White Sox lose two of three to Cincinnati Reds; AL Central lead at 2 with 7 to play

Dylan Cease

White Sox pitchers Dylan Cease and Ross Detwiler combined to pitch one of the worst innings I've seen at the big-league level in a long, long time Sunday.

The Cincinnati Reds scored five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning -- on six walks, a hit batsmen and a ground ball that found its way through a shifted infield. Talk about gift-wrapping a game. The Reds went on to win 7-3 and took two out of three in the weekend series.

Meanwhile, the Minnesota Twins took two out of three from the Cubs at Wrigley Field. That means the Sox's lead in the American League Central Division stands at two games with seven to play. Their magic number to clinch the division is four.

Probably the best thing to do would be to just go 4-3 in the remaining seven and not worry about the Twins, right? But the Sox will need to play better than they did this weekend. Let's take a look back at this series with the Reds:

Friday, Sept. 18

Reds 7, White Sox 1: Jonathan Stiever survived his first major-league start against the Detroit Tigers in decent shape, but he got lit up in his outing Friday against the Reds. He lasted only 2.2 innings and gave up six earned runs on five hits. He allowed four home runs, including three in a five-run third inning. 

Stiever had never pitched above High-A before this year, so struggles are to be expected. However, I'm a little concerned about his health. Reports last season had his fastball touching 95 or 96 mph. But after a forearm strain limited him in spring training during March, he doesn't seem to be back to that peak velocity. I'm seeing a lot of 91 and 92 mph fastballs.

The Sox managed only four hits Friday night, so it was a lackluster, day-after-clinching-the-playoffs sort of effort. One bright spot: 2020 first-round draft pick Garrett Crochet worked a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts in his big-league debut. His fastball touched 101 mph and showed good life. 

Saturday, Sept. 19

White Sox 5, Reds 0: Stiever was optioned back to the alternate training site after his rough outing Friday, so that Dallas Keuchel could be activated from the 10-day injured list and make the start. 

It was a weird outing for Keuchel. He went four scoreless innings with seven strikeouts, which is good, but he didn't get a single groundball out. Not what you normally see from the game's most extreme sinkerballer. Keuchel uncharacteristically walked three, too, but that could be chalked up to rust. At least he got up to 75 pitches. At least he got through the outing without a recurrence of his back problem, and he'll get one more start Thursday to tune up for the postseason.

The Sox hit five solo homers to win this one. Nomar Mazara hit his first dinger of the season in the fifth off Trevor Bauer. Tim Anderson also homered in the fifth. In the eighth, Anderson, Yasmani Grandal and Jose Abreu hit back-to-back-to-back homers off Robert Stephenson to put the game out of reach.

Four relievers cleaned up the last five innings after Keuchel left. Matt Foster (5-0) retired all six men he faced with two strikeouts to earn the victory.

Sunday, Sept. 20

Reds 7, White Sox 3: Cease, Detwiler and Steve Cishek combined to walk 11 batters and hit three others in this game -- and that was just the first five innings. Meanwhile, Sox batters struck out 14 times. It was so terrible to watch that I don't really want to talk about it.

It was 7-3, but it felt like 13-3. Let's just flush it down the toilet and move on.

Up next for the Sox: a four-game series in Cleveland starting Monday night. The Indians are five games out in the AL Central, so they are still in the hunt and looking to move up the standings. It should be a playoff-level series, and the hope is the Sox got all their bad play out of their system Sunday in Cincinnati.

The White Sox are 4-0 when Dane Dunning starts

Dane Dunning

The White Sox have won all four games Dane Dunning has started this season, and the rookie right-hander got his first major league win Wednesday, as the Sox bounced back from Tuesday's debacle with an 8-1 win over the last-place Pittsburgh Pirates.

Dunning had an efficient outing. He needed only 76 pitches to get through six innings. He gave up a leadoff double two pitches into the seventh, and that ended his night. Gio Gonzalez stranded the inherited runner to keep Dunning's outing scoreless. 

His final line: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 Ks, 1 BB and 51 strikes on 78 pitches. 

