The first one is nice. Lopez made it through his first full season as a starting pitcher and did mostly fine. He threw 188 innings and posted a 3.91 ERA. It’s the type of season where you can look back at his Baseball Reference page in a few years, see his 2018 line, and go “that was a fine year year by Lopez.” It was the epitome of “OK.”

This is particularly true when you consider where Lopez was coming into the season. Of all the at or near-major league ready pitchers the White Sox have, Lopez’s ceiling was the lowest, or at least the expectations for him were. Lucas Giolito was a former top prospect. Michael Kopech is one now. Carlos Rodon is only a few years removed from being the No. 3 pick in the draft. Lopez had some pedigree, but always measured behind those three on the excitement index. He was the guy who got the “probably a reliever” tag more than anyone.

By the end of the year Lopez was the only guy left standing, at least metaphorically. Giolito struggled mightily, Kopech got hurt, and Rodon was hurt and then struggled mightily. Lopez had a few rough patches, but he got through the season without embarrassing himself or getting hurt. Given the season the White Sox as a whole had, that’s a win!

Outside of the context of the White Sox season, however, Lopez’s future is much less clear. The reality is that there was very little that happened this season that makes you any more confident he can become the type of starting pitcher the White Sox envisioned when they acquired him in the Adam Eaton deal two years ago. The ERA was nice, yes, but behind it was a 4.63 FIP and 5.65 DRA that portends a whole lot of luck in that 3.91 figure. His cFIP of 122 does not predict a lot of future success, and the rate stats — particularly the 7.2 K/9 — don’t leave a lot of room for optimism.

Lopez’s future could still very well be in the rotation. It’s likely, however, that our expectations should maybe shift to that of a back-end starter, which still has value even if it would be something of a disappointment. At the very least, Lopez’s 2018 bought him another year in the rotation to prove it — one way or the other.

Lead Photo Credit: Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports

But if we step back, we can see progress in Lopez’ season, which indicates he may be a mid-rotation starter as soon as next year after all.  After all, most observers agreed Lopez was ready as a shutdown reliever even before he was traded to Chicago.  Among the many things his doubters expressed was whether he could hold up to a starter’s workload and hold his velocity in the process.  We’re now in his second full year as a starting pitcher, and he can certainly hold his velocity.  He averages somewhere between 95-97 mph on his four seam fastball whether it’s the 1st inning or the 9th or anywhere in between. He averaged somewhere between 95-97 mph on his four seam fastball in every month of the season, whether it was April or September.  He’s on pace to throw about 180 innings, which, in the modern game, is about as much as you can hope for any starter, as the numbers who clear the 200 inning mark dwindles year after year.  Qualitatively, as the season has progressed, we’ve seen him progress in his command of his offspeed pitches, and explicitly state that he has been learning that he can trust those pitches.

The pessimistic argument is that Lopez has had good games before, but the odds are against him stringing together enough of them to be a worthwhile use of a rotation spot.  Perhaps ultimately that will be his fate, but watching a young starter with premium stuff dominate was refreshing even if y’know…the White Sox got shut out and the season has mostly been watching prospects struggle, fail, get hurt, or all of the above.

With Lopez profile of premium stuff and low command, the realistic hope was that he would become a #3 starter rather than delete all of his weaknesses and become an ace.  He didn’t get all the way there this year, but he got closer, and that’s not nothing.

Lead Image Credit:  Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

1. An uptick in velocity and command of his breaking pitches were the main fuel behind a month where Dylan Covey seemingly transformed from Rule 5 afterthought to a legitimate candidate for future rotation consideration. A Friday night in Texas where he struggled to command anything and left quite a few changeups high in the zone showed just how small his margin for error is, as Covey was tagged for eight earned runs in just 2 1/3 innings in a start that more resembled his forgettable 2017 than the pitcher we saw for the majority of June.

Covey didn’t show any ill effects of the groin injury that forced him out of his previous start early, but was routinely beat around during a second inning in which he allowed three of the four home runs the Rangers hit off him on the day. The fact that he walked three and struck out zero — he induced just four swinging strikes on the evening — only further illustrated how badly he was locating throughout his 74-pitch outing.

Covey showed enough during his hot stretch to earn more opportunities on a team going nowhere in 2018. But he’s now on a three-start stretch where he’s walked 12 against just three strikeouts, so while optimism regarding the 26-year-old is obviously higher than it was even just a month or so ago, it will be interesting to see how he adjusts and if he’s more like the pitcher we saw for the majority of June or not.

2. Carlos Rodon certainly has more margin for error than Covey in any given start, but the Rangers jumped all over his first sign of command issues and what started out as a dominant start ended earlier than expected. Rodon retired the first seven Rangers he faced, including three strikeouts, but hung a fastball to Joey Gallo in the third inning for a solo home run and lost control in the fourth when a single and a pair of walks came home on a Robinson Chirinos bases-loaded double.

