Week 4 Record: 4-1 | Overall: 21-13, T-1st in AL Central
Every week here at Sox on 35th, I’ll be wrapping up the past week of baseball in case you missed any of the games. Here you’ll find the score recaps, links to box scores, and, as we build this out, more recaps based on some of your thoughts as fans. Stay tuned for some fun here!
The White Sox did what they had to do this week, getting four wins in five games against the Royals and Pirates. The games against the pesky Royals sure weren’t easy ones, and if nothing else, they showed us why the Twins had a tough time with them too. But, Lucas Giolito’s no-hitter on Tuesday really paced what was another quality week of the Sox getting wins they needed to and finding themselves 8 games over .500 heading to Minneapolis. Pretty solid 34 games.
Tale of the Tape
Game 30: White Sox 4 – Pirates 0 | Box Score | Recap
Game 31: White Sox 10 – Pirates 3 | Box Score | Recap
Game 32: White Sox 6 – Royals 5 | Box Score | Recap
Game 33: White Sox 6 – Royals 9 | Box Score | Recap
Game 34: White Sox 5– Royals 2 | Box Score | Recap
Jordan’s Weekly Wrap-Up Thoughts
This week was a shorter, but important, one for the White Sox. It continued the theme from previous week: beat the teams you need to beat to get into the playoffs. The theme will continue heading into next week and the week after, with 6 of the next 9 games against Kansas City and Pittsburgh. However, the three game set against the Twins starting today is a good measure for the current state of the White Sox.
The Sox have, undoubtedly, vaulted to the top of the AL Central on the back of playing and beating some pretty bad teams. That’s fine, and that’s exactly how teams make it to the playoffs this year. However, in order to test how strong this team is, it will need to play good and challenging games against Minnesota and Cleveland in the coming weeks. The hope is that the White Sox offense shows up a bit more than it did against Kansas City, having really struggled with RISP in position once again this weekend. But still – ball go far, team go far, to quote James Fox. They took two of three without really deserving it this weekend, so my thought is that they did what they needed to do this week, but all eyes are on Minnesota starting today.
Stats On 35th: This Week by the Numbers
This Week’s Numbers:
0, 2, 28, 9, 4
0
Hmmm, I wonder why this number is included? It can’t have to do with the fact that Lucas Giolito through the 304th no-hitter in major league history this week, can it? Giving up 0 hits isn’t deserving of it’s own number, is it? Well, you bet it is. Congratulations once again to Lucas Giolito.
2
After having no walk-off wins through the first four weeks of the season, the White Sox hit 2 walk-off homers this week to take two of three from the Royals. Yasmani Grandal and Luis Robert certainly stole the show on Friday and Sunday.
28
As of this morning, the White Sox have 28 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) on the season, which keeps them at the top of the major leagues in this defensive category. Leading the way for the White Sox is Luis Robert, who with his 7 DRS, is tied with Kevin Kiermaier and Joey Gallo for second in all of baseball for outfielders (Leader: Mookie Betts, 8). Defense has certainly been an unforeseen strength of the White Sox.
9
With 9 home runs on the season thus far, Luis Robert is currently the rookie leader in the home run category. He still, however, trails Kyle Lewis in WAR – 1.7 to 1.5. However, this clearly has the makings of a really good AL Rookie of the Year race heading into the final month of the season.
4
With a 21-13 record, the White Sox are tie for fourth for the best record in baseball, an honor they share with the Cleveland Indians. I guarantee that, at the start of the season, you didn’t see this coming. I certainly didn’t
Fan Question of the Week
If you are unaware, today is the Trade Deadline. The White Sox have certainly been active around some of the biggest names available – Lance Lynn and Mike Clevinger, just to name a few. Naturally, when names like that are tossed around, they’re going to require the White Sox to add some names in return – names that aren’t exactly easy to part with. So, this week, I asked the tough questions:
1) Should the White Sox make a win now move that would require players such as Michael Kopech, Andrew Vaughn, or Dane Dunning to be expendable?
2) Which prospect would you feel most comfortable parting with?
These are not easy questions, yet the results have been resoundingly clear.
Here are the results so far, in case you don’t have Twitter:
1) Should the White Sox make a win now move that would require players such as Michael Kopech, Andrew Vaughn, or Dane Dunning to be expendable?
