José Abreu was a little bit Paul Konerko, in the sense that they both anchored first base and led by an example few could apparently follow. But he maintained more athleticism and a healthier level of outward enjoyment of the game, and that kept his lows much higher than Konerko’s, while Konerko had the postseason highs that Abreu got only a sliver of a chance of duplicate.
José Abreu was a little bit Harold Baines, in the sense that Abreu’s startling consistency and knack for driving in runs created a nine-year stretch of statistics that would slot comfortably within most Hall of Fame résumés, Baines’ included. But Baines did it from 21 through 40, while Abreu’s MLB debut was delayed due to geopolitical reasons, so compiling his way to Cooperstown doesn’t appear possible.
José Abreu was also a little bit Frank Thomas, in the sense that they’re both first basemen and on the franchise’s short list of American League MVP winners. Abreu lacked Thomas’ elite plate discipline and gargantuan strength, although Thomas would’ve killed for Abreu’s throwing abilities.
José Abreu was also a little bit Minnie Miñoso, in the sense of continuing, then taking ownership of the team’s proud Cuban tradition. But while the differences in personalities and eras led Miñoso to cast the language barrier aside, Abreu stood behind it, so his connection to the fan base always came with a chaperone.
José Abreu the player brings to mind a number of modern White Sox greats, but José Abreu’s career stands alone in the sense of how little help he had.
Since integration, whenever the White Sox have produced a position player fixture, they’ve often been able to produce a second, and usually a few sturdy regulars right behind them. Even Baines had Carlton Fisk as a running mate during an equally depressing 1980s.
But Abreu came to the Sox in the middle of a first rebuild, survived a second one after the first spectacularly collapsed due to the Sox’s organizational shortcomings, then watched the second one stagnate due to the Sox’s organizational shortcomings. The White Sox succeeded immensely by signing him, then spent most of the next nine years failing him.
The amount of turnover he witnessed doesn’t really have a peer in the New Comiskey Park era. When you look at the plate appearances or Wins Above Replacement leaderboards during the first nine seasons of Konerko and Abreu, you see mostly Good White Sox, with the rankings determined by more by timing than talent.
When you look at the top 10 White Sox plate appearance leaders during Abreu’s career, it comprises an alarming amount of bench players.
Plate appearances over nine-year stretches
| 1990-98 | 1999-2007 | 2014-22 |
|---|---|---|
| Frank Thomas 5,502 | Paul Konerko 5,511 | José Abreu 5,506 |
| Robin Ventura 5,252 | Carlos Lee 3,647 | Tim Anderson 3,284 |
| Ozzie Guillén 3,525 | Magglio Ordónez 3,563 | Yoán Moncada 2,720 |
| Lance Johnson 3,489 | Frank Thomas 3,101 | Yolmer Sánchez 2,459 |
| Tim Raines 2,873 | José Valentín 2,750 | Leury García 2,291 |
| Ray Durham 2,590 | Joe Crede 2,637 | Avisaíl García 2,190 |
| Ron Karkovice 2,415 | Ray Durham 2,505 | Adam Eaton 2,152 |
| Joey Cora 1,463 | Juan Uribe 2,151 | Melky Cabrera 1,757 |
| Dave Martinez 1,420 | Aaron Rowand 1,823 | Adam Engel 1,540 |
| Albert Belle 1,407 | Jermaine Dye 1,751 | Eloy Jiménez 1,288 |
The bWAR list replaces the names with some more impressive candidates, but the WAR totals themselves come up way short compared to the other columns.
bWAR over nine-year stretches
| 1990-98 | 1999-2007 | 2014-22 |
|---|---|---|
| Frank Thomas 50.5 | Magglio Ordóñez 23.5 | José Abreu 31.9 |
| Robin Ventura 39.3 | Paul Konerko 18.8 | Tim Anderson 18.2 |
| Lance Johnson 20.7 | Frank Thomas 17.8 | Adam Eaton 16.0 |
| Tim Raines 16.6 | José Valentin 16.9 | Yoán Moncada 13.8 |
| Ron Karkovice 12.4 | Carlos Lee 15.8 | Luis Robert 7.5 |
| Dave Martinez 10.1 | Ray Durham 13.2 | Yolmer Sánchez 7.0 |
| Craig Grebeck 8.8 | Aaron Rowand 12.7 | Avisaíl García 6.1 |
| Albert Belle 8.8 | Joe Crede 10.0 | Eloy Jiménez 5.3 |
| Ray Durham 8.2 | Jim Thome 10.0 | Todd Frazier 5.3 |
| Carlton Fisk 6.4 | Chris Singleton 8.2 | James McCann 4.9 |
The best sidekick is Tim Anderson, whose transformation into a great shortstop coincided with a degradation into an injury-prone one. Abreu played in 96.7 percent of the White Sox’s games over the last four years. Anderson could only take the field in 68.4 percent of them.
The other competition is Adam Eaton, who peaked as a player at the same time his weaknesses as an adult were revealed. The White Sox had multiple flare-ups in 2016 that caused the White Sox to tear it all down, and Eaton managed to take a supporting role in all of them (calling Drake LaRoche a leader, fighting Todd Frazier, snaring Chris Sale’s throwback jersey). Perhaps Abreu will write an autobiography to let everybody know what he thought about the divisions during L’affaire LaRoche at a time where he hadn’t seen his son in two years.
Basically, in order to find a teammate who fits the “reliable” label in all respects, James McCann is the only one who fits the bill. Even then, Tyler Flowers and Yasmani Grandal would crowd him out of the top 10 if you arranged the list by fWAR because it incorporates their framing.
The shape of Abreu’s career, and how little the White Sox accomplished in spite of it, feels more like a relic of the 30 years between the Black Sox Scandal and the Go-Go Sox, when the Sox were lucky to have even one standout position player for three years in a row.
That’s one of the few ways Abreu brings to mind Luke Appling, aside from the unshakeable above-averageness and shared Aches and Pains, except Abreu could’ve complained a lot more about his.
