Michael Kopech's hot streak: Perhaps it wasn't because he was traded

Given the White Sox track record over the past few seasons, it's easy to dump on them. I dump on them frequently on this blog.

Every player who puts on a Sox uniform seems to turn into mush. When a player leaves the Sox, he seems to find new life with another team. Maybe it's confirmation bias at times, but you hear fans say that a lot.

Case in point, Michael Kopech, who was recently traded from the Sox to the Los Angeles Dodgers as part of a three-team deal.

Kopech pitched in 43 games for the Sox this season. He was 2-8 with a 4.74 ERA. He was just 9 for 14 in save opportunities. While he struck out a robust 12.2 batters per nine innings pitched, that was canceled out by a high walk rate -- 4.9 batters per nine innings.

Then the trade happened, and Kopech made his first appearance with the Dodgers on July 31.

Here's his line with Los Angeles: 11 games pitched, 2-0 record, 0.79 ERA, two saves, five holds, 15 strikeouts and only two walks in 11.1 innings, and just one earned run and three hits allowed.

That's unquestionably outstanding. What many Sox fans don't realize, however, was that Kopech was pitching well BEFORE he was sent to the Dodgers.

The trade WAS NOT the turning point for him.

Kopech gave up a walk-off grand slam on a 99-mph fastball to Jake Burger of the Miami Marlins on July 7. After the game, he told MLB.com's Scott Merkin this:

“It’s coming down to what we talked about a lot lately in-house,” Kopech said. “I need to mix my pitches and not just rely on the fastball so much. It’s difficult to do that when I fall behind and my best pitch is my fastball. I have to get back in the count.

“The ninth has been my role this year, and those situations I have a job to do, and I haven’t been doing it well,” Kopech added. “There’s no easy way to say that. It’s tough for me to say, but it’s the truth. I’ve got work to do to get better.”

The Sox coaching staff had been trying all season to convince Kopech to use all of his pitches. Those pleas seemed to fall on deaf ears, until the disastrous outing in Miami.

Then Kopech made some changes. As he stated, he had "work to do." He started mixing in his cutter and slider more frequently, and he started to get better results.

In his final five outings as a member of the Sox, Kopech worked 5.1 innings. He did not allow a single run. Over that same span, he struck out eight, walked only one and allowed just one hit. Those five games included an immaculate inning in a save against the Minnesota Twins on July 10.

Was it the Dodgers' pitching acumen that allowed Kopech to accomplish that? Obviously not. 

Kopech had gotten his act together before he left the Sox. The brilliant performances as a member of the Dodgers are a continuation of a hot streak that began in Chicago.

Maybe, just maybe, Kopech's successes and failures are on him, more than anything that coaches in Chicago or Los Angeles have said to him.

He had great stuff with the Sox. He has great stuff with the Dodgers. When Kopech is right, he dominates. And he's been dominating for almost two months now, as a member of both the Sox and the Dodgers. Not a popular take, but just sayin'.

Jake Eder, Cristian Mena added to White Sox 40-man-roster

The White Sox on Tuesday added pitchers Jake Eder and Cristian Mena to their 40-man roster. The move prevents the two from possibly being selected by another team in the Rule 5 draft.

Eder, 24, is the left-hander the Sox acquired at the trade deadline from the Miami Marlins in exchange for third baseman Jake Burger. Since joining the organization, Eder has struggled. 

He made five starts at Double-A Birmingham, going 0-3 with an 11.25 ERA. After a reset at the Sox's pitching lab, Eder was assigned to the Glendale Desert Dogs of the Arizona Fall League. His results were marginally improved over six apperances, five of them starts. His ERA was 6.71, but he struck out 16 batters over 17.2 innings.

Eder is currently ranked as the No. 5 prospect in the Sox organization.

Mena, 20, made 23 starts at Double-A Birmingham this season before being promoted to Triple-A Charlotte, where he started four games. Across those 27 appearances, he went 8-7 with a 4.85 ERA. He led all Sox minor league pitchers with 156 strikeouts and 133.2 innings pitched. Those 27 starts were also an organization high.

The right-hander is currently the No. 10 prospect in the organization.

Neither of these two players is ready to pitch in the majors right now. It's reasonable to believe both will be members of the Charlotte rotation when the 2024 season starts. 

It seems unlikely that either would have been selected in the Rule 5 draft, but from the Sox perspective, why take the risk? They have the space on the 40-man roster, and typically, pitchers are more vulnerable to being plucked in the Rule 5 draft -- especially by rebuilding teams. In fact, that's a strategy the rebuilding Sox should consider.

The 40-man roster now has 37 players.

White Sox fans are really mad about Jake Burger trade

Jake Burger

White Sox Twitter is ablaze right now because Jake Burger is playing well for the Miami Marlins.

The Sox traded the popular, slugging third baseman to the Marlins for pitching prospect Jake Eder minutes before the Aug. 1 trade deadline.

It doesn't look so good for the Sox so far, and fans are ready to riot.

Since joining the Marlins, Burger is batting .311/.380/.467 in 12 games (entering Tuesday's play). After the Marlins won his first game in Miami in walk-off fashion, Burger declared that it was "the most fun" he'd had on a baseball field "in a long time."