It was the first truly bad start of Rodon’s five since returning from injury on June 9, but what’s prevented him from truly living up to his potential during his three-plus years in the majors has been an inability to consistently command from start to start or, like Saturday, inning to inning. The good news for Rodon is that he seems completely healthy after being plagued by injury for the better part of the last year and a half, but we’re still waiting for Rodon to put together a complete and consistent performance like we know he’s capable of.

3. The White Sox weekend woes were not limited to the poor starts by Covey and Rodon. The bullpen was overburdened and allowed eight earned runs in 8 1/3 innings between Friday and Saturday, although a large chunk of that can be attributed to Bruce Rondon, whose ERA has ballooned up to 8.31 after allowing five earned runs while retiring just one batter on Saturday. Similarly, the White Sox committed a pair of errors in each of their two losses and five for the entire weekend, which is only part of the story of a weekend where a team that already wasn’t exactly known for its smooth fundamentals appeared to lose control of it entirely

Things like this are going to happen when a team rosters a handful of borderline major leaguers or young players still getting their feet wet, but while we’ve somewhat gotten used to the White Sox losing more often than they win, one thing you’d prefer they shore up is on that side of the ball. It’s easy to excuse a rebuilding team playing, say, Adam Engel when his bat isn’t up to snuff,, but when players who are already limited extrapolate things by failing to communicate, missing the cutoff, or some other mental miscue, it becomes much more difficult to excuse. Those are aspects of the game within their control, and while mental errors costing the White Sox wins is hardly detrimental to the immediate future, it’d at the very least make watching the losing more aesthetically appealing, and one would hope they get under control if and when they have eyes on contention.

4. The White Sox did win a game this weekend, as Reynaldo Lopez threw 6 1/3 mostly successful innings in a 10-5 win on Sunday, allowing just two earned runs with three walks and six strikeouts. Most notable in the win, and over the weekend as a whole, was Jose Abreu busting out of his slump and Avisail Garcia putting together a nice post-injury streak. Abreu, who hit was in the midst of a .188/.233/.325 slump from June 5 through 26, is 6-for-20 with a home run, a triple, and three walks since Wednesday, hardly world-mashing numbers, but a vast improvement coming out of one of the worst slumps of his career. Garcia went 4-for-5 on Sunday and is hitting .333 with six extra-base hits in 42 plate appearances since returning from the disabled list on June 22. He’s still hacking away at an absurd rate — zero walks in 118 plate appearances overall this season — but if he can start making solid contact again like he did in 2017, it would be a great sign.

5. A mostly unsuccessful weekend was also felt at the minor league level, where Luis Robert was placed on the seven-day disabled list and Eloy Jimenez left Sunday’s game with an apparent leg injury (the severity is not yet known). The arms fared better, as Michael Kopech tossed six innings on Saturday, giving up just three hits and striking out eight, although he also walked four. Dylan Cease continues to be the biggest bright spot in their stable of prospect arms, rebounding from a rocky debut at Double-A to toss seven innings on Sunday, allowing just one earned run with seven strikeouts and two walks. Alec Hansen has yet to get completely acclimated to the same level since returning from injury, however, as he turned in his third straight rough start on Thursday, giving up three earned runs with five walks and four strikeouts in just 3 2/3 innings.

Lead Photo Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

The White Sox are 6-4 since the calendar flipped to June, taking 2 of 3 from both the Red Sox and Brewers, two teams who are a combined 83-47, with a four-game split against the Twins sandwiched between those two series. Aesthetically, the last week and a half has been much more enjoyable than the first two months, to say the least.

The source of the positive results this weekend was mostly the starting pitching, as Dylan Covey, Rodon, and Reynaldo Lopez combined to allowed just three earned runs in 17 1/3 innings. Covey, in particular, continued his surprising ascent by going toe-to-toe with Sale. He struck out seven and allowed just three hits and one walk in six innings of work, and has been the most impressive member of the rotation since re-joining the team May 23. In four starts (excluding the brief doubleheader promotion he had in April), he’s struck out 25 and walked eight in 22 1/3 innings and hasn’t allowed more than two earned runs in any individual start.

It’s been a helluva turnaround for the 26-year-old who was thrown to the wolves and promptly devoured last year as a Rule 5 pick after only throwing 29 1/3 innings above A-ball up to that point. A former first round pick whose career path and life completely changed when he was diagnosed with diabetes during a post-draft physical, Covey’s development has been anything but linear. It’s only been four starts, but the heavy sinking fastball that’s sat 93-95 has given hitters fits. Six of his eight swinging strikes on Friday came off the sinker, and against one of the best teams in baseball and opposed by one of the best pitchers in baseball, he put together the best start of his still young career, befuddling Red Sox hitters all night before a conservative Rick Renteria lifted him at just 83 pitches.

