Yoan Moncada didn't get a hit in his White Sox debut, but he didn't make a fool out of himself either. He also didn't save the slumping Sox from getting run over by the Los Angeles Dodgers, who collected their 11th consecutive win and 31st win in their past 35 games with a 9-1, rain-shortened victory.
Moncada went 0 for 2 with a walk, and it was a well-earned walk. After quickly falling behind 0-and-2 in his first at-bat, he ended up seeing nine pitches before taking his base against Dodgers starter Kenta Maeda.
In the fourth inning, Moncada just missed extra bases with a line drive down the right-field line that landed foul. He ended up grounding out to first base. In his third and final at-bat, he lined out to center field on a 2-0 pitch.
Nothing wrong with those ABs. The first hit will come soon enough.
We can't say there was nothing wrong with Carlos Rodon's performance. The left-hander didn't make it out of the fourth inning and gave up four home runs, resulting in five Los Angeles runs. Yuck.
Relievers Chris Beck and David Holmberg provided little relief, combining to allow four runs in the sixth inning. The rains came in the eighth inning, and mercifully, the game was called.
Looking for positives? Hey, Melky Cabrera continues to swing the bat well. He hit a solo home run in the first inning for the only Sox run. He's probably hoping some team in contention is eager to acquire his services.
The folks who are gung-ho about the rebuild have been chatting about how the "fun starts today" with Moncada's call-up. Not really. This game wasn't fun. The Sox are 38-54, and it's hard to fathom them getting much more than 25 wins out of the remaining 70 games.
Does Moncada give us one other player to watch and talk about? You bet. Say what you will about rebuilding, but nothing changes the fact that this is hard to watch, and there are several dark days still in front of the Sox from now until the end of the season.
2018 is going to be even worse than 2017. 2019 won't be bright either. The future might brighten in 2020, but a lot of work still needs to be done to get there. Fun this ain't.
ReplyDeleteFor grins I decided to check each team's amateur draft results for rounds 1-3 from 2001-2011 (Kenny Williams' tenure, even though I still think Rick Hahn did not have true GM responsibility until 2016.)
For success, I considered any player that had 2000 at bats or 300 innings pitched in the major leagues. So this includes solid backup position players and middle relievers.
FOUR. (Worst of all 30 teams.)
Gio Gonzalez, Gordon Beckham, Chris Sale, and Addison Reed.
And this during a time when they spent very little in Latin America and actually were penalized by a corrupt member of the organization in Latin America.
That ineptitude is what is causing the dark times of 2017-2019. Rick Hahn is making high-risk trades and none of those may produce much, but at least he is incorporating a draft strategy that complements those moves rather than doubling down on them. The "fun" is knowing that the organization is finally trying something different.
I get really annoyed when people try to tell me that this will all pay off in 2019. BS. Aside from Moncada, Lopez is the only highly regarded prospect who is close. 2018 will be dark days. Best-case scenario, the clouds start to lift in 2020.
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