Category / Baseball

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A Spring Training Surprise

When Chris Getz didn’t get the deal he was looking for during the offseason, it seemed pretty likely that Dylan Cease would start the 2024 season with the White Sox.  That plan changed last night, when the right hander was shipped off to the Padres.  In return, the White Sox are receiving right handed pitchers Drew Thorpe, Jairo Irairte, and Steven Wilson and outfielder Samuel Zavala.

Thorpe, a 23-year-old ranked as the 85th top prospect in MLB, has now been traded twice in the past four months after being acquired by the Padres in December as part of the return in the Juan Soto trade.  He posted a 2.52 ERA across 23 starts in High A and Double A for the Yankees in 2023.  Iriarte, the #8 prospect in the Padres system at 22, appeared in 27 games last season, starting 21, and finished with a 3.49 ERA between High A and Double A.

Ranked as the #7 prospect in the Padres system, Zavala, who is just 18, has three seasons of pro experience, splitting 2023 between Low and High A ball.  In 115 games, he hit 14 homers and 23 doubles, while knocking in 77 RBIs and drawing 94 walks, and slashing .243/.391/.406.  Wilson, 29, has made 102 appearances with the Padres over the past two seasons, posting a 3.48 ERA with 110 strikeouts over 106 innings.

Dylan Cease was first acquired by the White Sox, along with Eloy Jimenez, in the 2017 trade that sent Jose Quintana to the Cubs.  He made his major league debut on July 3, 2019, picking up the victory in the first game of a double header against the Tigers.  Since that day, Cease has been a consistent part of the starting rotation, eventually becoming the ace of the staff.  In 2022, he went 14-8 with a 2.20 ERA, finishing second in Cy Young award voting.

Cease’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were: Continue reading →

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Belli’s Back

A week into spring training, the Cubs made perhaps their biggest move of the offseason, bringing back Cody Bellinger on a three-year, $80 million contract.  Bellinger, who was looking for a long-term deal in the $200 million neighborhood, has the ability to opt-out of the deal after the first two seasons.

Bellinger, who won the 2019 NL MVP award for the Dodgers, had a strong season with the Cubs in 2023 after years of injuries and struggles knocked his career trajectory off track.  He notched his highest totals in home runs, RBIs, average, OPS+, and WAR since that 2019 season.  Hoping to turn that success into long-term security, he turned down his option for the 2024 season and became a free agent.  The deal he was looking for, however, was nowhere to be found, likely because he has to prove that last year’s performance was the start of a trend and not a one-time resurrection.

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2024 Tickets – Southside Edition

This was a much more exciting day back when the White Sox delivered physical tickets for non-premium season ticket holders, but season tickets have been uploaded to the MLB Ballpark app.  While this does make the actual game day use of the tickets more convenient, I can’t help but miss the old days of paper tickets and getting a big, fancy box filled with tickets in the mail.

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What If… Moises Alou Makes That Catch

Welcome to the first installment of what should become a recurring feature, taking a look back at some occurrence in the world, mostly sports, and trying to ascertain what the outcome would have been if just one thing, a decision or an outcome, went a different way.  We start in October 2003, with game six of the NLCS where one particular play, debated for years, may have turned the tide.

 

On October 14, 2003, the Cubs were five outs away from winning their first National League pennant since 1945. Mark Prior was on the mound for the Cubs and had retired eight straight batters into the eighth inning when Juan Pierre doubled, bringing Luis Castillo to the plate. On the eighth pitch of the at bat, Castillo hit a high foul ball down the left field line, heading towards the stands. Moises Alou tracked the ball and reached, when the ball was touched by a fan. A visibly upset Alou, along with Prior and Cub manager Dusty Baker, pleaded for a call of fan interference, but the umpires ruled that the ball had left the field of play. Castillo returned to the plate and, on the next pitch, walked on a wild pitch, allowing Pierre to advance to third.

Ivan Rodriguez then hit an 0-2 pitch for a single, knocking in Pierre and making the score 3-1. When the next batter, Miguel Cabrera, hit a shard ground ball to shortstop Alex Gonzalez, it looked like the rally was over, but, instead of turning the ready-made double play, Gonzalez booted the ball, loading the bases. Derrek Lee then drilled the next pitch for a double, knocking in Castillo and Rodriguez and tying the score 3-3. At this point, Baker emerged from the Cub dugout to remove Prior, but the damage had been done. The Marlins scored five more times, winning the game 8-3 and forcing a Game 7.

The following night, the Marlins completed the unlikely comeback, beating the Cubs 9-6 and going on the face the Yankees in the World Series. They would wind up winning that as well, defeating the Yankees in six games to take home their second title.

But what if Alou had made that catch? How would the rest of history play out? Let’s take a trip through the multiverse to see what the outcome would have been.