That statement implies he wasn't having much fun as a member of the Sox, and can you blame him? I don't enjoy watching the team, so I'm not surprised if he didn't enjoy playing for it.

Burger was seen delivering a walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth inning Sunday, capping a five-run Miami rally in a shocking 8-7 victory over the New York Yankees.

The good times are rollin' for Burger.

And Eder?

He's made two starts at Double-A Birmingham, and his ERA is 16.20. He's given up nine earned runs on eight hits across five innings. 

Yeah, that's bad.

I'm not going to panic about this trade just yet, but I understand the frustration. Eder is still only 24. He was one of the best prospects in baseball two years ago before he had Tommy John surgery, and some of the prospect guys -- notably MLB Pipeline's Jim Callis -- have expressed optimism about this left-handed starter.

As for Burger, I'm not entirely sure what his future holds yet. We know he has power. He's got 26 homers this season -- 25 with the White Sox. As a matter of fact, he's probably going to finish second on the Sox in homers for 2023, even though he'll be playing the remainder of the season with Miami. 

It's worth noting that Burger is a subpar defender, and he was hitting only .214 with a .279 OBP at the time of the trade. The Sox will miss his home runs, for sure, but they won't miss his low on-base percentage. 

Ultimately, over the long haul, I'm in wait-and-see mode with this trade. In the short run, here's what pisses me off about the Burger move: It means Yoan Moncada is still "on scholarship" at third base for the White Sox.

Entering Tuesday's play, Moncada was batting .229/.278/.353 with only four homers and 11 doubles in 55 games. He's been hurt and bad (again) this season.

Burger's presence on the roster gave the Sox a very viable alternative to put at third base during those periods when Moncada is hurt, bad or both -- that's the case the majority of the time, as Sox fans know.

Now, Burger is gone, and there's nobody who can play third base except for Moncada. It's Moncada's job through 2024, for better or for worse, and that annoys me because I'm ready to see the Sox move in a different direction at that position.

White Sox make 6 deals in days leading up to trade deadline

The White Sox needed to sell at the Aug. 1 trade deadline, and they did. Here's a look at the six trades the team has made over the past week:

1. Traded pitchers Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez to the Los Angeles Angels for catcher Edgar Quero and pitcher Ky Bush.
2. Traded pitchers Lance Lynn and Joe Kelly to the Los Angeles Dodgers for pitchers Nick Nastrini, Jordan Leasure and outfielder Trayce Thompson.
3. Traded pitcher Kendall Graveman to the Houston Astros for catcher Korey Lee.
4. Traded infielder Jake Burger to the Miami Marlins for pitcher Jake Eder.
5. Traded pitcher Keynan Middleton to the New York Yankees for pitcher Juan Carela.
6. Acquired pitcher Luis Patino from the Tampa Bay Rays for cash considerations.

I'll talk more about these deals in the days ahead. The Sox are 43-64 heading into Tuesday night's game with the Texas Rangers, so there will not be much on the field to talk about. 

Maybe we'll get a look at a couple of these new acquisitions before 2023 is over. I'm thinking Lee and Patino are candidates to be on the roster soon. We shall see.

White Sox split doubleheader with Yankees

Good news: I was wrong. The wildfire smoke in New York did clear in time for the White Sox and Yankees to play two games on Thursday.

Like most doubleheaders, this was a split. The Sox took the opener, 6-5. The Yankees came back to take the second game, 3-0. 

If you would have told me Thursday morning that the Sox would win one game in the doubleheader and leave New York having taken two of three games in the series, I would have taken it. A series win here exceeds expectations.

Here's a look at what happened:

Game 1. The Sox scored all six of their runs on homers. Jake Burger, Luis Robert Jr., Yoan Moncada and Eloy Jimenez all homered. Jimenez delivered a two-run shot in the top of the seventh that turned a 5-4 deficit into a 6-5 lead. The bullpen made it stick.

The offense was welcome, because starting pitcher Lance Lynn had another shaky outing. He lasted five innings, allowing five earned runs on eight hits. He struck out four and walked three. His season ERA is 6.72.

Fortunately, the Sox bullpen threw four scoreless innings. Gregory Santos (2-0) picked up the win after a clean sixth inning. Kendall Graveman allowed the first two runners to reach in the bottom of the ninth, but an infield pop fly and a double play got him out of trouble. He is 6 for 6 in save opportunities.

For the first time ever, Robert Jr., Moncada and Jimenez homered in the same game. Given that this is their fourth year as teammates, that's sort of unbelievable. But then again, at least one of them is usually hurt; they haven't been in the same lineup enough to make that happen -- until now.

Game 2. The Sox were limited to two hits, and Jimenez is day to day after pulling up lame after hitting a grounder to shortstop in the ninth inning. It's always something with these guys, isn't it?

This loss snapped the Sox's season-best five-game winning streak. They had no answer for Yankees rookie Randy Vasquez (1-1) and two New York relievers. A single by Jimenez and a single by Gavin Sheets ... and that was it for the Sox offense.

Mike Clevinger (3-4) had a serviceable start, but took the loss. He allowed three runs over 5.2 innings.

The Sox are 28-36 and will come home to face the Miami Marlins in a three-game weekend set at Guaranteed Rate Field.

