2017 White Sox Year in Review Part 2: The Tanking

NP: ADAM COLE BAY-BAY!!!!!!!

So in part 1, I went over the history of the last decade of the Chicago White Sox and everything that led up to this season.  To summarize, The Sox spent a lot of effort revamping their development system to have a farm that can bring up competent players on a regular basis.  With that, the team would have to take some lumps along the way.  Starting this season.

That said, this year, there were no expectations of this team.  Nothing was on the line for the coaches or the players.  Just play ball.  The team that was coming out on the field... wasn't going to be good.  Not in the... "we're throwing these games" type of way... but they signed bad players, had young players that didn't have high expectations, and just basically putting on band-aids for the next up coming seasons as the youth grows and right free agents get signed.

But you know what happened?  They became a fun team to watch, they were loose, they were having fun and whether they won or lost, they knew there wasn't any pressure to do any better.

Some highlights:

Avisail Garcia.  Those who know me, know that I just did. not. like. him.   He came from a trade for Jake Peavy several years ago.  Touted with the nick name of "Little Miggy" (after the great hitter Miguel Cabrera) he showed none of the power or speed they claimed he had, his defense was awful and he spent most of 2014 injured.  While I have no problems with the original trade, Avisail just frustrated the shit out of me.  This year though, he became an actual baseball player!  Made the All-Star squad, an over 4.5 WAR... will probably garner a couple MVP votes (top 10 for sure).  Bad season aside, its nice to see a player that is supposed to be good.... BE good.

Yolmer "Carlos" Sanchez.  Not in the same vein as Garcia, since Sanchez wasn't supposed to be a top tier player... but he performed his balls off this season.  Especially on defense.  As a utility player, he showed a lot of heart, wanting to play.  He won't be an All Star or anything, but one of the fun players to watch!

Tommy Kahnle & Anthony Swarzak.  Before the two of them were traded near the deadline, they were contributing from the bullpen.  Where as the rest of the pitching staff was sort of a mess, these two were reliable and fun to watch.  Also, they were moved for younger players that can contribute for longer!
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The Sox also started bringing some of the previously mentioned youngsters up to start getting them in front of major league players to start seeing how they really are:

Yoan Moncada The unspoken Crown Jewel of the Sox farm system.  Was already the #1 prospect when the Sox traded for him and stayed that way all the way to when he was called up.  It's funny that a lot of people think patience is just a Guns N Roses song, as Moncada didn't really hit the ground running and was struggling for a while.  HOWEVER, he was drawing walks, he was working counts and he was learning.  He was struggling with a .150ish BA for a long time... but will be finishing with a .235ish BA, an OBP of like a billion (.341) and a SLG of .417.  All said and done, a WAR of about 1.8 isn't bad for a guy getting his first GOOD look at the majors (He had some playing time last year in Boston, but not a lot to judge from.)  He'll break camp in 2018 and will look to really punish pitchers.

Reynaldo Lopez.  The first of 2 pitchers called up.  Lopez finishes the season looking very promising.  He wasn't impressive, but there is still plenty of time to throw like he did in the minors.  He should be one heck of a contributor.

Lucas Giolito Giolito, like his Nationals teammate above, was solid, but nothing too impressive.  And like Lopez, that doesn't mean anything one way or another... its a positive in a sense... as not being bad... is good!  Him and Lopez should more than likely break camp in 2018, so we'll see plenty of these dudes next season.

Other young players seeing significant major league time for the first time: Nicky Delmonico, Matt Davidson & Kevan Smith
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The Sox will be finishing up their season this weekend and won't be playing past October 1, well below .500, which is fine.  This season was a step in the right direction, letting the youngsters develop, and developing well... look at Eloy Jimenez!  The team didn't contend, so there wasn't any panic moves, Hahn stayed the course and the Sox will be looking at a top 5 pick in this upcoming draft, which is supposed to be one of the more deeper drafts in a long time, meaning, there's a LOT of high end quality players that can, and should be drafted.  That's a different story for a different post.

The Chicago White Sox 2017 Season Part 1: The Background

NP: Going back and forth with Bang Camaro and Barbarian Overlords.  Seriously, listen to both of them, the best rock of the East Coast with the best rock of the West Coast.  Here, I'll make it easy: Barbarian Overlords - The Harvester & Bang Camaro - Revolution

The 2017 MLB Season is coming to a close and like predicted, the Chicago White Sox did not have a great season... and that's a good thing.  Wait, what?  How, why, where?!??!

