Speaker 1: Howard, my dad was te vowed by an utility vehicle
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Speaker 2: I'm sorry to hear about that.
Speaker 3: It's really great that you're getting him the medical care
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Speaker 3: important things that I think you need to know. Injuries
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Speaker 3: I have been heard at work for in a car
Speaker 3: truck to write your accident called three one two six
Speaker 3: million injury law made personal.
Speaker 2: That's aken law.
Speaker 4: From your favorite source for Chicago White Sox Talk, delivering news, interviews,
Speaker 4: analysis and more. This is The Sox Machine Podcast with
Speaker 4: your hosts Jim Margolis, James Vegan, and Josh Nelson.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Sox Machine Podcast. I'm your host Josh Nelson,
Speaker 1: and we're recording this episode of Monday Night, July sixth,
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six. I just got back from mini vacation
Speaker 1: in Philadelphia where it felt like one hundred and fifteen
Speaker 1: degrees a week before LB's All Star Game, so hopefully
Speaker 1: won't be that hot for James, who will be in
Speaker 1: Philadelphia covering the All Star game festivities for us at
Speaker 1: Sox Machine. But the White Sox know who their all
Speaker 1: Star is. Let's go to be Miguel Vargas. We'll talk
Speaker 1: more about that later in the show. But for the
Speaker 1: Chicago White Sox, what's a very tough and dare I
Speaker 1: say intense four game series that they had against the
Speaker 1: Cleveland Guardians gents in Cleveland and James, I'll start with you, like,
Speaker 1: what's your biggest takeaway from the White Sox splitting these
Speaker 1: four games against the Guardians with.
Speaker 2: The nature of their offense, especially when they get going,
Speaker 2: and I think it's probably like a glass half full
Speaker 2: look of that comes with like them winning the last
Speaker 2: two games is like, man, when they looks like they're
Speaker 2: playing up to like their level, it seems like they
Speaker 2: have a level of like offensive firepower that the Guardians
Speaker 2: can't match that. So the Guardians are obviously playing with that.
Speaker 2: Josara Maris and you know they played I think maybe
Speaker 2: an over arching thing is like they've played you know what,
Speaker 2: six one run games, five something in that territory. Like
Speaker 2: mostly it just seems like they're very evenly matched. All
Speaker 2: these games are going to be like battles and back
Speaker 2: and forth. The Guardians have really given their bullpen like
Speaker 2: a lot of trouble. They've clearly prepared for like what
Speaker 2: they want to do against Grant Taylor pretty well. Uh,
Speaker 2: in terms of what they want to sit on. It
Speaker 2: still seems like and like if the Socks are able
Speaker 2: to like at a deadline or you know, do something
Speaker 2: to enhance the rotation or the bullpen, like, it feels
Speaker 2: like they should be like a click away from being
Speaker 2: more successful in the sense of like you can see
Speaker 2: that like when they hit for power that that's kind
Speaker 2: of like a level that the Guardians can't get to.
Speaker 2: That said, the Guardians have obviously like been successful at
Speaker 2: getting them to not play that or not suppressing that,
Speaker 2: so where they're not in that tour type of game
Speaker 2: that often but certainly just as close as Sunday was
Speaker 2: like just a seven to six ball game was like
Speaker 2: not what they usually want to play against the White Sox.
Speaker 2: And I think at least in terms of like being
Speaker 2: optimistic to them for the end of season, like seeing
Speaker 2: that I guess was representative or at least encouraging to
Speaker 2: some degree and not to like spoil another talking point
Speaker 2: like later in the show. But like they certainly can't
Speaker 2: handle Anthony k and they certainly, I think have a
Speaker 2: limited weapons against left handed pitching, So like something like
Speaker 2: ka nukom or just like adding another left handed arm
Speaker 2: to the mix, whether it's a rotation or the bullpen
Speaker 2: at the deadline, like is another weapon that would be
Speaker 2: good against them. So I think mostly it's just kind
Speaker 2: of have been. These teams are clearly probably pretty eavily
Speaker 2: matched or they're probably going to be like grappling in
Speaker 2: anxiety inducing contests till the end. That said, like it
Speaker 2: seems like a finished version of this White Sox team
Speaker 2: when they're hitting at their best, like at least play
Speaker 2: a type of game that the Guardians can't match. That said,
Speaker 2: like the Guardians have an awesome farm system their office.
Speaker 2: They're awesome at like run prevention. Maybe this time next year,
Speaker 2: like Angel Nao and Ralphie Vasquez, you know, or Alaskaz
Speaker 2: have you know, totally altered this conversation about how much
Speaker 2: offensive firepower Cleveland has. And this is just a moment
Speaker 2: in time, but so probably the safer thing to say
Speaker 2: it is just like it looks like these are two
Speaker 2: high eighties win teams that are going to like grapple
Speaker 2: it out in ugly mud wrestling Ale Central type.
Speaker 1: Fashion out in the Warning Track in Cleveland, right, Jim,
Speaker 1: If they're going to be mud wrestling, that's will they're
Speaker 1: do it. I still can't believe all the rank Cleveland
Speaker 1: and how messy that situation the Warning Track was on Sunday.
Speaker 1: But Jim, what was your big takeaway from the White
Speaker 1: Sox series split against the Guardians.
Speaker 5: Yeah, two.
Speaker 6: Guess incomplete rosters or rosters missing a big piece that's
Speaker 6: like a defined part of their strengths. Like when you
Speaker 6: know Murakami is out, you know it's one big missing cog,
Speaker 6: one less player that Will Venable has to worry about
Speaker 6: replacing mid game, and so you know, the mixing and
Speaker 6: matching can get like a little bit wonky when he's
Speaker 6: not in there. Then you know, with the Guardians missing
Speaker 6: Jose Ramirez and that feeling pretty uh present aside from
Speaker 6: Stephen Kwan having a renaissance series against the White Sox
Speaker 6: and and getting on base and working counts the way
Speaker 6: that he hasn't for a lot of the season. Uh,
Speaker 6: but yeah, two teams designed to drive each other nuts.
Speaker 6: I think, Uh, the Guardians typically more polish than the
Speaker 6: White Sox, the White Sox showing an ability to overcome
Speaker 6: mistakes the way they couldn't in previous years with a
Speaker 6: little bit more firepower to where.
Speaker 5: They can't be counted out.
Speaker 6: So yeah, I don't see any reason why unless like
Speaker 6: something hinges of the deadline where the White Sox decided
Speaker 6: to really push for it and the Guardians you remain
Speaker 6: conservative and Ramiro doesn't come back like himself to where
Speaker 6: the White Sox can pull away like based on the
Speaker 6: talent on hand, I think the Guardians formula is to
Speaker 6: established to say that they will perform to the level
Speaker 6: of their name brand value, that they always overachieve or
Speaker 6: they always find solutions as they go with to fix
Speaker 6: the plane in the air.
Speaker 5: But I think the White Sox.
Speaker 6: Are you know, they have a level of punch that
Speaker 6: they haven't had before and a little bit more either
Speaker 6: resilience or ignorance or depth just to be able to
Speaker 6: shake off like two ugly innings. Like two ugly innings
Speaker 6: defensively against the Guardians would have buried them like nine
Speaker 6: to two in previous years, whereas they were able to
Speaker 6: win that one seven to six, even though they gave
Speaker 6: the Guardians like four or five extra outs.
Speaker 5: So I think that's something they can feel.
Speaker 6: Slightly embarrassed about but ultimately good about that they have
Speaker 6: a little bit more resourcefulness than they haven't had.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with you, Jim, because winning those last
Speaker 1: two games I thought showed a lot of character for
Speaker 1: this White Sox team, because in the manner that they
Speaker 1: lost the first two, the walk off to run homer
Speaker 1: by Brian Rochio off Grant Taylor, which that's who the
Speaker 1: White Sox want, and the ninth inning they want Grant
Speaker 1: Taylor to try to close that save. That's a heartbreaker.
Speaker 1: Then losing the next night, went ahead three to one
Speaker 1: in ten innings, another heartbreaker. I feel like the past
Speaker 1: three seasons of the White Sox version, Jim, they would
Speaker 1: have been swept. They would have lost Saturday, and they
Speaker 1: would have lost Sunday. And it's a big sigh. We
Speaker 1: come into this episode talking about four straight losses. But
Speaker 1: for this White Sox team to bounce back the way
Speaker 1: that they did to win three to one behind Shawn Berke.
Speaker 1: Phenomenal start by Seawan Burke to strike out eleven, didn't
Speaker 1: walk any over six innings. That's exactly what the White
Speaker 1: Sox needed to respond like that and to be able
Speaker 1: to hold off the Guardians and score the.
