At least Yermín Mercedes picked an inconsequential evening to disrupt with an Instagram post announcing his sudden retirement.
The Twins had two-out magic while every White Sox rally threat stalled with double plays, so the bomb he dropped turned out to be a worthy distraction from a game that wasn’t compelling television.
The White Sox said they’re aware of Mercedes’ post, which came after he was lifted in the sixth inning of Charlotte’s game in Durham, but they haven’t received any direct word for him or his representation. Tony La Russa said after the game that he’ll try to reach out to Mercedes with an encouraging word. There are a lot of ways this story can go, so trying to guess the most likely path this takes might only lead to regret, at least as an editorial outlet.
As for the game at hand, Dylan Cease gave up three straight two-out hits, including a two-run single by Josh Donaldson, in the fifth inning to turn a 1-1 game into a 3-1 game, and Codi Heuer gave up a three-run homer to Jorge Polanco with two outs to put the game out of reach. The Sox had various chances to take command/get back into it, but four different White Sox hit into double plays, bringing a literal twist to the term “Twin killings.”
Bullet points:
*Andrew Vaughn made a diving catch that might’ve been unnecessary, but was also controlled enough to look like a considered best option.
*Yoán Moncada hit another wall-banging double, this one at 109.2 mph, so continue to feel optimistic about where he’s heading.
*The Twins are the only sub-.500 team to beat Cease this year, and they’ve done it twice. It didn’t help that Zack Collins caught a smaller strike zone for him than Ryan Jeffers for Michael Pineda, even if it wasn’t the leading factor of his early inefficiency.
Record: 58-38 | Box score | Statcast
Yermin possibly retiring is bad vibes
In what sense? Bad for the organization or poor character by him?
He seems like an irrelevance to me.
Irrelevance? Weird way to think of a guy who carried the team for a month this very season. I mean, I know we’re all high on Gavin Sheets dust but come on…
He appears to have zero trade value nor a path back to the big leagues. Doesn’t sound very relevant to the major league club currently.
Yup the league figured him out and he turned pieces. He couldn’t cover a major league fastball. Furthermore, he wouldn’t have a place to play with Eloy back.
I don’t see how what he did in April is relevant to now.
Geez, remind me not to have you speak at my funeral
You want to glorify a guy for one month of production? Adam Eaton had a nice April as well. Baseball is a cold business you don’t perform you get launched.
There is a pretty wide middle ground between glorification and irrelevance. Like, for example, appreciating the very important contributions he made to the team, sympathizing with whatever emotional state led him to this point, and hoping he can recover to become a productive ML player again.
We are here to mourn Joe but life has figured him out and turned him to ashes. He hasn’t been able to take a breathe in almost a week.
I don’t see how what he did during his life is relevant now.
Yermin was fun for a few weeks, but carried the team for a month?
He was literally replacement level during his time with the White Sox. The starting rotation carried this team. Relax. It’s a 28 year old 4A player retiring. I don’t quite understand the drama of this whole story.
Your second sentence doesn’t disagree with the first. He was indeed the White Sox’s most valuable position player in the month of April.
In other news, Jim, you need a man in Winston-Salem. Luis Robert was pinch run for after going 1 for 3. Could’t find any news. Hope it’s just precautionary.
Looks planned to me. Most players only play four or five innings in their first game back, especially if they’re not DHing.