and they failed to take advantage.

But, the win Sunday was the Sox's 63rd of the season, which means they will not duplicate last year's 100-loss campaign. So, at least there's that.

Here's a look back at the weekend that was:

Friday, Sept. 6
Angels 5, White Sox 4: The Sox had been 49-1 this season when leading after seven innings. Make it 50-2, as relievers Aaron Bummer and Alex Colome combined to let this one get away.

Lucas Giolito was seeking his 15th victory of the season, and he did not disappoint, turning in another strong outing. He went seven innings, allowing two runs on only three hits. He struck out six and walked one. Tim Anderson backed Giolito with a two-run homer, and the Sox led, 4-2, going into the eighth inning.

But that's when Bummer walked pinch-hitter Taylor Ward, and two batters later, gave up a two-run homer to Brian Goodwin, who had taken over in center field after Trout left the game with a foot injury. The blast tied the game at 4.

Colome entered to try to preserve the tie in the ninth, but Justin Upton homered on the first pitch of the inning to put the Angels ahead to stay. The Sox could get nothing done against Los Angeles closer Hansel Robles (5-0), who retired all six batters he faced over the final two innings.

Daniel Palka struck out looking to end the game. He is now 1 for 54 this season.

Saturday, Sept. 7
Angels 8, White Sox 7: What will it take for the Sox to stop using Dylan Covey as a starting pitcher? Covey (1-8) was shelled for seven earned runs on seven hits over just 2.2 innings. His ERA is 7.69. It's baffling that this "experiment" has not ended yet. For goodness sake, put Hector Santiago out there. He usually can at least get to the fifth inning before having a meltdown on the mound.

The Sox trailed 7-2 when Covey left in the third inning, and they tried to come back. But, the hole was too deep. Jose Abreu's 30th home run of the season, a 3-run shot in the seventh inning, brought the Sox to within a run. However, they were unable to mount a threat in either of the last two innings, with Robles nailing down his 20th save.

Anderson went 2 for 5 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored. The Sox shortstop got the day off Sunday, so he exits this series with a .334 batting average. He leads the American League in hitting. New York's DJ LeMahieu was second at .328 entering Sunday's play.

Sunday, Sept. 8
White Sox 5, Angels 1: It wasn't a great day for Sox rookie Dylan Cease, but it could have been worse. Cease needed 36 pitches to get through the first inning, and 30 more to get through the second. However, the Angels managed only one run in those two innings and left the bases loaded both times.

The pitch count caught up with Cease, as he lasted only 3.1 innings. He allowed the one run on four hits with five walks and four strikeouts. Fortunately, the Sox bullpen bounced back from Friday's debacle. Josh Osich (2-0), Bummer and Colome combined for 5.2 innings of one-hit relief.

Osich allowed one hit over 2.2 scoreless innings. Bummer allowed only a walk in two innings, and Colome worked a 1-2-3 ninth.

Abreu hit his 31st home run of the season in the third inning to give the Sox the lead for good. The slugger now has a career-high 112 RBIs.

Danny Mendick also connected for his first career home run. The 25-year-old September call-up started at shortstop with Anderson getting the day off, and he has not looked out of place thus far. Mendick is 5 for 14 in five games, three of them starts.

The Sox will get an off day Monday before hosting the Kansas City Royals for a three-game series Tuesday through Thursday.

Man, Ron Gardenhire's recent managerial record is abysmal

Ron Gardenhire

At one point during Tuesday night's game between the White Sox and the Detroit Tigers, Hector Santiago walked Gordon Beckham on four pitches. It caused me to wonder whether I was really watching Major League Baseball, or if someone had hijacked my TV to show me some Triple-A game out of Toledo.

The Sox won three out of four vs. Detroit at Comerica Park this week, and honestly, it isn't worth much comment. The two teams began the week a combined 56 games below .500. The Tigers are outright tanking. The Sox are just killing time, apparently, with no real desire to improve a losing team. Both clubs have players on the roster who have no business in the majors anymore -- see the matchup between Santiago and Beckham.

