Speaker 1: Hey, vacationing the lawyer. Here's my business card. I'm Attorney
Speaker 1: Howard Anks. You or someone who knows been heard it.
Speaker 1: Work ankin Law and get the medical bills paid, the
Speaker 1: lost wages reimbursed in the compensation you deserve. We're one
Speaker 1: of the largest filers throughout the state of Illinois of
Speaker 1: workers compensation claims. We're here to help call three one
Speaker 1: two six million injury law made personal. That's ankin Law.
Speaker 2: From your favorite source for Chicago White Sox talk, delivering news, interviews,
Speaker 2: analysis and more. This is The Socks Machine Podcast with
Speaker 2: your hosts Jim Margolis, James Vegan, and Josh Nelson.
Speaker 3: Hello and welcome to you a new episode of The
Speaker 3: Machine podcast, part of the Foul Territory Network. I'm your
Speaker 3: host Josh Nelson, and in this episode, we'll be recapping
Speaker 3: the Chicago White Sox winning another road series, this time
Speaker 3: against the Texas Rangers. They are eight and five in
Speaker 3: their last thirteen road games, and we'll be looking at
Speaker 3: the White Sox offensive heroes in this series and also
Speaker 3: take a look around the American League centrals. The Chicago
Speaker 3: White Sox are still in first place and it is
Speaker 3: a Texas two set for the White Sox. They finish
Speaker 3: one series in Arlington, they get a day off on Thursday,
Speaker 3: and now the Chicago White Sox come home to face
Speaker 3: the Houston Astros. And joining me in this episode to
Speaker 3: recap everything that happened in Arlington and take a look
Speaker 3: as the White Sox come home to face the Houston Astros,
Speaker 3: the Sox Machines beat Reporter James Svegan and managing editor
Speaker 3: Jim Margolis and hello gents, welcome to the show. And
Speaker 3: while there's a lot of positivity with the White Sox
Speaker 3: season high seven games above five hundred, still in first
Speaker 3: place even past game one hundred, there is some concerning news.
Speaker 3: And the one game that the White Sox lost was
Speaker 3: a butt kicking and unfortunately it came with Noah Schultz
Speaker 3: on the mound and against the Rangers, Noahs Schultz just
Speaker 3: went three and two thirds innings. He allowed eleven hits,
Speaker 3: five earned runs. Good news, he didn't walk anyone, he
Speaker 3: struck out two, but he threw eighty pitches and couldn't
Speaker 3: get through the fourth inning and was pretty hit able.
Speaker 3: And in this season now for Noahs Schultz, it's eleven starts,
Speaker 3: it's fifty six and two thirds innings. He's got a
Speaker 3: three and seven record. It's twenty nine walks to forty
Speaker 3: nine strikeouts, but it's an urn run average that's still
Speaker 3: above six. And as I mentioned, the Chicago White Sox
Speaker 3: are still in first place.
Speaker 4: But there we've been.
Speaker 3: Talking about, like the White Sox need to add starting
Speaker 3: pitching to help out with their rotation, and now James,
Speaker 3: they're trying to balance, Like I understand the beginning part
Speaker 3: of the season, their game plan in April, let's call
Speaker 3: up Noahs Schultz because this is a development season. They
Speaker 3: weren't expecting to be contending. You are contending, and I
Speaker 3: can see where it's difficult to balance. And the question
Speaker 3: out there right now is should the White Sox demote
Speaker 3: Noah's Schultz because it just looks like he's overmatched right
Speaker 3: now in the major league level. How could you see
Speaker 3: the White Sox trying to balance one still trying to
Speaker 3: win the Ales Central, but two not having to give
Speaker 3: up every fifth start because Noahs Schultz is learning on
Speaker 3: the job.
Speaker 5: Uh, probably by finding a different fifth starter or at
Speaker 5: least cycling went in for a moment at least, Like
Speaker 5: at this point, I mean, it's not hard to say,
Speaker 5: like who's a solution, like if you added someone to
Speaker 5: the deadline right now, Like you're obviously being able to
Speaker 5: piece together effective Eric Fetti starts even while like being
Speaker 5: really strict with them being two times for the order
Speaker 5: more easily than you're so you can seeing No Shultz
Speaker 5: starts because you can't even do like kind of really
Speaker 5: the lefty opener thing with him as easily and you're
Speaker 5: not really seeing lineups dramatically flipped to accommodate the fact
Speaker 5: that he's left, you know some of it, but it's
Speaker 5: just not the same dynamic, uh, like his slider, Like
Speaker 5: if we're breaking down like what No. Schultz was from
Speaker 5: like a scouting perspective, Like there's a lot of things
Speaker 5: to it, but like you get these like very cut
Speaker 5: and dry grades on pitches and one of them was
Speaker 5: like seventy grade slider, eighty grade slider, like best pitch
Speaker 5: of the miners, like type of reputation, and it was
Speaker 5: a non factor for him throughout his most recent start,
Speaker 5: and it's been something that's been inconsistent throughout or there's
Speaker 5: been stretches where he really only has like the bigger
Speaker 5: version that can work against lefties, but he hasn't be
Speaker 5: able to really master like the sharper tider versions against
Speaker 5: with against righty's, Like there's other issues in play, Like
Speaker 5: you know, obviously he's had, you know a lot of
Speaker 5: starts that's been impacted by like poor control and you
Speaker 5: wonder like what's up there, and you know, his his
Speaker 5: fastball is definitely like the sinker has been trending to
Speaker 5: be pretty hittable for a while and if it starts there.
Speaker 5: He's definitely had spates of being really effective popping in
Speaker 5: the four seamer sometimes, but it doesn't have like its
Speaker 5: own independent metrics. So once like teams kind of game
Speaker 5: plan around it, that's it starts to lose on his
Speaker 5: steam really quickly. It's more like this effective little accent
Speaker 5: when the rest of his arsenal's working or just other pitches.
