As someone who has been very high on Nate Jones since at least his breakout in 2013, was elated at his return in 2015, and even endorsed him as the centerpiece of that truly disastrous 2014 bullpen experiment, the announcement of his extension still put me through a sliding scale of reactions as the torrent details and additional years of control and clauses were revealed.
Read MoreMidnight ET Thursday morning is the deadline for decision on whether to tender a contract to arbitration eligible players. For the most part, it should be full of easy decisions for the White Sox, but they have already surprised us with the "Punt a reliable shortstop to the moon" decision. Who knows what's up their sleeve?
Read MoreThose 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 MoreNate Jones is mortal. I don't particularly agree with the way he announced it--allowing an eighth-inning two-run bomb to Boston first baseman Travis Shaw by placing a fastball in the lefty down-and-in dinger Bermuda Triangle--but sometimes you really have to grab people's attention for them to really take in your message.
Read MoreThe success or failure of teams in the MLB Draft is difficult to determine. The main reason for this is because it takes so long for most draftees to reach the majors, and players shuffle from team to team so often (whether it's by trade or otherwise) that looking at a particular team's draft class for a particular year will often only yield one or two players who actually made an impact on that team's major league roster.
Read MoreReporter/mensch Dan Hayes broke the tiny rumor this weekend that the Sox are shopping Eric Surkamp as a means to clear space on the 40-man roster. The Sox originally acquired Surkamp off waivers, then lowered his stock--not that they should have done anything else--by using him as a LOOGY rather than a spot starter, and even in that role he was cannon fodder for four-fifths of the season. He probably is going to have to wind up leaving the way he came.
Read MoreI'm typing these words on Feb. 25. If my math is correct, there are 40 days until the White Sox play a game that counts in the regular season standings.
Read MoreSpring Training is finally here. What this means is we can all get excited about the sight of actual major league baseball players on an actual baseball field, and then cry over the realization that we're still six weeks away from meaningful games being played.
Still, the season of optimism is upon us, so let's take a look at some of the important things to monitor during the White Sox's time in Arizona.
Read MoreThere are two extreme poles at work here. One is this extreme outlay of money (Reportedly over $40whatever, not mine) and years of commitment for a reliever, even super-high leverage reliever. The other pole is how utterly hopeless the Sox were looking for a strikeout at the end of games last season, and their lack of immediate options to fix that problems:
Read MoreIt started with a pain in the ass. When Nate Jones originally reported health issues way back when the team was basically still stretching in Glendale, it was for a gluteal strain. He recovered long enough to appear in 2 games and face 5 batters. Of those 5, he walked 3 while allowing the other two chances to hit the ball. They obliged and he failed to record a single out. ERA: infinite. The gluteal strain reappeared and that was that. While out of commission, it morphed into a back issue which extended his stay on the disabled list and while progress reports along the way were never completely encouraging nothing seemed particularly damning either. Until Wednesday afternoon when it was announced that the short-lived White Sox closer had undergone Tommy John surgery on Tuesday.
Read MoreI'm firmly of the belief that Hawk Harrelson is mostly harmless, probably helpful and informative more often than not. The misinformation and confusing tangents are distracting and certainly coming at a higher percentage than most, but what's the point of taking time out to cover his every offense when everyone else is already offering theirs?
Read MoreThe 2014 White Sox bullpen has had a revolving door since the beginning of the season. Nate Jones, who came into this year considered to be one of the closer candidates, was the first casualty as he was added to the 60-day disabled list with a hip injury early in April. Lindstrom followed suit and was placed on the disabled list with an ankle injury that requires surgery. He will be out at least three months. As a result, Robin Ventura and his coaching staff have mixed and matched with the remaining relievers, including some pulled from the waiver wire and the minors.
Read MoreAlong with their announcement of their 2013-heavy Saturday lineup, the White Sox pushed across a slate of roster moves that varied between sad, odd, necessary or all three combined. The centerpiece being centerfielder Adam Eaton going to the 15-day disabled list with a hamstring injury.
Read MoreAfter a week of games one thing is certain — there are still 156 games to play.
Yes, it's a long season. But let's take a look at some of the more noteworthy bits and pieces we saw after six games of White Sox baseball.
Read MoreNate Jones has been placed on the disabled list due to a gluteal strain, which is the same affliction that sidelined him during spring training.
Read MoreIt makes sense that Nate Jones is reporting continuing issues with his gluteal muscle. First, he looks hurt. His once menacing whip of a delivery has become fractured and off-balance. Jones is quickly entering otherwise unprecedented levels of awfulness to start a season.
Jones has allowed the first five batters he's faced to reach base over the two games he's appeared in.
Read MoreWe saw the bullpen strain pretty hard to get through Wednesday and Thursday - although I suppose allowing five runs in three innings in the Thursday loss doesn't necessarily count as "getting through." Part of the problem is that Felipe Paulino only managed 5.1 innings on Wednesday. They were good innings, but between Ventura playing cutesy lefty-righty matchups, Nate Jones' struggles, and Scott Downs walking Mauer and then being pulled, two relievers were used to get zero outs, and there were only six innings in the books at that point.
Read MoreSometimes, MLB managing looks as simple as holding one's ground as the opposing team burps and derps itself into the ground. By this measure, Wednesday night was an unqualified success for Robin Ventura and Co. They put their players in position to benefit if the opposition threw the ball to random locations, and Ron Gardenhire's Twins threw the ball to random locations.
Read MoreHey, here's a Rick Hahn quote from Scott Merkin's piece on Matt Lindstrom getting the closer role.
"Upstairs, we can worry about guys' trade value or how they fit going forward," Hahn said. "We really tend not to have those types of conversations.
At this point there is the same amount of evidence that Rick Hahn does not allow front office concerns to infiltrate immediate personnel decisions as there is that he simply never admits when they do.
Read MoreThis season will be the third in which Robin Ventura is at the helm of the Chicago White Sox and the second in which mystery as to who will close games for the team will likely drag all the way up to the start of the regular season.
In 2012, you might remember, it wasn't revealed that Hector Santiago was the team's closer until the second game of the regular season when he began warming up with the White Sox ahead in the top of the 9th inning against the Texas Rangers.
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