3 straight good outings for Jonathan Cannon

Jonathan Cannon received his first opportunity to pitch in the big leagues in April. It did not go well.

The 23-year-old right-hander made three starts for the White Sox during his initial recall, going 0-1 with a 7.24 ERA. He allowed 11 runs on 20 hits over 13.2 innings pitched.

He was sent back to Triple-A Charlotte, where he made a couple of changes to his grip on his sinker and changeup. The result has been more velocity on his sinker, and more downward action on his change.

Since being recalled to Chicago earlier this month, Cannon has had three straight good outings.

He earned his first career save June 7 against Boston, when he tossed three shutout innings with four strikeouts in a 7-2 win over the Red Sox.

Cannon returned to the starting rotation June 12 at Seattle. He threw seven innings of one-run ball, allowing only four hits -- including a solo home run in the seventh -- with seven strikeouts and one walk. That resulted in a no-decision as the Sox lost, 2-1, in 10 innings.

Then came Tuesday, when the former third-round draft pick fired 8.2 shutout innings against the Houston Astros. He allowed seven hits, but only one walk, with four strikeouts. Seventy of his 106 pitches were for strikes, and he picked up his first career win as the Sox prevailed, 2-0.

This game very easily could have been a complete-game shutout. Cannon retired the first two batters he faced in the top of the ninth inning, and he was one out away from finishing it off. Alas, a check-swing single by Jon Singleton and a ground ball with eyes off the bat of Mauricio Dubon put the tying runs on base for Houston with two outs.

At that point, Sox manager Pedro Grifol made a pitching change, with a chorus of boos cascading down upon him. Grifol has been rightfully criticized for many things, but this was the correct move. You don't let Cannon lose the game after how well he pitched, and John Brebbia is paid $5 million per season to get outs in relief.

Indeed, Brebbia retired Victor Caratini on a routine grounder to first base to earn his second save of the season.

Now, it's worth noting that Cannon faced a compromised Houston lineup that was missing its two biggest left-handed bats: Yordan Alvarez (personal reasons) and Kyle Tucker (leg contusion). It's also worth noting that it's only three outings, and all the usual caveats about small sample sizes apply.

But, Cannon is the first Sox pitching prospect to do much of anything with an opportunity so far in this lackluster season. Since his recall, he has an 0.52 ERA, and his season ERA is down to a respectable 3.34.

Is it possible that the changes he's made to his sinker and changeup will make him a viable big-league starter? Or is this just a hot streak from a fringe player?

At least it's something to monitor and talk about with the Sox (20-54) hopelessly buried in the standings.

Off-days not advantageous for White Sox

The White Sox did not play Monday. It is their 11th off-day of the season.

Seven of those 10 off-days were scheduled -- March 29, April 11, April 18, May 2, May 16, May 30 and June 3.

Three of those off-days occurred because of postponements -- April 3, April 16 and May 13.

Here are the results for the next game after each of those 10 off-days:

• March 30, 7-6 loss to Detroit
• April 4, 10-1 loss at Kansas City 
• April 12, 11-1 loss to Cincinnati
• April 17, 4-2 loss to Kansas City
• April 19, 7-0 loss at Philadelphia 
• May 3, 3-0 loss at St. Louis 
• May 14, 6-3 loss to Washington 
• May 17, 4-2 loss at N.Y. Yankees 
• May 31, 12-5 loss at Milwaukee
• June 4, 7-6 loss at Cubs 

Notice the pattern? Yes, it's 10 consecutive losses. The Sox are 0-10 the day after they've been given a day of rest. They've been outscored 71-26 in those games. 

Keep that in mind next time Sox announcer John Schriffen tries to tell you the team will benefit from a day off to "recharge the batteries."

The Sox will try to break this strange skid Tuesday, when they open a three-game series against the Houston Astros at Guaranteed Rate Field.

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.

Rangers slay Astros; Diamondbacks for Game 7

So, is it time to start talking about road-field advantage?

The Texas Rangers lost all three of their home games in the American League Championship Series, but they went 4-0 on the road. They knocked out the Houston Astros and advanced to the 2023 World Series with a 11-4 victory Monday night.

I have to admit, I wasn't feeling too good about Texas' chances after they lost Game 5 in dramatic fashion. Jose Altuve's 3-run homer in the ninth inning of that game lifted the Astros to a 5-4 win  -- and a 3-2 series lead.

But the Rangers answered big time as the series shifted back to Houston. They used a five-run ninth inning to blow open a tight game in Game 6, tying the series with a 9-2 victory. Adolis Garcia was 0 for 4 with four strikeouts until that ninth inning, when he delivered a grand slam that put the game out of reach.

Garcia continued his heroics in Game 7, going 4 for 5 with two homers and five RBIs. So, in his last six plate appearances of the series, he had five hits -- including three homers -- and nine RBIs. That's clutch.

