Spare Parts: Kenny Williams checks in on White Sox rebuild
By the time I got around to reading the Chicago Sun-Times story on how the White Sox’ rebuild looks to Kenny Williams, the best quote had been removed.
At least if MLB Trade Rumors can be believed. It still links to Daryl Van Schouwen’s story with this quote (h/t Jonathan Doster):
“We’re probably ahead of where we have a right to believe we’re supposed to be, but we’re right where we want to be, but not quite where we need to be yet.”
That’s probably somebody who got motion sickness while spinning, but it could be an error in transcription, or the answer of somebody responding to an inelegant question exactly as asked.
Reverse-engineering the question, it’d be something like, “Is the rebuild going the way you think it’s supposed to, although it’s not obviously where you want to be in the standings, so the question is is this where you want to be or need to be?”
I’ve asked something that bad before, so it’s not out of the running.
Spare Parts
My weekly Athletic column deals with the pros (it’s fun!) and cons (why is everybody else so bad?) of Matt Davidson’s pitching appearance.
We often hear that the difference between the big leagues and the minor leagues is the speed of the game. Rick Renteria does a good job delving into exactly what that means.
“When you get here from the minor leagues, you continue to understand, and get a feel for, who you are as a player — what you’re supposed to be and what you can and cannot do. That comes through experience. And again, a lot of it has to do with emotions and your mindset. The emotions can speed the game up for you and take you out of your normal element.”
“As a player, you have to establish that you actually belong. We all believe that we should be here, but there’s a deeper trust factor in truly knowing that you belong in the big leagues and then running with it.
The whole thing is worth reading.
One drawback to the special uniforms MLB teams wore for Fourth of July purposes: They couldn’t swap them out after sweating. That could’ve been one factor in Covey’s meltdown in Cincinnati. That, or a lower arm slot. That, or maybe he’s just not good.
Jose Abreu doesn’t like taking days off, and he doesn’t like wearing armor at the plate. Renteria is trying to leverage the former to make the latter happen.
“Evidently, he doesn’t (like wearing it),” Renteria said. “If he wants to stay in the lineup …”
Renteria paused and held up the shin guard.
“We had a very friendly discussion. He’s actually an easy guy to talk to. But this is I think something he needs to wear. I don’t want to continue to re-irritate it. If he hits that thing again today without this (shin guard), let alone having this, it’s still going to ring his leg up.”
It seems to me the purpose of the Kansas City Royals is to make the Chicago White Sox feel better about everything. They went 5-21 in June thanks to the 11th-worst offensive month on record. There have been a lot of individual team months in the history of baseball.
If you missed Adam Eaton being the media’s go-to guy for a team playing a bad stretch of baseball, here he is after the Nationals dropped below .500.
“Paul Konerko once said you can only suck for so long,” Eaton said.
I recommend the Royals article. It does make one feel slightly better, if only for a moment. Lots of putrid statistics, but this one stands out:
Since the beginning of June, the Royals have scored all of 61 runs.
That would be more painful to watch than the sloppiness we’re watching. At least we occasionally have hitting.
Nah… I rather read articles about winning and good teams and how they compare to the Sox.
Not much to read on that front!
Much like the AL East leading Boston Red Sox, the Chicago White Sox also utilize a 25-man active roster with some players who primarily hit and others who primarily pitch.
Like the Angels, they also feature someone who hits dingers and throws strikes.
here he is after the Nationals dropped below .500
I thought for sure this was going to be followed up with some mention of Drake LaRoche.
Good content from David Laurila and Jeff Sullivan, though that’s no surprise.