Tag / White Sox

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Team Stats: Home Runs Surrendered

With 4 months until baseball in Chicago returns, I thought it would be interesting to look at the all time rankings in both offensive and defensive categories for all iterations of the current 30 teams for the 833 games I’ve identified that I have attended. We continue today on the defensive side of the ball with home runs surrendered.

Based on the raw numbers, the White Sox and Cubs are far and away the leaders in this category, as they are the teams I’ve seen the most.  When you adjust the numbers per game, the Expos jump to the top (or bottom, depending on your point of view) of the heap, with an even 2 home runs given up per game.  The Braves, Giants, Phillies, Diamondbacks, Miami Marlins, Nationals, and Devil Rays are the only teams below 1 home run per game.  The remaining teams fall in between.

Home Runs Surrendered
Team Name Home Runs Surrendered
Chicago White Sox 565
Chicago Cubs 399
Minnesota Twins 73
Kansas City Royals 51
Pittsburgh Pirates 49
Milwaukee Brewers 48
Cincinnati Reds 47
Houston Astros 47
Cleveland Indians 46
Detroit Tigers Continue reading →
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#49 – Matt Thornton

Name: Matt Thornton

Rank: 49

Position: P

Years With White Sox: 2006-2013

Matt Thornton was acquired by the White Sox from the Mariners towards the end of spring training in 2006 in exchange for Joe Borchard.  Thornton moved in to the bullpen and, working with pitching coach Don Cooper, started to harness the potential that was in his left arm.  He finished the 2006 season with a 5-3 record and a 3.33 ERA in 63 appearances.

2007 was a down year for the White Sox, and Thornton was no exception.  In 68 appearances, his ERA skyrocketed to 4.79.

Thornton, and the White Sox, bounced back in 2008.  He finished the regular season with a 5-3 record and a 2.67 ERA in 74 appearances.  He made 3 appearances in the ALDS, throwing 3 and 1/3 scoreless innings as the White Sox fell to the Rays in 4 games.

2009 saw Thornton continue to be successful in the bullpen.  He finished the year 6-3 and notched his second straight sub-3.00 ERA while appearing in 70 games.

Thornton earned his first All Star nod in 2010, despite being a set-up man.  In only 61 appearances, his lowest total since joining the White Sox, he finished 5-4 with a 2.67 ERA.

In 2011, Thornton started to show some chinks in the armor.  His ERA rose above 3.00 for the first time since 2007, rising to 3.32, and he finished the year with a 2-5 record in 62 appearances.  He was given the opportunity to close, but 4 straight blown saves between April 6 and 13 moved him back to the set-up role.

2012 was more of the same for Thornton.  His ERA rose again, to 3.46, and his record dropped to 4-10 in 74 appearances, surpassing Bobby Thigpen for the team record in career relief outings.  On April 11, he made Travis Hafner the 500th strikeout victim of his career.

Thornton went winless for the White Sox in 2013, and again saw his ERA go up, now to 3.86.  He made 40 appearances before July 12, when he was traded to the White Sox for minor leaguer Brandon Jacobs.

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

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#50 – Warren Newson

Name: Warren Newson

Rank: 50

Position: RF/LF

Years With White Sox: 1991-1995

Warren Newson was acquired by the White Sox from the Padres, along with Joey Cora, for Adam Peterson and Steve Rosenberg on March 31, 1991.  After starting the year in Triple A and putting up an OBP over .500, Newson made his major league debut on May 29, pinch hitting for Sammy Sosa in the 8-4 loss to the Angels at the new Comiskey Park.  Despite hitting .295 for the season with a .843 OPS, Newson was limited to only 132 at bats.

Newson returned to the bench for the 1992 season, getting an extended look when Dan Pasqua went down with an injury in June.  Newson hit .286 with a .756 OPS during Pasqua’s absence, but was relegated back to the bench when Pasqua returned, despite his superior stats.  For the year, Newson hit a disappointing .221, but still managed a .387 OBP.