Anytime a pitcher throws 65% of his pitches for strikes, we'll take it. And Dunning's outing saved the bullpen, too. Gonzalez allowed one run over two innings, and Steve Cishek mopped up in the ninth.

It was nice to see the Sox win a game without having to use Jimmy Cordero, Evan Marshall or Alex Colome.

James McCann had his first career multihomer game and totaled four RBIs. Yoan Moncada also had two hits for the second straight game. Nick Madrigal's two-out, two-run single with the bases loaded in the top of the fourth was the key hit, taking a 3-0 Sox lead to 5-0.

The Sox stand at 27-16, one game ahead of both the Cleveland Indians and Minnesota Twins heading into Thursday's off day.

I'm not sold on this Sox team as a legitimate contender, because I don't think their run prevention is good enough. But here's where the clear progress has occurred: They continue to kick the crap out of bad teams. 

The Sox are a combined 18-3 against the Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals and Pittsburgh Pirates. There are still three more games with the Tigers; those will be this weekend at Guaranteed Rate Field.

After that, the Twins come to Chicago, and we'll see if the Sox are able to win a series against one of their chief division rivals for the first time this year.

Going back to Dunning, his next start figures to be against Minnesota. I'm interested to see how he fares. He's proven he can slay the bums, just like the team as a whole. The biggest tests are still ahead.

White Sox manager Rick Renteria is burning up his bullpen unnecessarily

Rick Renteria

The White Sox entered Tuesday's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates with a 99.6% chance of qualifying for the postseason.

So why is manager Rick Renteria treating every game as if it is the seventh game of the World Series?

The Sox lost, 5-4, to the last-place Pirates, but the way they got there was more concerning than the loss itself. Was it really necessary to burn through five relief pitchers to try to win this game? Not in my world.

Starter Dylan Cease got a quick hook after throwing only 79 pitches. He took a 3-2 lead into the sixth inning, and he gave up a leadoff single. That would be all. Not sure why.

Codi Heuer, pitching for the third time in the past five days, was able to finish the inning without giving up the lead.

Enter Matt Foster, who worked a 1-2-3 seventh inning. Foster was pitching for "only" the third time in the past six days, so I thought he might have another inning in him.

Nah.

Renteria needed to go to Evan Marshall, who was pitching for the fourth time in the past five games, for the eighth inning. Marshall gave up two runs to surrender a 4-2 lead and couldn't finish the inning. Ross Detwiler entered and managed to strand the go-ahead run on third base.

But Detwiler gave up two singles to start the bottom of the ninth. Enter Jimmy Cordero, who has appeared NINE TIMES in the past 12 games. A passed ball, an intentional walk and an error later, the Sox were in the loss column.

Good thing Renteria pulled Cease early to make sure the Sox won this one, huh?

The Sox have played 42 games, and Cordero has already made 21 appearances. Marshall has pitched 20 times, and Steve Cishek has pitched 18 times. All three of these men have more appearances than they do innings pitched.

And that doesn't even get into the 40-pitch outing Alex Colome had in Friday's win over Kansas City. Colome was then asked to save the game Saturday night, too, which he did, but at some point he might wear out as well.

Would it kill Renteria to let guys pitch more than one inning? Would it kill him to let a young pitcher like Cease work his way out of his own trouble for once?

The Sox are in really good shape to make the playoffs. But will the bullpen have anything left for October with this kind of usage, or overusage, as the case may be?

Forget about October. Who is going to pitch in relief Wednesday? Probably at least one or two guys who pitched Tuesday night, and that's a problem.

It's time for Renteria to back off the throttle a little bit. He's got to stop micromanaging so much, even if it means losing a few more games.

Some other photos from SoxFest 2020

Here's a rundown on some of the people I got to meet at SoxFest:

White Sox pitcher Dylan Cease was a big fan of my shirt, which referred to the Sox as "The Good," the Detroit Tigers as "The Bad," and the Kansas City Royals as "The Ugly."

Hanging out with somebody closer to my own age on Saturday morning -- the man who was the starting and winning pitcher in Game 1 of the 2005 World Series, Jose Contreras.

As mentioned in an earlier blog, Danny Farquhar is back with the Sox organization as a pitching coach. He'll be at Class-A Winston-Salem this season.

