Speaker 1: Howard. I'm so glad I saved your number.
Speaker 2: My husband Phil at a construction site.
Speaker 3: It is in critical condition and I knew it wasn't safe.
Speaker 4: I'm very sorry to hear that. I just want to
Speaker 4: let you know I'm here to help.
Speaker 1: Yeah, tell me more about it.
Speaker 4: Work injuries not only affect the victim, but also everyone
Speaker 4: around them. Inc Lawn, Chicago based here to advocate on
Speaker 4: your behalf with over one hundred attorneys and staff. If
Speaker 4: you or somebody you know has questions about a work
Speaker 4: injury called three one two six million injury law made Personal.
Speaker 4: That's aake in law.
Speaker 5: From your favorite source for Chicago White Sox talk, delivering news, interviews,
Speaker 5: analysis and more. This is The Sox Machine podcast with
Speaker 5: your hosts Jim Margolis, James Began, and Josh Nelson.
Speaker 6: Here. Everyone, welcome to the Sox Machine.
Speaker 3: I'm your host, Josh Nelson, and it's Sunday, June twenty first,
Speaker 3: twenty twenty six as we record this episode, it's Father's Day.
Speaker 3: So to all the dads out there, we all hope
Speaker 3: that you had a wonderful Father's Day.
Speaker 6: The Chicago White Sox did not have a.
Speaker 3: Good weekend as they were swept in the three game
Speaker 3: series against the Tigers. Our show Rundown for this episode
Speaker 3: the White Sox road Wares. We'll be talking about just
Speaker 3: the difficulties have been having away from rape Field, bull
Speaker 3: bend concerns again as Sir Anthony Domingus again cannot lock
Speaker 3: up the save, where's the offense? And review the Big
Speaker 3: American League Central series against the Cleveland Guardians. First, let's
Speaker 3: talk about the Chicago White Sox road wares as they
Speaker 3: are fifteen to twenty five away from rape Field. Here's
Speaker 3: Chicago White Sox manager Will Vennable addressing those issues the
Speaker 3: White Sox are facing.
Speaker 1: We're looking at everything.
Speaker 2: I think that's part of what we do on a
Speaker 2: daily basis is you know, what is it that we
Speaker 2: can do better to support this group today?
Speaker 1: And that you know includes when we're at home too.
Speaker 2: So you know, there's not been a thing that we've
Speaker 2: been able to put our finger on to you know,
Speaker 2: explain the difference. You know, for me, I think that
Speaker 2: you know in forty plus game sample that you know,
Speaker 2: a lot of teams you know, are sub five hundred
Speaker 2: on the road, and certainly we have a big disparity
Speaker 2: in our record. I think it speaks as much to
Speaker 2: our home advantage and our fans coming out and supporting
Speaker 2: us in the way that our players respond to our
Speaker 2: home fans as much as anything else.
Speaker 6: So we'll figure it out.
Speaker 2: These guys, you know, continue to put themselves in good
Speaker 2: spots to half chances to win. We just got to
Speaker 2: do a little more on the road.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 3: Joining me on the Sox Machine podcast is Sox Machines
Speaker 3: Managing editor. It's Jim Margulus And before we get started, Jim,
Speaker 3: Happy Father's Day.
Speaker 6: Did you have a good Father's Day?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Solo dating this week. Uh. So, it's a lot
Speaker 1: of fothering. It's uh, it's good. It's a lot easier
Speaker 1: to do it when he's four versus three. Here there's
Speaker 1: some stuff he can do by himself, more friends to
Speaker 1: play with, so it's less handholding, less crying, less of
Speaker 1: the terrible threes, which are terrible twos don't exist as
Speaker 1: far as I'm concerned. Two was fine, three was miserable.
Speaker 1: Four there's a little bit more reason to go along,
Speaker 1: a little bit more of here's our plan, and we're
Speaker 1: gonna leave this place peacefully before we show up, right,
Speaker 1: you're gonna remember that you agreed to leave peacefully without
Speaker 1: screaming when the fun is over, that sort of thing.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's it's it's it's good, it's it's yeah.
Speaker 1: Three was tough.
Speaker 3: Well to all the dads again. Happy Father's Day, Jim.
Speaker 3: The White Sox did not have a good weekend in Detroit.
Speaker 3: As I mentioned in the intro, their dads and the
Speaker 3: road rows are continuing to pick up like this is
Speaker 3: now becoming a serious topic, and I guess, or our
Speaker 3: expectations coming to the season, it shouldn't be a surprise,
Speaker 3: but now that our expectations have been changing mid season,
Speaker 3: the White Sox have now lost seven straight road series.
Speaker 3: They are now fifteen and twenty five on the road,
Speaker 3: and you've already played half of your road games this year.
Speaker 6: If you double that number, you're.
Speaker 3: On base to be twenty games below five hundred on
Speaker 3: the road, which means that you have to be just
Speaker 3: as good or even better at home, which they have been.
Speaker 3: That's why they still have a winning record. Will Venable,
Speaker 3: I guess, based on what we just heard from in
Speaker 3: the intro, he's trying to find an answer as far
Speaker 3: as is there a better process that we should be
Speaker 3: doing to play better on the road. But what do
Speaker 3: you make of the White Sox road ros to start
Speaker 3: this season.
Speaker 1: They're weird because they're not what you would expect, Like
Speaker 1: I would think if the White Sox were beat on
Speaker 1: the road, it's because they're not hitting on the road,
Speaker 1: because maybe they're a little two reliant on the offense
Speaker 1: hitting homers at home and those cheap or wind aided
Speaker 1: fly balls to right field don't carry the same kind
Speaker 1: of like the Kaufman Stadium problems of just going to
Speaker 1: a bigger park or a park with less friendly corners,
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, they have to sequence plate appearances better,
Speaker 1: they have to defend better, and they're just not doing that.
Speaker 1: But in this case, like they're hitting actually better on
Speaker 1: the road, Like that's not necessarily the problem. So that's
Speaker 1: the first place I looked, And that's not the issue.
Speaker 1: They are, you know, at least of late they're playing
Speaker 1: decent teams on the road, or you have good teams
Speaker 1: like the Yankees and Phillies, like that's you know, and
Speaker 1: we're trying to figure out this new like White Sox.
Speaker 1: But then they lost, you know, a series against the Twins.
Speaker 1: They lost the series against the Giants, so like, it's
Speaker 1: it's been longer running than that. The one number that
Speaker 1: jumped out to me, like the pitching is the big disparity,
Speaker 1: and that's what's confusing, just because you would that if
Speaker 1: pitching staff, it's that can give if the homer would
Speaker 1: get in trouble, they'd have problems at home as much
Speaker 1: as they would in the road. But actually they're pitching
Speaker 1: better at home. So like, the one thing I wonder
Speaker 1: is looking at the babbit batting average on balls and
Speaker 1: play forty points higher on the road. So I'm curious,
Speaker 1: you know, that could be luck. That could be you know,
Speaker 1: it's a small sample. It's less than half a season
Speaker 1: divided into half seasons, so it's it can be a
Speaker 1: little bit wonky. But part of me wondered, if you
Speaker 1: have younger players and perhaps this outfield that's been kind
Speaker 1: of a mishmash all year, does it change the way
Speaker 1: they're defending, does it change the way they're positioned to
Speaker 1: where the pitching staff is not getting its usual support. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I looked at this just out of curiosity, see if
Speaker 1: it was a weird right field thing. Now, the batting
Speaker 1: average on balls and play is pretty even for hitting
Speaker 1: for the White Sox batters home and away, but on
Speaker 1: the he ha's like two sixty AT's home, it's three
Speaker 1: oh seven on the road for batting average balls and
Speaker 1: play a lot more hits, a lot more longer at bats.
