White Sox trade Garrett Crochet to Boston for 4 prospects

Stop me if you've heard this one before: The White Sox traded an ace left-handed starter to the Boston Red Sox for four prospects.

We all remember when Chris Sale was traded on Dec. 6, 2016, to kick off the last rebuild. That didn't work out so well, so we're all left to hope this latest move works a little better.

The Sox sent Garrett Crochet to the Red Sox on Wednesday, in exchange for Kyle Teel, Braden Montgomery, Chase Meidroth and Wikelman Gonzalez.

You won't get any excitement about prospects from me. Until I see some guys become productive players in Chicago, I'm going to cast a cynical eye toward this move. I've been burned before. That said, here's what we know about the four players acquired:

Teel: The left-handed-hitting catcher is a consensus top 30 prospect in baseball, and he was ranked the No. 4 prospect in the Boston system. A first-round selection in the 2023 draft, the 22-year-old started last season at Double-A Portland, where he batted .299/.390/.462 with 11 homers and 60 RBIs in 84 games. That earned him a promotion to Triple-A Worcester, where the numbers were more modest in a smaller sample: .255/.374/.343 with two homers and 18 RBIs in 28 games.

Teel is an athletic player with a strong arm, and he's described as a good enough receiver that he should be able to stay behind the plate, although he has played some games at corner outfield positions. Note the high on-base percentage at both levels last season. Teel isn't projected to have big power, but we know the Sox have a need for batters who can get on base.

Montgomery: A first-round pick (12th overall) in the 2024 draft, the 21-year-old outfielder has yet to make his professional debut because of a gruesome ankle injury suffered in the College World Series in June. He was the fifth-ranked prospect in the Boston system.

A switch-hitter, Montgomery is a power prospect who projects as a corner outfielder -- most likely right field, as he possesses enough arm strength to play there. He batted .322/.454/.733 with 27 homers and 85 RBIs for Texas A&M University last spring. Most of his power comes from the left side of the plate, so if you want to dream, we know left-handed power plays well at Guaranteed Rate Field.

The question, of course, is how Montgomery recovers from the ankle injury. He's expected to be ready for spring training. We'll see. Again, note the on-base percentage.

Meidroth: The 23-year-old infielder is likely the closest to major league ready of any player the Sox acquired in this deal. Meidroth spent 2024 at Triple-A Worcester, where he batted .293/.407/.401 with seven homers, 57 RBIs and 13 stolen bases. He was the No. 11 player in the Boston system.

Again, note the on-base percentage. Meidroth drew 105 walks during the 2024 season, and he struck out in only 12.7% of his plate appearances. Expect a lot contact, but probably not a lot of hard contact. Meidroth has played second base, shortstop and third base, with his most likely long-term home being second base.

Hey, the Sox have a gaping hole at second base! Getting traded to Chicago might be this kid's lucky day.

Gonzalez: The right-handed pitcher was the No. 14 prospect in the Boston system. Gonzalez, 22, has a fastball that tops out at 98 mph, but to quote Lou Brown, somebody better teach this kid some control before he kills somebody. He walked 46 guys in 83.2 innings at Double-A Portland in 2024. 

Gonzalez went 4-3 with a 4.73 ERA in 24 games, 19 of them starts. The book on him is he throws fastball, slider, change. The slider is a relatively new pitch, and if he can harness it, maybe he sticks as a starter. If not, he's destined for the bullpen.

And he's Venezuelan, which means Ozzie Guillen will love him!

There you have it. That's the best I can do to put a positive spin on the trade. As they always say, it will be years before we can fully judge it. We can fully judge the Sale trade now. It stunk. Hope this one is better.

White Sox November roster moves so far

The Moncada bobblehead is a candidate for the dustbin of history.

Let's catch up on some of the roster moves the White Sox have made since the season ended:

Declined the $25 million contract option on Yoan Moncada. The oft-injured third baseman played in only 12 games for the Sox in 2024, during which he totaled zero home runs and zero RBIs. Moncada played eight seasons on the South Side, and only two of them were good (2019 and 2021). He never made an All-Star appearance. He never won a Gold Glove. The Sox never won a playoff series during his tenure. So, no, he didn't live up to the hype that comes with being the No. 1 prospect in baseball. Moncada's departure means there is nobody left on the team from the Chris Sale trade. Call it vindication for those of us who hated that trade from the start.

Declined the $7.5 million contract option on Max Stassi. Did you even know this 33-year-old catcher was even on the team this season? No? Me neither. Stassi missed the whole season with a hip injury. He had surgery in June. Chances are he's played his last game in the majors.

Relievers Jimmy Lambert and Matt Foster decline outright assignments, elect free agency. More ties were cut with the walking wounded here. Lambert, 29, didn't pitch in 2024 with a rotator cuff injury. He had season-ending surgery in August. Foster, 29, started the year on the injured list after undergoing Tommy John surgery in April 2023. He returned in August and made six appearances, but a back injury shut him down. He underwent back surgery Sept. 25. These are two more guys you might not see in the majors again.