What Covey is going to be is still unclear. It’s only been four starts after all. But at the very least, he’s proven himself worthy of getting an extended look and further opportunities in a rotation that’s beginning to steady overall.

Rodon’s debut was mostly successful, even if it came during the White Sox one weekend defeat. After missing the first two months because of offseason shoulder surgery, the 25-year-old flashed the type of front-end stuff he’s always had while occasionally battling control that limited him to just five innings of work.

The rust was to be expected for a pitcher who has only thrown 69 1/3 mostly nice innings since the start of the 2017 season. Rodon is at his best when he’s working ahead and able to unleash his hellacious slider as a put-away pitch. But he often found himself behind in the count and relied on his change-up a bit more than you’d probably prefer considering it’s his third best pitch. Still, while his velocity was understandably not yet at full strength, he showed the ability to ramp it up when necessary to get out of trouble.

It wasn’t peak Rodon, but he showed no ill effects of the injury, and having a full-strength Rodon for the duration of 2018 will be a good thing for both this year’s team and the prospects of future contention.

Finally, there was Lopez, who again got positive results even if they may have been better than his peripherals. Six strikeouts and just one earned run in 6 1/3 innings works just fine, of course, but he also walked three and hit a batter, battling the usual bouts of wildness he’s displayed despite 13 generally successful starts.

Even if Lopez appears to be playing with fire from start to start and even hitter to hitter at certain points, he shows enough promise to instill hope even if we wait for what sometimes seems like an inevitable crash toward mediocrity.

While we often get impatient waiting for prospects to become what we want or think they’re going to become, it’s important to remember that you rarely get a finished product from someone Lopez’s age. That may seem overly optimistic, but Lopez is getting good results while simultaneously working through command issues and a developing breaking pitch. It’s entirely possible he does come crashing back to earth in the way the advanced stats predict, but he’s still shown enough promise to make you feel better about his future than you might have before the season began.

Lead Photo Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

2. Moncada’s two runs were enough support for Reynaldo Lopez, who needed 106 pitches to get through seven scoreless innings. Lopez’s start was once again something of an enigma as he struck out only four batters while also walking four Twins.  Lopez got 11 swinging strikes on the day (10.4 percent), which is just below the league average (10.6 percent) in that department. Lopez didn’t give up any runs in large part because very few Twins were able to put good swings on the baseball.  Yes, you’d absolutely like to see more strikeouts and fewer walks, but we need to get enjoyment from this season where we can and it is really fun to watch a young starting pitcher throw up goose eggs on the scoreboard against a division rival, and there are certainly other factors at work which are working against Lopez in each of his starts, but more on that later.

3. The two runs, however, were not enough support for the White Sox bullpen. Nate Jones came into the game in the eighth inning and retired the first two batters he saw. Jones then proceeded to allow a “hit” (a generous scoring decision) to Brian Dozier, a walk to Eddie Rosario, a laser single to Miguel Sano which scored the first Twins run, and finally the decisive blow, a three run home run to old friend Eduardo Escobar.  Dozier’s single was a sharply-hit grounder that bounced off of Yolmer Sanchez’s glove. Sanchez then recovered the ball with a nifty barehanded grab, but was unable to get the ball over to first on a fly and Abreu could not pick it out of the dirt, which opened the floodgates for the Twins. Based on the very solid defense we typically see from Sanchez, I’m sure he’ll tell you he should have made that play. Alas, it was not meant to be.

4. In the top of the sixth inning, the White Sox broadcast showed a highlight of Giancarlo Stanton hitting a monstrous home run off of Mike Fiers. The home run itself is nothing new for Stanton, but what was remarkable about it was that it came after Fiers had drilled Stanton with a pitch earlier in the game. This led to an enjoyable dialogue between Jason Benetti and Steve Stone in which Stone revealed that he was not a fan of Major League Baseball teams getting into beanball wars. I couldn’t agree more with Stone on this, and certainly do hope that MLB teams can move away from this frontier-style of justice. It’s really dangerous for the players and no one wants to see their players get hurt.

5. Calling back to No. 2, Lopez got very little help on the day from Omar Narvaez behind the plate. Narvaez has been worth a staggering -9.8 FRAA on the season and White Sox catchers have been worth nearly -15 FRAA as a unit, worst in the majors by a significant margin. Tuesday was no exception. On several occasions, Lopez threw borderline pitches that could very easily have been called strike threes, but instead were called balls because of poor catcher positioning/framing. Catcher framing has been a huge concern for the White Sox for a number of years now, and I certainly hope that they can find a catcher in the near future that can accentuate their young starters instead of actively harming them on a pitch-by-pitch basis.

