Tag / Jose Abreu

by admin

The End?

A year and a half ago, Jose Abreu signed as a free agent with the Astros after nine seasons with the White Sox.  At the time, I wrote about the decline he showed during that last season on the south side:

For the Astros sake, you hope that was a blip and not an indication of decline as Abreu plays through his mid-30s.

A blip it was not.  Abreu struggled from the start in Houston, before managing to turn things around in September and October, providing some key home runs during the Astros run in the post-season.  He has not been so lucky this year.  After starting the season with just seven hits in 71 at bats, he agreed to be optioned to the minor leagues to reset and rework his swing.  He worked with Astros legend Jeff Bagwell to regain the timing and the swing that led him to the 2020 MVP award.  Once he returned to the Astros roster, however, the results, while improved, were still well below expectations.  Yesterday, the Astros pulled the plug, releasing the 37-year-old first baseman and eating more than $30 million.

Where does Abreu go from here?  Some team may be willing to take a flyer on him at league minimum, but, barring injuries, there doesn’t appear to be a clear favorite.  It may be that this is the end of the road for the Cuban-born slugger.  If so, he has left behind a lifetime of memories in Chicago and a year and a half worth of regrets in Houston.

by admin

Your Latest Crosstown Batting Leaders

The battle for the 2024 Crosstown Cup kicks off tonight at Wrigley Field, with the Cubs looking to take retain possession of the cup after winning it back last year.  The White Sox currently hold a slight edge in the overall series, going 74-68 over the past 27 years.  Let’s take a look at the offensive leaders for the now 89 (out of 142) crosstown games I have attended since the start of interleague play in 1997:

Home Runs

Name Total
Paul Konerko 15
Carlos Lee 9
Aramis Ramirez 8
Sammy Sosa 8
Jermaine Dye 7

Hits

Name Total
Paul Konerko 50
Carlos Lee 41
Jose Abreu 36
Sammy Sosa 29
Derrek Lee 28

Runs

Name Total
Paul Konerko 26
Magglio Ordonez 19
Continue reading →
by admin

Active Batting Leaders – Through 2023

Last month, we looked at the overall leaders on both sides of the ball from all of the games I’ve attended between 1984 and 2023.  With the end of spring training in sight, Opening Day is right around the corner.  Let’s take another look at those numbers, limiting it to players that are still active heading in to the 2024 season.

Home Runs

Name Total
Jose Abreu 49
Tim Anderson 24
Luis Robert 20
Yoan Moncada 16
Avisail Garcia 15

Hits

Name Total
Jose Abreu 273
Tim Anderson 218
Yoan Moncada 133
Avisail Garcia 101
Yolmer Sanchez 93

Runs

Name Total
Jose Abreu 129
Tim Anderson 117
Yoan Moncada 64
Avisail Garcia 58
Luis Robert 50

RBI

Name Total
Jose Abreu 159
Tim Anderson 73
Yoan Moncada Continue reading →
by admin

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 →

by admin

What Went Wrong Again

That fateful Saturday night in Cleveland in early August certainly wasn’t where the 2023 White Sox season went off the rails.  That happened in April, when a ten-game losing streak left them fourteen games under .500 and nine games back before the first month of the season came to an end.  Or at the trading deadline, when seven players, nearly 27% of the active roster, got sent away to other teams who still had dreams of making the playoffs.  But that Saturday night, when Tim Anderson dropped his glove like a hockey player to square up with Jose Ramirez, broke open the floodgates of showing the organizational rot that has destroyed the contention window for the latest rebuild and sent the White Sox scrambling.

The clubhouse problems with the White Sox were kind of an open secret.  Dallas Keuchel made mention of it when he was released last year, but those complaints were waved off as the grumblings of a player who no longer had what it took to pitch at the major league level.  When Jose Abreu was interviewed prior to the season-opening series against his former team, he also spoke vaguely of feeling like he had finally joined a family.  Then, the day following the fight, an interview with former White Sox pitcher Kenyan Middleton, traded the week before, was posted on ESPN.com, claiming there were no rules, players were allowed to skip meetings and practice sessions with no repercussions, and rookies were found sleeping in the bullpen during games.  The next morning, Jesse Rogers, who wrote the ESPN article, appeared on the Score and went even further, saying Yoan Moncada is thought of as lazy and has no interest in being part of the team, Eloy Jimenez is happy-go-lucky but also considered to be extremely lazy, and Yasmani Grandal doesn’t work with the pitching staff and has lost their trust.  Later in the day, a story broke, from a Score producer, of an altercation between Tim Anderson and Grandal after Grandal wanted out of the last game prior to the All-Star Break to get an early start to his vacation.