Speaker 5: Game winning run.
Speaker 1: Even though it was ugly with one out and the
Speaker 1: ball didn't leave the infield, they at least got that
Speaker 1: run to grind that out and come away with a
Speaker 1: series split. Leading the season series against Cleveland. Now that's
Speaker 1: very important four games to three. I think that is
Speaker 1: huge and feels more optimism that the White Sox are
Speaker 1: just not going to fade this season. James, and I know,
Speaker 1: we bring up the All Star Game, and we bring
Speaker 1: up the trade deadline coming up, and a lot of
Speaker 1: those things overshadow the MLB draft, But the MB drafts
Speaker 1: more of the future versions of the Chicago White Sox team.
Speaker 1: But I feel like some people around Major League Baseball
Speaker 1: are kind of putting in side bets thinking that the
Speaker 1: White Sox will fade. But after this weekend, as you mentioned,
Speaker 1: with the firepower that they have and just the amount
Speaker 1: of youth that's on the team, I'm just not seeing that, James.
Speaker 1: That's my biggest takeaway from this weekend is the ability
Speaker 1: for them to fight back get this series split just
Speaker 1: gives me more optimism that They're not going to fade
Speaker 1: in the second half.
Speaker 2: I mean they could. They're pitching is a little bit
Speaker 2: like paying by a threat in some respects.
Speaker 1: You know, who is it in the American League, to
Speaker 1: be honest with you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess like my larger point is less like,
Speaker 2: oh man, this is such a rock solid team. There's
Speaker 2: no flaws. Sure, no way I could see it falling.
Speaker 1: Part.
Speaker 2: It's more just like not seeing a huge like I
Speaker 2: certainly don't like Detroit just had like one of the
Speaker 2: best Junes of anybody or thirty games and there's still
Speaker 2: like ten under five hundred. Yeah, Toronto has not look
Speaker 2: like they have another gear. I don't think, like to
Speaker 2: visit to Baltimore really like struck a lot of fear
Speaker 2: in everyone's heart's about like that team getting together, Like
Speaker 2: Boston's been better, but certainly is still a long way
Speaker 2: to go, and you really don't know like when they're
Speaker 2: exactly going to get like Garrett Crochet and Roman Anthony
Speaker 2: back or and what sort of like shape that would take.
Speaker 2: Just not seeing anyone outside of Seattle in the als
Speaker 2: and obviously they haven't been like great all year. Who
Speaker 2: looks like I'm sure Texas like they're around. They could
Speaker 2: be a possibility. I just don't see like this big
Speaker 2: like ground swell of like AL teams they're about to
Speaker 2: turn it on in some big way. Obviously could be wrong,
Speaker 2: certainly not like Forever to go for you know, a
Speaker 2: team like Toronto or Texas or Houston to catch the
Speaker 2: White Sox and the wildcard race. But it just doesn't
Speaker 2: feel like they're barely hanging on to some sort of
Speaker 2: lead with like vastly more talented teams are going to
Speaker 2: be pushing them down the stretch. That could change, but
Speaker 2: like the Twins are one of the best offices in
Speaker 2: the AL statistically, and it's one of the closest teams
Speaker 2: to them, And like, I don't does anyone really think
Speaker 2: the Twins are gonna take on like a big second
Speaker 2: half lead, Like even directionally, it's more likely like the
Speaker 2: big gesture they would have was be the stan pat
Speaker 2: rather than add so right, I'm sure like that clip
Speaker 2: would play great the Twins, like you know, play six
Speaker 2: hundred ball down the stretch and like as they're announcing
Speaker 2: they clinched like I got like put in a Guardian's
Speaker 2: montage in twenty twenty two at some point. But it's
Speaker 2: more just like not seeing right now, like which team
Speaker 2: is gonna like catch this like new level play, and
Speaker 2: like really like push them all the way out of
Speaker 2: the playoff pictures. There's more why I think. I think
Speaker 2: they look as good as anyone as far as like
Speaker 2: that mix of teams.
Speaker 6: The Yankees lost seven in a row, so I mean,
Speaker 6: I can't even figure out them, or like the good
Speaker 6: teams the Rays are again the Rays like they're like
Speaker 6: maybe a level up on the Guardians to where you
Speaker 6: just trust that they're gonna be ninety ish wins no
Speaker 6: matter what kind of talent they have at any given time.
Speaker 6: But yeah, the Yankees basically turning a three game or
Speaker 6: four game lead into a three game.
Speaker 5: Deficits over the course of two weeks.
Speaker 6: Even that division, which I felt like I had somewhat
Speaker 6: of a handle on, I don't.
Speaker 5: So yeah, it's it's a mess.
Speaker 1: Hell, the White Sox will taking advantage of it, which
Speaker 1: is great to say that White Sox are on bar
Speaker 1: with the Guardians. That's that's great from a White Sox perspective. Nobody,
Speaker 1: I don't think even us, anyone that covers the White
Speaker 1: Sox was expecting that in twenty twenty six, so len Caster,
Speaker 1: I thought it put it well in the radio broadcast
Speaker 1: to clinch the victory on Sunday, a series split that
Speaker 1: really feels like a series win for the White Sox.
Speaker 1: Now to get into the nitty gritty because some of
Speaker 1: the things that we saw in Cleveland are going to
Speaker 1: impact this upcoming homestand for the White Sox before the
Speaker 1: All Star break, and the All Star break is coming
Speaker 1: at a much needed time for many teams around Major
Speaker 1: League Baseball because we are seeing pitching staffs and bullpends
Speaker 1: just being gassed right now. And when we did our
Speaker 1: preview of this series in our previous episode, we talked
Speaker 1: a lot about on how will Ventable would use Grant
Speaker 1: Taylor and Sean Newcomb. We knew that if the White
Speaker 1: Sox we're gonna split the series or trying to win
Speaker 1: this series, that those two would have to come through.
Speaker 1: And James, I feel like we saw the best of
Speaker 1: Grant Taylor and Shawn Newcomb in this series, and also
Speaker 1: the hiccups that sometimes happens in just the game of baseball,
Speaker 1: even if you are a very good reliever. And I'm
Speaker 1: wondering because we saw the hiccups early in the series
Speaker 1: for both Taylor and Newcom, but they were able to
Speaker 1: both ounce back. Taylor closed the win on Saturday. Newcomb
Speaker 1: closed the win on Sunday. Can relievers build off good
Speaker 1: performances or is that just really like starting pitchers that
Speaker 1: get into rhythm and relievers just have to men in
Speaker 1: black themselves and stare at the lights and wipe out
Speaker 1: their memory just to get ready for the next day.
Speaker 2: I think certainly when you establish like what things work
Speaker 2: or what keys like get you in the right place,
Speaker 2: I think that builds, you know, momentum, or at least
Speaker 2: could like allows you to string together consistent outings for sure.
Speaker 2: I mean Newcomb's outing where he gave up the walk off,
Speaker 2: like he gave up two ground balls or three ground balls.
Speaker 2: It wasn't like a man what's broken here type of
Speaker 2: outing a little bit whereas like I just thinking, granted,
Speaker 2: Taylor is like a little bit similar to Sir Anthony
Speaker 2: Amingas where he's just like it's just super long, like
Speaker 2: he gets so much extension. It's just like a very
Speaker 2: long delivery, and like it can be difficult for the
Speaker 2: time up. And I think you see him like I
Speaker 2: mean and like his frame for a little bit, and
Speaker 2: it's about like one just how overwhelming he is or
Speaker 2: just how quickly he snaps back into control that you
Speaker 2: know he can kind of get out of it a
Speaker 2: bit more. I think Newcomb has been pretty consistent, you know,
Speaker 2: throughout the season, or certainly the most consistent believer they've had.
Speaker 2: And if anything, I just with both of them, like
Speaker 2: because Tailor's like in unprecedented workload territory for him, just
Speaker 2: because like his professional career has been so short and
Speaker 2: Nucomb as much as he like said he did it
Speaker 2: last year, Like what he's doing is hard. There's a reason,
Speaker 2: like not a bunch of other earlievers are just logging
Speaker 2: like ninety five inning seasons all the time, Like it's
Speaker 2: kind of a season like uh Mike Assel had last season.