Hall of Famer Tim Raines was in the house Saturday. Some of Raines' best seasons came in the 1980s as a member of the Montreal Expos. He was on some talented teams there with Andre Dawson and Gary Carter. But he was still a pretty damn good offensive player when he came to the Sox in the early 1990s.

This is the first time I've ever met Tom Paciorek. I'm just old enough to remember Paciorek's career as a player -- he was a member of the 1983 American League West Division champion White Sox. That's the first season I remember -- I was 7 years old at the time. But I'll always recall "Wimpy" best for his years in the Sox broadcast booth with Ken Harrelson. He was the perfect complement to Hawk for many seasons in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

And here's me with former Sox outfielder and current radio broadcaster Darrin Jackson. For some reason, DJ wanted to know if I was a former catcher. No, actually, I played quite a bit of center field. Jackson was intrigued, saying, "So you've got some wheels, huh?" Well, not at age 43. Maybe in my younger years.

Finally, new Sox relief pitcher Steve Cishek, who is one tall dude. We've noted in the past that Cishek may have been overused the past couple of years with the Cubs, so I asked him whether he has another 70 or 80 appearances left in him for this year. His response: "I'm ready. Let's go."








I'm ready, too. March 26 can't get here fast enough.

Chatting with Danny Farquhar about Houston's sign stealing

Danny Farquhar (and me)

Danny Farquhar's career as a pitcher is sadly over. As all White Sox fans and most baseball fans are aware, Farquhar suffered a near-fatal brain aneurysm April 20, 2018, in the dugout during a game against the Houston Astros at Guaranteed Rate Field.

That would be the last time Farquhar would pitch in a major-league game. He pitched in two games at Triple-A in the New York Yankees organization in 2019, before retiring as a player.

Now, Farquhar is back in the Sox organization. He will be the pitching coach for Class-A Winston-Salem during the 2020 season, and it was good to see him make an appearance at SoxFest.

I got in Farquhar's photo line Friday night, and I had a chance to talk to him about a different game against the Astros -- this one a 3-1 Sox victory on Sept. 21, 2017.

Farquhar worked a 1-2-3 eighth inning in this game, but most notably, it was one of the games where the Astros were clearly stealing signs. In this video, Farquhar calls Sox catcher Kevan Smith to the mound to change the signs in the middle of an at-bat against Houston's Evan Gattis.

Turns out, Farquhar heard the Astros banging trash cans every time Smith signaled for a changeup. (Farquhar was mostly a two-pitch pitcher, fastball and changeup.)

“There was a banging from the dugout, almost like a bat hitting the bat rack every time a changeup signal got put down,” Farquhar said in this story in The Athletic. “After the third one, I stepped off. I was throwing some really good changeups and they were getting fouled off. After the third bang, I stepped off.”

So, when I met Farquhar, I asked him if anyone from the media had asked him about the incident immediately after that game. He said no, and he added that it was talked about in the clubhouse that night, so to him, it was somewhat surprising that it took so long for Houston's shenanigans to come to the forefront.

Nobody in the press interviewed Farquhar after his outing. As I stood there talking to him, I noted that relief pitchers don't get many interview requests on days when they do their job effectively, as was the case here. Farquhar agreed and said that had he given up a 3-run homer and lost the game for the Sox, he probably would have had to answer reporters' questions after the game.

The SoxFest police grew tired of me visiting with Farquhar, so they asked me to move along. As we parted, Farquhar said as a player you need to be careful before you accuse another team of doing something wrong -- nobody wants to be known as someone who falsely accuses others, and there's a fine line you have to walk.

The sign-stealing situation came up multiple times at SoxFest, and new Sox reliever Steve Cishek said the Cubs reworked their signs after they lost a game to the Astros in Houston last season.

Cishek wouldn't name names, but said a ridiculous opposite-field home run was hit on a first-pitch slider. The home run ended up boosting the Astros to a 9-6 victory over the Cubs.

I will name names: Alex Bregman hit that home run off Brad Brach.

We haven't addressed the sign-stealing scandal much on this blog, because everyone else is talking about it, and what else is there to say?