Corey Seager and Nathaniel Lowe also homered for the Rangers in the deciding game. Texas scored three runs in the first inning, added one in the third and four in the fourth. The Rangers had an 8-2 lead by that point and never relinquished control.

Diamondbacks force NLCS Game 7

After the Philadelphia Phillies won Game 2 of the National League Championship Series, 10-0, I thought the Arizona Diamondbacks were dead.

I was wrong.

Arizona has since taken three of four games. The Diamondbacks tied the series at 3-all with a 5-1 victory in Philadelphia on Monday.

Phillies starter Aaron Nola had been 3-0 with a 0.96 ERA in these playoffs, but the Diamondbacks got to him for three runs in the second inning, highlighted by back-to-back home runs by Tommy Pham and Lourdes Gurriel Jr.

Arizona's Merrill Kelly tossed five innings of one-run ball, and four Diamondback relievers limited Philadelphia's offense to three singles over the last four innings. For a change, the Phillies did not homer, and that's the key to beating them -- keep them in the ballpark.

Game 7 is Tuesday night. Brandon Pfaadt is pitching for the Diamondbacks. The Phillies will counter with Ranger Suarez.

Texas Rangers take 2-0 series lead in ALCS

Coming into the American League Championship Series, the Texas Rangers were 8-32 in their previous 40 games at Houston.

That doesn't matter much now, does it?

The Rangers won each of the first two games of the ALCS in Houston, beating the Astros, 2-0, on Sunday night and following it up with a 5-4 victory on Monday.

Texas left-hander Jordan Montgomery outpitched Houston ace Justin Verlander in Sunday's matchup. Montgomery tossed 6.1 shutout innings, while Verlander gave up two runs over 6.2 innings.

On Monday, the Rangers jumped on Houston starter Framber Valdez for four runs in the first inning, then held on for dear life in the late innings. 

Nathan Eovaldi improved to 3-0 in the playoffs. He gave up three runs over six innings, but his big achievement was pitching out of a bases-loaded, no-outs jam in the bottom of the fifth. That was the moment you felt as though it was the Rangers' night.

Is it the Rangers' year? Well, they are 7-0 in the playoffs, including 6-0 on the road, and now they get to go home with a commanding lead in the ALCS. 

Texas beat the 101-win Baltimore Orioles in the Division Series as part of a remarkable group of upsets. The 90-win Philadelphia Phillies slayed the 104-win Atlanta Braves, while the 84-win Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the 100-win Los Angeles Dodgers.

It's been a crazy playoff year so far, and that's sparked some calls for changing the playoff format. Supposedly, the regular season has been "devalued" by these results.

Thing is, none of this is all that surprising. Baseball is unlike other sports in the sense that in a short series, a weaker team can beat a stronger team. It happens every week during the regular season, and we don't say a thing about it. When it happens in the playoffs, it's the end of the world.

Honestly, if you want to "reward the regular season," you can't have an expanded playoff. If you have 12 postseason teams, then every one of those 12 teams has at least a puncher's chance.

Right now, the Rangers are playing their best baseball, and they've got the defending champion Astros on the ropes.

Some good news for the White Sox: Luis Robert Jr. is playing well

Luis Robert Jr.

White Sox center fielder Luis Robert Jr. was benched on April 29 for failing to run out an infield grounder. He didn't start the next game after that, either. 

But since returning to the lineup on May 2, Robert Jr. has been on a tear. He's batting .422 this month, which is the second-best batting average in the majors. 

Over that same span, Robert Jr. is leading the majors in OBP (.519), slugging percentage (.933), OPS (1.452), hits (19), runs scored (15), extra-base hits (11), total bases (42) and home runs (6). 

In three games over the weekend against the Houston Astros, Robert Jr. homered in each game and drove in five of the seven runs the Sox scored in the series. 

For the season, Robert Jr. is batting .275/.335/.562 with 11 homers, 11 doubles, 27 RBIs and 29 runs scored. His OPS is .897, with a 142 OPS+, meaning he's 42% about league average among players at his position. 

According to Baseball Reference, Robert Jr.'s WAR for the season is 2.2. That figure is helped along by his strong defense in center field. 

By way of comparison, the next highest Sox position player in terms of WAR is Jake Burger at 0.6. 

The Sox are having a terrible season, so they'll probably only have one player selected to the American League All-Star team. If Robert Jr. is healthy, he's a good bet to be the guy.

Jose Abreu struggling with Astros, but White Sox need more from Andrew Vaughn

Jose Abreu

First basemen were in the spotlight this weekend when the Houston Astros visited Guaranteed Rate Field to take on the White Sox.

Jose Abreu was back in Chicago for the first time since he signed a three-year contract with the Astros during the offseason. It was a good series for Houston, as it won two out of three games.

However, it was not a good series for Abreu, who went 2 for 13 with four strikeouts. Both of his hits were singles, and the 36-year-old veteran did not score a run, nor did he drive in a run. His bat looks slow, to say the least.