23% Yes, 77% No
2) Which prospect would you feel most comfortable parting with?
38.3% Kopech, 13.4% Vaughn, 11.3% Dunning, 37% None of the Above
Basically, White Sox fans don’t really seem to be in a position where they would be comfortable giving up top prospects, and if the Sox did give up one, they would prefer it to be Michael Kopech.
Here’s what I think. Our friend Beefloaf in the 108 always made the joke of the #PerpetualRebuild that the White Sox could find themselves in. I believe a lot of fans took that to mean that the Sox were in a scenario where they were always losing because not enough top prospects panned out. However, my thoughts on what a “Perpetual Rebuild” might mean are far different, and are exactly where the Sox could find themselves potentially. “Perpetual Rebuilds” can also occur when a team is in fact starting to win, but is unwilling to part with the prospects necessary to get the team to the next level.
Let’s be honest, Sox fans, you’re basing your feelings of Kopech, Vaughn, and Dunning off very little MLB experience. Kopech has a couple starts under his belt from 2 years ago. Vaughn has no big league experience. Dunning has 10 innings against the Tigers and the Royals coming off of Tommy John Surgery. That’s not a lot to base opinions off of, so we are going off pedigree and prospect rankings instead. That’s A LOT riskier than, say, someone like Mike Clevinger or Lance Lynn, two pitchers with establish success in the league.
The White Sox are not going to be able to win solely from within the organization. The prospect pool is not deep enough, and it’s rather top heavy. Saying “trade anyone except Kopech, Dunning, or Vaughn” is going to get the Sox absolutely nothing in return. Who else is there – outside of Stiever – that can give the team a lot of value? If you want someone good, you’re going to have to give someone up who is good. It’s just that simple.
At the end of the day, it does depend heavily on the return the White Sox get when they entertain trading Kopech, Vaughn, or Dunning. I wouldn’t go over the moon for Lynn, but there are a lot of names getting thrown out there that I’d give the top guys in the system for. However, fans don’t seem to be willing to part with anyone just yet. My advice: don’t get too attached to prospects, lest you find yourself in a “Perpetual Rebuild” mindset. Remember how excited we were for top prospects Carson Fulmer and Gordon Beckham? Imagine what could’ve happened if the Sox traded those guys at the height of their value instead. It’s a cautionary tale of a reminder that not all prospects pan out the way you want.
Oh, and please stop using the Baseball Trade Simulator. It doesn’t work.
Here are some of my favorite replies to those two tweets above. Thanks for sending your thoughts in, I read them all!
1) @Swanson12: The problem is that no one else in the minors, maybe outside of Jonathan Stiever, is going to get you a valuable return.
2) @_AlohaMrHand: Great minds think alike.
3) @Tonyk101010: How many aces like DeGrom are there? He’s in his own class, and I think it’s a tad unfair of a comparison. Clevinger is a guaranteed front-of-the-rotation arm?
4) @R_DoroJr: Anyone the Sox would get for Kopech is a proven stud on the major league mound. Kopech may be a stud on the mound. Kopech is anything but a guarantee at this point.
5) @dbh1127: To be honest, I’ve thought about this a lot. I don’t think the Sox will end up trading Vaughn though, because he has a higher ceiling than McCann and won’t cost nearly as much.
Highlights of the Week
This week was a pretty easy week for highlights, thankfully. Here’s the top three of the week – I’m sure you can guess these!
Lucas Giolito Twirls a No-Hitter
Yasmani Grandal Walks It Off vs. KC
Luis Robert Walks It Off Two Days Later
The Week Ahead: On the Road in MIN and KC
Monday: Lucas Giolito (3-2, 3.09 ERA) vs. Rich Hill (1-1, 3.55 ERA), 7:10 CT
Tuesday: Dallas Keuchel (5-2, 2.70 ERA) vs. Michael Pineda (–), 7:10 CT
Wednesday: Reynaldo Lopez (0-1, 9.00 ERA) vs. Jose Berrios (2-3, 4.75 ERA), 7:10 CT
Thursday-Sunday: Series vs. Royals… TBD, but likely Cease, Dunning, Giolito, and Keuchel
Enjoy the Week, White Sox Fans! Talk to you again next Monday!
Featured Graphic: Brandon Anderson (@b_son4) / Twitter