6. After a short recess, the White Sox and Twins were back at it again for game two of their doubleheader. The Sox jumped all over Twins starter Zack Littell, who was making his Major League debut, and put up a big crooked number on the scoreboard with four runs in the first inning. Abreu kept up his hot hitting with a two-run blast. Tim Anderson got his first hit of the day with a double, Kevan Smith (welcome back!) drove in Anderson with a single and Adam Engel kept the party pumping with a line shot over left-fielder Eddie Rosario’s head to score smith.  Lucas Giolito followed up the big first inning by getting the Twins to go 1-2-3 in the bottom of the first. Why can’t the entire game be made out of the first inning?

7. Speaking of Engel, he’s really been hitting the ball well as of late. Since his OPS hit its season low of .396(!) on April 25, Engel has put together 111 plate appearances with a triple slash line of .275/.321/.422. His OPS on the season is now up to .621.  Engel’s speed defense has always been his calling card with the big league club and his bat an afterthought, but it’s nice to see him start to come around with the bat and make the most of his extended opportunity on the big league club.  When the White Sox are competitive again, they’ll need players like the more recent version of Engel to provide positive value off of the bench and guard against season-sinking injury replacements like the J.B. Shuck experiment.

8. As with most Giolito starts this season, I was skeptical that four runs would be enough for the White Sox to have the lead after Giolito departed. I ended up being wrong, but Giolito was not as sharp as his two runs allowed over six innings would indicate. He got some batted ball luck to get out of trouble in the second inning after he allowed the first two batters to reach, and then he benefitted greatly from a Twins base running blunder in the third. Eddie Rosario sent a towering fly ball to right field with no outs and runners on first and second base. Neither of the runners nor White Sox right fielder, Trayce Thompson, seemed to be able to pick up the baseball which ended up hitting the top of the right field wall. The runners were only able to advance one base and Sano bounced Giolito’s next pitch to short for an incredibly well timed double play. The Twins would get one run on the double play and Escobar would drive in the remaining runner on base with a double to the left-center gap.  Giolito may have only walked two Twins on the evening, but his control was largely erratic, as he threw only 56 of 95 pitches for strikes. While it’s good to see Giolito make it through six innings allowing only two runs, it was mostly lipstick on a pig. At some point he needs to limit the amount of solid contact he is giving up and start striking out more batters than he walks (he only got one strike out over the six innings) if he’s going to see his ERA fall significantly from its 7.08 mark.

10. Sanchez continues to have a very solid season at the plate. He added another double in the top of the fourth inning that drove in two more runs and chased Littell from the game. Sanchez doesn’t get the hype that Moncada or Anderson do, but he may very well be a great fit for the next White Sox contender and watching him on a nightly basis continues to be very enjoyable.

Sanchez’s double in the fourth was actually the last run scoring plate appearance of the game for the White Sox as their bats would fall silent against the Twins bullpen. Luckily enough for everyone invested in White Sox baseball, six runs would be enough as the White Sox took the nightcap in the doubleheader, 6-3. Chris Volstad was able to throw a scoreless seventh, and four relievers, Jace Fry, Bruce Rondon, Luis Avilan, and Joakim Soria, combined to allow only one run in the bottom of the eighth inning. Soria would stay on for the ninth, where the Twins would get runners on the corners with two outs, but he retired the final batter to preserve the win.  With the split, the White Sox start an amazing 21-games-in-20-nights streak of baseball on a relatively positive note. Next up is another match-up with the Twins. The probable starters are Jake Odorizzi and Hector Santiago.

11. As a bonus item, it was nice to see both the Twins and the White Sox wear their Jackie Robinson uniforms in the opener of the doubleheader.  The first game, of course, was a make-up game from the last time the White Sox traveled to Minnesota and were treated to some extended time off because of the early April snow. The two teams would have worn their Robinson jerseys on the original scheduled date, so I’m glad they decided to sport them again today to honor one of the most important players in MLB history.

Lead Photo Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

Carson Fulmer’s demotion Friday — following yet another disastrous start — made sense in that even in a rotation rife with poor outings, his inability to show any semblance of getting through a major league lineup was doing no good for him or the team. Fulmer was drafted as someone who was expected to be close to major league ready and move quickly through the system. He did, even if he never really showed the ability to get even minor league hitters out.

At the risk of overreacting, it’s entirely possible that Fulmer is a lost cause at this point. The White Sox will continue to work him as a starting pitcher in Triple-A Charlotte, and while the assumption has always been that if he fails as a starter he still has the ability to be a productive reliever, there’s no guarantee of that either. Regardless of his future, sending him down made sense as there was just no point in seeing him get pounded every fifth day.

