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A Blog About Baseball, and the White Sox

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Favourite White Sox Players

Hey, guys, welcome back to the blog. I thought it would be kind of fun to get back into the swing of bloggings about our Sox. Before we get into full analysis, break downs, analytics, and such, it would be fun to play around memory lane and nostaglia and talk about favourite White Sox players of past.

This is one of those rare subjective type of posts. While we will be discussion fWAR, OBP, wRC+, DRS, et al, the selection of players is simply fueled by nostalgia. Maybe I just liked their swing, or their style of play. Now, some of these may be the greats of the south side, but its not the requirement. Anyway. Ready? Lets go:

C: AJ Pierzynski

1B: Paul Konerko

2B: Tadahito Iguchi

3B: Joe Crede

SS: Juan Uribe

LF: Juan Pierre

CF: Alejandro De Aza

RF: Carlos Quentin

DH: Adam Dunn

SP: Chris Sale

RF: Shingo Takatsu

Alright, so that is quite a list, eh? So the whole infield, plus catcher, were the starters on the 2005 White Sox. Ya know, the team that won the World Series that year. The outfield is made up of lads from the 2010s. Pierre and De Aza were fast guys who got on base, and Quentin had that should be potential MVP season in 2008. Quentin wasn't impactful the rest of his career, but 2008 was wild.

My favourite starter is Chris Sale, which I think aside from Buehrle, is probably any Sox fans #1 guy. And Shingo Takatsu? Well, he may very well be my favourite Sox player ever. He was the first player I ever knew of, plus as a would be weeb, he's always been my guy.

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At their lowest points in life, some find Jesus Christ. As for me? *chuckles* I fell back in love with the White Sox.

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I Am Still A Sox Fan

It certainly has been a while, hasn't it? No posts on any blog in years. No slinging opinions on All Andy Alfred is about a year in a half. Mostly just passive-aggressive, self loathing, smarmy tweets on Twitter.

But despite the rebuild being totally, yet predictably, botched. Despite Getz getting his guys from the house of Kauffman to build a front office, manager, and even players on the diamond. Despite letting Jason Benetti go to to the loathsome Detroit Tigers. Despite so much more, I am still a Sox fan.

I check the score of the game every night. I watch highlights. I follow transactions. I still browse Fanatics for hoodies, and shirts. I plan road trips to go see them on the road for 2025 (Sacramento, and Pittsburgh, in case you're wondering). I even wanted to go to a game this year. Yes, the year the Sox are probably going to set the record.

Albeit, it's not the passion of my adolescence, but that isn't so much a Sox problem as it is a baseball problem. I still love baseball, I'm just not in love with it anymore. Football has taken over my favourite sport of mine about a decade ago.

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Vlog of my day in Chicago at US Cellular Field as the Sox host the Royals. 29th September 2013

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I got a 1990 White Sox yearbook from eBay, let’s talk about it.

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Is Minoso A HOF’er?

One of the questions asked every year around the time of the baseball hall of fame announcement is: does Minnie Minoso belong in the hall of fame? Minoso was never voted in via the ballet, nor was he ever voted in by the veterans committee. Surely Mr. White Sox, the “Cuban Comet” belongs in? Lets find out?

Minnie Minoso had a unique situation in that he played in five decades, the 1940s-1980s. Now, to be fair, his at bats in 1976, and in 1980, were promotion gimmicks by then White Sox owner Bill Veeck. For his career Minoso slashed: 298/398/459 (848) with a wRC+ of 133, and a career fWAR of 50.8. Unfortunate for me, I cannot seem to be able to find Minoso’s DRS, or URZ for his defensive metrics.

But, we can take a took at his prime years (the best 10 years of a players career), and compare them to his contemporary. From 1951-1960 Minoso had a slashline of: 307/397/476 (873) with a wRC+ of 139, and a fWAR of 51.2. How does that stack up against the other great players of the era?

