Over at ESPN, Kiley McDaniel took the step of ranking organizations in a different direction by comparing how much premium talent teams have locked up through the 2024 season, and grouping them by elite, above-average and solid talent.
The Braves rank first, what with the recent extensions to Michael Harris II and Austin Riley. The White Sox are middle of the pack at No. 15, and you can see where the mileage varies:
Elite: Dylan Cease/RHS
Above Average: Tim Anderson/SS, Luis Robert/CF
Solid: Yoan Moncada/3B, Eloy Jimenez/DH, Lance Lynn/RHS, Liam Hendriks/RHR, Andrew Vaughn/1B, Michael Kopech/RHS, Garrett Crochet/LHR, Oscar Colas/RF, Reynaldo Lopez/RHR, Aaron Bummer/LHR, Colson Montgomery/SS, Bryan Ramos/3B
The White Sox are in a tough spot with an underperforming team right now. Their farm system is improving but still is in the bottom third with a handful of potential impact players, mostly coming in 2024 or 2025. The manager spot has been a problem, and a number of players have regressed while they are running the seventh-highest payroll in baseball, with lots of players over 30 on multi-year deals. The impact talent in the top two categories is floating them right now, but there's not much margin for error here.
When categorized that way, you can see how the White Sox have disappointed this year, because injuries have prevented the above-average players from raising their positions to above-average levels, and that leaves Cease on an island.
Durham 9, Charlotte 6
- Lenyn Sosa went 3-for-5 with a homer.
- Yolbert Sánchez, 0-for-4 with a K.
- Jason Bilous: 2.2 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 2 HR, 30 of 51 pitches for strikes.
- Aaron Bummer: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 11 of 18 pitches for strikes.
Montgomery 2, Birmingham 1
- Bryan Ramos went 1-for-4 with a double and two strikeouts.
- Oscar Colás and Yoelqui Céspedes both were 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Luis Mieses, 0-for-3 with an HBP.
- DJ Gladney went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
- Adam Hackenberg was 1-for-2 with a walk.
- Sean Burke: 3.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 1 HR
Winston-Salem 10, Greensboro 3
- Colby Smelley was 1-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout.
- James Beard, still hot: 1-for-3 with his second homer, two walks and a strikeout.
Kannapolis 5, Lynchburg 3
- Jordan Sprinkle went 1-for-5 with a strikeout and two stolen bases.
- Brooks Baldwin, 0-for-5 with two strikeouts.
- Jacob Burke doubled twice, singled once, got plunked and struck out.