Here’s who Appling played alongside during his first nine full seasons as a regular, spanning 1932 to 1940.
| PA | bWAR |
|---|---|
| Luke Appling 5,270 | Luke Appling 41.3 |
| Jackie Hayes 3,455 | Zeke Bonura 15.7 |
| Mike Kreevich 3,104 | Mike Kreevich 13.1 |
| Rip Radcliff 3,028 | Al Simmons 10.6 |
| Zeke Bonura 2,378 | Joe Kuhel 7.7 |
| Jimmy Dykes 2,358 | Jackie Hayes 6.1 |
| Mule Haas 2,112 | Jimmy Dykes 6.0 |
| Al Simmons 1,823 | Larry Rosenthal 5.9 |
| Joe Kuhel 1,819 | Evar Swanson 5.4 |
| Luke Sewell 1,665 | Tony Piet 5.2 |
It’s a fun exercise to scroll between the peers of Abreu and Appling and wonder which current White Sox players will have any resonance among White Sox fans 80 years from now. Zeke Bonura is a lot of fun, and the White Sox caught the last two years of Simmons’ Hall of Fame peak, but the rest of the list only surfaces in Ted’s Saturday Sporcles.
(Jackie Hayes was worth 6.1 WAR during his White Sox career, but was also 6.1 Wins Below Average, which made him the Leury García of his time.)
The contract Abreu signed with the Houston Astros — three years, $58.5 million — provides as much closure as possible for a departure that will inevitably leave some raw feelings. Going back to McCann, his four-year, $40 million deal with the Mets made moot any discussion of the White Sox finding a way to make it work, because the dollars just didn’t make sense when looking at the payroll. The way McCann’s Mets career has unfolded/unraveled reinforces the whole sentiment of “smile because it happened.”
Abreu is, was and never will be the problem with the White Sox, but letting him go via free agency was always the easiest way to start untying the knots that cut off circulation to various limbs of the roster. He seemed to know it, and his openness to the idea of playing elsewhere throughout the 2022 season suggested that he’d welcome a less fraught environment, assuming he’d be paid accordingly. He will be, so good for him.
If anybody looked ready to take the baton, it’d be a way easier discussion. The Cardinals seamlessly replaced Albert Pujols with Allen Craig, with an assist from an emerging Matt Carpenter. Juan Soto allowed the Nationals to let Bryce Harper leave. Both departing stars had superior track records to Abreu, but both of those teams had superior depth to the White Sox, and time proved both teams correct in short order.
The White Sox don’t deserve the benefit of the doubt when it comes to picking up the slack. There are candidates, certainly. Eloy Jiménez and Luis Robert have shown it in bursts. Yoán Moncada showed it for one season. Andrew Vaughn looks like he’ll have to accept the bulk of the responsibilities, but the White Sox rushed him to the majors, and he hasn’t shown the power, plate discipline, defensive aptitude or durability to be a bankable asset.
As a result, Abreu’s departure is simultaneously a smart decision and such a severe risk during what’s supposed to be the middle of the White Sox’s contention window. The front office spent the last two seasons dicking around to the point that Rick Hahn can’t even meet what he thought was a low bar:
“You’ve got to set the bar high,” Hahn said. “That’s how we set the bar. And should we ultimately fall short of it and be held accountable for that, that’s OK. … A lot gets made of my comments during the (Bryce) Harper (and Manny) Machado free agency, where I talked about how we deserved a seat at the table. People have now turned that into a bit of a mocking thing when we don’t sign somebody. So instead of sitting at the table, which is fine, we didn’t convert on that. So we wear it.
“I think the message that this is an organization that is a potential destination for premium players is an important one. That’s who we want to be. That’s an organization we want to have. This is our aspiration. I’d rather aim high than manage expectations like, ‘Hey, we made it to the postseason consecutive years for the first time in franchise history — success.’
They barely did that! The division title in 2021 is a palpable triumph despite the four-game loss to the Astros in the ALDS, but the other postseason appearance was as a third-place team with the AL’s seventh seed in a 60-game season. Technically, it counts as a postseason appearance. But with the White Sox still unable to advance into October under standard schedules and postseason structures, I think it’s fair to vacate its standing as an accomplishment.
(Also, I want to acknowledge the phrase “potential destination for premium players,” which is maybe the funniest way Hahn has ever packaged and sold nothing.)
I have never understood Hahn’s preference for auspicious rhetoric when they can’t even get the basics down. It reminds me of the opening scene in “Hot Rod” when he attempts to jump the mail truck even though the answer to the first and only question should’ve told him to pump the brakes:
“Kevin — did you reinforce the takeoff ramp?
“No, we didn’t have time.”
In both cases, a less-than-thorough process generated disastrous results.
Hahn can talk about premium free agents and seats at the table and parades, but he has to realize that for one reason or another — poor leadership, talent evaluation and/or injury management — the White Sox couldn’t even furnish a second consistently good hitter for Abreu over nine seasons and two rebuilds.
The imbalance is so stark that Abreu’s departure might force a reckoning. The kid who’s been carrying the class project for the lab group suddenly transferred, and maybe the shock will get the slackers to raise their games. That wouldn’t reflect well on Abreu’s ability to lead, but after nine years, the White Sox should’ve had a firmer grasp on the effects of Abreu’s presence anyway.
The situation is such that it’s better if Abreu loses a little of that stature after the fact, because it’s far more watchable than a plausible alternative in which Abreu was the guy who kept the lineup card from deteriorating under the weight of Jerry Narron’s calligraphy.
Again, it’s remarkable that the White Sox have to conduct such a significant experiment during what was supposed to be the surest part of their window. Just like it’s remarkable that the White Sox built so little during a nine-year run that was nothing short of remarkable. Shout-out to the word “remarkable,” which can be correctly applied to José Abreu’s excellence and the White Sox front office’s glaring inadequacies and while still retaining its shape.
This is an excellent article! I hadn’t seen that Hahn quote until now. I really want to know what he means by this:
Like, I really, earnestly want to know what Hahn thinks this means. Most pointedly, how does he interpret “a potential destination” or “premium players?”
I know it shouldn’t, but it gives me the slightest glimmer of hope that the Sox will actually do something worth a damn this off-season. Before I’m flooded with replies, I know that’s a delusion. But I guess that’s why I’m so curious: what does Hahn mean by this?
It just seems utterly insane to talk about the quotes you’ve given in the past and basically recognize that they are alley-oops for self-dunks, then only to say something like this when there’s virtually no chance the Sox will sign a premium-free agent. I know many fans think it, but Hahn doesn’t strike me as utterly insane or so hopelessly deluded. For that reason, this quote is going to keep me up at night (okay, not really, but I really want to sit down and ask him about 20 questions on this topic).
You can ask him your 20 questions at Sox Fest.
I would love for Rick to explain what separates organizations which are NOT potential destinations for premium players from this decaying shopping mall of baseball futility.
There is no sense in parsing Hahn’s words anymore.