During that span Minoso is 5th in fWAR, behind Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Eddie Mathews, and Stan Musial. And out performed Duke Snider, Ted Williams (who, albeit, lost some time due to fighting in Korea), Yogi Berra, Ernie Banks, and Richie Ashburn to round out the top 10. 9 of those players are in the Hall of Fame.

What about offensive production? His 139 wRC+ in that span is 10th, just a tick behind Ralph Kiner (140 wRC+), and Frank Robinson (143 wRC+). Both of whom are in the Hall of Fame,

So whats the verdict? Well, we have a player who was top 10 offensively, and a top 5 valuable player in his prime who performed, generally speaking, just as well of others who are in hall of fame. The numbers don’t lie. Minoso deserves a spot in Cooperstown.

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RIP Sox Baseball on WGN

Nobody:

Literally no one:

WGN: 

Ah, yes, the sports theme song of my youth. When I was a lad in my late teens my favourite TV broadcast by far was White Sox baseball on, then, Superstation WGN (channel 60 on Buckeye Cable). I saw this was uploaded a while back and it was an overwhelming feeling of nostalgia. Spending weekends during school and weeknights in the summer drinking CocaCoca: C2 (remember that?) in my room, listen to Ken “Hawk” Harrelson calling games before he went senile, the basic but useful black, orange, and white score bug.

Today’s game between the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox from Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago will be the last White Sox game on WGN America. No more. It's over. In 1948 CE the White Sox and WGN agreed on a TV broadcast deal, just two days after WGN signed a TV deal with the Cubs. In 1948 WGN would broadcast all 21-night games at then Comiskey Park. a 72-year-old relationship is officially over.

If you’ve read my past post  Why Am I A White Sox Fan? You’ll know that I’m not a native Chicagoan, I don’t live in Chicago, or even in the Chicago sports market. I grew up, and still live, in the Toledo suburbs. The Sox being on WGN was one of my few chances to watch the games back then. I live in the heart of Tigers; and Indians’ territory, so luckily I got to see the Sox when they played those teams on the local FSN affiliates. And during the World Series year of 2005, and a few years after when they were still a relevant team, on national broadcasts on ESPN or FOX.

But the nice thing about WGN was that those games were the White Sox feed. Hawk Harrelson doing play-by-play with colour commentator (no pun intended “DJ” Darren Jackson, and then in 2009 Steve Stone. It was actually kind of something I was smarmy about back then too. Red Sox, Yankees, Dodgers, Giants, Mets, etc fans never got THEIR home broadcast nationally (*ESPN bias joke*). The only real downside was when WGN games were against the Indians and Tigers because well, I got to see those games anyway and to me, it felt like a waste. But alas.

WGN mostly aired Cubs games, which makes sense since WGN was owned by the Tribune Company. The Tribune also owned the Cubs. So naturally, their cash cow subsidiary they owned would get 75% of the broadcasts on their channel. It honestly didn’t bother me. Even back then when the Sox were pretty much my whole life I didn’t need to watch every Sox game. A few years down the road I would order MLB.TV and watching every Sox game, even when they usually had winning records was kind of a chore. People who watch most of the 162 game schedule are champs. I simply cannot do it.

Buy anywho as the Sox got shittier and shittier they appeared less, and less on FOX, ESPN, and TBS national broadcasts. And as I started going to University and working 5 nights a week at a local pizza chain I got to watch baseball less and less. Catching the Sox once a week or every 10 days or so dwindled down to catching the last few innings of a game in Oakland, Seattle, or Anaheim after I got off work or going to my dads and watching the Sunday baseball game on WGN, sometimes being the Cubs. 

After the 2014 season, WGN America (the rebranded name of Superstation WGN starting in 2008) pulled all sports broadcasts (Cubs and Bulls too) off of the national broadcast and only aired them in Chicago. The past few years my viewership of Sox baseball is down to the Indians and Tigers games when they’re on TV when I’m not working (which is comically rare), against the Reds now every 3 years, or rando ESPN, FOX, TBS national broadcasts, which are also comically rare considering the Sox haven’t had a winning record since 2012 (LOL!).