2. The logical replacement, you and I both say, is to call up Michael Kopech, who rebounded from his first truly poor outing of the season by striking out nine and allowing just four baserunners in seven shutout innings Friday. There’s plenty to be said about why the White Sox are keeping Kopech in Triple-A for the time being — whether they really want him to continue getting comfortable with the change-up or if it’s merely service-time manipulation — but regardless, it appears that’s not where they’re going … at least not yet.

Fulmer’s replacement on the roster in the short-term is Dylan Covey, who was called up prior to Saturday’s game against the Rangers. While it’s yet to be determined if Covey will take Fulmer’s spot in the rotation or if he’s merely serving as bullpen depth until that spot comes back around, I wouldn’t expect him to stick around for all that long. The White Sox rotation options are lacking at the moment behind James Shields, Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, and Hector Santiago (who appears to be in the rotation by default at this point), but Carlos Rodon made his first rehab start Saturday in Low-A Kannapolis and is still expected to join the rotation in early June. It’s entirely possible the White Sox hang with the aforementioned incumbents and Covey until Rodon’s return.

If Kopech is off the table, there isn’t much of a choice. Along with Covey, the only other reasonable options are equally unappealing. There’s other Triple-A journeymen like Donn Roach or T.J. House; Tyler Danish has been pitching primarily in relief this year, and Jordan Stephens — probably the next most appealing option outside of Kopech — has just one start since joining Charlotte last week. These scenarios are hardly appetizing, but it’s the reality in which we seem to be living right now.

3. Lopez provided some relief to the White Sox rotation woes Sunday, putting together arguably the best start of his career in helping the White Sox to their first series win since the first series of the season. Even outside of his most recent outing when he was downright bad in lasting just 2 1/3 innings, Lopez’s peripherals hadn’t matched the results he had put up thus far this season. Sunday, Lopez was both efficient and filthy in tossing a career-high eight innings, striking out eight, walking two, and giving up two base hits.

Lopez showed the swing-and-miss-ability we’ve long known him to have, generating 16 whiffs, including 12 on a fastball that averaged 96 and hit as high as 98. Beyond that, he effectively worked ahead and kept the ball down except when he was elevating the fastball for a strikeout. Through six innings, only one of the Rangers’ recorded outs were fly outs, and they ended with only four in the entire game. That he lasted eight innings was a credit to his efficiency, and his 107 pitches were also a career high.

It was one start against a particularly bad offense, but a solid sign of progress from a unit that desperately needed it.

4. Speaking of struggling positional groups, Nicky Delmonico was hit by a pitch Friday and is expected to miss 4-6 weeks with a broken wrist. After a surprisingly strong debut in 2017, Delmonico has struggled mightily thus far, showing the same keen batter’s eye, but almost no pop whatsoever, slugging just .302 through 135 plate appearances.

The White Sox outfield options are perhaps even more grim than the rotation. While Avisail Garcia remains disabled and is now expected to be out until late June at the earliest, and until the team decides it’s time for Eloy Jimenez to come up, the options outside those already on the 25-man roster are limited, as evidenced by the decision to replace Delmonico on the roster with an infielder — Jose Rondon — as opposed to another outfielder. Some combination of Leury Garcia, Adam Engel, Trayce Thompson, and Daniel Palka will be run out there on a daily basis, although Rick Renteria intimated recently that they may consider giving Yolmer Sanchez — he of two career innings in the outfield — a shot at some point. Beyond that, internal options are severely lacking. Charlie Tilson has a .592 OPS in Triple-A, we’ve played the Jacob May game once already, Ryan Cordell is broken, and any other outfielder with a semblance of promise is too far away.

We’ve said on a number of occasions that the rebuild provides opportunities for players who might not otherwise get the chance to prove they belong, and there’s no better example than the outfield as currently constructed. Until Jimenez is called up or Garcia (who also struggled mightily pre-injury and is far from “established” even if he’s more so than the other guy), we’ll be seeing a whole lot of the aforementioned foursome.

5. An unexpected bright spot on an otherwise desolate season is that Jace Fry is apparently now a lights-out reliever. The 24-year-old lefty, who struggled in a brief debut in 2017, has now tossed 8 1/3 hitless innings since his return to Chicago, striking out 12 and walking just two. In Saturday’s win, Rick Renteria trusted him with a two-run lead in the eighth inning, and on Sunday he got the call in a 3-0 game to nail down his first career save.

Fry is an interesting case in that he wasn’t really on the radar prior to last season. Two Tommy John surgeries will do that to you. After last season’s reliever exodus, he earned an opportunity, and likely would have at the start of this season as well if not for an oblique injury. Relievers are volatile enough that him becoming an out-of-nowhere asset wouldn’t be the strangest thing in the world, but it would be far from predictable. It’s only been eight innings, but Fry has absolutely showed signs of becoming a valuable piece in another White Sox unit that could use something good to happen.

