Now that the All-Star Game is behind us and we await the start of the second half of the season, let’s take a look at the first half leaders on the defensive side of the ball for the 21 games I attended:
Wins
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Reynaldo Lopez | 3 |
| 17 tied with | 1 |
Losses
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Johnny Cueto | 2 |
| 18 tied with | 1 |
ERA (> 6 IP)
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Clayton Kershaw | 0.00 |
| Dylan Cease | 0.00 |
| Reynaldo Lopez | 0.73 |
| Marcus Stroman | 0.79 |
| Kendall Graveman | 0.90 |
Strikeouts
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Michael Kopech | 20 |
| Continue reading → |
In 1929, uniform numbers appeared on the back of baseball jerseys for the first time, thanks to the Indians and the Yankees. By 1937, numbers finally appeared across all uniforms, both home and away, across both major leagues. Since that time, 81 distinct numbers have been worn by members of the White Sox, while the Cubs boast 76.
Today, we continue our look at those players, picking our favorite, if not the best, player to wear each uniform number for both Chicago teams with #35. 82 players have donned #34 on each side of town, including 50 for the White Sox and 32 for the Cubs.
Kerry Wood was the fourth overall selection in the first round of the 1995 draft, making his major league debut for the Cubs less than 3 years later. Making his fifth major league start in May of 1998, Wood would cement his place in Cubs lore and baseball history, striking out 20 and giving up a single hit against the Astros. Wood helped the Cubs to the Wild Card, their first post-season appearance since 1989. An injured elbow, however, cost him the 1999 season and, just maybe, altered the course of his career. He led the Cubs rotation as they made a surprising run towards the World Series in 2003, coming up a mere 5 outs short. By 2007, he was moved to the bullpen full time, After quick detours with the Indians and the Yankees, he returned to the Cubs in 2011 and retired in May of 2012, striking out Dayan Viciedo in his final appearance in a crosstown tilt.
On the south side of town, young phenom Michael Kopech may end up owning the number across both teams. But for now, we will split the difference between three pitchers, each of whom helped lead the White Sox to a playoff appearance. Richard Dotson switched to #34 in 1983, just in time to go 22-7 as the White Sox won their first division title. Acquired in 2004, Freddy Garcia donned the number while winning the clinching game 4 of the 2005 World Series. His replacement in the rotation, beginning in 2007, was Gavin Floyd, who also wore the number as the White Sox won their latest division title in 2008.
Yesterday, we looked at the leaders in the 58 games I attended this year on the offensive side of the ball. With both League Championship Series in full swing today, it’s time to wrap up our look back at the 2021 season with the pitching leaders, starting with everyone’s favorite pitching statistic:
Wins
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Lance Lynn | 4 |
| Michael Kopech | 3 |
| Dylan Cease | 3 |
| Dallas Keuchel | 3 |
| Reynaldo Lopez | 3 |
| Lucas Giolito | 3 |
Losses
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Carlos Rodon | 4 |
| Lance Lynn | 3 |
| Lucas Giolito | 3 |
| Dylan Cease | 2 |
| Reynaldo Lopez | 2 |
| Liam Hendriks | 2 |
| Jorge Alcala | 2 |
| Adbert Alzolay | 2 |
ERA (> 6 IP)
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Ryan Burr | 1.08 |
| Matt Foster | 1.23 |
| Alec Mills | 1.35 |
| Lance McCullers | 1.63 |
| Mike Minor | 1.63 |
Strikeouts
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Lance Lynn | 76 |
| Dylan Cease | 75 |
| Carlos Rodon | 56 |
| Continue reading → |
The second half gets kicked off tonight, with the White Sox holding an 8 game lead in the AL Central and the Cubs looking to be sellers after losing 13 of their final 15 games heading in to the break, dropping them from first place to third, with an 8 game deficit. Let’s wrap up the first half with a look at the leaders on the defensive side of the ball for the 32 games I attended, starting with everyone’s favorite stat:
Wins
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Lance Lynn | 4 |
| Codi Heuer | 2 |
| Michael Kopech | 2 |
| Lucas Giolito | 2 |
| Dallas Keuchel | 2 |
Losses
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Lucas Giolito | 3 |
| Carlos Rodon | 3 |
| Lance Lynn | 2 |
| Jorge Alcalá | 2 |
| 22 tied with | 1 |
ERA (> 6 IP)
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Michael Kopech | 1.53 |
| Dylan Cease | 1.61 |
| Mike Minor | 1.64 |
| Lance Lynn | 1.70 |
| Liam Henriks | 2.03 |
Strikeouts
| Name | Total |
|---|---|
| Lance Lynn | 51 |
| Continue reading → |
In 1929, uniform numbers appeared on the back of baseball jerseys for the first time, thanks to the Indians and the Yankees. By 1937, numbers finally appeared across all uniforms, both home and away, across both major leagues. Since that time, 81 distinct numbers have been worn by members of the White Sox, while the Cubs boast 76.
Today, we continue our look at those players, picking our favorite, if not the best, player to wear each uniform number for both Chicago teams with #49. 60 different players have donned #49 while playing in Chicago, 36 for the White Sox and 24 for the Cubs.