This marks the continuation of a season-long struggle for Abreu, who has not hit a home run through his first 39 games with the Astros. 

He's batting .214/.262/.253 with only six doubles and 14 RBIs. His OPS is .515. His OPS+ is 43, meaning that he is 57% below league average for players at his position.

Is this vindication for the Sox and their decision to move on from Abreu, who will one day have his No. 79 jersey retired on the South Side? You'd have to answer that question in the affirmative.

Abreu's power dip in 2022 looks like the beginning of a precipitous decline. If you've been on social media, you've probably seen some Sox fans dunking on Abreu as he struggles.

Fair enough, but the Sox's new first baseman also had an ugly series. Andrew Vaughn went 0 for 12 with three strikeouts and a GIDP in the three games against Houston.

This season has been a mixed bag for Vaughn. He leads the Sox with 12 doubles and 29 RBIs. However, he's only got four home runs, and his slash line is unimpressive -- .236/.324/.401.

Vaughn's OPS is .725, and his OPS+ is 99, meaning he is one percentage point below league average at his position.

The Sox did not draft Vaughn to be about league average. They selected him with the No. 3 overall pick in the first round of the 2018 draft. He was brought here to be the next in a proud first base lineage that includes Frank Thomas, Paul Konerko and Abreu.

Vaughn is nowhere near that level at this point. He's still only 25, so there's still time for him to improve. However, it's worth noting that Abreu had an OPS of .820 or better in eight of the nine years he played for the Sox. His OPS+ was never lower than 117 in any season.

Right now, Vaughn's career OPS is .729. His career OPS+ is 101 -- the epitome of mediocrity.

Yes, 2023 Vaughn is better than 2023 Abreu, but that should be little consolation to the Sox and their fans.

The team needs Vaughn to hit like the top 3 draft pick he was. They need him to hit like Abreu did from 2014 to 2022. So far, we're not seeing it.

White Sox rebuild arc vs. Cubs rebuild arc: A comparison

The current era of White Sox baseball started Dec. 6, 2016. That was the day general manager Rick Hahn traded All-Star pitcher Chris Sale to the Boston Red Sox for four prospects -- Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Luis Alexander Basabe and Victor Diaz.

As we all know, Moncada is now the starting third baseman (when healthy) on the South Side, and Kopech is a member of the starting rotation (when healthy) -- although neither has fully lived up to the hype that surrounded them as prospects. Those other two guys in the deal flamed out, but that's not the point of this blog.

The point of this blog is that the Sox are now in Year 7 of this grand project, and it hasn't yielded the promised results. From day one, I was skeptical of Hahn's master plan. The fact is, my view was the minority one. Most Sox fans bought in.

Why did they buy in? Well, let's remember what the baseball climate was like in Chicago in winter 2016. The crosstown Cubs had just won the World Series for the first time in 108 years, the culmination of a five-year rebuild executed by then-team president Theo Epstein.

Sox fans looked at that and thought, "Yes, this is the way forward. It worked for them. It can work for us, too. Let's do it!"

But there was one key difference: The Cubs were put in the ditch by their former GM, Jim Hendry. There was an ownership change on the North Side, and a new regime was brought in -- led by Epstein -- to take a fresh look at some old problems. Hendry and the old guard were fired.

On the South Side, the Sox have had the same owner since 1981. They've had the same GM since 2013. Those people were responsible for the franchise bottoming out from 2013-16. You can't change the owner, but at minimum, Hahn should have been replaced. Instead, he was given a second chance to rebuild the club, and frankly, he's done little with it.

Let's compare the arcs of the respective rebuilds on both sides of town. For purposes of this exercise, we'll look at the Cubs from 2012-18, and we'll look at the Sox from 2017 to present day.

So, for the Cubs, "Year 1" is 2012. Year 1 is 2017 for the Sox. Year 2 is 2013 for the Cubs and 2018 for the Sox, so on and so forth:

Year 1

Cubs: 61-101, finished fifth in NL Central

White Sox: 67-95, finished fourth in AL Central

Year 2

Cubs: 66-96, finished fifth in NL Central

White Sox: 62-100, finished fourth in AL Central

Year 3

Cubs: 73-89, finished fifth in NL Central

White Sox: 72-89, finished third in AL Central

Year 4

Cubs: 97-65, NL wild card, won NLDS, lost in NLCS

White Sox: 35-25, AL wild card, lost in first round of playoffs (pandemic-shortened season)

Year 5

Cubs: 103-58, NL Central champions, won NLDS, won NLCS, World Series champions 

White Sox: 93-69, AL Central champions, lost in ALDS

Year 6

Cubs: 92-70, NL Central champions, won NLDS, lost in NLCS

Sox: 81-81, finished second in AL Central

Year 7

Cubs: 95-68, NL wild card, lost in NL wild card game

Sox: 6-10 through first 16 games.

