Happy Labor Day from The Baseball Kid

 

Jose Abreu stars as Mr. August

Jose Abreu

Sept. 1 must be the saddest day of the year for Jose Abreu. He probably never wants August to end.

The White Sox first baseman is always a productive hitter, but when the calendar says August, he becomes an unstoppable force in the batter's box.

This year was no exception. For the month of August, Abreu batted .330/.382/.661 with 10 home runs, 25 RBIs, seven doubles, 22 runs scored and 74 total bases. His 1.043 OPS was the second-highest in the league for the month.

For his efforts, Abreu has been named American League Player of the Month for August. This is nothing new. Abreu won AL Player of the Month in August 2020, as well.

For his career, Abreu is batting .335/.390/.604 with 56 home runs and 166 RBIs in August. His next-best month in terms of run production is May, during which Abreu has 38 career home runs and 129 career RBIs. 

So, it's safe to say Abreu qualifies as Mr. August.

And, of course, he went 0 for 3 Wednesday night in his first game of September. Perhaps the spell has been broken.

The Sox (78-56) were off Thursday. They start a six-game road trip to Kansas City and Oakland on Friday night against the Royals.

Gavin Sheets hits 2 home runs in return to White Sox roster

It's not clear how many at-bats will be available for Gavin Sheets in September, but he made his case for more playing time Wednesday night at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Hours after being called up from Triple-A Charlotte, Sheets was batting eighth as the DH in the White Sox's lineup against the Pittsburgh Pirates. 

He went 2 for 3 with two homers and four RBIs, and the Sox beat the Pirates, 6-3.

Sheets started the scoring with a 3-run homer off Pittsburgh starter Max Kranick (1-3) in the bottom of the fourth inning. Then he finished the scoring with a solo homer off reliever Duane Underwood Jr. in the bottom of the eighth inning. Sheets now has eight home runs this season.

The Sox got five decent innings from starter Carlos Rodon (11-5), who struck out five and walked one, while allowing only one run on five hits.

Rodon threw 77 pitches in his second start back from the injured list. He didn't have his peak velocity -- he was throwing 95 mph, which is not too shabby, but we often see Rodon sit at 97 with his fastball. He didn't have his best slider, either, but hey, these are the last-place Pirates, and he had enough to get his job done.

Once again, the Sox bullpen was a little suspect. Aaron Bummer gave up a solo home run in the seventh inning, and the Pirates also scratched across a run in the eighth against the combination of Ryan Tepera and Liam Hendriks.

But, Hendriks stranded two runners to close out the eighth, then worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his 31st save of the season. Ultimately, Hendriks needed only 18 pitches to record five outs, but it's kind of annoying the Sox are having so much trouble getting the eighth inning covered.

That's still an issue that must be sorted out over the next month.

The Sox are a season-high 22 games over .500 at 78-56.

Tim Anderson headed to the IL, other White Sox roster moves

Tim Anderson

Rosters expand from 26 to 28 on Sept. 1, and the White Sox made six roster moves Wednesday ahead of their game against the Pittsburgh Pirates:

1. Shortstop Tim Anderson was placed on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain. The move is retroactive to Aug. 29.
2. Pitcher Matt Foster was recalled from Triple-A Charlotte.
3. Outfielder Billy Hamilton was activated from the 10-day injured list.
4. Infielder/outfielder Jake Lamb was designated for assignment.
5. Infielder Romy Gonzalez was added to the 40-man roster and called up from Triple-A Charlotte.
6. First baseman Gavin Sheets was recalled from Triple-A Charlotte.

Now for a few thoughts on these moves.

First off, the Sox must have a healthy Anderson in October if they have any hope of advancing in the playoffs. This whole business of him being available for a couple of games, then needing a couple of days off has been both annoying and concerning. It's a good decision to sit him down for 10 days and let him get right. 

Adam Engel is still rehabbing a shoulder injury, so it's good to see Hamilton back on the roster. His defensive skills are needed as a backup center fielder. The Sox probably aren't going to play Luis Robert every single day in center field, so Hamilton can handle that position when Robert takes a day off. And Hamilton can do that job better than Brian Goodwin or Leury Garcia can.

Gonzalez has had a terrific season split between Double-A Birmingham and Triple-A Charlotte. Between the two levels, he has batted .275/.357/.525 with 23 homers in 335 at-bats. He needed to be added to the 40-man roster by this offseason, or else he would be subject to the Rule 5 draft. Gonzalez has played every position except pitcher and catcher, and with Garcia hitting free agency at the end of the season, this is an opportunity to see if Gonzalez can play the same role as Garcia for less money.

Lamb has hit only .179 with one home run in 12 games in August. Sheets can probably do a better job as the left-handed bat off the bench. I'm just surprised the Sox are OK with Sheets sitting on the bench in Chicago, as opposed to playing every day in Charlotte. There aren't a lot of at-bats available at DH or at first base, although Sheets (much like Lamb) can masquerade as a right fielder for a game here or there.

The one thing Lamb can do that Sheets cannot is play third base. However, with Garcia, Gonzalez and Danny Mendick all on the 28-man roster, there are other options to back up Yoan Moncada. That makes Lamb expendable.

Oh joy, another round of White Sox injuries

Lucas Giolito

Just when you thought the White Sox were getting healthy for the first time in 2021, Tuesday brought another round of injury concerns.

It turns out that shortstop Tim Anderson's day off on Sunday wasn't just a day off. He's still having a problem with his hamstring. He wasn't in the lineup Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Pirates, and he is not expected to play Wednesday. Thursday is a day off, so maybe Anderson can be ready by this weekend's series against the Kansas City Royals. If not, perhaps a stint on the 10-day injured list is in order.

Pitcher Lance Lynn is on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Aug. 28. He has right knee inflammation, and he is expected to miss one start. Utility player Danny Mendick was recalled from Triple-A Charlotte to take Lynn's place on the roster.

And pitcher Lucas Giolito left Tuesday night's game in the fifth inning with left hamstring tightness. Giolito slipped on the grass while fielding a grounder in between the mound and home plate. He threw four more pitches -- three of them out of the zone -- before exiting.

Final line on Giolito: 4.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 Ks, 4 BBs.

Here's the good news: The Sox were playing the last-place Pirates, so they won 4-2 behind 4.2 innings of scoreless bullpen work.

Ryan Tepera allowed an inherited runner to score, but closed out the fifth without further damage. Michael Kopech, Aaron Bummer, Craig Kimbrel and Liam Hendriks all pitched a scoreless inning. Kopech got the win to improve to 4-2, while Hendriks secured his 30th save.

Jose Abreu hit his 28th home run of the season, and Yasmani Grandal hit his 18th homer. The Sox broke a 2-2 tie in the sixth with two runs, one on a bases-loaded walk by Brian Goodwin, the other on a sacrifice fly by Leury Garcia. 

The Sox are 77-56, and they still lead the AL Central by 10 games with 29 games left in the season. Cross another day off the calendar, and turn the page to September. The Sox still have another month to get as healthy as possible before October.

Yasmani Grandal's return and other crosstown series thoughts

Yasmani Grandal

Sometimes it's amazing the difference one player can make. The White Sox lineup just looks better now that Yasmani Grandal has returned from the injured list.

Give the veteran catcher full credit: He came back ready to hit. In a three-game weekend series against the Cubs, Grandal went 6 for 10 with three home runs, a double and 10 RBIs. 

The Sox (76-56) won two of three games from their crosstown rivals. They are 5-1 against the Cubs this season and captured the Crosstown Cup for the first time since 2016.

With Grandal's return, the Sox lineup is now seven batters deep. The only two weak spots are second baseman Cesar Hernandez, and whoever manager Tony La Russa puts in right field. But once Adam Engel comes off the injured list, La Russa will have more options, and he can mitigate that weakness by selecting a player who has a platoon advantage -- and by batting that player at the bottom of the lineup with Hernandez.

In the meantime, a top seven of Tim Anderson, Luis Robert, Jose Abreu, Eloy Jimenez, Yoan Moncada, Grandal and Andrew Vaughn looks pretty good. All seven of those batters are above league average at their respective positions. 

For the first time all season, the gang is all here, so now it's up to the players to get the job done.