He says all kinds of goofy stuff:
Nobody wants to win more than Jerry
No free agent is off limits
Signing Liam is proof we participate in the top of the market
Our only focus should be on grading the organization’s actions.
I’m going to state a fact to prove a point. Trump told 30,783 false or misleading claims over 4 years as President. He took the Republican platform of making things up and then just continually repeating them until accepted and PROVED without a doubt, that it works.
So, when you say, “how does he interpret “a potential destination” or “premium players?”, or, “what does Hahn mean by this?”, you’re asking for accountability in a world where it’s no longer an asset but a deficiency.
The intellect behind the content and interactions at Sox Machine is brilliant. Your political interpretation of “facts” however; really does belong on a different platform,…. thank you! However, I would like to offer my congratulations on your son being promoted to Major….that’s awesome!
Thank you.
I hate this organization.
I don’t hate the org, but I am getting close. As someone who does not live in Chicago and has no ties to Chicago, I have started wondering why I haven’t started following a different team. It seems like the FO is pushing me that way.
But look at the accountability! Hahn gets made fun of on Twitter, and he wears it!
“but the other postseason appearance was as a third-place team with the AL’s seventh-best record in a 60-game season.“
Excellent article, but the Sox were tied for the 3rd best record in the AL in 2020. They had a better record than the Yankees, Blue Jays, and Astros who were also in the playoffs. The Sox had lower seeding due to the 3rd place finish via tie breaker with Cleveland and the odd postseason structure.
Whoops! Buehrlesque is correct. They were tied for the 4th best record in the AL. I offer a correction, yet I’m wrong, so I’ll crawl away with zero dignity and slowly transform into a corn cob.
Sweet corn, dude.
Great summation, Jim. I do hope the “slackers” are shocked into raising their games now — a not-impossible outcome despite not really being a solid organizational plan. And if it does happen, I don’t think it takes away at all from Abreu’s stature or legacy here.
Tiny asterisk: The Sox technically had the 4th best record in the AL in 2020, despite being the 7th seed and would have qualified for the playoffs under regular circumstances (not that it makes much of a difference).
Beyonce has left Destiny’s Child.
At least Destiny’s Child had a respectable run of hits prior to the breakup. This is more like David Bowie leaving the Konrads.
I come to praise him, not bury him.
Sometimes i forget just how ridiculous Frank’s peak was cause of how young i was during it. Its nice to see that bwar list as a fun reminder.
Oh and forgot to mention i think Jose has a chance for the HoF. The voters seem to be a little more accepting of non MLB numbers and that might grow as time goes by. In the 8 years or so till Abreu will show up on a ballot people might have to look at some of his Cuban numbers and not ignore them as much as they would now.
Yes, I had the same thought about Abreu’s HOF chances. The trend seems to be more accepting of non-MLB leagues. If Abreu gets over, say, 40 WAR in 12 years after crushing the Cuban league for 8 years, I think he ought to get serious consideration. It’d be one thing if, as Jim mentioned, geopolitics weren’t involved. But since they are, it’s difficult to hold that against him. He has a ROY, MVP, and 3 SSs at the most offense-heavy position in 9 years—and received MVP votes in 7 of 9 seasons. He was a team’s best player for nearly a decade. That’s worthy of a look, for sure, even if the counting stats won’t be there.
Sadly, precedent suggests they’ll wait until he’s dead to induct him.
This is one area where Jerry is aggressive, should he be alive when the veterans committee meets about Abreu, ha.
“You’ve got to set the bar high,” Hahn said. “That’s how we set the bar. And should we ultimately fall short of it and be held accountable for that, that’s OK.
Except of course when he’s asked if he should be held accountable, then his reply is:
Hahn: “Two years ago our baseball operations department was getting nods for executive of the year. A year ago we won the division by whatever, 11 or 12 games and this year we were picked for being in the World Series and now we’re being asked if we should be in our jobs.
Apparently you can say anything when you’re not held accountable.
The goal was the World Series and you fell miserably short. In sales if you missed your plan by such a large amount you’d be put on a PIP if not fired.
“but the other postseason appearance was as a third-place team with the AL’s seventh-best record in a 60-game season.“
And had it been even the modest 72 game schedule that the players association had recommended it’s doubtful they even would have had that appearance.
Yeah, they ended that season with one effective starter.
1 starter and a 15-24 record vs teams that were not the Tigers, Royals or Pirates.
That Hahn humble-brags about 2020 being part of the “back-to-back postseasons” accomplishment they could point to whilst declaring the rebuild a “success,” if they didn’t set the bar so high for themselves suggests his self-evaluations are as delusional and worthless as his free agent talent evaluations.
He said he wouldn’t be doing this job if he didn’t think he could succeed at it. That alone told me he’s delusional.
The Hahn-speak is insufferable. Every time he talks I lose faith in their ability to right the ship.
Corporate America is full of guys who talk like Hahn. They pretend to know what they are talking about. Look credible. A lot of people buy it. For a while.
Oh, I think you overestimate the power of truth. A lot of people can buy it for a very long time, and…he really only needs to have one or two people buy it to maintain his position.
Hahn genuinely inspires me…to be more succinct and genuine when I speak.
When my son went to West Point, I told him, you’ll learn leadership lessons from great people and from assholes. You can learn as much about who you don’t want to be as easy as who you do want to be.
In the Army it isn’t hard to figure out who’s a leader and who’s out for themselves.
Fragging the butter bar is a Bozo no-no
Most 2LTs I’ve had under me are generally very cognizant of their lack of experience and knowledge and are often eager to get it. I think a lot of the stigma from the Nam era stereotype of idiotic, arrogant Looie’s getting troops killed through their incompetence has hit home. I find very little of that toxic, destructive attitude among younger officers these days, but that might also be more of a Reserves thing than active duty.
I was sitting with Ray Ordierno at Army’s opening weekend in San Antonio in 2007 and he expressed nearly exactly the same sentiment then. His take was that the newer officers had more respect for their NCO’s. He was a former Army BB player. BTW, Army opened against Louisiana Lafayette. My son was supposed to be the starter as a freshman, but tearing his labrum 3 days prior killed that. The Ragin’ Cajuns battery that night was, Danny Farquhar and Jonathon Lucroy. Army lost 1-0.
I liked Ray a lot for his brusque and direct style combined with a warm smile that belied that this man was absolutely lethal when needed.
Never met him, but nice to know he had a similar observation. I imagine I’ll get out well before I make general officer rank, though.
Have you read Colin Powell’s autobiography? He seemed to share the same sentiment.
Would you recommend it?