I was always taught, if you think someone has your signs, change them. That's what Farquhar did in his scenario in September 2017, and it was fun to chat informally with him about the incident. And, it's good to see him healthy and back with the Sox organization.

We wish Farquhar well in his new endeavor as a pitching coach. He's a smart guy, and I think he'll have a lot to offer for the young pitchers in the Sox organization.

White Sox (finally) designate Dylan Covey for assignment

We mentioned in an earlier blog that the White Sox would have to make a roster move when the signing of relief pitcher Steve Cishek became official.

That happened Tuesday as the club announced the signing and designated right-hander Dylan Covey for assignment.

I don't think too many Sox fans will be shedding tears over Covey's removal from the roster. Here are his numbers over the past three seasons:

2017: 0-7, 7.71 ERA in 18 games (12 starts)
2018: 5-14, 5.18 ERA in 27 games (21 starts)
2019: 1-8, 7.98 ERA in 18 games (12 starts)
Total: 6-29, 6.54 ERA in 63 games (45 starts)

In fairness to Covey, he was a Rule 5 draft pick, and expectations were low for him. Not to mention, he was miscast as a starting pitcher, when a long relief role may have best fit his skill set.

During a rebuilding period, you do expect to see pitchers such as this cycle through your roster. You just don't expect them to continue to get opportunities FOR THREE YEARS.

The main problem I have with Covey is he received more opportunities than he earned, and frankly, that's not his fault, because he's not the one who makes the roster decisions. It appears as though, finally, his time is up.

White Sox avoid arbitration with five players

Alex Colome

The White Sox on Friday announced that they reached agreements with each of their remaining five arbitration-eligible players. Here's how the contracts break down for the 2020 season:

RHP Alex Colome: $10,532,500
RF Nomar Mazara: $5.56M
LHP Carlos Rodon: $4.45M
UTIL Leury Garcia: $3.25M
RHP Evan Marshall: $1.1M

It's always good to avoid going to court with arbitration-eligible players. Those hearings are never fun, because they require the club to highlight why a player isn't worth the money he's asking for. That creates animosity and bad feelings that can last throughout a season.

So, it's just best to come to an agreeable number and move forward. That's what the Sox have done with these five players.

Encarnacion deal becomes official

The Sox also officially announced the signing of veteran designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion to a one-year, $12 million contract.

One other note on Encarnacion: According to the latest addition of Baseball Digest, he hit the second-most home runs of any Major League player during the decade spanning 2010-19 with 335. Only Nelson Cruz (346 home runs), currently with the Minnesota Twins, hit more.

Encarnacion also ranked third over the past decade with 956 RBIs. Albert Pujols of the Los Angeles Angels led all hitters with 963 RBIs, while Cruz ranked second with 961.

Hopefully, the 37-year-old Encarnacion still has some homers and RBIs left in him.

Medeiros outrighted

To make room on the roster for Encarnacion, the Sox designated left-handed pitcher Kodi Medeiros for assignment. Medeiros was acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers in the middle of the 2018 season in exchange for reliever Joakim Soria.

Medeiros cleared waivers and has been outrighted to Charlotte.

The Sox's 40-man roster is at maximum capacity, and someone else will have to be dropped when the signing of relief pitcher Steve Cishek becomes official.

White Sox sign relief pitcher Steve Cishek to one-year deal

Steve Cishek

The White Sox on Tuesday moved to increase their bullpen depth by signing veteran relief pitcher Steve Cishek to a one-year, $6 million contract.

Cishek, 33, will earn $5.25 million in 2020. The deal includes an option for 2021 worth $6.75 million, with a $750,000 buyout -- thus the $6 million guaranteed.

The right-hander spent the past two seasons with the Cubs. He appeared in 70 games in 2019, going 4-6 with a 2.95 ERA and seven saves. He struck out 57 and walked 29 with a 1.203 WHIP over 64 innings pitched.

Let's discuss the pluses and minuses of this signing in 3-up, 3-down format.

3 up

1. An ERA below 3.00 for four consecutive seasons. That 2.95 ERA in 2019 represents the *worst* season Cishek has had in recent memory. Over the past four years, his ERAs have been 2.81, 2.01, 2.18 and 2.95, respectively. Even if he regresses, he has a higher floor that some of the other candidates for the Sox bullpen, such as Carson Fulmer and Jose Ruiz.