Speaker 5: But like if I was given like the simplest like
Speaker 5: two line explanation, like no, Schultz is known for having
Speaker 5: a great slider. He hasn't had a great slider, so
Speaker 5: unless you have kind of like this plan for how
Speaker 5: he's going to get that out, and certainly that was
Speaker 5: what he's working on during his bullpens right before he
Speaker 5: went on was rehab stint, in his rehab stint, and
Speaker 5: it's supposed to be something that's been around the corner,
Speaker 5: like why would you be sending him out there otherwise?
Speaker 5: But until like it's in place, then that's kind of like,
Speaker 5: you know, the big thing with him him it's not
Speaker 5: like he needs that to be effective on a given start,
Speaker 5: but as far as like him becoming a guy who's
Speaker 5: a reliable contributor to do that without having that thing
Speaker 5: and working order like this big master strength, Like even
Speaker 5: as he was coming up, like I remember right ups,
Speaker 5: Eric Longang was doing it like hey, there's a lot
Speaker 5: of things that are unrefined here, but he has kind
Speaker 5: of like an unhittable pitch and that kind of carries
Speaker 5: him through a lot of outings, not having that little
Speaker 5: safety valve against the hardest hit like the most difficult
Speaker 5: hitteries he's ever dealt with. Like his contact rate against
Speaker 5: him is like over eighty percent right now. Like the
Speaker 5: contact rates for him look like one of your you know,
Speaker 5: your better hears in majors, it's near ninety percent in zone,
Speaker 5: it's near eighty percent overall, and it's not too much chase.
Speaker 6: So like with it's looking that way.
Speaker 5: It's not like, oh, I'm looking at the most recent
Speaker 5: David Sandlin's start and he's for sure going to be
Speaker 5: you know, jump in and be more reliable. Maybe like
Speaker 5: it certainly looks closer visually to what his full arsenal
Speaker 5: is supposed to look like. Do Shane Smith get consistent
Speaker 5: and unlocked that in?
Speaker 6: Maybe?
Speaker 5: I don't know, do you do you find someone in
Speaker 5: the deadline given out of this catching need that we
Speaker 5: have spent so much time talking about. I don't know
Speaker 5: how this episode is getting paced together. But obviously Kyle
Speaker 5: Teel's hurt. That's another thing too. It becomes a question
Speaker 5: like how many how much resources you have to have
Speaker 5: this big starter upgrade? And if you do, is it
Speaker 5: about like are you trying to turn over the back
Speaker 5: to slots of irrotation or just address this the media
Speaker 5: and he with Schultz? I think you'd rather have Schultz
Speaker 5: obviously mature into what you hope is going to be
Speaker 5: one of the better starters in a rotation. But like
Speaker 5: right now, the big thing that makes him so exceptional,
Speaker 5: like we can point to that and see that's not working.
Speaker 5: Order there's other things that obviously can tighten up and
Speaker 5: get better. But like until that's kind of resolved, I
Speaker 5: don't know where you go from here. So you know,
Speaker 5: Jim can probably finish out my point hopefully.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 7: Is yeah, thinking about Schultz in the way you're describing,
Speaker 7: I'm kind of going between fastballs and not having his
Speaker 7: best defining breaking pitch working for him is a fair
Speaker 7: comp or at least a comp to think about. Is
Speaker 7: he a left handed Jonathan right now?
Speaker 5: I guess like in the sense of like when it's
Speaker 5: not working, But you could also ask, like the cannon
Speaker 5: never like have the outpitch that it seemed more like,
Speaker 5: you know, he's gonna have this the seam shift to
Speaker 5: change up to certain or the toe lefties, he's gonna
Speaker 5: have the sweeper, going to to varieties, and he's going
Speaker 5: to uh, you know, work to different fastball shapes and
Speaker 5: so like, I guess it's a little similar in terms
Speaker 5: of like them floundering looks a little bit because it's
Speaker 5: a lot of like different shapes that aren't enough distinct
Speaker 5: enough to like get swings and misses or you know, uh,
Speaker 5: conclude at bats easily in a way where it's just
Speaker 5: like too many opportunities for you know, like Tuesday night
Speaker 5: just being dinked and dunk to death because you can't
Speaker 5: end these at bats that get really deep when you're
Speaker 5: not getting early weak contact. So similar, but obviously you
Speaker 5: want the slider to become this overwhelming thing in the
Speaker 5: way that like Cannon was always going to be like
Speaker 5: this stitch of like different methods, different attacks that make
Speaker 5: it work, whereas Schultz is supposed to have that, but
Speaker 5: it's also supposed to have the one right tool that
Speaker 5: you know was always correct. And until that's in working order,
Speaker 5: you're not going to have the high ceiling guy that
Speaker 5: you're aspiring to. So where does that occur? Does that
Speaker 5: occur in working triple A? Does that occur in majors?
Speaker 5: Does that rely on, you know, more health and trust
Speaker 5: in the knee? Is that something that's successful this year
Speaker 5: remains to be safe.
Speaker 3: It's a very popular topic right now on social media,
Speaker 3: Jim regarding Noah Schultz many and I guess you could
Speaker 3: put me in this boat right now until I saw
Speaker 3: on the minor keys on how David Sandlin threw This
Speaker 3: does become a repeatable question and topic regarding the White Sox.
Speaker 3: If you demote Noah Schultz. Who are you replacing him with?
Speaker 3: Maybe it is David Sandlin, But should the White Sox
Speaker 3: after this start against the Texas Rangers, and looking ahead,
Speaker 3: next projected start for Schultz is the New York Yankees
Speaker 3: doesn't get any easier, should the White Sox send Schultz
Speaker 3: back to Charlotte?
Speaker 7: Not yet? I mean I could see that if they did,
Speaker 7: I would understand why. But I think, you know, his
Speaker 7: start against the Athletics was fine, so he hasn't had
Speaker 7: two bad starts in a row to where you're saying
Speaker 7: like this doesn't work, Like it didn't work against Texas,
Speaker 7: but you know there were a couple of poorly hit
Speaker 7: balls that landed four key hits, to where like if
Speaker 7: they find gloves, maybe can get through five. It's a
Speaker 7: different conversation even if it's like an unoppressive five, but
Speaker 7: with one start left until the deadline, basically for him,
Speaker 7: without anybody currently crushing in Charlotte's Like, Sandlin's been fine,
Speaker 7: but you know, I think he has his weaknesses right
Speaker 7: now to where it feel like you're replacing Schultz with
Speaker 7: kind of a similar type pitcher. Mason Adams has been
Speaker 7: throwing mostly well, although he's a kitchen sink, righty, who
Speaker 7: doesn't have necessarily one out pitch, so you might be
Speaker 7: throwing him to the same kind of debate after a
Speaker 7: couple starts, they have a couple guys they can go to.