Even though I haven’t enjoyed a Sox game on WGN in five seasons, I just want to thank WGN and the Tribune Co. for giving me a taste of Chicago even though I lived 250 miles east, and two states over. The Sox were such a big part of my life when I was younger, and it's sad to see an era come to an end.

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And We’re Back. We Hope Anyway

Man, oh man, this poor forgotten abandoned blog. I really wish I had kept this place up more. Hindsight is always 20/20 but I wish I had spent those seasons posting here instead of The Baseball Hipster.

Anywho, the past few years my interest in baseball, and well sports, in general, had kind of wained. For years I was an obsessive fan of baseball and in particular the White Sox that it pretty much became my life. When it wasn’t baseball season I was glued to the hot stove, watching MLB Network for any rumour. In the meantime, my other interests got ignored. When you obsess on one thing, you tend to miss out on a lot of things.

I’ve spent the past few years going native. Getting back into Nintendo, history, art, anime, cooking, trains, etc. All the things that I had enjoyed but rarely got exposure. I think after all those years I just needed a break. A reset. Other than the few games against the Tigers and Indians the Sox played locally on TV, and a few playoff games here and there I hadn’t watched much baseball. Still liked it, don’t get me wrong, but it wasn’t my world 24/7 like in moon’s past.

Even after the disastrous offseason which the Sox lowballed Manny Machado and didn’t even try for Bryce Harper, it seemed like the White Sox were destined to be losers and I gave the rebuild an F. But despite all that this was the first offseason in a while I was actually kind of excited about them even though I had them pegged for another 100 losses.

Past few years I wanted them to tank, and tank hard. Basically, I wanted them to play overall poor enough to get a top pick, but have the kids play well enough to see some growth and development and the veterans well enough to have surplus trade value.

Going into this year I figured Lopez would regress (albeit not this much…), figured Giolito was a bust but was willing to give him this year before writing him off. Tim Anderson had been a disappointment but his fucking best friend died, and it was so traumatic he had to go to therapy, so I was willing to give him an extra year or two to clear his mind. Figured the bullpen would be solid, Moncada would be league average and Eloy would get promoted and have a slow start because White Sox.

I was mostly wrong, but I’m okay with that. Moncada is a top 10 player this year, Anderson is having a solid year, Giolito is having a great season, Eloy is a MONSTER. The bullpen is not solid, and I’m not okay with that, however. The Sox don’t really have any tradable assets that should command a decent package sans Colome, and I’m not so sure I even want him moved. He’s back next year and if they’re trying to actually win games why trade your one good reliever?

Anyway, going forward I hope to keep this blog active.  I’d say enjoy a new post every randomday but my work schedule isn’t consistent. So who knows. I have a few article ideas in my head already. It’s just a matter of sitting down and doing the work; crunching the numbers, articulating my vernacular, willing myself, et al.

We shall see.

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Is Chris Sale Going To Be Okay?

This offseason the Boston Red Sox signed starting pitching Chris Sale to a massive, but deserving, 5 year/$145M dollar contract extension. The Red Sox ace will make $15M this season, the last of the current deal, then make $29M from 2020-2024.

And how is Mr Moneybags pitching this season? 4-9 with a 4.05 ERA, and a 118 ERA+. A serviceable season, but not what you expect out of your almost 30M man going forward. Should Red Sox fans, and front office folks be worried?

Despite the ERA and W-L, which I think both are rubbish anyway, Chris Sale is sporting a 3.22 FIP, 2.97xFIP, 2.99 SIERA, and a .314 BABIP which is .021 higher than this career norm. Basically, Sale is getting into bad luck behind his defence when he puts the ball in play. The Red Sox, as a team, are 19th in DRS at -4, and 19th in UZR at 0.9.

