Welcome to South Side Mailbag, the newest featured segment here at Sox On 35th! The White Sox are cruising towards an AL Central Division Championship, but we have a whole lot more than a division crown on our minds. The team is currently 68-50, and has a 10-game lead on the Cleveland Indians.
Moving forward, we will be having a few of us here at Sox On 35th address questions surrounding the club and even bring in some questions from other White Sox fans as well. It should be a lot of fun, and allow you to see where some of us differ on various White Sox topics.
Time to open the mailbag!
What should the White Sox’ playoff rotation look like?
Ryan Wilson: The rigorous MLB schedule requires a 5-man rotation in the regular season, but due to rest and travel days in the postseason, you can get away with a 4-man rotation, even sometimes lowering it down to three. For the White Sox, expect them to run with four. That’s where it gets interesting. You’ll obviously run out the two Cy-Young candidates in Lance Lynn and Carlos Rodon. Lucas Giolito will get the third spot, which leaves that last and final spot in the playoff rotation up for grabs between Dylan Cease and Dallas Keuchel. I’ve been back and forth on this, but for me, you have to go with experience in this situation. I expect Tony La Russa to give the nod to Dallas. He has 13 appearances in the postseason, going 4-3 with a 3.71 ERA, and one “world series” ring to go along with. Sorry Houston fans…All jokes aside, I think you have to go with some experience here, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see La Russa go with Cease either, who has outpitched Keuchel for most of the season.
Kyle Wood: I have 1. Lynn 2. Giolito 3. Rodon 4. Cease. Lynn is the obvious choice for me to start game 1 of a series. He has been consistently the best starter on the team this season. Giolito has had a couple bad starts, but is still dominant and can go out for a strong 7 innings. Rodon may be having a better season than Giolito, however he has been battling shoulder fatigue as of late and if he experiences it in the postseason he may not perform well. Cease takes the last spot over Keuchel. He has had his ups and downs this year, but he’s walking a career low at a 9.5% BB rate and has not given up a ton of home runs with a 0.98 HR/9.
Jordan Lazowski: The four starters are Lance Lynn, Lucas Giolito, Dylan Cease, and Carlos Rodon. I’m not prepared to name an order yet, because any of Rodon, Giolito, or Lynn could easily hold that spot by the end of the season. Dylan Cease, by every metric, has outperformed Dallas Keuchel this year. He’s striking out more hitters than ever before, walking fewer than ever before, and has turned in quality outing recently in a potential playoff opponents in the Yankees (5 IP, 3 ER, 0 BB, 6 K) and the Astros (5.2 IP, 3 ER, 2 BB, 10 K). He’s an unfinished product, but even unfinished, he has produced far more than Keuchel has.
Keuchel will have some role in October – he might be someone I send out with a 2-0 series lead to try and save some other guys. However, I have a hard time finding Keuchel a spot in the playoff rotation right now. But, much like with the Game 1 starter, so much can change in a month and a half. Overall though, the White Sox have a good problem: a really, really good pitching staff.
How has Tony La Russa done as manager of the White Sox?
RW: Heading into the season, I wasn’t the biggest fan of this hire. The lingering off the field issues he’s had combined with his age and time away from the dugout made me question it from the first pitch. However, if you were to tell me that Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert, Yasmani Grandal and Nick Madrigal would play in just 162 combined games of the possible 472 (34%), and be 18 games above .500, I would have told you that you were crazy. He has a way of tinkering with lineups, and although a large part of the fanbase questions him on a daily basis, you can’t argue with the results. I feel even more comfortable heading into a postseason with him and a healthy lineup.
KW: I did not like the signing when it happened, and I still do not love it. With that being said, I have warmed up to him over the last month or so. The first few months of the season, he seemed lethargic and not ready to fire up and defend his guys. But hearing from players about how he has had their back, as well as his defense of Jose Abreu against the Twins and starting to argue with umpires, I am not as critical as I was at first. I still think he could be better with his management of the pitching staff, although with recent acquisitions of Ryan Tepera and Craig Kimbrel it should be easier. I am also less than enthusiastic of his calling for bunts and hit-and-runs. If I were to give him a grade it would be a C+ or B-.
JL: Before the season, I had concerns about Tony La Russa. I believed he would be fine in the dugout; however, I was worried about the clubhouse. In reality, my concerns are now the opposite: he has clearly proven me wrong with what appears to be awesome clubhouse chemistry. He’s had his bumps (Yermin Mercedes, anyone?), but he’s done an awesome job managing the personalities. The team genuinely seems to enjoy playing for La Russa, so in that respect, I was quite wrong.
That being said, La Russa was part of quite a few losses early in the season with some questionable lineups and, more importantly in my mind, questionable bullpen decisions. Part of it, as I’ve seen the season unfold, was likely due in part to La Russa learning to manage in 2021 – the game’s the same, but different, than it was in 2011. This isn’t a dig at La Russa, but more a reality of the situation. I think he has improved and, in many respects, I believe he is managing for the playoffs. That being said, I will hold my full opinion on his managerial tactics in the year 2021 until after I see him in action in the playoffs. But, while I disagree with a lot of his decisions, he has his team’s back and they like playing for him. I’m pleasantly surprised.
