Rooting against your team is unnatural. In 2018, legions of fans in almost every sport have been persuaded to root for losses in order to recoup higher draft picks. There’s a cold logic to it, and as an analyst, I can explain the cold logic and whether I believe it is correct or incorrect depending […]
Author: Nick Schaefer
Let’s Talk About Lucas Giolito
For all of the positive developments in the organization of late, 2018 has been a harsh reminder of the realities of relying on prospects. It’s so easy to look at a minor leaguer and imagine them hitting their ceiling, shoring up their weaknesses, and filling out future lineup cards riddled with homegrown All Stars. Much as […]
State of the Outfield
The White Sox have had the worst outfield in baseball this year, with a wRC+ of 69 collectively. The 29th ranked team is the Orioles at 82. This isn’t particularly surprising, as the three best outfielders coming into the season–Avisail Garcia, Leury Garcia, and Nicky Delmonico–have been hurt for most of the year, and it’s […]
White Sox Take Two of Three From Cleveland, Move to 8-5 in June
Heading into the season, most projection systems–whether based on wisdom of the crowds, publicly available algorithms like PECOTA, or Las Vegas over/unders–had the White Sox winning somewhere in the high-60s or low-70s for the season. A bad team, to be sure, but not memorably so. The 2017 Padres went 71-91. They were bad and boring, […]
The Benefits of Drafting Nick Madrigal
I’m not writing a scouting report about Nick Madrigal. There are plenty of good, great, and not so great outlets who can do that for you. Besides, evaluating individual prospects, particularly amateur ones is extremely difficult. If I could take the information I have and tell you who will succeed and who won’t, I would have […]
South Side Morning 5: Draft Day and Positive Vibes
The White Sox took two out of three from the first place Milwaukee Brewers over the weekend. I’m not here to tell you 18-38 means they are a playoff contender now or something, but on a day where there are very few games, we can highlight some of the bright spots of the season. 1. […]
The Cavalry Is Almost Here
Heading into the year, the White Sox’ starting rotation had the greatest disaster potential of any of the position groupings on the roster. There was injury risk and performance risk and not a whole lot immediately behind it. There was upside potential, to be sure, but the range of possible outcomes was vast and unfortunately, […]
South Side Morning 5: James Shields in 2018?
It helps to be playing the struggling Rangers and Orioles, but with a come-from-behind 3-2 victory on Tuesday the White Sox moved to 4-2 over their last six games. They’re only 8.5 games out for the division lead! 1. James Shields again finished the seventh inning, allowing only two runs. He has gone at least five innings […]
Tim Anderson’s Development
As you’ve read in this space repeatedly, for all of the excitement around the new and newer prospects in the system, the White Sox Rebuild will turn largely on how some players already in house progress, with Tim Anderson representing just such a crucial class of player. It seems fair to describe his rookie season […]
South Side 5: A Day Off
It may have been a week since our last update, but again we have only one White Sox win to report. It was a good win, with Lucas Giolito battling through supreme wildness to hold a potent Cubs lineup to three runs en route to a quality start. It still leaves the White Sox with […]