Claimed pitcher Penn Murfee off waivers from Houston. It's the first dumpster dive of the offseason! Murfee, 30, had Tommy John surgery in July 2023 and missed the entire 2024 season. He pitched in a combined 80 games over two years with the Seattle Mariners -- 64 appearances in 2022 and 16 games before the elbow injury in 2023. He's 5-2 with a 2.70 ERA in his career, so if he can regain his health, well, I guess he becomes a leverage option on what figures to be a subpar 2025 Sox team.

Nicky Lopez and Sammy Peralta decline outright assignments, elect free agency. Lopez, who will turn 30 before the start of the 2025 season, was a Gold Glove finalist at second base. However, he ultimately doesn't have the bat to hold down a starting position, as evidenced by his .241/.312/.294 slash line with the 2024 Sox. If you can't *slug* .300, then you shouldn't be an everyday player. Given that Lopez would be due more than $5 million in arbitration, it doesn't make sense to retain him as a bench option, either. You can find utility players for a lot less money. Heck, if Lopez can't find work elsewhere, he might come back to the Sox for far less money. Peralta, 26, posted a 4.80 ERA over nine relief appearances in 2024. He is a forgettable left-handed reliever. The Sox have other internal options who were ahead of him.

Lucas Giolito, Chris Sale joining new teams

Lucas Giolito

Erase the idea of Lucas Giolito coming back to the White Sox on a one-year prove-it deal. The 29-year-old right-hander did better than that on the open market, securing a two-year contract worth $38.5 million from the Boston Red Sox.

Giolito will earn $18 million in 2024, with an option to get out of the deal next winter. He will receive a $1 million buyout if he opts out. His 2025 salary will be $19 million if he opts in.

If he opts in, that activates a conditional option covering 2026. If Giolito throws fewer than 140 innings in 2025, the Red Sox have a $14 million team option for 2026. If Giolito tops 140 innings, there's a $19 million mutual option. Buyouts in either case would total $1.5 million.

Giolito had a bizarre 2023 campaign. The White Sox traded him to the Los Angeles Angels in late July. Eventually, the Angels placed him on waivers, where he was claimed by Cleveland. He finished his season with the Guardians. Here's how he fared with each of the three teams:

• White Sox: 6-6 with a 3.79 ERA over 20 starts; 134 Ks in 121 IP.
• Angels: 1-5 with a 6.89 ERA over 6 starts; 34 Ks in 32.2 IP.
• Guardians: 1-4 with a 7.04 ERA over 6 starts; 39 Ks in 30.2 IP.

Would you believe it if I told you Giolito allowed 41 home runs over 184.1 innings last season? Forty-one!

But here's the funny thing: He allowed 20 of those homers over his 21 starts with Chicago. That home run rate is certainly higher than one might like, but that's nothing until you consider that Giolito allowed 21(!) homers in his combined 12 starts with the Angels and Guardians.

Indeed, this is the rare player who got WORSE when he left the White Sox. He couldn't keep the ball in the yard with the Angels or Guardians. What does that mean for him pitching with Boston and the short porch in left field at Fenway Park? We shall see.

What we do know is Giolito will not be teammates with former Sox ace Chris Sale, who was traded from Boston to Atlanta for infielder Vaughn Grissom. Sale waived his no-trade clause, and Boston included $17 million in the deal to help the Braves cope with Sale's $27.5 million salary for this upcoming season.

Around here, we're not too interested in the composition of the Atlanta rotation, but I do think this move means the Braves are OUT on any potential deal for Sox right-hander Dylan Cease. Atlanta just wasn't going to give up multiple prospects to fortify its pitching staff, and it didn't have to do that in order to acquire Sale.

If you're still thinking Cease will be on the move this offseason, potential suitors might include the Red Sox, as well as the Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees or Cincinnati Reds.

A few notable numbers as White Sox play out string

There's no need to report everything that's going on with the White Sox as they play out the string in a miserable 2023 season. But here are a few notable things that have happened recently:

• Mike Clevinger pitched all six innings of Sunday's rain-shortened 3-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox. The right-hander gave up two runs on five hits, and he neither struck out nor walked a batter. This is notable because it's the fifth straight start for Clevinger without a walk. He should get one more start before the season ends. The last time a Sox pitcher went six straight starts without a walk? That was LaMarr Hoyt in his 1983 Cy Young-winning season. Clevinger is 9-8 with a 3.40 ERA this year.
• I was talking baseball with some people at a party Saturday afternoon, and a Sox fan who is in his 70s asked me, "How many hit batters do they have this season? My whole life, I've never seen a pitching staff hit so many batters." I guessed, "More than 70," then went about the business of looking it up. Turns out, the Sox had hit 88 batters as of Saturday afternoon. Well, Clevinger hit two Boston batters on Sunday. That makes 90 hit batsmen, and yes, that is a new team record.
• Dylan Cease had perhaps his best outing of the season Saturday in a 1-0 victory over Boston. He went seven innings, allowing no runs on six hits. He struck out 11 and did not issue a walk. During this performance, Cease cleared the 200-strikeout mark for the third straight season. He has 207 strikeouts this year, after posting 226 strikeouts in 2021 and 227 strikeouts in 2022. Cease becomes only the third pitcher in Sox history to compile 200 or more strikeouts in three different years. The others are Chris Sale, who did it four times from 2013-16, and Ed Walsh, who holds the franchise record with five such years (1907-08, 1910-12).
• In that 1-0 victory, the winning run scored in the top of the ninth inning on Luis Robert Jr.'s 38th home run of the season. With six games to play, Robert still has an outside shot at reaching both 40 doubles and 40 home runs for the season -- he has 36 doubles. The All-Star center fielder also collected his 20th stolen base of the year in Sunday's win. Unfortunately, Robert slid awkwardly in the wet dirt and had to leave the game with right knee soreness. Hopefully, he'll be able to return to the lineup Tuesday against the Arizona Diamondbacks and continue his pursuit of the 40-homer mark.
• The Sox won two of three in Boston despite only scoring six runs in the three-game series. Man, this offense is sleepy. The Sox are 60-96. They will need a 3-3 homestand to avoid a 100-loss season. 

Lucas Giolito's no-hitter highlights White Sox's thrashing of Pirates

Lucas Giolito

"To right field, Adam Engel ... is there! A no-hitter! The 19th in White Sox history!"

That was TV broadcaster Jason Benetti's call of the final out of Lucas Giolito's no-hitter Tuesday night, as the White Sox defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-0. The South Siders also won Wednesday, homering four times to beat Pittsburgh, 10-3, and complete a two-game sweep.

But the story of the series was Giolito, who struck out 13 for his second outing in a row. He allowed only one Pittsburgh batter to reach base Tuesday, a leadoff walk to Erik Gonzalez in the top of the fourth inning. Giolito threw 101 pitches, 74 of them for strikes.

Here are some other notes from the no-hitter:

• The no-hitter is only the fourth in the 29-year history of New Comiskey Park/U.S. Cellular Field/Guaranteed Rate Field. Giolito's is the first thrown by a right-handed pitcher. Mark Buehrle threw no-hitters in 2007 and 2009, the second of which was a perfect game. Francisco Liriano no-hit the Sox in 2011 as a member of the Minnesota Twins.
• Giolito's no-hitter is the first for the Sox since 2012, when Philip Humber pitched a perfect game against the Seattle Mariners.
• Giolito's 13 strikeouts are the most for any Sox pitcher in a no-hitter. The previous high was set by Humber, who had nine.
• Among the 101 pitches, Pittsburgh batters swing and missed 30 times. Giolito recorded the most swinging strikes by a Sox pitcher during the pitch tracking era, which began in 1988. Chris Sale had the previous high with 29.
• Giolito nearly tied a record for most swinging strikes in a no-hitter. The record is 31, and Nolan Ryan set that mark in 1990.
• Gonzalez lined out to Engel on a 0-2 fastball to end the game. The final out had a hit probability of 85%, the highest of any ball put in play by Pittsburgh the whole game. It's fortunate the Sox had Engel, an excellent defender, in right field instead of Nomar Mazara.

With the win, the Sox now are 19-12, tied with the Cleveland Indians for second place in the AL Central, a half-game back of the Minnesota Twins (20-12).

It's quite a three-team race with 29 games to go. The Sox have an off day Thursday, before facing the Kansas City Royals in a three-game weekend set at Guaranteed Rate Field.

White Sox select left-handed pitcher Garrett Crochet in first round

Garrett Crochet

As expected, I had no idea what I was talking about when I mentioned five players that the White Sox could draft with the No. 11 overall pick in Wednesday's MLB Draft.

The Sox, of course, selected none of those five players. They took left-handed pitcher Garrett Crochet out of the University of Tennessee.

I'm cool with taking a left-handed pitcher, even though Reid Detmers was my preference. Detmers was off the board when the Sox picked, however. He went No. 10 overall to the Los Angeles Angels.

When Crochet was chosen, the MLB Network guys compared him to Chris Sale. Um, OK.

I think there is some sort of rule that every player who gets picked in the first round has to be compared to someone who is a perennial All-Star, or somebody who is in the Hall of Fame. But I digress.

Crochet is a low-arm slot lefty with durability concerns. He's missed time in each of the past two seasons, with a broken jaw and then a sore shoulder. To be fair, the broken jaw came as a result of a line drive being hit right back at him, and what's a pitcher to do about that? That's just bad luck.

In any case, Crochet has the tools. His fastball sits at 96-100 mph, with the second-highest spin rate of any pitcher in the draft class. His slider is 70-grade, and it wipes out left-handed hitters. He's also got a changeup that he probably hasn't had to use much at Tennessee.

That actually sounds a little like Carlos Rodon when he came out of college. I'm not going to make the Sale comp, because Sale has three dominant pitches that he can throw for strikes in any count. Who has that? Not many people.

Crochet doesn't have great fastball command, and it's a pity he didn't get a chance to work on that this spring with the college baseball season being canceled.