Speaker 7: But I think he's probably earn enough Leo Way to
Speaker 7: have one more starts, see what the trade deadline offers,
Speaker 7: and see if that, you know, displaces him from the rotation.
Speaker 7: And then after that, if like say, the trade deadline
Speaker 7: comes and goes and they haven't displaced him, or another
Speaker 7: injury pops up to where like they still might need
Speaker 7: Schultz of the rotation or somebody in that spot, then
Speaker 7: maybe have the discussion about him or Sandlin or Mason
Speaker 7: Adams or whoever. But yeah, it's frustrating to watch, and certainly,
Speaker 7: you know, with the amount of hype that he had, Yeah,
Speaker 7: I think there is a little bit of fatigue or
Speaker 7: disenchantment setting in of just like, maybe this guy's that good,
Speaker 7: but the options behind him aren't all that compelling right
Speaker 7: now to where like I'll give Shultzen more turn and
Speaker 7: then see what happens.
Speaker 3: It is funny and how this season has played out
Speaker 3: and where very positive big surprises the position player side,
Speaker 3: but Noah schultzen Hagen Smith and I guess we could
Speaker 3: throw Tanner McDougal with how excited we were and how
Speaker 3: well he was throwing in spring training. This season just
Speaker 3: hasn't panned out for those three pitchers. I don't want
Speaker 3: to say, oh my gosh, the entire pitching development program
Speaker 3: for the White Sox is in disarray. I'm not saying
Speaker 3: that at all. It's just kind of funny to me
Speaker 3: the yin and yang of this season for the White
Speaker 3: Sox where man, it would have been great if Noah
Speaker 3: schultzen Hagen Smith performed like the frontline starters that we
Speaker 3: hope they can still be. On a promotional side, as
Speaker 3: James teed it up for me, you could watch our
Speaker 3: episode regarding Kyle Teel's impact on our YouTube channel at
Speaker 3: YouTube dot com slash Socks Machine. We spent quite a
Speaker 3: bit of time talking about that specific injury and the impact.
Speaker 3: Even had our friend Eric Kratz over from foul Territory
Speaker 3: join us and give us his insight as a backup
Speaker 3: catcher and being a catcher in the major leagues and
Speaker 3: the situation for both Kyle Teal and the Chicago White
Speaker 3: Sox if you haven't got a chance to watch or
Speaker 3: listen to that episode, we dedicated an entire podcast on
Speaker 3: the injury for Kyle Teal. So we'll see what the
Speaker 3: White Sox do and we'll see if they still have
Speaker 3: Noa's Schultz start against the New York Yankees. But I
Speaker 3: guess quickly, as far as a roundtable, if the White
Speaker 3: Sox do make a trade in the upcoming days and
Speaker 3: the starting rotation, it's not so much of trying to
Speaker 3: find someone better than Eric Fetti and an opener. It's
Speaker 3: now thinking how can we buy time to send Noahs
Speaker 3: Schultz to Charlotte?
Speaker 4: Is that what we're thinking, Jim.
Speaker 7: Yeah, probably just because of options, just because Fetti is fine.
Speaker 7: I only think you want to Fetti's in the rotation.
Speaker 7: As we kind of saw with now Fetti going four
Speaker 7: and then Schultz not getting to four, then Anthony k
Speaker 7: going five, it's a lot of short starts in a row.
Speaker 7: So I think you can only have one of those
Speaker 7: opener two times through type pictures before things start getting hairy.
Speaker 7: So I think the hope is the White Sox finds
Speaker 7: somebody who can handle his own start day without meeting
Speaker 7: assistance and just yeah, pushes everybody down to where yeah,
Speaker 7: maybe even like k would be fourth and Fetti would
Speaker 7: be fifth and Schultz would be down in Charlotte's would
Speaker 7: probably be like the ideal outcome based on where you
Speaker 7: think the White Sox are shopping.
Speaker 8: If you're watching us, you already know we're wearing mack
Speaker 8: Weldon right now as we talk about a great brand
Speaker 8: that makes things so comfortable and easy to wear. But
Speaker 8: if you're listening to the show, let me tell you
Speaker 8: a little bit more about mack Weldon with my friend
Speaker 8: Aer Kratz.
Speaker 9: Yeah, it's comfortable, it's light, it's summertime right now. For me, though,
Speaker 9: they cater to what I need tall clothes. Normally, when
Speaker 9: I buy tall clothes it's like something that's cumbersome and boxy.
Speaker 9: It still fits incredibly well, super light, perfect for the
Speaker 9: summer time. They got me all covered.
Speaker 8: Comfortable performance material can be yours. Mack Weldon is the spot.
Speaker 8: Don't sweat the heat this summer. Feel as effortlessly cool
Speaker 8: as you look with Mack Weldon. Go to Mackweldon dot
Speaker 8: com and get twenty percent off your first order of
Speaker 8: one hundred and twenty five bucks or more. With promo
Speaker 8: code foul. That's m ACKW E L d O N
Speaker 8: dot com code f o U L.
Speaker 9: Howard.
Speaker 1: They're over eight million drivers in the state of Illinois.
Speaker 1: With that many people on the road, accidents are bound
Speaker 1: to occur. I'm Attorney Howard Ankin, and if you or
Speaker 1: someone you care about has been involved in an auto
Speaker 1: rideshare trucking accident, I'm here to help you. Call my
Speaker 1: office for a free consultation at three one two six million.
Speaker 1: I'm Heroin. You need me injury law made personal, that's
Speaker 1: ink In Law.
