Tag / Tommy John

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Here We Go Again

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.  In order to jumpstart their latest rebuilding effort, the White Sox have traded their stud left-handed starter to the Red Sox for four prospects.  Hopefully the end result will be different from the Chris Sale deal back in 2016.  This time around, Garrett Crochet is heading east, while the White Sox will receive catcher Kyle Teel, outfielder Braden Montgomery, infielder Chase Meidroth, and right-hander Wikelman Gonzalez.

Crochet was the 11th overall selection by the White Sox in the 2020 draft.  Thanks to the pandemic, he didn’t spend any time in the minor leagues before making his major league debut on September 18, throwing a scoreless inning with two strikeouts against the Reds.  Crochet worked out of the bullpen for the remainder of the year, giving up just three hits without allowing a run to score in five appearances as the White Sox made the post-season for the first time since 2008.  He made a single appearance in the Wild Card round against the A’s, striking out the two batters he faced.

Crochet returned to the bullpen in 2021, going 3-5 with a 2.82 ERA.  He appeared in three of the four games in the ALDS against the Astros, giving up five hits in just two and a third innings without surrendering a run.  An elbow injury and Tommy John surgery wiped out his 2022 season, and he returned to the big leagues in 2023, making thirteen appearances with a 3.55 ERA.

Last year, following the Dylan Cease trade, Crochet moved to the starting rotation full time and was named the opening day starter.  Coming off the injury and having totaled 73 total career innings, he was restricted to save his arm.  After notching his first All-Star, he struggled a little in the second half, finishing the season with 32 starts and a 6-2 record, posting a 3.58 ERA.

Teel, ranked as the #25 prospect in all of baseball, is the centerpiece of the deal.  A 22-year-old left-handed hitter, he was the first round draft choice of the Red Sox in 2023.  He split 2024 between Double A and Triple A and is expected to be ready to reach the major leagues next year.  Montgomery, a 21-year-old switch hitter, is ranked as the #54 prospect and was the top pick for the Red Sox in this summer’s draft.  Meidroth, a 23-year-old right hander, spent last season in Triple A, showing good plate discipline with little pop.  Gonzalez, 22, posted a 4.73 ERA in Double A last season, working mostly as a starter.

Will this deal work out better for the White Sox than the Sale trade did eight years ago?  Only time will tell, as the south siders look to bounce back from the worst season in baseball history.

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

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2022 BBWAA Award Predictions

The Baseball Writers of America have announced the finalists for their awards for the just completed baseball season, which will be announced next week.  It is a good bet that few of my original predictions for the winners will be accurate.  Hopefully, these new predictions will be slightly better, especially since I’ll have a 33% chance of being right.

American League

Most Valuable Player: Yordan Alvarez, Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani

Had Shohei Ohtani not had the season he had last year, he would easily walk away with this award.  But, as they say, familiarity builds, if not contempt, at least complacency. So Aaron Judge, who broke the American League home run record, will take home the prize.

Cy Young Award: Dylan Cease, Alek Manoah, Justin Verlander

Justin Verlander returned from Tommy John surgery at age 39 and won 18 games while posting a 1.75 ERA.  Seems a little suspicious to my eyes, but he will easily take home this award.

Manager of the Year: Terry Francona, Brandon Hyde, Scott Servais

As usual, I didn’t make any predictions for this award prior to the season.  Scott Servais should have won this award last year, but I don’t think he will make up for it this year.  Brandon Hyde led the Orioles to a 31-game improvement over the previous year and their first winning season since 2016.  That should get him the award.

Rookie of the Year: Steven Kwan, Julio Rodriguez, Adley Rutschman

Another award I didn’t predict prior to the season.  While all three had very successful seasons, my guess would be that Julio Rodriguez brings this award back to Seattle.

