Speaker 1: Howard, my dad was te vowed by an utility vehicle
Speaker 1: and isn't surgery. Now what should I do?
Speaker 2: I'm sorry to hear about that. It's really great that
Speaker 2: you're getting him the medical care and treatment that he
Speaker 2: needs right now. These are three important things that I
Speaker 2: think you need to know. Injuries are unexpected and turn
Speaker 2: lives upside down. I'm Howard Ankin, and I'm here to
Speaker 2: help if you are a loved one. I have been
Speaker 2: heard at work for in a car truck to write
Speaker 2: your accident called three one two six million injury law
Speaker 2: made personal.
Speaker 1: That's aken law.
Speaker 3: From your favorite source for Chicago White Sox talk, delivering news, interviews,
Speaker 3: analysis and more. This is the Socks Machine Podcast with
Speaker 3: your hosts Jim Margolis, James Vegan, and Josh Nelson.
Speaker 1: Hello everyone, this is Josh Nelson Socks Machine as we
Speaker 1: bring you a new podcast recording this on Thursday night,
Speaker 1: July nine, twenty twenty six, as the Chicago White Sox
Speaker 1: are wrapped up their series against the Boston Red Sox
Speaker 1: and only one word really summarizes what happened at raid
Speaker 1: Field for the White Sox this week, yikes, as they
Speaker 1: were swept in three games by the Red Sox. Not
Speaker 1: only were they swept in three games by the Red Sox,
Speaker 1: the White Sox only scored two runs in the three games.
Speaker 1: Here's White Sox manager Will Venables speaking most game after
Speaker 1: being swept by Boston and the difficulties that his offense
Speaker 1: had against Boston's very tough left handed starters.
Speaker 4: Yeah, same story today. Just counsolved for some really good
Speaker 4: left handed pitching. Got to give those guys on the
Speaker 4: other side credit. Its extremely tough, you know. We're able
Speaker 4: to neutralize some guys that we've seen, especially versus left
Speaker 4: handed pitching and play really well, you know. And in
Speaker 4: Bark and Rich and those guys have done such great
Speaker 4: top all year, and I just really collectively just can't
Speaker 4: get it going offensive. I think they can, for sure, sure,
Speaker 4: I don't know if that was the case this series.
Speaker 4: I think we just got beat, you know, And I
Speaker 4: think that we tried to make a bunch of adjustments.
Speaker 2: These guys are working really hard.
Speaker 4: Pre game was solved for some of these dynamic, dynamic
Speaker 4: pass balls that these lefties have, and we just weren't
Speaker 4: able to solve for. So I don't want to label
Speaker 4: this one a slump you know, but certainly a series.
Speaker 2: And we just we weren't able to produce offense to.
Speaker 1: Me, which you know is something we used to doing.
Speaker 5: You guys hit very well against Left Youthium for the
Speaker 5: first few months of the year, or you've seen something
Speaker 5: different and now you're being attacked. Whether it's you know,
Speaker 5: the way they're attacking the inside half with you know,
Speaker 5: fastballs that's a different or is it just you chalking
Speaker 5: up to three bad games?
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think you know, yeah, three bad games.
Speaker 4: At the same time, you got to look internally and
Speaker 4: make sure that there are adjustments being made and I think,
Speaker 4: you know, adjusting to the fastball and figuring out the
Speaker 4: way to move some of those forwards is a really
Speaker 4: good place.
Speaker 2: For us to start.
Speaker 1: Now. I'm joined by Soxx Machines, beer reporter James Vegan
Speaker 1: and managing editor Jim Margolus, and Hello gents. Our last
Speaker 1: podcast episode had a hint of optimism after the White
Speaker 1: Socks were able to split a four game series against
Speaker 1: the Cleveland Guardians, and then this I don't know really
Speaker 1: how to describe it other than yikes. As I mentioned
Speaker 1: the intro being outscored fifteen to two, the White Sox
Speaker 1: did not even have a single extra basid in this
Speaker 1: series against the Boston Red Sox In the three games,
Speaker 1: James vegan. What happened to the White Sox offense against Boston?
Speaker 5: See last time I saw the rundown like three hours
Speaker 5: ahead of time, and I had answers prepared, whereas now
Speaker 5: kind of hectic and bouncing around my fault, I didn't
Speaker 5: see it. So I saw just a slot of where
Speaker 5: are the offense go? And the only response I had
Speaker 5: of like is the defensive? I don't know, man, what
Speaker 5: do you get off my back? I certainly think like
Speaker 5: totally was like my like sleeper ale Rookie of the
Speaker 5: Year pick fangrafs. So on the one hand, like he
Speaker 5: started a theme that continued the whole series of just
Speaker 5: like here's a bunch of fastballs, especially like in on
Speaker 5: the hands of right handers over and over again, do
Speaker 5: something about it. And seeing a team that's kind of
Speaker 5: prided itself on slug not really be able to do
Speaker 5: something about it.
Speaker 6: Obviously not great.
Speaker 5: That said, I thought, like totally totally's fastball being elite
Speaker 5: likes kind of established his prospect profile. Randall Gritchick said,
Speaker 5: like this Jake Bennett was like the best location they
Speaker 5: had faced all season, And you know, you hear that
Speaker 5: sort of quote a lot when teams get like skunked
Speaker 5: in a way like dip your cap.
Speaker 6: That guy was great.
Speaker 5: I did think he was like like Atlease with bats
Speaker 5: where I was really locked in, like where he tied
Speaker 5: up like Bradon Montgomery like early in the game, and
Speaker 5: it was really just like on perfect edge fastballs on
Speaker 5: his hands, like over and over again, like I thought
Speaker 5: he he was commanding very well. At the same time,
Speaker 5: like Jake Bennett is not like you know, prime Steve Carlton.
Speaker 5: I think there is some level of like the offense
Speaker 5: just obviously not looking good all the way through the series,
Speaker 5: even if the ballastn't generally pitched well, certainly in stretches
Speaker 5: they've faced more proven competition and done a bit better
Speaker 5: than that in a way that kind of shows her off.
Speaker 5: And I've always been a little iffy on their attack
Speaker 5: against lefties, and I think the statistics had been countering
Speaker 5: that all year, but it's been really heavily on like
Speaker 5: Miguel Vargas being like literally the best hitter in the
Speaker 5: league against lefties or Randall Gritcheck just like bottling everything
Speaker 5: we understand about Randall. Gritcheck can hit let it lefties,
Speaker 5: like in these very compacted bursts, whereas like now he's
Speaker 5: kind of maybe regressing back to what is normal good
Speaker 5: but not like he's going to hit a home run
Speaker 5: every game type of production against left handers. And without that,
Speaker 5: and without Edgar Carrow, that you really kind of expected
Speaker 5: to be, you know, the catcher who starts against lefties
Speaker 5: and does a lot of damage against them based on
Speaker 5: last season, the fact that Austin Hayes and eversin Peira
Speaker 5: are both been out for a long time, and just
Speaker 5: when they thought they were like going to go back
Speaker 5: to having kind of a legit right handed corner back
Speaker 5: to put against lefties, they trade Derek Hill and Prera
Speaker 5: runs into a wall and now they're stuck kind of
Speaker 5: using minor league depth a little bit like June and
Speaker 5: Prez's tools. But you know, it wasn't having a good
Speaker 5: year in Triple A. Like I haven't been as discouraged
Speaker 5: as maybe some of our competes are in terms of
Speaker 5: like what Perez could be long term, but certainly it's not.
Speaker 5: There's gonna be warts and like trusting that to be
Speaker 5: irregular middle of the order masher against left handed pitching.
Speaker 5: So I think a lot of things kind of came
Speaker 5: together at the same time. Like I know from covering
Speaker 5: him for a year and a half at this point, like
Speaker 5: nothing irritates by the pennable or get some just s
Speaker 5: treak his team like quite as pointedly as just like
Speaker 5: getting blown away in the zone by fastballs, and that's
Speaker 5: certainly was what it was all all three games.
Speaker 1: And James mentioned Randall Gridchick. Jim and we talked about
Speaker 1: grid Chick in our previous podcast episode reviewing this upcoming series.