Heck, there was even an article on The Athletic this week where a writer asked if the Tigers (33-78) could be even worse than the 2003 Detroit club that went 43-119. The answer to that is no. Detroit has seven games left with the Sox, seven with the Kansas City Royals and four with the Baltimore Orioles. I think the Tigers have 11 more wins left in them, based on that schedule.

But they likely will finish with the worst record in baseball and add another abysmal season to manager Ron Gardenhire's ledger.

There are some Sox fans who still believe Gardenhire is a good manager. They carry scar tissue from the era in which Gardenhire was beating the Sox and winning divisions with the Minnesota Twins. However, 2004 was a long time ago, and the Metrodome has long since been imploded.

Good ol' Gardy has fallen on hard times. Here are his past six seasons as manager:

2011 Minnesota Twins: 63-99
2012 Minnesota Twins: 66-96
2013 Minnesota Twins: 66-96
2014 Minnesota Twins: 70-92
2018 Detroit Tigers: 64-98
2019 Detroit Tigers: 33-78 (48-113 pace)
Total: 362-559 (.393 winning percentage)

That is too pathetic for words. As much as we question Rick Renteria, I will take him as a manager over Gardenhire any day of the week. Does anyone really believe the Tigers are going to turn around under that guy? Not that the Sox are going to turn around under Renteria, but you know what I mean.

Catching up on some White Sox transactions

Here's a rundown on some of the roster moves the White Sox have made since the World Series ended Sunday:

• Catcher Kevan Smith was claimed off waivers by the Los Angeles Angels.
• Outfielder Ryan LaMarre and pitchers Danny Farquhar and Rob Scahill were outrighted to Triple-A Charlotte.
• Pitcher Michael Kopech was activated from the 60-day disabled list and added back to the 40-man roster.
• Pitcher James Shields had his $16 million team option for 2019 declined. The Sox instead opted to give him a $2 million buyout. He has become a free agent.
• Pitcher Nate Jones had his $4.65 million club option picked up for the 2019 season.
• Pitchers Miguel Gonzalez, Hector Santiago and Jeanmar Gomez all have filed for free agency.
• The Sox acquired left-handed pitcher Manny Banuelos from the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for minor-league infielder Justin Yurchak.

The Sox's 40-man roster now sits at 35 players.

White Sox win series vs. Royals; Michael Kopech to pitch Tuesday

James Shields

We won't bury the lead this time: The announcement that Michael Kopech is pitching Tuesday was the biggest White Sox news of the weekend.

More on that later, but first, let's recap the weekend series against the Kansas City Royals, in which the Sox (46-77) won two games out of three.

Friday, Aug. 17
White Sox 9, Royals 3: It looked as though James Shields (5-14) was on his way to his 15th loss. When he walked off the mound after getting the third out in the top of the seventh inning, the Sox were trailing, 3-2.

Instead, Shields earned his fifth victory after the Sox scored seven runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. The rally was highlighted by a pair of three-run homers, one by Jose Abreu that gave the Sox a 5-3, the other by Nicky Delmonico that made it 9-3 and put the game out of reach.

Abreu increased his RBI total to 76 with one swing of the bat. His quest for 100 RBIs will be one of the stories to watch over the remaining 39 games.

Saturday, Aug. 18
Royals 3, White Sox 1: This was a brutal offensive game for the Sox, as they went 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position and struck out 13 times.

Delmonico homered for the second straight day -- his fifth of the season -- but the highlights pretty much began and ended there.

Dylan Covey (4-10) pitched better than he usually does. He held Kansas City off the scoreboard through the first five innings and took a 1-0 lead into the sixth.

However, he allowed two runs in the sixth and was removed from the game with two outs. That was enough for him to take another loss.

Sunday, Aug. 19
White Sox 7, Royals 6: Reynaldo Lopez gave up six runs in the second inning and was gone by the third with the Sox trailing, 6-0. It wasn't looking too good.