White Sox offense continues to disappoint

I didn't want to dump on the White Sox after they swept the Detroit Tigers over the weekend. When your favorite team is 26-35, you have to take the positives when they come, right?

But the fact is the Sox won those three games almost solely on the basis of their pitching. They scored only 11 runs in the series, even though the Detroit pitching staff doesn't have anyone who will be confused with a Cy Young contender.

During those three games, the Sox went 19 for 97 (.196) with 16 singles, two doubles and only one home run. They struck out 31 times against nine walks -- two of which were intentional. Not good.

Fortunately, Sox pitching only gave up three runs total in the three games. But with stronger teams lurking on the June schedule -- the New York Yankees, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Texas Rangers, to name a few -- the Sox are going to have to start hitting.

The pitching staff could perform well and still give up four or five runs per game to the aforementioned playoff contenders. If that's the case, the Sox better be able to score five or six runs every now and then. It hasn't happened much, because there are too many guys struggling.

Let's take a look at some of these lineup spots that aren't generating much:

Tim Anderson. The Sox leadoff hitter has yet to homer in 2023, and he has only eight extra-base hits (all doubles). A .633 OPS and a 76 OPS+ isn't going to get it done from a player who has made the All-Star team in past years.

Yasmani Grandal. The slow-footed catcher is 4 for 28 in his past eight games and has no extra-base hits in that span. That's not good, because when Grandal singles, he clogs the bases. The Sox need him to provide some power.

Yoan Moncada. The switch-hitting third baseman is 2 for 22 with no extra-base hits in his past eight games. He has a .684 OPS and a 88 OPS+ for the season. Moncada hit two home runs in the season-opening series against the Houston Astros. He hasn't homered since April 2.

Andrew Benintendi. His next home run in a Sox uniform will be his first. Benintendi is now 231 plate appearances into his career on the South Side, and he's yet to take advantage of the relatively short fence in right field at Guaranteed Rate Field. He has a .686 OPS and a 90 OPS+.

Luis Robert Jr. The team leader in home runs with 13 has not gone deep since May 21. He is 6 for 36 with 16 strikeouts in his past nine games. Robert Jr. has already struck out 70 times this season in 240 plate appearances.

Gavin Sheets. In his past five games, Sheets is 0 for 11 with five strikeouts. That's not going to cut it for a player whose only value comes from being a left-handed bat.

I could go on, but you get the idea. 

If you look at WAR on baseballreference.com, six of the top eight Sox players this season are pitchers. Only Robert Jr. and Jake Burger crack the top eight among position players.

In all of baseball, the Sox rank 21st in batting average (.240), 28th in on-base percentage (.297), 23rd in slugging percentage (.386), 25th in OPS (.683) and 25th in OPS+ (87). Those numbers are entering Monday's play.

So, by almost every metric, the Sox are a bottom-third offense in MLB. I don't think they are going to storm back into contention this way. The bats have to wake up soon, or else the good vibes from this recent series with the Tigers will be short-lived.

White Sox sweep Detroit Tigers

Guaranteed Rate Field moments before first pitch Saturday.

The White Sox limited the Detroit Tigers to only three runs total in a three-game weekend sweep at Guaranteed Rate Field. 

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

Friday, June 2

White Sox 3, Tigers 0. Detroit pitcher Reese Olson made his MLB debut and held the Sox hitless through five innings. But the South Siders broke through with two runs on four singles in the bottom of the sixth. Andrew Benintendi and Eloy Jimenez delivered the RBI hits. Tim Anderson added an RBI double in the seventh, and the Sox bullpen made the lead stick.

Mike Clevinger pitched five innings of scoreless ball in his return from the injured list. Four relievers pitched a scoreless inning each. Keynan Middleton (1-0) got the victory after working the top of the sixth. Kendall Graveman pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his fifth save.

Saturday, June 3

White Sox 2, Tigers 1, 10 innings. This was one of the weirdest games I've ever attended. There were only three runs scored, and all of them came home on wild pitches. In fact, this was the first game in MLB history with three run-scoring wild pitches and no runs scored on anything else.

In the fourth inning, Benintendi singled, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a wild pitch. The Tigers answered in the sixth when Zach McKinstry tripled and scored on a wild pitch by Sox starter Dylan Cease.

The game remained tied until the bottom of the 10th. With the bases loaded and two outs, and Anderson at the plate, Detroit reliever Jose Cisnero threw a high fastball that catcher Eric Haase missed. The ball struck umpire Cory Blaser square in the mask and deflected away. Yoan Moncada came home from third to score the winning run, while Anderson and Haase helped a stunned Blaser back to his feet. 

The Sox celebrated a win, but there was also a great deal of concern for the injured umpire, who ended up missing Sunday's game with concussion symptoms. You may never see an ending like that again.

Sunday, June 4

White Sox 6, Tigers 2. Jake Burger became the ninth Sox player to hit a walk-off grand slam, and the first since Jose Abreu on April 25, 2014.

With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, Burger got a 1-0 curve from Detroit closer Alex Lange and golfed over the left-field fence for the game-winning hit. It was Burger's 12th home run of the season.

The blast made a winner of Liam Hendriks (1-0) on National Cancer Survivors Day. The veteran right-hander worked a 1-2-3 top of the ninth with two strikeouts, and this was by far the sharpest he has looked in three outings since returning to the mound after winning his battle with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Hendriks' fastball topped out at 97 mph, and he was throwing his slider for strikes -- both positive signs.