Speaker 1: I felt like he needed to have a big series
Speaker 1: with the White Sox, somebody else to provide some power
Speaker 1: from the right handed side other than Miguel Vargas. He
Speaker 1: came up empty. He went oh for nine with three
Speaker 1: strikeouts and no walks in this series, and I think
Speaker 1: that's a big factor as far as this DH rotation
Speaker 1: that they have right now between the two veterans and
Speaker 1: Gridchick and then of course Andrew ben Attendee.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a.
Speaker 7: Couple of things. I mean, he did hit a couple
Speaker 7: balls hard that found gloves and the Red Sox played
Speaker 7: pretty good defense too. They did snuff out even Like, yeah,
Speaker 7: White Sox kind of needed some luck to get things going,
Speaker 7: and there was no luck to be had. Uh with
Speaker 7: the weaker balls, they hit like nothing that could snowball,
Speaker 7: So like that's part of it. Part of it's like
Speaker 7: that it's just random variation. Bennett kind of reminded me
Speaker 7: of like jose Kintana. I think it would be my
Speaker 7: comp in terms of like relentless inside fastballs, and then
Speaker 7: they start looking for inside fastballs and then he moves
Speaker 7: them up just enough to where like they're up but
Speaker 7: they're inside, but they're also like slightly out of the zone.
Speaker 7: So it gets pop ups or foul balls and bad counts,
Speaker 7: and then the change ups come. You know, he starts
Speaker 7: spotting stuff outer half and then that gets them all
Speaker 7: out of sorts. So that was part of it. And
Speaker 7: then you know, like bigger pictures that they got Gritchick
Speaker 7: for free basically, I mean they signed him for a
Speaker 7: one point twenty five million, but he was a minor
Speaker 7: league contract in the offseason was released by the Yankees,
Speaker 7: so you can't be banking on them that much. As
Speaker 7: much as the White Sox have gotten from them and
Speaker 7: then Junior pres not being a major leaguer at least yet,
Speaker 7: you know, that's your right hand bats right now in
Speaker 7: the outfield, and once that option is shot, then you
Speaker 7: have like the situation where Jacob Gonzalez is batting against
Speaker 7: the Rolldess Chapman is the last hope in the ninth inning.
Speaker 7: So you saw the depth issues being exposed, I think
Speaker 7: in this three game series. So the hope is that
Speaker 7: and you can't really bank on it. But like Austin
Speaker 7: Hayes isn't dead yet, I guess we'll say, like he's
Speaker 7: not as replaceable as he looked to when Hill and
Speaker 7: Gritchick were there and Perero was healthy. And you know,
Speaker 7: like I would say, Hayes is probably closer to turning
Speaker 7: than Pereira. So it looks like he helped me back
Speaker 7: in the mix, and the White Sox might need something
Speaker 7: from him yet, and you can't discount him. I mean,
Speaker 7: you just he's already in the fold, he's already under contract.
Speaker 7: Anybody who is a right handed bat can stand in
Speaker 7: the outfield and has a semblance of major league production,
Speaker 7: I think you have to respect and hope they can
Speaker 7: get something from well.
Speaker 1: The other right handed bat. Of course he's a switcher,
Speaker 1: is Brady Montgomery. And when you take a look at
Speaker 1: the Crochet trade trio in this series seeking Revenge, I
Speaker 1: guess in a weird way, they got an opportunity to
Speaker 1: play in the major leagues with the White Sox, So
Speaker 1: I'm really not sure about the revenge angle. But facing
Speaker 1: their former team, Kyle Teal over seven Chase my draft
Speaker 1: two for ten, he needed two walks. That was Jim's
Speaker 1: pick for who needs a big series with the White
Speaker 1: Sox to be successful. In our last episode, mine was
Speaker 1: Bradon Montgomery and he went one for eleven with a walk.
Speaker 1: So the Crochet trae Jim still going well for the
Speaker 1: White Sox, but at least for this series, no additional
Speaker 1: bonus points.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean Teal starting against lefties or having to
Speaker 7: play against lefties that doesn't help him. And then you
Speaker 7: have Drew Romo starting against a lefty, so that's another
Speaker 7: thing that kind of shortens the lineup a lot. Uh.
Speaker 7: You know my draft gun on base you with thirty
Speaker 7: three percent of the time. That's okay for a series.
Speaker 7: You know, Montgomery weaker against lefties historically, but needs the
Speaker 7: plate appearances so you know that's you know, you're looking
Speaker 7: at Sam Antonaci, the other guy who wasn't doing anything
Speaker 7: against lefties early, starting to do something now, So you know,
Speaker 7: these are bats for Braden. While I wouldn't even say
Speaker 7: it was tough to watch, like the I think the
Speaker 7: discipline is there, are these the pitch recognition they were
Speaker 7: telling strikes from balls? Is there just a matter of
Speaker 7: like getting the barrel on time, you know, just I
Speaker 7: think it's more a matter of the swing or timing
Speaker 7: it up versus you know, just not reading pitch as well.
Speaker 7: So I think you just got to keep giving him
Speaker 7: at bats, especially when the competition right now is Junior Paris,
Speaker 7: And uh yeah, I think it's just a case where
Speaker 7: this is a group where lefties make them look weaker,
Speaker 7: and they did.
Speaker 5: I thought Brandon looked like as dangerous as anyone on
Speaker 5: Thursday on the team, at least, like I think he
Speaker 5: hit ball decently hard, like three times.
Speaker 7: So and then you had another hit taken yeah, and
Speaker 7: then had another.
Speaker 6: Hit taken away.
Speaker 5: Like you know, it wasn't a pretty start, but it's
Speaker 5: certainly about the prospects like him. You can kind of
Speaker 5: say like, oh, it looks like he was kind of
Speaker 5: figuring things out a little bit.
Speaker 6: At the end, so.
Speaker 1: Sam Antonaci went for for in this series. He is
Speaker 1: now hitting a little bit better against leftenant pitching, still
Speaker 1: not a lot of power. He's up to five twenty
Speaker 1: ohhs against south Pause and James. I guess, as Jim
Speaker 1: kind of laid out that, with the current health of
Speaker 1: the outfield right now, there's not a lot of latune
Speaker 1: opportunities for the White Sox. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: it feels like the White Sox wants sam Antonacci to
Speaker 1: learn on the fly here, so he's able to be
Speaker 1: in the lineup every single game despite who is on
Speaker 1: the mound. Is he going to continue to get this
Speaker 1: type of run against lefties?
Speaker 5: I would think so more, if only because they're choosing
Speaker 5: a little bit, you know, especially with how much they're
Speaker 5: using Perez like to sit either Peters or Montgomery or him,
Speaker 5: so he can kind of just push that into more
Speaker 5: of a rotation than just like he's the one who sits.
Speaker 5: When that happens, and Vnable complimented him, it's clearly like
Speaker 5: something you're emphasizing of just trying to, like you mentioned
Speaker 5: that a lot of power it's basically like, all right,
Speaker 5: he's probably not going to hit for power against him,
Speaker 5: Let's just write and lash some singles to left field.
Speaker 5: Is the explanation of what he's trying to do against
Speaker 5: left handers. And you know he's able to do that
Speaker 5: a little bit. And I think with where they're at
Speaker 5: until like Austin Hayes, like his rehab assigm wouldn't be
Speaker 5: until after the All Star break, Like, there's going to
Speaker 5: be at least a couple more series of them trying
Speaker 5: to figure it out without really having a right in
Speaker 5: a quarterback. So yeah, this is runway for him to
Speaker 5: keep doing that or give himself a chance. And he's
Speaker 5: been moving up from like not playing to like Betty
Speaker 5: Knight to batting six, not while the team is thriving,
Speaker 5: but certainly like indicates like his place on you know,
Speaker 5: the pecking orders, you know, only going up, if not dramatically.
Speaker 1: Hopefully the White Sox offense fair is a lot better
Speaker 1: against the Athletics. This upcoming weekend, will be previewing that series.
Speaker 1: Later in the show, A big part of the White
Speaker 1: Sox offense we'll be returning as we'll talk about Mudataka
Speaker 1: Murakami later but the bitching signed for this series. Davis
Speaker 1: Martin not a great start, so this is back to
Speaker 1: back starts where he's not able to get through five innings.
Speaker 1: Davis Martin only went four innings against the Boston Red Sox.
Speaker 1: He allowed five earned runs on six hits, two walks,
Speaker 1: two strikeouts. And his last seven starts for Davis Martin,
Speaker 1: he has an urn run average of six point three four.
