South Side Sox Summary: Week 18

Welcome to the SSS Summary — a little review of what happened this past week in Chicago White Sox baseball, including on-the-field play, the front office jibber-jabber, and everything in-between. Even if you don’t want to remember what happened, sorry, we will tell you anyway.

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Even though fans knew the season was over weeks ago, the Chicago front office officially waved the white flag last week by purging 38% of their big league pitching staff in trades. Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López are off to the City of Angels, while Lance Lynn and Joe Kelly are now enjoying the bright lights of Hollywood. Kendall Graveman reunites with the defending World Champions and his former Pale Hose teammate José Abreu in the blazing heat of Texas. Our writers here at South Side Sox did an outstanding job covering the details, so be sure to check out all the trade coverage on our site.

There’s not much to rehash here that we have yet to say a million different times and in various ways. The Sox are terrible, winning only two games this week and we can only expect things to get significantly worse before they get better. Also, can they field a genuinely competitive squad with the same circus ringleaders in charge? I’m not convinced, as I’m sure many of you feel the same. How do we put faith and trust in a group of individuals who dangled championships and parades before us and then created a competitive window which was really just a desert mirage that left us thirsting for legitimate contention, new ownership, and competent management?

There are about nine weeks and 55 games left in the 2023 season. What I do know for sure is that we will endure what remains of this dumpster fire together. After all, it’s about the friends you make along the way, right? So, let’s get to it!

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The Recap Worth Revisiting

Friday, July 28: White Sox 3, Guardians 0

Right-hander Touki Toussaint went up against his former mates and may have had revenge on his mind after being DFA’d by the Guardians earlier this year. He was terrific, surrendering no runs on three hits with one walk and four strikeouts over five innings. Despite a decimated pen, Tanner Banks and Gregory Santos kept Cleveland off the board and earned the hold and save, respectively.

The Good Guys only had a little offense, but they didn’t need much with the pitching being lights-out. Luis Robert Jr. and Jake Burger each had solo round-trippers, and Oscar Colás drove in another run when he singled Elvis Andrus home in the eighth.

Saturday, July 29: White Sox 7, Guardians 2

This game was a fun one! It had fantastic pitching and a plethora of offense. Tim Anderson and Andrew Vaughn each smacked a four-bagger, and everyone in the lineup except Jake Burger had at least one hit. The team was 4-for-8 with runners in scoring position, and they had six walks. If only they could have played like THIS more often.

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The Defensive Disport of the Week

Another Gem for Remillard

Is Zach Remillard the new Leury García? He has manned four different positions in the 32 games he’s played this year. Zach made an incredible diving catch on Saturday when he covered 79 feet in 4.5 seconds. He then threw to Andrew Vaughn for an inning-ending double play that was an extremely close call. Guardians manager Terry Francona didn’t call for the replay soon enough, and umpire Todd Tichenor tossed the skipper when he stormed out of the dugout to argue.

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The Week’s Top Three Biggest BLASTS

Jake Burger, 450 feet, Friday, July 28

In the bottom of the sixth, Burger UNLOADED a solo bomb, his 25th of the year, to center field to double the South Siders’ lead to 2-0.

Tim Anderson, 429 feet, Saturday, July 29

TA got the monkey off his back when he cranked a dinger to lead off the scoring for the Good Guys. It was his first home run of the season and first since July 15, 2022. I have to admit that the stupid gangster jacket actually looked pretty cool on him.

Jake Burger, 423 feet, Thursday, July 27

Jake put the Pale Hose on the board in the bottom of the third when he smacked a solo jack to right field. It’s too bad that he can’t play all of his games at GRF.

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Other Tasty Tidbits

The north side swept the South Side in round one of the Crosstown Classic last week at Guaranteed Rate Field. The two teams will face off again August 15-16 at Wrigley Field. The White Sox lead interleague play, 73-67, and now must sweep the series in August to maintain possession of the Cup! That’s about the most exciting thing we have left to look forward to for the remainder of this year. In case you missed it, be sure to check out our Crosstown Cup history coverage.

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Running Down the Rehabbers

There’s some unfortunate news on Garrett Crochet. The team placed him on the 15-day IL on June 20 (retroactive to June 17) with left shoulder inflammation. On June 28, he was sent to Birmingham to start his rehab assignment and then proceeded to Charlotte but was shut down again for a new strain in his shoulder that will now sideline him for another two or three weeks. After that time, he will proceed to Arizona for rehab work, and then they’ll re-evaluate him at that time. He is effectively out of the season; perhaps ironically, Crochet says that he hopes the White Sox will look to him to be a starting pitcher again next year.

Trayce Thompson, who came over to Chicago in the Lynn/Kelly trade, suffered an oblique strain on June 3. The Dodgers transferred him to the 60-day IL on June 11, and he started a minor league rehab assignment with LA’s Triple-A Oklahoma City on July 25. After his trade, to the Sox, Thompson reported to Charlotte (for the fourth different time in his career) to continue his rehab, which he should finish sometime in early/mid-August.

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What’s next?

Chicago heads out on a six-game road trip this week. The first stop is a three-game set at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, where they will face the first-place Rangers. This series could be an absolute bloodbath considering we only have three starting pitchers, and the Lone Stars have the best offense in baseball. So, hang on to your cowboy hats, Sox fans.

Next up is another three-game rematch with Cleveland. It’s possible this series is a little less messy than what they’ll find in Texas, as the Guardians just traded one of their best arms, Aaron Civale, to the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday. Regardless of the pitching situation, it’s guaranteed that the Sox will be taken to the shed by José Ramírez. Why we keep pitching to that dude, I will never know.

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