Chicago White Sox

Major League Baseball pulled it off. 

Building a baseball field in Iowa was the easy part, of course. Capturing the essence of the movie Field of Dreams—making something that arrived in theaters 30 years ago feel as fresh as ever—was a lot tougher.

Then the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees followed actor Kevin Costner out of the corn fields and proved MLB was ready to exceed all expectations. 

Absolute chills. #MLBatFieldofDreams pic.twitter.com/JsejH3OsWI

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) August 12, 2021

Removing part of the outfield wall so the White Sox and Yankees walk through the corn fields side-by-side was not only the correct decision, but it was also executed rather flawlessly as the score from the film played over the speakers. 

Before the first pitch, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred confirmed the Field of Dreams game will return in 2022. How the league tops this year's edition remains to be seen. 

The Chicago White Sox have placed pitcher Carlos Rodon on the 10-day injured list with shoulder fatigue.

While the move is retroactive to Sunday, he could miss more than the required 10 days, per Jesse Rogers of ESPN.

"We're going to err on the side of caution, so it seems to me that's overly optimistic," White Sox manager Tony La Russa said. "If it happens, great, if it doesn't, we'll be patient."

Rodon earned his first All-Star selection this season and has a 2.38 ERA and 0.957 WHIP in 19 starts. The left-hander has averaged 13.1 strikeouts per nine innings this season, which would rank first in the majors among starters if he had enough innings to qualify.

Rodon's only issue this year has been going deep into games, failing to top five innings in any of his last three starts. The trip to the IL could cause more worries, but the manager believes he will be back soon.

"We're hoping it's just a short break and he'll be back sooner rather than later," La Russa said. "There's nothing unusual about our concern."

Rodon will, unfortunately, now miss his scheduled start against the New York Yankees in the "Field of Dreams Game" on Thursday in Dyersville, Iowa. Lance Lynn will take the mound instead Thursday for Chicago after he was initially supposed to start on Wednesday. 

On Wednesday night, while the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals played on ESPN, there was a conversation about whether or not the Cubs might consider sending one of their relievers to the South Side before the trade deadline. The AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox need bullpen help, and the Cubs have pitchers on the market. 

The ESPN broadcasters praised the way White Sox manager Tony La Russa has handled the bullpen—the team's only real area of deficiency—this season. Shortly thereafter, La Russa began trending for another reason: First baseman Yermin Mercedes, the same player he admonished for not knowing baseball's arcane unwritten rules, announced his sudden retirement on Instagram. 

While it seems as though Mercedes decided not to retire after all, the entire incident reignited the controversy surrounding what happened between the two of them back in May. It's impossible to draw a straight line between the two without hearing Mercedes' rationale for why he said "it's over" in a since-deleted Instagram post.

It's unfair to speculate that La Russa's handling of the situation led directly to Mercedes' decision to write that post, but that won't stop anyone. 

The timeline of events shows that two things can be true about the entire ordeal: La Russa is a knowledgable baseball manager who knows how to manage the X's and O's of the game, and Mercedes is a 28-year-old rookie struggling to achieve his dream of being an everyday big leaguer. 

But a third thing can be true as well: La Russa's strict adherence to the outdated unwritten rules is a flaw in his management style. 

La Russa's ability to manage was never really in question. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown for a reason. He's guided three teams to World Series wins, and he's a four-time Manager of the Year. 

The White Sox have held the division lead all season and currently share the best record in the American League with the Boston Red Sox. Clearly, he's doing something right. 

It's difficult to get a 76-year-old to change, though some friends of La Russa have said that the longtime skipper is more open-minded than he may appear. If that's the case, then someone should pull him aside and tell him that it's completely unnecessary to throw your own player under the bus. 

Someone should tell him that the embarrassing part of that series against the Minnesota Twins in May wasn't that Mercedes swung on a 3-0 pitch in a game the White Sox winning by a large margin. The embarrassment was that the pitch came from backup catcher Willians Astudillo. 

And someone should also tell him that he really shouldn't talk about trying to "spank" his players. It's inappropriate for a 76-year-old to talk about punishing a 28-year-old as if he was eight. 

Many have pointed to the numbers before that game against the Twins and after, saying La Russa's comments had a direct effect on Mercedes' downfall: .344/.396/.547 with six home runs before May 18, .190/.220/.196 with one home run in 118 plate appearances after May 18. Did his manager's public shaming have a detrimental affect? Maybe. But pitchers also figured out how to pitch him. 

La Russa said this factored into his July 2 demotion. 

"I've seen a lot of young hitters come in and have early success (but) they aren't really ready for the adjustments the league is going to make to them," La Russa told reporters when Mercedes was optioned. "And it's gotten more sophisticated over the years. If they don't look good in an at-bat, someone is noticing and they're going to feed that."

Mercedes had a torrid start to the season. He hit .455 in April en route to capturing AL Rookie of the Month honors. While those awards aren't exactly the highest of baseball honors, they do mean something. Just ask Pete Alonso and Chris Paddack, who had a pseudo feud about the award in 2019. So it's understandable that Mercedes would be humbled by his offensive skid and ensuing demotion to Triple-A. He was optioned by Triple-A Charlotte on July 2. He hit just .221 with a .619 OPS over 106 plate appearances in May and .159 with a .407 OPS in 68 plate appearances in June.