Speaker 1: He has reached one hundred innings and that was his
Speaker 1: last start before the All Star break. So if he's
Speaker 1: not added to the American League All Star team, he's
Speaker 1: going to get some additional rest. And I wonder, James
Speaker 1: last year we saw this with Shane Smith that he
Speaker 1: was starting to sputter entering the All Star break. Is
Speaker 1: Davis Martin going through the same thing here where maybe
Speaker 1: he's just a little bit out of gas at the
Speaker 1: halfway point.
Speaker 5: He certainly says so I feelt better about writing like
Speaker 5: a month's worth the pieces, kind of trying to politely
Speaker 5: hint at the idea that he was fatigued for him
Speaker 5: to say at the end of his last start, like yeah,
Speaker 5: I'm worn out or I'm tired. I mean need this
Speaker 5: break in a way that you know, the velocity isn't
Speaker 5: like top, but it isn't like what's falling apart. It
Speaker 5: sounds like it's just really hard for him to like
Speaker 5: be consistent with some of the timing of his delivery
Speaker 5: and his command with the way he's feeling right now.
Speaker 1: And so.
Speaker 5: You know, if this was eight years ago or talking
Speaker 5: about like how they schedule things out with Don Cooper,
Speaker 5: you'd expect him to be like the last guy out
Speaker 5: of the out of the All Star break to give
Speaker 5: him like this big extended rest. And you know, certainly
Speaker 5: right now he seems like, you know, the squeakiest wheel
Speaker 5: in a sense in that way. But that said, like
Speaker 5: Noah Schultz has obviously not thrown big innings or even
Speaker 5: like I think north of one hundred innings in any
Speaker 5: year of his career, so that's something you consider, you know,
Speaker 5: on top of the fact he just hasn't been performing recently.
Speaker 5: And then Sean Berke and is probably in a similar
Speaker 5: part as far as like Max around around one hundred
Speaker 5: and forty eight Martin, though he obviously it's throwing harder
Speaker 5: and better than ever. Right now, there's enough other guys
Speaker 5: who aren't like you know, Anthony k had a pretty long,
Speaker 5: you know season last year, but it hasn't like necessarily
Speaker 5: had like one hundred and eighty in campaign or something
Speaker 5: like that. Long story short, there are other guys that
Speaker 5: they would have like, you know, measures about like considering
Speaker 5: their workload. I just think like Martin's kind of like
Speaker 5: the obvious point we still haven't necessarily heard, you know,
Speaker 5: the final rosters of what subs will need it, and
Speaker 5: you know he certainly's be willing to do it. I
Speaker 5: don't think he turned it down for this reason, since
Speaker 5: it would be like an inning on regular rest, but
Speaker 5: certainly doesn't feel like a bad time for him to
Speaker 5: just kind of shut it down entirely as well, not entirely,
Speaker 5: I'm sure he'll be throwing and whatnot, but like the
Speaker 5: idea of him getting two weeks off between starts with
Speaker 5: you know, the way he talked ever his last one,
Speaker 5: that seems fine.
Speaker 6: Shane Smith could be similar.
Speaker 5: You know, they're both kind of like how much of
Speaker 5: those four commands about fatigue? How much which is about
Speaker 5: like Smith just like really not having much track record
Speaker 5: of starting at all to that degree, but as far
Speaker 5: as like a broad strokes type of thing, I don't
Speaker 5: know if Shane Smith is going to with just immaculate
Speaker 5: timing suffer a ankle spray in posts all Star break workouts.
Speaker 5: I don't think it be repeated that necessarily to get
Speaker 5: Martin extra rest, but seems like a similar concept overall.
Speaker 1: And then James mentioned Noah Schultz. Jim Schultz went five innings.
Speaker 1: He alloud's seven hits, four earned runs, he walked three,
Speaker 1: struck out three. And that is starting number ten in
Speaker 1: his rookie season. So we have ten starts of data
Speaker 1: for Noah Schultz and right now his own run average
Speaker 1: is six. He's pitched forty eight innings, he's got forty
Speaker 1: three strikeouts and twenty nine walks. What do you make
Speaker 1: of the first ten career starts for Noah Schultz?
Speaker 7: It's not what you want. I think based on what
Speaker 7: he looks like when he's at his best in the
Speaker 7: minor leagues, that version hasn't been seen in the majors,
Speaker 7: and it's hard to know with the knee issue like
Speaker 7: that's been the common thread. When he hasn't looked like himself,
Speaker 7: when he hasn't thrown strikes, when the slider has been
Speaker 7: less than imposing, it turns out that detends to go
Speaker 7: on the injured list when that happens, and he doesn't
Speaker 7: say anything about it until after he's on the injured list,
Speaker 7: and there's no real you know, reference to it or
Speaker 7: talk about mitigation anything. He's pitching through. It just kind
Speaker 7: of happens. Then you reverse engineer, like, oh, that's the
Speaker 7: reason why I wasn't throwing strikes. And so when he
Speaker 7: comes back from the injured list and he's still not
Speaker 7: throwing strikes, it's a case where like, is it still fine?
Speaker 7: And you know he uh, you know, he seems to
Speaker 7: not want to talk about it, which is his rights.
Speaker 7: But in terms of adjusting your expectations or just the
Speaker 7: kind of you know, following patterns or you know, whether
Speaker 7: you just take it like that or if you take
Speaker 7: it like a little to unbridge, like fool me twice, Yeah,
Speaker 7: then it's my problem, you know, depending on how you
Speaker 7: look at it. It's just a case where it's hard
Speaker 7: to know exactly what. You know, whether he's pitching his best,
Speaker 7: whether you're seeing him applying his best in major league
Speaker 7: hitters just aren't phased, or whether he's showing up with
Speaker 7: like eighty percent of his stuff and as a rookie
Speaker 7: who's just you know, not having what he happened, he's
Speaker 7: his best in the miners, it's actually okay, and he's
Speaker 7: serving a purpose and you hope that he gets better
Speaker 7: to where he can flash that if not number one,
Speaker 7: stuff like number two based on the way he was
Speaker 7: throwing in the miners when he peaked, like not ridiculous
Speaker 7: to say his number two starter ceiling. So yeah, that's
Speaker 7: why I think what's what makes it tricky?
Speaker 1: Yeah, Lenn Casper and Darren Jackson on the radio side
Speaker 1: for the White Sox broadcast continue to bring up Brandy
Speaker 1: Johnson because we don't have many examples in Major League
Speaker 1: Baseball history of tanne pitchers who are six feet tall
Speaker 1: six foot ten and taller like Schultz and Johnson, and
Speaker 1: Darren Jackson keeps bringing up the point it took a
Speaker 1: long time for Randy Johnson to figure it out, like
Speaker 1: until he was like age twenty seven, which I think
Speaker 1: Schultz is right now twenty two to twenty three years old.
Speaker 1: So maybe it takes four more seasons for Noah's Schultz
Speaker 1: to figure it out. But as we have learned in
Speaker 1: this day and age, White Sox fans are not all
Speaker 1: that patient Jim and something.
Speaker 7: Yeah, Rendy Johnson walked one hundred and twenty eight batters
Speaker 7: one hundred and forty innings in Jackson. Yeah, yeah, that
Speaker 7: wasn't there in the miners, whereas you know, Schultz could
Speaker 7: always throw strikes.
Speaker 5: Yes, I think that that argument is like great for
Speaker 5: Noah Schultz. Randy Johnson's development pat didn't work out great
Speaker 5: for the Montreal expos it worked out great for his
Speaker 5: second ORG. And I think even Banister has made jokes
Speaker 5: about like that, like sometimes they say like they're really
Speaker 5: great Excel tall pictures, like they're really stars for their
Speaker 5: second ORG and that funny, but would not be, like,
Speaker 5: I think, a good outcome here for what they're trying
Speaker 5: to accomplish, especially an organization that's so reliant on pre
Speaker 5: arbitration talent for driving their their return to competition at
Speaker 5: this point.
Speaker 6: So yeah, point well.
Speaker 5: Taken as far as Randy Johnson comps, but not comforting
Speaker 5: from the narrow perspective of you talking to a team
Speaker 5: focused audience.