Here's one way we might be able to draw a comparison between Crochet and Sale: Don't be surprised if Crochet comes to the big leagues quickly ... as a reliever. He's 6-foot-6, 220 pounds, and with his velocity and plus slider, he could probably pitch in certain situations out of the bullpen relatively quick. Given his arm angle and big body, he looks like a nightmare for lefty hitters.

Of course, with a first-round draft pick, you want more that just a situational pitcher. You want a cornerstone for your starting rotation. We'll see how the Sox plan to develop Crochet over the next year to 18 months.

Chris Sale: Best strikeout-to-walk ratio among those with 2,000 or more Ks

Chris Sale

Boston Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale is out for 2020, if the season happens, after undergoing Tommy John surgery. But, of course, I never miss an opportunity to mention my favorite former White Sox pitcher of all-time, so ...

I was reading Baseball Digest recently when I learned that Sale has the best strikeout-to-walk ratio of all-time among pitchers with at least 2,000 career strikeouts.

Sale reached that career milestone in 2019, despite having a down and injury-plagued season.

Here is that leaderboard. Four of the top seven pitchers are active:

1. *Sale: 2,007 Ks, 374 BBs, 5.37 ratio
2. Curt Schilling: 3,116 Ks, 711 BBs, 4.38 ratio
3. *Max Scherzer: 2,692 Ks, 618 BBs, 4.36 ratio
4. *Clayton Kershaw: 2,464 Ks, 577 BBs, 4.27 ratio
5. Pedro Martinez: 3,154 Ks, 760 BBs, 4.15 ratio
6. Dan Haren: 2,013 Ks, 500 BBs, 4.03 ratio
7. *Zack Greinke: 2,622 Ks, 667 BBs, 3.93 ratio

*active player

Remembering Ed Farmer (1949-2000), White Sox pitcher and broadcaster

My favorite memory of Ed Farmer involves a day when I never actually saw him: Aug. 20, 2016.

My girlfriend, Jen, and I had tickets to a ballgame between the White Sox and the Oakland Athletics. We were sitting at ChiSox Bar & Grill on 35th Street eating dinner before the game, when the restaurant manager approached us and asked if we'd like a ticket upgrade.

Umm ... sure!

Turns out Farmer didn't have anyone to take his tickets that day, so he told the restaurant manager to give them to people who looked like true Sox fans. Well, I'd like to think we qualify, and we ended up sitting right behind the Sox's dugout for that game.

We had an awesome view of Chris Sale tossing eight innings of three-hit, shutout ball as the Sox defeated Oakland, 6-2, that night. Somewhat amusingly, Ross Detwiler -- current Sox roster filler -- took the loss for the Athletics after giving up six runs on 10 hits over four innings.

Thanks for the great seats, Ed! I've never forgotten it!

Sadly, Farmer died Wednesday night at his home in Calabasas, Calif. He was 70 years old.

I could tell you about how Farmer was a native South Sider who grew up dreaming of playing at Comiskey Park, and how those dreams came true during an 11-year playing career that included an All-Star Game appearance in 1980 as a member of the Sox.

And I could tell you about his long broadcasting career with the Sox, which began in 1991 and continued until spring training this year, when Farmer had to step aside because of his declining health.

But instead of listening to me babble, let's hear from Farmer in his own words about a life in baseball:

RIP, Ed. Your activities here will not be forgotten.

Rick Hahn continues to talk like a lawyer at SoxFest

Rick Hahn

Maybe I'm a bad White Sox fan. I won't allow general manager Rick Hahn to have his "victory lap."

I don't care if he "won the offseason." Until the team has a winning season *on the field* under his leadership, I'm not going to give him credit for much of anything.

So, I wasn't of the mindset to give him his round of applause at SoxFest this weekend. I didn't boo him when he was introduced, but I didn't cheer him either.

And I didn't lob him a softball question during the town hall with him and manager Rick Renteria on Friday night at McCormick Place.

When I stood before the crowd, I noted the Sox have a top-heavy farm system. The top four prospects -- Luis Robert, Michael Kopech, Andrew Vaughn and Nick Madrigal -- all are quite good. So good that we expect to see three of the four in Chicago this season. Then, there's a steep drop-off.

Quick, can you name the No. 5 prospect in the Sox organization?

My question for Hahn on this topic was twofold. First, is he concerned that he won't have the prospect capital to get the "finishing piece" at the trading deadline, should the moon and stars align and the Sox find themselves in contention going into the second half of the season?

Second, is it a point of organizational emphasis to improve in the draft? After all, most of these top young players we're talking about have been acquired one of two ways -- through the trades of topnotch major league talent, or tanking to get a high draft pick.

If this rebuild is truly going to work, don't the Sox have to hit on more of their second- and third-round picks?

Hahn basically told me he's not concerned about either of these things. He feels the lack of minor league depth is mostly attributable to injuries. It is true that several prospects have had injuries, including Dane Dunning, Zack Burdi, Jimmy Lambert and Luis Basabe.