What do we notice here? There are two things in common. Both teams put their fans through three years of intentional losing, but when the Cubs came out of it in the fourth year, they had an elite team. The Sox were good, but clearly not among the elite teams in the AL. 

Both of these rebuilding projects peaked in the fifth year. The Cubs' rebuild resulted in that World Series. The Sox rebuild peaked with a division title and a quick ouster from the playoffs.

After the Cubs won, they were still contenders for two more years. Despite a decline in play, they still won a playoff series in Year 6, while the Sox finished 11 games out in their division. The Cubs were a playoff team in Year 7, too. There's 146 games to go in Year 7 for the Sox, but it's not looking good so far.

This is not to say the Cubs were the model rebuild. Look to the Houston Astros for that. They've made the ALCS in each of the past six seasons. They have made the World Series four times, and they've won it twice -- 2017 and 2022.

Basically, I'm seeing three levels of rebuilds here. At the top of the pyramid, you have the Astros. They were trash for four years, from 2011-14. But once they started climbing, they got to the top in 2017 and have stayed there ever since.

The Cubs are in the middle tier. They got to the top in 2016, but they couldn't stay there. The championship core was disassembled in 2020-21, and they've started anew with a different group of players.

At the bottom tier, we find the Sox, who put their fans through three seasons of intentional losing -- all for a grand total of two contention seasons.

You read that right: The intentional losing on the South Side of Chicago lasted longer than the contention window. It shouldn't be a surprise that fans are so pissed off. They were promised parades. They were promised contention for "multiple championships." Instead, they got a 2-5 record across two playoff appearances.

Whoop dee doo. Soon it will be time to start over. Sox fans can only hope someone other than Hahn will lead the next rebuild.

Jose Abreu strikes nerve with recent comments on White Sox dysfunction

Jose Abreu

Let's talk about what former White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu said in a recent Sun-Times interview.

Abreu, the 36-year-old longtime leader of the Sox, signed a three-year, $58.5 million contract with the defending World Series champion Houston Astros this past offseason.

When asked about his departure from the South Side, Abreu said this:

“Sometimes, when you’re at a place where maybe you’re not being respected to the point where you think you should be, you just have to go somewhere else." 

The Sox obviously made the decision to go with a younger, cheaper player at first base for 2023 -- 24-year-old Andrew Vaughn.

But Abreu's comments went beyond his belief that he was disrespected. He added some thoughts on the 2022 season:

“The best way I can put it is just that we weren’t a real family,” Abreu told the Sun-Times. “And I’m hoping that maybe [the Sox] can get to a situation where a lot of the guys there that do deserve to be in a good situation, they can have it there and be able to win. But I don’t really have too much more to say about that.”

With that, Abreu joins a long line of former Sox players who criticized management and the team culture on the way out the door. 

Indeed, even in a down season, Abreu was the team's healthiest and most consistent position player in 2022, yet it's unclear whether he was ever offered a fair contract. So, it's understandable to me if he felt disrespected.

As for these comments about the team not being "a real family," that's no fooling, right? The atmosphere around last year's club seemed toxic, as preseason expectations of competing for a championship crumbled and the team limped to an 81-81 finish.

During the 2020 season -- and for most of the 2021 season -- Sox players seemed to be having a good time playing together. That didn't feel like it was the case last year, whether it was the result of Tony La Russa's management of the team, or some other factor.

Much to my surprise, I read a lot of online outrage about these comments, most of them directed toward Abreu. Some even went so far as to call him a traitor. 

I think I'll take a pass on joining that chorus. Abreu did his job throughout his nine seasons in a Sox uniform. He was a good soldier during that time, during which he often played on bad teams. I take no offense to his comments, especially knowing that his remarks are most likely fair and correct.

So long, Jose Abreu: Longtime White Sox first baseman headed to Houston

Jose Abreu

It's a bitter pill for White Sox fans to swallow, even though we knew it was coming.

Longtime first baseman Jose Abreu is leaving town. He's agreed to a three-year deal with the World Series champion Houston Astros. Terms of the contract have not been disclosed, but sources say Abreu will make about $60 million over the lifetime of the deal.

During his nine-year career with the Sox, Abreu appeared in 1,270 games and batted .292/.354/.506 with 243 home runs, 16 triples, 303 doubles and 863 RBIs. He posted five seasons of 30 home runs or more, six seasons of 100 RBIs or more, and he won the American League MVP with 19 homers and 60 RBIs in the COVID-shortened 60-game season in 2020.

For Abreu, Houston is a perfect fit. The Astros were ready to move on from Yuli Gurriel as their first baseman. Abreu, 35, will bat sixth in the Houston batting order -- behind Jose Altuve, Jeremy Pena, Alex Bregman, Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker -- and he will not be expected to carry the team, like he was in Chicago.