Cease continues strong second half

In this weekend series, the Sox got two weak starts from Dallas Keuchel and Lance Lynn. The Sox overcame the poor performance by Keuchel on Friday night, but they were unable to come from behind twice in a row after Lynn dug them a big hole Saturday night.

Enter Dylan Cease on Sunday, and he dominated the Cubs the way a good pitcher should in a 13-1 victory. 

The right-hander went six innings, striking out 11 and walking only two. He allowed one run on four hits. 

Cease now leads the Sox both in wins (11) and strikeouts (188), and he has allowed three earned runs or less in 10 consecutive starts. During that span, he has lowered his ERA from 4.14 to 3.82.

By contrast, Keuchel is 1-4 with a 7.42 ERA in his past eight starts. Unless something drastically changes in September, it's clear that Cease deserves a spot on the playoff roster over Keuchel.

Cubs fans with short memories

I've seen a lot of comments on social media where Cubs fans have complained about Sox fans rubbing their noses in it after a lopsided crosstown series.

Me personally, I don't feel like bragging too much about the Sox punishing the Cubs. After all, the Cubs stink, and the Sox should be dominating them. That said, I don't blame any Sox fan who wants to stick his or her middle finger in the face of a Cubs fan right now.

It wasn't so long ago that the roles were reversed -- the Cubs were contending, and the Sox were losing almost every day and tanking for draft position. During that period, Cubs fans had absolutely no problem chirping at me when their team was pounding the bejesus out of Carson Fulmer and lighting up James Shields.

In 2018, I couldn't wear my Sox hat out in public without some haughty Cubs fan telling me how much the Sox sucked. I could write a whole blog entry about the smart-ass comments I endured around town that summer.

Now the roles are reversed, and some Cubs fans are expecting Sox fans to lay off them because the "Cubs are not even trying to win." True enough, but the 2018 Sox lost 100 games and started the season by dropping 27 out of their first 36, including the aforementioned two shellackings against the Cubs. Do you think the Sox were "trying to win" then? I would argue not.

Cubs fans weren't nice to Sox fans when we were down, so why should Sox fans take it easy on Cubs fans now? It's apparent that some of these Cubbie faithful have forgotten how they acted when their team was winning. Time to move out of the glass house, folks.

Carlos Rodon picks up victory in return from injured list

Carlos Rodon

White Sox left-hander Carlos Rodon returned to the mound for the first time since Aug. 7 on Thursday, he was effective.

Rodon (10-5) went five innings, allowing two runs on five hits, and picked up the victory as the Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 10-7, in the finale of a four-game series and a seven-game road trip.

Even though Rodon was not overpowering -- he struck out only three -- he was reasonably efficient. He tossed 67 pitches, 46 of them for strikes. When Rodon left the game, some fans on social media were upset that he wasn't allowed to continue.

Personally, I was fine with pulling Rodon. The score was 9-2 in favor of the Sox at that point, and I didn't see any point in wasting Rodon's arm on this particular game, especially coming off the shoulder soreness he experienced after his previous start.

You would like to think the bullpen would handle those 12 outs with a big lead fairly easily, but this is the Sox bullpen we're talking about, and somebody new fails every day.

This time, it was Michael Kopech's turn to fail, as he was pounded for five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. That brought the Blue Jays within two runs at 9-7, but things stabilized for the Sox from there. Ryan Tepera, Garrett Crochet and Craig Kimbrel all worked scoreless innings to close it out, with Kimbrel getting his first save since joining the Sox.

But the bigger story was the Sox offense, which was productive for the first time in a long time. The Sox are 33-5 in games where they hit two home runs or more, and they hit four in this game -- Cesar Hernandez, Luis Robert, Jose Abreu and Eloy Jimenez went deep.

Tim Anderson went 3 for 5 with two RBIs, and Leury Garcia was 2 for 3 with two runs scored and two RBIs. Garcia, who just returned from the concussion IL, gave the Sox a lift with a 6-for-11 series against the Blue Jays.

The Sox are 74-55. They finish this 14-game stretch against winning teams with a 7-7 record. Their AL Central lead is nine going into a weekend series with the crosstown Cubs.