However, the Royals blew that lead with ruthless efficiency. Kansas City starter Heath Fillmyer gave up six consecutive hits to open the bottom of the fourth inning.

Abreu singled. Daniel Palka singled. Avisail Garcia hit a three-run homer. Delmonico singled. Tim Anderson hit a two-run homer. Omar Narvaez hit a solo homer. In a span of about 10 to 12 pitches, the score went from 6-0 Royals to a 6-6 tie.

See ya later, Fillmyer.

The Sox took the lead for good in the fifth when Narvaez singled home Garcia, who had walked, with two outs.

Surprisingly, the Sox got seven shutout innings from their bullpen, led by Hector Santiago (5-3), who worked four innings in long relief. He struck out six and allowed only two hits, and that gave the Sox a chance to get back in the game.

Six relievers were needed in this game, but they all did the job, culminating in Jace Fry striking out the last two batters of the game to earn his second save.

Kopech to pitch Tuesday

The Sox in the third inning Sunday announced on the scoreboard that Kopech would be coming up to make his highly anticipated major league debut Tuesday against the Minnesota Twins.

The only complaint I have about this decision is that it didn't happen two weeks ago. Kopech basically has mastered the Triple-A level, overpowering hitters over his past seven starts, as we've discussed previously on this blog.

Even if he gets shelled Tuesday night, it's a good thing that he's coming to Chicago. It's time for him to learn at the big league level. Rewarding high-performing prospects with a more difficult challenge simply is the right thing to do, service time considerations be damned. And, the Sox need better players. They aren't 31 games under .500 by accident, so let's put better players on the team and try to win more games.

This is just so obviously the right move, and I'm looking forward to the game Tuesday.

White Sox lose two out of three to AL Central-leading Indians

Carlos Rodon

At least Carlos Rodon is living up to his potential, right?

Coming into the White Sox's three-game weekend series against the Cleveland Indians, I figured the South Siders would, at best, take one out of three. And, I figured the one they would win would be Friday's game with Rodon on the mound.

That's exactly how it unfolded. Here's a look back at the weekend that was.

Friday, Aug. 10
White Sox 1, Indians 0: Daniel Palka accomplished something that no Sox player had done in the previous 118 years of baseball: He hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Sox a 1-0 victory.

It's astounding that it had never happened before in all the games that have been played over the past century plus.

It's too bad the home run did not come early enough to give Rodon the win. The Sox left-hander was brilliant, pitching eight shutout innings. He allowed only four hits, struck out five and walked two. The two walks were both in the first inning. The Indians failed to make Rodon pay, and they really didn't get a sniff after that.

Rodon's season ERA now stands at 2.61. He is pitching like a No. 1 starter, although he needs to stay healthy over the long haul before he can earn the title of staff ace.

Saturday, Aug. 11
Indians 3, White Sox 1: Small steps forward for second baseman Yoan Moncada. After I criticized his poor performance on this blog last week, he went 3 for 9 with a home run and a walk in the series against Cleveland.

He still struck out four times in those 10 plate appearances, but he did connect for his 15th home run of the season for the Sox's lone run in this game. The blast to right field came off a Cy Young contender, Cleveland's Trevor Bauer.

Moncada's incremental improvement coincided with manager Rick Renteria's decision to move him out of the leadoff spot. Moncada batted eighth Friday and Saturday, and sixth on Sunday.

James Shields (4-14) continues a potential march toward a 20-loss season, although he pitched a credible game. He went seven innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on seven hits. He struck out four and walked none. Shields can't win any games, but the veteran's job in a lost season is to eat innings. He is doing that.

Sunday, Aug. 12
Indians 9, White Sox 7: It looked like this one was over in the eighth inning. The Indians led, 9-1, but the Sox made a game of it with two runs in the eighth on home runs by Adam Engel and Yolmer Sanchez, and four more runs in the ninth.