This move also presents Abreu with his best chance to win a championship. The Astros have advanced to the AL Championship Series in six consecutive seasons. Four times, they have advanced to the World Series. Two times, they have won the World Series.

The Astros are actually "competing for multiple championships," unlike the Sox, who are established pretenders. 

So, it's a great move for Abreu, but where does that leave the Sox? 

Well, there isn't a single position player left on the Chicago roster who you can point to and say, "I know what that man is going to give me." Abreu was that guy, and now he's gone.

Go around the diamond, and you'll see that the Sox have a health question or a performance question at every position:

Catcher: Yasmani Grandal is coming off an injury-plagued season that was the worst of his career.

First base: How confident are you that Andrew Vaughn is ready to take Abreu's place?

Second base: We don't know who is playing second base for the Sox.

Shortstop: Injuries limited Tim Anderson to 79 games last season. He turns 30 in June.

Third base: Yoan Moncada was a combination of injured and bad throughout 2022.

Left field: We don't know who is playing left field for the Sox.

Center field: Because of injuries, Luis Robert had zero home runs and only two RBIs after the All-Star break in 2022.

Right field: Oscar Colas seems like he has a legitimate chance to win the job. Will he hit as a rookie?

Designated hitter: Injury questions have moved Eloy Jimenez from left field to full-time DH. Hey, he gets hurt running the bases, too, so hold your breath.

None of this inspires confidence, does it? Sure, Abreu's getting older, and his power has declined. But he's been the one guy the Sox can count on for years and years. Now, who are you leaning on?

Remembering the last World Series game played on the South Side

 Sunday is Oct. 23. Let's relive a great game that was played in Chicago on Sunday, Oct. 23 in 2005.

National League favorites out of playoffs early

The National League Championship Series will feature the Philadelphia Phillies and the San Diego Padres.

Just as we all predicted, right? 

OK, nobody predicted that the No. 5 and No. 6 seeds would advance to the NLCS. The NL produced three 100-win teams this season -- the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Atlanta Braves and the New York Mets. Shockingly, those favored teams have all been eliminated.

The 87-win Phillies, third-place finishers in the NL East, swept a best-of-three series from the 93-win St. Louis Cardinals in the wild card round. They went on to beat the 101-win Braves, 3 games to 1, in a best-of-five NL Division Series.

The 89-win Padres are even bigger giant killers. They won a winner-take-all Game 3 over the 101-win Mets in the wild card round. Then they shocked the universe by knocking out the 111-win Dodgers, 3 games to 1, in the NLDS.

During the regular season, the Dodgers defeated the Padres in 14 out of 19 meetings. Second-place San Diego finished 22 games behind NL West champion Los Angeles. Didn't amount to a hill of beans in the playoffs. 

Over in the American League, the 99-win New York Yankees staved off elimination with a 4-2 win over the Cleveland Guardians in Cleveland on Sunday night. With the win, the Yankees tied that best-of-five series at 2. That sets up a winner-take-all Game 5 on Monday night in New York.

The 106-win Houston Astros are the only prohibitive favorite not to be challenged in the divisional round. Well, maybe that's a little bit of an overstatement. The Astros won two one-run games in a three-game sweep of the 90-win Seattle Mariners, including a 1-0, 18-inning marathon in Game 3 on Saturday night. Houston was challenged, but passed the test.

The Astros will play Monday night's winner in the American League Championship Series.

All these upsets have created questions about Major League Baseball's new playoff format this year. Two teams that received byes through the wild card round -- the Dodgers and Braves -- lost, and a third team -- the Yankees -- is being pushed to the limit. 

Did the bye create rust for those powerhouse teams? Is it actually a disadvantage to have five days off between the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs?

Those are interesting questions, but I'm reluctant to draw any conclusions based on a one-year sample size. 

Keep in mind that the four teams who received byes went 3-1 in the first game of their respective division series. The Dodgers won Game 1, before losing three straight. The Yankees also won Game 1 in their series. The Astros, of course, won Game 1 on their way to a sweep. Only the Braves lost their first game after the extended layoff.

If rust is a key factor in the outcome of these series, wouldn't you think it would show up right away in a Game 1 scenario?

Dylan Cease vs. Justin Verlander: No-decisions for both

Dylan Cease

The top two contenders for the American League Cy Young Award squared off Tuesday night at Guaranteed Rate Field, and ... neither one of them got a decision.

Dylan Cease and Justin Verlander both gave up three earned runs, and although Verlander pitched deeper in the game that Cease, the White Sox bullpen was better than the Houston Astros bullpen, as the Sox rallied for a 4-3 victory.

For the Sox, it is their fifth straight win, and it brings them within one game of the first-place Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central heading into Wednesday's play.

Final line on Cease: 5 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 Ks, 3 BBs.

His season ERA is 2.09. His record remains 12-5.

