Adam LaRoche grabs some bench

Coming into today, it seemed like Adam LaRoche needed a day off.  Before Monday's game, the White Sox announced that he'd sit out Monday and Tuesday's games against the Red Sox.  Before Monday's game, LaRoche hadn't missed a game in July.  Unfortunately, there isn't much in his output that was screaming "Play him everyday!"

While LaRoche's season has been compared to Adam Dunn's 2011, it actually isn't as close at it seems.  Dunn's worst month was a wRC+ of 20.  That was mainly because Dunn was still able to keep up his BB%. In Dunn's worst month, his BB% was 9.4%, the lowest of the season for him.  Meanwhile, LaRoche's BB% of 2.7% (and 0% since the All-Star break) is a big part of his problem.  When he has made contact, he's also been grounding out at a much greater frequency than he normally does.

The odd part of this move, though, is the timing.  The struggle is real for Adam LaRoche at US Cellular Field.  Against lefties at home, he's hitting .089/.128/.089 this season. With 13 of the 21 games this month have been at home, an extra day off in Chicago would have made sense.  Now that he's in a park that's friendly to lefties, he's sitting.  It's also not as if this problem is limited to just since the All-Star break or in July. LaRoche's .229/.290/.410 in June should have been an indicator of some problems.

It could be worse though.  LaRoche could be having the July that Gordon Beckham is having.

Clearly, if hitting is contagious, the Sox need Melky Cabrera to cough all over these two.