Tigers 3, White Sox 1: A rather pedestrian loss
The weather was quite lovely on Saturday night in Chicago. Nobody would blame you if you, the reader, decided to hang out with family or friends out on the town rather than watch this White Sox game. Tonight’s loss to Detroit was rather mundane.
Tarik Skubal pitched very well for the Tigers. There was a day not long ago that White Sox hitters feasted on starting left-handed pitchers, but that hasn’t been much the case in 2023. With a team OPS of .707 against left-handers, the White Sox hitters rank 24th in MLB.
So it might not be all that shocking to see Skubal striking out nine batters over five scoreless innings, only allowing two hits and a walk. White Sox offense wouldn’t show any signs of life until the eighth inning when Yasmani Grandal pinched hit for Korey Lee and doubled. Luis Robert Jr. would later drive in Grandal with an RBI single.
José Ureña, who pitched for Detroit in 2021, was starting tonight for the White Sox. Making his first start with the South Siders, Ureña was fine. On 75 pitches, Ureña lasted four innings, allowing just one run on four hits. Command was inconsistent for Ureña, and against a better lineup, the results might have been uglier.
But Ureña made the start because Chris Getz and Pedro Grifol decided to move Michael Kopech into the bullpen. He did make an appearance tonight in the seventh inning when the White Sox were down 2-0. First to face Kopech was Spencer Torkelson, and it was a nine-pitch battle with five fouled-off pitches. Eventually, Kopech won that at-bat as Torkelson grounded out back to the mound.
Against Kerry Carpenter, it was easier for Kopech as he dispatched the lefty slugger on four pitches for a strikeout. With two outs on 13 pitches, it looked like Kopech could be extended another inning if he could get Matt Vierling out.
Unfortunately for Kopech, his inside slider on a 3-2 count found Vierling’s barrel, resulting in a home run. Now down 3-0, Kopech compounds his problems by wildly missing with his four-seam fastball to walk Tyler Nevin. Eventually, Kopech found a way out by getting Parker Meadows to pop out to Tim Anderson. On 28 pitches, Kopech’s final line was 1 IP 1 H 1 ER 1 BB 1 K.
Tonight’s loss prevented the White Sox from winning three straight games, which they have since accomplished that feat a month ago.
Game Notes:
- Luis Robert Jr. now has 72 RBI’s on the season
- White Sox hitters struck out 15 times
- The White Sox elimination number is down to 1 game
Record: 55-87 | Box Score | StatCast
Another rerun of The Walking Dead. Minus the walking.
lol
Hmm, being “a rather pedestrian franchise” would be a step up.
Moncada had some bad looking swings in the 4th (ended up on his back) and 6th (ended up on one knee) and appeared to be wincing. It looked like he twisted his right knee.
of course!
And he’s not in the lineup today, everyone who was patting him on the back earlier have been rewarded.
Saw this article on the MLB app. https://www.mlb.com/news/chris-getz-talks-future-plans-before-white-sox-loss?partnerID=mlbapp-iOS_article-share
This part, especially the editorializing by Merkin, really bugged me. No, that is not the main problem! The main problem is talent!
When a leader says he needs to establish what the team is about and can’t articulate how or what that is, then they probably don’t know what they are doing. Matt Nagy era press conferences taught me that, sad Jerry doesn’t have the wisdom to see through this as an experienced owner in Chicago.
And if it still needs to be established and the manager has been trying to establish it since before the season began…then why do you think he’ll be able to do it next year? The only real change is that the guy who was involved in player development and whose developed players don’t really know what this team is about is now in charge of going out and acquiring new players for a team that always goes cheap on free agents and isn’t likely to spend much in that space this off-season anyway. And, if the culture is the thing that would make a difference, then why are we retaining a manager who has singularly failed to build the culture the new GM wants?
So, you know, blah blah blah.
My gut says: Getz said he wants to hire outside voices, best Jerry can do is allow some promotions since candidates will either not want to come or be too expensive. So I think Sam Mondry Cohen gets a promo, Louis Silverio gets a promo, etc. After that shitshow, FA and Trade market may be less than desirable for the White Sox since the money they would need to eat on deals would be too much for Jerry to stomach, besides the “Foundation” is there. So instead of going into FA, they will swing a predictable trade for Salvador Perez, likely giving up one of their top 100 guys in the process since KC is devoid of system talent and should look to maximize their assets in that regard. After that, welcome Cristian Mena and Nick Nastrini to pair with Cease/Kopech/Clevinger/Touki, as well as Bryan Ramos playing 2nd or perhaps a Whit Merrifield/Adalberto Mondesi INF FA(because that should be cheaper than a top market pitcher). So essentially, the Getz era will be defined early by fail upwards promotions and forcing Salvador Perez/not ready prospects down fans throats for the “competitive 2024” season.
Getz / Grifol probably want Perez, but he is also owed 20 m next season and 22 the season after followed by an option on 2026. Am hoping that keeps him in KC
In most cases I’d agree, but the contradictions coming out of this team makes me think anything stupid is possible.
The talent is deficient, the talent he supplied.
He did talk about getting more athletic and cited baserunning as an example. I wonder if he’ll peddle Vaughn, the slowest player since Smoky Burgess.
I had this boss once. He kept saying he wanted results but never explained to us ‘how’ to accomplish those goals. He could not hold anyone accountable because there was no metric to compare performance to a goal.
They lack talent, but he isn’t wrong that they need to focus more on constructing a cohesive roster rather than simply acquiring talent. That seemed to be the previous approach – just grab anyone who is highly regarded without considering whether the coaching and development staff know how to get them to reach their potential or whether they fit into the roster construction.
I hope they build a more cohesive roster, but unless Rick and Kenny actually forgot that there are 9 positions on the field and not 7 or 8, then the problem either had to do with the fact that the 2B and RF coming up through the system were inadequate (ie possibly or partially a failure of player development) or the problem was having an owner who wouldn’t spend money on 2B or RF. Or maybe it was some of both.
Given that the owner once said “Baseball is the only industry where I have to pay someone what my dumbest competitor pays,” and more recently used 2B as a specific example, I’m going to assume that ownership is a big part of the problem and that hasn’t changed.
The triumvirate of Jerry, Getz, and Pedro will only end up succeeding next year if they get lucky and/or because it’s almost impossible to be worse.
The home runs count for fewer runs when you don’t high five enough.