Final line on Verlander: 7 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 Ks, 1 BB

His season ERA is 1.95. His record remains 15-3.

You have to believe Verlander is the front-runner for the Cy Young at this point. The 39-year-old has better numbers than the 26-year-old Cease at this time. And Verlander has the name recognition that goes with past accomplishments, and he plays for the team with the best record in the American League.

But on this night, Verlander could not hold a 3-1 lead. The Sox rallied against him with two runs in the seventh. Josh Harrison singled, Seby Zavala walked, and Gavin Sheets ripped 1-2 Verlander slider into the right-field corner to tie the game.

The Sox grabbed the lead in the eighth against Houston right-hander Hector Neris. Eloy Jimenez walked, Jose Abreu singled, and Yasmani Grandal grounded into a slooooooooow-developing 3-6-1 double play. That left pinch-runner Adam Engel at third with two outs, but Yoan Moncada delivered an RBI single to put the Sox ahead.

Closer Liam Hendriks earned his 27th save of the season by retiring the top three batters in the Houston lineup in the top of the ninth, punctuating his outing with a strikeout of Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez.

That capped a strong performance for the Sox bullpen, as Jose Ruiz, Vince Velasquez, Jimmy Lambert and Hendriks all recorded scoreless innings -- with Lambert getting the win.

The Sox have two more games on this homestand against Houston, and will look to extend their winning streak Wednesday with Michael Kopech on the mound.

Will we hear from the White Sox GM this week?

Anyone else find it odd that White Sox general manager Rick Hahn hasn't yet given his end-of-season address to the media? 

The season ended Oct. 12, and today is Oct. 25. Thirteen days, and we've not heard a word from the front office on what they thought of the ALDS loss to the Houston Astros.

By way of comparison, last year, Hahn addressed the media 10 days after the Sox lost to the Oakland Athletics in the wild card round. And what an address it was, as former manager Rick Renteria and former pitching coach Don Cooper got fired.

Given that major changes were announced, that delay was understandable. But this year, there's little reason to believe any firings are forthcoming. Maybe I'm wrong, but I guess you never know.

Now, to be fair to Hahn, the league office often frowns upon teams that are no longer playing making news while the playoffs are going on. Maybe league etiquette is the cause of the silence to this point.

However, the World Series matchup is set now. Houston is going to play the Atlanta Braves, starting Tuesday night. Monday will be a slow news day for MLB. Will we hear from Hahn? 

Were the 2021 White Sox a success? Or a failure?

Jen and I before Game 3

At least we got to attend two playoff games at Guaranteed Rate Field this October, right? That hadn't happened in 13 years. The 2021 White Sox won the American League Central Division championship, and that's at least something.

But after the Sox lost the American League Division Series to the Houston Astros, 3 games to 1, how do we define this season? Was it a success? Was it a failure? 

There's a case to be made either way, but I'm going to vote "failure." Those who would argue that this was a "success" would correctly point out that 93 wins and a division championship are pretty rare in the totality of Sox history. You go back, two, three, four years ago -- even eight or nine years ago -- and Sox fans could only dream of such success.

However, the problem for me is this: The Sox were outscored 31-18 in the four-game series. They took Game 3, 12-6, but in the other three games, they were outscored 25-5. They were soundly beaten by a far superior Houston team.

This is a failure by the expectations the Sox set for themselves. From the first day of spring training, we were hearing about parades, October glory, and how nothing short of getting to the World Series would be considered acceptable. Well, the Sox fell well short of that. They overpromised and underdelivered.

Since the series ended, I've had several people offer me their "condolences" on the loss. Thing is, I wasn't upset about the outcome of this series, because I knew the Astros were better. In fact, I selected Houston to win in four games, and told my girlfriend Jen, "I just hope they win a game, and hopefully it's one we go to." 

Indeed they did win a game that we attended, so in that regard, no complaints.

All the things that upset me about the Sox were things that happened throughout the season, and dating back to last offseason. I don't think general manager Rick Hahn adequately addressed lineup holes, and sure enough, the Sox ended up with Leury Garcia starting in right field in the playoffs. And they were relying on rookies to man the designated hitter spot.

Those holes remained unfilled at the trading deadline, as Hahn worked to load up his bullpen. Turns out, Craig Kimbrel was a total bust, and the combination of big free-agent acquisition Liam Hendriks and Kimbrel at the back end of the bullpen turned out to be a nonfactor, because the Sox weren't strong enough to have a lead after seven innings in three of four games.

The Sox were sloppy, arrogant and complacent throughout much of the year, as they went unchallenged in the AL Central. Many of us criticized them for not winning on the road, failing to beat good teams, playing poor defense, grounding into too many double plays, not holding base runners on, and issuing too many walks and wild pitches.

The team's defenders assured us it would be different in the playoffs. It was not. We saw all those weaknesses come to the forefront, in fact, and now the Sox have to reevaluate. They were dominated, punched right in the face.