National League

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What Went Wrong

After winning a Wild Card slot in 2020 and running away with the Central Division title in 2021, the White Sox looked like an easy lock to make a third straight post-season appearance this October.  Unfortunately, something (or somethings) went wrong along the way and after a long season where nothing ever seemed to click, the team was officially eliminated on Sunday after dropping six straight against the Guardians and the Tigers.  So where did things fall apart?  Let’s take a deeper look.

Injuries

After injuries rocked the White Sox in 2021, they revamped their strength and conditioning staff, hoping a new program would help stem the tide.  Unfortunately, the lockout prevented the new staff from working with the players, leaving them to their own devices.  GM Rick Hahn said in June that, between the lockout and the shortened spring training, the new program “got stymied a little bit this offseason” and that it would “be difficult in-season to perhaps change the results over the next few weeks and months in terms of health.”  Boy, was he not kidding.

Things started at the end of spring training, when lefty reliever Garrett Crochet went down for the year with an elbow injury requiring Tommy John surgery.  Two days later, starter Lance Lynn left his final spring tune-up with a bum knee, putting him on the shelf until the middle of June.  Finally, before the White Sox arrived in Detroit for their season opener, Yoan Moncada suffered an oblique strain that knocked him out for a month and may have sunk his entire season.  Relief pitcher Joe Kelly, signed during the offseason, also started the season on the IL rehabbing an injury from the year before and wasn’t activated until May.

Outfielder AJ Pollock left the second game of the year with a hamstring injury, missing over three weeks.  The same day, Lucas Giolito was placed on the IL with an abdominal strain, keeping him out for nearly two weeks.  The day he was activated, Eloy Jimenez was placed on the IL with a strained hamstring suffered that day against the Twins.  It would be two and a half months before he returned.  This was all before the calendar turned to May!

Things never let up.  Andrew Vaughn missed time in May after getting hit in the hand by a pitch.  Aaron Bummer suffered a right knee strain that kept him out for two weeks.  Lucas Giolito and Luis Robert both missed time in May thanks to bouts with COVID.  Joe Kelly went back on the IL with a hamstring strain.  Tim Anderson missed three weeks with a groin strain, the same injury that kept Vince Velasquez for two weeks.

Aaron Bummer suffered another injury in mid-June which kept him out until September.  Yasmani Grandal was felled with lower back spasms for six weeks.  A right forearm strain put Liam Hendriks on the shelf for nearly three weeks.  A strained hamstring took down Yoan Moncada for nearly three weeks.  Adam Engel fell victim to the same injury for two weeks.  On July 6th, Jake Burger went down with a bruised hand following a hit by pitch, Vince Velasquez was felled by a blister on his right index finger, and Danny Mendick was lost for the year with a torn ACL.  We just now are getting to the All-Star break.  Shall I keep going?

Luis Robert was shut down with blurred vision.  A lower back strain put Reynaldo Lopez on the shelf.  A torn finger ligament knocked out Tim Anderson for the remainder of the year on August 9th.  Another lower back strain took down Leury Garcia.  A bum knee sent Michael Kopech to the IL, while another hamstring strain stopped Yoan Moncada for the third time this year.  Kopech was felled again with a shoulder strain on September 7th.  Finally, after suffering with a wrist injury for nearly a month and a half, Luis Robert was shut down and placed on the IL on Saturday with the 2022 title all but wrapped up for the Guardians.

Aside from the sheer number of injuries, this meant that the White Sox were very rarely at anything approaching full strength.  Some piece of the puzzle was always missing, and usually two or three pieces.  The bullpen injuries led to some early overwork for guys like Kendall Graveman, which impacted his performance in the second half.  Because of this, the White Sox never seemed to gel or to be able to string wins together to pull ahead.

Lack of Power

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Bringing In Reinforcements

Four years and 2 days ago, the White Sox jumpstarted their rebuild by trading Adam Eaton to the Nationals for pitchers Lucas Giolito, Dane Dunning and Reynaldo Lopez.  Yesterday, the White Sox tried to put that rebuild over the top by trading Dunning to the Rangers for Lance Lynn and signing Eaton to a one year deal to fill the hole in right field.