Do you think we’ve seen the true talent level of this team yet?
RW: No. How could we? This team has never been fully healthy. Even opening day was without Eloy “Big Baby” Jimenez. I think once we get Grandal back, we still will have to temper expectations until everyone gets acclimated again, which should be in time for the final couple weeks of the regular season, leading up to the start of the postseason. The sky is the limit for this team. They have hitting, which they’ve shown they can do with or without the long ball, speed, and pitching both at the top and in the bullpen. Take a whole dugout of guys that love to play with one another and play for a Hall of Fame manager, and you got something awfully tasty heading into October.
KW: I think this is a fairly easy no. The team has not been fully healthy at the same time, especially with the core position players. Given some time to catch up to speed, Robert, Grandal, and Eloy should have no problem showing us what a fully healthy squad would look like.
JL: I think this is going to be a pretty universal “no” from our team here. With the lack of health and inconsistent spurts of production from all members of the team at some point or another – Tim Anderson, Jose Abreu, Yoan Moncada, you name him – this team has really yet to click at all cylinders. Hopefully, one Yasmani Grandal comes back in September, we will see this team catch fire together on the march through October.
That being said, the talent we’ve seen should inspire a lot of confidence heading into the stretch run of the season. This team hasn’t played one healthy game together and still has an 11-game lead in the AL Central. That’s absolutely awesome, and a testament to the guys on the field giving it their all every night to bring home victories.
Has Yoan Moncada been a disappointment this year?
RW: I saved the best question for the end, didn’t I? I’m not even going to tip toe on this question. The answer is yes, without a doubt. It’s also not even a question of this year. You could say he’s been a disappointment in his career up to this point. If you take away his 2019 season, where he went .315 with 25 home runs, 79 runs batted in and 10 stolen bases, you’ll be hard pressed to find him produce much before or after that season. Sure, he had a difficult rookie season and then dealt with Covid in a shortened season a year ago, but this was a guy we were referring to as one of the biggest up and coming talents in baseball.
He came as baseball’s top prospect, but he really hasn’t lived up to the hype. He’s often criticized for his demeanor on the field, which may be unfair, but sometimes it goes hand in hand with how you are performing. The talent is there and Moncada has shown glimpses of it this season, but for the White Sox to be successful, they need him to show more of that promise that came along with him when he came over from Boston.
KW: This is also a fairly easy no for me. I believe if you are disappointed, your expectations were too high. I expected him to return to or be close to his 2019 level of play and he has done that, albeit in a different way than in 2019. He has played at an all-star level this season and I believe if you think he should play at a MVP level, you set your expectations too high for the type of player he is.
JL: No. Yoan Moncada is one of the most unnecessarily hated players that I can remember on a White Sox roster (I’m only 24, so I don’t have that much memory, but I hold firm in this opinion). It’s hard to find many fan bases who will hate someone who has been worth almost three wins and is on pace for a 4.2 fWAR pace for the season. He has produced quality defense (3 DRS), solid on-base percentage (.367), and a career-low strikeout rate (26.2%). He’s hitting over .300 with RISP and is currently 8th in walk rate (14.6%). His quality of contact (.338 wOBA vs. .354 xwOBA) points to hints of unlucky streaks at the plate; currently, he is in a bit of a slump regardless, which likely inspired this question. That being said, before his slump, he was hitting .279/.401/.426. Still, currently, he has a 116 wRC+ on the season, which puts him 16% better than league-average. I have no clue how that’s considered a disappointment.
Moncada is lacking in the power department this season and is missing far too many fastballs. Those are reasons he’s been frustrating to me. However, he has still performed as a top 10 3B in baseball, and top 3 3B in the American League (behind Rafael Devers and Jose Ramirez). For those disappointed in the lack of power: I completely get it, and I agree with you 100%. For those disappointed in Yoan Moncada the player: I’m not sure what you were expecting. Top prospects don’t pan out exactly how you want them to all the time. If Yoan Moncada in a “disappointing” season is worth four wins, then he’s an incredibly talented ballplayer, in addition to the fact that your expectations are way too high.
Look beyond the counting stats and at the other places in which he provides value. To call Yoan Moncada a “disappointment” is a complete oversight of his encompassing value as a player. I’d love to be a disappointment with a career OPS near .800, despite a rough rookie campaign and a COVID-influenced 2020 season.
What are your thoughts on the above topics? Let us know in the comments below!
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Featured Photo: White Sox/Twitter
The comments in the main story have it spot on with regards to a rotation for the playoffs —- but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. There’s still many games remaining to be played. As of Tony, I was disappointed by the hire but I am very pleased with his performance as manager, both in the clubhouse and dugout. Regarding Moncada, he is a major disappointment, particularly with his bat. I would trade Moncada off season and place Burger in the position. Finally, I remain very disappointed by the Madrigal trade; his ball to bat stats were exceptional. If the Sox were wanting a gold glove at second base, they should have kept Sanchez.