1993 was a difficult season for Newson.  While the White Sox were putting together their first divisional title in a decade, Newson missed months to look after his wife following a life-threatening car accident.  He only appeared in 26 games during the regular season, getting only 40 at bats.  He did manage to hit .300 with an .879 OPS.  Newson went 1-5 with a home run in 2 appearances during the ALCS against the Blue Jays.

Newson returned to the White Sox full time in 1994, but again was relegated to backup and pinch hitting duties.  He appeared in 63 games before the season was cut short due to the strike.  Newson finished the shortened year hitting .255 with a .345 OBP in 102 at bats.

When baseball resumed in 1995, Newson’s average suffered, dropping to .235, but his OBP was a very healthy .404.  Despite this, he only managed 85 at bats in 51 games.  On July 18, he was traded to the Mariners for a player to be named later, who eventually became Jeff Darwin.

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

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#51 – Jim Abbott

jimabbottName: Jim Abbott

Rank: 51

Position: P

Years With White Sox: 1995, 1998

As baseball resumed following the strike that ended the 1994 season and the ensuing lockout in 1995, Jim Abbott signed with the White Sox on April 8, 1995.  He started 17 games, putting up a 6-4 record with a 3.36 ERA.  On July 27, he was traded, along with Tim Fortugno, to the Angels in exchange for McKay Christensen, Andrew Lorraine, Bill Simas, and John Snyder.

On May 27, 1998, Abbott came back from a brief retirement and re-signed with the White Sox as a free agent.  He appeared in 18 games at 4 different levels of the minor leagues before making it back to the big leagues.  He started 5 games for the White Sox, going 5-0 despite a 4.55 ERA.  Following the year, he became a free agent.

Abbott’s numbers in a White Sox uniform were:

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Autographed Books – Sox And The City

soxandthecityRichard Roeper appears for the second time in our look at the hardcover books I’ve gotten autographed over the years with his look back at his White Sox fandom and the history of the south side franchise leading up to their World Series title in 2005.

This is the one of the only books I didn’t get autographed in person.  I bought the book pre-signed from the Borders in Matteson.

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Team Stats: Batting Average

With 4 months until baseball in Chicago returns, I thought it would be interesting to look at the all time rankings in both offensive and defensive categories for all iterations of the current 30 teams for the 833 games I’ve identified that I have attended.  We start today on the offensive side of the ball with team batting average.

The California Angels, who I only saw live and in person once, are the only team to post an average over .300.  The Washington Nationals, who, sadly, have had 8 games to make a mark, are the only team to post an average under .200.  In between, there is a slight correlation between the teams’ batting average and their record in these games, though with some surprising anomalies.

Batting Average
Team Name Batting Average
California Angels 0.306
Anaheim Angels 0.292
Arizona Diamondbacks 0.278
Tampa Bay Devil Rays 0.273
Cleveland Indians 0.271
Chicago Cubs 0.266
Colorado Rockies 0.265
Milwaukee Brewers 0.263
Kansas City Royals 0.261
Florida Marlins 0.260
Houston Astros 0.260
Chicago White Sox 0.259
Detroit Tigers Continue reading →
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#52 – Ken Williams

Name: Ken Williams

Rank: 52

Position: CF/3B

Years With White Sox: 1986-1988

Ken Williams was selected by the White Sox in the 3rd round of the 1982 draft.  He made his major league debut on September 2, 1986, going 1-4 in the White Sox 3-0 victory over the Royals in Kansas City.  He appeared in 15 games down the stretch, hitting an anemic .129.

Williams got extended playing time in 1987 and turned in his best season as a major leaguer.  He hit .281 with 11 home runs and 50 RBIs, playing primarily in center field.

Looking to keep his promising bat in the lineup, the White Sox tried to move Williams to third base for the 1988 season.  To say it did not go well would be an understatement.  Williams struggled both at the plate and in the field, hitting .159 in 220 at bats and posting a .860 fielding percentage.