Lynn, who will turn 34 before Opening Day, was linked to the White Sox at the trade deadline last year and should join Lucas Giolito and Dallas Keuchel in giving the team veteran leadership on the mound.  He has finished in the top 10 in Cy Young voting each of the last 2 seasons.  He will be a free agent following the 2021 season.  Dunning, meanwhile, made his major league debut last year, starting 7 games as he worked his way back from Tommy John surgery.  He started the decisive game 3 of the AL Wild Card series against the A’s, going only 2/3 of an inning before getting pulled as the White Sox lost in their first post-season appearance since 2008.

Eaton, 32, was a gold glove finalist in right field for the White Sox in 2015, but things went south the following year when he was a vocal critic of the front office following the Drake LaRoche debacle during spring training.  He blew out his knee in 2017 and missed most of that and the 2018 seasons.  In 2019, he was a key part in the Nationals capturing their first World Series title, putting up an OPS of .993 during the series.

Last week, the White Sox introduced their new coaching staff and the mantra coming out of that was World Series or bust.  While giving up 6 years of control for Dunning for a single year of Lynn is a steep price, he at least should push the team in the right direction.  Eaton, however, seems to be a throwback to the days of buying low and hoping for a breakout season.  With better, but more expensive, options still available, this move does not announce to the world that the White Sox are all in.

by jim

Opting Out

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.

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20 Ks 20 Years Later

20 years ago today, a young rookie pitcher, making just his fifth major league appearance, would cement his place in Cubs lore and make history.  Rookie Kerry Wood took the mound against the Houston Astros on a Wednesday afternoon and, while giving up only a single hit, he struck out 20 batters, tying Roger Clemens’ record.

Of course, Wood spent the rest of his career trying to live up to the promise of this start.  An elbow injury near the end of the season led to Tommy John surgery, which cost him all of the 1999 season.  Wood came back in 2000, but never was able to stay healthy enough to truly fulfill the promise he showed that rainy Wednesday afternoon.  2003 was his best season, and his last full year as a starter, as injuries forced him to move to the bullpen for good starting in 2006.

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#62 – Jason Bere

jasonbere

Name: Jason Bere

Rank: 62

Position: P

Years With White Sox: 1993-1998

Jason Bere was selected by the White Sox in the 36th round of the 1990 draft.  By 1993, he was ranked as the 8th best prospect in all of baseball.  On May 27, 1993, he made his major league debut, giving up 3 first inning runs and picking up the loss against the Royals at Comiskey Park.  The rest of the season went much better for Bere, as he won his final 7 starts to finish 12-5 and helped the White Sox to capture the AL West title.  Bere started Game 4 of the ALCS against the Blue Jays, lasting only 2 1/3 innings in a game the White Sox eventually came back to win.  After the season, he finished second in AL Rookie of the Year voting behind Tim Salmon of the Angels.

Bere continued his regular season success in 1994, earning his first All Star nod and possessing a 12-2 record when the season ended prematurely due to the strike.  After a little more than a season and a half in the big leagues, Bere had a career mark of 24-7 and looked to be heading towards a promising career.  Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way.

When baseball resumed in 1995, Bere started to feel tendonitis in his throwing elbow.  His fortunes reversed completely, as he finished the year with a 7.19 ERA and led the American League with 15 losses.  Bere made only 5 starts in 1996, giving up 19 earned runs in only 16 2/3 innings pitched, before being shut down.  In September, he underwent Tommy John surgery.

Bere returned to the White Sox rotation in August of 1997, following the White Flag trade.  He made 6 starts down the stretch, going 4-2 with a 4.71 ERA, his best results since 1994.

1998 saw more struggles for Bere.  He appeared in 18 games, making 15 starts, and went 3-7 with a 6.45 ERA.  On July 16, he was released, ending his White Sox career.

Bere’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

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#209 – Bill Simas

SoxName: Bill Simas

Rank: 209

Position: P

Years With White Sox: 1995-2000

Bill Simas joined the White Sox organization near the trading deadline in 1995 along with McKay Christensen, Andrew Lorraine, and John Snyder in the deal that sent Jim Abbott and Tim Fortugno to the Angels.  He made his major league debut on August 15, pitching a scoreless inning of relief against those same Angels.  He finished the season with a 2.57 ERA in 14 appearances for a disappointing White Sox squad that finished 8 games under .500.

Simas became a mainstay of the White Sox bullpen starting in 1996, when he appeared in 64 games.  His ERA, however, jumped up to a career high 4.58 in 72.2 inning pitched, also a career high.  He improved in 1997, lowering his to 4.14 in 40 games before minor shoulder surgery ended his season early in August.

Much to his chagrin, Simas started the 1998 season in Triple A to build up his arm strength.  “If spring training had been another week to 10 days, he’d be with us,” general manager Ron Schueler said.  “He’s just not quite ready yet.”  Simas did not see things the same way.  “They say my velocity’s not the same, but does that mean I can’t pitch?” Simas asked.  “I asked that question and they didn’t give me an answer. That’s the way it goes.”  He was back in the big leagues by the end of April, finishing the year with a 3.57 ERA and 18 saves.

1999 was another decent year for the bullpen workhorse.  He appeared in a career high 70 games and put up a 6-3 record with 2 saves.  As the White Sox ran away with the 2000 AL Central title, Simas again was a key part of the bullpen, appearing in 60 games and putting up a 3.46 ERA before being shut down for the final month of the season after suffering elbow pain.  He returned for the ALDS against the Mariners, appearing in 2 of the 3 games.

Following the 2000 season, he underwent Tommy John surgery and missed the entire 2001 season.  After that season, he was granted free agency, but returned to the White Sox organization on a minor league deal in May of 2002.  After the 2002 season, he again was granted free agency, but he never appeared in the major leagues again.

Simas’ numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

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by jim

RIP Dr. Frank Jobe

WBKerryWoodDr. Frank Jobe, the surgeon who performed the first reconstruction of the ulnar collateral ligament of the elbow, died yesterday at the age of 88.  Jobe revolutionized sports medicine in 1974, when he operated on pitcher Tommy John, who had a 13-3 record for the Dodgers before injuring his elbow.  Jobe put the chances of John pitching again at 1 in 100.  John spent 18 months rehabilitating his arm before returning for the 1976 season, when he started 31 games and posted a 3.09 ERA.

Jobe waited 2 years before attempting a second UCL reconstruction, as he was unsure of the long term benefits.  As he performed more reconstructions, which became to be known as Tommy John surgery, Jobe became more confident that the repaired, or replaced, ligament would hold up.  What once was a career ending injury has now become one which can be overcome in a year, changing baseball forever.  While Dr. Jobe may no longer be with us, his work, and the pitchers’ careers he helped save, will be with us forever.

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#248 – Dan Wright

dwrightName: Dan Wright

Rank: 248

Position: P

Years With White Sox: 2001-2004

Dan Wright was drafted by the White Sox in the second round of the 1999 draft.  He made his major league debut on July 27, 2001 and moved in to the starting rotation a week later after injuries to David Wells and James Baldwin.  Wright went 5-3, but his ERA was a non-impressive 5.70.

Wright spent the 2002 season entrenched in the starting rotation, again putting up a winning record at 14-12, but again with an ERA over 5.  In 2003, he battled elbow issues in spring training and found himself on the disabled list as the season began, which, sadly, might have been the highpoint of his year.  Wright returned on May 10 and lasted just 4 1/3 innings in a loss against the Mariners.  That began a stretch, which covered parts of both the 2003 and 2004 seasons, where Wright, as a starter, managed to go 0-11 with a 7.11 ERA.

He was sent down to Triple A on May 4, 2004, and that was the end of his White Sox, and major league, career.  On June 1, he underwent Tommy John surgery after posting a 28.69 ERA in 2 stats for the Charlotte Knights.  Six months later, he was released by the White Sox.

Wright’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

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