Lead Photo Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

Wins and losses don’t mean much this year but trolling the Twins is always worthwhile

— Nicky Beeps (@Nick_BPSS) May 4, 2018

1. We often get so caught up in who’s doing what and when and where in regards to the White Sox build toward contention that we don’t stop to appreciate a truly enjoyable game. Thursday’s 6-5 win over the Twins to open a six-game home stand was far from perfect, but when it comes to the aesthetic pleasure of watching your team win a game against a division foe, it was among the most satisfying of the season thus far. (Yes, I know there’s only been nine to choose from).

Just how satisfying was it?

Never change, @CarlosSan29. pic.twitter.com/LxUE0ypB87

— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) May 4, 2018

2. Trayce Thompson’s walk-off homer off Addison Reed capped a comeback from down 5-1 after just four innings. The offensive heroes were Thompson and Daniel Palka, the latter of whom the White Sox claimed off waivers over the offseason from Minnesota. Palka’s had an interesting start to his White Sox and major league career. The 26-year-old has been a free-swinger through his 24 plate appearances since replacing the disabled Avisail Garcia two weeks ago, showing he can do damage when he runs into a mistake. His solid if unspectacular track record in the minors shows enough promise, even if he’s older than most rookies, and the White Sox lack of ready-made outfielders in the minors until they decide Eloy Jimenez’s time has come means you can add him to the list of players looking to prove they’re of major league caliber going forward, whether it’s with the White Sox or not.

We know Thompson’s story already, but the walk-off shot came at a good time for a player who hasn’t exactly made the most of breath of fresh life his career was given when the White Sox re-acquired him a few weeks ago. The home run was his fifth hit since joining the White Sox, three of which have left the ballpark. Thompson, like Palka and a few others, is being given an opportunity that might not be afforded him on a team constructed a little differently, and with Nicky Delmonico’s slow start and Adam Engel’s offensive ineptitude, now is as good of a time as any for him to prove he belongs. Thursday’s home run was just a single shot at the most opportune of times, but it was a step in the right direction.

3. That the White Sox won despite their most consistent starting pitcher thus far having a rough night is a testament to both the offense, and Reynaldo Lopez readily admitted he didn’t have his best stuff on Thursday.

“I think that today none of my pitches were working as they were supposed to work,” López said through team interpreter Billy Russo. “It was a constant battle for me. I have to battle, I have to grind through it and I’m finding ways to just get an out. It was with all my pitches. Today it wasn’t my best stuff and it was a battle.”

A day after Lucas Giolito flipped the script on his walk-heavy April with seven strikeouts, Lopez turned in his second consecutive start where he simply wasn’t missing bats. He induced just two swinging strikes in his 83 pitches and a fastball that has sat 95 for most of the season averaged just 93 mph on the day.

Lopez has been something of an early-season revelation considering the questions about his viability as a starter as well as the struggles of the staff as a whole. We’ll see yet whether Thursday’s struggles were a blip or part of a long-term concern.

4. Waiting for the inevitable tide to turn on Matt Davidson’s hot start doesn’t have quite the same feel as when he did the same (and it never came) with Avisail Garcia a year ago. Davidson’s prospect pedigree and lack of a long-term opportunity to date make it entirely possible the hitter he’s been for the first five weeks of the season is close to the new norm for him. No, he’s probably not going to OPS close to 1.000 long term, but he’s only three walks away from matching last year’s season-long total, and had another two-hit game Thursday including a double that drove home the tying run.

We’ve said it on a number of occasions, but while Davidson’s strikeout numbers are always going to be hefty, him bringing it down just a smidge (he’s at 30 percent on the season after 37.3 percent a year ago) while upping the walk rate (8.3 percent compared to 5.9) and remaining powerful (you really need to numbers on this one?) will make him a much more valuable player than we ever would’ve imagined even a few months ago.

5. Welington Castillo was a late scratch on Thursday with what Rick Renteria said after the game was because of a ball he took to the “personal region of the body” last week. Given that Castillo was disables twice a year ago because of testicular injuries, one obviously hopes bad luck hasn’t struck the White Sox catcher twice. While Castillo’s defense hasn’t graded out particularly well thus far this season (he’s second worst in the league, per FRAA), Omar Narvaez’s defense also leaves a lot to desire, as evidenced by the pair of passed balls that aided the Twins’ first two runs of the game. Regardless, Castillo presents quite a bit more offensive upside than Narvaez, and while Kevan Smith is a capable injury fill-in if Castillo is forced to the disabled list, losing him for any amount of time would be a considerable blow.