Yes, I would recommend sharing that same sentiment.
Just bought the audiobook, narrated by him, thanks for the recommendation.
Junior has 9 to go until 20 and out, just promoted to field grade. He’s off to Iraq in Feb which is why I’m writing with the din of a Mark V training some miles away. I just hope they’re not night training like they were 2 weeks ago.
I’m past my 20, just waiting until the Army doesn’t have a use for me any longer. Congrats to your son on making Major; it’s a big step.
What’s even more remarkable is that the remarkably good is gone while the remarkably bad stays. That’s remarkably disheartening.
Is remarkable the new brilliant?
I hate that Cleveland wouldn’t have squandered a player like we did to Abreu while playing moneyball.
And that’s not even close to the “squandering” capability this FO can bring to the table.
Bro what? Lindor has 8.5 bWAR for the Mets because Cleveland was never going to pay him what he was worth. They didn’t even have a prospect knocking down the door to replace him. They got lucky that the return from the Mets hit as well as it did that they aren’t missing Lindor.
You’re kidding right? Cleveland went to the playoffs 4 out of his 6 yrs in Cleveland and the WS with Lindor. That they were able to get an AS and his replacement in return only re-enforces their superiority.
Lucky? They got two former top-100 prospects who were still developing in the majors, and saw them to their full potential. Meanwhile, if we’d whiffed like they did with Franmil Reyes it would have been considered ruinous.
Amed Rosario put up a 2 fWAR season for the Mets in 2019 and the Guardians have really done work to get him to 2.4 fWAR last year. Gimenez was the secondary piece in that trade as a back end top 100 prospect and you can’t seriously tell me that anyone saw him as a 6 fWAR player when the trade happened. So yeah, they got lucky that the main two guys they traded Lindor for wildly exceeded expectations so that they wouldn’t miss Lindor.
You want to be thoroughly depressed?
The Phillies are supposedly making a serious run at Trea turner. Yup, they just keep giving out 9 figure deals until they win a title. We won’t even give out one of these contracts.
Lol @ “a bit of a mocking thing.” Clearly Rick doesn’t spend any time on this site.
“I think the message that this is an organization that is a potential destination for premium players is an important one.”
lol. ok.
The premium player only needs to consider himself a washed up retread and be willing to be paid accordingly and he’ll have a home here on the southside.
Chicago media has heard that message. Has it by chance reached the premium players yet?
I was going to make a joke about the Sox being able to afford premium relievers, but after the Edwin Diaz deal, I don’t even think that’s true anymore.
Fantastic. Well done and right on the money. Jose was a wasted talent. I place the last two years on TLRs door step. Shame on Hahn that he didn’t resign the day JR hired LaRussa. And the dysfunction continues with $12 million to Clevinger and retaining Boston because he’s somebody’s pal. What’s the point of owning a big league sports franchise if it’s not to do everything possible to win? Somebody tell me.
To milk public subsidies for the benefit of your great-grandchildren.
Killjoy
Hahn didn’t resign because he’s getting paid millions no matter how much he sucks at his job and he has the most secure position of any GM in baseball. I’d deal with people making fun of me if I could get that sort of scratch for as long as I wanted it.
Well he is. I guess he sleeps with his bank statement under his pillow to make up for not having any personal pride and losing his reputation.
I’d probably suck it up too if it meant setting my family up for life.
Yeah, money doesn’t care who it’s previous or current owners are.
Zips weighs in on Oscar Colas
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2023-zips-projections-chicago-white-sox/
Wasn’t aware that offense exploded throughout the minors last season.
I did not like Colas as the answer in RF before that tidbit. Now I hate it.
I mean, compared to what? They aren’t going to sign anyone good, and I’m absolutely terrified of what they might trade to plug that hole.
I’d like to hear more from Dan on Minor League offense before being discouraged about Colas. On the podcast, Dan talked a lot about the PCL (which Colas didn’t play in) and the article says “most” of the minor leagues. Did this happen at Birmingham or the league Birmingham plays in?
Perhaps so. But Colas hit across three different levels. I’d be curious how many minor leaguers—even in an inflated environment—could say that.
That doesn’t mean you should like Colas as the answer in RF. I also don’t like it. I just wished the cold water on Colas was… inspected a bit more before tossing that bucket on him. Maybe it’s warranted. But I’m not convinced yet.
He cited 2 things, age and an overall increase in minor league offense when talking about Colas specifically.I don’t see him as the kind of guy who would link concerns to someone for whom they are not aplicable.
Is it the death knell? Or course not. But, for me, it says the Sox should not be pencilling him into a starting roll, if they have any plans on making another run at a deep playoff run in ’23
In other words, an encouraging plan B but not a Plan A with no safety net.
There were big bumps in production at BIrmingham. Barons’ offense went from scoring 4.72 runs per game in 2021 to 5.29 in 2022, and the pitching went from 4.27 to 5.67.
I think Charlotte’s one of those PCL-like environments that he was talking about. Davis Martin in particular seemed a lot more relaxed pitching in Chicago.
Fair enough. He was only in Charlotte for 7 games, so his performance there likely isn’t a needle mover, either way.
My point was that “well, offense was up in some places in the Minors this year,” doesn’t tell me much about how much we should trust Colas’ numbers. It sounds like there are indeed reasons to tamper expectations. But expectations probably shouldn’t be that high, anyway.
AA southern league 2021 league line:
.239/.321/.393, .714 OPS
2022 league line: .251/.341/.411, .752 OPS.
So yes, quite a large jump. Colás’ .306/.364/.563 line at Bham translated to a still excellent 139 wRC+, which is league adjusted but not park adjusted in the minors. BP has park factors for the minors: Charlotte’s is a huge 120, the most offense-oriented in the IL, while Birmingham’s was 97, so slightly pitcher-friendly. Winston-Salem’s was 96. So Colás’ raw numbers should be taken with a grain of salt, but his wRC+ doesn’t need the skepticism that gaudy wRC+ marks at Charlotte do.
Sure, but isn’t the point here is that Colas hit way above average in AA? Charlotte is, sure, whatever, and he only played 7 games there anyway.
“But Colas hit across three different levels. I’d be curious how many minor leaguers—even in an inflated environment—could say that.”
A lot, it’s hardly a rarity. It’s also quite common for hitters to find their match with 95+ mph FB and major league breaking balls, or run a hot bat/streak one season only to come back down to earth the next. That’s why I keep stomping for a plan B to Colas even though I’m as hopeful as anyone that he’ll do well when he’s ready.