The general manager expressed optimism that as guys get healthy, the system will prove to be much deeper than it seems. I'd like to believe that, but with the track record the Sox have, I'm not going to believe it until I see it. Citing injuries is always an irrefutable argument. It's not as if we can deny that they occurred.

On the second point, Hahn noted that a recent report found that the Sox rank second in all of baseball for the decade of 2010-19 in terms of WAR by drafted players. This is true, but let's understand that most of that WAR is tied up in just a handful of guys.

Chris Sale's career WAR is 45. Marcus Semien's career WAR is 20, and while he's a former Sox draft pick, he didn't blossom until he was traded to Oakland. Tim Anderson's career WAR is 10. Nobody else the Sox have drafted in the past decade has a career WAR above 6. For the record, the oft-injured Carlos Rodon is the next-best guy on this list.

Does that sound like a good draft record to you?

Once again, top-heavy, a few big hits, but a lot of misses. Hahn insisted his draft guys are doing their job. But for me, it's just unfortunate that Anderson is the only former Sox No. 1 draft pick who is actually helping at the big league level at present time. We need to see more of these homegrown guys come up and deliver. Let's hope Madrigal does that this season.

I'm sorry, but I can't help but be cynical about a GM whose record is 491–642 over seven seasons.

Do networks know the Boston Red Sox aren't going to make the playoffs?

Dave Dombrowski

The Boston Red Sox on Monday fired Dave Dombrowski, their president of baseball operations.

The move comes only 11 months after the Red Sox won 108 games and claimed the 2018 World Series championship. Boston has won the AL East the past three seasons, but it will not be repeating this year.

While the Red Sox were a respectable 79-64 entering Monday's play, they were 17.5 games behind the New York Yankees in the AL East. And, they were eight games out of a wild-card spot with two teams to pass. With only three weeks left in the regular season, they need a miracle to qualify for the 2019 postseason, and we don't believe in miracles here at The Baseball Kid.

So, Dombrowski was fired, because he's handed out some big contracts that didn't net Boston ownership a good return on investment, and he is no longer seen as the right guy to lead the Red Sox moving forward. Standards are high in Boston, and the tolerance for losing is low.

I can recite the Red Sox's problems chapter and verse:

1. Chris Sale has been a combination of injured and bad all season. He's out for the year with elbow inflammation.
2. Injuries have limited David Price to 22 starts this season.
3. Rick Porcello has had a terrible year, with an ERA up near 6.
4. Postseason hero Nathan Eovaldi was given a big contract as a reward, but he too has been injured and ineffective.
5. Craig Kimbrel and Joe Kelly, key Boston relievers a year ago, left the team via free agency. And while neither man has had a great season for their new teams, the Red Sox haven't had a reliable back end of the bullpen. No current Boston reliever has more than 11 saves.

Why do I know all this about the Red Sox? Because they are on TV all the time! On any day of the week, you can find Boston on one of the networks, and the announcers will inevitably touch on the five bullet points listed above.

The Red Sox are completing a four-game series Monday against the Yankees, and literally all four games were televised here -- in Chicago. MLB Network had the New York-Boston game on Friday Night Baseball and Monday Night Baseball.

The Saturday Game of the Week on FS1? Yep, New York at Boston.

Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN? Yep, New York at Boston.

Meanwhile, there were four weekend series in Major League Baseball that were more compelling and more vital to the playoff races: Indians-Twins, Nationals-Braves, Brewers-Cubs and Phillies-Mets.

I know the Red Sox are defending champions. I know they play in a big market. I know they are a TV draw. But can't these networks flex to some other games? This is September, and there is plenty of meaningful baseball being played, and this year it just doesn't involve Boston.

If the Red Sox were in it, Dombrowski probably wouldn't be getting fired.

White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito records 200th strikeout of the season

It's remarkable that right-hander Lucas Giolito has 14 wins in 26 starts this season, pitching for yet another terrible White Sox team.

Giolito's record dropped to 14-7 with a 3-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night, but very little of the blame for this defeat falls on him.

Sure, Giolito failed to duplicate the three-hit shutout he tossed against the Twins on Aug. 21 in Minneapolis, but his line in this latest start was still quite good. He went six innings, allowing two earned runs on only four hits. He struck out nine and walked three.

Giolito did give up two home runs in the second inning, one on a high fastball to Marwin Gonzalez and the other on a hanging slider to Jonathan Schoop. However, two runs allowed over six innings is good enough to win a lot of nights -- just not this night.

The Sox offense managed six hits -- five of them singles -- against Minnesota starter Michael Pineda (10-5) and four Twins relievers. A solo home run by Tim Anderson, his 14th of the season, provided the only run the Sox could muster.

So, Giolito suffered the loss despite pitching well, but on the bright side, he added his name to a short list of Sox pitchers who have recorded 200 or more strikeouts in a season. His strikeout total for 2019 now stands at 203 after Tuesday night.