Speaker 2: And then obviously like that comes to some physical wear
Speaker 2: to it. So the idea that he'd be erratic at
Speaker 2: all while he's just like on a ninety five inning
Speaker 2: pace I think is like I think we've gotten less
Speaker 2: than but he would be understanding allotted as far as
Speaker 2: like oddings where he looked off like there's so much
Speaker 2: horizontal action on those pitches, like he really has to
Speaker 2: like if he's like if his targets are off, like
Speaker 2: it's going to miss by a lot a little bit,
Speaker 2: And in terms of what he's setting, like he's really
Speaker 2: got to like if he wants to like paint that slur,
Speaker 2: he's really gonna be like trusting it to bend from
Speaker 2: like the left handed batter's box a lot. So yeah,
Speaker 2: I think there's gonna be I don't think like I mean,
Speaker 2: Taylor's obviously had some high profile blow ups and like
Speaker 2: he's getting like the highest the most dangerous part of
Speaker 2: the batting order in the most like high leverage moment
Speaker 2: of the game like all the time. Like that's kind
Speaker 2: of like the trick of being more open minded about
Speaker 2: where the leverage opportunities are is that they've managed to
Speaker 2: make your top reliever's job even harder than it was
Speaker 2: when he had the pitch ninth inning every single time.
Speaker 2: So yeah, he's had some profile and that I wouldn't
Speaker 2: say like he's been more erratic than like your typical
Speaker 2: high leverage like good high leverage believer in something like
Speaker 2: crazy way. At least it's not in like a Sir
Speaker 2: Anthony way where like I've seen him be like this
Speaker 2: guy needs get moved out of spot, like he's he's
Speaker 2: had some rough outings, but I generally like have thought
Speaker 2: like this guy looks really good even when he's struggling throughout.
Speaker 2: So I think it's more about depth of options when
Speaker 2: one guy looks off or just like not having to
Speaker 2: work guys like as hard in a single series when
Speaker 2: you have like both your best leverage options are also
Speaker 2: these multiinting weapons that you want to get two innings
Speaker 2: out of every time, like a three game series when
Speaker 2: you have a couple of close games and it like
Speaker 2: can get kind of hairy of how you want to
Speaker 2: use them, and just like more options to get a
Speaker 2: single inning when they need it. I think it's really
Speaker 2: what like is needed for this bullpen, like at the
Speaker 2: deadline in a way that could maybe make the inconsistencies
Speaker 2: of any one guy a bit more easy to deal
Speaker 2: with and without being like I feel like it's more
Speaker 2: structurally addressing the bullpen than like figure out what's going
Speaker 2: on Grant Taylor week to week when I think he's
Speaker 2: going through like a normal amount of variance a guy
Speaker 2: in his first full season.
Speaker 1: No, those are good points, James and both Grant Taylor
Speaker 1: and Sean do come deserve a much needed day off.
Speaker 1: But to bigg back off, James point, do the White
Speaker 1: Sox need to find a third option. Let's talk about
Speaker 1: what was originally designed as the first option. And I
Speaker 1: think when you look at this four game series, Jim,
Speaker 1: like Trevor Richards got a lot of innings, Chris Murphy
Speaker 1: got a lot of innings. Sir Anthony Dominguez a third
Speaker 1: of an inning. One appearance, he got one out on
Speaker 1: sixteen pitches. That's the only time we saw him in
Speaker 1: these four games for the White Sox. And he had
Speaker 1: an opportunity to help out and to steal that win
Speaker 1: on Friday and just couldn't get the job done. And
Speaker 1: now I'm wondering, Jim, I'm just gonna put it out there.
Speaker 1: Maybe I'm off base, but I feel like that there
Speaker 1: is a trust issue between Will Venable and Sarantony Domingus.
Speaker 1: I can't blame Will for having trust issues with Siranty
Speaker 1: to Dimingus. I think every White Sox fan at this
Speaker 1: moment has trust issues with Sirante to Domingus. But I
Speaker 1: don't know in how the White Sox move forward right
Speaker 1: now with his struggles other than well, if the White
Speaker 1: Sox are down four in the eighth inning, here comes
Speaker 1: Sirante Domingus. I feel like that's also not a great
Speaker 1: time to use him as well. So I don't know
Speaker 1: how the White Sox move forward right now with this
Speaker 1: sticky situation.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean it's a it's a trust issue, just
Speaker 6: I guess it would be more that Domingas hasn't been
Speaker 6: trustworthy and so Venable. I think if maybe he's handling
Speaker 6: a little bit awkwardly, you know, it's a big salary,
Speaker 6: I guess, and he does. You know, he's trying to
Speaker 6: be delicate about it. But also if you're so delicate
Speaker 6: about it, it makes it sound like he's not willing
Speaker 6: to acknowledge it. And so it's maybe not a trust
Speaker 6: issue so much between Venable and Domingos, but maybe could
Speaker 6: lead to a lack of trust between Venable and the
Speaker 6: fan base or who's watching the game to kind of
Speaker 6: understand to think along with him. And I think, you
Speaker 6: are you seeing the same thing we're seeing, And.
Speaker 5: I think he's trying to be delicate about.
Speaker 6: It, but yeah, it is reaching a point to where
Speaker 6: you know there needs to be something more definitive like
Speaker 6: you tried to get a sixth ending appearance. It kind
Speaker 6: of worked, but then you know, it didn't get him
Speaker 6: back on the bike exactly. He toppled over his next
Speaker 6: chance where he could have really.
Speaker 5: Impacted a game.
Speaker 6: So it is getting awkward, or it has gotten awkward,
Speaker 6: and it does feel like the White Sox have a void.
Speaker 6: And you know, I was thinking about what James saying
Speaker 6: about Taylor and that you know, he's kind of occupying
Speaker 6: the role that Pedro Ruffoll gave to Reynaldo Lopez and
Speaker 6: Michael Kopek in terms of, you know, you're the best reliever,
Speaker 6: You're always facing the best part of the lineup, And
Speaker 6: I think it makes sense in isolation or like say
Speaker 6: in Big Series against Cleveland Direct, you know, competitors, But
Speaker 6: I also think like the one of the benefits of
Speaker 6: having the traditional seven eight, nine, one inning PERU reliever
Speaker 6: setup is that you do give some guys some breaks.
Speaker 6: Like the closer isn't always facing the toughest situation.
Speaker 5: Oftentimes he's facing the bottom.
Speaker 6: Of the order, but the you know, the the margin
Speaker 6: for error is smaller, so you get a little bit
Speaker 6: of a break in terms of, well, yeah, he's getting
Speaker 6: the ninth again, you know, for the fifth straight game,
Speaker 6: but he's also facing the lesser hitters, whereas in the
Speaker 6: eighth inning, you know, a picture doesn't need to be
Speaker 6: perfect necessarily.
Speaker 5: It's great if he is, but there are backup plans
Speaker 5: if he fails in the eighth inning. So having that
Speaker 5: setup kind.
Speaker 6: Of disperses the stress of not only like a game situation,
Speaker 6: but also I think just responsibilities. And I think the
Speaker 6: way it was originally set up with Domingez being the
Speaker 6: ninth inning is that if he's getting the safe situations
Speaker 6: and kind of like the glory, you're getting the salary
Speaker 6: for it, but also maybe not getting always the heart
Speaker 6: of the order, Like that's great because then Grant Taylor
Speaker 6: can be used in the seventh or the eighth or
Speaker 6: the seventh and eighth, and you know, Venable kind of
Speaker 6: has the ideal situation of Taylor's getting the important outs
Speaker 6: and Dimingas is getting the ones that you know they're
Speaker 6: also important, but they also you know, fulfill their role.
Speaker 6: Make it very easy to say he's a closer, but
Speaker 6: everybody's kind of getting what they want, and when Domingas
Speaker 6: isn't able to handle that, and it starts to undo
Speaker 6: work that the rest of the team has done to
Speaker 6: get the team in a spot where they're leading in
Speaker 6: the ninth inning.
Speaker 5: It does make it kind of hairy. So yeah, I
Speaker 5: am curious to see how.
Speaker 6: You know, both of them work their way out of this,
Speaker 6: how Dominga's you know, whether he improves, and if not,
Speaker 6: just exactly how definitively Venable says that, Hey, we're gonna
Speaker 6: need you know, Trevor Richards, You've been great, You're our
Speaker 6: h you know, our primary set up righty in front
Speaker 6: of Taylor because you have a new who's you know
Speaker 6: he I think he defies platoon splits or he defies
Speaker 6: like lefty righty matchups, say like Brian Hudson, Like he's,
Speaker 6: you know, Trevor Richards, you know now the Brian Hudson
Speaker 6: of this bullpen being the important right on right guy.
Speaker 1: James am I off base with my assessment of what's
Speaker 1: going on between Venable and Domingus.