The following spring, Williams was traded to the Tigers for pitcher Eric King.  Following his retirement, he rejoined the White Sox organization as a scout in November of 1992.  He served as a special assistant to Jerry Reinsdorf in 1994, director of minor league operations from 1995-1996, and vice president of player development from 1997-2000.  Following the promotion of Ron Schueler following the 2000 season, Williams was named general manager, just the third African American in baseball history to hold the position.

From 2001 through 2003, Williams and manager Jerry Manuel formed the first African American tandem to hold those positions in baseball history.  In 2005, Williams helped lead the White Sox to their first World Series title in 88 years.  Following the 2012 season, he was promoted to Executive Vice President of baseball operations, the role he still holds today.

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

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The Straw That No Longer Stirs The Drink

adameatonThe White Sox followed up on Tuesday’s big deal that sent Chris Sale to the Red Sox with another big move on Wednesday, sending outfielder Adam Eaton to the Nationals for pitchers Lucas Giolito, Dane Dunning and Reynaldo Lopez.

Eaton joined the White Sox on December 10, 2013 after being acquired from the Diamondbacks in a 3 team trade that sent Hector Santiago to the Angels.  He quickly moved in to the leadoff spot, giving the White Sox their first true leadoff hitter since Juan Pierre in 2011.  He moved to right field in 2015, where he was a gold glove finalist.  Like Sale, he was a vocal critic of the White Sox front office following the Drake LaRoche incident during spring training 2015.  I’m sure it is only a coincidence that those two were the first shipped out of town during this rebuilding effort.

Giolito is the top ranked pitching prospect in baseball, further bolstering the White Sox system.  Lopez, the third ranked prospect in the Nationals system, showed promise during an 11-game stint in the Nationals rotation last year.  Dunning was the first round draft pick of the Nationals last year and had been ranked highly on the White Sox draft board.

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

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Fire Sale

csaleChris Sale’s tenure on the South Side came to an end yesterday when he was traded to the Red Sox for Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Luis Alexander Basabe, and Victor Diaz, officially starting the rebuilding phase for the White Sox for the first time since the late 1980s.

Sale was the 13th overall selection by the White Sox in the 2010 draft.  After 11 total games in the minor leagues, Sale made his major league debut on August 6, less than 2 months after being drafted, giving up a hit and a walk before getting pulled.  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.  Last year, 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.

Moncada, ranked as the #1 prospect in all of baseball, is the centerpiece of the deal.  A 21 year old switch hitter, he’s expected to start next season in the minor leagues but should take over second base by 2018.  Kopech, a 20 year old power pitcher, has some baggage, including punching a teammate and a PED suspension, should find a spot in the White Sox rotation should he continue to progress as he has.  Basabe and Diaz are further away, but do help bolster a White Sox system that is on the rise.

With the White Sox now officially moving towards a full-on rebuild, Sale may not be the last name out the door.  Rumors have already started swirling around Jose Quintana, Todd Frazier, Jose Abreu, Adam Eaton, and David Robertson.  Will Sale be the first domino of many to fall this offseason?  Only time will tell.

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

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#53 – Sergio Santos

Name: Sergio Santos

Rank: 53

Position: P

Years With White Sox: 2010-2011

Sergio Santos joined the White Sox organization as a minor league free agent on January 12, 2009.  On March 20, he was traded to the Giants, and then returned to the White Sox on April 1.  At this point, he was converted from an infielder to a pitcher.  After appearing in 4 different minor league levels in 2009, he broke camp with the White Sox in 2010 and made his major league debut on April 8, throwing a scoreless inning of relief in a 5-3 loss to the Indians.  Santos ended up the year with a 2.96 ERA in 56 appearances.

In 2011, Santos became the team’s closer.  He went 4-5 with a 3.55 ERA while notching 30 saves, in just his third season as a pitcher.  That December, Santos was traded to the Blue Jays for Nestor Molina, who has yet to reach the big leagues.

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

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