Here are the other Sox hurlers to achieve this milestone:

Ed Walsh (1907-08, 1910-12)
Gary Peters (1964, 1967)
Wilbur Wood (1971)
Tom Bradley (1972)
Alex Fernandez (1996)
Esteban Loaiza (2003)
Javier Vazquez (2007-08)
Chris Sale (2013-16)

Giolito's accomplishment is remarkable when you consider he had only 125 strikeouts last season in 173.1 innings. This season, he's at 203 strikeouts in 157.2 innings.

This is just the latest benchmark that shows Giolito is perhaps the most improved player in all of baseball in 2019. Can you think of another player in the game who has taken this big of a step forward? I can't.

White Sox's pitching house of cards crumbles vs. Red Sox

Chris Sale

Here's one way to look at this weekend: The White Sox won one more game against the Boston Red Sox than expected. It turned out to be the first game of the four-games series, but oh, those three losses ...

They were as ugly as ugly gets.

The starting pitching is crumbling on the South Side of Chicago, and we still have 130 games to go. Carlos Rodon is out for an extended period. Ivan Nova is failing miserably as the veteran innings-eater. Ervin Santana already has been released.

Manny Banuelos is NOT the answer the Sox hoped he would be when they touted his skills at SoxFest in January, and once again, we're stuck with Dylan Covey as the most viable option to fill space.

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

Thursday, May 2
White Sox 6, Red Sox 4: Nicky Delmonico hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to turn a possible 4-3 loss into a Sox victory. And my main reaction was, "Well, at least they won't get swept."

Boston opened the door when third baseman Rafael Devers kicked a routine grounder hit by Jose Rondon. Yonder Alonso singled to move Rondon to third, and that set the table for Delmonico.

But, the one positive takeaway from this whole weekend, for me, was something else: Lucas Giolito looked competent on the mound in his first game back from the injured list. He worked five respectable innings, allowing three runs on seven hits. He struck out seven and walked two against a good lineup.

Obviously, we want more than five innings from Giolito his next time out, but this performance was encouraging.

Friday, May 3
Red Sox 6, White Sox 1: Chris Sale was 0-5 coming into this game. His velocity was down, he has a World Series hangover, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Whatever. That guy is still a great pitcher, and him being 0-5 just meant he was due for a win.

He's now 1-5 after blanked the Sox over six innings, striking out 10 and allowing only three hits. He kicked the Sox's asses fair and square, and that had to be satisfying for him.

Reynaldo Lopez (2-4) gave up a three-run homer to Devers in the top of the first inning, and that was all Sale would need.

Rondon pitched an inning of scoreless relief in the ninth for the Sox. I was scratching my head as to why a team with an eight-man bullpen was using an infielder to pitch in a five-run game. It was 6-1, not 15-2, you know?

Saturday, May 4
Red Sox 15, White Sox 2: About that 15-2 ... Banuelos retired the first eight men he faced. Then he gave up 10 straight hits as the Red Sox posted a nine-spot in the top of the third inning.

I actually felt bad for Banuelos, who should not have been left in the game that long. But the Sox have a taxed bullpen, so on and so forth, and they were trying to get a few more outs from him. Those outs simply weren't forthcoming.

Carson Fulmer appeared with his gas can and gave up five more runs in the fourth. He retired only one of the seven hitters he faced and walked three. After the game, Fulmer was mercifully sent back to Triple-A.

Here's the thing: If you can't throw strikes when there's no penalty for throwing strikes, such as when your team is down 9-1 in the fourth, you don't belong in the major leagues. Fulmer is a tremendous disappointment, being a former first-round draft pick.

Banuelos is a scrap-heap pickup who is being asked to handle more than he should. I have no bad feelings toward him. Rather, I have bad feelings toward those who erroneously believed he was a viable answer for this starting rotation.

Kelvin Herrera, a high-leverage reliever, finished this game instead of a position player, for some reason.

Sunday, May 5
Red Sox 9, White Sox 2: Covey did his job. I was hoping for four decent innings. He provided 4.2 decent innings, allowing two runs.

This game was tied at 2 through seven innings, and then Boston scored seven runs in the eighth against Herrera, Caleb Frare and Juan Minaya. (Yep, Minaya's back. Somebody had to take Fulmer's place. And maybe Herrera shouldn't have been wasting bullets Saturday.)

That Boston rally started with a clown shoes play that I'm not sure I can do justice. Devers hit one off the left-field fence, and Delmonico actually did a great job of playing the carom. He got the ball in quickly, holding Devers to a long single.

Problem is, Tim Anderson tried to catch Devers as he scrambled back to first, and he threw the ball away. As Devers broke for second, Jose Abreu retrieved the ball and decided he'd try to throw out the Boston runner. Instead, he chucked the ball into left field, allowing Devers to make third.

So, a one-out single turned into a Little League triple. Before you knew it, there were walks and hits and a grand slam by Xander Bogaerts, and the game was over.

There was a crowd of 36,553, more than on Opening Day. They were all still there when the eighth inning started. By the bottom of the eighth, there were about 6,000 there, and probably 5,000 of them were in Red Sox gear.

Oh well. Easier for me to get out of the parking lot, I guess. 