Now, how do they react this offseason? Can they be honest with themselves and admit they have some significant roster holes? Can they admit that details matter, and that they need shore up some of these things that will give them wins on the margins? 

If I'm angry, it's because the front office sent the team into a gunfight with a knife. They didn't have a deep enough roster to beat the Astros. They weren't prepared enough to beat the Astros. The loss itself was inevitable; it was fait accompli.

Carlos Rodon's velocity is absent, but his results were good

Carlos Rodon

What do we make of Carlos Rodon's start Wednesday against the Cincinnati Reds? If you look at his pitching line, you can't help but be pleased.

The White Sox left-hander worked five shutout innings in a 6-1 victory. He allowed only one hit, while striking out four and walking two. And he was efficient, needing only 69 pitches to record 15 outs; 43 of those pitches were strikes.

However, this was a depleted Cincinnati lineup. The Reds were eliminated from playoff contention Tuesday, and their two best players -- Joey Votto and Nick Castellanos -- received a day off Wednesday.

The big concern from a Sox perspective ... Rodon's velocity just wasn't there. For the season, his fastball has averaged 96 mph, and topped out at 99. In this game, his average fastball velocity was 90.9 mph. He topped out at 92.7 mph.

Velocity comes from the shoulder, and we know Rodon has been dealing with nagging shoulder soreness.

Rodon also threw more changeups that he normally would, and strangely, the velocity on his change (82 mph) was a tick higher than the average velocity on his slider (81 mph). But he did get three swinging strikeouts with his slider. 

You can't argue with Rodon's results. He shut the Reds down with good command, good sequences and changes of speed. The question is whether that's going to be enough in the postseason against a strong Houston Astros lineup.

But assuming Rodon is healthy coming out of this start, he has earned the right to pitch a playoff game. He's 13-5 with a 2.37 ERA this season -- without a doubt his finest campaign as a member of the Sox.

He's made 24 starts, and the Sox are 16-8 in those games. I think we're going to see Rodon on the mound in either Game 3 or Game 4 of the ALDS against the Astros, and we'll see if he can find a way, just as he did Wednesday against the Reds.

A solution for the White Sox OF/DH problem that doesn't involve George Springer

Michael Brantley

Do we really believe White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf is going to open his wallet this offseason and sign George Springer, the best free agent position player on the market?

Sure, the Sox have a gaping hole in right field, and Springer would look good there. But I'll file that possibility under, "I'll believe it when I see it." Even amid a pandemic, signing Springer is going to take a nine-figure outlay, which is something the Sox have yet to do in team history.

So, if not Springer, then what?

Here's my proposal: Sign *both* Michael Brantley and Jackie Bradley Jr.

Make the 33-year-old Brantley the primary designated hitter, but he's still young enough and decent enough defensively to spend some time in left field. Eloy Jimenez remains your primary left fielder, but he can DH sometimes.

Luis Robert is the everyday center fielder. Duh.

And Bradley Jr. becomes the left-handed half of a right-field platoon with Adam Engel. Whichever player doesn't start in right field becomes the late-inning defensive replacement for Jimenez when the Sox are trying to protect a lead.

These proposed signings would give the Sox three outfielders capable of playing center field -- Robert, Engel and Bradley Jr. -- and can you imagine all three of them being in the outfield at the same time in the ninth inning? A one-run lead feels a little safer with that defensive alignment, no?

Brantley has a career .297/.354/.440 slash line. He's hit .300 or higher for three consecutive years. His OPS has been .800 or better for four consecutive years. And he swings left-handed, to help balance out the Sox's right-handed-heavy lineup. Not to mention, Brantley doesn't strike out much -- he had only 28 strikeouts in 187 plate appearances for the Houston Astros in 2020.

A left-handed contact hitter with gap power sounds like exactly what the Sox lineup needs.

Bradley Jr. is 30 years old and coming off one of his better seasons with the Boston Red Sox. He slashed .283/.364/.450 with seven homers. He's also a left-handed hitter. He can run; he takes some walks; and he's an high-end defensive outfielder. Those are all skills the Sox could use.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not going to be angry if the Sox somehow come up with the cash to sign Springer. But the objective here is to replace *both* Edwin Encarnacion and Nomar Mazara, who weighed down the Sox lineup at DH and RF, respectively, in 2020.

If you can't get the All-Star, it's not necessarily a bad thing to take two quality players who set a higher floor for your team and add to your depth and platoon flexibility.

Tampa Bay Rays win American League pennant in unconventional way

Charlie Morton

The Tampa Bay Rays have scored 71.9% of their runs this postseason on the home run. That probably doesn't surprise you, right? This is, after all, the era of home run-or-nothing baseball.

The Rays posted a team batting average of .202 in a five-game AL Division Series against the New York Yankees -- and they won. Then the Rays batted .201 in a seven-game AL Championship Series against the Houston Astros -- and won again. They are going to the World Series for the first time since 2008.