OK, so Alou makes the catch for the second out of the inning.  Let us assume Rodriguez still singles, scoring the speedy Pierre from second to make it a 3-1 game.  Let us also assume Cabrera hits the same grounder to Alex Gonzalez, but, without the pressure of trying to make up for the missed out, he fields it cleanly, retiring Cabrera and ending the inning. Continue reading →

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All Time Batting Leaders – Through 2023

Last week, we took our annual look at the all-time leaders in pitching stats for the now 1,083 games I’ve attended (and identified) between 1984 and 2023.  With the first full squad spring training workout in the books, it’s time to move over to the other side of the ball and take a look at the offensive stat leaders for those games, starting with our first category:

Home Runs

Name Total
Paul Konerko 93
Jose Abreu 49
Sammy Sosa 42
Aramis Ramirez 41
Derrek Lee 40
Jermaine Dye 40

Hits

Name Total
Paul Konerko 366
Alexei Ramirez 300
Jose Abreu 273
Derrek Lee 255
A.J. Pierzynski 239

Runs

Name Total
Paul Konerko 200
Derrek Lee 140
Alexei Ramirez 134
Jose Abreu 129
Aramis Ramirez 120

RBI

Name Total
Paul Konerko 235
Jose Abreu 159
Aramis Ramirez 158
Alexei Ramirez 140
Derrek Lee 134

Doubles Continue reading →

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All Time Pitching Leaders – Through 2023

White Sox pitchers and catchers are scheduled to have their first workout in camp today, so that means it is time for our annual look at the pitching leaders in the now 1,083 games I’ve attended, and identified, between 1984 and 2023.  Very few changes from last year, but 2023’s performances have updated the ERA leader board.  So, without further ado, let’s get things started with our first category, the always popular:

Wins

Name Total
Mark Buehrle 31
Gavin Floyd 24
Carlos Zambrano 21
Chris Sale 21
John Danks 19

Losses

Name Total
Mark Buehrle 17
Jose Quintana 17
John Danks 16
Carlos Zambrano 15
Gavin Floyd 15

ERA (>= 35 IP)

Name Total
David Robertson 2.13
DJ Carrasco 2.20
Nate Jones Continue reading →
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A New Voice

On Thursday, the White Sox announced that John Schriffen, a 39-year-old from New York, had signed a multi-year deal to become the team’s new television play-by-play announcer.  He replaces Jason Benetti, who, due to growing frustrations with the White Sox front office, left in November to fill the same role with the Tigers after seven years in the White Sox booth.  Schriffen, who is biracial, becomes the second Black television play-by-play announcer in MLB, joining Dave Sims of the Mariners.

This will mark Schriffen’s first play-by-play assignment for a team, he has broadcast Korean baseball for ESPN during the pandemic and has done some MLB work for ESPN Radio.  His other work at ESPN includes college basketball, college football, college baseball, the XFL, NBA preseason, G-League and Summer League.  After multiple interviews, he met with team owner Jerry Reinsdorf and color analyst Steve Stone this past weekend in Arizona for a final audition.  “We hit it off immediately,” Schriffen said. “Everybody knows Steve Stone is the greatest. He has done everything in baseball broadcasting – the dude is a legend.”

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Three Of A Kind

On a cold winter’s day, the attention of the baseball world turns to upstate New York and the hamlet of Cooperstown, where the votes were tallied, and the 2024 Hall of Fame class is now complete.  Adrian Beltre, Todd Helton, and Joe Mauer join Jim Leyland, who was elected by the Veteran’s Committee last month, in obtaining baseball immortality.  Beltre, the former Dodger/Mariner/Ranger, and Mauer, the long-time Twin, make it on their first try.  Helton, the former Rockie first baseman, was on his sixth go-around.

Four others tallied greater than 50% of the vote, led by Billy Wagner, who came just short at 73.8% and seems likely to make it next year, his final year on the ballot.  Gary Sheffield saw a not-insignificant jump in his final election, rising to 63.9%.  Andruw Jones rose to 61.6% with three more years to go.  In his second go-around, Carlos Beltran jumped up to 57.1%.

On the local front, Manny Ramirez, who spent a little more than a month with the White Sox at the tail end of his career, saw a small decrease in support, finishing with 32.5% of the vote thanks to his multiple PED suspensions.  The disgraced Omar Vizquel, accused of both sexual abuse of an autistic teen and spousal abuse since being added to the ballot, dropped again, going down to 17.7%.  Jimmy Rollins, who spent the final 41 games of his career on the south side, picked up 14.8% in his third go-around.  Mark Buehrle fell back again, dropping to 8.3% in his fourth time on the ballot, living to fight another day.  Former White Sox pitchers Bartolo Colon and James Shields nabbed five votes between them.

Eight players will fall off the ballot after failing to score 5% of the vote.

As for the newest Hall of Famers, I’ve seen Mauer play 42 times, Beltre 17 times, and Helton eleven times.  They will get their day in the sun on Sunday, July 21.

Joe Mauer’s numbers in games I’ve attended were:

Continue reading →

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On The Move?

News broke last night that the White Sox are in “serious” discussions with developers and the city of Chicago about the possibility of building a new stadium on the South Loop parcel known as “the 78.”  The lot is located on the corner of Roosevelt Road and Clark Street, about three miles north of the team’s current home on 35th Street.  In a joint statement from Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson and White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said, “We met to discuss the historic partnership between the team and Chicago and the team’s ideas for remaining competitive in Chicago in perpetuity.”

The team’s current lease at Guaranteed Rate Field runs through 2029.  Last summer, news broke that Reinsdorf was considering selling the team and/or moving them to a new location, either elsewhere in Chicago, the suburbs, or Nashville, Tennessee, when that lease expires.  Will anything come of this?  Potentially.  A new stadium on the river would (or could) provide a spectacular backdrop with views of the downtown skyline and, with the Bears looking to move to Arlington Heights, I can imagine the city would not want to lose another team.  I still believe the most likely outcome is a new lease at Guaranteed Rate Field, but time will tell.