Speaker 3: Well, let's talk about something positive for the Chicago White
Speaker 3: Sox other than Noah Schultz, which that was a butt
Speaker 3: whoop being lost. But again the White Sox ended up
Speaker 3: winning the series against the Texas Rangers. They won two
Speaker 3: out of three in this road trip, going to Toronto
Speaker 3: and Texas after the All Star break. For a very
Speaker 3: young team, there was some concern and how they would do,
Speaker 3: especially after they swept the Athletics and there was some
Speaker 3: time off, and they responded very well. If you take
Speaker 3: a look at the last four road series for the
Speaker 3: White Sox, they are three zero and one, that one
Speaker 3: being the four game split in Cleveland, but they are
Speaker 3: eight and five in their last thirteen road games. And
Speaker 3: what really helped for the Chicago White Sox offensively are
Speaker 3: the offensive heroes for this series. Miguel Vargus went four
Speaker 3: for fourteen. He had three doubles this series and drove
Speaker 3: in two RBIs. Andrew ben Attendee three for ten, but
Speaker 3: the Vet had five RBIs in this series. And give
Speaker 3: it up for Chase my Draw. Chase my Draft had
Speaker 3: a four hit game in Wednesday's victory and he also
Speaker 3: drove in two RBIs for the Chicago White Sox. And
Speaker 3: on the offensive front for the White Sox, James, let's
Speaker 3: start with Chase my Draft and his success.
Speaker 4: On Wednesday night.
Speaker 3: I know that I pointed out as far as his
Speaker 3: struggles with runners in scoring position. He had two hits
Speaker 3: on Wednesday with runners in scoring position. We're gonna have
Speaker 3: an upcoming podcast episode with White Sox Diructor of hitting
Speaker 3: Ryan Fuller, and again, it's all about decisions, contact, and
Speaker 3: damage for the Chicago White Sox. Those are the three
Speaker 3: pillars of their hitting program. And I know the White
Speaker 3: Sox want their hitters to focus on creating as much
Speaker 3: damage as possible, but I do wonder with runners in
Speaker 3: scoring position, is it okay have Chase my draft takes
Speaker 3: a lesses more and focuses on better contact in those
Speaker 3: situations to help out the White Sox offense.
Speaker 5: James Well to further spoil our episode when we asked
Speaker 5: Ryan Fuller about what he feels about two strike approach
Speaker 5: that I think kind of plays into the same thing
Speaker 5: you're talking about with runners and scoring position situations where
Speaker 5: you know a single will do it, is that they're.
Speaker 6: Less opposed to.
Speaker 5: Having a contact or you know, shoot the ball the
Speaker 5: other way type of approach. It's more than they don't
Speaker 5: want these physical sacrifices in your swing of like let's
Speaker 5: tampen your impact for the sake of contact in its
Speaker 5: own right. They don't like, they don't believe in just
Speaker 5: touch it as a way of like being successful. And
Speaker 5: that's really like with the way defenses are, like, that's
Speaker 5: not necessarily a run scoring plan to just put the
Speaker 5: ball in play if it's not if it's two outs,
Speaker 5: or if it's a runner on second like or even
Speaker 5: just like certain runners on the contact play. We've certainly
Speaker 5: seen that blow up sometimes. So I don't think one
Speaker 5: like with Chase my draft, Like, obviously we've seen him
Speaker 5: be this you know, contact version of himself where he's
Speaker 5: very dedicated to you know, slapping the ball the other
Speaker 5: way or kind of hitting low line drives. This is
Speaker 5: not like new to him in some way where that's
Speaker 5: not already in his bag. And I think like his
Speaker 5: contact rates been kind of trending up this month already
Speaker 5: in a way that like he's already kind of referenced
Speaker 5: like the level of swing and miss spiking his game
Speaker 5: this season. He wanted to do more damage, but he's
Speaker 5: been talking about trying to see it deeper and you know,
Speaker 5: not being as obsessed with catching the ball up front.
Speaker 5: So certainly in those situations where he has opportunity to
Speaker 5: drive and runs while doing it, I think he's already
Speaker 5: pretty geared to.
Speaker 6: Do that in some way.
Speaker 5: But also like the White Sox methodology is not like swing,
Speaker 5: while there's certainly probably more you know, damage oriented, and
Speaker 5: certainly past iterations and what they preach and what they
Speaker 5: want to see other offense as.
Speaker 6: A whole, they.
Speaker 5: They are very much like we want to see some hitability,
Speaker 5: want we want to see you like be able to
Speaker 5: adjust your approach or you know, adjust what prior to
Speaker 5: the field you're like coming for or show some adjustability
Speaker 5: in your swing, not necessarily in like h let's spread
Speaker 5: super out and like take your leg out of it,
Speaker 5: but let's like maybe say see some different shapes or
Speaker 5: impact levels. Are you know, more of a slower, you know,
Speaker 5: back control type swing than you know, your best bat
Speaker 5: speed for a meatball on the zone, which was like
Speaker 5: you know the other side of what they preach, and
Speaker 5: you know it was sometimes it's more obvious than other
Speaker 5: times when I'm stalling my answer to look up something
Speaker 5: on Fangrass, but like, yes, my drafts of like his
Speaker 5: contact rates are like all trending way up from the
Speaker 5: year over the course of July. He was like eighty
Speaker 5: eight percent overall in July going into Wednesday night, where
Speaker 5: I'm thinking he probably boosted it further from that, whereas
Speaker 5: he was at eighty two for like the entire year,
Speaker 5: and you're seeing like a lot more or he was
Speaker 5: like under ninety under ninety percent zone contact for the
Speaker 5: year and now he's back up over near ninety two
Speaker 5: and probably over it now you've been seeing him kind
Speaker 5: of like get back to a little bit more of
Speaker 5: the contact oriented style. Of his last year, just just
Speaker 5: kind of a response to the way you're struggling even
Speaker 5: more than situationally for a while. And this game was
Speaker 5: definitely emblematic of like why it's good to have offensive diversification.
Speaker 5: It's very hard to hit a home run in that
Speaker 5: like massive space prison they built out there. Having that
Speaker 5: ability to win these type of games on offense is useful,
Speaker 5: and you know there are going to be series where
Speaker 5: like Mooney doesn't hit a home run in every game,
Speaker 5: like because they're playing in Sacramento, and you know, they
Speaker 5: showed the ability of turning the guys who can win
Speaker 5: those type of games.