Also a positive sign: Michael Kopech had a strong outing. He allowed only two runs on three hits. He struck out nine and walked one. He has struck out at least nine batters in each of his past four starts, totaling 38 strikeouts in 26.1 innings during that span. 

The Sox are 26-35 heading into an off day Monday. Next up, a three-game series in the Bronx against the New York Yankees (36-25).

White Sox sweep Kansas City Royals

Guaranteed Rate Field on Sunday afternoon.

It's only the Kansas City Royals, but the 2023 White Sox have finally swept a three-game series. And given that the Royals took three out of four from the Sox in Kansas City just last week, perhaps we shouldn't be minimizing the accomplishment. 

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

Friday, May 19: White Sox 2, Royals 0

Michael Kopech (2-4) dominated the Royals over eight innings, allowing only one hit while striking out 10 and walking none. The lone Kansas City hit was a broken-bat single by Michael Massey, and he was quickly erased when Jackie Bradley Jr. grounded into a double play. 

Kendall Graveman worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his third save of the season, and Sox pitchers ended up facing the minimum 27 batters. That's the first time the Sox have done that since Philip Humber's perfect game in 2012.

The Sox offense produced only five singles, but four of them came in the second inning, yielding the only two runs that were needed. Gavin Sheets had an RBI single, and Romy Gonzalez added a sacrifice fly.

Saturday, May 20: White Sox 5, Royals 1

Jake Burger's three-run double in the bottom of the sixth inning turned a slim 2-1 Sox lead into a comfortable advantage. Yoan Moncada's two-run single in the first inning produced the other Sox runs.

After giving up a home run to Salvador Perez in the first inning, Lucas Giolito (3-3) settled in to give the Sox six quality innings. He allowed six hits, while striking out four and walking one. 

Four Sox relievers combined to allow only one hit over the last three innings.

Sunday, May 21: White Sox 5, Royals 2

The big hit in this game came from Gonzalez, of all people. The backup infielder entered Sunday's game with a .132 batting average, but with runners on second and third and the Sox trailing 2-1 in the fifth inning, Gonzalez delivered a two-run triple that put the Sox ahead to stay. His average is up to .195 after a 3-for-3 day.

Luis Robert connected for this 13th home run of the season, a solo shot in the fourth, and Andrew Benintendi added the other two RBIs -- a sacrifice fly after Gonzalez's triple in the fifth and an RBI single in the seventh.

Lance Lynn (3-5) gave up a two-run homer to Massey in the second, but nothing more, over six innings. He struck out six and walked two.

Relievers Keynan Middleton, Aaron Bummer and Joe Kelly did not allow a hit over the final three innings. Kelly struck out two in his 1-2-3 ninth inning and earned his first save of the season.

The Sox are 19-29. The Royals are 14-34.

Home runs fuel White Sox offense in win vs. Cleveland

It stands to reason that a team increases its odds of winning by hitting two or more home runs in a game.

The White Sox have done that 14 times in 44 games during the 2023 season. In those 14 games, they are 7-7. That doesn't seem like much until you realize the team is 16-28 overall, which means they are 9-21 when they don't hit at least two homers.

But, they are 2-0 in their last two games against the Cleveland Guardians, and they've hit six homers in these two wins -- including three Wednesday in a 7-2 victory.

Gavin Sheets (No. 6) and Andrew Vaughn (No. 5) hit solo home runs, and Jake Burger (No. 10) had a two-run homer to fuel the offense. 

Burger went 3 for 4 and finished a double short of the cycle. It's fair to say he enjoys hitting at Guaranteed Rate Field, where he has hit nine of his 10 homers. For the season, he has only 89 plate appearances. One home run per every 8.9 plate appearances ... yeah, that's something you like to see from the player who is serving as your designated hitter.

In 52 at-bats at home, Burger has 50 total bases. In 27 road at-bats, he has nine total bases. Those are insane home-road splits.

Mike Clevinger (3-3) picked up the win for the Sox. He went six-plus innings, allowing two earned runs on six hits. He struck out five and walked four, with two of the walks coming in the seventh inning.

Clevinger departed in the seventh inning, leading 7-1, with the bases loaded and no outs. Reynaldo Lopez walked in a run, but was able to get three outs without allowing any further damage.

Joe Kelly and Kendall Graveman each worked a scoreless inning to close it out.

The Sox have not swept a series yet this season, and they'll have the opportunity to so Thursday afternoon. Given the hole this team has dug for itself, realistically, they need to sweep some divisional opponents if they hope to get back in the race.

Lance Lynn gets back on track against weak-hitting Cleveland Guardians

Lance Lynn

White Sox right-hander Lance Lynn has had a terrible start to the 2023 season. 

Coming into Tuesday's game against the Cleveland Guardians, Lynn was 1-5 with a 7.51 ERA and a 1.602 WHIP in eight starts. Opponents had a .420 batting average against him while he was pitching out of the stretch. Ouch. 

However, the Guardians have been one of the weakest offenses in the American League so far this season. Among the 15 AL teams, Cleveland ranked 14th in runs scored (142) and dead last in batting average (.228), slugging percentage (.342) and OPS (.645) before Tuesday's game.

