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.

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As far as the White Sox go, that sums up all of the positives from the game. Dylan Covey, Chris Beck, and Mike Pelfrey each pitched multiple innings and allowed even more runs. Anderson’s double stood as the White Sox’ only hit, with Rob Brantly’s walk representing the only other baserunner on the afternoon.

After the game, Ausmus faced down questions as to why Castellanos—a recent convert from third base to the outfield—had not been pulled for a defensive replacement.  It wouldn’t have been a routine play, necessarily, but it is not outlandish to suggest that a defender with better range would have hauled in the catch and clinched the no hitter for Boyd.  Castellanos is not fleet of foot and while he may eventually profile better in the outfield than at third, his bat certainly looks less special in right field.

Heading into Sunday’s game, the White Sox had been averaging 8.6 runs scored over the previous eight contests, so the prudent course would be to chalk Sunday up to One Of Those Days and move on.

The biggest news of the weekend was likely Carson Fulmer’s start on Friday evening, his second consecutive outing of 6 innings with only 1 run allowed.  Fulmer has had a tough season, getting hit around in Triple-A and getting absolutely annihilated in his first start in the majors this year.  So even if his recent run of success has been against Detroit and San Francisco’s weak lineups, he is closing on a high note.  Over his last 12 innings, he has struck out 14 against only 4 walks while logging 19 swinging strikes, getting a lot of swings and misses on fastballs above the belt.

Fulmer has good velocity, sitting around 94, topping out as high as 97, and he is able to both cut and sink it as needed.  If you watched Corey Kluber in the playoffs last year, you can see what that kind of arsenal can accomplish when thrown with impeccable command.  The organization has also raved about his makeup and work ethic.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is unchanged when it comes to Fulmer. His delivery is violent and difficult to repeat, the great life he gets on his pitches also means he fails to consistently pitch to specific quadrants of the plate, let alone hit the glove. There’s still a chance that he could stick in the rotation as a solid back-end guy, but the landscape of the organization has shifted massively since his arrival.  When he was drafted, the organization would have loved it if he quickly became a #4 starter to slot in behind Chris Sale and Jose Quintana, and he represented a disturbingly high percentage of the White Sox’ prospect capital.

Now, as it looks increasingly likely that Fulmer will wind up a reliever—and he’d probably be quite a good one, who could be used for more than three outs at a time—that would still be an acceptable outcome.  The plan for the rotation now looks like some combination of Carlos Rodon, Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, Michael Kopech, Dane Dunning, and others.

Fulmer might still be a starter, but the odds are against him.  That doesn’t mean he can’t be a really useful piece moving forward, but a few good starts in September should be kept in their proper context.

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