The Indians were forced to bring closer Cody Allen into the game, and the Sox had the tying run at home plate with one out in the ninth before Allen struck out Nicky Delmonico and Sanchez back to back to earn his 23rd save of the season.

It was a good game for Engel, who went 3 for 4 with the aforementioned homer, a triple, three RBIs and another spectacular catch to rob Yonder Alonso of a home run. It's too bad Engel is a .224 hitter, because his skills in center field are of elite big-league quality. I just don't think he sticks over the long haul because of his weak bat.

Speaking of not sticking over the long haul, Dylan Covey (4-9) didn't wait until the second time through the order to get shelled Sunday. He gave up four runs in the first and two more runs in the second. By the end of the third inning, Hector Santiago was on in relief for the Sox.

Covey's season ERA is up to 6.06. As we've stated in the past, it is time to remove this pitcher from the starting rotation. He is not giving his team a chance to win.

White Sox beat Rays, earn first sweep of 2018 season

Hector Santiago

Guaranteed Rate has a promotion going on where it will pay one month's mortgage for a White Sox fan every time the team sweeps a series. 

I didn't enter, figuring the Sox (41-70) were so terrible that they'd never be able to sweep an opponent this season.

Well, I'll be damned if the Sox didn't sweep the Tampa Bay Rays this weekend. The South Siders picked up three one-run victories in St. Petersburg, Florida, all of them coming in the last at-bat.

In fact, the Sox have won a season-high four games in a row, with each victory coming in their last at-bat. This marks the first time the Sox have swept a road series since they took three in a row from the Toronto Blue Jays in April 2016.

That's a good season and a half, so it's been a long time.

Here's a look back at the weekend that was:

Friday, Aug 3
White Sox 3, Rays 2 (10 innings): Second baseman Yoan Moncada is hitting only .167 with a .515 OPS against left-handed pitching this season, but his RBI double while batting right-handed with two outs in the top of the 10th made the difference in this game.

It's too bad Lucas Giolito did not get the win because he pitched well. The right-hander took a one-hitter into the eighth inning, during which he was removed after giving up a leadoff double. Naturally, the struggling Sox bullpen failed to protect a 2-0 lead -- the Rays got two runs in the eighth to force extra innings.

Giolito's final line: 7 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 6 Ks, 3 BBs

His ERA is 5.97, the first time it's been below 6 since April.

After Moncada's double put the Sox ahead, Hector Santiago worked a scoreless bottom of the 10th for his first save since 2012. Tyler Danish (1-0) got the win after recording the final out of the bottom of the ninth.

Saturday, Aug. 4
White Sox 2, Rays 1: With the score tied at 1, Tim Anderson led off the top of the ninth inning with a double. He scored from second with Rays third baseman Matt Duffy made a two-base throwing error on a sacrifice bunt by Leury Garcia.

The lead held up as rookie right-hander Thyago Vieira worked around a two-out walk and a wild pitch to earn his first career save in his third appearance with the Sox. Vieira struck out Willy Adames with a high fastball for the third out and excessively celebrated the achievement by pounding his own chest with his fist multiple times, but hey, we can't tell him to act as though he had done it before, because he hadn't.

The Sox got the win despite an erratic outing from Carlos Rodon, who walked five and struck out four over six innings. Rodon allowed only three hits, however, and that allowed him to put mostly zeroes on the board. The one run he allowed was unearned because of a passed ball by Omar Narvaez.

Jose Abreu homered for the second straight game, his 19th homer of the season, this one coming off Tampa Bay ace Blake Snell.

Sunday, Aug. 5
White Sox 8, Rays 7: The Sox were down 3-1. Then they tied it at 3. Then they went ahead 5-3. Tampa Bay made it 5-4. Then it was 6-4 Sox after Avisail Garcia's second home run of the game. The Rays tied it at 6 with two runs in the seventh.

This seesaw affair took three hours, 38 minutes to play, but it ended happily thanks to a two-out Sox rally in the ninth inning.

Abreu singled and scored when Daniel Palka smashed a first-pitch homer over the batter's eye in center field for an 8-6 Sox lead. Palka's 439-foot blast off Diego Castillo was his 17th of the season and fifth in his past 10 games.

Santiago (4-3), who had got the final out of the bottom of the eighth inning, wobbled in the bottom of the ninth, giving up two doubles and a walk to make it 8-7. But with runners on first and second and one out, he induced a game-ending double play off the bat of Tampa Bay's Jesus Sucre.

One bit of bad news from this game: Leury Garcia strained his left hamstring making a shoestring grab in center field. He has been placed on the 10-day disabled list. The Sox on Monday recalled outfielder Ryan LaMarre from Triple-A Charlotte to take Leury Garcia's place on the 25-man roster.

The Sox open a six-game homestand Monday night, featuring three games with the New York Yankees and three games with the Cleveland Indians.

Gulp.

Might be a tough week against two playoff contenders. 

White Sox designate Bruce Rondon for assignment, call up Jeanmar Gomez

Bruce Rondon

The White Sox were losing, 4-2, to the St. Louis Cardinals in the sixth inning Tuesday when starting pitcher Dylan Covey left the mound.

The Sox ended up losing, 14-2. It wasn't all Bruce Rondon's fault, but a lot of it was.

Rondon threw 14 pitches, only two of them for strikes. He walked three batters, and three runs scored on his watch -- one on a bases-loaded walk and two on pitches that went all the way to the screen. It was all part of a seven-run inning for the Cardinals that put the game out of reach.

The final line for Rondon: 0.1 innings, 0 hits, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 Ks, 3 BBs.

It's hard to give up three runs without giving up a single hit, but Rondon managed to do it, after teammate Hector Santiago gave up a grand slam to Dexter Fowler and allowed all of the runners who were Rondon's responsibility to score.

As a result of this mess, Rondon was designated for assignment Wednesday, and right-hander Jeanmar Gomez's contract was purchased from Triple-A Charlotte, according to the Sox's Twitter account.

This move was overdue.

In his past 12 games, Rondon has allowed 19 runs, 18 hits and 15 walks in 7.2 innings. His season ERA is up to 8.49. This sort of incompetence cannot be tolerated even in a rebuilding year.

When Rondon steps on the mound, the game slows to a crawl and strikes thrown become a rarity. He can't even get enough people out to move games along in a losing cause. Remember this game on June 30? The Sox were trailing 6-4 in the eighth inning, but they ended up losing 13-4 after Rondon was charged with five earned runs in a third of an inning.

Frankly, Rondon should have been designated for assignment after that game, but we're talking about the Sox, who are historically slow to address problems. They gave Rondon five more appearances to try to right the ship, but now he's left them no choice but to try someone else.

Grinder Bash 2018 at Guaranteed Rate Field -- let's visit the home clubhouse

Grinder Bash, the White Sox's annual party for season-ticket holders, was sparsely attended Saturday, perhaps because this rebuilding team doesn't have many season-ticket holders anymore.

That's fine. More room for us, and for the first time (at least in the years I've attended this event), fans had access to the home clubhouse.

You can see Yoan Moncada's locker right behind me, near the front of the clubhouse. Not surprisingly, Moncada's locker is between those of Hector Santiago and Jose Abreu, whose locker is just out of frame to the right. The Sox obviously want Moncada hanging around a couple of the veteran Latino players who have been there and done that. Let's hope for the sake of the Sox's rebuild that young Yoan gets it going soon. His batting average is down to .221 entering Monday's play; his on-base percentage is down to .289.

Danny Farquhar's locker remain full and intact, even though he hasn't been around the team as much since suffering a life-threatening brain aneurysm during a game April 20 at Guaranteed Rate Field. Notably, Farquhar has a signed Frank Thomas jersey hanging in his locker. That's a pretty cool piece of memorabilia to have. I think the entire baseball community, not just the White Sox organization and its fans, wishes Farquhar well as he continues to recover from one of the scariest situations I've seen happen at a major league ballpark.

I probably found this funnier than it really is, but I got a kick out of seeing a suitcase in Juan Minaya's locker. This guy has been up and down between the Sox and Triple-A Charlotte all season, and I can't help but wonder if that suitcase is there just in case he gets another tap on the shoulder and another plane ticket to North Carolina. Well, actually, with the way Bruce Rondon has been pitching lately, perhaps Minaya's roster spot is safer than it's been at other points during the season.

Off in the corner, here is James Shields' locker. He has nobody to his left, and nobody to his right. Has he really earned all that personal space? Yeah, he's a veteran and all, but his record is 3-9. In the past, perhaps this roomy part of the clubhouse might have belonged to an accomplished Sox player such as, say, Paul Konerko. It seems as though Shields is the guy who currently gets the royal treatment, deserving or not. Or, perhaps they just make him sit in the corner for not being very good at pitching at this stage of his career.

Here's the view from behind home plate. If you ever want to feel small, go down on the field at a major league stadium on a non-game day when the ballpark is empty. You never realize just how big a place it is until you're down at field level.

One other interesting little note: On the wall in the Sox bullpen, the relief corps keeps track of the number of calls received from the dugout. During the 2017 season, there were 888 calls made to the bullpen during the 81 home games. It looks as though the Sox are on pace to exceed that total this season. So far, 502 calls have been made to the bullpen through 43 home games. That's an average of about 11.6 a game. That puts the Sox on pace for 945.6 calls over an 81-game period. Yes, these are rough days. By way of comparison, the calls during the 2013 season only numbered in the 400s. The 2013 Sox were a bad club -- 99 losses -- but starting pitching was the strength: Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, Jake Peavy, the pre-injury Santiago, etc. These days, starting pitching is a weakness, and the bullpen is busy.

The other great thing about Grinder Bash: Free food and drinks, including beer, for those who choose to partake. As I said, the season-ticket base for the Sox is fewer in number than it has ever been, and those of us who have chosen to stick it out through this rebuild have earned a perk such as this.

When all is said and done, it might be one of the more enjoyable days at the ballpark in 2018. After all, we weren't walking back to our cars after a White Sox loss, which has so often been the case during this most trying of seasons.

White Sox settle for three out of five vs. Kansas City Royals

When is it unsatisfying to win three out of five games in another team's ballpark? When you win the first three, then lose the last two.

Bruce Chen

That was the case this weekend for the White Sox against the Kansas City Royals, but given the Sox's 8-18 overall record, we probably should be happy they finally won a series -- regardless of circumstances or opponent.

Here's a look back at what has happened since we left off:

Friday, April 27
White Sox 7, Royals 4 (11 inn.): Once again, Matt Davidson won a game for the Sox in Kansas City. He went 2 for 5 with two home runs and three RBIs, including a two-run blast in the top of the 11th inning that gave the Sox the lead for good.

Davidson has hit seven home runs at Kauffman Stadium this season -- a new record for a Royals' opponent -- and it's only April 30.

For the season, Davidson is slashing .462/.563/1.308 with seven home runs and 12 RBIs in seven games and 32 plate appearances in the Royals' home ballpark.

I'm guessing Davidson will have the dates Sept. 10-12 circled on his calendar. Those are the remaining three games the Sox have in Kansas City this season.

For several years, the Royals had a mediocre-at-best pitcher named Bruce Chen who owned White Sox hitters. I see Davidson's mastery of the Royals as a sort of payback for Chen.

Davidson is a mediocre-at-best hitter, but he suddenly turns into a dominant force at the sight of Kansas City uniforms. The Sox and their fans have been on the wrong end of this kind of ownership in the past, so we'll take it.

Saturday, April 28
White Sox 8-2, Royals 0-5: Most doubleheaders are split, and this one was no exception.

Surprisingly, Carson Fulmer (2-1) became the first Sox pitcher to reach two wins by tossing seven shutout innings. He allowed four hits, struck out three and walked three. It was a nice display of competence by the right-hander, even if it came against a horrible Kansas City team.

Daniel Palka collected not only his first big-league hit but his first big-league home run, as well, as he went 4 for 5 with three runs scored and three RBIs in the Game 1 win. For the first time this season, the Sox won three in a row.

Naturally, that did not carry over into Game 2, as the Sox were baffled by Kansas City left-hander Eric Skoglund. After Tim Anderson's leadoff homer, Skoglund allowed only hit the rest of his outing as he got through seven innings with a 4-1 lead.

The erstwhile Dylan Covey (0-1) was called up from Triple-A Charlotte to pitch for the Sox, and predictably, he took the loss. Although, to be fair, he ate up six innings and only one of the four runs he allowed was earned.

Sunday, April 29
Royals 5, White Sox 4: This was the most disappointing game of the series, as the Sox squandered an early 2-0 lead that came courtesy of a two-run double by Palka in the fourth inning.

Hector Santiago and Chris Volstad both gave up home runs to Kansas City's Cheslor Cuthbert, who had not previously homered this season. Cuthbert hit a solo shot off Santiago in the fourth and a three-run blast off Volstad in the fifth that gave the Royals a 4-2 lead.

The Sox battled back to tie with a run in the sixth on a triple by Leury Garcia and a run in the seventh on a two-out RBI double by Nick Delmonico. The latter hit scored Jose Abreu, who was hit by a pitch and stole second base.

However, the Sox could not complete the comeback, as Bruce Rondon (1-1) hit the leadoff batter in the bottom of the eighth inning, and the Royals ended up scoring the go-ahead and eventually winning run on a single by Sox nemesis Whit Merrifield.

I guess we couldn't get through a five-game series in Kansas City without Merrifield doing something to beat the Sox at least once, huh?

Maybe the White Sox should pitch around Josh Donaldson ...

Josh Donaldson

Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson has homered in each of his past five games against the White Sox.

For his career against Chicago, Donaldson has posted a .344/.407/.725 slash line with 14 home runs, eight doubles and 34 RBIs in 35 games.

That's enough production in enough of a sample size to get my attention, and it should get the attention of the Sox coaching staff.

Donaldson continued his mastery of the Sox on Tuesday night, going 2 for 4 with a home run, three RBIs, two runs scored and a walk in Toronto's 14-5 victory.

The score is a little bit misleading -- the Blue Jays broke open a 7-5 game with seven runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. Toronto was ahead for most of the night, although the Sox remained within striking distance until the last two innings.

It was frustrating that the Sox allowed Donaldson to hurt them twice while the outcome still was in doubt. On two occasions, Donaldson came to the plate with two outs, first base open and a man in scoring position. Both times, the Sox opted to pitch to Donaldson. Both times they paid.

The Jays' third baseman hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning off Miguel Gonzalez to increase a 4-2 Toronto lead to 6-2. In the seventh inning against Hector Santiago, Donaldson hit an RBI single off the top of the left field fence to move the Jays' lead from 6-4 to 7-4. Another foot higher and it would have been Donaldson's second two-run homer of the game.

There probably isn't any circumstance in which the Sox would have won Tuesday anyway. Gonzalez was poor, allowing six runs (five earned) over five innings. Santiago, Greg Infante and Juan Minaya combined on a preposterous bullpen meltdown in the eighth inning that erased any hope of a Sox comeback.

However, if the Sox happen to be in a close game in Wednesday's series finale against Toronto, I have a word to the wise: Make somebody other than Donaldson beat you.

Following up: Carson Fulmer stays in race for fifth-starter spot

The White Sox offense produced 20 hits and five walks in a 15-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday, but Carson Fulmer's performance still is the story coming out of this game.

Fulmer entered Monday's outing with an unsightly 18.90 Cactus League ERA, but this latest performance will help. The right-hander worked four scoreless, hitless innings. He struck out four and walked three.

Pretty good, right?

Yeah, in comparison to other outings this spring, Fulmer was spectacular. However, I still have reservations about putting him in the starting rotation when the regular season starts.

Fulmer threw 72 pitches Monday, and only 38 of them were for strikes -- a 52.8 percent strike percentage. Velocity was good -- 91 to 94 mph on the fastball -- movement was good -- there's a reason he gave up no hits -- but his command still leaves a lot to be desired.

At one point, spanning the second and third innings, Fulmer missed the strike zone on 15 out of 16 pitches.

After getting the first two outs of the second inning, Fulmer issued a four-pitch walk and fell behind 2-0 to Daniel Descalso before getting a fly out to end the inning.

He started the third inning with a pair of four-pitch walks. After Jarrod Dyson's deep flyout, Fulmer fell behind in the count 3-0 to A.J. Pollock before rallying to record a strikeout. Pollock was caught looking at a 3-2 fastball that might have been low, and given his wildness, Fulmer was fortunate to get a call for the second out. He then got Paul Goldschmidt to fly out to end the Arizona scoring opportunity.

Fulmer navigated a successful fourth inning. He might have come back out for the fifth had the Sox not scored seven runs in the top of that inning. That's too long for a pitcher to sit in a spring training game, so the Sox wisely went to the bullpen.

Fulmer's competition for the rotation spot, Hector Santiago, pitched two scoreless innings of relief in this game, which also featured three-hit performances from Adam Engel and Matt Davidson.

Both Engel and Davidson have hit over .300 this spring, so it appears both will hold their roster spots.

Michael Kopech, however, has been assigned to minor-league camp, as expected, in a roster move made Tuesday.

White Sox Opening Day starter: James Shields

James Shields

There's nothing like Opening Day. For many baseball fans, including me, it's more exciting than Christmas morning was when I was a little kid.

However, that enthusiasm is somewhat lessened when you know your favorite team is almost certain to begin the season 0-1.

Such is the case for me this year, as the White Sox have named 36-year-old James Shields as their Opening Day starter.

Yuck.

Shields has made 43 starts with the Sox since he was acquired midseason in 2016, and he's gone 9-19 with a 5.99 ERA. The veteran right-hander has given up a whopping 58 home runs over those 43 starts, and his 5.23 ERA in 2017 actually was lauded as being an improvement after the 6.77 ERA Shields posted in 22 starts with the Sox in 2016.

Double yuck.

So what could be the justification for starting Shields against the Kansas City Royals on March 29? Well, once upon a time, in place not named Chicago, Shields was a respectable major league pitcher. Believe it or not, he's made seven previous Opening Day starts -- four with the Tampa Bay Rays, two with Kansas City and one with the San Diego Padres. So, he has experience, and the moment shouldn't rattle him.

In those seven starts, Shields is 2-2 with a 4.75 ERA, although in fairness to him, five of those seven starts were quality, and the two rough outings were enough to inflate his ERA. But that was then, and this is now, and Shields simply hasn't done anything in the past two years to inspire confidence.

There's no reason to believe he's the Sox's best pitcher, so you won't catch me calling him the "ace." There are aces, and then there are guys who start on Opening Day. Shields is the latter, not the former.

Here's one silver lining: Shields is scheduled to pitch twice on the season-opening road trip to Kansas City and Toronto. His second start should come April 4 against the Blue Jays, which means there's no way in hell he will be anywhere near the mound when the Sox open at home April 5 against the Detroit Tigers.

If pitchers remain on schedule, Lucas Giolito is in line to start the second game of the season against the Royals, which would mean it would be his turn for the home opener April 5. Right now, it's looking like Reynaldo Lopez will pitch the third game, and Miguel Gonzalez the fourth.

Carson Fulmer and Hector Santiago continue to compete for the fifth starting rotation spot. Fulmer will make a spring start today -- March 19 -- against the Arizona Diamondbacks.