Speaker 3: But to Murakami his credit, he is getting on base.
Speaker 4: He is drawing the walks again for the White Sox.
Speaker 3: And giving Miguel Vargas and Coles Montgomery and the rest
Speaker 3: of the lineup somebody on base to have some bats with.
Speaker 3: So the White Sox offensively not a great Tuesday at all,
Speaker 3: but Monday was fantastic. It was very fun, and of
Speaker 3: course they're able to hold off the Texas Rangers on Wednesday,
Speaker 3: and in that Wednesday victory, Jim Andrew Bennett Undy had
Speaker 3: the other two RBIs and as I mentioned, he had
Speaker 3: five RBIs in this series, and I don't think, no
Speaker 3: matter how this season ends, maybe unless Andrew Bennettendi hits
Speaker 3: a walk off home run in the World Series to
Speaker 3: help win a game for the White Sox Gym, that
Speaker 3: he's going to be able to redeem what the first
Speaker 3: few years of his tenure with the White Sox and
Speaker 3: how that went. But is he, I guess, starting to
Speaker 3: inge closer to being in the good graces of White
Speaker 3: Sox fans with how he's been performing in the role
Speaker 3: that the White Sox have kind of carved for him,
Speaker 3: being this veteran dh platuny with Randall Gridchik, I think.
Speaker 7: You're seeing professionalism went out. I think when it comes
Speaker 7: to Ben and Tende, I think in multiple regards, like
Speaker 7: in terms of he's got three fifty seven average with
Speaker 7: the runners in scoring position. I mean part of that
Speaker 7: is padded or boosted by a very aggressive pinch hitting
Speaker 7: strategy for him and having Randall Gritchick coming in as
Speaker 7: the right handed component, so he's not in unfavorable matchups
Speaker 7: a lot of the time when he has runners in
Speaker 7: scoring position, but he's cashing in a lot of those
Speaker 7: opportunities when he gets them. You have the you know,
Speaker 7: his kind of willingness to handle d H most of
Speaker 7: the time and play very little outfield and kind of
Speaker 7: accept that the metrics, the feeling, you know, whether you're
Speaker 7: using the eye test or whether you're using stat cast, like,
Speaker 7: wasn't good out there in left field, and so the
Speaker 7: White Sox have mitigated that by having other guys stand
Speaker 7: out there. And he's accepted that. He's accepted being a
Speaker 7: platoon guy, even though you know he probably has based
Speaker 7: on the interviews that we've had, you know that James
Speaker 7: has talked to him about when it comes to his
Speaker 7: general displeasure with how he's played as a White Sox.
Speaker 7: He's not trying to salvage it himself or say like
Speaker 7: I can dig myself out of this hole, or just
Speaker 7: if I get all the advats that I did this
Speaker 7: contract has me deserve, then I should be able to
Speaker 7: play myself out of it. Like he's He's handling everything gracefully,
Speaker 7: and I think he's producing well enough. I think it's
Speaker 7: funny watching Vargas and my Drath and benin Tende like
Speaker 7: it was a win for the hit Tools. I think
Speaker 7: this series and with my Drath in benin Tendi. It's
Speaker 7: a win for the guys that, like White Sox fans
Speaker 7: seem to want to replace as quickly as possible, even
Speaker 7: though like nothing is shoving them out of their current roles.
Speaker 7: Like Ben and Tendi could theoretically be not very useful
Speaker 7: as a DH. You know, if Kyle Teel wealthy, if
Speaker 7: Edgar Carroll were producing, if Pereira and Hayes and Gritchik
Speaker 7: we're all productive at the same time, and you know,
Speaker 7: Murakami and everything like that, but like they haven't been.
Speaker 7: And he's been hitting well enough the whole time. He's
Speaker 7: been an average bat with an ability to shape his
Speaker 7: swing when situations demanded. He is producing well enough to
Speaker 7: earn his keep, and so like, yeah, you can't just,
Speaker 7: you know, just dismiss him for nothing, discard him because
Speaker 7: he's producing. Maybe after the season you look around the
Speaker 7: league and say, like, well, does any team want to
Speaker 7: take on part of the salary make better use of him?
Speaker 7: But right now that is not that season, and he's
Speaker 7: doing well enough. So yeah, if this team gets the
Speaker 7: postseason and Ben and Tendi is being an average bat
Speaker 7: who is favorably deployed to make the best use of
Speaker 7: it and has somebody whether it's Skritchick or Austin Hayes
Speaker 7: if he comes back, or Pearro whoever, helping to share
Speaker 7: the playing time there, and he handles it well, like
Speaker 7: I don't see any reason why fans should hold the
Speaker 7: contract against him. Yeah, I kind of write that off
Speaker 7: is a problem with the previous administration and just you know,
Speaker 7: the kind of decisions that they painted themselves into a
Speaker 7: corner with in terms of you know, how you know
Speaker 7: what kind of player they wanted, what they were willing
Speaker 7: to spend, and how they couldn't trade themselves out of
Speaker 7: the roster that they'd built, and then Ben and Tendi
Speaker 7: was the guy that they could afford and just didn't
Speaker 7: work out. But I think this is a different enough stage,
Speaker 7: a distinct enough situation to where if you treat him
Speaker 7: as like a Gritchick, as like a veteran outfielder who
Speaker 7: is a left hand bet that needs right hand to help,
Speaker 7: but we can give it to him, and you set
Speaker 7: aside what they paid or you had the obligation, then
Speaker 7: he's doing his job well enough, and you know, he's
Speaker 7: part of the reason why the White Sox offense is
Speaker 7: among the league's better.
Speaker 3: Ones and really came through again for the White Sox
Speaker 3: on Wednesday, some big RBIs he and Chase my draft.
Speaker 3: I have a feeling before this season is over that
Speaker 3: Andrew Bennett tende is going to have one big moment
Speaker 3: in September that helps the White Sox make it to
Speaker 3: the postseason and then everyone will just kind of look
Speaker 3: at each other and be like, you know what, it
Speaker 3: was worth it, The contract was worth it to have
Speaker 3: this moment. Like I'm kind of rooting for that for
Speaker 3: Andrew Bennettendy.
Speaker 7: He's been and I'm hoping we can. I'm hoping we
Speaker 7: can snip this quote just because like I was watching
Speaker 7: your GM Sports appearance and they like reusing your best
Speaker 7: case scenario of the White Sox being over five hundred
Speaker 7: and looking to add at the deadline, and so yeah,
Speaker 7: I think keep laying down this optimism in a way
Speaker 7: that we can snip and replay after he does something
Speaker 7: big in September, Like I like what you're doing here.
Speaker 3: When you lose enough steak dinner bats Jem, at some
Speaker 3: point your luck has to swing back in your favor.
Speaker 5: I'm personally just looking forward to like this big cathardict
Speaker 5: Homra and everyone like is gushing on social media and
Speaker 5: in person and then getting post game and Andrew Benettanti,
Speaker 5: He's like, yeah, looking for a good pitch to hit,
Speaker 5: put a good swing on a good moment, good run
Speaker 5: for the boys, got to keep.
Speaker 6: It going and.
Speaker 7: Nothing no nutritional value.
Speaker 5: Well, I wonder World Series before nice game already kind
Speaker 5: of on his way out of its and is as
Speaker 5: egos and process it ballplayer mode and like it's basically
Speaker 5: forgotten about it the next day.
Speaker 6: It's just it'll be fun to watch a circle of life.
Speaker 8: Todd father, are you hitting some games this summer?
Speaker 9: What's the deal?
Speaker 1: Of course?
Speaker 7: And it's real simple, Scottie Braun.
Speaker 10: You know how it is. You go to seat Geek
Speaker 10: and you can find any deal you want in any
Speaker 10: section you want, even if the game sold out. Go
Speaker 10: to seat Geek and you'll find something that you love,
Speaker 10: affordable for your family, that you can enjoy anywhere, anytime,
Speaker 10: at any ballpark and stadium you want enjoy it.
Speaker 6: It's the best opportunity to go see a beautiful game of.
Speaker 8: Baseball, and that's the thing that you can be so
Speaker 8: last minute. Sea Geek is the official ticket marketplace of
Speaker 8: Major League Baseball. They have you covered for all of
Speaker 8: your baseball ticket needs the entire summer. They also have
Speaker 8: over seventy thousand events on sea Geek that includes concerts, festivals,
Speaker 8: all kinds of sporting events. So go check it out
Speaker 8: right now. FTFAM the code is Territory ten for ten
Speaker 8: percent off your next set of MLB tickets at sea Geek.
Speaker 8: That's ten percent off with promo code Territory one zero.
Speaker 8: Make sure you click the link in the description to
Speaker 8: download the app, and then the code automatically is added
Speaker 8: to your account so you can use it later.
Speaker 3: For the White Sox, they now start a kind of
Speaker 3: a tricky seven game home stand here. They've been playing
Speaker 3: very well at home, with the first three games this
Speaker 3: weekend are going to be against the Houston Astros. As
Speaker 3: the Astros this year forty nine and fifty four, the
Speaker 3: White Sox did a solid for them as the Astros
Speaker 3: won their series against the Marlins. They've won their last
Speaker 3: two games and with the White Sox winning their series
Speaker 3: against the Rangers, the Houston Astros are just two games
Speaker 3: back in the America League West. They are three and
Speaker 3: a half games back of the American League Wildcard, so
Speaker 3: they're not out of it yet. They're four and six
Speaker 3: in the last ten games. They are twenty four and
Speaker 3: twenty seven this season. Away from Houston. You're bitching probles
Speaker 3: for this series. Friday night six forty pm Central Time,
Speaker 3: started by Spencer Aarraghetti for the Houston Astros against Davis
Speaker 3: Martin for the Chicago White Sox. In Game two of
Speaker 3: this series. On Saturday night six to ten pm Central Time,
Speaker 3: it'll be Hunter Brown for the Astros against Sean Burke.
Speaker 3: Will see if Sean Burke continues his heater that he's
Speaker 3: been on in the last couple of months. And then
Speaker 3: the final game on Sunday afternoon. This is a wee
Speaker 3: ten pm Central Time start. It's Ronelle Blanco for the
Speaker 3: Astros who just returned, and it'll be Eric Fetty. We'll
Speaker 3: see if the White Sox decide to go with an
Speaker 3: opener for Eric Fetti as Jim Road an excellent feature
Speaker 3: about the opener situation, how the White Sox have been
Speaker 3: handling and been performing using an opener this season. Highly
Speaker 3: recommend reading that. And I bring this up, James because
Speaker 3: Jordon Alvarez, so instead of asking you for a key
Speaker 3: of the series, I'm going to give you one. The
Speaker 3: White Sox have to figure out how to limit the
Speaker 3: impact that Jordon Alvarez has on this series as Jordon
Speaker 3: leads the majors and home runs in RBA, He's got
Speaker 3: thirty four home runs and seventy seven RBIs. Now, what's
Speaker 3: the best way for the White Sox to deal with
Speaker 3: your on Alvarez in this series?
Speaker 5: James, I was cycling through, you know, kind of some
Speaker 5: prior examples from the episode of Homer at the Bat
Speaker 5: and like ways that superstars have been felled by off
Speaker 5: the field means, I think the Steve Sachs route is
Speaker 5: most realistic for a modern age, you know, getting him
Speaker 5: pinned for like a series of unsolved murders upon his
Speaker 5: arrivals of the city. Failing that, he is, you know
Speaker 5: inclase entering Wednesday night only a one thirty five WRC
Speaker 5: plus against lefties as opposed to over two hundred against
Speaker 5: Righty's so pretty cool that Anthony k and No Schultz
Speaker 5: wan face him and all that wouldn't.
Speaker 6: Have helped either one.
Speaker 5: I guess like you do have four relievers in your
Speaker 5: your bullpen for a reason. So opening for Eric Fetti
Speaker 5: or just like if someone has a shorter start to
Speaker 5: give way the Chris Murphy because Jordan and Alvarez is
Speaker 5: coming up. You know, that would be a crazy way
Speaker 5: to attack it. Looking at the breakdown versus pitch type,
Speaker 5: he's only you know, slugging four seventy nine against off
Speaker 5: speed or change ups, only a three ten XPBA, which
Speaker 5: you know sounds horrific, but also all his numbers against
Speaker 5: fastballs and breaking balls are so much better than that.
Speaker 5: So David Martin wants to flash a few kick changes,
Speaker 5: certainly seems like the time for it. Sean Burke wants
Speaker 5: to dust that thing off. I know he's mostly curveball
Speaker 5: against lefties and it's served him very well. But you know,
Speaker 5: showing him a change surely can't hurt Eric Fetti. What
Speaker 5: in his arsenal, Like the splitter hasn't been something he's
Speaker 5: turned to a lot, don't I don't, maybe don't get
Speaker 5: too crazy there in terms of doesn't have a pitch
Speaker 5: you barely used all season in this situation, and.
Speaker 6: Yeah, don't have someone on dase.
Speaker 5: I think that's gonna be the big thing that was,
Speaker 5: you know, Sean Burk's big thing about like facing the
Speaker 5: athletics lineup when they were banged up into dev Nick
Speaker 5: Kurtz is, like, my main strategy was just having the
Speaker 5: bases empty for Soda Shrum and Langlears when they got up, and.
Speaker 6: After that, I'd probably be okay.
Speaker 5: Astros, you know, certainly have some other bats that are
Speaker 5: worth worrying about in terms of pretus.
Speaker 6: And the Christian.
Speaker 5: Teermy Penny is healthy, but yeah, Christian Walker. But I
Speaker 5: think Alvarez is such a tear above everybody that like
Speaker 5: really like whatever you can do to just like really
Speaker 5: drill down on like not having people in front of
Speaker 5: them whenever possible, Like, I think that's probably gonna be
Speaker 5: something that every starters harbue on in postgame interviews, even
Speaker 5: if that's like the analysis version of pitch Good. In
Speaker 5: terms of advice, it's there's nothing, he's a hitter, you're
Speaker 5: really without major flaws. It's it's gonna be hard. I remember,
Speaker 5: like was it twenty twenty one, uh Gara Crash got
Speaker 5: like walked off on him on like a sweeper that
Speaker 5: he put like aloan away and you're Alvarez like ripped
Speaker 5: it for a walk off doubling. He's like, yeah, that
Speaker 5: really sat my confidence for a little while. It was like, Garrett,
Speaker 5: I think you gotta shrug that one off. I don't
Speaker 5: think it's about you, buddy. I think he was able
Speaker 5: to with time, but he's kind of a hitter who
Speaker 5: really just confounds any game plan.
Speaker 3: Well, I think that's excellent analysis for Yard on Alvarez
Speaker 3: and uh, I know Jim will always appreciate he Simpson's
Speaker 3: reference on the show We'll see the White size.
Speaker 7: I was thinking Josh could set his house on fire
Speaker 7: maybe and see if Alvarez sees the smoke from the
Speaker 7: park and runs over to help out. I think one
Speaker 7: for the team Josh the different.
Speaker 5: Camera that's still in the house that he has to
Speaker 5: row and go back in for oh.
Speaker 6: Man car.
Speaker 3: In so making sure nobody's on bass, what y'ord on
Speaker 3: Alvarez is batting. That's a solid strategy, Gym and maybe
Speaker 3: the White Sox do you use multiple openers in this series?
Speaker 3: But what is a key for the White Sox in
Speaker 3: this series other than having to navigate the you're on
Speaker 3: Alvarez situations in order for the White Sox to pick
Speaker 3: up another series win.
Speaker 7: Yeah, Alvarez is the first place to start, and given
Speaker 7: that he's leading all triple Crown categories and know that
Speaker 7: triple crown is kind of you know, it doesn't maybe
Speaker 7: mean what it used to, but it's still a nice
Speaker 7: tidy way to say a hitter is doing a lot
Speaker 7: of damage and important situations. I'm all for, like him
Speaker 7: having a highlight at the park hopefully, you know, in
Speaker 7: terms of fan anguish, it's not when that makes their
Speaker 7: breaks the game, but just something cool that happens, like
Speaker 7: if he threatens where the goose used to be. That
Speaker 7: would be fun, just because it's nice to go to
Speaker 7: a ballpark and see a great player do a great thing.
Speaker 7: But setting that aside, I think this off day certainly helps.
Speaker 7: But then after that, I think you with seven straight
Speaker 7: games Astros and the Yankees and then the Rays after that,
Speaker 7: I think it's incumbent on the front end of the
Speaker 7: rotation to start delivering some length and starts, because after
Speaker 7: going four, three and third and five for the series,
Speaker 7: like you can go to Grant Taylor for a couple
Speaker 7: of innings and go for Sean Newcomb for a couple
Speaker 7: of innings, Like you can do that and steal a
Speaker 7: game here or there. But I think if you're trying
Speaker 7: to win games against credible teams to very good teams
Speaker 7: in the case of the Yankees and Rays being the
Speaker 7: two best teams in the American League, it does require
Speaker 7: I think a little bit more rest for the bullpen,
Speaker 7: or at least a little bit more novelty to where
Speaker 7: they're not throwing three innings in a series and that's
Speaker 7: the only way you can get by. So I think
Speaker 7: having Martin, having Burke come in and deliver some length,
Speaker 7: you know, six innings hopefully would be I think a
Speaker 7: way to get the bullpen to be rested in a
Speaker 7: sense where wil Venable has enough options to go after
Speaker 7: Alvarez the best that he can in late game situations
Speaker 7: that present themselves, or at the Yankees and Ben Rice,
Speaker 7: et cetera as they go on. That's I think probably
Speaker 7: the biggest case because I think if Burke and Martin,
Speaker 7: you know, work shorter starts, then you have Fetti and
Speaker 7: you have Schultz. Maybe then it kind of gets in
Speaker 7: the situation of like this is, you're kind of going
Speaker 7: through that Charlotte carousel of just need a fresh arm
Speaker 7: who's available.