Speaker 1: So that could not Yeah, maybe it's not defense, but
Speaker 1: it could be you know, who knows, like just you know,
Speaker 1: besides luck, it could be pitchers being perhaps because they're trailing,
Speaker 1: they put in their front in the bullpen, or they
Speaker 1: have starters or eating it just because they have to
Speaker 1: get an inning where you know they're not. You normally
Speaker 1: wouldn't have them in if they are leading, and so
Speaker 1: just games get away from them because they're already trailing
Speaker 1: and you don't use your better pittures while trailing. It
Speaker 1: could be just a simple matter of that. But if
Speaker 1: you're looking for like something more concrete or something I'll
Speaker 1: be paying attention to just to see like is there
Speaker 1: anything there. That's one thing that jumped out to me,
Speaker 1: just with maybe outs not being converted and just because
Speaker 1: the pitching staff isn't elite, you know, it's still young,
Speaker 1: still uneven. Yeah, we're watching guys go through first full seasons. Uh,
Speaker 1: could be a case where you know, it's it's just noise.
Speaker 1: But maybe they need you know, great defense or all
Speaker 1: the defense the White Sox can provide them, and when
Speaker 1: they don't, it gets kind of hairy. That's really like
Speaker 1: a theory all throughout there. Not necessarily what I believe,
Speaker 1: but something I noticed and can think of some moments
Speaker 1: kind of flashing before my eyes of just like, yeah,
Speaker 1: the defense, maybe uh wasn't that great so or there
Speaker 1: was some miscommunication in the gaps by the walls, et cetera.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it could also just be a noise from
Speaker 1: lesser pitchers being used.
Speaker 3: With the whole bab up stat like three oho seven
Speaker 3: seems to be closer to normal. Jim, the two sixty
Speaker 3: at home, that's a surprising number to me. Like I
Speaker 3: fear regression to the mean would be coming for the
Speaker 3: White Sox pitchers at home.
Speaker 1: It could be you know, I have to look at it,
Speaker 1: but it could be a case where just rate field
Speaker 1: being a smaller field, harder to drop hits in. Okay,
Speaker 1: I buy that. Yeah, Like you know, some like Corus
Speaker 1: Field because the outfield's massive, that's why the batting average
Speaker 1: is so inflated. But with rate field being uh, you know, symmetrical,
Speaker 1: being no weird gaps to cover and the alleys are
Speaker 1: pretty small, like it's bad park for triples. Also, you know,
Speaker 1: not a great park for batting, average, great park for homer's,
Speaker 1: great park, or a good park for offense overall because
Speaker 1: of the homers. But if you're not hitting homers, then
Speaker 1: maybe it's a little harder to especially as defenses get better,
Speaker 1: positioning gets better, harder to really just get those hits
Speaker 1: when you need a hit.
Speaker 3: So other than the annoyance of not being confident anymore,
Speaker 3: when the White Sox on the road, it's like, what
Speaker 3: an amazing week four and one against the Atlanta Braves
Speaker 3: in Los Angeles, Dodgers, Wow, turn that around one in
Speaker 3: five against the Yanke He's and Todd getting swept by
Speaker 3: the Tigers after not getting swept by the Yankees is
Speaker 3: very disappointing. And if you didn't get a chance to
Speaker 3: watch the series. The opening game, the White Sox actually
Speaker 3: had a lead against Derek Scuolball. I know everyone pays
Speaker 3: attention to the verbal spat that was going on between
Speaker 3: school bull and injured pitcher slash clubhouse wizard Mike Vassel,
Speaker 3: but the White Sox had a three to two lead,
Speaker 3: Tristan Peters made a defensive blunder. Tigers end up winning
Speaker 3: that game board at three. That's a disappointing loss. The
Speaker 3: next day, Sam Antonaci had the lead off homer.
Speaker 6: That's it.
Speaker 3: That's pretty much the extend of the offense. The White
Speaker 3: Sox lost four to one, and then on Sunday. This
Speaker 3: leads into the bullpen concerns because Davis Martin I thought
Speaker 3: Jim had a nice bounce back start. Sure, the strikeout
Speaker 3: to walk rate not great. I think he had four
Speaker 3: strikeouts to three walks. He did have to deal with
Speaker 3: some traffic, but he only allowed one run over six
Speaker 3: innings on seventy seven pitches and a two run lead
Speaker 3: for Ryan Hudson, Grant Taylor, and Sir Antony Dominguz. Those
Speaker 3: are the three best relievers Jim that Will Venable has
Speaker 3: right now.
Speaker 6: Hudson did his job.
Speaker 3: But Grant Taylor again allowed another home run, and Sir
Speaker 3: Anthony Domingus he got the first two guys out, but
Speaker 3: then he stumbles, allows an infield single and then things
Speaker 3: just start coming apart again on Sir Antony Dominguez. So
Speaker 3: with Grant Taylor and Siranty Domingez kind of having really
Speaker 3: rough outings the last couple of times have been out there.
Speaker 3: Do you have concerns with Grant Taylor and Sir Antony Dominguz.
Speaker 1: Have I think a case where Dimingas is somebody who's
Speaker 1: hit the ceiling of setup. Man As somebody with good stuff,
Speaker 1: but platoon concerns and command concern and so like, that's
Speaker 1: why he's typically been used in the eighth inning of
Speaker 1: a team. Doesn't have to use him in the ninth
Speaker 1: just because you can use him against righty's, you can
Speaker 1: use them. He's at the last line of defense. You
Speaker 1: can have somebody warming the bullpen, a left handed component
Speaker 1: ready in the bullpen if needed to, where you know
Speaker 1: it's not an insult if you pull him, versus in
Speaker 1: the ninth. Typically don't have somebody warming up when the
Speaker 1: closers in the game. And so there's this general concern
Speaker 1: about Domingas. If the splitter wasn't what he needed to
Speaker 1: neutralize lefties enough, then he has problems in this case.
Speaker 1: Like the mistake was a sweeper, he had Dingler in
Speaker 1: a one to two counts. The fastball did what it
Speaker 1: should have done in terms of getting behind. He was
Speaker 1: chasing away like all he had to do. And this
Speaker 1: is very simple, but in terms of like you can
Speaker 1: understand the thought process. It wasn't the case where he
Speaker 1: had to execute a pitch that he doesn't really excute
Speaker 1: that often. Sweeper is a good pitch for him. Just
Speaker 1: had to get off the plates, left it up, elevated
Speaker 1: on the outer third Dingler smash it. So like that's
Speaker 1: execution error versus like the weakness of Dominga's wearing its
Speaker 1: ugly head. Also, he had like the infield single by
Speaker 1: a hair of a step that you kept the ending going.
Speaker 1: So a little bit of bad luck, a little bit
Speaker 1: of you know, McGonagall beating him, and then a little
Speaker 1: bit of just mortality or just uh, decent hitter beating
Speaker 1: a decent picture because it happens in baseball, and when
Speaker 1: it happens the ninth inning, it's under the microscope. And
Speaker 1: Dominga's like when you put them under the microscope, there
Speaker 1: are things you notice that aren't that flattering, and then
Speaker 1: when you zoom out you still notice them. So that's why,
Speaker 1: like you know, the white sox on in the contract
Speaker 1: they signed him to, which is kind of the contract
Speaker 1: that's a bet on somebody who might be able to
Speaker 1: close versus a proven closer versus like son of Mag's
Speaker 1: established as a setup guy. So yeah, you have concerns
Speaker 1: about him just hitting that ceiling over and over again.
