Twins 12, White Sox 4: Lucas Giolito’s season unsatisfying to the end
While Reynaldo Lopez ended his first full season in the big leagues with a decent outing that capped off a fine finish, Lucas Giolito is going to have to start over.
Admittedly, I missed Giolito’s start because Colson Whitehead was in town and that seemed like a better use of half of the evening. By the time I tuned in, The White Sox trailed 10-0, although Kevan Smith made it 10-1 immediately with a fourth-inning solo shot.
Giolito lasted only 1â…“ innings, allowing seven runs on five hits and four walks. He threw just 25 pitches of 56 pitches for strikes, and two of the balls were wild pitches.
He could’ve gotten out of the first with no damage after fielding a comebacker to freeze runners on second and third for the second out, but a two-run double by Mitch Garver and an RBI single by Max Kepler put Minnesota up 3-0.
Giolito only retired one more batter on the night. He walked the first four batters of the second inning, with Grossman delivering two more runs with a single that chased Giolito from the game. Hector Santiago replaced him and gave up an RBI double to Garver that put the Twins up 7-0, and that’s all they needed.
Giolito already owned the league’s worst ERA among qualifying starters entering the evening, and now he’ll suffer the indignity of it being over 6.00 (6.13). At least the Sox didn’t burn his last option.
Was there any good news? Well, Jose Rondon hit his sixth homer, and Yolmer Sanchez hit his 10th triple after being stuck on nine since July 3, courtesy of a Jake Cave misplay. Yoan Moncada almost had a fine night at the plate, but was run up on a slider below the zone for strike three to end the game. That was Moncada’s 215th strikeout of the year, making it unlikely that he’ll tie the record of 223 with just two games remaining.
Bullet points:
*Santiago did the heavy lifting, allowing four runs on 10 baserunners over 4â…” innings, but striking out seven to mitigate some of the damage. He threw 97 pitches out of the bullpen.
*Moncada committed his 20th error of the season on an Ehire Adrianza grounder in the fourth, but it led to no damage.
*The Twins actually struck out more than the Sox, 10-7, but Chase De Jong picked up his first career win, so hey.
Record: 62-98 | Box score
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End of season 2 of the rebuild. The light at the end of the tunnel is moving further away. It’s a lot like flying East during sunsetÂ
All of these 2020 compete predictions were insane to begin with, even if players like Moncada and Gio had played better. It also doesn’t help to draft busts (Collins) or prospect delaying injuries (Buger and Kopech). We will be lucky to be competing by 2022….
The Sox inability to develop and draft well is very disappointing to say the least, there is no easy solution to try to get the rebuild on a better footing and the Sox don’t have the ability to buy their way out of their problems. Time to just hope for incredible future prospect success and some pleasant surprises.Â
The Central has two other rebuilding team and an Indians club that has tough decisions to make. If they’re not in the picture of that mess for 2021, it’s already in trouble.
Cleveland.
Of the 34 players on the roster, 20 of those players will be 30 or older next year.
You have to think they play to win next year but after that…
I find very little solace in external factors such as those because they are not within FO’s control and does no favors to Hahn et Co management skill performance.
This rebuilding looks ugly. Feels ugly. And sometimes with no direction. Very soon, we might not be able to count on Rodon as part of the core because his years of control are what? 2 years after this season? Rodon being a Boras’ client.
After this year, I am trying to find positives or something I can deem progress. But it’s hard beyond Anderson being pretty decent, Rodon is good but running out of years of control, and and that’s it. Palka is fun. Some relievers might be interesting yet this is a volatile skill.
Abreu is aging. Moncada still needs to show more. A lot more. Eloy is coming, but he is just one player. Hahn needs to infusion elite WAR to this team. He better not miss the Machado train.
The problem with Rodon is after. 4 years we still don’t know if he is an ace or a middle rotation guy. He has stretches where he looks dominant, and he has stretches where he looks awful. Throw in the fact that we still haven’t seen him hit 30 starts in the same season and I don’t see how you can justify offering him ace money, which is what Boras is going to want. I think he is going to end up being deadline bait in two years.
And there is plenty to blame the FO for. If Moncada turns out to be the sub-par return that he seems to be, then it is fair to question whether a better deal could have been had with the Braves or another team. Right now a mediocre Moncada and an injured Kopech is looking like a horrible return for Chris.
How well did we play against those rebuilding teams? Wasn’t our only winning record vs KC?
I’m just quibbling with “were insane to begin with.” They weren’t. Their goal should’ve been to make themselves available to capitalizing on divisional turmoil by 2020. With the amount of talent they traded away to fuel the rebuild, three years of suck should be plenty.
3 years of suck? Last time we made the play off G.W Bush was still the president.
Sometimes I am marveled how Hahn figured out that by steering the course to a “rebuild”, he hit a magic reset button where people think “Oh…it’s just the 2nd or 3rd year of the rebuild…let’s give Hahn more rope” The White Sox has one of the worse FO in baseball, and the worse thing is that it does not matter….there is the owner loyalty who is sinking this team.
