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 MoreJimmy Rollins to end up being one of the bigger free agent signings of the White Sox offseason
/A few days into March and a couple split squad games is as long as the White Sox could sustain the suspense of a position battle at shortstop. Bruce Levine reported Wednesday that Robin Ventura admitted Jimmy Rollins is a near lock to make the White Sox roster, and gave this telling quote to Dan Hayes.
Read MoreWhat does Jimmy Rollins mean?
/Jimmy Rollins is a minor league signing.
He gets $2 million if he makes the major league roster out of camp and we can discuss about how likely that is to happen, but he's a minor league signing at an extremely vulnerable position for the organization.
Read MoreWhite Sox & Jimmy Rollins Agree to Minor League Deal
/The oft-posed question of “are you really going to go into the season with Tyler Saladino as starting shortstop?” has a murkier answer than it did last week. The White Sox have agreed to terms with Jimmy Rollins on a minor league deal and an invite to big league camp.
Read MoreTCS Morning 5: The 2016 White Sox are in Arizona
/Despite the satisfaction of the final moves to shore up a competitive roster never coming along, the White Sox are looking disturbingly like a team that is actually getting ready for the season.
Read MoreTCS Morning 7: Possibly, maybe Ian Desmond, probably not
/As we enter Year 36 of the 2015-16 MLB offseason, and the White Sox draw ever closer to beginning Spring Training with three--a third of the lineup!--regular members of the potential Opening Day lineup coming off seasons with a .675 OPS or lower, we began to see some testing of whether Sox fans can talk themselves into any potential improvement.
Read MoreThe Catbird Speaks 2.3.16 - We're still doing this?
/Nick & James gathered together (all two of them!) to discuss the frustratingly slow offseason. Topics include:
--The merits of Dexter Fowler
--The downside of Andre Ethier
--The case for simply sticking with Tyler Saladino at this juncture
--Even if Rick Hahn is good, it doesn't make missing out on all the free agent outfielders not bad
--What the White Sox are great at, balanced by their struggles
--Looking forward to losing in the ALCS
Should the White Sox attempt to upgrade with Ian Desmond?
/Ian Desmond would represent an upgrade at a position with offensive need, much like Dexter Fowler. Should the White Sox pursue him?
Read MoreTCS Morning 5: Staring pensively at Dexter Fowler's market
/As we press on through month 71 of the most inexplicable MLB offseason of our lives, the White Sox have a glaring need for a outfielder/designated hitter addition, have been reduced to one clear superior remaining free agent option for almost a week, and...nothing.
Read MoreTCS Morning 5: Hitting minicamp
/The first two years of Todd Steverson's beginning of the year hitting minicamp have featured the first look at Jose Abreu, Adam Eaton, and also MLB camp cameos for Marcus Semien and Trayce Thompson. It does not have nearly the stigma of "pounds of muscle" or "Camp Cora" in terms of false pre-Spring White Sox hope.
Read MoreTCS Morning 5: Now it's time for an outfielder
/It's not like the White Sox only have one hole left. It'll be a minor victory if Tyler Saladino stays over a .600 OPS in full-season play, Adam LaRoche is very likely toast, and needs a platoon partner even if he isn't. Erik Johnson doesn't seem very good, we know John Danks is not. Their bullpen is fine, but is not an imitation of the Royals super pen that is currently the vogue. There is plenty they could do to improve the team.
Read MoreIf not Alexei, then who?
/The White Sox declined the $10 million option on Alexei Ramirez on Wednesday, a somewhat surprising move that seems to create another black hole on an offense that already has question marks at second base, third base, catcher and right field.
Of course, it’s entirely possible we still see Ramirez in a White Sox uniform in 2016. The White Sox had to act on his option by Wednesday, and with teams able to come to terms with free agents starting on Saturday, they may still come to terms on a deal before everything is said and done.
Ramirez had the worst season of his career in 2015 and, as essentially a replacement-level player who will be 34 for basically the duration of the 2016 season. He’s also only a year removed from being an All-Star caliber shortstop and, quite frankly, there aren’t a ton of appealing options outside of Ramirez should the White Sox choose to go in another direction.
Read MoreTCS Morning 5: Has enough White Sox stuff happened to fill out a five-item list?
/Maybe the cruelest punishment of following a routine also-ran is spending October watching the Sox shuffle through moves and possibilities that might shift their 2016 record by a half-win or maybe even a whole one, while other teams have the fates of seasons and career legacies swayed by a few outs. There's no easier blog posts to write than "Courtney Hawkins' foot causing him to miss the Fall League will cost him meaningful reps, uh oh" but I've doing this long enough to know how purposeless they are.
Read MoreTCS Morning 10: At least they didn't get no-hit by garbage relievers
/Zach Duke is more committed to the tank than I am to waking up every morning. Brought in with two outs in the bottom of the 10th, just so he could go lefty-lefty against No. 9 hitter Anthony Gose, Duke promptly walked Gose, and then started 3-0 on Rajai Davis before handing him a walk-off double into the right-field corner to lose the game 2-1 in extras.
Read MoreTCS Morning 10: Numb to the badness
/Shouts to Jeff Samardzija for lowering the expectations such that giving up two dingers and four runs to half of a real Cleveland Indians lineup over 6.2 innings doesn't even trigger a twinge of disappointment. Even this snapshot of recent performance--I'm assuming meant to be shocking to the less grizzled and beaten-down of us--just serves to remind: Oh yeah, Jeff Samardzija did win his last start, didn't he?!
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: Baseball is dumb; why do they keep playing?
/Tuesday night, the White Sox sure played a baseball game. Most baseball games are boring. Some, aggressively so. But with a coordinated series of disasters in every unit of the game, you can really go on quite the emotional rollercoaster in one night, even in September of an awful year with no hope
Read MoreTCS Morning 10: Next week this game will be played in pajamas
/After a rough weekend against the Cubs and four runs in three games to start this awful West Coast swing, the Sox had their periodic and overdue "the offense is breaking out!" game to avoid a sweep in Anaheim with an 8-2 victory Thursday night. Given an opportunity against rookie spot starter Nick Tropeano (pitching because the Sox off capped Matt Shoemaker's downward spiral last week) and bullpen filler Cam Bedrosian, the Sox teed off, finally hitting their 100th home run of the season at a fairly embarrassingly late date in the year and smacking four doubles.
Read MoreTCS Morning 10: At least the White Sox employ a killer
/This was not a good nor sharp weekend of White Sox baseball. Defensive and baserunning blunders marked two ugly losses to the Cubs and served as a stark counterbalance to how they out-executed a superior team in Wrigley last month. Avisail Garcia just keeps running into outs until someone takes him up on it, routine throws to first are somehow still an adventure even with Conor Gillaspie off the team and no starting pitchers seem particularly invested in backing up their catcher...but White Sox still employ Chris Sale.
Read MoreState of the Offense: Reasons for Optimism and Despair
/Since the All Star Break the White Sox offense has had its best stretch of the year. The pitching has taken a step back from unsustainable greatness, so despite a 7-game win streak in there, the team as a whole hasn’t made any progress. They were 41-46 at the time of the All Star Game, and they are 51-57 now. But, now 108 games in, we can take another look at where the offense is viable and where it is still irretrievably broken.
Read More