Lead Photo Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

There’s not much to say about this other than the obvious: It’s a terribly scary situation. Farquhar is, by all accounts, an earnest, humble, and endearing guy, something we’ve learned in the just nine months he’s spent with the organization.

BP South Side joins the rest of the baseball community in sending our thoughts and well wishes to him, his wife, and their three children.

2. There were actual baseball games played this weekend, of course. The White Sox were swept by the defending World Series champion Houston Astros, getting outscored 27-2 over the three-game series.

They’re on a seven-game losing streak and have lost 12 of 13. They’re 2-14 in April after winning the first two games of the season against the Royals. Feels like a million years ago, doesn’t it? In seven of 18 games, they’ve scores 0 or 1 run, and their -56 run differential is worst in the American League, tied with Cincinnati for second worst in baseball, and only two runs better than Miami.

The White Sox aren’t good, folks!

3. The White Sox being bad isn’t necessarily unexpected, but it’s the way in which they are bad that’s concerning. The rotation was expected to be iffy, but to date that unit has collectively walked more hitters (62) than it has struck out (60).

The biggest issue is with Lucas Giolito, who had his fourth consecutive subpar outing to start the season in Saturday’s loss, and one that was significantly worse than the first three. After that start, in which he gave up nine earned runs and walked seven in just two innings, he’s now walked 19 in 20 innings this season and sports a grotesque 9.00 ERA. His mechanics are out of whack, and the consistent velocity he displayed all spring is nowhere to be seen. What Giolito needs to do to be successful is clear — particularly to the pitcher himself — but any sign of him putting what is preached into practice has yet to be seen.

Reynaldo Lopez, on the other hand, has looked quite a bit better than most projected even after Sunday’s four walk/two strikeout performance in a loss to the Astros. His strikeout rate is healthy, but he’s now walked 15 in 24 innings and his sparkly 1.50 ERA is aided, in part, by an unsustainable strand rate and BABIP against.

2018 is much more important for folks like Giolito and Lopez taking next steps in their development than for wins and losses. While it’s still early, that aspect of the season is off to a questionable start.

4. How about some positives? Yoan Moncada is starting to get on base at a respectable clip. Even with a 1-for-7 weekend against Houston, he drew a walk in two of the games and, going back to the last two games against Oakland, has four walks, three stolen bases, and two home runs in his last five games. Baby steps? Sure. Moncada’s .214/.329/.400 line isn’t what you’d hope for from a former global No. 1 prospect, and yes, he’s still striking out at an insane rate. But the odds are still with him being a significant contributor over the long haul, and methinks the numbers will start to show that before long as well.

It’s kind of weird considering the White Sox offensive struggles as a whole, but when you look up and down the lineup it’s hard to be all that disappointed with several of the regulars. Tim Anderson has drawn seven walks and has eight stolen bases. Matt Davidson is tied with Moncada for the team lead in walks despite his numbers beginning to dip after his scorching start. Yolmer Sanchez has six extra-base hits already and somehow leads the team in batting average. Jose Abreu has been, well, Jose Abreu.

And then there’s Avisail Garcia. The 2017 All-Star is at .225/.243/.310 with 17 strikeouts and zero walks thus far. The weak contact that plagued the seasons prior to last year’s breakout is back. There was a lot of noise in Garcia’s surprising season a year ago, but the fact that it never subsisted brought some hope that, even with some minor regression, he’d still be a valuable player for the foreseeable future. That still may be true, but right now, it’s not happening.

5. Welcome back, Trayce Thompson! I’ve always had a soft spot for the 27-year-old outfielder the White Sox re-acquired last week, as despite his flaws he seemed easy to root for. His debut with the White Sox in 2015 went better than anyone could’ve expected, and is one of the reasons they were able to package him in acquiring Todd Frazier the following offseason, but he hasn’t been the same since, save for a hot start to 2016 with the Dodgers.

Thompson homered in Saturday, his first start since his return, and it will be interesting to see how the White Sox deploy him between spelling Nicky Delmonico or leapfrogging Adam Engel entirely. If he could just go ahead and return to that 2015 form, that’d do nicely.

Lead Photo Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

The good

Reynaldo Lopez flashed the type of swing-and-miss stuff that makes it easy to understand why the evaluators who are high on him believe he can be an above-average starting pitcher. He struck out 10, the highest total of his White Sox career (he had one 11-strikeout game in 2016 with Washington), and flashed plus stuff with the fastball, slider, and change-up while generating 11 swings-and-misses.

The velocity on his fastball sat 96-98, according to Brooks Baseball, but perhaps more importantly maintained that velocity as his pitch count crept upward. He lasted six innings and ended his outing with four consecutive strikeouts, including a 97-mph offering he threw past Stephen Piscotty to end his evening.