Speaker 1: Taylor is like weird just because he has these characteristics
Speaker 1: James writes about of just you know, he has this
Speaker 1: great stuff. He has a starter's arsenal, he's got extension.
Speaker 1: The individual pitches great out well, and sometimes like he
Speaker 1: just gets burned, like whether it's a homer, whether it's
Speaker 1: you know again batting avergement balls to play like sequencing
Speaker 1: bad luck week hits, you know, solid hits. There's this
Speaker 1: element of like why is it come together? Why is
Speaker 1: he why is he have reverse splits somehow? Like there's
Speaker 1: there are these kind of components that just never quite
Speaker 1: fit and it's hard to know. I think, you know,
Speaker 1: having James on hand to write about pictures, it's a
Speaker 1: little bit of a double edged sword because like he
Speaker 1: still get a drilling down, uh, And I don't think
Speaker 1: many teams have somebody covering them who drills down to
Speaker 1: pictures to where is the case where do all elite
Speaker 1: relievers have weird things going on? That just aren't being
Speaker 1: explored because their savorr it's okay. Or is the case
Speaker 1: where Taylor does have some strange characteristics that are maybe
Speaker 1: unique to him or unique to his the strength of
Speaker 1: his arsenal just you know, and also his youth relative
Speaker 1: and experience relieving that you know it's there are some
Speaker 1: warts or lumps he takes when he tries to put
Speaker 1: it all together over the course of a full season.
Speaker 1: So you know, it's sticks out in my head, I
Speaker 1: should say, of like when the failures come up, like well,
Speaker 1: you know, he does have reverse splits somehow, and you know, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it does have to locate the curveball. If lefties are
Speaker 1: spitting on the curveball, then you know, perhaps the fastball
Speaker 1: becomes more you know, vulnerable. Yeah it's Taylor. I'm still
Speaker 1: trying to figure out for a number, because it seems
Speaker 1: like he's trying to figure himself out for whittling down
Speaker 1: his arsenal and handling relievers. Could be a case too,
Speaker 1: where like a mid season wall, little bits of just
Speaker 1: league figuring my little bit stuff isn't as sharp and
Speaker 1: so they can game plan from a little bit better.
Speaker 1: Mistakes get hit harder. I would say I have more
Speaker 1: faith in Taylor figuring it out versus Dimingas because Dominga's'
Speaker 1: flaws are well established and every team that's used him
Speaker 1: as closers kind of wrestled with this a little bit.
Speaker 1: But both I think have a cause for concern. Yeah,
Speaker 1: not like severe, I would say lingering cause for concern
Speaker 1: that the pieces don't quite fit right, especially if like
Speaker 1: Taylor's being used for multiple innings then is unavailable and
Speaker 1: Dimingus more has to be the guy that, yeah, he
Speaker 1: has weaknesses being so yet it's it's not an elite bullpen.
Speaker 1: And when the office is scoring, then did the the
Speaker 1: scrutiny intensifies simply like Hudson when he had that rough
Speaker 1: patch of just like well, he has been DFAD an
Speaker 1: awful lot in his career. It's where you know, all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, him showing up in this lockdown lefty
Speaker 1: form is new, and when he regression sets in, you
Speaker 1: think like, oh, oh is turning to pumpkin, and like, no,
Speaker 1: he's fine, He's just good not greats. And so sometimes
Speaker 1: I think with Taylor there's also a case where he's
Speaker 1: good not greats and then just having this sudden contending
Speaker 1: level of scrutiny and slimmer margin for error or the
Speaker 1: errors that are made are felt more. That's new and
Speaker 1: we'll see how they handle it.
Speaker 3: I think with Domingez, my take on this situation in
Speaker 3: he told James Spgan during that excellent piece about the
Speaker 3: bullpen that you could read on soxsmachine dot com, is
Speaker 3: that Dimingus really wants every save opportunity. But moving forward,
Speaker 3: I don't know how Will Venable trusts him to do
Speaker 3: that his last two outings against the Dodgers and the Tigers,
Speaker 3: I should say, in his last two save opportunities, because
Speaker 3: he did on Saturday, just to get some work in.
Speaker 6: It's been to Alex Colomelake.
Speaker 3: I continue to use this phrase because he just continues
Speaker 3: to put base runners on And it was the same situation, Jim,
Speaker 3: It's seven eighty nine. If you can't trust Sir Anthony
Speaker 3: Domingus to face the bottom of the order in any
Speaker 3: medium to high leverage late inning situation, what do you
Speaker 3: do with this guy? And I don't know if I'm
Speaker 3: Will Venable, I don't know how I can have any
Speaker 3: confidence in Dimingus. You're still gonna need him with his
Speaker 3: home stand against two Ale Central opponents.
Speaker 6: Maybe you bitch him in the seventh, maybe you bitch
Speaker 6: him in the eighth.
Speaker 3: You do risk of him getting upset that he's not
Speaker 3: getting save opportunities because that's why he signed with the
Speaker 3: White Sox and that's what he was sold on. And
Speaker 3: maybe you do have grant Taylor pitch that ninth inning.
Speaker 3: There are White Sox fans though that after Sunday's game
Speaker 3: thought Taylor should have pitched two innings because he's not
Speaker 3: pitching all that frequently. Jim, and I'm under the impression
Speaker 3: that Venable did not pushe Taylor into the ninth inning.
Speaker 3: So he has Taylor available to use either a Monday
Speaker 3: or Tuesday against Cleveland. You might be able to only
Speaker 3: use Taylor a couple times a week. So I don't
Speaker 3: know how Venable handles this moving forward, but I don't
Speaker 3: think it's a Venable issue. It's just that Taylor and
Speaker 3: Domingas need to do their job, especially Sir Anthony Domingus,
Speaker 3: because if this continues and you don't have a lot
Speaker 3: of confidence in what Dimingas can do in medium or
Speaker 3: to high level situations during the season, I don't know
Speaker 3: how you use him.
Speaker 6: It just feels like it's ten million dollars.
Speaker 3: It's a complete waste.
Speaker 1: Well, I think with Dominga is like it was fine
Speaker 1: having him close because it was the bottom of the order, right.
Speaker 1: They shape these saves to where Taylor faces the tougher
Speaker 1: part or maybe the lefties, and then when the ninth
Speaker 1: inning rolls run, oftentimes ninth innings do roll around to
Speaker 1: the bottom the order just because of the way you know,
Speaker 1: twenty seven outs rolls. Is that oftentimes, in an average
Speaker 1: game with an average number of plate appearances, the bottom
Speaker 1: of the order comes up last, and so there will
Speaker 1: be saved situations. What's weird to me about Domingas is
Speaker 1: like the number of days off he's had this month,
Speaker 1: Like you know, looking at the day's rest, like this
Speaker 1: was the first time he's pitched with like one day's rest.
Speaker 1: Otherwise it's like five three. He's pitched on back to
Speaker 1: back days once and then had another three days rest
Speaker 1: and another four days rest, so he's been infrequently used.
Speaker 1: Even going back to last month too, he had six
Speaker 1: days rest at one point. So you get the situation
Speaker 1: of like if it is rust or if it is
Speaker 1: a case where you know he doesn't get many Yeah,
Speaker 1: and the roles he was previously working in, Like he'd
Speaker 1: just be working as a set up guys. Sometimes they'd
Speaker 1: be trailing by one, sometimes they'd be ahead by one,
Speaker 1: and so he'd work more regularly. Whereas when they're trying
Speaker 1: to shoehorn shoehorn them into these ideal closer situations, or
Speaker 1: maybe they have him backing up Taylor, but then Taylor
Speaker 1: ends up going two winnings and they don't need him.
Speaker 1: You do get a case where like he doesn't pitch
Speaker 1: so like in terms of innings because he's missed time
Speaker 1: with injuries here and there. He's not off his usual
Speaker 1: innings total, but you know from last year when he
Speaker 1: was healthy and especially for the postseason, like, he does
Speaker 1: like to work. And so I wonder if because of
Speaker 1: this like level of distrust with him as the closer,
Speaker 1: but also not wanting to relegate him to seventh inning
Speaker 1: appearances when you know they'd be normally Sir Anthony Diminga
Speaker 1: is shaped in previous seasons. But you can't quite save
Speaker 1: him that because then they're saying you're not the closer. Uh,
Speaker 1: And then like the ninth in things don't roll around
Speaker 1: and like he can't be used for those either because
Speaker 1: Taylor's available, or you want your lefty in there instead.
Speaker 1: You might get situations where you just don't pitch him enough,
Speaker 1: and so he does come in these situations where it
Speaker 1: has to work and then it doesn't quite work. So
Speaker 1: I think it's maybe overall a little bit of an
Speaker 1: awkward existence to where Yeah, I mean, he's being paid
Speaker 1: like a good reliever, so he should pitch like a
Speaker 1: good reliever anytimes called upon. But he's also not working
Speaker 1: as much as he's used to working, and so it
Speaker 1: might be something where he's not feeling like himself either,
Speaker 1: And it's yeah, it's a strange fit right now with
Speaker 1: the way they paid him to close in the way
Speaker 1: he's not quite living up to it and the way
Speaker 1: will Avnable is reacting to it.
Speaker 3: Would you have Bush Davis Martin one more inning because
Speaker 3: he was only at seventy seven pitches through six.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I can see the argument both ways.
Speaker 1: If he started the inning, it would have been fine.
Speaker 1: He has t top concerns time times through the order,
Speaker 1: penalty concerns, like the third time through has been markedly
Speaker 1: worse than the second first, So if you're looking and
Speaker 1: if you ever bullpen lined up, sure, this might be
Speaker 1: the time to have him avoid that. You know, you're
Speaker 1: not saving Brian hug and you're not saving Grant Taylor
Speaker 1: like they're rested for the situation. Give it to him
Speaker 1: because how often does this happen where it's all lined up. Also,
Speaker 1: you know, it seems like Martin hit a wall. Speaking
Speaker 1: of mid season walls a little bit where he talked
Speaker 1: about being guessed and not executing the way he was.
Speaker 1: So if you see an opportunity to spare him an inning,
Speaker 1: spare him some pitches, you have him be more effective
Speaker 1: through the rest of the season. You take those little opportunities.
Speaker 1: So I could see, you know, not going with him.
Speaker 1: He wasn't necessarily dominant. He was fine. He's very effective,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't like he was blowing guys away, only
Speaker 1: four strikeouts, got double plays to get out of the ending,
Speaker 1: worked around some traffic. So yeah, I could see him
Speaker 1: starting the inning and like getting in trouble. But I
Speaker 1: could also see a case where it was very the
Speaker 1: opportunity was there to to cut it off after six
Speaker 1: quality start. Great job. All our best relievers are lined
Speaker 1: up for perfect handedness, in spot in the lineup deployments.
Speaker 1: Let's use He's let's use this opportunity while we haven't.
Speaker 1: So that's why I think I'm on the side where
Speaker 1: like what Venable did was fine.
Speaker 3: Now the opener this has been a I don't know
Speaker 3: if it's a sticky point for White Sox fans, but
Speaker 3: there are some that really do not like will Aventable
Speaker 3: using one of his relievers to start the game. This
Speaker 3: was asked to will Ventable over the weekend about his
Speaker 3: use of the opener. Here's White Sox manager Will Venable
Speaker 3: explaining his rationale continuing to use the strategy.
Speaker 2: You know, the players reactions as we've done it more,
Speaker 2: they've they've been more open to it. And really that's
Speaker 2: where it starts. You know, you are sensitive to the
Speaker 2: fact that these guys are very you know, routine oriented,
Speaker 2: and that certainly for a starting picture that using an
Speaker 2: open and disrupt that. You know, so you have different
Speaker 2: reactions to it. And in the case of when we've
Speaker 2: done it with Vetty and Burt, you know, they've they've
Speaker 2: responded very well to it.
Speaker 1: You know, as far as today.
Speaker 2: Goes, today is not a traditional opener. It's a bullpen day.
Speaker 2: But you know, as far as the benefits of an
Speaker 2: open is, you know, number one, you know you have
Speaker 2: some upside to the matchups up front, where in the
Speaker 2: case of let's say that the Tigers, where you have
Speaker 2: a green and a McDonald gold, that you know that
Speaker 2: regardless of if you throw a left to your righty,
Speaker 2: you're gonna get him the top four.
Speaker 4: You know it.
Speaker 2: Also, you know there's an adjustment usually by the opposition
Speaker 2: in which benefits you're both guy. So yesterday again a
Speaker 2: really good example where you have Burling in there. You know,
Speaker 2: you end up with an extra riety or two for Fetti,
Speaker 2: you're able to drop him and start him in a
Speaker 2: spot that's maybe more beneficial for him. So you know,
Speaker 2: there's a lot of benefits to it. And you know yesterday,
Speaker 2: even even with the two runs that they ended up
Speaker 2: scoring that you know maybe you don't love because you
Speaker 2: did use the opener, you know it really did put
Speaker 2: Eddie in a good spot to go through that line
Speaker 2: up a couple of times and was able to be
Speaker 2: successful and then tough luck play there that they ended
Speaker 2: up scoring. So there's a lot of benefits to it.
Speaker 2: Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but you know, in
Speaker 2: the right situations against the right line, it's a good strategy.
Speaker 3: Okay, Jim, we continue to see the opener by the
Speaker 3: White Sox. We'll be reviewing the upcoming series against Cleveland.
Speaker 3: Usually he's been using the opener for Sean Burke and
Speaker 3: Eric Vetty, and both those guys will be admiring in
Speaker 3: this upcoming series against Cleveland. We're about halfway through the season.
Speaker 3: Are you okay with the opener strategy.
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's fine, especially for the pitchers being used.
Speaker 1: I think like Sunday or I should say not in
Speaker 1: Sunday the finale with the Yankees, Sean Burke throwing the
Speaker 1: final seven to third inning after Brian Hudson was like, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's the opener strategy. Like the perfect execution of
Speaker 1: it one and two thirds things by Hudson, Burke going
Speaker 1: the other twenty two outs. That's what I would point to,
Speaker 1: is the exact idea of what you're going for, like
Speaker 1: the perfect execution of it. Everybody living up to the idea.
Speaker 1: And then some like if Burke started the game and
Speaker 1: went seven and the third innings, he'd say, like, great start.
Speaker 1: So the fact that he like was the last pitcher used,
Speaker 1: I think is very satisfying and basically put him in
Speaker 1: a position to succeeed. I think same thing as Fetti.
Speaker 1: Like we were worried about Fetti, thinking like he is
Speaker 1: on the chopping block because like San Francisco lit him
Speaker 1: up and he just wasn't getting any guys out and
Speaker 1: they use the opener for that one, but like they
Speaker 1: stuck with it and like the next outing was fine,
Speaker 1: and like they've actually yeah, and like looking at his
Speaker 1: record of just the or the White Sox record in
Speaker 1: games he's pitched, Like they lost his game against Detroit,
Speaker 1: but he was fine in that one. They won the
Speaker 1: previous four, so it's working. Not always the prettiest. I
Speaker 1: think you get into the situation that like Rick Rentrie
Speaker 1: I think found especially objectionable, and he was the manager
Speaker 1: and like kind of the opener came into vogue and
Speaker 1: he didn't go along with it. It's just like when
Speaker 1: you get into the situation where the opener doesn't get
Speaker 1: out of the first it feels like what was the
Speaker 1: points You're already scrambling. It's a disaster, And sometimes it happens,
Speaker 1: but like in the case of Fetti's outing, against Atlanta
Speaker 1: that happened and he pitched five and they won the
Speaker 1: game and ten innings. So like, there are ways to
Speaker 1: get out of it, even if it looks especially ugly early.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I don't see any argument to go against it.
Speaker 1: It seems like Anthony k grumbled against it and then
Speaker 1: he pitched well enough to get out of that to
Speaker 1: where he needed somebody holding his hand in the starts.
Speaker 1: But like Fetti, probably not in a position to complain
Speaker 1: about it, even if he doesn't like it, given the
Speaker 1: year he had last year and what he signed for
Speaker 1: the White Sox. But you know, he's been pitching better
Speaker 1: than the White Soxs have been winning games. It's not
Speaker 1: like you're costing him arbitration earnings because he's not getting wins.
Speaker 1: Like he's somebody who just needs to contribute to a
Speaker 1: pitching staff. So I think he's like the ideal guy
Speaker 1: to open four and Burke. I think you would hope
Speaker 1: that as he evolves or kind of settles into what
Speaker 1: his final form is as a major league starter, then
Speaker 1: he can handle games by himself. But if he goes
Speaker 1: the final seven to the third inning, he has somebody
Speaker 1: open for him against a good offense. Then yeah, that
Speaker 1: shows at least he's not you know, making excuses or
Speaker 1: like pointing the finger at being asked to enter in
Speaker 1: the middle of an inning, like he's he handled it well.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I see no fault with the deployment of openers.
Speaker 3: I mean with how well Sean Newcome pitched in that
Speaker 3: bullpen game, Like maybe he's the ideal opener. I'm not
Speaker 3: crazy about Brandon Isisert me and the opener. Like, if
Speaker 3: you're gonna do this because you're facing strong lefties, I
Speaker 3: would probably go at Newcome, maybe Brian Hudson if you
Speaker 3: are going to continue to go back to back with
Speaker 3: Sean Berke and Eric Fetti and using the opener. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm just not I don't know what. I don't know
Speaker 3: how you use Brandon Eisert other than hey, we're down five,
Speaker 3: it's the eighth inning. How about you close this one
Speaker 3: out for us? Brandon, Like that's the only usage I
Speaker 3: could think of for him.
Speaker 1: No, he's he's not somebody who has splits really like
Speaker 1: he had reverse splitz last year. He has traditional splits
Speaker 1: this year and to the extent of like ops but
Speaker 1: like righty's are hitting three hundred against him. So it's
Speaker 1: a case where like lefties are doing more damage, but
Speaker 1: right you see him just fine. Like it's a strange case,
Speaker 1: but yeah, you're not. I think he might be useful
Speaker 1: as lefty against lefties who struggled against lefties, but coming
Speaker 1: in for the first inning and facing like usually if
Speaker 1: they're at the top of the order, their talented left
Speaker 1: handed hitters who manage lefties just fine. Yeah, I don't
Speaker 1: think his arsenal is shaped to get them out in
Speaker 1: a way that's especially useful.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I agree with you there, no, yeah, I
Speaker 3: but then again, who do you have right now in
Speaker 3: Charlotte that you can call up to replace Brandon isis
Speaker 3: or the pitching depth as you wrote, Jim is a
Speaker 3: kind of thin at the moment.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, like, I don't think there's a Joe
Speaker 1: Rock was there now he's in the uh he's in
Speaker 1: the bullpen right now. But I think like they have relievers,
Speaker 1: just not lefty relievers.
Speaker 3: I can think of the Joe Rock experience is wild
Speaker 3: because it does not look good at all. But he's
Speaker 3: only given up like maybe a run in his three
Speaker 3: innings that he's pitching. It's not a pretty it's effectively wild.
Speaker 6: Joe rock Is.
Speaker 3: That's the White Sox bull event right now. They the
Speaker 3: team really could use them to step up. But I
Speaker 3: think to wrap up as far as that conversation, Sir
Speaker 3: Anthony Amingus Man, you can't fail anymore seven, eight, nine.
Speaker 6: You gotta lead.
Speaker 3: You want these saves, close the game, no excuses.
Speaker 6: Do your job, Bud.
Speaker 3: You're getting paid a lot of money, and it's not
Speaker 3: that difficult of a task. To your point, Jim Grant,
Speaker 3: Taylor's handling the harder task. Now, what would have helped
Speaker 3: this weekend for the White Sox in Detroit is scoring
Speaker 3: a lot more runs. They're offense was very quiet. They
Speaker 3: only scored eight runs in this three game series. Maybe
Speaker 3: the most devastating stat from this weekend, Colson Montgomery, Chase
Speaker 3: my Draft and Miguel Vargas combined two for thirty. That
Speaker 3: is very tough for the White Sox to get any
Speaker 3: type of offense going, especially with how will Venna Bull
Speaker 3: has been using all three of these hitters in the
Speaker 3: middle of the lineup. Montgomery went zero for eleven, my
Speaker 3: Draft one for ten, and Vargas one for nine. Sam
Speaker 3: Antonaci had a good weekend. He went four for ten,
Speaker 3: but playing the games at America Park, just watching these swings,
Speaker 3: it was a lot of fly balls that were just
Speaker 3: not carrying at K America, Jim and I'm wondering were
Speaker 3: the White Sox.
Speaker 6: Trying too hard to hit home runs in Detroit?
Speaker 1: Maybe not hit home runs in terms of selling out,
Speaker 1: but I think they were trying to attack pitches in
Speaker 1: the zone. Like I think they had an idea of, like,
Speaker 1: these guys can throw strikes pretty well, so we can't
Speaker 1: count on waiting them out into fastball counts. We need
Speaker 1: to attack the pitch that we want early. And I think,
Speaker 1: you know, it's kind of like the opposite of Hawk
Speaker 1: Erelson saying, you know, the more pitches you see, the
Speaker 1: more dangerous he become. I think it can pile up
Speaker 1: to where like we're not seeing many pitches, and so
Speaker 1: it just looks very very effective and just kind of
Speaker 1: flastied overall. And so you know, perhaps the extent that
Speaker 1: hitting is contagious, I think like sometimes not hitting is contagious.
Speaker 1: Or you get a situation where we've only made him
Speaker 1: throw twenty two pitches in three innings, and now we
Speaker 1: got to start taking pitches. But then you get bad
Speaker 1: counts and you get out of sorts a little bits,
Speaker 1: and you know, I feel bad for Luis on Helicunya
Speaker 1: because like that should have been his game on Sunday.
Speaker 1: Like he's been I think he settled into a role
Speaker 1: in June to where like he's been useful. Like it
Speaker 1: seems like he's not playing much center field because Tristan
Speaker 1: Peters has it handled, so he's more or less the
Speaker 1: backup shortstop, pinch runner occasional, yeah, maybe gets one start
Speaker 1: in a series, but like he's playing pretty well. He's
Speaker 1: hitting over four hundred in June. Like he's the ideal
Speaker 1: twenty six man right now, or like last man on
Speaker 1: the bench in that you don't have to play him
Speaker 1: all that much and you're still getting something from him
Speaker 1: when he plays, and you're not like having Jacob gonzalezit
Speaker 1: for no reason. So like I was really hoping that
Speaker 1: that game would be kind of a launch point for like, hey,
Speaker 1: this is Luis an Helicunya kind of like the I
Speaker 1: think what the White Sox were hoping for for somebody
Speaker 1: who can provide some usefulness in the ninth spot. Whenever
Speaker 1: it gets on base, it's great. And he showed power
Speaker 1: a little bit over the winter leagues, and to see
Speaker 1: that manifest itself in a major league game was cool.
Speaker 1: Maybe more of that. So that's my attempt to talk
Speaker 1: about Luise on Hilicuna when the bullpen overshadowed him. But
Speaker 1: I think, yeah, they they try to attack early. You know,
Speaker 1: I think, just you know, Miguel Vargas is off, and
Speaker 1: you know, he did get a half game of rest
Speaker 1: because he's been playing basically nearly every game, nearly every inning,
Speaker 1: and just looked off. He had some short of bats,
Speaker 1: he had some Yeah, he had a three pitch strikeout
Speaker 1: that wasn't great. Also, one thing that's kind of jumped
Speaker 1: out to me over the last two series is a
Speaker 1: lot of hitters not challenging and you could see him
Speaker 1: just like shaking their head and just yeah, And I'm
Speaker 1: I'm at home being like, you know, tap in my
Speaker 1: head just like that's I do that on my couch.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I just want to pitches off, just like might
Speaker 1: want to challenge that and they can't see me. But
Speaker 1: it happens to be like after Edgar Edgar Carroll burns
Speaker 1: one early on and so they're down to the last
Speaker 1: challenge and it does seem like they had again, like
Speaker 1: when they try to take pitches, then the count wasn't
Speaker 1: with them because the pitchers were around the plate enough
Speaker 1: and the catchers were doing a good, good enough job
Speaker 1: of getting those borderline strikes called for them to where
Speaker 1: it kind of piled up against them. So I'm willing
Speaker 1: to write it off as a bad series, just kind
Speaker 1: of a uninspiring week overall. Could be a case where
Speaker 1: you know there is some fatigue setting in. There is
Speaker 1: like fatigue in terms of just like not having I
Speaker 1: guess partially fatigue partially like you're counting on Miguel Vargus
Speaker 1: an awful lot when he wasn't expected to be that
Speaker 1: great entering the season. He's been wonderful this season in
Speaker 1: All Star of the season, but like there will be
Speaker 1: moments maybe where Miguel Vargus looks like the Miguel Vargus
Speaker 1: that we thought he was, And so you know, what's
Speaker 1: the counterpoint. And then you get into the case where
Speaker 1: like the nobody's producing for catchers, Coase Montgomery runs hot
Speaker 1: and cold, Braid Montgomery and Jacob Gonzalez or rookies, and
Speaker 1: so maybe the lineup isn't as deep as it sometimes
Speaker 1: looks or sometimes so I am curious. Then we're going
Speaker 1: to talk about this a little bit in terms of
Speaker 1: like when Kyle Teal comes back in LinkedIn's lineup, when
Speaker 1: catcher goes from being a zero to maybe being a plus,
Speaker 1: what does that look like for the rest of the lineup.
Speaker 1: But for the time being, you know, as long as
Speaker 1: they've had that hole in their lineup, and as long
Speaker 1: as they have a lot of inexperienced players a lot
Speaker 1: of like shuffling, you could have these ruts where if
Speaker 1: Colson isn't doing it, if Vargas has the odd week
Speaker 1: off then or should off week he's never off, then
Speaker 1: you do get in these situations where the offense doesn't
Speaker 1: come as easily.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the one adjustment for future games play
Speaker 3: to k America because I know Colson Montgomery and James's
Speaker 3: latest column from Detroit that Montgomery is admitting that maybe
Speaker 3: with youth on their side, they don't know what they
Speaker 3: don't know. The thing about k America is if you're
Speaker 3: noticing that the ball is just not carrying, especially for
Speaker 3: Colson hitting a lot of fly balls that weren't reaching
Speaker 3: the warning track, it's this whole concept of you have
Speaker 3: to think small, and with Detroit throwing so many fastballs
Speaker 3: in the outer third against Colson or even off speed stuff,
Speaker 3: like he needs to make an adjustment next time he
Speaker 3: faces Detroit. In Detroit, don't be afraid to just flip
Speaker 3: those pitches to left field because the way that they
Speaker 3: pulled the outfield and we saw this with Tristan Peters's double,
Speaker 3: The left fielder against the lefty hitters for the White
Speaker 3: Sox was way in the gap, so you had that
Speaker 3: complete line. So if you just waited a little bit
Speaker 3: longer like Peters did and you flip it down the
Speaker 3: left field.
Speaker 6: Line, that's like an automatic double.
Speaker 3: So I just felt like there was more opportunities and
Speaker 3: in late game situations, Detroit was very much thinking small,
Speaker 3: just focusing not only just putting the ball in play,
Speaker 3: but hitting line drives, finding pitches that they can hit
Speaker 3: a line drive and put some pressure on the White
Speaker 3: Sox pitchers. There just wasn't a whole lot of pressure
Speaker 3: this weekend from the White Sox hitters against the Tigers pitchers.
Speaker 3: Not a lot of walks as well on this weekend,
Speaker 3: so I kind of question what the entire opensive game
Speaker 3: plan was coming to this series for the White Sox,
Speaker 3: but it just puts more stress in the bullpen. The
Speaker 3: margins are very small and that's how you get swept
Speaker 3: when things just don't bounce in your favor for the
Speaker 3: Chicago White Sox. But do want to also give a
Speaker 3: cap tip to Junior Prez for hitting his first major
Speaker 3: league home run off Trek Scooble of all pitchers, so
Speaker 3: that was a pretty cool moment. Junior Prez should have
Speaker 3: had his game on Friday. Jim Luisa, helicoon, you should
Speaker 3: have had his game on Sunday. Alas, the White Sox
Speaker 3: still gets swept. And now the Chicago White Sox come home,
Speaker 3: and this is a key home stand for the White Sox.
Speaker 3: It's against American League Central opponents, but none bigger than
Speaker 3: Monday through Wednesday, as the White Sox and the Cleveland
Speaker 3: Guardians finally face each other for the first time in
Speaker 3: twenty twenty six. The Cleveland Guardians are in first place.
Speaker 3: They did not have a great week. They had a
Speaker 3: slightly better week than the White Sox. They were two
Speaker 3: and four this week instead of the White Sox going
Speaker 3: one in five. But the Guardians, who have a one
Speaker 3: game lead in the American League Central. They are currently
Speaker 3: forty one and thirty seven. They're just four and ten
Speaker 3: in the last ten game, four and six, I'm sorry,
Speaker 3: in their last ten games. Just like the White Sox,
Speaker 3: the Guardians are a good road team. They are twenty
Speaker 3: two and twenty this year away from Cleveland. You're bitching
Speaker 3: problems for this series. Monday and Tuesday night. These are
Speaker 3: at six forty pm Central time starts. It is the
Speaker 3: righty Gavin Williams for the Guardians against Anthony k for
Speaker 3: the White Sox. On Tuesday, it's Parker Messik against Sean Burke.
Speaker 3: We'll see if the White Sox to use an opener
Speaker 3: on Tuesday, and then a Wednesday getaway day.
Speaker 6: This is a one ten pm Central Time start.
Speaker 3: It's Tanner Bibe against Eric Fetti again opener for Fetti.
Speaker 3: Biby and Fetti seem to be the bad luck starting
Speaker 3: pitchers for both teams, as they've been pitching a lot
Speaker 3: better than what their win loss records look like. I
Speaker 3: think the big storyline from a White Sox perspective entering
Speaker 3: this series Jim is the possible return of Kyle Teal.
Speaker 3: Will Venable mentioned that he would be speaking with Chris
Speaker 3: Getz after Sunday's game against the Detroit Tigers. We are
Speaker 3: expecting some type of clarity from the Chicago White.
Speaker 6: Sox on Monday before the game.
Speaker 3: If not in the morning, I guess the best news
Speaker 3: White Sox fans is that if we all receive the
Speaker 3: email press release from the White Sox they have activated
Speaker 3: Kyle Teal, that's going to probably come around like ten
Speaker 3: in the morning, and that will be a breaking news
Speaker 3: story on soxmachine dot com that you'd be able.
Speaker 6: To check out. If we don't get that email, then.
Speaker 3: Around three o'clock we're going to get some type of
Speaker 3: explanation from Will Venable, maybe even Chris Guetz on what
Speaker 3: the status is with Kyle Teel.
Speaker 6: But Jim Teal's good. I mean, he looks strong.
Speaker 3: I guess he didn't need that many at bats in
Speaker 3: Charlotte if they do call him up, But they really
Speaker 3: do need Kyle Teal.
Speaker 6: I did not know just how.
Speaker 3: Bad the production has been for the catcher spot for
Speaker 3: the White Sox gym until I looked at fangrafts, both
Speaker 3: not only offensively but defensively. White Sox catchers mostly Drew
Speaker 3: Romo and Edgar Carro rank dead last in war negative
Speaker 3: zero point eight. So bringing back Kyle Teal this is
Speaker 3: the perfect time in my opinion, Jim, when now facing
Speaker 3: the Guardians, how do you feel that the immediate impact
Speaker 3: could be with the return of Kyle Teal.
Speaker 1: You don't want to put too much stress on a
Speaker 1: guy who hasn't appeared in a major league game yet
Speaker 1: this year and is coming off of.
Speaker 3: He's already gonna put a lot of stress on himself,
Speaker 3: because that's just the way Kyle Teal is.
Speaker 1: Its case, We're like, yeah, sure, it'd be great if
Speaker 1: he hits yea and right away, just given how little
Speaker 1: the catcher like the opportunities right there. And we've seen
Speaker 1: this before with the White Sox of just how hard
Speaker 1: is it to upgrade a position when they're that bad
Speaker 1: and then turns out like, h yeah, well, one they've
Speaker 1: been so bad that like they're three four wins below
Speaker 1: replacement and then they upgrade like one win below replacement
Speaker 1: and still bad, and you don't actually feel an impact
Speaker 1: because like bad is bad to quote Huey Lewis. With
Speaker 1: White Sox catchers, perhaps like catching is unique enough, the
Speaker 1: demand's position are unique enough to where you can feel
Speaker 1: the upgrade because you don't expect offense. So an offense
Speaker 1: shows up even an average amount lineup gets lengthened. Also,
Speaker 1: we'll see like how much he plays, if he's gonna
Speaker 1: play most days, or if they're gonna ease him into
Speaker 1: everyday duty, or like are they gonna play two catchers?
Speaker 1: Is he gonna d H how's that gonna work? Well? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would be okay with him getting like every other
Speaker 1: game treatment early on, because I think like a half
Speaker 1: dose of Kyle Teal helps quite a bit with the
Speaker 1: way the offense or just like the lineup is right now,
Speaker 1: maybe for a week or two, never having him catch
Speaker 1: two games in a row, just to make sure that
Speaker 1: everything structurally sound, because it would be a bummer if
Speaker 1: like he catches two games in a row and then
Speaker 1: like something barks on him and then obviously he's back
Speaker 1: on the angel list. So I think that would be
Speaker 1: what I would consider reasonable, and anything above that's fine.
Speaker 1: But yeah, the the offense is looking for like a
Speaker 1: a Kyle Teal like production, both in terms of just
Speaker 1: hit tool power. The position he plays like fits in
Speaker 1: perfectly to add a level that this offense has not
Speaker 1: had and uh so, yeah, good luck. Just the filling
Speaker 1: goes eye. Uh if he starts out like zero for
Speaker 1: twelve because he's a rusty just yeah, it suld be
Speaker 1: a sure be a bummer. But hopefully he's got a
Speaker 1: lot of time to let it even out or get
Speaker 1: up to speed. Like he doesn't have to be great
Speaker 1: right away, as long as he's healthy and the legs
Speaker 1: are responding well enough to where like he can handle
Speaker 1: a major league workload the rest of the way.
Speaker 3: Maybe the flip side, if he goes three for four
Speaker 3: against Cleveland on Monday.
Speaker 1: Yeah, proof of concept immediately, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3: I can see a situation where he starts Monday and Wednesday,
Speaker 3: and well maybe that's the follow up question. And I
Speaker 3: think maybe he comes off the bench in a bit
Speaker 3: hitting situation in Tuesday's game with Parker Messik taking the
Speaker 3: ball for the Guardians. He've been very good, but he
Speaker 3: pitches from the left hand side, so maybe try to
Speaker 3: use the platoon advantage.
Speaker 6: Now, with that said, I don't know who you send back.
Speaker 3: To Charlotte, Drew Romo or Edgar Carro at this stage,
Speaker 3: both of them, in my opinion, I don't think there's
Speaker 3: anyone else that you can call up along with Kyle
Speaker 3: Teal to do a complete hockey line change at the
Speaker 3: catcher position. Do you have a preference Jim Romo or
Speaker 3: Arrow to back up Kyle Teeal?
Speaker 1: I mean Romo is batting one forty four. It kind
Speaker 1: of feels like what.
Speaker 6: Is Carrow batting?
Speaker 1: Not one? Okay, like I'm looking at uh yeah, let
Speaker 1: me look at the He's two for thirty one his
Speaker 1: last ten games.
Speaker 3: So yeah, yeah, time to time to get yourself to
Speaker 3: work on yourself down in Charlotte while the White Sox
Speaker 3: try to win some games.
Speaker 1: So I do think it's a case where, like you know,
Speaker 1: this was a good opportunity for Caro to be the
Speaker 1: the guy, the number one catcher, even if he's traded,
Speaker 1: like a good way to prove that he can handle
Speaker 1: another team's number one catcher demands and didn't do it.
Speaker 1: But I think now with what the situation the White
Speaker 1: Sox find themselves in, can't really worry about him being
Speaker 1: shaped like a trade asset. It's more a matter of
Speaker 1: like Kyle Teal needs to catch as much as possible
Speaker 1: as much as is responsible to put on his plates
Speaker 1: and then Carol, you handle the rest, we'll see one
Speaker 1: if he like, maybe he responds well of that, maybe
Speaker 1: like he plays well being the second catcher versus like
Speaker 1: the one a guy he kind of was or behind
Speaker 1: Romo and he looks closer what he looked like last year,
Speaker 1: and then like he's still a useful catcher, maybe just
Speaker 1: not a guy you're hoping to trade for like a
Speaker 1: significant asset. But I think right now, just yeah, treat
Speaker 1: Carroll like a backup. Don't worry about playing time. Just
Speaker 1: get your two best catchers available, and then play your
Speaker 1: best catcher between those two as much as his body
Speaker 1: will allow. And then if Carol is you know, if
Speaker 1: Carol has a roma like stretch to wear, like he's
Speaker 1: not hitting at all, then maybe you you know, switch
Speaker 1: out catchers, bring Romo back up. Look on the waiver wire,
Speaker 1: like for like a minor trade just to bring in
Speaker 1: somebody else who is in Corey lease, since it seems
Speaker 1: like they're completely out on him. Uh, but there are
Speaker 1: ways to do it. But yeah, I think it's pretty simple.
Speaker 1: Don't overthink it's as far as as soon as Teal
Speaker 1: is ready to catch what he was hoping to catch
Speaker 1: at the start of the season, then give it to him.
Speaker 6: Yeah, and the DH.
Speaker 3: You don't need to put both of them in the lineup.
Speaker 3: That's so we talked about last year. A way that
Speaker 3: Randall Gritchik and Andrew Benattendee have been hitting, you can
Speaker 3: continue to having those guys take care.
Speaker 1: Of the DH role.
Speaker 3: So unlike last year, we're not going to see Teal
Speaker 3: and Caro both in the same lineup. So I guess
Speaker 3: you can keep Edgar Carro to be his backup. But yeah,
Speaker 3: hopefully lots of Kyle Teal again when the news does break.
Speaker 3: Visit us on Socksmachine dot com to check out that
Speaker 3: news keys to this series. As we wrap up. As
Speaker 3: far as this episode, All Go Far, Team Go Far.
Speaker 3: We know the White Sox love to hit a lot
Speaker 3: of home runs, especially at Rate Field. The stat that
Speaker 3: surprised me. We talk about how the White Sox can
Speaker 3: use some right handed bats. The White Sox lead major
Speaker 3: League Baseball in hitting home runs against left handed pitching,
Speaker 3: so Messi's been rate for Cleveland. Can they find some
Speaker 3: instant offense in that form? As far as hitting home
Speaker 3: runs against the Cleveland lefties, Jim the White Sox with
Speaker 3: not having to face Rosier Ramirez that's good news. Stephen
Speaker 3: Kwan hasn't been that straw this year. But Travis Bozana
Speaker 3: is having himself a week. In his last seven games,
Speaker 3: Bzana is hitting four seventeen with a five seventeen on
Speaker 3: base percentage like in eight seventy five. He's got three
Speaker 3: homers and seven RBIs. I think he's the guy right
Speaker 3: now in the lineup for the White Sox pitchers that
Speaker 3: all right, there's no Hose Ramirez. We have to figure
Speaker 3: out this rookie and shut down Travis Bozana.
Speaker 1: Yeah, chase the latters out too, So that really does
Speaker 1: put the focus on just a few bats. Yeah, Bazana
Speaker 1: is is a key. I was looking at their monthly
Speaker 1: splits and you know, it's basically like Cleveland has turned
Speaker 1: to ev more of a Cleveland form since this month,
Speaker 1: and that they're allowing the fourth fewest runs, but they're
Speaker 1: scoring the fewest. So I would expect low scoring games.
Speaker 1: I would expect execution to be at a premium. You know,
Speaker 1: to your point about bullpen has to doest job, but
Speaker 1: also like defense has Stuart's job. Like we've seen the
Speaker 1: Guardians out defend the White Sox and win that way.
Speaker 1: Many many, many, many, many, many many times. And I
Speaker 1: guess with you know, Josh Naylor completed out of the
Speaker 1: picture with Jose Ramirez out of the picture, like you
Speaker 1: are losing some of the usual suspects to where, uh,
Speaker 1: there shouldn't be the boogeymen around them, to where you
Speaker 1: shake your head and say, like, yep, there he goes
Speaker 1: like Bazana, Yeah he's good, just unknown, so you don't
Speaker 1: have that scar tissue built up. They should be able
Speaker 1: to handle themselves well, Like, yeah, there's no reason to
Speaker 1: fear Cleveland at this point. They're a good team, Like
Speaker 1: you know, they're they're uh, they do what they do well,
Speaker 1: but they are wounded right now. And you know they
Speaker 1: did get outplayed. You know, they did have that formula
Speaker 1: used against him against Milwaukee, Like the Milwaukee does that
Speaker 1: very well in terms of hitting well, but also pitching
Speaker 1: well and bullpenning well and defending well in all of
Speaker 1: that to where like you can't out Cleveland Milwaukee. So
Speaker 1: I think they are gettable. So time to dust themselves off,
Speaker 1: get the home magic going again, and you know, win
Speaker 1: two out of.
Speaker 3: Three and not have to face Kate sved went down. Yeah,
Speaker 3: he's been really good.
Speaker 6: He's been really good.
Speaker 1: They have their formula like, they have their high leverage
Speaker 1: Emmanuel Classe never mattered formula like. It's amazing how they
Speaker 1: can just keep doing that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the first five innings of these games
Speaker 3: is going to be pretty important for the White Sox
Speaker 3: try to avoid the back end of Cleveland's bullpen. They've
Speaker 3: been very tough this year. But we'll be recapping these
Speaker 3: games of course on socks machine dot com. James Hegan
Speaker 3: will be covering these games for us as well throughout
Speaker 3: this entire homestand so again, please subscribe to our YouTube
Speaker 3: channel to check out all of our videos. Has been
Speaker 3: posting the postgame press conferences and also YouTube shorts as well.
Speaker 3: We've been posting those over on our Instagram page as well.
Speaker 3: You can follow us on Instagram at sos Machine. But
Speaker 3: that will do it for this episode of the Sox
Speaker 3: Machine podcast. Thank you guys so much for listening and watching.
Speaker 3: If you just discover the Sox Machine podcast, you can
Speaker 3: subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts or
Speaker 3: Spotify and Apple Music. You can watch the shows on
Speaker 3: our YouTube channel at YouTube dot com slash sox Machine
Speaker 3: and follow us on all the social media platforms we
Speaker 3: are at sox Machine. You can follow James at j rfigan.
Speaker 3: You can follow me at sox Machine Underscore Josh. If
Speaker 3: you enjoy our work and want full access to all
Speaker 3: of our coverage of the Chicago White Sox, Major League
Speaker 3: Baseball and the upcoming Major League Baseball Draft, you can
Speaker 3: help support sox Machine by becoming a subscriber at soxsmachine
Speaker 3: dot com slash Products for five dollars a month. You
Speaker 3: can get ad free versions of both the podcast and
Speaker 3: the website. Unlocks the comments section as well.
Speaker 4: For you.
Speaker 3: We're still running that special, right Jim. As far as
Speaker 3: the winning percentage of the first month discount.
Speaker 1: H yes, but the price is dropping unfortunately fortunately for you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: unfortunately for us. Uh and I think the White Sox
Speaker 1: fortunes as a whole. I guess it was down fifty
Speaker 1: two cents versus fifty four. But ultimately good news for
Speaker 1: you the not yet subscriber first month of soxs Machine
Speaker 1: for just fifty two cents.
Speaker 3: Yes, so great deal. Go to soxmachine dot com slash
Speaker 3: Products and sign up today. The sox Machine podcast is
Speaker 3: a production of Soxmachine dot com. You're on for all
Speaker 3: things for Chicago White Sox baseball. Alongside Jim Margolus, I'm
Speaker 3: Josh Nelson. Thanks for listening and watching.