Lynn had a chance to get back on track against a slumping opponent, and he did just that. He pitched seven-plus innings to pick up the victory as the Sox beat the Guardians, 8-3, at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Through seven innings, Lynn (2-5) allowed only one earned run before he got dinged for a couple of unearned runs in the eighth. His final line: 7 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 7 Ks, 0 BBs.

The game remained scoreless until the fifth inning, when the Sox scored six two-out runs against Cleveland ace Shane Bieber (3-2). All the runs against Bieber were unearned, after Luis Robert Jr. started the lengthy rally by reaching base on catcher's interference.

On a hit-and-run play, Robert Jr. scored from first base on a single by Yoan Moncada. After a single by Andrew Vaughn, Gavin Sheets hit his fifth home run of the season -- a 3-run shot to make it 4-0.

After Yasmani Grandal singled, Jake Burger's two-run homer made it 6-0. Burger has homered in each of the two games he's played in since returning from the injured list. He ranks second on the Sox with nine homers.

The Sox home run leader? That would be Robert Jr., who capped the scoring with a solo shot in the bottom of the eighth -- his 12th home run of the year.

Robert Jr. has homered in four straight games. The last Sox player to do that was Matt Davidson, from June 12-15, 2017.

In a roster move before the game, pitcher Garrett Crochet was activated off the injured list, and pitcher Nicholas Padilla was optioned to Triple-A Charlotte. Crochet missed all of the 2022 season after Tommy John surgery. He gives the Sox another left-handed option in the bullpen.

The Sox are 15-28. The Guardians are 19-22.

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.

Eloy Jimenez to injured list; White Sox top Giants

Eloy Jimenez

Remember 15 or 20 years ago when White Sox fans would (rightfully) mock Cubs fans, who started every season by saying, "If Prior and Wood are healthy ..."?

Mark Prior and Kerry Wood were never healthy, and as a result, the Cubs of that era never lived up to the massive amount of hype they received in the local press.

Well, Sox fans, I hate to tell you this, but we are exactly like the Cubs fans of the Prior-Wood time frame right now. All we do is talk about how awesome our team would be if "they could just stay healthy," when the fact of the matter is the Sox are never healthy.

They haven't been healthy in three years, and there's no reason to believe players who are always getting hurt will stop getting hurt. 

Eloy Jimenez is the first core player to be sidelined this year. The 26-year-old designated hitter was injured running the bases during the seventh inning of Monday's loss to the San Francisco Giants. He is expected to be out 2-3 weeks with a hamstring strain, but with Jimenez's injury history, you have to be concerned that this will linger for longer than that.

Injuries limited Jimenez to only 55 games in 2021, and 84 games in 2022. The guy is a prodigious offensive talent, but sad to say, you can't trust him to be ready to play. He's made of glass. Always injured. 

The Sox recalled infielder Jake Burger from Triple-A Charlotte to take Jimenez's place on the roster. I would expect Burger to form the right-handed half of a designated hitter platoon while Jimenez is on the shelf. I would expect Gavin Sheets to be the left-handed half of the platoon.

Speaking of which, Sheets got the start at DH on Wednesday, and he went 2 for 4 with two singles and three RBIs to help the Sox to a 7-3 win over the Giants.

Dylan Cease (1-0) struggled with his command, walking five over five innings pitched. But he also struck out eight and limited the Giants to one hit -- a solo home run by J.D. Davis.

Luis Robert Jr. also had a good game for the Sox, going 3 for 4 with an RBI double, two singles and two runs scored.

The Sox are 3-3. After last season's 81-81 campaign, that's pretty much on brand, right?

Stop the presses: White Sox finally win 2 in a row

Tim Anderson

The White Sox have won two games in a row for the first time since April 15-16, as they defeated the crosstown Cubs, 3-1, on a rainy Tuesday night at Wrigley Field.

This was not a good night to be a hitter. The game-time temperature was 45 degrees. The wind was blowing in from left field at 23 mph, and most of the game was played in a persistent rain.

You know that whole urban myth about how the Cubs sell out every game? Yeah, no, not tonight. The announced attendance was 34,206, but I'd be willing to bet they didn't have even half that many people there. And who can blame fans from staying away from this one?

Both the Sox and the Cubs are off to poor starts this season, and you might say these March-like conditions during the first week of May are less than ideal for baseball.

Anyway, the Sox got all the runs they needed in the first three innings. They scored two in the second. Jake Burger's infield single scored Jose Abreu, who had reached on an error earlier in the inning. Reese McGuire's safety squeeze bunt scored Adam Engel, who had doubled.

In the third inning, Tim Anderson connected for his fourth home run of the season to put the Sox ahead 3-0. Anderson drive off Keegan Thompson landed in the right-field seats, which is the direction you needed to hit it to get one out of Wrigley on this night. Anything to left field wasn't going anywhere.

Sox pitching did the rest, with six players combining on a six-hitter. Michael Kopech worked four scoreless, but inefficient, innings. He was removed with a man at first base and no outs in the bottom of the fifth inning. He had thrown 83 pitches at that point.

Reynaldo Lopez (3-0) relieved and got a double play and a strikeout out of the two batters he faced. For that, he earned his third victory of the season.