Speaker 3: The white socks, at least on paper, in my opinion,
Speaker 3: have a deeper light up than the Houston Astros. These
Speaker 3: are potentially tough fridys the White Sox are facing this weekend.
Speaker 3: They'd be greater these left handed batters continue to produce
Speaker 3: for the White Sox.
Speaker 4: We've seen a wide range of outcomes.
Speaker 3: We know they have the potential to put up double
Speaker 3: digit runs, and we know that they can come up
Speaker 3: with some key hits, but we've seen some clunkers in
Speaker 3: the middle of the games where the offense just simply
Speaker 3: doesn't show up. So hopefully a little bit more consistency
Speaker 3: for the White Sox in this series against the Houston Astros.
Speaker 3: And I know we're all waiting for Munataka Murakami to
Speaker 3: finally hit a home run, but I do see some
Speaker 3: good signs from him as far as he at bats,
Speaker 3: still finding ways to draw walks, still being able to
Speaker 3: hit doubles, and being.
Speaker 4: Productive for the White Sox.
Speaker 3: I just I've got a feeling that a home run
Speaker 3: is coming soon from Murrakami and they'll get him on
Speaker 3: a hot streak.
Speaker 4: So if you.
Speaker 3: Can go toe to toe and match up with jord
Speaker 3: On Oliverarez with home runs this weekend, that'd be great.
Speaker 5: Like if you cover like home games, like if you're
Speaker 5: there long enough, you'll see like the visiting team, like
Speaker 5: they'll walk across the field and through like that gate
Speaker 5: that's in center field. That's like where they have to
Speaker 5: go through to like exit for wherever, like their buses.
Speaker 5: Like that area like right beyond the fence where it's
Speaker 5: just like a tunnel through. There's plenty of room to
Speaker 5: put like a mystery spot or like kind of an
Speaker 5: endless falling pit for someone. Obviously he still gets to
Speaker 5: play like the first game of the series, if that happens.
Speaker 5: I was looking at the numbers, like Fetti's a splitter change,
Speaker 5: and it's been getting like more whiffs than I probably
Speaker 5: gave it credit for. He's been used against lefties, so
Speaker 5: that's a tool he could use. But at the same time,
Speaker 5: he grew up in Vegas, so he's probably seen like
Speaker 5: a hypnosis act at some point. If he could get
Speaker 5: going on to like start clucking like a chicken, because
Speaker 5: based on like some things he's seen, why not you know,
Speaker 5: throw kitchen sink at him like he use the split change,
Speaker 5: but also the hypnosis at the same time, you know,
Speaker 5: guys still try to strike the chicken out, you know,
Speaker 5: even if you do get that, So I think there
Speaker 5: are a lot of ideas to mine from that episode
Speaker 5: in general.
Speaker 3: Well, it's very educational, not only entertaining, but great ideas
Speaker 3: from James at the White Sox implement and trying to
Speaker 3: shut down jord On Albarez.
Speaker 7: Yeah, Josh, I think Arson is the simplest.
Speaker 4: Arson is the simplest. Ye, I'll just set my house.
Speaker 5: Are they are they flying in a day ahead of time,
Speaker 5: they have time to go, go out, get into a history
Speaker 5: debate at the bar that you know turns violent.
Speaker 7: Sure that will do it.
Speaker 3: For this episode of the Sox Machine podcast. If you
Speaker 3: guys have any other suggestions from the TV show The
Speaker 3: Simpsons and how the White Sox can handle your on
Speaker 3: Elverz this weekend, please let us know in the comments section.
Speaker 3: Either on our YouTube channel at YouTube dot com slash
Speaker 3: sock Machine or on sox machine dot com. You can
Speaker 3: subscribe to the Sox Machine podcast the audio version wherever
Speaker 3: you listen to podcasts such as Spotify and Apple Music.
Speaker 3: And of course this is now a video podcast, so
Speaker 3: you can watch the show at YouTube dot com slash
Speaker 3: sox Machine. Please subscribe to our YouTube channel. We just
Speaker 3: passed three thousand subscribers. So thank you so much to
Speaker 3: everybody that recently subscribed to our channel. We greatly appreciate you.
Speaker 3: Follow us on social media. James will be at the
Speaker 3: stadium this weekend, so if we're all White Sox News,
Speaker 3: follow him at j Rfigan can follow us at sox
Speaker 3: Machine on all the platforms.
Speaker 4: You can follow me at socks Machine.
Speaker 3: Josh As we'll be having videos coming from the ballpark
Speaker 3: this weekend. We'll be uploading those on our YouTube channel
Speaker 3: as far as player interviews, manager interviews as well pre
Speaker 3: and post game, and we'll see if Chris Getz talks
Speaker 3: to the media before this homestand you could also help
Speaker 3: support sox Machine by sign up to be a sox
Speaker 3: Machine subscriber at soxmachine dot com Slash Products. Monthly plans
Speaker 3: typically start at five dollars, but we continue to run
Speaker 3: our sales. The Chicago White Sox are still a winning team.
Speaker 3: Your first month is just fifty three cents, so sign
Speaker 3: up at soxsmachine dot com. Slash Products take advantage of
Speaker 3: that sale and unlocks the comments section for you and
Speaker 3: also the ad free version of the website. We have
Speaker 3: additional tiers of support to give you additional benefits, including
Speaker 3: some spots still remaining in our Veterans Committee, that you
Speaker 3: can be part of the group, chat and have direct
Speaker 3: access to us and bester us with questions, especially with
Speaker 3: the trade deadline coming up. So if you're interested and
Speaker 3: want to help out, Soxmachine got to soxsmachine dot com,
Speaker 3: slash products and sign up today. The Sox Machine Podcast
Speaker 3: is a production of Soxmachine dot com.
Speaker 4: Here for all of the things Chicago White Sox Baseball.
Speaker 3: I'm part of the Foul Territory Network alongside James Vegan
Speaker 3: and Jim Margolis.
Speaker 4: I'm Josh Nelson. Thanks for listening and watching.