Chris Sale, the 13th overall selection by the White Sox in the 2010 draft, pitched 11 games in the minor leagues before making his major league debut on August 6, less than 2 months after being drafted. Sale worked out of the bullpen for the remainder of the year, earning 4 saves in 21 appearances. Sale returned to the bullpen in 2011, picking up another 8 saves while posting a 2.79 ERA. In 2012, Sale moved in to the starting rotation full time, where he racked up 5 straight All Star nods and finished between 3rd and 6th in Cy Young award voting each season. In 2015, Sale set the White Sox franchise record with 274 strike outs and, in 2016, he tied his career high with 17 victories and threw a career high 226 2/3 innings pitched in between spats with the front office over Drake LaRoche and 1970s throwback jerseys. That December, the rebuilding of the White Sox began when Sale was traded to the Red Sox for, among others, Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech.
Jake Arrieta was originally acquired by the Cubs in July of 2013, coming over from the Orioles, along with Pedro Strop, in a trade for Scott Feldman and Steve Clevenger. After 7 starts for Iowa, Arrieta joined the rebuilding Cubs and showed vast improvement over the pitcher he was with the Orioles. He turned into an ace for the Cubs in 2015, winning the NL Cy Young Award, and was a key contributor to their World Series championship in 2016. He threw two no-hitters for the team, one in 2015 against the Dodgers and the second in 2016 against the Reds. He became a free agent following the 2017 season, but returned in 2021.
The White Sox announced tonight that pitcher Michael Kopech, who had yet to report to camp due to personal issues, has decided to opt out of the 2020 season. Kopech, who missed the 2019 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery, will not accrue service time and will not be paid for the season. Assuming the 2021 season starts on time, opening day will be 939 days since his last outing in September of 2018,
Kopech becomes the first Chicago player to opt out and the first major league player to opt out for whom the missed service time would make a discernible difference. I doubt he will be the last.
The White Sox announced today that they had signed Yoan Moncada to a 5 year, $70 million extension, with a team option that could keep him on the south side through 2025. “I wanted to be with this team,” Moncada said through an interpreter. “With all this happening, I can say I’m going to play alongside (left fielder) Eloy (Jimenez) and (center fielder) Luis Robert for a very long time, and that’s going to be a key for the success of this team.”
Moncada will receive a $4 million signing bonus, $1 million in 2020, $6 million in 2021, $13 million in 2022, $17 million in 2023 and $24 million in 2024. The Sox hold an option for $25 million in 2025, with a $5 million buyout. If the option gets executed, it will make this the largest contract in White Sox history.
With Moncada locked up, the White Sox have most of the core of their rebuild under team control through the early part of this decade. Newly acquired right fielder Nomar Mazara and oft-injured pitcher Carlos Rodon are under control through the 2021 season. First baseman Jose Abreu is signed through 2022. Yasmani Grandal and pitchers Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez should be here through 2023. Tim Anderson and Michael Kopech are locked up through 2024. Moncada and Dylan Cease are under team control through 2025. Eloy Jimenez and Aaron Bummer are signed through 2026, and Luis Robert is on board through 2027. This doesn’t even include Nick Madrigal and Andrew Vaughn, the team’s last two top draft picks, who have yet to make their debut and start their clocks.
After quite a few years of bad baseball, the future looks very bright on the south side of Chicago. Rick Hahn has put the pieces in place to turn the team into contenders. It’s time to see if the plan comes together and winning baseball can return to Guaranteed Rate Field.
After missing out on Zack Wheeler earlier in the offseason, the White Sox looked idly by as the remaining big names vanished off the free agent board: Gerrit Cole, Stephen Strasburg, Madison Bumgarner. Last week, however, the struck on their plan B, signing Gio Gonzalez to a one year deal on Friday and coming to terms with Dallas Keuchel on a reported 3 year deal on Saturday.
Keuchel, a 31 year old left hander, sat out the first half of last season, signing after the draft (and the expiration of the draft pick compensation attached to him) and helping the Braves to the NL East title. He won the AL Cy Young Award in 2015, and should help stabilize the White Sox rotation, both on the mound and as a mentor on the bench.
Gonzalez, 34, enters his third stint in the White Sox organization. Originally signed as the team’s first round draft pick in 2004, he was part of the deal that brought Jim Thome from the Phillies following the 2005 season. He was reacquired from the Phillies a year later, along with Gavin Floyd for Freddy Garcia. He was traded again in 2008 as part of the ill-fated Nick Swisher deal with the A’s. He will now bolster the back end of the White Sox rotation.
These moves give the White Sox plenty of pitching depth as they go into spring training, allowing Michael Kopech and Carlos Rodon to return from injury on their own timetable and keeping the likes of Dylan Covey and Ross Detwiler far from the pitching mound at Guaranteed Rate Field.
A good week, despite a poor start and finish. Things started poorly with just shy of 3500 steps on Sunday. Monday was a nice bounce back, coming in right below 12,500 steps as we moved back to our fancy new digs in South Plaza. Tuesday improved on Monday’s total by 43 steps, thanks to a post-work excursion down to Guaranteed Rate Field to take in the rain-shortened debut of Michael Kopech. Wednesday was my third straight day over 10,000 steps, before falling off to just shy of 5800 on Thursday. Friday was a nice bounce back day, coming in over 9100 steps. Saturday was a complete failure, with just over 3100 steps.
Total steps: 57,451
Daily average: 8207.3
On Sunday, the White Sox announced that prized prospect Michael Kopech was being called up from Triple A to start tonight’s game against the Twins.
Unfortunately, a 55 minute rain delay after the second inning ended his debut early. But, the future looks bright for Kopech and the White Sox, as the rebuild takes its next step towards completion.