Jose Ruiz allowed the lone Cubs run in the sixth. But Aaron Bummer, Matt Foster and Liam Hendriks each worked 1-2-3 innings with one strikeout each, as the Cubs surrendered relatively quietly in the late innings.

For Hendriks, it was his sixth save in seven opportunities. The Sox are 10-13. The Cubs are 9-14. The two teams play one more time in this brief two-game set Wednesday night.

White Sox sweep Twins; Yoan Moncada injures hand

Yoan Moncada

The White Sox this week began a stretch of games during which they will play the Minnesota Twins 10 times before the July 31 trading deadline.

The Twins came into town 11.5 games behind in the AL Central, so my thinking was, if the Sox could win five out of the 10, that would probably cause the Minnesota front office to throw in the towel and sell off parts at the deadline.

Well, the Sox have won the first three of those 10 games. They torched the Minnesota pitching staff for 28 runs in the series, capped off by an 8-5 victory Thursday. The Twins leave Chicago in fourth place, 14.5 games out of first.

The Sox, meanwhile, are back to a .600 winning percentage at 48-32. Their division lead has swelled to five games, because the Cleveland Indians have lost three games in a row.

The series featured the big league debut of Gavin Sheets, who played right field in all three games for the Sox. He went 5 for 11 with a home run and five RBIs.

It was also a big series for Andrew Vaughn, who went 6 for 9 with a home run and five RBIs.

Michael Kopech made his return for the disabled list and earned the win Thursday by pitching a scoreless sixth inning.

But, of course, all Sox good news must be balanced out by bad news. Third baseman Yoan Moncada went 2 for 2 with a run scored Thursday, but he exited the game in the third inning with a bruised hand. Moncada suffered the injury on an awkward slide into third base.

The team hopes he will only miss the weekend series in Detroit, and return Monday when the Sox rematch with the Twins in Minnesota.

Either way, third base prospect Jake Burger is not in the lineup at Triple-A Charlotte on Thursday evening. Expect him to be called up. It's just a matter of whether Moncada goes on the injured list, or whether one of the nine relievers on the Sox roster will be sent down to make room for another position player -- presumably Burger.

Observations from White Sox spring training opener

The White Sox opened Cactus League play with a 7-2, six-inning loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Ariz. Here are some observations:

1. Hey, fans in the stands! It didn't matter that this game was only six innings. It didn't matter that the Sox didn't pitch a single guy who has a chance of making the major-league roster. It was just good to see baseball on TV again, and most of all, it was good to see 2,000 or so fans in the stands at a Sox game. While that's a relatively sparse gathering, it sure beats zero fans. The broadcast almost felt like watching a normal spring game.

2. The second coming of Dan Wright? As noted before, the Sox trotted out pitchers whom we will likely not see at Guaranteed Rate Field at any point in 2021. Six pitchers all worked one inning. They were: Mike Wright, Jacob Lindgren, Kade McClure, Bennett Sousa, Kyle Kubat and Danny Dopico. You could be forgiven if you're not familiar with any of those guys. 

Mike Wright, a 31-year-old veteran with previous big-league time with the Baltimore Orioles and Seattle Mariners, got the start. He immediately evoked memories of erstwhile right-hander Dan Wright, who made 70 horrible appearances for the Sox from 2001 to 2004. Mike Wright had a full count on his first three batters, giving up a walk, a single and a three-run homer to Keston Hiura. Absolutely terrible pitching. Mike Wright even wore the same number as Dan Wright: 46.

3. Still hitting lefties. The Sox got their two runs in the first inning off Milwaukee starter Eric Lauer, who didn't pitch much last season. Lauer, a left-hander, was a member of the San Diego Padres starting rotation in 2018 and 2019. He gave up a leadoff single to Tim Anderson, and a two-run homer to Adam Engel. Anderson and Engel dominated left-handed pitchers last season, and they picked up where they left off. But that was about it for the Sox offense, which totaled only four hits for the game.

4. First look at Vaughn. One of the big stories in Sox camp is whether Andrew Vaughn can win the everyday job as designated hitter. The former first-round pick batted fourth in Sunday's lineup, and he went 0 for 1 with two walks. Vaughn's understanding of the strike zone and plate discipline are of major-league quality, and he showed that with those walks. In his other at-bat, Vaughn fouled out to the catcher. We know Vaughn won't swing at many bad pitches. It remains to be seen whether he can punish pitches that are in the zone.

5. Burger back on the field. Jake Burger, the Sox's first-round draft pick in 2017, hasn't played affiliated ball since his draft year. He's torn his Achilles' tendon twice, and, of course, that pesky pandemic got in everyone's way last year. But Burger got the start at third base Sunday -- Yoan Moncada served as designated hitter. Burger went 0 for 3 with two flyouts and a strikeout, but hey, just getting him on the field represents progress. He's now a long shot to make the majors, but it's hard not to pull for the guy after the horrible injury luck he's been through.

The Sox have another game Monday against the Los Angeles Angels. The next televised game is Tuesday against the Texas Rangers. That one might be a little more interesting ... because Lucas Giolito is scheduled to be the starting pitcher.

