Podcast: White Sox shuffle roster as they head to Toronto
Record Date: 5/19/2024
Rundown
- [Intro] James Fegan reports that the Chicago White Sox have designated for assignment pitcher Brad Keller and promoting White Sox first round picks Noah Schultz and Jacob Gonzalez to Birmingham
- [7:24] Thoughts about Noah Schultz getting tested in AA
- [14:40] After the Yankees swept the White Sox, Josh Nelson wants the White Sox front office to remember home runs are important when rebuilding the roster
- [25:12] John Schriffen Minute as his comment about “Radio Losers” will get plenty of airtime Monday morning from radio shows
- [32:01] Series Preview: Toronto Blue Jays as they are drowning to start 2024
- [43:44] Around MLB: Guardians sweep Twins, Cubs dealing with an injury bug, and here come the Astros
House of L Podcast from Laurence Holmes explaining covering the White Sox for 670 the Score and how Sox Machine fits within those plans.
“The canaries in the coal mine are howling” is an all-timer. Sounds like a song lyric.
Where do all of the dominoes falling leave Brooks Baldwin? A move to 2B?
It’s honestly a great question. A lot of people, myself included, think Colson will eventually have to stop being a SS, with a move to 3B most likely, which pushes Ramos to RF. Gonzalez would then be the heir apparent at SS, so my guess is yeah, Baldwin’s best path to a starting role on the Sox is to get a bunch of reps in at 2B. Starting to fall into the “good problem to have” territory, though, which is a welcome change.
Any specific reason for Ramos in RF and Montgomery at 3B and not vice versa? I wonder if his particular injury history might also affect where Montgomery is best suited.
Excellent comment. With Mongromery’s back issues last year I think third base would be the worst spot for him. If he can’t stick at SS move him to the OF.
I just haven’t seen many evaluators say Montgomery is headed for the OF. Most of the ones who say he’ll have to move point to 3B. For Ramos, it’s similarly that if he has to move, it’ll be to the OF. MLB.com has their speed and arms rated the same. Part of it for Ramos is he’ll have more time to plant and get everything behind a throw in RF than he does at 3B. He generally makes good throws, but doesn’t seem comfortable throwing across his body on the run yet.
I’m not dead set against the idea of Montgomery in RF or anything. I just haven’t read anything that suggests that’s the most likely scenario.
I didn’t watch any of the games this weekend, but I did listen to a fair amount on the radio. Josh is right, Len and DJ have really gotten into a nice groove and provide an excellent broadcast. There was one exchange where Len discussed the 3 inning save, explained it for new fans in a way that wasn’t condescending, then recalled a 30-3 game where there was a save (he actually remembered the score), which is catnip for guys like me who love baseball history and trivia. It never feels forced, and while many people formed their opinion about DJ 20 years ago he has really grown into an excellent analyst too.
Chemistry matters. I never cared for DJ as a color guy and I never cared for Len with the cubs but together they have been excellent. Can’t wait until they have a good ball club to cover!
I second this about DJ. I didn’t like him with Farmer. It felt like he was trying too hard to be clever.
I thought Farmio and DJ were Dada theater — consistently weird, often amusing. Len and DJ are just great.
I remember a bemused Farmer asking DJ “where do you get this stuff?” re: baseball stats, to which DJ had to explain the internet. This was in 2019.
Sometimes I wonder if it’s actually Farmio’s ghost inhabiting the manager’s seat.
All those personal anecdotes are lost when an announcer doesn’t have baseball history.
Maybe I’m in the minority, but I never minded DJ that much, even when he first started. Only announcer I can remember actively disliking in baseball was Joe Buck, but that was mostly because he couldn’t keep himself from being pro-Yankee on the air when it was a national broadcast and he was supposed to be a neutral broadcaster. Had he been a Yankees broadcaster, I’d have had no issue with him.
When I watch the game, I’m often too wrapped up in what’s happening. I love the stats they flash at the bottom and some of the personal anecdotes, but as for the game calling, I’ve never cared much so long as it’s there.
I never disliked DJ either, although I never thought his chemistry with Hawk was great (albeit in comparison to Hawk & Wimpy). I do remember being impressed during that period when DJ would do national broadcasts and he sounded a lot better. He has also managed to move away from cringey catch-phrases (bad) and move toward cringey dad jokes (great).
Only complaint about DJ is that he will praise seemingly any decision to bunt, no matter how stupid.
DJ has a fairly old school POV which leads him into spouting a lot of cliches and worse, knucklehead cliches. In this regard, being teamed with the king and queen of cliches in Hawk and Farmer was a definite detriment to his development. On the other hand, I think Len has been a good influence on him and it’s now beginning to show.
When DJ talks outfield play, he does provide a lot of insight when he can feel free to fully voice his opinions. I feel like there may have been discussions because more than a few times he said something like “you can’t just move an infielder to the outfield and say he’s an outfielder” after the Sox kept doing it and proving his point.
The problem with Joe Buck is that he was pretty vocal about how he just didn’t like broadcasting baseball as much as football, and it became obvious in the quality of the broadcasts.