Speaker 1: Well, let's talk about that idea, because while reading ESPN
Speaker 1: dot com today, Jeff Passon wrote about a realistic trade
Speaker 1: scenario for the contending teams and a dream trade consideration
Speaker 1: for contending teams, and his for the White Sox was
Speaker 1: the same player, Red Debt Merse with the Los Angeles Angels,
Speaker 1: and as Passon wrote about, as far as the dream
Speaker 1: aspect of this partner, more so from the angle of
Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Angels and Artie Moreno their owner finally
Speaker 1: need to pick a lane a little bit overdue, and
Speaker 1: Passon is advocating, and I think many around Major League
Speaker 1: base while are advocating for the Angels to start rebuilding,
Speaker 1: meaning that you don't just trade redet Merse, but you
Speaker 1: finally trade Mike Trout and any possible hypothetical deal with
Speaker 1: the White Sox. Jeff Asses suggests the idea that maybe
Speaker 1: Noahs Schultz could be involved in such a trade. Jim,
Speaker 1: would that be too soon? Like, is it too soon
Speaker 1: to talk about adding Noahs Schultz into a potential trade, not.
Speaker 7: Necessarily, just because of the injury concern and the fact
Speaker 7: that you know, he said a hard time staying on
Speaker 7: the mound. It reminds me a little bit. I think
Speaker 7: of a couple of situations of which ways it could go.
Speaker 7: Is one is you know Daniel Hudson would be one
Speaker 7: somebody who was thrust into a rotation that had postseason
Speaker 7: aspirations and he wasn't quite getting it done, and so
Speaker 7: they traded him for Edwin Jackson and then he went
Speaker 7: on to have a nice year with Diamondbacks and an
Speaker 7: arm problem set in. But for a while it looked
Speaker 7: like they lost that trade, and then afterwards, when Hudson
Speaker 7: was more of a reliever, hindsight looked like a Oka trade.
Speaker 7: Neither side kind of got what they wanted ultimately, Like
Speaker 7: Jackson was a competent professional, Like I'd like to say
Speaker 7: if James Shields turned out to be Edwin Jackson in
Speaker 7: that trade and they gave it Fernando Tatis for Edwin Jackson,
Speaker 7: and Jackson provided, you know the where Shields provided, like
Speaker 7: the two hundred decent innings and you know they didn't
Speaker 7: make the postseason. Wasn't his fault, Like you could see
Speaker 7: what the White Sox are going for and said, Shields
Speaker 7: crap the bed and that's why it like it hurts,
Speaker 7: But Jackson was fine, and like Hudson wasn't didn't quite
Speaker 7: pan out in that starter role, So it hurt initially,
Speaker 7: but it was worth doing, or at least you understand it,
Speaker 7: like you know, you could run back and maybe make
Speaker 7: the same case again. The other one was like Nick Madrigal,
Speaker 7: who just every injury had kind of sapped his ceiling
Speaker 7: just because he just kept getting hurt, and like, you know,
Speaker 7: just every leg injury SAPs the speed, which you know
Speaker 7: already heard him when he lost a grade of speed,
Speaker 7: and you think, like you know, shoulder injury, everything, like
Speaker 7: that's gonna sap every bit of power he needs. So
Speaker 7: when they traded him for Craig Kimbrel when he's on
Speaker 7: the injured list, it struck me as like, okay, like
Speaker 7: you don't know how he's gonna come back from the injury.
Speaker 7: How you know, let's see how that happens and turns
Speaker 7: out like trading magical is fine, Like the timing was fine.
Speaker 7: The problem was either getting Kimberrel or exercising his option.
Speaker 7: So that's kind of how I look at it in
Speaker 7: those regards. For initially I was like, oh, that feels
Speaker 7: a robbing Peter to pay Paul. On the other hand,
Speaker 7: you know, you can try to suss out or try
Speaker 7: to map out something, and you could see one where
Speaker 7: Schultz never quite stays healthy and then you look at
Speaker 7: it like, well, you know, deptvers if debtmer is on
Speaker 7: the block and they could have gotten them, that could
Speaker 7: have been good. So yeah, it's interesting enough and to
Speaker 7: where I think it's fine. Like I saw a lot
Speaker 7: of you know, objections to it, but it doesn't strike
Speaker 7: me as senseless or reckless. I can see an argument
Speaker 7: for it.
Speaker 1: James, do you agree? Do you think that could be possible?
Speaker 5: So the first two observations I have is that, yeah,
Speaker 5: Hudson became a reliever long term. June seventeen, twenty eleven,
Speaker 5: when Hudson threw a complete game against the Socks and
Speaker 5: hit an RBI double off of Edwin Jackson.
Speaker 6: Because Pitcher's still it, that.
Speaker 5: Was a rough night on the White Sox block is
Speaker 5: fear Yep, there was no like this is gonna be
Speaker 5: a good an okay trade down the road.
Speaker 6: Feelings back then, I remember that I didn't know what's
Speaker 6: the right. I didn't feel like I can match anyone's
Speaker 6: anchor properly.
Speaker 7: I remember writing about saying like that was basically the
Speaker 7: worst possible representation of the steal.
Speaker 5: It's one until like they show a progress, You're almost
Speaker 5: it's it's not cheating like sending three distressed assets to
Speaker 5: the Angels, Like, well, it's not gonna look bad because
Speaker 5: you're just sending them to the place where like these
Speaker 5: projects would all go to die. Yeah, they're probably not
Speaker 5: going to figure out how to get Noah Schultz right
Speaker 5: or yeah, like William going, well, this is another nine
Speaker 5: months with a shin bruise for somehow, once he joins
Speaker 5: the Angle.
Speaker 7: Paying Alexander albertas forward.
Speaker 5: It's like, well, we clearly got out at the right time.
Speaker 5: Even if like read Deadmeres has like a four or
Speaker 5: fifty era, it's like, well, these sage geniuses, how do
Speaker 5: we question them? Like they like, I don't know what
Speaker 5: they do to mess up Billy Carlson, But it's like
Speaker 5: all of a sudden he like can't stick a short
Speaker 5: something now but hits home runs with the low OBP.
Speaker 5: That'd be the typical Angels player. It's you kind of
Speaker 5: think like you're selling low on like three different guys
Speaker 5: in one trade.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 6: And certainly it's the way they've talked about Schultz in
Speaker 6: the past. Uh, and you know bring him up.
Speaker 5: It would represent like Okay, you've clearly like either soured
Speaker 5: on him or gotten really worried about the knee or
Speaker 5: gotten like worried about how quickly you can turn this
Speaker 5: around or get this right over the last like two
Speaker 5: three months in a way that like there seems like
Speaker 5: there's a real story to tell about that based on
Speaker 5: like what this was sold as up until this point,
Speaker 5: Whereas like Bgoya, it certainly started out great, but up
Speaker 5: until like this season, I was like this, right, it's
Speaker 5: a zero power like utility infielder. Like it's a nice
Speaker 5: fun player and profile and it's a useful big leader,
Speaker 5: but it's not like a core piece that you have
Speaker 5: to hoard and can't put.
Speaker 6: On the market. And then.
Speaker 5: Carlson like there's a chance that like that become like
Speaker 5: a very easy, like annual two to three win player
Speaker 5: just on defense alone. At the same time, like at
Speaker 5: least at this juncture where it seems like it's undecided
Speaker 5: whether the bat is really going to click at all
Speaker 5: to become a regular you know, that's exacerbated the fact
Speaker 5: that he's been shut down by injuries. There's no been
Speaker 5: sign of progress in the last six weeks that isn't playing.
Speaker 5: It feels like you can definitely make your peace for it.
Speaker 5: At this time, I just worry like we're we're kind
Speaker 5: of prisoners at the moment, and look at all these
Speaker 5: guys where I can see them like, well, if it's
Speaker 5: if there's not enough turn from here, Yeah, this wouldn't
Speaker 5: be a bad time if you if you really think
Speaker 5: debt MERS is like a multi year starter, and this
Speaker 5: rotation for a team that's maybe not like win the
Speaker 5: World Series right now, but certainly is going to be
Speaker 5: expecting to compete for the division next year and a
Speaker 5: year after that with the current group you have, So
Speaker 5: I definitely can get behind it. I would definitely want
Speaker 5: to hear a lot more about how they came to
Speaker 5: do it if it went down, because clearly this would
Speaker 5: represent a change from how these players were being valued,
Speaker 5: certainly the centerpiece in April in a way that you know,
Speaker 5: let's let's set up the interviews now, you know Chris
Speaker 5: and then Brian, if that's the way things go. But
Speaker 5: at this present prison of the moment, time are like,
Speaker 5: oh man.
Speaker 6: They got to win this division and.
Speaker 5: I'm kind of like, don't see what's happening right now
Speaker 5: or can't see like the vision towards dominance with with
Speaker 5: any of these profiles. Yeah, it makes sense, but it
Speaker 5: feels very you better know type of decision or not
Speaker 5: because the angels will make you look fine at you.
Speaker 1: That true because the Angels, I guess I'm not against
Speaker 1: the idea of trading Noah Schultz. It just took me
Speaker 1: aback because I really hadn't thought about the idea. And
Speaker 1: I owe Josh Friedman, our friend over at WGN a
Speaker 1: clip because when I joined him and Jared Payne on
Speaker 1: GN Sports in early March to talk about this upcoming season,
Speaker 1: and I pitched the idea that maybe the White Sox
Speaker 1: heading to the All Star Break could be hoving around
Speaker 1: five hundred and taking Rock Jelawski and it'll be feeling
Speaker 1: like a lot happier on the south side than on
Speaker 1: the north side. And well, Lah, I'm looking good so far.
Speaker 1: But in that same interview, I thought that we would
Speaker 1: see tremendous progress from Noah Schultz, Tega Smith and Tannavdugal
Speaker 1: was throwing triple digits and spring training that's where White
Speaker 1: Sox fans should be excited, eh Ron, that's like three
Speaker 1: x's right now, well maybe two and a half. McDougall's
Speaker 1: moving over to the bullpen, so there's still some time,
Speaker 1: but I think it's still early. Like I don't want
Speaker 1: to be incredibly harsh in criticism in Noah Schultz. He's learning.
Speaker 1: Maybe because the White Sox are a contending team and
Speaker 1: leading the American League Central Gym, it shortens the leash
Speaker 1: that the White Sox can afford if they are changing
Speaker 1: their minds and they want to win the division this year,
Speaker 1: and how many more starts and how haitian they are
Speaker 1: with Noah Schultz, We're still waiting for Hagen Smith right
Speaker 1: to throw after his shoulder injury. He hasn't pitched yet.
Speaker 5: He's supposed to literally throw today, Okay, And because you
Speaker 5: whoever's listening to this is living in the future.
Speaker 1: Yes, and McDougall is moving to the bullpen, which I'm
Speaker 1: okay with that move.
Speaker 6: He's going to stay there.
Speaker 1: Yeah. The starting depth for the White Sox has been
Speaker 1: really impacted u this season and even last year as well.
Speaker 1: So if the Angels with an interim general manager are
Speaker 1: going to have some type of tear down, and let's
Speaker 1: say Jeff Hassen has some real dope here and this
Speaker 1: dream scenario is moving two of your more recent first
Speaker 1: round pick it picks and Noah Schultz and Billy Carlson
Speaker 1: to the Angels for redbt Merse, I guess I'm not
Speaker 1: against that idea, Jim. The more that we talk about
Speaker 1: and think about it, it's just literally this morning, Jim,
Speaker 1: was the first time I ever thought of the White
Speaker 1: Sox post trading Noah Schultz, and I didn't know how
Speaker 1: to feel about it.
Speaker 7: That's my magical game to mind. Just because we got traded,
Speaker 7: was like I didn't know those possibles. I didn't know
Speaker 7: it in a market and it happened, And when I
Speaker 7: thought about it, it just, yeah, makes sense to UH
Speaker 7: to deal him before knowing what he looks like when
Speaker 7: he comes back. So just with Detmer's like, I think
Speaker 7: I'd be a little bit more gung ho about it
Speaker 7: if he had thrown more than one hundred and fifty
Speaker 7: innings in the season. Like I think, if you're looking
Speaker 7: for somebody to reinforce the rotation over the last two months,
Speaker 7: he'd want somebody who's not like going to run into
Speaker 7: his own innings wall maybe towards the end, And then
Speaker 7: you can end up being just kind of disappointed or
Speaker 7: unimpressed with the way everything's kind of unfolded. So yeah,
Speaker 7: that's why I think I wouldn't be necessarily for it.
Speaker 7: I could just understand how he came to that conclusion,
Speaker 7: but it just a matter of like the era has
Speaker 7: gone up recently, and he's always been somebody who his
Speaker 7: era has always been above his fip. Like he's kind
Speaker 7: of like the Hobviyer of Vasquez thing of just should
Speaker 7: be better, should be better when he seems gonna figure
Speaker 7: it out and never quite does it. And you know,
Speaker 7: perhaps the White Sox can because of the Angels factor
Speaker 7: and just how everybody seems more or less a drift,
Speaker 7: we're left at their own devices on that roster. But
Speaker 7: that would be my one concern I think for that
Speaker 7: specific deal this year is does debtmers have enough in
Speaker 7: the tank to get through six months, especially if you're
Speaker 7: trading Schultz, who is one of the year rotation pieces.
Speaker 7: That's you know, maybe Jonathan Cannon's kind of coming up
Speaker 7: to provide an extra starter or too, Like, you know,
Speaker 7: he's not gonna be somebody who you know is gonna
Speaker 7: be a postseason rotation, but in terms of giving somebody
Speaker 7: a blow just to be able to take a week off,
Speaker 7: Cannon might be able to do that you're looking for
Speaker 7: that kind of arm I think from Charlotte from from
Speaker 7: here on to the rest.
Speaker 6: Of the season.
Speaker 7: But anybody adding from the outset, I think is somebody
Speaker 7: you want confidence in that over the last two months
Speaker 7: they can look like they've looked. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And the other thing I just thought of, we were
Speaker 1: hoping that this season that Noah schultzen Hagen Smith would
Speaker 1: answer the question of who would help out a twenty
Speaker 1: twenty seven or lead a twenty twenty seven pitching staff
Speaker 1: for the Chicago White Sox. I think that confidence is
Speaker 1: pretty low at this moment that you can count on them.
Speaker 1: I know, next year is next year, but again, we
Speaker 1: were thinking in twenty twenty six was going to be
Speaker 1: another rebuilding year for the White Sox and that whole
Speaker 1: future starting rotation for the ball club is hazy. So
Speaker 1: if you can get someone like Redett Merse and you
Speaker 1: have to trade Noah Schultz, I wonder if that tells
Speaker 1: Us James that the White Sox front office is a
Speaker 1: little bit more confident that Redebt Merse could lead a
Speaker 1: rotation for the White Sox in twenty twenty seven than
Speaker 1: Noah Schultz.
Speaker 5: I mean, you would have you know, Martin Burke and
Speaker 5: kay All back for next year.
Speaker 1: Sure, yeah, and.
Speaker 5: At least like some of these options, whether it's MacDougal
Speaker 5: stretching out or truth orpis you know, it seems like
Speaker 5: if he uh for for the season at this point,
Speaker 5: but like there's at least like a massive people that
Speaker 5: are kind of fifth starter candidates, and then you have
Speaker 5: just you know, you literally got fetti for you know,
Speaker 5: Randall Gritchick prices this season, like there's not like necessarily,
Speaker 5: oh man, they have to sign three starters if they
Speaker 5: the free demers doesn't work out, sort of like depth fault. Obviously,
Speaker 5: injuries can pop up or anyone can go down spring training, but.
Speaker 6: Maybe not Mega dier.
Speaker 5: It'd be nicer to have like Christian Oper, you know,
Speaker 5: pushing up as an option for twenty twenty seven, and
Speaker 5: obviously that's not you know.
Speaker 6: How it's work out. Look, let's move on.
Speaker 5: I should flesh out what you were talking about with
Speaker 5: Hagen Smith, because you know, Yanish was talking to the
Speaker 5: media on Thursday and McDougall's kind of there were hints
Speaker 5: about it weeks ago that this was happening, and then
Speaker 5: his first three outings. We're all in the bullpen and
Speaker 5: like this was yanish coming out today, And I think
Speaker 5: McDougall said it openly in Charlotte too, like I'm sticking
Speaker 5: here for the rest of the year and that's fine.
Speaker 5: And I think mcgougall's a little surprised by it, but
Speaker 5: still also like he got aheaded to the forty man
Speaker 5: last year. He's like, I, you know, go moved to
Speaker 5: the bullpen if it got me to Chicago, and you know,
Speaker 5: came to fruition. So I feel like that was a
Speaker 5: little like this is final as we're ready to say
Speaker 5: this publicly type of situation, Whereas with Hagen, he's just
Speaker 5: starting throwing again and McDougall missed two months. Hagan's been
Speaker 5: a month at this point and it is just starting
Speaker 5: to wrap up. But it's a similar situation, like it's
Speaker 5: now more than halfway through the season, we're in the July.
Speaker 5: Do you want to go through the process of ramping
Speaker 5: this guy all the way up to get him to
Speaker 5: start again when one in the shoulder impingement and two
Speaker 5: like he wasn't necessarily looking like he was ready. He's
Speaker 5: starting wise and command wise, and so I kind of
Speaker 5: asked Yadish, like what's so different in the calculus here
Speaker 5: that you wouldn't just like make a similar move with
Speaker 5: Hagen of just having finished the year in the bullpen,
Speaker 5: and they're not at the point of like, yeah, Hagen's
Speaker 5: gonna be the bullpen. But Yannish was like, you know,
Speaker 5: they're not different, They're they're pretty similar. That's a good comparison.
Speaker 5: So I think like, obviously they want to get to
Speaker 5: the point where like Hagen's ramped up, he's healthy, he's
Speaker 5: throwing in games. But it seems like it's trending towards
Speaker 5: a very similar outcome of thinking him more as a
Speaker 5: likely multiinier reliever or just the reliever down the stretch
Speaker 5: than really seeing him take him on the rotation spot.
Speaker 5: So when you're approaching the trade market, I think McDougall
Speaker 5: smith really relying on those being like somebody who comes
Speaker 5: in and just starts taking them.
Speaker 6: All every fifth day.
Speaker 5: It sounds like that's a little by the board already,
Speaker 5: and that might be a little bit more impetus of like, hey,
Speaker 5: if we're going to get someone who really just comes
Speaker 5: and becomes a part of the rotation and takes the
Speaker 5: ball every fifth day, and we're counting on that to
Speaker 5: write out the season. Maybe it's going to have to
Speaker 5: be external or you're going to have to like get
Speaker 5: really convicted about Mason Adams in a in a period
Speaker 5: of time where I think it's understandable they still could
Speaker 5: because he is relatively early and as TJ rehabb and
Speaker 5: he really didn't pitch much of trichall A before that. Yeah,
Speaker 5: but I think that well, with what all we've listed
Speaker 5: out in all the scenarios we've talked about, that alone
Speaker 5: could kind of get you to why they might need
Speaker 5: to be aggressive in terms of getting a starter at
Speaker 5: the deadline, because it's a little torture path the scene
Speaker 5: with a solution internally. As we also asked him straight
Speaker 5: up about like drewth Thorpe, do you think he pitches
Speaker 5: the majors this year? Is like not really in position
Speaker 5: to promise that.
Speaker 1: Well, then it was an idea that I read today.
Speaker 1: I did not have that notion in my mind, but
Speaker 1: after we've talked through it, I wouldn't be against it.
Speaker 1: I would be surprised that the White Sox. I wouldn't
Speaker 1: necessarily give up on Noah's should he would still be
Speaker 1: a starter in the major leagues just for the angels.
Speaker 1: But there is a need and in order to fulfill
Speaker 1: that need with quality, if it takes trading, Noahs Schultz,
Speaker 1: I guess I'm not against it. After this conversation, let
Speaker 1: us know how you guys feel, either in the comment
Speaker 1: section on soxx machine dot com or for those that
Speaker 1: are watching the video, let us know in the comments
Speaker 1: below of the YouTube video. Also a quick shout out
Speaker 1: on the pitching site. Sirante the Mingas pitched twice and
Speaker 1: he didn't allow a run progress. How did he look
Speaker 1: to you, James?
Speaker 5: Another case of putting your thumb on the scale where
Speaker 5: you're just confirming your thesis. But he looked like Siranton Dimingas,
Speaker 5: and the sense that he got out of both those
Speaker 5: innings and started both of them like a little Lucy
Speaker 5: kuzci Can spraying the ball, and then his delivery kind
Speaker 5: of slowly got in sync and he worked his way
Speaker 5: out of it. I think he put like the first
Speaker 5: two guys on and one of his two os first
Speaker 5: three with a walking a single, and then like started
Speaker 5: getting ahead of hitters every now and then, and it
Speaker 5: looked a bit different. It wasn't as stressful because it
Speaker 5: was like the sixth and they were trailing type of situation.
Speaker 5: Like it didn't look fundamentally different. It was successful. It
Speaker 5: did kind of speak to his talent. He was throwing
Speaker 5: very hard, moving the balls moving a lot. It still
Speaker 5: looked like, ow, if he did that in the ninth
Speaker 5: they of a one run game, you probably wouldn't be
Speaker 5: enjoying it even if it worked. So it continues to
Speaker 5: be like, this is stuff over command reliever who you know,
Speaker 5: Hopefully we see the hot streak at some point in
Speaker 5: the year. Second half, better time to do it than
Speaker 5: the first except for the fact of retaining your closest status.
Speaker 1: Well, for the Chicago White Sox, they continue this homestand
Speaker 1: and they're hoping this weekend it's a lot better against
Speaker 1: the Athletics than it was against the Boston Red Sox.
Speaker 1: The Athletics are really struggling, So that's the complete opposite
Speaker 1: with the Red SOI were on a heater heading to Chicago.
Speaker 1: The Athletics just lost again to the Detroit Tigers in Detroit.
Speaker 1: The Athletics are forty one and fifty two this year,
Speaker 1: their fourth place in the American League West. They are currently
Speaker 1: five and a half games out of the American League Wildcard.
Speaker 1: The Athletics have lost six straight games and they are
Speaker 1: one to nine in their last ten. They're all right
Speaker 1: on the road. They're twenty two and twenty four this season.
Speaker 1: You're bridging problems for this series. Friday night at six
Speaker 1: forty pm Central Time. This is a sellout as its
Speaker 1: Mexican Heritage Night at rape Field to be determined for
Speaker 1: the Athletics against Sean Burke, who has been very good
Speaker 1: for the White Sox. Saturday afternoon at one ten pm
Speaker 1: Central Time. This is also a Major League Baseball Draft
Speaker 1: Day and also the alumni Home Run Derby Day for
Speaker 1: the White Sox. It'll be another left handed starter against
Speaker 1: the White Sox offense. This time for the Athletics it's
Speaker 1: Gauge Jump and for the White Sox it's Eric Fetti.
Speaker 1: Would also stay tuned, especially on social media, follow James
Speaker 1: at j R Figan. If the White Sox decided to
Speaker 1: have an opener on Saturday and then on Sunday, last
Speaker 1: call before the All Star Break could be JT. Gin
Speaker 1: for the Athletics and Noah Schultz. We just spoke about
Speaker 1: in great length and for this series, the White Sox
Speaker 1: are getting some good news. It is the return of
Speaker 1: Munataka Murakami. As Murakami has recovered from his hamstring injury.
Speaker 1: He played a couple of games down in Charlotte to
Speaker 1: get some game reps, and then he flew up I believe,
Speaker 1: either Wednesday night or on Thursday, to Chicago to rejoin
Speaker 1: the team. At this moment, we do not know what
Speaker 1: the corresponding move will be for the Chicago White Sox
Speaker 1: in adding Munataka Murakami. You can get that news again
Speaker 1: either on social media or be able to read on
Speaker 1: soxsmachine dot com. But James, it feels like, do you
Speaker 1: have insight? Do you have an idea of what the
Speaker 1: move is?
Speaker 5: Jacob Gonzoska called in the mander's office, then got hugged
Speaker 5: from the teammates and then started putting things in a
Speaker 5: double bag in front of his locker.
Speaker 6: Didn't seem like I needed.
Speaker 5: To go to the next level of going over and
Speaker 5: asking him. But it seems pretty clear both on kind
Speaker 5: of squishing is about what his usage would be with Murakami,
Speaker 5: how he's pretty much not played anything but the first
Speaker 5: base and taking a bats against right hand the starters
Speaker 5: his first baseman.
Speaker 6: I would I would.
Speaker 5: Think it's it's Jacob Gonzalez is gonna be the Cores
Speaker 5: finding move from Minutaka Muramy.
Speaker 1: Okay, well, we got some good moments out of Jacob Gonzales.
Speaker 1: He finally reached the major leagues, so I'm sure he'll
Speaker 1: re rejoin the White Sox before this season's end. And
Speaker 1: for Murakami, James only two games of reps with Charlotte
Speaker 1: and now rejoined the White Sox in this last series
Speaker 1: before the All Star break. And at this moment, we
Speaker 1: don't know Marrik Kami is going to be part of
Speaker 1: the All Star festivities. They are still they've still yet
Speaker 1: to announce the final two hitters of the Home Run Derby.
Speaker 1: They are including hitters that are not elected to the
Speaker 1: All Star Team to be part of the Home Run Derby.
Speaker 1: So maybe Murkami will join you in Philadelphia during the
Speaker 1: All Star festivities and participating that Home Run Derby, But
Speaker 1: at this moment, we don't know. So I'm kind of
Speaker 1: curious as far as the timing. Why are the White
Speaker 1: Sox bridey Murkami now instead of giving him maybe an
Speaker 1: extra weekend to rest.
Speaker 5: Seems like they want him. I think he wants to
Speaker 5: be active. I certainly don't think they be around the
Speaker 5: idea of like even sending him on a rehab assignment,
Speaker 5: talking about like, well, could we just have him play
Speaker 5: the field, play like two defensive drills, play some some games,
Speaker 5: or you hit off the traject They ultimately went with
Speaker 5: a short one. They certainly need him in terms of
Speaker 5: like what their offenses look like. They feel like they
Speaker 5: g get a jolt. I think Markami really spanging the drama,
Speaker 5: wants to play as part of it. And they're right
Speaker 5: at six weeks pretty much to the dot. So I
Speaker 5: think all all the points were why not and hey,
Speaker 5: if he gets active and one they you know, win
Speaker 5: some games. They kind of need to in based on
Speaker 5: you know, the series that just came in, and he's
Speaker 5: around to be active at there's an invite for floating
Speaker 5: around for home run derby like all the better. Other
Speaker 5: than like the fact that like he could be rusty,
Speaker 5: I feel like there's not really any like big you know,
Speaker 5: with only two rehab games, there's like a big warning
Speaker 5: sign for or feeling like he was rushed up in
Speaker 5: some sense, he got through a full game.
Speaker 6: He played in the field.
Speaker 5: He has been pretty much in the spring training in
Speaker 5: terms of what he's been willing or offering himself to
Speaker 5: do as far as the workload, kind of insane, but
Speaker 5: that's his vibe. It seems like it worked out for
Speaker 5: him for the most part. Maybe he won't be stealing
Speaker 5: bases upon return quite as aggressively as he was right
Speaker 5: before the injury, but this seems like something that he's
Speaker 5: been through most of the paces, and then, certainly, knowing
Speaker 5: the player and how he's acted, was probably pushing to
Speaker 5: do as soon as possible.
Speaker 1: And then for this weekend and this particular series, Jim,
Speaker 1: with the White Sox stubbing their toe against Boston Cleveland
Speaker 1: having difficulty with the Minnesota Twins, would you take a
Speaker 1: look at the American League Central standings now? The White
Speaker 1: Sox and Guardians are tied once again entering the final
Speaker 1: weekend before the All Star break, as both teams are
Speaker 1: two games above five hundred. But there's the Minnesota Twins
Speaker 1: who are two games back now and the Detroit Tigers
Speaker 1: who are four and a half games back. The Tigers
Speaker 1: are forty three and fifty, but they've won their last
Speaker 1: five and they won eight of their last ten games,
Speaker 1: So looking at this series, against the Athletics gym. Just
Speaker 1: from a morale perspective, how important is this series for
Speaker 1: the White Sox.
Speaker 7: I think the All Star break right around the corner
Speaker 7: helps in terms of being able to reset, so I
Speaker 7: think in terms of if they go a limp pick
Speaker 7: into the break. Obviously is a downer for just dwell
Speaker 7: on a little bit for fans who are thinking about
Speaker 7: looking at the standings, but this would be the time
Speaker 7: to need a reset versus like going into like a
Speaker 7: thirteen games in thirteen days and not having any answers.
Speaker 7: So I think, no matter what, the break will serve
Speaker 7: them well. I think having a couple lefties coming up
Speaker 7: for the Athletics right after Lefty shut them down poses
Speaker 7: a you know, a well time challenge, I think because
Speaker 7: they are lesser lefties on paper, so if they struggle again,
Speaker 7: you kind of get to this. I guess philosophical debates
Speaker 7: of well, you know what the White Sox need to
Speaker 7: add could also be a case of well do the
Speaker 7: White Sox need to add or are they just kind
Speaker 7: of throwing good money after bad if they just really
Speaker 7: need so much help against lefties and just aren't having it,
Speaker 7: so I think that's maybe The danger is if they
Speaker 7: if this stretch goes too long before the deadline for
Speaker 7: fans wanting them to add for winding the reinforce, you
Speaker 7: want the White Sox provide real reasons. And yeah, I
Speaker 7: mean the Athletics have lost six in a row, so
Speaker 7: this would be the time to get right. And if
Speaker 7: you are the White Sox and you are the fuel
Speaker 7: foreign Athletics turnaround, that doesn't necessarily build build a lot
Speaker 7: of confidence. So I think that's maybe the focus I'm
Speaker 7: looking at with this series is can they produce against
Speaker 7: any left handed starter, be it good ones like the
Speaker 7: Red Sox had, or ify ones like the Athletics are
Speaker 7: putting forth. I think that's where I'm looking at in
Speaker 7: more of a micro sense versus a big picture sense,
Speaker 7: because you have the break and then we'll see what
Speaker 7: they look like after the break, which could be either
Speaker 7: a different team or just you know, the Tigers continue
Speaker 7: to look good and the standings that you thought would
Speaker 7: be the standings before the season are more or less
Speaker 7: coming on late. But we're never like imaginary to begin with.
Speaker 1: Go ahead, I was gonna say a reminder that the
Speaker 1: White Sox after the All Star break have a road trip.
Speaker 1: They'll be visiting the Toronto Blue Jays and then make
Speaker 1: their way from Toronto down to Arlington to face it
Speaker 1: sexas Rangers.
Speaker 5: I just want to specify that when I call players insane,
Speaker 5: it's almost ninety complimentary. We enjoy Sam Antonachi's insanity talking
Speaker 5: to Tim Anderson about what he sees when someone's throwing
Speaker 5: one hundred at him, Like I think, like he sees
Speaker 5: things at a different speed that probably makes him insane.
Speaker 5: The best players are insane. I feel so compliment to
Speaker 5: Murakami that he's rushing back to lay down his body
Speaker 5: for the glorious title of the AL Central, A truly
Speaker 5: insane thing to do.
Speaker 1: Well again, hopefully the White Sox play a lot better,
Speaker 1: just wit at least one game so we can say
Speaker 1: that you're above five hundred entering the All Star Break.
Speaker 1: I did not think that was going to be at
Speaker 1: risk a couple of weeks ago, but now it kind
Speaker 1: of is. The Guardians have a tough series. The Guardians
Speaker 1: have to face the Miami Marlins, and the Miami Marlins
Speaker 1: have been red hot. They've been playing some of the
Speaker 1: best baseball in the league. So we'll see where the
Speaker 1: American League Central standing shakeout, but right or not, the
Speaker 1: White Sox are part of a heated race now for
Speaker 1: the division, something we weren't expecting, but that's where we
Speaker 1: are entering the All Star break this season, and as
Speaker 1: I mentioned on Saturday, it's a pretty important day for
Speaker 1: the Chicago White Sox well. The first time since nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy seven when they drafted Harold Bain's first overall, the
Speaker 1: Chicago White Sox will be having the first overall pick.
Speaker 1: Jim Margolus and I will be live streaming on our
Speaker 1: YouTube channel YouTube dot com slash Socks Machining to provide
Speaker 1: our live reactions to the White Sox making that first
Speaker 1: overall pick. James will also be contributing as well, as
Speaker 1: you'll be speaking with the White Sox as they'll be
Speaker 1: holding the draft operations at raid Field. If you do
Speaker 1: have tickets for Saturday's game, the White Sox are actually
Speaker 1: going to be hosting a watch party at raid Field
Speaker 1: before first pitch between the White Sox and Athletics when
Speaker 1: they announce their first overall pick. You can go to
Speaker 1: Soxmachine dot com and read all of the work that
Speaker 1: we have written about this upcoming draft, and I also
Speaker 1: shared my thoughts on the cases four and the cases
Speaker 1: against Grady Emerson, Rock Schalowski and Von Mackey to go
Speaker 1: first overall. But for the White Sox marketing team, they
Speaker 1: could not be more excited for the alumni home run Derby.
Speaker 1: And let's get pumped up because your home run Derby
Speaker 1: participants are Jose Canseco, Alexey Riverrez, Gordon Beckham, Lorii Garcia,
Speaker 1: Scott Pisednik, and Daniel Balka Jim Margolis. I'm not asking
Speaker 1: you who's gonna win this home run derby? I'm asking you,
Speaker 1: is anyone going to hit home run in this home
Speaker 1: run derby? Out of these contestants, who is most likely
Speaker 1: to hit a home run?
Speaker 7: A few questions? One are they playing with regulation bats
Speaker 7: and balls? Are they gonna play with like juice balls somehow?
Speaker 7: Or I hope so aluminum bats.
Speaker 1: I think it is wood bats. They have this special
Speaker 1: blue moon baseball. It's like an orange baseball. Okay, it
Speaker 1: could be juiced.
Speaker 7: Okay, well you had you can make a joke about
Speaker 7: is their drug testing? And that would apply to two players,
Speaker 7: not just one. Given that Alexi and the World Baseball
Speaker 7: Classic had a.
Speaker 6: Run in so.
Speaker 7: I think he would be Alexi just given that he
Speaker 7: was in game shape most recently maybe would be, if
Speaker 7: not the favorite, I think Paulka recently, you know, youngest
Speaker 7: I think in the field and the most recent slugging exploits.
Speaker 7: Seems like he should probably have the best shop. I
Speaker 7: think Alexi is probably probably number two Jose and Seco
Speaker 7: as one of the lesions of people who have a
Speaker 7: Canseco thirty one white Sox jersey in his closets. Not
Speaker 7: sure what I'm expecting there as given his just the
Speaker 7: way he's kind of melted down personally, just more or
Speaker 7: less a cautionary tale for growing up and making a
Speaker 7: ballplayer a hero, or it's like a very educational experience
Speaker 7: of having Jose and Seko as your favorite player when
Speaker 7: you're a kid and realizing like, oh, let's not follow
Speaker 7: his lead, let's appreciate talents and not make too much.
Speaker 1: Of it because yeah, it's.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it didn't necessarily go well for him. So curiously,
Speaker 7: what kind of emotions, if any, that all stir in
Speaker 7: me for just nostalgia or sadness or what. But yeah,
Speaker 7: I'm thinking Alexi is probably my favorite, both in terms of.
Speaker 1: I think you could do it and also like, hey,
Speaker 1: good for him, James w A you any confidence that
Speaker 1: any of these six can actually hit a home run?
Speaker 5: Paka hit like ten home runs in like a Mexican
Speaker 5: league in forty games or forty one games like two
Speaker 5: years ago.
Speaker 6: It was like a huge exit. Vlow dude under forty Still.
Speaker 5: Not you know, buying him like drop him in against
Speaker 5: like live major league pitching right this moment. But as
Speaker 5: far like Eddie home run, I feel like at least
Speaker 5: the guy I observed, you know, he's only thirty four
Speaker 5: years old.
Speaker 6: Good, he's a miracle. I feel pretty good that he'd
Speaker 6: be able to do it.
Speaker 5: He feels almost like a ringer, given how close he
Speaker 5: is to you know, being active, Like they want to
Speaker 5: make sure somebody can hear can hit home run.
Speaker 6: I think he'd be the guy to do it.
Speaker 5: Scott Pasendic talk to the media and back of the
Speaker 5: press butt on Thursday. He seems deeply skeptical of his
Speaker 5: ability to hit a home run. He seems honored to
Speaker 5: be here. He's a good sport, but like was talking
Speaker 5: about like his daughter's being like mystified about why he
Speaker 5: was selected for this and says he's only hit like
Speaker 5: three times off a tee since it's been announced. He
Speaker 5: hasn't faced like the ball coming toward him in some way,
Speaker 5: So I certainly think there could be some rounds where
Speaker 5: it would behoove him to juice the ball in some way.
Speaker 5: The Palca seems like he'd be able to do it.
Speaker 5: I think physically it's the ball over his fence. That's
Speaker 5: a lot easier for me to buy into than like,
Speaker 5: especially as I get older and how I feel like
Speaker 5: in my late thirties, like the idea that Jose could
Speaker 5: take up Hall of Fame talent or at least a
Speaker 5: caliber at least, but sixty three is that's more power
Speaker 5: to him if he can for sure.
Speaker 7: Hey, Luke Kapling hit a homer at seventy five. Granted
Speaker 7: it was with offenses slightly drawn in.
Speaker 2: But.
Speaker 5: That be dispariting for the White Sox to like go
Speaker 5: continue like their homeless drought in this Saturday and then
Speaker 5: see like Jose canseego launch them halfway up the concourse.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I have a feeling this is going to be
Speaker 1: a Daniel Paul Call Alexi Rameiraz Championship for the home
Speaker 1: run Derby. I think Lewie might hit one into the
Speaker 1: craft cave. I think if he bats left handed, I
Speaker 1: think he can he can pull one. Gordon Beckham. We'll see,
Speaker 1: we'll see. But I'm with you, Jim Lexi Ameraz being
Speaker 1: in game shape getting ready for the World Baseball Classic.
Speaker 1: And I did not know that Daniel Paulka played in
Speaker 1: the Mexican League and hit ten homers.
Speaker 7: So was in the Mexican League last year, played some
Speaker 7: winter ball. Okay, yeah, he had four homers thirty six games.
Speaker 7: So I think he has the most recent uh example,
Speaker 7: or he has the most recent success when it comes
Speaker 7: to putting professional pitching of any kind over the fence.
Speaker 7: So yeah, I think he. I think it's a three
Speaker 7: horse race in this case.
Speaker 5: Well lur and uh, it's like they realized that these
Speaker 5: homers are notable a little bit because they were surprising,
Speaker 5: right like and just google White Sox famous home runs
Speaker 5: and yeah, not put any more context than search.
Speaker 7: It feels like, you know, like a one hit wonder
Speaker 7: coming back. Just like play the song again. Uh, it's
Speaker 7: like Survivor play opening and closing with the Tiger, maybe
Speaker 7: playing it once in the middle.
Speaker 6: Play set.
Speaker 7: But I think they I think were they ones that
Speaker 7: opening closed the eye. Tiger might have played it once
Speaker 7: in the middle just to keep fans there, like I
Speaker 7: could see the same thing.
Speaker 1: I'm just I'm just hoping somebody hits a home run.
Speaker 1: Like that's my concern is nobody hits a home and
Speaker 1: then I don't know how you work.
Speaker 7: The horn torn like pectoral muscles. Just yeah, dropping down
Speaker 7: to one knee in the box.
Speaker 6: Yep.
Speaker 1: Well, we'll see how it goes. I'm sure we'll there
Speaker 1: be plenty of video. Again. The MLB Draft will be
Speaker 1: also ongoing, so that'll be most of our intention on
Speaker 1: Sox Machine. But let us down the comments section. Who
Speaker 1: who is your pick to click for the alumni home
Speaker 1: run derby for the Chicago White Sox. And that will
Speaker 1: do it for this episode of the Sox Machine podcast.
Speaker 1: Thank you guys so much for listening and watching. If
Speaker 1: you just discover the Sox Machine podcast, you can subscribe
Speaker 1: to the audio version wherever you listen to podcasts such
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Speaker 1: we'll be live streaming around twelve thirty pm Central Time
Speaker 1: on Saturday, leading up to the first pick of the
Speaker 1: major League Baseball Draft, and you can follow us on
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Speaker 1: not at Sox Machine, follow James at g R Vegan.
Speaker 1: He'll be also in Philadelphia next week covering the Major
Speaker 1: League Baseball All Star Game for us and the future Schame.
Speaker 1: So a lot more content coming this upcoming week in
Speaker 1: Philadelphia from James, so you can follow me at Sox
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