To be clear, I don’t want Colas as plan A. I have the OPP to prove it. I want him in AAA to start the season and be the first line of defense.
I’m also not commenting on Colas’ ZIPS projections. They seem reasonable enough to me, for a guy who’s yet to play more than a week above AA.
I’m mostly wondering the extent to which “well, minor leaguers hit better this year,” is really much of a black mark on Colas’ 2022. Colas’ had a pretty exceptional 2022, however you slice it.
Colas is the reason I included Profar, a player I’m not particularly enthused about, in my OPP. He fit into the team’s budget/spending habits (unlike Nimmo, Judge, Conforto, and so many other guys who will have significant numbers of rich suitors), he offers plate discipline otherwise lacking in the lineup, he’s a switch hitter, he can play passable outfield defense, and nobody’s gonna whine when he gets supplanted if Colas looks like the real deal.
Eh. ZiPS was never going to be sanguine about a guy making his stateside minor league debut at 23 with no data at all from ages 21-22. I’m actually a little encouraged by his projection, which his BB% and K% at 5.1% and 26.7%, which isn’t good but it’s not horrible. ZiPS just doesn’t believe he’ll do terribly much damage on contact, projecting a .292 BABIP and .171 ISO. The scouting reports and on-contact measures (.380 BABIP, .225 ISO overall) indicate a guy who does more damage on contact than ZiPS believes
I mean, what prevents you from wanting to see Colas in RF? Do you think he’s not good enough? Do you think he’s not ready? I’m not sure what else he could do in the minors at this point so if you don’t think Colas is the answer in RF, it sounds like you’re advocating we trade him away.
I’ll never stop laughing about how most other teams rotate players they really like in and out of the majors to get them acclimated, while the Sox only do that with utility players who they don’t care about, like Danny Mendick.
117 minor league games isn’t enough track record for me, when 1) Half of those games were as a 23 year old in A ball, and 2) Given my read on the current state of the roster the Sox would need him to contribute immediatly, if they are going to “truly compete”.
Although not my preference, as I think he could be a solid regular at some point, I would not be averse to trading him for a player with more than 1 year of control at a position of need.
We’re advocating he be part of a depth solution and not the only solution. If the team hinges its hopes on Colas producing out of the gate and has nothing significant behind him if he stumbles, then what? If he’s great and gets hurt, then what? Even if they put a mediocre guy ahead of him on the depth chart, it would be nice to have something to call upon and not have to absolutely 100% rely upon.
This.
I don’t know who “we” is. I’ve seen plenty of OPP’s that were advocating multi-year solutions to both RF and LF which is fine. But given the constraints this team imposes on themselves, it just seems dumb to block a player with a 10M contract because he doesn’t have as many minor league ABs as you’d like to see. If Colas was always intended to be on the major league roster in 2023, they really should have been more aggressive with his promotion cycle or started him higher up in the org.
I also wonder how much AAA means these days when it comes to prospect performance in the big leagues. Michael Harris just put up nearly 5 fWAR for the Braves this year and never even sniffed AAA. Adley only had 230ish ABs in AAA the past few years. Obviously we can only dream that Colas is on their level from a talent perspective but with the minor league contraction, it seems like most of the talent is concentrated in AA so that’s where the challenge is.
We have a $10 mil player waiting to come up? I hope he can RF or 2B.
Stop with the fallacy that any player is “blocked”. Depth is something you want. Too many good players is a problem you want. If Colas is tearing the cover off the ball in AAA and everybody on the major league team is healthy and performing, THAT’S A GOOD PROBLEM TO HAVE. The White Sox are supposed to be preparing for the worst, not assuming the best.
I see that one of ZIPS comps for Kopech is Ernie Broglio. Does that mean we can trade him for a Hall of Fame left fielder?
Jerry’s great great grandkids just got a little richer , mlb sold the rest of their shares in bamtech to Disney for 900 mil each team gets 30…remember this when they reduce payroll this year lolol
The flailing and roster churn Jim describes is sobering in its futility. And it could be even worse.
Imagine how horrible the past ten years of White Sox baseball would be without Marco Paddy’s ability to evaluate and sign international players like Abreu and Robert. No one above him in the org chart has demonstrated any ability to evaluate talent since Rod Blagojevich was removed from office.
Paddy is with the White Sox only because David Wilder ruined the (admittedly ineffective) international scouting program with systemic fraud and the organization required an established outsider to build trust with international players. (Links go to larry’s stories on the scandal at SSS.) Wilder was an early (and, unfortunately, not isolated) example of Kenny Williams bringing in an employee who’d bring shame to the organization.
In any organization owned by someone other than Jerry Reinsdorf, the combination of poor results and regrettable personnel decisions would have led to a firing. Williams and Rick Hahn, however, work for Jerry Reinsdorf, so they are free to hire and retain buddies regardless of performance, history, or misdeeds. We are lucky Marco Paddy somehow endures to just be a professionally competent figure in this circus of an organization.
I don’t believe Paddy was around for Jose and it was Jerry’s $52 mil not any ability of Paddy that got Robert signed. Unfortunately the Robert signing also handcuffed him for the next 4 yrs in international signings and we are now paying for that. You are right though that dealing with the aftermath of Wilder was a hugely important step that Paddy has gotten us out of. Funny how both those two profess accountability and yet operate without any.
Paddy is credited with both Abreu and Robert.
“Less than two years after taking over the White Sox’s international operations, Marco Paddy was trying to sell his bosses on José Abreu.
More specifically, he was trying to sell them on spending a lot of money on Abreu. Everyone needed to be on board, and executive vice president Kenny Williams wasn’t sold on the swing. Like many other evaluators, he was concerned about the length of Abreu’s stroke and how it would fare against well-located, major-league velocity on the inner half.”
And:
“At the Sox postseason organizational meetings, Paddy forecasted Robert’s arrival as an imminent concern worth planning for, even though he had yet to hit free agency. He noted the $31.5 million bonus Yoán Moncada had received in 2015 and predicted Robert would command an amount in a similar territory, even with all the additional penalties and restrictions on future signings such a larger figure would bring, and he had a clear thesis statement: Robert was the rare prospect who was worth it.”
I thought he joined the Sox in 2015.
2011, wow was I off.
I might be misremembering, but wasn’t Paddy the one who was like, “What do you mean you traded Tatis?!?!?”
James Fegan’s 2019 profile on Paddy discusses how he led the effort to sign Abreu. The lede: “Less than two years after taking over the White Sox’s international operations, Marco Paddy was trying to sell his bosses on José Abreu. More specifically, he was trying to sell them on spending a lot of money on Abreu.”
