Is Avengers: Endgame The Worst Movie To Come Out In The Last Decade?
No idea. Haven’t seen it yet. By all accounts it’s pretty goddamn good though. The weather looks kinda shitty tomorrow so maybe I’ll see it then. But that’s not what we’re here to talk about today.
We’re here to talk about how the White Sox HAVE to win 5 of 6 games this weekend and into next week against the Tigers and Orioles. Anything less is fucking inexcusable.
Let’s do a quick test:
Can you name 5 position players and 5 pitchers total on the Orioles and then the Tigers? I’d say most people who consider themselves even pretty decent baseball fans can’t. And it’s because they’re teams that are littered with replacement level, AAAA players. It’s ridiculous.
But, aside from that, I think Jose Abreu read my blog last week where I expressed concern about his early season offensive output. In the blog I theorized that we might not actually be seeing “only” a slump, but rather a decline in physical production:
But Abreu, who a lot of Sox fans wanted extended this past offseason, has shown some bad signs of regression. I don’t think K rate totally matters for a hitter so long as it’s sustainable from year to year. Yes, obviously lower K rates are better and putting the ball in play generates more on base opportunities and blah blah blah. I get that. But Abreu is 32 years old now. He’s not going to get “better” per se. Nobody really does at 32.
That’s why a few of his numbers really scare me.
Let’s go back to his K rate. His career K rate is 19.6%. Solidly average or even a tick better. But this year? 26.1%. Not good at all. That’s worse than Moncada’s. As players age, they microscopically lose explosive qualities bit by bit. And in Abreu’s instance, I’m talking about his hands. Now there isn’t really a way to quantify how quick one’s hands are, but Abreu is missing on fastballs worse than he ever has before, which shows me signs of aging.
Since I wrote that, Abreu went 9 for 30 with a dinger and 9 RBIs and raised his wRC+ from 74 to a league average 100 on the dot. He even turned on a few pitches and only had 4 strike outs over that stretch. All in all, he looks to be “back” or at least much better than he did prior to the blog.
Sure he was facing meat for the most part. But sometimes in order to get out of a slump you need to see meat and lots of it. Hope he continues into this week against… more meat.
Speaking of meat, let’s talk about Yoan Moncada
Yoan Moncada’s offensive output is still fan-fucking-tastic. But I want to talk about how he’s developed as a switch hitter really quickly.
Switch hitters are exceptionally more difficult to develop. Theoretically, they have to take double the reps as everyone else because they’re trying to master two separate swings. Thus far in Moncada’s MLB career, he’s struggled from the right side. But thus far in a limited 2019 sample size, he’s doing really well from both sides:
Right handed: 28 at bats, .286/.286/.393 with a .679 OPS and 0 dingers, though he’s been robbed of a grand slam from the right side
Left handed: 66 at bats, .318/.392/.667 with a 1.059 OPS and 6 dingers
He’s obviously still light years better from the left side, but he’s improving vastly from the right side. Last year he was TERRIBLE as a RHH. He’s at least competent at this point and yes, he will continue to get better. Shout out to the White Sox for helping him develop nicely over the course of the last year, at least in this realm.
Eloy update:
He’s struggling a lil bit. But his grandmother also just passed away, leading to him being placed on the bereavement list. I’m assuming that’s been weighing on his mind, he seems to have a really tightly knit family. He was just reinstated this morning from the bereavement list today and will be back in the lineup tonight.
Again, he’s struggled, but that’s okay. 77 wRC+, low batting average, iso, etc…. But it’s all whatever. The kid is going to rake for years on end in this league. He’s still on his path to superstardom. I have no doubt about that. The weather is heating up now and so will he.
Though, I think that’ll be from the DH spot eventually. Which is fine. Just hit baseballs to the moon every night and idgaf where you play in the field.
Minors update:
*basically everyone is struggling in Birmingham. I’ve said it before, it’s one of the worst places to hit in all of pro ball. It’s where offensive games go to die. Here’s a snapshot of some of their stats:
That is U-G-L-Y. And some of these players are highly thought of, like Adolfo, Rutherford, Gonzales and Sheets. I am TERRIFIED of what Birmingham does to Nick Madrigal in a few weeks. Luis Robert though? That’s another story. Though he’s out with a bruised hand (his fucking hand kills my soul, always jamming it or some shit) I don’t think even Birmingham is lethal enough to slow him down. Now I’m not saying he’s going to keep doing this:
But he’s so physically gifted he should handle the level just fine. AA is FILLED with pitchers that throw 97 with cut and run that pair their fastballs with disgusting 2nd pitches, but are also young, need innings and have to develop a lot of command. It’s arguably harder to hit in AA than it is to hit in AAA. AAA is filled with pitchers who throw 90-93 without exceptional raw “stuff”, but maybe are older, physically stronger and more filled out, and have a better idea of how to command the zone. So it’ll be exciting to see Robert against freaky talented, though not fully developed pitching. He’ll be in Birmingham in due time. I expect movement somewhat soon with Basabe coming back from his broken hand last week.
Again, I have no more patience for losing, especially to shit teams. I mean yeah, in my heart of hearts I expect it because there is so much goddamn dead weight on the 25 man, but I still think with my dick instead of my brain and want them to sweep the goddamn Tigers and Orioles.
Check back next week for my blog rationalizing how they went 3 and 3 in the next six games. Looking forward to it!