All this means the Sox got outscored 30-5 in the final three games of the series. Rick Hahn talks a lot about positioning the organization to "compete for multiple championships." He just got a lesson in how far away he truly is. 

How should White Sox fans feel about Chris Sale winning a World Series with the Boston Red Sox?

Chris Sale

The moment Chris Sale has been pitching for his whole life arrived Sunday night: He was summoned to the mound to pitch the bottom of the ninth inning, with the Boston Red Sox leading the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-1, in Game 5 of the World Series.

Sale needed to record three outs to secure Boston's fourth championship in 15 years. He did so in emphatic fashion, striking out all three Los Angeles batters he faced -- Justin Turner, Enrique Hernandez and Manny Machado.

Machado, who is a terrific player, was made to look like a fool, falling to one knee as he flailed helplessly at a devastating Sale slider for strike three.

It was a moment of mixed emotions for me as a White Sox fan, as I watched the former South Side ace, Sale, celebrate a world championship with his teammates. It wasn't so long ago that I had hoped Sale would be helping lead my favorite team to a title, but it didn't work out that way.

As we all know, the Sox traded Sale to Boston on Dec. 6, 2016, for four prospects, including current White Sox second baseman Yoan Moncada and pitcher Michael Kopech.

I'm legitimately happy for Sale, a fierce competitor who cares about nothing other than winning. He always was and remains one of my favorite MLB players. However, it's no secret that I don't care for haughty Red Sox fans, and that organization already has won plenty, so I can't say that I'm particularly happy for anyone else associated with Boston's team.

In fact, seeing Sale capture that World Series ring brought back all the feelings of disgust with the current White Sox front office, and its failings to put a competitive team around this great pitcher who now toils for the Red Sox.

Some of the more ardent rebuild supporters in the White Sox fan base firmly believe that history eventually will show that Chicago GM Rick Hahn got the upper hand in that 2016 trade with Boston.

They'll point out that while Moncada struggled in his first full season in the big leagues in 2018, he's only 23 years old, and time still is on his side. They'll point out that while Kopech will miss the entire 2019 season after Tommy John surgery, he has shown tremendous promise during a quick rise through the Chicago farm system. And, they'll point out that the third prospect in the deal, Luis Alexander Basabe, had a promising 2018 season at two different levels.

All those arguments can be made, and there is supporting evidence on each point. But here's something that is no longer in dispute: The Red Sox got exactly what they wanted out of that trade with Chicago.

There was Sale in the game with a championship on the line Sunday night, and he delivered. That's what he was acquired to do.

The dividends from that deal are obvious for the Red Sox. They are 2018 World Series champions. Meanwhile, the White Sox and their fans continue to hope and hope that the deal will pay dividends for them, too. Someday. Maybe.

Will it ever happen? It better.

Final Four: Dodgers vs. Brewers; Astros vs. Red Sox

Baseball's final four is set. We've got the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series, and the Houston Astros and the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship Series.

Who ya got?

I've got the Brewers in six in the NL. Milwaukee reminds me of the 2015 Kansas City Royals, and not just because they have Mike Moustakas and Lorenzo Cain in their starting lineup.

Much like that Kansas City team, it's hard to match the Brewers' bullpen depth. Milwaukee basically is playing a six-inning game with relievers such as Jeremy Jeffress, Josh Hader, Corey Knebel and even our old friend Joakim Soria pitching effectively out of the bullpen.

The Brewers have the one piece that nobody else has -- a dominant left-handed reliever who can get six outs if needed. That's Hader, and I expect him to be a difference-maker in this series, as he has been all season.

Hey, it's finally getting interesting in the AL! We've got the 108-win Red Sox and the 103-win Astros ready to do battle. There was almost no pennant race in the AL this season, with the five playoff positions basically secured by Sept. 1, and five teams in the league losing 95 or more games.

It just wasn't interesting, until now. We've got two super-teams going head-to-head here, and I'll take the defending champion Astros in 7.

I like Houston's pitching depth. As much as I like the Boston ace, Chris Sale, Houston ace Justin Verlander is just as good. And I'm not much of a fan of Boston's No. 2 pitcher, David Price, who always seems to struggle in the playoffs.

I question the Red Sox bullpen, too, especially after Craig Kimbrel had so much trouble closing out the Yankees in Game 4 of the ALDS.

It would be a huge disappointment in Boston if the Red Sox don't win the World Series after going 108-54, but I really think they are the underdogs in this series.

Houston, to me, looks poised to repeat.

Now that I've posted this, we'll probably end up with a  Red Sox-Dodgers World Series. If I know anything about baseball, it's that I know nothing about baseball.

Jose Abreu elected to start All-Star Game despite horrible slump

Jose Abreu

First baseman Jose Abreu will become the first White Sox position player to start for the American League All-Star team since Frank Thomas in 1996.

(The Sox have had three pitchers -- Esteban Loaiza, Mark Buehrle and Chris Sale -- start the midsummer classic in years since.)

I would be more excited for Abreu if he weren't in the midst of the worst slump of his normally consistent and admirable career. In fact, if we were having this conversation about Abreu on June 1, I would have wholeheartedly endorsed his candidacy to be the starting American League first baseman.