Signing Robert was the kind of move teams serious about contending make. You pay for top-ranked talent. Sometimes that becomes the Dodgers’ Yadier Alvarez, sometimes that becomes the Rays’ Wander Franco. Even with the injuries, Robert is quite a bit better than Alvarez with a chance to still be a superstar.
The Dodgers could wiff on a risks like Alvarez because they are so good at finding good players in the amateur draft, free agency (helped along by actually paying market value), and trades. Few trades have generated value for the White Sox in recent years, and if you exclude the Sale, Eaton, and Quintana deals of the teardown, the picture looks especially grim.
I was so slow to edit that Jim quoted the piece above. Apologies for the redundancy, but James Fegan’s work is well worth repeating. (Imagine a Sox team run by either James or Jim. That would be way more fun than the status quo.)
The Mariners just hired former M’s blogger Dave Cameron to a major front office role, Jim.
I’m not saying, I’m just saying.
What are you trying to say?
There’s an opening on the M’s blog.
The ability to spin a convincing prose trumps experience every day all day
Walk fast, carry a clipboard, convince them it’s important.
That this Hahn’s opening for trading John Danks for Jose Lopez!
An article so good it stands out even in comparison to the consistently excellent work Jim does. Bravo! It’s a mystery to me how people can read articles like this and not immediately sign up to support the site on Patreon so Jim can keep producing gems like this article.
My one quibble is the part where Jim says:
I not sure this ever actually happens. Maybe it does happen and I’ve just never seen it. I’ve supervised lab groups for almost 30 years so I must due to see it soon.
From mlb.com
“According to Morosi, the Dodgers have interest in Judge and are weighing the option of moving Mookie Betts to second base to make room for Judge in right field. In that scenario, Gavin Lux would slide over to shortstop to take the place of free agent Trea Turner.”
Imagine having that flexibility.
“Imagine having that flexibility.”
That would be like seeing the white gazelles in an Escher print your whole life only to wake up one day and find out they’re gone, replaced by black ones.
All this week, I just keep thinking “Why does Rick Hahn have a job?”
I know why he’s still employed, but after reading this column from Jim and his free agent track record, any one who gave a damn about the business operation of their professional sports team would have replaced Hahn.
Sure, Jerry and Kenny are a problem, but there are GM’s who still find success despite meddling owners and restricted payroll budgets. The White Sox are going to trot out another $180+ million payroll this season with serious doubts/question marks.
I’ll put a bottle of prosecco in the fridge ready to pop when there is a new GM. This is getting tiresome.
Does anyone know what Kenny Williams currently does in the org? His title is President of Baseball Ops, but I’m not really sure what that means because I can’t remember the last time he spoke to the media about the team he works for.
Kenny’s job is simple, he’s the go between the FO and Jerry. More specifically, he’s supposed to talk JR into making good decisions like signing a Machado or Harper and talking him out of stupid decisions like hiring TLR to be manager.
How has he done? I let you decide.
I’d be vary curious to know what kind of GM talent they could attract to replace Hahn.
I believe the top tier would look at the infrastructure around the scouting, development and data depts. and laugh their way over to a functional org.
James Click needs a job.
He just left one org with some owner meddling involved, why would he want to move to one with an owner plus Kenny; and where a “consensus” is often required?
This is why I’m ambivalent about Rick Hahn getting fired. Nothing would change. Either Jeremy Haber or Chris Getz would get his job and it would be more of the same.
That was my first thought when he was let go. Could we hire him as a special assistant to the chairman?
Great job! I love all of the comparisons with all of the other White Sox greats. I didn’t realize just how little help Abreu did get during his White Sox tenure.
The more you analyze the Sox and their rebuild and post-rebuild the more sad you realize this frnachise really is.
PJQPJAThis is not a post designed to minimize Jose Abreu’s importance to the White Sox, or to minimize how much the organization failed him over the nine years he was here. He was one of the great White Sox players, and the team truly failed him by failing to surround him with players capable of having playoff success, if not winning a World Series.
To the contrary, this post is designed to extoll Tim Anderson. It may be a strange time for it, since Jose has just left and his importance to the White Sox is rightly being discussed now. I also don’t disagree with the main point of Jim’s article, at least as I understand it: that Abreu was far too good for far too long to be let down by the team as he was. However, I do think it is unfair to label TA as Jose’s “sidekick.” It’s not an egregious error in its own right, but I have always been surprised that TA doesn’t seem to be held in anything like the same esteem as Abreu by many Sox fans, so I felt the need to speak up a bit for TA.
The fact of the matter is that, as good as Jose has been for the Sox, whether you consider fWAR or bWAR, TA has been a better, more valuable player over the last five years.
Tim fWAR Jose fWAR Tim bWAR Jose bWAR
(Games) (Games) (Games) (Games)
2018 2.5 (153) 1.7 (128) 3.7 (153) 2.0 (128)
2019 4.5 (123) 1.6 (159) 4.2 (123) 2.5 (159)
2020 2.4 (49) 2.9 (60) 2.3 (49) 3.0 (60)
2021 4.7 (123) 2.7 (152) 4.8 (123) 3.0 (152)
2022 2.0 (79) 3.9 (157) 1.3 (79) 4.2 (157)
Total 16.1 (527) 12.8 (656) 16.3 (527) 14.7 (656)
And this really undersells the disparity, since Tim did it in 129 fewer games, while his backups were producing positive WAR during those games (I did not try to calculate exactly how much positive WAR).
Yes, this ignores Abreu’s first four seasons, and TA’s first two. Jose was with the Sox longer, was more consistent in staying healthy and manning his position, and over the entire seven years of TA’s career produced more bWAR – although he and Jose have almost identical fWAR during the same seven years.
However, during the majority of that time — the last five years — if one of them was “the kid carrying the class project for the lab group,” it was TA, not Jose. Truthfully, I don’t think either deserves the title of the lone player carrying the team during that time, but I do think it’s a bit unfair to lump TA in with the group project “slackers,” when he’s been contributing the most to project for quite a while now.
Sorry folks, I keep trying to fix the formatting on the stats so they line up, but whenever I edit and resubmit, it gets rejected as “spam.”
I appreciate the rebuttal. I think it comes down to how much value you place on showing up. Anderson has maxed out at 123 games since he’s been good. That’s not nearly enough to me to transcend second banana status.
Funny that I see the fewer games he’s payed and conclude that makes him even more the first banana! Oh well, disagreement.