Sorry for the dourness.
I’m speaking of the expectations the front office should be held to, rather than ones that might be assumed.
The problem is that we have high expectations for the front office, but apparently Jerry doesn’t. He rewards loyalty over results. There is no way this FO would still be there based on their results. This division will be so winnable in 2020. If they can’t show significant improvement this year to set up a run in 2020, Hahn and the other bozos making decisions should be gone.
Should, but I don’t see it happening.Â
I agree completely that the FO can’t come out and tell the fan base it’s going to be 2022 before we are going to get going. That being said, you can argue that poor trade returns right now (Moncada and a Gio) and poor drafting (Collins, Hansen, and I throw in Burger because he wasn’t ranked anywhere near where we took him, injured aside) are going to drag this thing out.Â
I have no problem if Hahn eventually has to fall on his sword, which in this organization just means they will give him a different job.
Yeah but the key assumption there is that we would capitalize by the young talent we had coming up and playing well right away. I don’t think anyone predicted 200 SO’s for Moncada or Gio falling off a cliff, but didn’t most of us think they were going to translate to a few more wins at least? On paper, we have a lot more young talent in the system than KC, Detroit, or Mini, but if those don’t come up and play competitively, I don’t see how we are much further along than anyone else.
Just need 2 more K’s for that MLB record!
8 away I believe. Sox protected him w 3 rest days last couple week and burying him in lineup back to back days against Kluber and co. Needs 4 more to move into 3rd place. I think he’ll safely avoid the record or passing Dunn.
I think he’s referring to the team record.
2 for the team record, but it wouldn’t have been possible without Yoan’s stellar contribution!
Giolito did stellar work securing draft position. I would rather reread Whitehead’s Underground Railroad that watch this game.
OMG my thoughts exactly!
Gutting through is definitely more rewarding. Went back today to see Doris Kearns Goodwin, so it’s been a good weekend for the only kind of autograph hunting I care to do.
Lost some respect for her awhile back.Â
“Unsatisfying” is being way too nice.
This winter is absolutely key to the rebuild. They must start being serious now. Hahn has to be a big player in free agency, because we need some established stars on this team. Machado (or Harper) must be signed. To wait another year is foolish- you need to start laying the foundation of a future championship team now. Again, I will go back to the Cubs who, coming off a 95-loss season, signed Lester and Fowler, and traded for Montero to go with their young players coming up. This sent a message to the players and fans that they were serious about winning. But I’m not sure Hahn will do that. I hope he proves me wrong. If not, this rebuild is sunk.
Phils are going after BOTH Machado and Harper. Â That’s what a real FO looks like.
Rondon is the best middle infielder we have–offensively and defensively. Â Quit trying to justify a bad trade and play the best players.
The Phillies have lost 82 so far. Following years of 96, 91, 99, 89,89.
So maybe try another team to emulate.
We aren’t getting Machado or Harper. I don’t think that was ever a serious consideration. That being said, I think an upgrade at third base (from what we have) is doable. Escobar or even seeing what Moose would cost is at least realistic. I like Yolmer as a clubhouse guy, but he’s a utility guy and not an everyday player.
There is no reason to repeat what they did a few years ago when they tried Band-Aid fixes like Melky and LaRoche. Getting Moustakas does not significantly improve the team. They have to think big. They must go after Machado hard.
To say they won’t get Machado or Harper because Jerry has never given out that big a contract doesn’t take into account several factors. 1. They have never had so little money committed to contracts- he could pay Machado $40 million next year and still have a payroll under $100 million. 2. Jerry has spent big before. He gave Albert Belle what was the largest contract in baseball at the time- $55 million in 1998. 3. They spent big on Luis Robert. 4. Jerry is 82 years old and wants another championship. 5. They have a stated interest in Machado dating back to last offseason. That being said, will they shell out the big money? Only Jerry knows for sure.
One of the first things needed,is a new hitting coach. How can you win with nobody in your line-up hitting 280 and only 2 hitting over 260. There is nice talent in the minors at most positions except maybe 3rd base. lets start 2019 with Rodon,Cease,Lopez,Giolito?Jordan Guerrero?Covey?. Young arms in the bullpen Hamilton,Ruiz,Burr,Frare,Bummer,Minaya. These arms can make it exciting. With all the so called speed on the team why aren’t there more stolen bases? Sorry Ricky 28th three seasons of ninety loses I would not pref to see four. So now it’s time for basketball, were we can say,”one owner two suck”(Bulls & Soxs). Thanks Jerry.
Yes, those arms will certainly make it exciting, like smoking while handling dynamite. There will be unbearable pressure on Cease and Eloy to perform in 2019 and for Lopez to continue his improvement. But make no mistake about it, the Sox knowingly put a minor league team on the field in 2018 and should be absolutely ashamed of themselves.