Through May, Abreu had posted a slash line of .298/.360/.522 with nine home runs and 19 doubles. Those figures basically are right on par with his career totals of .296/.353/.515.

However, you can't ignore his subpar June and horrible start to July.

Abreu is hitting only .175/.232/.289 over his past 30 games with just two home runs. At one point in time, he was on pace to set a new club record for doubles in a season, but as I type here July 9, Abreu has been stuck on 27 doubles since June 20. Over that same span, he only has two extra-base hits -- a home run on June 27 and a triple on July 1.

This prolonged slump has dragged his season slash line down to a very un-Abreu-like .259/.315/.448.

There have been a couple years in the past where perhaps Abreu should have gotten an All-Star start but did not, so maybe this is a bit of a makeup call, or a reward for career achievement.

And there's no question Abreu is benefiting from a weak crop of AL first basemen this year. Future Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera is out for the year. Eric Hosmer signed with the San Diego Padres last offseason and doesn't play in the American League anymore.

Who among AL first basemen really deserves the honor? Oakland's Matt Olson? Toronto's Justin Smoak? Both those men have good power numbers, but they are both .240 hitters. Boston's Mitch Moreland? I guess he's having a decent year, but does anyone really think he's a better player than Abreu?

I wouldn't say that any of these people are slam-dunk All-Stars, but somebody had to be chosen. Turns out Abreu got elected the starter, and Moreland was chosen as a reserve.

Hopefully, Abreu will find his swing sometime in the next week's worth of games. It would be nice to see him have a good showing July 17 in Washington.

White Sox pitchers keep on walking people

Joakim Soria

The White Sox walked the leadoff hitter with a one-run lead in the bottom of the eighth inning Thursday night and got away with it.

Undeterred, they walked the leadoff hitter with a one-run lead in the bottom of the ninth inning, too, and that time the Houston Astros made them pay, rallying for a 4-3 victory.

It capped a night full of walks by Sox pitchers. Carlos Rodon walked six over six innings, and somehow he managed to allow only two runs. Reliever Juan Minaya issued the aforementioned leadoff walk in the eighth, and closer Joakim Soria (0-3) walked two in the ninth and ended up taking the loss.

Walking opposing hitters has become a big part of the Sox's identity, and it's gotten beyond the point of frustration.

Sox pitchers lead the American League with 371 walks as a staff this season, and it's not close. Baltimore ranks a distant second with 308 walks.

This isn't a new problem either: The Sox led the American League with 632 walks issued during the 2017 season -- once again easily outdistancing the Orioles, who issued 579 walks.

Even in 2016, with Chris Sale and Jose Quintana anchoring the top of the rotation, the Sox's walk rate was too high. They were third in the league with 521 walks.

Handing out free baserunners to the opposition is not a recipe for success, especially because the Sox will never be confused with having a good defensive team. Between the walks and errors, self-inflicted wounds have contributed to most of the Sox's 57 losses this season (entering Friday's play).

I'm told that Don Cooper is one of the best pitching coaches in the game. I'm not sure I believe that bit of propaganda at this point, but if Cooper is so great, I call upon him to get the Sox pitching staff back in the strike zone with more frequency.

At the very least, the Sox need to make the opposition earn it more often.

White Sox right-hander Dylan Covey has turned back into a pumpkin

Remember that brief stretch of glory when people thought White Sox right-hander Dylan Covey was turning the corner as a major league pitcher?

In a period of five starts from May 23 to June 13, Covey went 3-0 with a 1.59 ERA. He beat Chris Sale and the Boston Red Sox, 1-0, on June 8 at Fenway Park. He backed that up with a 3-2 victory over Trevor Bauer and the Cleveland Indians on June 13 at Guaranteed Rate Field.

There was a glimmer of hope, but it looks as though those days are gone.

Covey has gotten shelled over his past four starts. He's 0-3 with a 13.20 ERA. He's allowed 23 runs (22 earned) on 21 hits over 15 innings. He's walked 13 men and struck out only four over that ugly stretch.

The latest Covey implosion occurred Wednesday night. He retired the first nine men he faced against the Cincinnati Reds and took a 3-0 lead into the fourth inning. But, it all went astray the second time through the batting order, as seven of the first eight Reds hitters reached base in the fourth inning.

By the time all was said and done, Covey was removed from the game without finishing the inning, and the Sox trailed, 6-3. They went out to lose, 7-4, and dropped two out of three against the NL Central-worst Reds.

Under normal circumstances, Covey's spot in the starting rotation would be in jeopardy after a horrible stretch such as this. However, with no obvious choice to replace him, chances are he remains in the mix for now.

In the meantime, let's get the notion out of our heads that Covey is going to be some sort of long-term fixture as a starting pitcher. I started to hear that from some Sox fans when Covey was pitching well, and I never bought it.

We need to call Covey what he is: roster filler. He's here until the Sox minor league system produces somebody better. Nothing more, nothing less.

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.