If a player’s value is inversely proportional to the number of games played, did Garrett Crochet have infinite value in 2022?
It’s only inversely proportional if WAR goes up while number of games played goes down. Although I imagine at some point you’d get more WAR than games played, and it would rip a hole in the time-space continuum or something.
I’m just saying that if TA contributes more WAR — essentially responsible for more wins, which is the point of the competition — he’s more valuable in the first instance, but if you do it in fewer games, and while you’re not playing other players have a chance to contribute a few wins, the team as a whole is even better off. So, yes, it’s inversely proportional as long as WAR goes up while number of games played goes down.
I think it’s a bit unfair to just compare WAR stats because shortstop gets a much bigger boost than first base. Abreu is likely a top-5 first baseman during the course of his career, but Tim probably isn’t considered top-10 at shortstop for even any 3-year stretch.
Between 2019-2021, FG has him as the #5 SS inbetween Correa and Semien.
I hear you on the SS vs. 1B, and that’s fair to an extent, but the problem is that it’s just straight out harder to be a SS, so if you find one who can hit and at least hold his own there, it’s just more valuable than finding a 1B who can hit and hold his own there.
I know it may not be quite so simple, comparing players at different positions with different strengths and weaknesses, but I do think WAR is about as fair a proxy as we’ll ever get.
I am, however, old enough to remember folks being very, very excited about Cal Ripken, Jr’s streak of consecutive games played. He was an outstanding player regardless, but even as a kid I never really understood why just standing out there should be deemed such a big deal — like if he had missed a few games he’d be anything less of a player.
Shortstop gets a bigger boost than first base for obvious reasons. Tim gets credit for that boost; he plays the position and does it well enough to get credit for the surplus WAR. To be clear, however, I love Jose and am sorry to see him go.
But the point is that Tim Anderson is replaceable at shortstop in a way that Jose Abreu is not at first base.
I’m not sure that’s in evidence yet.
Jose Abreu was ranked as the best first baseman available this offseason, and he’s 36 years old. Superior first basemen to him are not often available, at least, not ones who are definitively better. Meanwhile, there’s three, and arguably four, shortstops on the market this offseason alone who are better options than Tim.
Now I’m confused. Are we just referencing this years FA market or are you using this years FA market to paint with a broader brush than that?
I didn’t do a deep dive, but I’d say more often than not there’s a better shortstop than Tim available via free agency or trade.
I don’t think this comparison really makes sense. SS is where the best athletes go even if it’s not necessarily their best fit. It’s got more genuine stars (and superstars) than anywhere else, about a dozen by my count, with another half dozen or so that are borderline stars. TA is a star, but not a superstar. 1B is considerably less positionally valuable, so there’s not as much talent: there’s currently three superstars, 3-4 stars (inc. Abreu) and then a lot less after.
2019 Gregorius, Iglesias, Sogard
2020 Semien, Gregorius, Simmons
But 2 years does not qualify as, more often than not.
post-2021: Carlos Correa, Trevor Story, Corey Seager, Javier Baez
post-2022: Correa, Xander Bogaerts, Dansby Swanson, Trea Turner
And if you want to go further back…
post-2018: Manny Machado (actually a thin year for FA SS)
post-2017: Nobody
So, in four of the last five seasons there’s been at least one, and often more, shortstops who (at the time) would be considered superior options to Anderson. That is most assuredly more often than not.
You just named a handful of guys who all either have made or will make more than twice what Abreu just made. There’s a reason for that: 1B are replaceable. It’s easier to find than production at 1B than at SS.
While true, it may be harder to find the triumvirate of offense, fielding and throwing at 1B, while almost always, at SS’s will have at least 2 of those 3.
I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do with that. I’m also not clear what this argument is about anymore. Two things do seem clear to me, though: (1) TA and Abreu are roughly on the same tier at their respective positions: not elite, but the next tier; (2) when on equal tiers, a SS is more valuable than a 1B.
We can argue all day about whether specific profiles are more or less difficult to find. But the market—that is, MLB FOs—is pretty clear on this.
That’s all different than this leader/sidekick stuff, of course. But there’s no question about (1) or (2) in my mind.
Your confusion on direction is probably my fault as I’ve reconsidered how I look at this topic, through the course of discussion.
I apologize for being soft on crime and position player comparison.
I expect we all agree that 1B is not one of the more difficult positions to play on the field. It’s the easiest defensively — unless you count DH, which is not playing defense at all. Later in their careers, players often get switched to 1B when they can no longer handle their prior position.
If the question is really “who’s available on the market that would be better than Jose at 1B,” then the answer should include any non-DH on the market. Can they hit better than Jose? If yes, then they should be superior to him at 1B in almost all situations (I guess it’s possible a 2B or 3B would be significantly worse at 1B due to lack of experience or something, but I doubt it).
And for SS, it’s the opposite as it’s generally considered. If you have someone playing elsewhere in the field, it pretty much means they are not good enough defensively to play SS.
I don’t know what the count of superior options to TA/Jose has been in recent years at their positions, but I’m not going to try to calculate it for Jose w/all other positions. Maybe he’s been such a great hitter that there’s still fewer options, I don’t know.
It’s precisely the opposite. 1B (for the reasons already outlined here) are much easier to replace because they are much cheaper. However you slice it, TA is in the Correa/Seager/Story/Semien tier of SS. And as this and the previous offseason are bearing out, these guys are not easy to replace.
I disagree that Tim is in a tier with those players.
Well, take it up with the last 4 years of numbers, I guess. After taking another look at it, Correa is probably a tier above this group. For the others, TA is right there.
Why stop at 4? They’ve all been in the league since 2016.
Correa 34.8 war
Turner 29.4 war
Bogaerts 29.4 war
Anderson 18.2 war
Swanson 14.5 war
While TA has been better than Swanson there a significant tier break between those two and the others.
To be inclusive:
Story 29.3 war
Baez 26.3 war
Seager 23.9 war
Yeah I think its safe to say that TA and Swanson are a tier lower
Btw, out of the 8 only Story and TA haven’t got a ring in that time.
If I’m looking at a FA or trade target, I’m definitely much more worried about how they looked in the last 4 years or so than how they looked before that.
So you would rather base your decisions on a smaller sample size. Duly noted.
I think the thing that puts Swanson over Anderson is that he’s been ascendant the last three seasons, only missed two games in that time, and is two years younger. Beyond that, his defense is a lot more reliable. I just think that if the two were both in the market right now, Swanson would be considered the better bet.
