Sox Drawer
I can’t say this week was expected, but bad news is never a surprise on the south side. The White Sox finished off the week 1-6 and to make matters worse, Michael Kopech needs Tommy John surgery after 4 career starts and will be out until spring training 2020. Just when the team is looking like a legitimate ball club, they have their worst week of the second half.
The Sox have now lost 6 straight after taking game 1 from Detroit courtesy of a Matt Davidson walk off this past Labor Day. They followed up that winner with two garbage games against the same bad team that we’re better than and really didn’t even bother to show up for the weekend series vs. the LA Angels. Sho Ohtani and Mike Trout showed their world class talent by going a combined 12-22 with 3 home runs and 11 RBIs while the Charlotte Knights* scored 5 total runs in the series. The club looks to straighten the ship as they head on a 9 game road trip, the first 6 coming against the two worst teams in baseball.
*I said what I meant and I meant what I said
Dirty Laundry
As I previously mentioned, rookie flamethrower Michael Kopech needs Tommy John and will miss the entire 2019 season. For the uninformed, this surgery is needed to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in a player’s elbow. This usually happens to pitchers and usually to their throwing arm. What used to be a career ender is now a just a speed bump, though it’s one of those where you were going too fast and thrash the bottom of your car.
There was a noticeable difference in Kopech’s most recent outing and some postgame discomfort led to the MRI on his arm. He owned a .082 ERA over 11 innings with 9ks through 3 starts, but saw his ERA balloon to 5.02 after giving up 7 runs and 9 hits in 3.1 innings to the Detroit Tigers. Kopech’s velocity was down all night, topping out at 94, and it showed as the Tigers smacked the ball all over the field. TJ is no joke, so let’s hope Kopech can recover and be the top of the rotation kind of guy the #FutureSox will need him to be.
Fresh Pair
Reynaldo Lopez was one of the few White Sox to remember that he was a professional baseball player during the week and threw 2 gems to bookend the series. He started off with a 7 inning outing, allowing 1 run while striking out 6 and settling with a no decision. He topped that with a 6 inning performance, only giving up 2 hits and striking out 10 leading to another no decision. Reynaldo is the last victim of the no decision curse that has plagued the team the past few years. Spoiler: it’s not a curse, our bullpen is a literal trashcan. Either way, easily two of Lopez’s best games on the season as he continues to show us he can chuck the pill.
I know pair means two and I should have two players to brag about, but I’m breaking rank and no one can stop me. The White Sox were downright bad this week and no one else on the team deserves the prestigious Fresh Pair® award handed out weekly by me. And you don’t even have to ask, of course I send one new white sock to each player I choose. Kopech didn’t respond when I did this last week, but Jimenez was such a fan that I’m no longer allowed within 300 feet of him. I think he’s mad that I only sent him one sock but hey, I don’t make the rules……do I??
Hurt Socker
Jose Abreu was activated off of the 10 day DL and plans to return to the lineup this Monday against the Kansas City Royals. News came out this past week that Abreu’s ‘lower stomach/groin’ injury was really testicular torsion. I can’t even say it without wincing, but that sounds like the absolute worst thing a human can go through except for being a Cubs fan, HA!
Also, Kopech plans to go for a second opinion this week to confirm that he tore his UCL. I trust our team doctors as we have one of the best training staffs in the league, but I wish to all the gods that they missed this one. Best case scenario, we shut down Kopech for the rest of 2018, he forgoes surgery, and returns recovered for the 2019 season. This won’t happen, but it’d be cooler if it did.