Let's take a quick trip backwards.  The White Sox won the World Series in 2005, 12 years ago, and made the playoffs in 2008, 9 years ago.  Since 2008 the Sox haven't even sniffed a Wild Card spot.  This is mostly due to the front office, lead by then GM, Kenny Williams.  KW's approach ran like your traditional/stereotypical GM of the late 90's/Early 00's... where the farm system wasn't important and the middling players you can sign for cheap were "going to pay off."  It worked in 2005 as a bunch of mid-level players peaked at the same time, but it becomes apparent how hard it is to continue to catch lightning in a bottle like that on a consistent basis.  So KW would make weird trades to get old baseball players... REALLY decimating the farm, and generally not improving the team.  KW had the old school approach, so as the "Moneyball*" approach became popular, KW ignored the benefits.

A switch was necessary and vital for the future of the Sox, so in walks Rick Hahn and after a stint as ASS GM (LOL) he gets the nod to take KW's spot in 2012 (Between 2012 season and 2013 season).  His impact was not immediate, but there was a sense of a change in direction.  Hahn spent a lot of time trying to uproot the scouting and developmental system, which KW gleefully ignored.  Building the team within is what he was focusing on... getting smart about drafting and putting together a good system peaked this past off-season (up to the 2017 Non-Waiver draft deadline) as Hahn put together some trades that knocked the sox off (LOL) everyone!  First was top tier pitcher Chris Sale being Shipped to Boston (Woah-oh-oh) for a boat load of young prospects/talent.  Led by Yoan Moncada, the #1 prospect in all of baseball, and supplemented with top level pitching prospect Michael Kopech and lottery tickets Luis Alexander Basbae & Victor Diaz.  This is the trade most GM's would have stopped at, but Hahn wasn't done yet.

Only a few days later, Hahn sent OF Adam Eaton to the Nationals for Top 10 prospect Lucas Giolito, and top prospects Reynaldo Lopez and Dane Dunning.  For 2 current baseball players, Hahn received 7 minor league players that were considered some of the best.  As the season went along, Hahn also traded for elite prospects Eloy Jimenez and Blake Rutherford (and others).  Basically taking the farm system, and shoving a bunch of crop enhancers in it, to make sure everyone succeeds.  You can take most of the Sox prospects that are in the back end of their top 10, and they would be in the top 5 of probably 70% of other team's systems... that's how solid it is.  Meanwhile, continuing to draft baseball players, rather than athletes that KW was drawn towards.  With his more business oriented background, Hahn was able to see the benefit in investing for the future. 

So this ended up being a lot longer than I thought, so this is going to be Part 1.  I'll have a part 2 for sure, with the actually Season in review.

*The Moneyball approach isn't exactly ADVANCED STATISTICS like a lot of people like to believe.  I can write a whole post about it.  But simply, It's idea is that you find something that no one else is focusing on, and investing in it, to take advantage.  Example, in the early 2000's, it was all about power, and dingers and all that... not much to be invested in players that took walks.  Beane was able to sign players that had high OBP for the cheap because they weren't sought after.  Biggity Bam, A's win 20 games in a row, en route to a 100+ win season (this doesn't seem as impressive with what the Indians did :) )

Sunday funday

Well, I guess Sunday will be when I update... it could always be more frequent, but it will never be less frequent. How's that for a tag line? Anyway, there's really not much to report on the Quest to Lose Weight except that in terms of lifting, I'm close to being back to where I was before. If there's anything I love being able to do at the gym, it's lifting heavy. Not because it makes me any better then anyone else in the gym, because it doesn't... but putting a bunch of weight on a bar or taking the heavier set of dumbbells and having people look at you like you're nuts, then being able to lift, push or pull that weight multiple times gives one a nice sense of accomplishment. Still eating well also.

Not much else to say... baseball season is around the corner and I won't talk about the White Sox until the final roster is made. Just so it can either be a happy one (Morel @ 3B) or a sad one (MARK FUCKING TEAHEN AT 3B). I also have 4 books coming in (tomorrow!) that I'm stoked to read up on. 1 is called The Extra 2% which is about the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays and how the road they took to be able to overtake both the Red Sox and the Yankees in the AL East, from a business/financial/statistical standpoint. Another one is Ball Four which is by Jim Bouton and is basically the author recalling all the debauchery he came around while moving up in the Yankees system. The other two are advance statistics books, so I won't get into those because I don't want to start an argument, hah. Lastly, I am getting this on Tuesday (hope this works)



So until next time....

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