Speaker 2: I think certainly like he's taking him out of.
Speaker 1: Even before NA like you've asked Venable straight up, is
Speaker 1: Domingus your closer? And I feel like Venable publicly has
Speaker 1: defended Dimingus and given him enough opportunities. I feel like
Speaker 1: this is more on Domingus than Venable.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, he's the one pitching, so right, I I
Speaker 2: he said, like I asked him about it, like I
Speaker 2: have to like the Karral walkoff in Cubs, But I
Speaker 2: feel like things became like clear or more obvious that
Speaker 2: like he was using tailor for like the most difficult
Speaker 2: stretch of game from that point on, and then like
Speaker 2: it more came to a head in the last Cleveland
Speaker 2: series of like blowing kind of the back to back
Speaker 2: save opportunities and just like, well, we tried to get
Speaker 2: you like good situations, like your overall performances like started
Speaker 2: to lag in a way that like we can kind
Speaker 2: of point you over a meaningful sample on top of
Speaker 2: like just kind of like clear just like scouting that
Speaker 2: this guy's like just not been in sync or getting
Speaker 2: editors in a way that like merits like trust him
Speaker 2: as your top guy for a while. And then to
Speaker 2: have like these kind of unambiguous like failures in the
Speaker 2: ninth inning allowed him to be like, all right, we're
Speaker 2: just straight up we're not even kind of hiding it
Speaker 2: through leverage usage in any like kind of crafty way.
Speaker 2: And you get a matchup against like a whatever, like
Speaker 2: bottom of the order or righty heavy pocket in the
Speaker 2: final three innings, that comes up sort of way where
Speaker 2: we're just taking on a leverage entirely. I feel like
Speaker 2: it's been a pretty like steady and response. Maybe not
Speaker 2: as quickly responsive as you know, fans of want, but
Speaker 2: like it's it's at least moved along at like a
Speaker 2: pace that's internally consistent even if he wanted to go
Speaker 2: faster in terms of like removing him from leverage, and
Speaker 2: like he had the good, like really low leverage outing
Speaker 2: and they like built him up a little bit in
Speaker 2: terms of like what his responsibility was with the assignment
Speaker 2: in Cleveland, and he failed it, and you probably imagine
Speaker 2: that the next one will be, you know, somebody back
Speaker 2: to like low leverage or you know, medium leverage or
Speaker 2: something like that. That said, like the way that they
Speaker 2: pulled him in Cleveland was like someone like to kind
Speaker 2: of give out after two walks. One of them like
Speaker 2: probably could have reversed if they had challenged it. And
Speaker 2: he's in a totally different situation. That's kind of like
Speaker 2: an individual game handling that represents like this is a
Speaker 2: guy that we don't trust right now or is we
Speaker 2: don't think is in a good spot right now, so
Speaker 2: we're not going to give him much rope. So that
Speaker 2: makes it seem like he's a bit farther away from
Speaker 2: really earning this back than like one or two good
Speaker 2: outings necessarily depending on how good they are. Certainly more
Speaker 2: than one, I would say, And but I think that's earned.
Speaker 2: And I think like at least the last time we
Speaker 2: checked him with Sir Anthony about it, he like felt
Speaker 2: that it was communicated to him, and he talked about
Speaker 2: it like it was something that was deserved. He didn't
Speaker 2: say something outright like I think, and I get this,
Speaker 2: but he's more like I, you know, sometimes when you're
Speaker 2: not good, you have to take a step back, like
Speaker 2: it was very this is okay with it. So saying
Speaker 2: like they have trust issues makes it sound like they're
Speaker 2: at odds in some way personally, which I couldn't like
Speaker 2: necessarily attest to. But the idea like, clearly he's pushed
Speaker 2: himself out of that closer role, even if it's like
Speaker 2: we're just holding this open for you until you get right,
Speaker 2: because which they can, because he's never going to unless
Speaker 2: he's pressed into it in some way anoint someone closer, Like,
Speaker 2: it's not like he needs to give that title to
Speaker 2: someone else. He clearly has no use of that title,
Speaker 2: and he can just keep it open to like once
Speaker 2: Sir Anthony's right again, it gets me called the closer again.
Speaker 2: So I wouldn't be surprised to do that. But in
Speaker 2: terms of like wha you're's currently at, I think they've
Speaker 2: proactively But it was interesting like the way we found out.
Speaker 2: We did a scrump with like Zach Bob and he's
Speaker 2: like someone floated the idea of hey, could he get
Speaker 2: lower average like innings as like a get right thing,
Speaker 2: and both says like, yeah, well that's under consideration, And
Speaker 2: at that point we hadn't heard that from Will Venables,
Speaker 2: so it kind of seemed like, well, is he just
Speaker 2: like saying that's a possibility or is he saying that's true?
Speaker 2: And then literally that game, Sir Anthony, pitch is like
Speaker 2: a low average pitches a six inning. So yeah, I
Speaker 2: think you're right in terms of like Will Venable has
Speaker 2: certainly not made some effort to like get out and
Speaker 2: officially announce this. It's not what he was trying to
Speaker 2: do here. It's just like I think they've graduated to
Speaker 2: lowering his leverage opportunities and lowering yours responsibilities in a
Speaker 2: way that becomes like impossible from the NY even if
Speaker 2: they're not trying to have like the official decoration he's
Speaker 2: the closer official declaration, he's not the closer type of
Speaker 2: communication with the public because really, like outside of this
Speaker 2: being kind of clearly an attraction that got him to
Speaker 2: sign with Chicago, I don't think that as necessarily like
Speaker 2: some need to fill this title in a major way.
Speaker 2: They kind of think like the leverage guys kind of
Speaker 2: probably have a way of figuring out their leverage. Guys
Speaker 2: like Grant Taylor probably has figured out that, you know,
Speaker 2: his responsibilities are pretty steep. They're not so execution minded
Speaker 2: that they're not aware of like the pecking order here,
Speaker 2: and I think they like to be pretty fluid with that,
Speaker 2: as evidence by Trevor Richards kind of working his way
Speaker 2: into that mix.
Speaker 1: Now, Yeah, well we're within a month of the trade deadline.
Speaker 1: So if de Mingus just does not excel in these
Speaker 1: upcoming opportunities, suddenly it's like Chris Scattz, do you need
Speaker 1: to go to the trade market? And Bush Deming is
Speaker 1: even further down the leverage ladder from the spot that
Speaker 1: he was already perched at the beginning of the season.
Speaker 1: So I know we asked out our first half grade.
Speaker 1: You could watch that video on her YouTube channel at
Speaker 1: YouTube dot com slash socks Machine. We gave Chris Catzon
Speaker 1: a because nobody expected the White Sox to be where
Speaker 1: they're at. But unfortunately for Chriscats' second biggest free agent
Speaker 1: contract signing after Mudatako Murakami and Sir Ante Di Mingus
Speaker 1: isn't panning out. Sean Newcome is I was a good
Speaker 1: signing by Chris Gatz, but the White Sox got to
Speaker 1: figure out what's going on with the Mingas before the
Speaker 1: trade deadline, before they have to maybe find a external
Speaker 1: option to help out Grant Taylor, Sean Newcomb and Brian Hudson.
Speaker 1: I don't know Jim like Trevor Richards good weekend. Not
Speaker 1: sure if you want to trust him yet to help
Speaker 1: you get to the finish line into the postseason. But
Speaker 1: we'll see what the White Sox do in the bullpen front.
Speaker 2: Can I raise a theory of what's up with Sir Anthony?
Speaker 2: Go ahead, Yes, I think the thing with him is
Speaker 2: that he's Sir Anthony Domingas and he's been this kind
Speaker 2: of stuff over command guy his entire career, who had
Speaker 2: like a five k oh walk per nine last year
Speaker 2: and goes through these bouts of like his stuff is
Speaker 2: really good and like if he's in sync and he
Speaker 2: looks really good, and he goes through these spouts where
Speaker 2: like he just walks somebody to start off every inning
Speaker 2: and falls behind every hitter and like everything is a chore.