2. Experience. Cishek is a veteran of 10 MLB seasons, and he's appeared in 572 games. His career ERA is 2.69, and while he likely won't be asked to close for the Sox, he has 132 saves lifetime. This is somebody who has been in his share of high-leverage situations. There's no reason he can't be placed in a seventh- or eighth-inning role.

3. Rubber arm. Cishek appeared in 150 games over the past two seasons, including a ridiculous 80 appearances in 2018. He's pitched in 60 or more games six times during his career. That reliability has to be respected.

3 down

1. A declining strikeout rate. Cishek struck out 10.0 batters per nine innings with the Cubs in 2018, but that declined to 8.0 batters per nine innings last season. His career mark is 9.5 strikeouts per nine innings, so he performed below his norms in 2019. There may be a little less swing-and-miss in his game going forward.

2. Overuse. I don't care who you are, 150 appearances is a ton over two years. In a way, it's a testament to Cishek that his former manager, Joe Maddon, trusted him that often. But sooner or later, that kind of usage has to take its toll. Perhaps that concern is among the reasons Cishek is only getting one year guaranteed on the open market.

3. An increasing home run rate. Cishek gave up 1.0 home runs per nine innings in 2019, which was the second-highest rate of his career. His career mark is 0.6 home runs per nine innings, which is the exact figure he was at during the 2018 season. Of course, to be fair, the ball was juiced last summer, so a lot of pitchers around the league saw an increase in their home run rate.

With the addition of Cishek, I think we can take a good guess at seven of the eight spots in the Sox bullpen. Here's how it most likely looks today:

Left-handers: Aaron Bummer, Jace Fry
Right-handers: Alex Colome, Kelvin Herrera, Cishek, Evan Marshall, Jimmy Cordero, ??????

Here are some candidates to fill in those question marks: Fulmer, Ruiz, Dylan Covey, Zack Burdi, Matt Foster and Ian Hamilton.

Todd Frazier comes through for White Sox against Seattle bullpen

Todd Frazier

Third baseman Todd Frazier leads the White Sox with 80 RBIs, although you'd never expect that if you looked at his statistics with runners in scoring position.

Frazier has been terrible in those situations this year, 19 for 110, which will pencil out to a .173/.302/.345 slash line.

Those numbers were even worse until Thursday night, when Frazier came through twice in the late innings to lift the Sox to a 7-6, come-from-behind win over the Seattle Mariners.

With the Sox trailing 6-4 in the seventh, Frazier tied the score with a two-out, two-run single off Seattle reliever Steve Cishek. The right-hander got too much of the plate with a 2-0 slider, and Frazier ripped it through the hole between shortstop and third base to plate both Adam Eaton and Tim Anderson.

The score remained tied until the bottom of the ninth. Eaton led off with a bloop single against Seattle reliever Nick Vincent (3-4). Anderson advanced the runner with a sacrifice bunt. The Mariners elected to walk Jose Abreu with first base open -- a wise decision, frankly, since Abreu has been tearing it up in August.

That strategy was foiled, however, when Frazier smacked a Vincent sinker down the left-field line that allowed Eaton to score easily from second base and end the ballgame.

The clutch hits had to be a relief for Frazier, who was 0 for 3 with three strikeouts against Seattle starter James Paxton. He looked terrible on each of those 3Ks, one of which came with runners at first and third and nobody out in the first inning.

But fortunes changed once the Mariner bullpen entered the game, and the rally got Sox starter Anthony Ranaudo off the hook. The right-hander was decent enough for five innings -- the score was tied at 3 headed to the sixth. However, Ranaudo gave up three runs in the sixth and only got one out before having to be removed. It didn't help than Dan Jennings allowed two of his inherited runners to score.

The Sox bullpen kept it close by keeping the Mariners off the board the last three innings, and closer David Robertson (4-2) ended up with the win after he pitched around a one-out walk to post a scoreless ninth inning.

The Sox are 4-2 on the homestand entering Friday's play, with three more to go against Seattle.