Interesting to note, however, is looking at how Sale does vs batters beyond the box score and slash line. Chris Sale’s 2019 K/9 rate is actually better than his career norm, and about average to what it has been the past three seasons (13. 16 to 13.19), and his O-Swing% (percentage of batters swinging and missing at pitches in the strike zone) is 35.3% which, again, is around the same as its been over the past three seasons (35.9).

However, Sale’s BB/9 went up from 14.43% from 1.94 in 2018 to 2.22 in 2019. And his HR/FB ratio (number of fly balls that end up home runs) went up 88.17% from 9.3% to 17.5%. Granted last year was his lowest since 2014 with the White Sox went it went down to 7.5%.

So what are the numbers telling us? Sale is still getting hitters to swing at pitches in the strike zone, and he’s still getting strikeouts. Unfortunately for him, though, he’s getting into trouble when the balls are put into play. When they’re hit into the field he’s getting slightly burned by his defence, and when they’re hit into the air they’re leaving the park at a much higher rate.

If Chris Sale can control the strike zone he’ll be fine, and if his defence behind him can shore itself up his results will be more akin to his FIP/xFIP/SIERA. As for the home runs? That seems to be something affecting everyone across the game and I’m not sure how that will all sort itself out yet.

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Was José Abreu Snubbed of a Silver Slugger?

When the White Sox signed Jose Abreu to that 6/68M contract going into the 2014 season, it was met with high expectations. Given his stat line in Cuba, Abreu was projected to be a huge slugger here in the majors. Some projected him to be 1.000+ OPS player.

 Obviously, those very high expectations weren’t met, but Abreu has still had a very good career in Chicago. Since his rookie 2014 season, Abreu has a slash line of 301/359/529 (.888 OPS), with a wRC+ of 139. That is good for 3rd amongst American League first basemen in that time, only behind Edwin Encarnacion and Miguel Cabrera, respectively. And would be good for 7th in the majors altogether.

Abreu’s slugging did dip a bit in 2016 and has played on four consecutive losing teams so it's not completely far-fetched to see how Abreu can be overlooked despite playing in a major market like Chicago. Abreu did have a bounce back 2017, not quite the same intensity of this 2014 rookie of the year season, but pretty solid none the less.

Abreu’s slash line in 2017 was 304/354/552 (906) with a wRC+ of 138. Abreu had even led the American League in total bases in 2017. He didn’t win the 2017 American League Silver Slugger award for first base, that went to divisional rival Eric Hosmer of the Kansas City Royals. Was Abreu snubbed? Let’s find out.

Going by wRC+ ( is an improved version of Bill James’ Runs Created (RC) statistic, which attempted to quantify a player’s total offensive value and measure it by runs, per fangraph.com’s glossary) Abreu led the AL with 138, Hosmer was a close second at 135. Amongst AL first basemen Jose Abreu also led the league in slugging percentage but he was 6th in on-base percentage. Abreu was second to Hosmer by one point in Fangraph’s offensive stat and was 4th in home runs by first basemen.

What it boils down to is what do you prefer as your metric? Hosmer just beat out Abreu in Off, but Abreu just beat out Hosmer in wRC+. Hosmer had a better OBP than Abreu, but Abreu beat him in SLG,  home runs and in total bases. 

In my past articles where I project winners for the Silver Slugger, I usually just go by the position leader in wRC+, since that is generally the tool used to gauge a hitter the best overall. That said, being objective, I feel like Jose Abreu should have won the silver slugger. But again, Abreu has been on losing teams his whole White Sox tenure, while Hosmer has been in the playoffs and has name recognition.  And this isn’t trying to be some sort of snide piece to trash Hosmer. Hosmer is a decent player, I just feel that given the numbers this season, he wasn’t the best hitting first baseman in the American League.

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