Speaker 2: And I think that's a normal level of like hot
Speaker 2: and cold that a lot of like high stuff, low
Speaker 2: control leverage relievers go through, and they can look like
Speaker 2: a closer and in their hot periods, but they probably
Speaker 2: shake out to what Sir Anthony Dimingas has been his
Speaker 2: old career, which is like load a mid three e er,
Speaker 2: a seventh eighth inning guy, And they kind of gave
Speaker 2: him the status promotion off a good year. But I
Speaker 2: think like his career norms look like a leverage arm,
Speaker 2: but not like, you know, an above average closer, And
Speaker 2: so that always made it seem like one if Grant
Speaker 2: Taylor stays in the bullpen, him looked being like a
Speaker 2: bit better of a right handed leverage option was going
Speaker 2: to become clear over time, and we just like he's
Speaker 2: or Sir Anthony was going to start off his career
Speaker 2: or just have a prominent lull where you have to
Speaker 2: be like, man, we can't really roll with this a
Speaker 2: knife right now until you get right. The Phillies obviously
Speaker 2: went through that. That's why he has kind of one
Speaker 2: half season where he's a closer and then fell to
Speaker 2: another role and the other teams has been on. I
Speaker 2: think this is not especially with him still hitting ninety eight,
Speaker 2: especially with the strikeout rate still being like really high twenties,
Speaker 2: I kind of think he's gonna be okay. I just
Speaker 2: don't think like what he's demonstrated has ever quite been
Speaker 2: like really consistent, nice aning option. I think he's a
Speaker 2: guy who kind of runs hot in golds, like a
Speaker 2: lot of relievers of his ilk who have huge stuff
Speaker 2: but really long and fluid and can fall out of
Speaker 2: sayctum sometimes.
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, I don't think that was the crazy theory, James,
Speaker 1: Thank you. It was well stated, but you did nothing
Speaker 1: to con vince me. Now I'm kidding. Before we wrap
Speaker 1: up as far as what happened in Cleveland and we
Speaker 1: move forward as the White Sox get ready for their
Speaker 1: home stand. Who needed a big series against the Guardians, James,
Speaker 1: you went with Anthony K. He was looking good until
Speaker 1: the rain came in. But in his two starts against
Speaker 1: the Guardians ten innings against Cleveland, he's only allowed one
Speaker 1: run against the Guardians. What makes Anthony K a tough
Speaker 1: matchup for Cleveland?
Speaker 2: So I think it's helpful that you sent this rundown
Speaker 2: out ahead of time, because if you had just sprung
Speaker 2: it on me, I probably would have had a response
Speaker 2: that would have come off as flippant, which is that
Speaker 2: he's left handed. That's really the essential issue. But you
Speaker 2: said it out. I did a little bit more preparation
Speaker 2: on that, thank you. So Cleveland has basically two good
Speaker 2: hitters against lefties this year. One ofn't bepposed air mirror.
Speaker 2: It was like one sixty WRC plus against lefties, and
Speaker 2: the other one's chased. The latter it was like one
Speaker 2: fifty something. The next two guys are like not on
Speaker 2: the roster right now. They're like Bo Naylor and Jant Brito,
Speaker 2: and then like everyone else is like huvery around league average.
Speaker 2: Kyle Manzardo has been okay against lefties, but he's looked
Speaker 2: awful in both series for the most part. I think
Speaker 2: he had one GTH game in Chicago, but like certainly
Speaker 2: looked pretty gettable throughout this you know affair, especially for
Speaker 2: K as a lot of time left matchup so there,
Speaker 2: especially like Ramira is out, even like you know, Angel
Speaker 2: Martinez out, you know, like he hasn't been great against right.
Speaker 2: He's a switch hitter at least just even having like
Speaker 2: Bible right and options, like they're not in a good
Speaker 2: place right now. They didn't have the lotter in the
Speaker 2: first series either, so like that's certainly probably helped another
Speaker 2: thing in Kay getting to the order three times. I
Speaker 2: certainly think this K has had his sweeper in like
Speaker 2: probably more in Top four, like basically in April when
Speaker 2: he wasn't at at max like functioning. He just wasn't
Speaker 2: plitching very well. Not having a sweeper, which is like
Speaker 2: a huge weapon that just like you know, kills lefties,
Speaker 2: was part of that. And so he's faced this very
Speaker 2: lefty heavy order of the Guardians, while like his lefty
Speaker 2: killing weapons are are operational. So that's that's part of
Speaker 2: it too. Like I knew that he had splits going on,
Speaker 2: but like even coming into it, I didn't realize it's
Speaker 2: nearly like three hundred points of ops difference for Anthony
Speaker 2: can like left rieties right now, so like, yeah, that's
Speaker 2: a lineup like he should eat their lunch, and especially
Speaker 2: like they're a little bit weak right now and what
Speaker 2: he's kind of got working right right now in terms
Speaker 2: of his pitch mix, it all kind of lined up
Speaker 2: for like they clearly just didn't have anything for him,
Speaker 2: Like even the runs are like able to scrape out
Speaker 2: of him were only like him losing his command, like
Speaker 2: just authoritative swings, turning around his stuff like with hard contact,
Speaker 2: like that was just not happening against him any of
Speaker 2: the times he faced them. So probably certainly he didn't
Speaker 2: seem happy that the rain forced them out with how
Speaker 2: good things are probably feeling for him, and Betty's probably
Speaker 2: Maddy can't face him again because right now it just
Speaker 2: looks like a really good matchup for him.
Speaker 1: Kyle Teal was your big gym. He went three for fifteen,
Speaker 1: He had a home run, a double drove in for
Speaker 1: RBIs in the series. How do you think Teal fared
Speaker 1: against the Guardians this weekend?
Speaker 5: Good enough?
Speaker 6: I mean in terms of an improvement over what the
Speaker 6: White Sox had. The fact that he had two extra
Speaker 6: base hits I think maybe matched what Caro and Romo
Speaker 6: did together over the month beforehand.
Speaker 5: So that's good.
Speaker 6: I think the timing is still a little bit off.
Speaker 6: You're seeing like maybe more broken bets than you want
Speaker 6: to see from him. I think he's had like three
Speaker 6: or four of the course of the series swung at
Speaker 6: ball four a couple of times the bases loaded against
Speaker 6: the left e so you might be seeing, you know.
Speaker 5: The way Edgar Carroll was able.
Speaker 6: To shield him against lefties while also just you know,
Speaker 6: splitting the workload last year and gave him like a
Speaker 6: nice gentle introduction to major league pitching. Uh, he'll be
Speaker 6: a bit more exposed this year to the elements, and
Speaker 6: ultimately that's fine because he's supposed to be good enough
Speaker 6: to handle the lion's share of the starts behind the plate.
Speaker 5: But yes, I think between the rust from time.
Speaker 6: Off and then maybe some situations where the Guardians can
Speaker 6: match up against him, you know, they made him work.
Speaker 1: And then my banqu was Sam Antonacci two for eighteen
Speaker 1: two RBIs not great offensively. He made a great catch
Speaker 1: on Sunday in the mud pit in the warning track
Speaker 1: in Cleveland. So he did, Yes, he just a bit shy,
Speaker 1: a bit shy, but the White Socks are able to
Speaker 1: split that series against Cleveland. And we look forward to
Speaker 1: this upcoming home stand for the White Sox as Boston
Speaker 1: Sacramento arrive. Before we preview the Boston Red Sox series,
Speaker 1: the All Star team selections were announced and a great
Speaker 1: moment for Miguel Vargas James as he would be going
Speaker 1: to the All Star Game. And what are your thoughts
Speaker 1: about Miguel Vargas All Star?
Speaker 2: I mean, I certainly thought he deserved it, probably certainly.
Speaker 2: I felt like near the end of the last homestand
Speaker 2: we're all settling around him as like the one who
Speaker 2: had the strongest case, and I felt like they were
Speaker 2: all in this weird bucket where you had four like
Speaker 2: you know, Colson Davis, Murcamie adding in like star caliber
Speaker 2: and you know power a little bit and like his notoriety.
Speaker 2: You could certainly make like a you know, a war
Speaker 2: case for Tristan Peters, though I didn't seemed highly unlikely
Speaker 2: and certainly any like just on war or if like
Speaker 2: you know, there was a big player vote like this
Speaker 2: guy's been nasty, like I think Newcombe certainly and probably
Speaker 2: even tailor in terms of like results or certainly the
Speaker 2: player boats if they're just talking about his stuff. Like
Speaker 2: even Brian Rocco Rokio the other day was saying, like
Speaker 2: that's when he homered off them, Like that's one of
Speaker 2: the best pitches I've ever faced, Like I had, I
Speaker 2: was just like had to be extremely locked in for that.