White Sox add 4 players (including Jake Burger) to 40-man roster

The deadline to add Rule 5 Draft-eligible players to the 40-man roster was 5 p.m. Friday, so the White Sox added three of their prospects to the roster: third baseman Jake Burger, first baseman Gavin Sheets and right-handed relief pitcher Tyler Johnson.

The Sox also claimed right-handed pitcher Emilio Vargas off waivers from the Arizona Diamondbacks. These four additions bring the 40-man roster to its maximum number.

Burger (first round), Sheets (second round) and Johnson (fifth round) all are members of the 2017 Sox draft class.

Of the three, the only surprising addition is Burger, who hasn't played a game in three seasons after twice rupturing his Achilles' tendon. Burger, 24, had a shot to return healthy to affiliated baseball in 2020, but you know, that pesky pandemic got in the way. 

The team's No. 14-ranked prospect ended up playing in something called the CarShield Collegiate League in Missouri this summer, before eventually reporting to the Sox's alternate training site in Schaumburg.

Anyone who gets chosen in the Rule 5 Draft has to stay on his new team's major league roster for the entire season, or else get offered back to his former team, so it seemed unlikely to me that Burger would be chosen -- if he were left exposed. Turns out, the Sox aren't going to risk that possibility with a player they liked enough to select in the first round of the draft.

Johnson, the Sox's No. 24-ranked prospect, doesn't seem all that far from the majors. He's 6-foot-3, 210 pounds, possesses a high-90s fastball and was successful during a stint in Double-A Birmingham in 2019. The Sox gave him a look in summer camp this year, and he was at the alternate training site in Schaumburg for the rest of the season. 

At age 25, it's not too hard to envision Johnson being selected if he were available in the Rule 5 Draft, so it was pretty much a no-brainer to add him to the 40-man roster.

Sheets is an interesting case. He's a left-handed-hitting first baseman, so he's blocked in the organization by American League MVP Jose Abreu and top hitting prospect Andrew Vaughn. But he is the No. 10-ranked prospect in the organization, and he had 83 RBIs in 2019 at Double-A Birmingham.

Even though Sheets, 24, lacks a clear path to the majors with the Sox, he's a decent enough prospect that you'd prefer not to lose him for nothing. Like many players, 2020 was basically a lost season for him, but if he opens 2021 strong, maybe he's a piece that can be included in a trade midseason.

If the Sox would have left him exposed in Rule 5, maybe a rebuilding team snaps him up and gives him a shot -- especially if the designated hitter rule becomes permanent in the National League.

Vargas, the fourth player added to the roster, is a 24-year-old who has topped out at Double-A. He has made 23 starts at that level over the course of 2018 and 2019, pitching 121 innings with 100 strikeouts and a 3.86 ERA. Sounds like an organizational depth piece, and anything more will be a bonus.

White Sox first-round draft pick: California 1B Andrew Vaughn

I've never seen Andrew Vaughn play a baseball game in my life, so I won't pretend to have a great scouting report on the guy the White Sox picked Monday with the No. 3 overall pick in the MLB draft.

I will say this pick represents a continuation of the Sox's philosophy to take polished collegiate hitters -- past first-round picks Zack Collins, Jake Burger and Nick Madrigal also fit that mode. As we're all aware, the Sox have had mixed results with those three players, and none of them has made the major leagues yet.

Will Vaughn be the guy? We can hope, and there's plenty to like with his college statistics. He won the Golden Spikes Award last season as a sophomore, when he hit 23 homers, and he's a candidate to win the award again this year as a junior. His slash line is .381/.544/.716 with 14 doubles and 15 home runs in 52 games. Teams are obviously pitching around him -- he has 59 walks and only 33 strikeouts this season.

His on-base percentage has never dipped below .530 in either of the past two seasons at Cal, so he's basically turned the odds of the game on their ear. Usually, it's the pitcher who has a much better chance of success in any pitcher-batter confrontation. Vaughn? He reaches base more than 50 percent of the time consistently.

In case you were wondering if his power will transfer to wood bats, he had five home runs in 14 games in the Cape Cod League last summer, so, yeah, there are reasons to believe this guy is going to hit.

What's not to like? Well, he's a right-handed hitting first baseman. He's not that big -- 6 feet tall and 214 pounds. He'll provide no defensive utility and little baserunning prowess, so he has to hit and hit a lot to be a successful player.

The other thing is, the Sox system already is loaded with guys who might need to move to first base, including incumbent left fielder Eloy Jimenez. Some believe Collins needs to move from catcher to first base, and some believe the oft-injured Burger needs to move from third base to first base. And, the Sox invested a second-round pick a couple years back in Gavin Sheets, who is playing first base at Double-A Birmingham.

How many first base candidates do you need? The Sox have plenty, but the hope has to be that Vaughn will be on a fast track to emerge as the cream of the crop at that position.

Charlie Tilson among first round of White Sox roster cuts

Adam Engel

Charlie Tilson will not be the Opening Day center fielder for the White Sox.

The Sox made eight roster moves Tuesday, and Tilson was among the players optioned to Triple-A Charlotte.

It's somewhat surprising to see Tilson sent out the second week of March, as he was believed to be a contender for a starting job in center field, along with Adam Engel, Leury Garcia and Ryan Cordell.

