Maybe home runs are important, huh?

The White Sox are 0-4 through the first four games of their six-game road trip to New York and Toronto. They've been outscored 26-8, but perhaps more notably, they've been out-homered 10-2.

Let's take a look under the hood:

Yankees 4, White Sox 2. Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton hit solo homers for the Yankees. The Sox did not homer. The Yankees scored two more runs than the Sox with the long ball and won the game by two runs.

Yankees 6, White Sox 1. Juan Soto hit two solo homers for the Yankees. Stanton and Jose Trevino also hit solo homers for the Yankees. The Sox did not homer. The Yankees scored four more runs than the Sox with the long ball and won the game by five runs.

Yankees 7, White Sox 2. The Yankees got a 3-run homer from Jon Berti and a 2-run homer from Judge. The Sox got a solo shot from Corey Julks. The Yankees scored four more runs than the Sox with the long ball and won the game by five runs.

Blue Jays 9, White Sox 3. The Blue Jays got 2-run homers from Daulton Varsho and Danny Jansen. The Sox got a solo home run from Paul DeJong. The Jays scored three more runs than the Sox with the long ball and won the game by six runs.

In every one of these losses, home runs (or lack thereof) played a significant role. We cannot be surprised by the outcome of the New York series. The Yankees (33-16) have the best record in the American League, and perhaps not coincidentally, they entered Monday leading the league in home runs with 68.

The Blue Jays ranked 14th out of the 15 AL teams entering Monday with 37 homers, but that didn't stop them from going deep twice against the Sox. 

Who ranks last in the AL? The Sox, of course. They've hit only 34 homers as a team.

It doesn't help that Luis Robert Jr. has been limited to just seven games (and two homers) by injury. But Eloy Jimenez and Andrew Vaughn are supposed to be power sources for this team. We are 48 games into the season, and Jimenez has only five homers. Vaughn has three.

DeJong is a the surprise team leader with seven homers, followed by Jimenez and Korey Lee(!) with four.

The whole problem is made worse by the Sox going 5 for 31 with runners in scoring position so far on the road trip. If you can't hit homers and you can't "move runners along," then how can you score?

Obviously, the Sox have a lot of work to do in rebuilding their team. Let's hope they remember that home runs are important.

After all, the top two teams in the AL right now in terms of record -- the Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles -- happen to be the top two teams in home runs. Just sayin'.

Minnesota Twins get well at White Sox's expense

On the morning of Monday, April 22 -- only eight days ago -- the Minnesota Twins were reeling with a 7-13 record. They had lost six of their previous seven games.

Then the White Sox showed up in Minneapolis.

Since that time, the Twins have won eight consecutive games, including five over the South Siders. The latest Minnesota win came Monday night, a 3-2 victory in the opener of a three-game series at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago.

The score was tied, 2-2, heading into the ninth inning. However, Byron Buxton doubled to lead off the top of the ninth against Sox reliever John Brebbia (0-1) and scored moments later on a single by Max Kepler, providing Minnesota with the winning run.

The Sox had their chance in the bottom of the inning. Danny Mendick walked, and with two outs, he advanced to third on a bloop single by Robbie Grossman. However, Minnesota left-hander Caleb Thielbar secured his second save of the season by striking out Korey Lee on a slow curve.

After three consecutive rough starts, during which he allowed 17 earned runs over 11.2 innings, Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet had a bounce-back outing. He pitched five innings, allowing only a two-run homer to Carlos Santana in the top of the second. He gave up just two hits while striking out seven and walking one. 

Crochet retired the final 11 Minnesota batters he faced, but he was removed after only 77 pitches. There was every reason to believe Crochet had at least one more inning in him, but apparently, he's being "protected" for the long haul of the season.

Not that the Sox offense provided much support anyway. They had two runs four batters into the game. Nicky Lopez singled and scored on a double by Andrew Vaughn. After a Gavin Sheets single put runners on first and third, Eloy Jimenez grounded into a double play, scoring Vaughn.

That was it. In a curious lineup decision, Tommy Pham did not start the game for the Sox. He lined out to right field during a pinch-hitting appearance in the ninth inning.

But hey, at this point, you have to trust Sox manager Pedro Grifol. His career managerial record isn't 67-124 for nothing, right?

The Sox are 6-23 this season. There are still 133 games of this crap remaining.

Kendall Graveman trade: Nobody wins

Former White Sox reliever Kendall Graveman will miss the 2024 season after undergoing right shoulder surgery, the Houston Astros announced Tuesday.

Graveman, you may recall, was traded to the Astros last July 28 in exchange for catcher Korey Lee. The right-hander made 23 appearances with Houston after the trade, going 2-2 with a 2.42 ERA in 22.1 innings.

Because of the shoulder injury, Graveman did not make the 2023 playoff roster for the Astros, as they advanced to the American League Championship Series before losing to the eventual World Series champion Texas Rangers.

Houston owes Graveman $8 million in 2024 for the last year of his contract. That obviously becomes dead money for the club.

You could say the Sox are fortunate they don't have to pay that money, and that they traded Graveman at the right time.

However, Lee has proven to be no prize. He received a 24-game audition behind the plate at the end of the 2023 season and did nothing with it. The 25-year-old batted .077/.143/.149, with just five hits in 70 plate appearances. 

That caused Sox GM Chris Getz to sign 37-year-old veteran catcher Martin Maldonado as a free agent and trade for 32-year-old veteran catcher Max Stassi. Those moves essentially wallpaper over Lee. Even though those two veterans are mediocre at best and on the downside of their respective careers, Lee will need a big spring training to earn a roster spot.

Don't bank on that. This trade looks to be one that did not help either side. Nobody wins.

White Sox make offseason changes at catcher

Martin Maldonado

When the offseason began, it looked as though the White Sox were poised to play younger players at catcher in 2024.

Both 25-year-old Korey Lee and 27-year-old Carlos Perez had spots on the 40-man roster. Both have some major league experience, and the conventional thinking was at least one of them would be with the team when the season starts in March.

Now, perhaps not.

The Sox are adding 37-year-old catcher Martin Maldonado on a one-year deal, according to reports. The contract is worth $4 million, and reportedly contains a vesting option for the 2025 season.

Earlier in December, the Sox acquired 32-year-old veteran catcher Max Stassi from the Atlanta Braves in exchange for cash and a player to be named later.

Maldonado comes to the Sox from Houston. He was the starting catcher for the Astros from 2019 to 2023, and he was part of two American League pennant winners (2019, 2022) and one World Series champion.

He has a reputation as a terrific defensive catcher, although his framing statistics fell off a cliff in 2023. He's still a good blocker and thrower, but he's a notoriously weak hitter.

Here are his offensive numbers from the past three seasons:

• 2021: .172/.272/.300, 12 home runs, 36 RBIs
• 2022: .186/.248/.352, 15 home runs, 45 RBIs
• 2023: .191/.258/.348, 15 home runs, 36 RBIs

In short, expect Maldonado to bat ninth, hit the occasional home run and otherwise be terrible with a bat in his hands. The Sox will be counting on him to provide veteran leadership and game-planning to help what figures to be a young pitching staff.

Stassi did not play during the 2023 season because of a hip injury and a family health emergency -- his son was born three months premature in April. 

When he was last seen on a major league field in 2022, Stassi struggled with the Los Angeles Angels. He batted .180/.267/.303 with nine home runs and 30 RBIs in 102 games.

But, in 2020 and 2021, Stassi was serviceable for the Angels. If you combine his numbers over those two seasons, they pencil out to a .250/.333/.452 batting line with 20 homers over 118 games. His defensive metrics all were strong, so that's a useful profile if he can regain that form.

Perez was recently designated for assignment, so we can eliminate him from the 2024 catching mix. Maldonado will certainly be on the team, if healthy, so that leaves Lee and Stassi competing for a roster spot.

Lee got 24 games in with the Sox last year, after coming over from the Astros in the Kendall Graveman trade, but he didn't do much with the opportunity. His defense was OK, but it certainly wasn't enough to overcome a .077/.143/.138 slash line in 70 plate appearances.

Also notable on the organizational depth chart is 24-year-old Adam Hackenburg, who has a good defensive reputation and ascended to Triple-A Charlotte by the end of 2023.

Hackenburg also had his best season at the plate. He batted .271/.366/.388 with eight home runs and 30 RBIs in 101 games split between Charlotte and Double-A Birmingham.

The intrigue here comes with whether Maldonado and/or Stassi can improve the Sox's game preparation. The 2023 season began with manager Pedro Grifol and field coordinator Mike Tosar boasting about how the team would be "elite" in that area.

After 101 losses, the season ended with Grifol lamenting how the Sox were actually subpar in that area. Interestingly, he didn't make those remarks until after the previous catching duo (Yasmani Grandal and Seby Zavala) had been shown the exit. 

If Grandal and Zavala were poor in that area, Grifol should have stepped in and addressed it during the season. Perhaps he tried and failed. From the outside, how are we to know? 

But, it is 100% fair to not trust Grifol to deliver on his promise of "elite preparation" after what we saw last year. So, perhaps it falls to Maldonado to clean up the mess. That won't be easy for a player in his first (and maybe his only) year with the organization, but that's the task at hand.

White Sox make 6 deals in days leading up to trade deadline

The White Sox needed to sell at the Aug. 1 trade deadline, and they did. Here's a look at the six trades the team has made over the past week:

1. Traded pitchers Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez to the Los Angeles Angels for catcher Edgar Quero and pitcher Ky Bush.
2. Traded pitchers Lance Lynn and Joe Kelly to the Los Angeles Dodgers for pitchers Nick Nastrini, Jordan Leasure and outfielder Trayce Thompson.
3. Traded pitcher Kendall Graveman to the Houston Astros for catcher Korey Lee.
4. Traded infielder Jake Burger to the Miami Marlins for pitcher Jake Eder.
5. Traded pitcher Keynan Middleton to the New York Yankees for pitcher Juan Carela.
6. Acquired pitcher Luis Patino from the Tampa Bay Rays for cash considerations.

I'll talk more about these deals in the days ahead. The Sox are 43-64 heading into Tuesday night's game with the Texas Rangers, so there will not be much on the field to talk about. 

Maybe we'll get a look at a couple of these new acquisitions before 2023 is over. I'm thinking Lee and Patino are candidates to be on the roster soon. We shall see.