Speaker 2: I think they have like relievers who are doing as
Speaker 2: well as the relievers who got you know, made the team,
Speaker 2: not like that thing's always fickle and like you know,
Speaker 2: closer responsibility some of it. But like I certainly don't
Speaker 2: think they're like outclass there, but they a lot of
Speaker 2: guys long story short, they a lot of guys who
Speaker 2: were like all star caliber but also wouldn't like stun
Speaker 2: you if they were snubbed like now, like clearly like
Speaker 2: top three in the league sort of like value, whereas
Speaker 2: like a Vargas probably like had a case of being
Speaker 2: like the second best like third baseman in the league
Speaker 2: all the way through. And really Cameron Arrow only like
Speaker 2: really created separation in the last two weeks by homering
Speaker 2: every day. Granted Belt and I was wondering like they're
Speaker 2: kind of like Vargas seems like the most perfect example,
Speaker 2: like how the organization's changed the last two years, just
Speaker 2: because like his journey like literally begins like him as
Speaker 2: nator uh and the White Sox that their nator, and
Speaker 2: certainly at that time like not really having any confidence
Speaker 2: that like the organization could make him better towards like
Speaker 2: he's now like the most clear example of someone they've
Speaker 2: actively made better and also clearly whether from just you know,
Speaker 2: general makeup scouting or kind of getting lucky, this is
Speaker 2: profile of the land in their lap picked the right
Speaker 2: person in terms of like appetite and willingness to like
Speaker 2: submit himself to ways to get better. It's weird, like
Speaker 2: he seems like a like the most representative story about
Speaker 2: like this this team's turn around. But that said, like
Speaker 2: Davis Martin kind of like continually adding pitches under like
Speaker 2: as like the organization evolves like recently and like certainly
Speaker 2: developing the kick change. Like that's like a big White
Speaker 2: Sox story fixing Colston Montgomery and office also him being
Speaker 2: like a draft and developed positional star or something like
Speaker 2: they didn't they went decades without Like that's certainly a
Speaker 2: big White Sox story as well, So like I think
Speaker 2: they're all like really aren't. Also, like Mura Commy made
Speaker 2: it is like, yes, the White Sox should get as
Speaker 2: much positive feedback as possible for spending a free agency
Speaker 2: like she needs to be like some sort of like
Speaker 2: Pavlovian thing where like they spend a free agency just
Speaker 2: like money rains from the sky like this, So like
Speaker 2: him being like Mara Commy making the All Star would
Speaker 2: be like a good White Sox story for them as well.
Speaker 2: But that's it. This is result we have and it
Speaker 2: feels like a very true thing of the season of
Speaker 2: like Vargus being a good representative of like what has
Speaker 2: made them better and more watchable this season.
Speaker 1: Jemmy's rise is just one All Star selection for the
Speaker 1: White Sox and Miguel Vargas.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean when we decided to go with the
Speaker 6: unthinkable and send James a Philadelphia, we thought, well, this
Speaker 6: is can be kind of a there's a chance of
Speaker 6: a mid season coronation here of the White Sox with
Speaker 6: you know, Vargas and Martin Murakami.
Speaker 1: And just too many White Sox to ignore.
Speaker 5: As they're announcing the lineups.
Speaker 6: And they're lining up along the first base line and everybody's.
Speaker 5: Having a good time.
Speaker 6: Or the home run derby if Montgomery or Murracami participated,
Speaker 6: still a reason to go.
Speaker 5: Just you know, Argus is a great story.
Speaker 6: Also the draft happening too, Like there's reasons to go
Speaker 6: beyond the number of White Sox in the game. But yeah,
Speaker 6: it is a lower number than expected. We'll see if
Speaker 6: anybody sneaks in. But yeah, it's just in terms of
Speaker 6: the decisions, you kind of get them.
Speaker 5: In terms of rest.
Speaker 6: You know, Martin looked guessed, so not the worst thing
Speaker 6: for him to have the week off, And same thing
Speaker 6: with Colson with the back injury or I should say injury,
Speaker 6: but just the thing he's managing, you know, not the
Speaker 6: worst thing to have him be off his feet for
Speaker 6: a few days. So could help them in the long
Speaker 6: run or not hurts. But it is just a little
Speaker 6: bit weird that they're one of the best stories. But
Speaker 6: in terms of all stars, they still had the same
Speaker 6: number as they did when it was like Louis Robert
Speaker 6: as the sole representative and Garrett Crochet and Shane Smith
Speaker 6: and so you know, this is just a very arbitrary benchmark.
Speaker 6: But also one where it feels like they should have
Speaker 6: been able to do just a little bit better than
Speaker 6: this to reflect the overall team fortunes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a lot of teams with losing records that
Speaker 1: are well represented for the American League.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like Detroit having like three position player All Stars
Speaker 2: probably not telling you the story of their season in
Speaker 2: a very helpful way.
Speaker 1: No or Toronto. I know Vladd Junior has already pulled
Speaker 1: out of the upcoming All Star Game. Not sure if
Speaker 1: it gets because of injury or maybe he just doesn't
Speaker 1: feel like he deserves the All Star nod. It will
Speaker 1: certainly help with his Baseball Reference page. But like that's
Speaker 1: the thing that now is kind of eating at me. Jim,
Speaker 1: And I know I warned everyone that at the White
Speaker 1: soxer Plant one All Star I was going to be
Speaker 1: a bit angry. But this stuff does matter when we
Speaker 1: look at a player's career and when we look at
Speaker 1: the Baseball Reference page and we see the All Star
Speaker 1: link inarticular season, and if they don't have it, that
Speaker 1: like impacts the way that we talk about their career,
Speaker 1: even if they have a fringe Hall of Fame case
Speaker 1: like Mark Burley, Mark Burley. I don't know if he's
Speaker 1: a Hall of Famer. He didn't make the All Star
Speaker 1: Game that many times. It just it kind of irks
Speaker 1: me now. And also an unrelated but also very related situation,
Speaker 1: I think we need to be a little bit more
Speaker 1: skeptical with this online voting and what's happening in Canada
Speaker 1: since the whole I don't know if you know this
Speaker 1: whole social media fiasco, but the Blue Jays fans using
Speaker 1: Twitter to spam as far as reports and getting one
Speaker 1: of the more popular Seattle Mariner fans social media accounts
Speaker 1: banned makes me kind of wonder. Are they bought voting
Speaker 1: in Canada the first time?
Speaker 2: Called playing to win?
Speaker 1: Well, you know what, Bravo, But that doesn't mean that
Speaker 1: it's legit.
Speaker 2: Country doesn't justn't familiar with that. From what I saw
Speaker 2: on TV tonight. Other nations bring it in when the
Speaker 2: moment counts.
Speaker 1: That is that is true. If you ain't geen, you
Speaker 1: ain't trying. But hopefully things do change. It'd be nice
Speaker 1: if Coleson Montgomery I think he should be on the
Speaker 1: All Star team. So if somebody, if a shortstop pulls
Speaker 1: out and they can't play, be great. If he use
Speaker 1: a late edition. We'll talk about Davis Marty in a moment,
Speaker 1: but Davis Martin will be rested, so they need pitchers
Speaker 1: to actually throw an inning. Davis Martin could be available
Speaker 1: to do that, and I think that he deserves that
Speaker 1: recognition as well. It's just it's weird. It's weird that
Speaker 1: Ernie Clement, really Ernie Clement lead voting for the American
Speaker 1: League All Star Team. Come on, yeah, so well we'll see,
Speaker 1: we'll see what the quality of the American League is.
Speaker 1: And this, yes, bring back the paper ballots, the hating chads.
Speaker 1: We again have that argument again. But great for Miguel Vargas.
Speaker 1: Loved that video by the White Sox. Obviously it meant
Speaker 1: a lot to Vargas to make this All Star team
Speaker 1: and to get this much deserved honor, and it'd be
Speaker 1: great to see him on the field next Tuesday in Philadelphia.
Speaker 2: It was nice to hear him as much as it
Speaker 2: was nice to hear him like talk emotionally about how
Speaker 2: difficult twenty twenty four was from At the same time,
Speaker 2: I do more in the depth the death of his
Speaker 2: really good bit of just every time we asked him
Speaker 2: about twenty twenty four, pretending he had no memory of
Speaker 2: the season whatsoever. It was fantastic, the execution was consistent.
Speaker 2: Good a time is that ever from the drop it,
Speaker 2: but I will miss the bit.
Speaker 5: You lied to us.
Speaker 1: Well for the White Sox. After a tough road series,
Speaker 1: which hey a winning road trip for the White Sox,
Speaker 1: winning two out of three in Baltimore and split it
Speaker 1: with Cleveland, they now come home, which we know how
Speaker 1: very good the Icago White Sox have been at Rate Field.
Speaker 1: Their first series in this home stand is the Boston
Speaker 1: Red Sox, and the Red Sox have been a mess
Speaker 1: this season. They are forty and forty eight. They are
Speaker 1: currently last place in the America League East. They're twelve games
Speaker 1: back at Tampa. They're four games back of the wild card.
Speaker 1: They're not exactly sure what they are going to do
Speaker 1: with the upcoming trade deadline. The Red Sox have won
Speaker 1: their last three games and they're kind of on a heater.
Speaker 1: They won eight of their last ten. They are one
Speaker 1: of four teams in the American League with a winning
Speaker 1: road record. They're twenty three and twenty one away from
Speaker 1: Fenway this year. The sum up the Red Sox pitching,
Speaker 1: very good, hitting, very bad, Their best hitter is Wilson Catreros.
Speaker 1: He has twenty home runs of fifty nine RBIs this year.
Speaker 1: He has a one to fifty two way to run
Speaker 1: runs creative plus and a two point eight war. Their
Speaker 1: best pitcher has been Ranger Suarez. He's been at three
Speaker 1: war but offensively for the Red Sox, they only currently
Speaker 1: have four above average league hitters right now. They have
Speaker 1: been really struggling to score runs. You're bitching problems for
Speaker 1: this series. Between the White Sox at Red Sox Tuesday night,
Speaker 1: six forty pm Central Time, it'll be lefty bain Toll
Speaker 1: against lefty Noah Schultz. On Wednesday night, this is Pokemon
Speaker 1: Go Night. They are expecting a lot of people in attendance,
Speaker 1: so much that they might be opening up the gates
Speaker 1: early because of the Pokemon Go Jersey giveaway. It'll be
Speaker 1: left Tanda bitcher Jake Bennett for the Red Sox against
Speaker 1: righty Davis Martin. And on Thursday Afternoon get Away Day
Speaker 1: at once in PM's Central time, two b deternamed for
Speaker 1: the Red Sox against Anthony k James. Davis Martin struggled
Speaker 1: against Cleveland. I'm not expected him to struggle against Boston,
Speaker 1: because Wow, his splits between home and away is incredible.
Speaker 1: Away from raid Field, Davis Martin is a four point
Speaker 1: seven to earned run average. He's four and three and
Speaker 1: ten starts, forty seven strikeouts, twenty one walks. At home,
Speaker 1: Davis Martin is undefeated, a zero point eighty eight earned
Speaker 1: run average in seven starts, with forty three strikeouts to
Speaker 1: just eight walks over forty one innings at home. Is
Speaker 1: there a rhyme or reason why Davis Martin is pitching
Speaker 1: so much better at rape Field than away this season?
Speaker 2: James, I mean, I don't think so. We're mostly talking
Speaker 2: about like his three bad starts, and they've all happened
Speaker 2: to be on the road, you know, New York, Minnesota
Speaker 2: and Cleveland. I think the probably the trend line to
Speaker 2: pay more attention to is how recent all those outings are,
Speaker 2: and you know beat the one primary separation from it
Speaker 2: being uh, you know Atlanta, where he got extended rest
Speaker 2: and said, like you really needed it. Like the Detroit
Speaker 2: one they got through that was six innings of one
Speaker 2: run ball like he said, kind of mechanically he was off.
Speaker 2: Kind of similar thing with the Kansas City thing. It's
Speaker 2: more just like those three bad starts to have been
Speaker 2: in the last like months, five weeks, six week kind
Speaker 2: of span, and he kind of hasn't either, you know.
Speaker 2: I think the one thing that obviously stands out is
Speaker 2: a little bit like mentioning of fatigue and how like
Speaker 2: heavy his innings have been, and like seeing his below
Speaker 2: down a little bit in's outings and kind of like
Speaker 2: acknowledging a little bit of like needing the extra rest
Speaker 2: that they gave him for the Atlanta start, he is
Speaker 2: gonna have an extra day for this one. I think
Speaker 2: that's probably the trend line I look at a bit
Speaker 2: more than home run splits, which certainly aligned with the
Speaker 2: White sox own team wide inexplicable home run splits that
Speaker 2: I don't have a great answer for either, but I
Speaker 2: think there's there's probably like a more pressing objective trend
Speaker 2: with Martin other than kind of the ineffable one of
Speaker 2: whatever he eats when he's in Chicago before a.
Speaker 1: Start, is it worthwhile asking him after this start against
Speaker 1: Boston if he excels, Like is there something about pitching
Speaker 1: at home that he just feels more comfortable?
Speaker 2: He's been asked about them playing there a lot, playing
Speaker 2: better a lot, But yeah, I don't think he's gonna
Speaker 2: say something like this is way different if for no
Speaker 2: other reason, then like that would admit that his road
Speaker 2: operation is just fundamentally flawed in a way that can't
Speaker 2: be remedied. So and I don't think he's really of
Speaker 2: that view, so giving like some sort of concrete reason
Speaker 2: at home, the next follow up question is like, well,
Speaker 2: why wouldn't they replicate that on the road in some
Speaker 2: way or be racking their brains for how? And I
Speaker 2: think in terms of the wracking their brains are is like,
Speaker 2: how do you want to guide him into the all
Speaker 2: Star break and quickly do that? Because he's on paces
Speaker 2: that a career Heinennings and kind of acknowledge that that
Speaker 2: was an issue just last month, on top of kind
Speaker 2: of looking like someone where that's an issue. So I
Speaker 2: just think that's probably the thing to latch onto more
Speaker 2: so than the home road happenstance of it.
Speaker 6: Any any pitcher that survived Charlotte in their development, I
Speaker 6: think probably graduates from worrying too much about the home
Speaker 6: field Because watching Jonathan Cannon right now, his roadyra being
Speaker 6: like more than double what is or his homi ra
Speaker 6: being more than double what his roadyra is and when
Speaker 6: he's pitching away from truest Field, he looks like that
Speaker 6: kind of back end starter, like sixth starter that you want,
Speaker 6: and when he's at home he looks unrosterable. I think
Speaker 6: anybody who gets out of that environment alive can more
Speaker 6: or less put that behind him.
Speaker 1: Jim. The White Sox will be facing two left handed
Speaker 1: starters from Boston and they will probably have to see
Speaker 1: a Wildest Chatman at some point in this series. With
Speaker 1: these tough lefties, this seems like a stage is set
Speaker 1: for Randall Gridchik to have a big series for the
Speaker 1: White Sox offense does.
Speaker 6: Looking at the rundown, not to reveal too much, but
Speaker 6: I have a different player in mind for who needs
Speaker 6: a big series, But he would certainly be there in
Speaker 6: terms of, you know, he's kind of been the counter
Speaker 6: move against when a righty's starting and you have Andrew
Speaker 6: Binintendi the lineup or Sam Antanacci or whoever, and then.
Speaker 5: Left he comes in you need a big at bat.
Speaker 5: He's the guy that comes in.
Speaker 6: So theoretically, you know, with two tough lefties being there,
Speaker 6: he would you.
Speaker 5: Treat him like the counter move early, and Will.
Speaker 6: Venable likes to use his moves early or like when
Speaker 6: they're available earlier in games versus waiting for like the
Speaker 6: optimal opportunity later in games.
Speaker 5: So he does fit that.
Speaker 6: Also, like when you have Ritchick starting, then you get
Speaker 6: in the situation where if like an oldest Chapman is
Speaker 6: back there, then you kind of run into the junior
Speaker 6: pres problem, and that.
Speaker 5: He's you know, he's on the roster.
Speaker 6: He's a right handed bat, but he's also striking out
Speaker 6: a lot the way you or he would give them
Speaker 6: the contact rates in Charlotte and the emergency nature of
Speaker 6: his call up and kind of existence right now on
Speaker 6: the twenty six man roster, so it does leave him
Speaker 6: a little bit exposed of having like your worst hitter
Speaker 6: come up in the most important situations because you are
Speaker 6: one move short. So I think it is important for
Speaker 6: Gritchik and then like Andrew beIN and Tendi or whoever
Speaker 6: you know, maybe and out whoever the counter move is
Speaker 6: behind him to try to maximize those situations, those matchups
Speaker 6: to where it doesn't fall to junior pres. If it
Speaker 6: indeed gets to him in the eighth and ninth that
Speaker 6: would be ideal.
Speaker 1: So let's sway, who needs a big series? And Jim,
Speaker 1: I'll actually start with you because you weren't gonna go
Speaker 1: with Randall Gritchik. I was trying to set you up,
Speaker 1: who is your pick who needs a big series with
Speaker 1: White Sox to win this series against Boston.
Speaker 6: Along the same lines in terms of right hand bats
Speaker 6: in the lineup, but Chase Mydraf.
Speaker 5: I think one of the reasons why he's yeah, he's
Speaker 5: he had a rough June and partially he didn't really
Speaker 5: hit lefties at all.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 6: You know, from the start of June, he's actually hit
Speaker 6: righties better against lefties to twenty nine average, two fifty
Speaker 6: obp uh three, fourty three slugging percentage, only one walk
Speaker 6: in thirty five played appearance or thirty six plate appearances.
Speaker 5: So that's not what you want.
Speaker 6: And I think you know, for the first two months
Speaker 6: of the season, that was his strength. He matched lefties
Speaker 6: and was okay against righty's, and you know, he went
Speaker 6: up the lineup against lefties, was you know, properly turned
Speaker 6: into a secondary role. Against righty's, he played defense. I
Speaker 6: did everything well enough to where it all worked out.
Speaker 6: But you know, when you are either batting fifth or
Speaker 6: middle of the order or batting towards the top of
Speaker 6: the order against lefties, he kind of need to come
Speaker 6: through and as the White Sox figure out what they're
Speaker 6: going to do over the course of like the remaining
Speaker 6: three months of the season, you know, with Murakami starting
Speaker 6: his rehab stint, you're starting to get to the Jacob
Speaker 6: Gonzalez question that you entertained and we kind of put
Speaker 6: off waiting to see like who's actually healthy by tom
Speaker 6: or a comedy comes back. But yeah, if my draft
Speaker 6: doesn't hit lefties, or if he struggles against lefties like
Speaker 6: he has like the past month, you do get in
Speaker 6: the issue of like, as you're building lineup, what can
Speaker 6: you count on this guy to do? And the White
Speaker 6: Sox do have options to where they might feel like
Speaker 6: they can, you know, mix the infield in a different way.
Speaker 6: So I think it's I think he's had better at
Speaker 6: bats as of late, started to see some walks start coming,
Speaker 6: so hopefully that means that the performance against lefties will
Speaker 6: reverse as well.
Speaker 1: Every time it seems like we challenge Chase my draft,
Speaker 1: he ends up having a good series. So positive Jinx
Speaker 1: is on for Chase my draft. With Jim thinking him
Speaker 1: needing a big series, James, how about you? Who needs
Speaker 1: a big series with White Sox against the Red Sox.
Speaker 2: I had like picked one, and then I thought of
Speaker 2: like I picked one like early, and I spent like
Speaker 2: the rest of the time trying to like think of
Speaker 2: something obscure and like ingenius and like outside the box
Speaker 2: to think myself out of like the very clear and
Speaker 2: easy decision I had made. Its like Tristan st. Peters
Speaker 2: has to produce or else, like this series like makes
Speaker 2: no sense obviously, Like yeah, a lot of lefty starters
Speaker 2: and they need like their their writing matches to go.
Speaker 2: But I still want to stick with like Davis Martin
Speaker 2: because one obviously he starts one of these games. They're
Speaker 2: kind of most proven option for getting deep in games,
Speaker 2: and someone they don't have to or have not had
Speaker 2: to think about opening for even when there's like a
Speaker 2: slate of lefty hitters like could be present here, just
Speaker 2: like one for him. Because that's my original interpretation the
Speaker 2: question was that you were asking me who needs to
Speaker 2: have a good game or be in trouble or something
Speaker 2: like that, And then I only later realized what the
Speaker 2: actual correct interpretation of the question was, and that it
Speaker 2: was who needs to play well for the White Sox
Speaker 2: that success. But David Martin kind of fits both criteria
Speaker 2: in the sense of, like, you want to see him
Speaker 2: be able to turn this around in order to be convinced,
Speaker 2: like one, that he can bounce back from these things
Speaker 2: like quickly, and that it's not something that needs more
Speaker 2: consideration in terms of how do you manage him coming
Speaker 2: out of the break or do you even want him
Speaker 2: if he gets offered to like pitching the All Star
Speaker 2: Game as a replacement, do you want him to pitch
Speaker 2: or do you want him to like, Hey, let's like
Speaker 2: you've been pitching a lot of innings, let's and things
Speaker 2: are kind of going little hey ry right, heywi are
Speaker 2: right now? Why not let's give you like a week
Speaker 2: and a half off or whatever you like, you know,
Speaker 2: would come from sitting out. So for both him and
Speaker 2: like maybe get an opportunity, and just also for like
Speaker 2: the team to have good vibes and have like faith
Speaker 2: in like what their rotation looks like coming out of
Speaker 2: the break and what they need going to the deadline.
Speaker 2: I think a good art and finale to the first half,
Speaker 2: would you know, be a mood raiser, even if it's
Speaker 2: not like he's unnoticed or he's out of the rotation or
Speaker 2: something like that, he's not actually like absolutely needs to
Speaker 2: have a good start or you lose faith in the
Speaker 2: project a bit. But I think another like six innings
Speaker 2: even like the kind of scrappy outings against like uh,
Speaker 2: you know, Detroit or the Royals where he just kind
Speaker 2: of gets through, even if he's not like at his
Speaker 2: top self where he's blowing people away, like against the
Speaker 2: Angels earlier in the season, I think that'd be a
Speaker 2: big mood raiser going into the break as far as
Speaker 2: like what he looks like going forward.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with you. Finished the re All Star
Speaker 1: break Straw, and then if he doesn't make the All
Speaker 1: Star team, or if he does and he doesn't pitch,
Speaker 1: then these he gets a trip to Philadelphia or he
Speaker 1: gets so much unification time before the White Sox regroup
Speaker 1: in Toronto to start the post All Star Break part
Speaker 1: of the twenty twenty six season. For me, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go with Brady Montgomery. I have a good feeling that
Speaker 1: Miguel Vargas is going to be a big factor in
Speaker 1: this series for the White Sox. But Verdiana Montgomery the
Speaker 1: early questions for him. Ever since he was in Texas,
Speaker 1: A and M. As a right handed batter, Kenny hit
Speaker 1: consistently against left handed pitching. This would be a good
Speaker 1: test for Braida Montgomery. It's early. He's only had twenty
Speaker 1: at bats this season against left handed pitching. Right now,
Speaker 1: he's got a six twenty three. Oh yes, but he's
Speaker 1: gonna get back to back starts against lefties. It'd be
Speaker 1: nice to see if he can get some success against
Speaker 1: these two south paws, or maybe even some late inning
Speaker 1: success against a Wildness Chapman.
Speaker 6: Big week for the Crochet trade in general, Like in
Speaker 6: terms of the way, Yeah, Boston media is kind of
Speaker 6: primed right now. A well timed hit or a you know,
Speaker 6: whether it's Montgomery or Teal or my draft could really
Speaker 6: set some things off. So that adds another layer of
Speaker 6: intrigue and entertainment to the obvious on field benefits.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I have the White Sox. It's sweet. The Red
Speaker 1: Sox sit back at enjoy at the media store that'll
Speaker 1: be brewing out of Boston. I think at this time,
Speaker 1: at this stage of the season, a lot of Boston
Speaker 1: media has just settled into what they are expecting, a
Speaker 1: full teardown coming in the All Star After the All
Speaker 1: Star break, heading towards the trade deadline, Wilson Catreras has
Speaker 1: been in some brew ajas for Boston. Obviously a lot
Speaker 1: on his mind as a Venezuelan native and all the
Speaker 1: devastation that's been going on in Venezuela. Our thoughts are
Speaker 1: for everyone from Venezuela and for those that have maybe
Speaker 1: a family of Venezuela. Just a really terrible situation. But yeah,
Speaker 1: this has not been the season, probably on the same
Speaker 1: page as the New York Mets that neither of those
Speaker 1: franchises were expecting in twenty twenty six. So if my
Speaker 1: draft has a big series, Montgomery has a big series,
Speaker 1: if Tel has a big series, it's not going to
Speaker 1: make the situation better in Boston and how they're feeling
Speaker 1: about the twenty twenty six Red Sox team. But we
Speaker 1: will be recapping this series on Thursday nights, as we'll
Speaker 1: be covering all three games at home. James will be
Speaker 1: there for us. We'll have more videos as well, with
Speaker 1: pregame and postgame interviews as far as those press conferences.
Speaker 1: Will be loading up those videos on our YouTube channel
Speaker 1: at YouTube dot com slash socks Machine, we'll have some
Speaker 1: more prospect videos as well more draft stuff coming up.
Speaker 1: The MB Draft is happening on Saturday, and then you
Speaker 1: got the All Star Game. So much is going on
Speaker 1: from a Chicago White Sox perspective, so continue to visit
Speaker 1: us daily onsoxsmachine dot com. But if you just discover
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