But after a 3-for-18 performance in eight spring games, the club obviously has decided Tilson needs more at-bats in the minor leagues. General manager Rick Hahn foreshadowed this possibility at SoxFest, when he noted that both Tilson and Cordell have missed significant time because of injuries.

Cordell has shown well this spring -- he's 4 for 13 in six games with four walks and no strikeouts -- but he soon might join Tilson in Triple-A just because he didn't play at all the second half of last season.

That leaves Engel and Garcia in the mix, and we know the Sox like Engel's defense. It's also no secret the 26-year-old needed a swing overhaul after hitting .166 in 301 plate appearances at the big-league level last season. So far, so good for Engel this spring -- he's 5 for 16 with two home runs and four RBIs in eight games.

Garcia is the most accomplished player in contention for the center field job, but most of his playing time this spring has been in the infield. Garcia is an infielder by trade, but he was given time in the outfield last year to take advantage of his athleticism. When healthy, he was decent in 2017, posting a .270/.316/.423 slash line with nine home runs and 33 RBIs in 87 games.

Right now, Engel might have the inside track to be the center fielder based upon his defense, his health and some signs of offensive progress.

In other moves, pitcher Thyago Vieira was optioned to Triple-A Charlotte. Right-hander Jose Ruiz was optioned to Single-A Winston-Salem.

Injured third baseman Jake Burger, catcher Alfredo Gonzalez and pitchers Michael Ynoa, Jordan Guerrero and Dylan Covey all were assigned to minor-league camp.

Jake Burger done for the season; injuries to prospects a buzzkill for White Sox

First the good news: White Sox pitching prospect Michael Kopech's fastball-changeup combination looked good in his spring debut Monday, when he tossed two scoreless innings against the Oakland Athletics. The Sox are 3-1 this spring after their 7-6 win over the A's.

Too bad that wasn't the story of the day.

Jake Burger, the Sox's first-round draft pick in 2017, was lost for the season Monday with a ruptured Achilles in his left leg. Burger was running out a routine grounder when he collapsed in pain about 15 feet before reaching first base.

Injuries to prospects have become an alarming trend for the Sox, and we're not even to March yet. Micker Adolfo, who has one of the best outfield arms in the farm system, is going to be relegated to DH duty this season because of a sprained UCL and a strain in his flexor tendon.

The Sox don't want Adolfo to lose at-bats, so he's going to try to play through it, but midseason surgery still is an option.

We already know Zack Burdi, a 2016 first-round draft pick, is out after having Tommy John surgery last summer. And top hitting prospect Eloy Jimenez is not playing right now because of a sore knee.

The injury to Jimenez is not severe, but it's hard to maintain optimism for the coming season when bad news is being piled on top of bad news on the injury front.

Burger's injury has led to increased speculation that the Sox might sign veteran third baseman Mike Moustakas, who incredibly remains a free agent after hitting 38 home runs for the Kansas City Royals last season.

My position on Moustakas hasn't changed: If you can get him on a two- or three-year deal at reasonable money, you have to consider it. Before the injury, Burger's projected timeline for arriving in the big leagues was about 2020. Now, you have to back that up to 2021, and questions only will increase in terms of his ability to stick at third base.

So, the Sox need somebody to man that position for the next three years, at least, and there are no other obvious solutions within the system. Time to look outside the organization? Perhaps, but I wouldn't go handing out a five- or six-year contract to the 29-year-old Moustakas as a result of this.

If the Sox want to sign a shorter-term stopgap, I'm cool with that. I would argue they needed a stopgap at third base even before this Burger injury occurred, so nothing has really changed.

Baseball America releases list of top-10 White Sox prospects

Eloy Jimenez

For those who enjoy lists, Baseball America has released its latest list of top-10 White Sox prospects. You would need to buy a subscription from that publication to get full details, but here is its ranking:

1. Eloy Jimenez, OF
2. Michael Kopech, RHP
3. Alec Hansen, RHP
4. Luis Robert, OF
5. Dane Dunning, RHP
6. Zack Collins, C
7. Jake Burger, 3B
8. Blake Rutherford, OF
9. Gavin Sheets, 1B
10. Dylan Cease, RHP

Notable graduations from last year's Baseball America list at this same time include the guys who were ranked 1, 2 and 3: Yoan Moncada, Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez. All received call-ups to the big leagues during the 2017 season.

Baseball America says the top of the Sox's farm system ranks among the best in the game, and the top 10 could get stronger if Burger and Sheets -- both members of the 2017 draft class -- play well in their first full seasons as professionals.

The publication also notes that there is a bit of a dropoff in the Sox's system once you get past the first 15 prospects. The depth could be better if more fringe prospects such as Luis Alexander Basabe and Alex Call bounce back from disappointing 2017 seasons.

Here's the best-of list for the Sox's farm system provided by Baseball America:
Best hitter for average: Jimenez
Best power hitter: Jimenez
Best plate discipline: Collins
Fastest base runner: Logan Taylor
Best athlete: Robert
Best fastball: Kopech
Best curve: Hansen
Best slider: Zack Burdi
Best changeup: A.J. Puckett
Best control: Dunning
Best defensive catcher: Nate Nolan
Best defensive infielder: Yeyson Yrizarri
Best infield arm: Zach Remillard
Best defensive outfielder: Basabe
Best outfield arm: Micker Adolfo