When new manager Pedro Grifol was hired back in November, he said that, given what he had seen from the White Sox in years past, he would ensure that they came out every night with “high energy” and would be “prepared to win a baseball game.”  That didn’t turn out to be the case, as the White Sox were just as lackadaisical in their approach and their play as they were in 2022.  He was also quoted as saying “You can’t win a pennant in April and May, but you sure can lose one… you really have to be careful how easy you take it…”  This was rather prophetic, as the White Sox certainly managed to lose any chance they had at winning a pennant in April and May.  They spent exactly one day over .500, and that was following an opening day victory.  A ten-game losing streak from April 19-29 doomed them, and they’ve never been able to recover.

For once, the losing has forced change upon the organization.  A good part of the pitching staff was sold off at the trade deadline.  Executive Vice President Kenny Williams and General Manager Rick Hahn were relieved of their duties and replaced by Chris Getz.  More changes. I’m sure, will come this offseason.  Will this lead to a turn-around in 2024?  Probably not, as this year’s free agent class looks to be awfully weak, and the team has many holes to fill.  They also don’t have much in the way of trade capital, so it will be interesting to see how Getz is able to remake the team into one capable of contending.

by admin

Active Batting Leaders – Through 2022

Last month, we looked at the overall leaders on both sides of the ball from all of the games I’ve attended between 1984 and 2022.  With the end of spring training in sight, Opening Day is right around the corner.  Let’s take another look at those numbers, limiting it to players that are still active heading in to the 2023 season.

Home Runs

Name Total
Jose Abreu 49
Tim Anderson 23
Avisail Garcia 15
Javier Baez 13
Miguel Cabrera 13
Yoan Moncada 13

Hits

Name Total
Jose Abreu 273
Tim Anderson 194
Yoan Moncada 113
Avisail Garcia 101
Yolmer Sanchez 93

Runs

Name Total
Jose Abreu 129
Tim Anderson 107
Avisail Garcia 58
Yoan Moncada 57
Yolmer Sanchez 46

RBI

Name Total
Jose Abreu 159
Tim Anderson 68
Yoan Moncada Continue reading →
by admin

All Time Batting Leaders – Through 2022

Last week, we took our annual look at the all-time leaders in pitching stats for the now 1,040 games I’ve attended (and identified) between 1984 and 2022.  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 →

by admin

Moving On

Jose Abreu, who has been the mainstay at first base for the White Sox since 2014, has reportedly signed a three-year deal with the Astros.  Terms of the deal have yet to be disclosed, but are expected to be around $20 million per year.  He winds up ranking third on the team’s all-time home run list with 243 in his nine seasons with the White Sox.

Abreu, 35, signed with the White Sox in October of 2013, just months after defecting from Cuba.  Along the way, he won Rookie of the Year honors in 2014 and the MVP award in the corona virus-shortened 2020 season.  While still productive, he posted the worst power numbers of his career in 2022 as the White Sox fell to .500.

For the Astros sake, you hope that was a blip and not an indication of decline as Abreu plays through his mid-30s.  The White Sox, meanwhile, turn first base over to some combination of Andrew Vaughn and Gavin Sheets, both of whom have been forced to play out of position in the outfield over the past two years.  The White Sox will face the Astros on Opening Day 2023.

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

Continue reading →

by admin

2022 Final Batting Leaders

Another baseball season is in the books, with the White Sox disappointing their fans by not just failing to return to the now-expanded postseason, but also failing to post a winning record.  The Cubs, meanwhile, struggled as expected in the first half of the season but managed to put together a decent enough second half, leading some to believe that a big offseason of free agent signings will put them right back in contention.  Let’s take a look back at the offensive leaders for the 33 games that I attended this season.

Home Runs

Name Total
Gavin Sheets 6
Jose Abreu 4
Luis Robert 4
A.J. Pollock 3
Eloy Jimenez 3

Hits

Name Total
Jose Abreu 31
Tim Anderson 26
Gavin Sheets 23
A,J. Pollock 20
Luis Robert 19

Runs

Name Total
Luis Robert 15
Jose Abreu 13
Continue reading →
by admin

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

Continue reading →