Maybe, I was only looking at it from the the tiering perspective and using war Swanson and TA are a tier lower than the others.
I consider TAs biggest deficit to be his +30 OBP. It’s tolerable when he’s hitting .310 but let that slip down to the .260s and now you have a leadoff man with an OBP under .300. That’s a tier lower still.
Btw, since he was on the list, since 2016:
Semien 31.4 war
I didn’t include him before because he has transitioned to 2B.
He also is another that doesn’t have a ring. Still its remarkable that 6 of the 9 do. It’s also depressing knowing which is the furthest from getting theirs.
No way. Dansby was worth 1.9 WAR in 160 games last year. The defense is solid, but it will erode over time. Dansby has never had an OPS above .800 in a full season. I’ll take TA.
Yeah looking at career numbers is a pretty bad way way to evaluate players in most cases. Skim one easy example off the top: would you rather have Brandon Nimmo or Cody Bellinger play LF?
But wait! What if I told you Bellinger was worth more WAR than Nimmo in his career?
Well, Nimmo is about to make $100m more than Bellinger because of a pretty simply and obvious principle: players change and more recent data is better. 4 years is a plenty large sample size.
(And, ironically, you still didn’t use the players I mentioned. TA isn’t in the same tier as a few of those guys, as I’ve already said)
How did you put it? “However you slice it”, I sliced it at 2016 because it is the largest sample size that they all fit in.
*eye roll* Sure. I’ll admit that the 2016-2017 version of Corey Seager is in a tier above the 2016-2017 version of Tim Anderson.
From 2019-2022, Jose Abreu is tied for 5th with Matt Olson in wRC+ for first basemen (not using WAR because players like LeMahieu and Muncy skew the rankings).
In that same timespan, Tim is tied for 8th in fWAR among shortstops and would be higher than that if he could somehow stay healthy and maintain his pace but availability matters so 8th it is.
Not sure if there’s any actual takeaway but thought it was interesting.
Health is the biggest impediment to Tim being a top-5 shortstop. He’s shown he has the talent, but never stayed on the field long enough to really prove he’s in that elite tier. And now, entering his 30s, I don’t know that he’s the type of guy who will age well.
I struggle with this aspect. Unfortunately for me, wife is from Green Bay. She constantly rails about why they keep Bahktiari on the roster when he’s hurt so much so often. The answer is, because when he’s not hurt, he’s elite.
So, the quandary is, why do we treat all missed games, and all completed games as equal? Certainly Moncada’s missed games were less impactual (not ripping) than TA’s to the success of he club. If you don’t like that comparison, please pick your own, but you get the smell of where I’m coming from.
And to twist it even further, isn’t it worse to be absent more than less? Meaning the longer absences should be weighted heavier as they handcuff the team more?
Or, maybe I’m a sabermetric idiot and these are already accounted for?
Not quite sure I understand you, but I think from the perspective of WAR (which I understand is all about predicting total impact in terms of “wins” you are contributing to the team), absences are already baked in to the final number.
If you play at an all-star level (5 WAR) for half a year, then you’ve accumulated 2.5 WAR. If you then suddenly blow out a knee and miss the rest of the season, WAR accounts for your loss by simply not giving you any more of the stat. You end the season just as valuable as a slightly above-average player over the course of 162–and not nearly as valuable as the all-star level of play you showed in half those games.
At least this is the case if your replacement for the other 81 games is a true “replacement level” player, worth exactly 0 WAR no matter how long he plays. If it’s true that SS backups on MLB rosters are typically worth something more than replacement value, then the team will get something more than 2.5 WAR out of the SS position for the whole year. So if you’ve got one of those something-above-replacement-level SS backups on your team (and leaving playoffs aside), you should prefer to have the guy who plays like an all-star but misses half the season, because your team will end up better off that way.
The core of my question, is, why do we automatically assume that a 100 game absence is twice the value of a 50 game absence?
Using Moncada as an example, the length of time his injury kept him off the roster with no progress seemed frustrating. Yet, when other players come back within the specified time frame, it has a different… I’ll use, vibe because I can’t prove impact.
I wrote this recently about Johnny Cueto, but it could just as easily apply to Jose Abreu:
“It’s not that the White Sox can’t have nice things, they just can’t make them matter.”
Funny that Abreu’s departure wasn’t expected the moment that Vaughn was drafted. I will say this, if the Sox don’t allocate the saved Abreu money for a solid left fielder like Benintendi or better, then rooting for this team is like a fool’s errand. I won’t be able to do it anymore. Everyone has that final straw I guess. Colas will be fine in RF or CF whichever they decide.
.
The saved money from Abreu’s departure covered the raises for Moncada ($4m), Robert ($3.5m), Eloy ($3m), Tim ($3m), Bummer ($1.25m), Giolito (~$2.5m), and Cease (~$2.5m). Doesn’t cover increases for Hendriks and Lopez, though.
This is the tragedy of the rebuild in that they spent the money on retaining talent (which was largely unproven) rather than use their cheapest years to use that money to bring in top players from outside the organization like they were supposed to.
Yes, yes and yes. The Machado/Harper/Wheeler offseason was the spending opportunity to build a winner. Not to rehash an old narrative, but the same core was in place or coming up and the base salary was about $100 million lower at that time.
I don’t understand why people try to act like the Sox playoff appearance in 2020 shouldn’t count. They were the 7th seed because each division was guaranteed TWO teams in. Under normal circumstances the Sox would have still been the 2nd WC team. They had a better record than the Yankees, Jays, and Astros.
Because:
1) It was a shortened season, and after 60 games their rotation was so shallow that Giolito was their only viable starter remaining.
2) They ended the season on a 2-7 skid, in part because of the aforementioned collapse of their rotation. The season basically ended just before they ran out of steam completely.
3) Had the season gone on longer, other teams would have been able to improve through trades in ways the White Sox could not, as their farm system was basically Andrew Vaughn and nothing else of note except the injured Michael Kopech.
4) A third of their games were played against Detroit and Kansas City, both woeful teams who they smashed to the tune of an 18-2 record combined. Against everybody else they went a combined 17-23, including a woeful 2-8 mark against Cleveland.
5) Expanding on 4, among their few non-divisional opponents were six games against a dismantled Cubs team and four against a continually terrible Pirates squad. They didn’t have more than three games against another non-divisional opponent, all of them decidedly mediocre.
Yeah, they got the job done and made the playoffs, but events conspired to throw them a cookie, making it feel like a lot less of an actual accomplishment.
Is that all?