He was wild at times, walking four, and got beat on two mistakes — a hanging slider that Khris Davis hit for an RBI double and a 92-mph fastball that Matt Olson hit out — and home plate umpire Mike DiMuro’s strike zone was consistently forgiving for both teams throughout the night, but there was enough good stuff there to find optimism. Lopez could still be a reliever, or one of those Danny Salazar-type frustrating fringe starters who misses a ton of bats but makes enough mistakes to remain fringe-y, but there’s still plenty to dream on with him, and tonight was a good example of why.

The bad

…where to begin?

The offense is still putrid. They’ve scored zero or one in four of their last seven games, and again struggled with runners in scoring position, going 0-for-5.

They made Oakland starter Daniel Mengden, he of a 5.36 ERA in 24 career starts, look like an efficient, inning-eating machine, drawing just one walk (bonus good: Matt Davidson’s TEAM LEADING 10th of the season) while striking out eight times.

It took a Jose Abreu lead-off home run in the ninth to chase Mengden and avoid their third shutout of the season.

Avisail Garcia continued to look over-aggressive at the plate and is in a 1-for-21 slump, seeing just 10 pitches in his four plate appearances.

Opening day against the Royals feels like an eternity ago.

The ugly

The entire seventh and eighth innings.

The White Sox were unlikely to win given the offensive woes, but the seventh inning put an outcome that was in doubt completely out of reach. After Luis Avilan walked Jonathan Lucroy to begin the frame, a free out turned into a base runner when Jose Abreu couldn’t handle a sacrifice bunt by Matt Joyce. Following a Marcus Semien single to load the bases with nobody out, a tailor-made double play ball off the bat of Jed Lowrie went through Tim Anderson’s legs and under DEFENSIVE REPLACEMENT Leury Garcia’s glove, plating a pair of A’s.

Defensive woes continued in the eighth inning, when Chris Volstad walked Matt Chapman to lead-off the inning (sensing a theme here?), and a throwing error by Adam Engel on a Mark Canha single gave Oakland further opportunities.

Including Lopez’s four, White Sox pitching walked seven on the evening and the bullpen, even setting aside the defensive misplays, walked three and struck out just one while allowing four earned runs over the final four innings.

There will be nights like this with a rebuilding team. Things like Lopez’s performance and Davidson looking good at the plate are positives worth focusing on, but the White Sox being run-of-the-mill “bad” is a lot easier to stomach than looking embarrassingly incompetent.

Let’s hope we see less of the latter going forward.

Lead Photo Credit: Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports

1. One of the cool things about following baseball is there is always more to learn. For example, I bet you thought loading the bases increased your chances of scoring runs. The theory has a compelling, albeit facile, logic to it.  But that’s why you read Baseball Prospectus — you think on a deeper level.  The White Sox had some contrarian wisdom, loading the bases in the first on Sunday and the bottom of the second on Saturday with one out and none out respectively and not scoring at all.  It was cool and great.

2. Reynaldo Lopez took the hard luck 1-0 loss Sunday, although it indicts Pitcher Wins & Losses more than it says anything about his efforts. The term “effectively wild” is a cliché, but Lopez held the Tigers to one unearned run on the day, striking out five and only allowing two hits.  The five walks were a bit unsightly, but Lopez is missing bats so far in 2018, which is much more consistent with his repertoire and speaks to what he can accomplish if his secondaries are working.

3. For his second start of the year, Lucas Giolito did not have his best command, struggling to locate his fastball, and allowing 5 runs over 5.2 IP. Maybe Giolito has trouble getting loose in cold weather or maybe these are just two random bad starts.  Regardless, it has certainly thrown cold water on the popular Spring Training narrative Giolito had figured everything out.  The silver lining is how he has managed to muddle through reasonably deep into games when he clearly wasn’t at his best, but I’m sure he’d prefer to show his best instead.

4. Juan Minaya had a really rough weekend, walking all four of the batters he faced on Saturday and then being optioned to Charlotte the next day. The corresponding move represented the White Sox’ biggest moral victory of the weekend, as they took deployed former Detroit prospect Bruce Rondon, who pulled the reverse Minaya and struck out all four Tigers’ he faced.  Rondon throws hard. Maybe he’ll be the next Cooper reclamation project to troll the league.

5. The White Sox offense fell flat on against Michael Fulmer — a good pitcher — and Mike Fiers, who is not as good as Fulmer, but they still sit No. 1 in the majors in OPS as a team. Even after two bad games, Avisail Garcia is still hitting .343, and Matt Davidson drew a walk in each of them, including after an 0-2 count.  For reference, he walked 19 times in all of 2017.  Davidson is always going to strike out a lot, but the walks and power method is a tried and true one.  He already has the latter, so the former would be a very welcome addition, and it is a trend worth monitoring.

Lead Image Credit: Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports