TCS Morning 5: Mostly stuff about Austin Jackson
/1. We went over a good chunk of why the signing of Austin Jackson is important in Sunday’s post, but it’s worth talking about in more detail.
Read MoreErik Johnson's search for his best self
/On paper, Johnson may not be the type of pitcher you give anything but a hesitant head shake to going into a season as crucial as 2016 is for the White Sox. But when you listen to the man behind the poor numbers and the rocky past speak, you feel his determination in his words.
Read MoreCan Cooper and Rodon, 'stumble' into a breakout season?
/Whether you agree with his methods or not, there is no denying that Don Cooper is one of the most respected pitching coaches in today’s game. But at a time in which the strategies employed by many teams are evolving rapidly, Cooper refuses to change his ways.
Read MoreThe Catbird Speaks 9.29.15 - The saddest trip down memory lane
/For the third time this season, Baseball Prospectus' Mau Rubio joined Ethan Spalding and James under the guise of evaluating young players in the White Sox organization, only to have things spiral into complete madness.
Read MoreTCS Morning 10: Bored in Cleveland
/The White Sox played a sleepy bad series in Cleveland against sleepy bad AL Wild Card contender, keeping the Indians on the periphery of a sleepy bad AL Wild Card race, whose sole source of drama is the Astros falling into the void. They capped things off Sunday with a 6-3 loss featuring a fairly rough John Danks start, a characteristically high-strikeout outing against soft-tosser Josh Tomlin
Read MoreThe Catbird Speaks 9.21.15 - The dog days of September
/The season's almost over and the White Sox are wasting away their final days, so Nick and James got together to discuss, well, mostly the offseason and how to fix this swiss cheese roster, but also what major things there are still to watch.
Read MoreThe Catbird Speaks 9.11.15 - Just half a lineup away
/It's the dog days of September, and the White Sox are in the middle of their regularly-scheduled playing out the string, which means:
-Only so much Samardzija left!
-Carlos Rodon and Erik Johnson could be the future of the new Sox rotation that is waiting for an offense to back it up.
-How will the Sox upgrade at third, second, right field, DH, etc? Beyond Mike Olt, that is? Is Adam LaRoche ever hitting again?
-Does Avisail have a future in the Sox core?
Join James Fegan, Matt Adams and Ethan Spalding as they update the state of the White Sox.
Read MoreTCS Morning 10: Next year in Oakland!
/Reunited with his Spring Training battery-mate, Carlos Rodon threw his sixth-straight outing of six innings or more with two or less runs allowed in Tuesday night's 7-4 victory. His seven-inning, one-run gem--spoiled only by whatever spirit has inhabited Michael Martinez's body--gives him a line over that stretch of 41 IP, 27 H, 8 ER, 4 HR, 15 BB, 41 K, 1.76 ERA. He's throwing real good, guys.
Read MoreTCS Morning 10: We did it, you guys!
/Carlos Rodon was pretty solid again Wednesday night. That's probably the most important thing to focus on. In his fifth-straight smooth and efficient start under Tyler Flowers, he floated through six innings with the only mark against him being Miguel Sano obliterating a get-ahead fastball, which for the most part have served him well since he dedicate himself to throwing them
Read MoreTCS Morning 10: The Sox dress up in funny clothes and still beat the Mariners
/Those 1976 uniforms sure were fun to look at. Coupled with CSN's compilation of file video from the late-70's Sox and full commitment with disco segue music and cheesy graphics, the Sox mixed a fun callback to rather ridiculous uniforms with a genuine examination of their own history. Let's do something like this every year
Read MoreTCS Morning 10: Playing out the string
/This weekend offered some comforting return to White Sox normalcy--no, not just the part about playing pointless late-August baseball and lacking any real hopes of the playoffs--but the part where they get a series win against the Mariners, where Seattle routinely looks incompetent and the Sox just kinda stand there. In particular, they stood there while the Seattle bullpen walked 10 batters in 9.2 innings and nearly lost two games singlehandedly, rather than just one.
Read MoreTCS Morning 10: Rodon is brilliant, the Sox are not
/The White Sox lost 2-1 in Los Angeles Monday night because they put nine guys on base all night, hit one extra-base hit, hit into a double play, went 0-6 with runners in scoring position, and only scored because Johnny Giavotella is so bad at second that Ned Yost was probably right to play Chris Getz over him all those years. You never remember the command-change lefties your team crushes, but Andrew Heaney snaking his way around damage twice in a week tends to stick with you.
Read MoreTCS Morning 10: Rookies can occasionally be good
/Carlos Rodon came into Tuesday having put together two sharp outings since the beginning of June, and was stacking up a performance record that would justify getting yanked from the rotation if the Sox were still deep in the race. For what it's worth, Rodon had been using the hot-hitting Geovany Soto as his personal catcher. Tuesday he switched to the revered platework of Tyler Flowers and the correlation with an incredibly sharp demolition of the Angels lineup is hard to miss. Blessed with a slider that is completely overwhelming when he's ahead of the count, Rodon was just far enough on the right side of the border between just enough command to dominate with pure stuff, and being a complete mess.
Read MoreTCS Afternoon 10: It's an off-day for all of us
/Since my despair over Avisail Garcia crested, he's both homered and walked twice in as many games, driven in five, and walked off an otherwise sad and ugly game against the Rays. Both his home runs have been on hanging breaking balls, and he still has to convince the league he can cover the inside fastball, and the level of fear he is generating leaguewide is currently "Managers will load the bases by intentionally walking both Jose Abreu and Melky Cabrera just to get to him."
Read MoreTCS Morning 10: Losing can now be the validation of inaction!
/If the Sox win: They're turning it around!
If they lose: Thank goodness they didn't buy at the deadline! They're dreadful!
This weekend has provided a lot of validation for the Sox staying out of the bidding for Yoenis Cespedes, Justin Upton and the like, as the starting pitching that propped up their torrid sprint back into the Wild Card field mostly took the weekend off against the Yankee offense, unfrozen 2010 John Danks aside.
Read MoreTCS Morning 10: The mighty warclub of Carlos Sanchez
/First of all, get these Cleveland clowns up out of here. In a four-game sweep of their division rivals, the White Sox got a long look at their spiritual twins. The Indians came into the year with a brawny rotation that prompted many--including most all of the TCS staff--to pick them to win the AL Central, only for them to be undermined by awful defense and abandoned by several black holes on offense. Just like the Sox, higher early ERAs than expected for big-time starters Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar offered some optimism for a recovery, but this team looks like it's on the express train to nowhere, or stranded in the lost city of Brohio, or whatever expression you want to deploy for a 75-win season.
Read MoreTCS Morning 10: These were the Salad Days
/Can we talk about Jose Abreu again? It's bad, and it's painful, and there's clearly something wrong, and he's being relentlessly jammed by anyone and everyone. But worse yet, even holding out for him to run into one--which seems like the only benefit to forcing out a clearly slumping and ailing star--is misguided, because his hand isn't healthy enough to stay through anything.
Read MoreTCS Morning 10: A worthy response
/The White Sox reacted to poor play with a benching, mashed on offense, and sealed the Thursday's game in Detroit after a cagey managerial decision. Were they kidnapped? Are we dead?
Read MoreTCS Afternoon 10: The White Sox are on fire
/With the Sox hitting as it is, their pitching staff only needed to throw for 2.17 ERA over 29 innings to eke out two victories out of three one-run games with the likely overachieving Texas Rangers. Pretty reasonable standard going forward!
Read MoreTCS Morning 10: How many canings can you take before they define you?
/It's remarkable how effortlessly the White Sox pivoted from their first home sweep of the season, and possibly the most encouraging stretches of play of the year, and right into the losing streak that might finally huck this cursed season into the dungeon permanently. They're now stuck in a four-game skid, six games under .500, the proud owners once more of the worst run differential in the AL, and have three more games against the red-hot Pirates team that just thunderkicked them 11-0 Monday night, then three against the Rangers, whose main weakness is pitching and, well...
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