Tampa Bay defeated Houston, 4-2, in Game 7 on Saturday night. Their offense was fueled by, what else, the home run ball. Randy Arozarena hit a two-run homer in the first inning, and Mike Zunino hit a solo shot in the second off Houston starter Lance McCullers. The Rays took an early 3-0 lead, and their pitching made it stick from there.

Arozarena, the rookie outfielder, hit seven home runs all season. He has seven home runs and 11 extra-base hits in the playoffs, including a remarkable .382/.433/.855 slash line. It's difficult to swing the bat much better than that on the big stage.

But here's the thing about the Rays that shows how the game has changed: Not a single one of their starting pitchers worked into the seventh inning during this ALCS. When a team bats .201 as a team and still wins, you would think they were being carried by dominant starting pitching. Not so.

Here's what the Rays got from their starting pitchers in each game:

Game 1. Blake Snell -- 5 IP

Game 2. Charlie Morton -- 5 IP

Game 3. Ryan Yarbrough -- 5 IP

Game 4. Tyler Glasnow -- 6 IP

Game 5. John Curtiss -- 1.1 IP

Game 6. Snell -- 4 IP

Game 7. Morton -- 5.2 IP

This is a far cry from the 2005 White Sox, who threw four complete games in the ALCS and needed only two outs from their bullpen in a five-game series win.

Things are much different than they were 15 years ago, and if you watched Game 7, there was every reason to believe Morton could continue pitching. 

Through those 5.2 innings, the veteran right-hander had allowed only two hits and one walk. He had six strikeouts and had thrown only 66 pitches -- 48 of them for strikes. At one point, he retired 14 consecutive Houston batters.

You could make the case he was "in trouble" in that sixth inning. The Astros had two runners on for the first time in the game -- on a walk and an infield single. There was no sign that Morton was tiring, and 10 or 15 years ago, there's no question he would have been allowed to pitch out of his own jam.

But not in 2020. Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash wanted a high-leverage reliever, Nick Anderson, to face Houston's Michael Brantley with two on and two out in a 3-0 game in the sixth inning. Anderson did, in fact, retire Brantley on a routine grounder to second base to end the threat. 

Anderson and Pete Fairbanks worked those last 3.1 innings. They gave up two runs, but they didn't surrender the lead. Ultimately, the Rays won, so you can't really second-guess Cash's decision-making. He stuck with what he's done throughout the season, and there's no arguing with success.

But hey, how about Morton? He was a member of the Astros in 2017 and 2018 before joining the Rays for the past two seasons. And in that time, he's pitched four winner-take-all playoff games and won them all, while posting a 0.46 ERA.  

That guy is good in the playoffs, and generally underrated overall -- just like the Rays often have been as a team.

Will home runs continue at absurd rates when baseball returns?

Pete Alonso led MLB with 53 homers in 2019.

Editor's note: I apologize for the radio silence on this blog as of late. I don't want to get caught up in the speculation of whether there will be a 2020 baseball season. I don't know. You don't know. Nobody knows, so why spend any time on it? I will try to do a better job in May of posting things that I find interesting about the great American game.

One of the things I'll be watching when baseball returns is whether home run totals continue to spike in video game-like fashion, as they did in 2019.

Most of us already are familiar with the absurd numbers. The 2018 New York Yankees set a single-season home run record, hitting 267 as a team. That record lasted one year, as four teams surpassed that total in 2019.

The Minnesota Twins hit an almost-unbelievable 307 homers as a team, followed by the Yankees (306), Houston Astros (288) and Los Angeles Dodgers (279).

Individual home run totals reached ridiculous heights as well, with 58 players totaling 30 home runs or more. How much of an outlier is that? Consider this chart:

Players with 30-plus home runs
2019: 58
2018: 27
2017: 41
2016: 38
2015: 20

A whopping 31 more players hit 30-plus homers in 2019 when compared to 2018. That total of 58 is even more than 2000, perhaps the height of the steroids era, when 47 players topped the 30-homer plateau.

Then there's this:

Players with 40-plus home runs
2019: 10
2018: 3
2017: 5
2016: 8
2015: 9

Ten players hitting 40-plus homers in 2019 pales in comparison to 2000, when 16 guys reached that milestone. But it's still a significant jump to go from three 40-home run hitters to 10 in one year's time.

Here's something else crazy to chew on while you're waiting out the COVID-19 pandemic: Before 2019, only 47 teams in the history of Major League Baseball hit 226 home runs in a season. In 2019, the league *average* was 226 homers -- that's equivalent to 25 home runs per spot in the batting order.

We already know we won't have a full 2020 season to use as a point of comparison, but if baseball resumes and we have, say, a 100-game season, if you see teams getting up to 140 or 150 home runs as a lineup, that's about the threshold where we'll be able to say the long-ball trend has continued.