It's a steep decline in production and when a rookie struggles like that, it's not a bad idea to send them down to the minor leagues. Confidence comes from having success, and Mercedes experienced it in Charlotte, hitting nearly .300 with an OPS of nearly 1.000 and a home run in 63 appearances. 

Mercedes was never going to be able hit .455 the rest of the way through the season. And when a player experiences such high highs in the major leagues but finds himself back in the minors so quickly, it can be difficult to digest.

Maybe there is a correlation between what happened on May 18 and his decline in production. It's possible that Mercedes felt that his manager didn't have his back when La Russa said he had no problem with the Twins throwing at Mercedes, and his confidence diminished as a result. 

Publicly, all parties have maintained that Mercedes and La Russa have a good relationship. La Russa reiterated that last night when he said he would call Mercedes to ask him about his "retirement," so it may not be fair to draw that conclusion just yet. 

But the one conclusion we can draw is that La Russa's old school ways and his insistence on playing the game the way it's always been played is tired. The unwritten rules don't take into account the cultural divides and language barriers that exist in baseball. Today's game is looser than in days past. Players like Fernando Tatis, Juan Soto, Ronald Acuna Jr. and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. electrify crowds with their flashy play. Alonso is a joy to watch in part because of the personality he displays on the field. 

His argument with Paddack two years ago? It was entertaining, as baseball should be. There should be a level of respect and decorum and at this point, using a position player to pitch in April is more disrespectful than swinging on a 3-0 pitch. 

This situation was avoidable from the beginning, and now the conversation about the unwritten rules is back.

You can't change a tiger's stripes and this Tony the Tiger won't be changing his anytime soon. No matter how deftly he manages the bullpen, the last 24 hours have highlighted this glaring part of his managerial style.

Yermin Mercedes is in uniform for the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox on Thursday, a day after hinting at retirement in an Instagram post.

Mercedes, who exploded onto the scene in April before struggling and being demoted at the beginning of this month, offered an apology for undisclosed acts of "immaturity" and said he may retire Wednesday. 

"I want to apologize to all those who I inadvertently offended as a consequence of my immaturity, like members of the radio, television and press. To all the team's members who I was involved with, I'm sorry for failing as a human being and for not accepting some of their decisions. I'm stepping aside from baseball indefinitely."

Mercedes has since deleted the original post and said in another Thursday he will "never give up" on attempting to live out his MLB dream.

Yermin Mercedes has deleted his retirement IG post and instead posted this. pic.twitter.com/GeHgHujhRQ

— Britt Ghiroli (@Britt_Ghiroli) July 22, 2021

White Sox manager Tony La Russa said he planned on reaching out to Mercedes after hearing of his frustration.

"I understand you're in Triple-A, away from the big leagues, you can get emotional," La Russa told reporters Wednesday. "Don't know more than that. Will reach out to him. Could be just a little frustrated. I'll try to explain to him that he has a big league future."

Mercedes hit .415 with five home runs and 16 RBI in the month of April, emerging as a potential Rookie of the Year candidate, before his struggles led to him being sent down to Triple-A Charlotte.

La Russa had criticized Mercedes for ignoring a take sign and swinging at a 3-0 pitch for a home run in a blowout victory over the Oakland Athletics in May and benched him later that month for showing up late to the ballpark. 

Chicago White Sox slugger Yermin Mercedes appeared to announce his retirement Wednesday night, writing "it's over" in an Instagram post while removing all photos and tags connected to the MLB club from his profile. 

In an Instagram post, Yermin Mercedes, an April sensation with the Chicago White Sox, says he's stepping "away from baseball for a while ... it's over."

Mercedes was sent to AAA earlier this month and had been playing well, hitting .309/.377/.655. pic.twitter.com/11P6EgpiKn

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 22, 2021

Mercedes, 28, was optioned to Triple-A Charlotte on July 2 after struggling to rediscover the power that made him an instant fan favorite with the White Sox. The American League Rookie of the Month in April began the year slashing .415/.455/.659 with five home runs through 22 games, including eight straight hits to begin the season—the first player in MLB history to do so. 

White Sox manager Tony La Russa told reporters after Wednesday's 7-2 loss to the Minnesota Twins he still believes Mercedes has a future in the majors and plans to reach out.

https://twitter.com/CST_soxvan/status/1418051663953383425

The journeyman minor league catcher spent nine years trying to make it to the majors. He finally got an opportunity with the White Sox in 2020, but he did not take an at-bat in his lone appearance. Instead, he had to wait for 2021 when a barrage of injuries led the Sox to start the season with Mercedes on the bench. He quickly became an early-season sensation before he began to struggle at the plate in May and June. 

If his career is over, he ends this season with a .271 batting average and .732 OPS along with seven home runs and 37 RBI.

The White Sox have not been formally notified of Mercedes' decision. He was in the lineup for the Charlotte Knights on Wednesday, apparently posting on Instagram shortly after he was pinch-hit for in the sixth inning. 

"The White Sox are aware of tonight’s Instagram post by Yermín Mercedes, who is currently on the active roster of our Class AAA team in Charlotte, NC. At this point in time, the White Sox have not received any official notification from Yermín concerning his future plans."

— Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) July 22, 2021

At the time of his demotion, Mercedes had slashed .159/.221/.190 over his last 18 games. His last home run came on May 27. Ten days earlier, on May 17, Mercedes launched a 45 mile-per-hour heave from Twins utility-man Willians Astudillo on a 3-0 count in the ninth inning of a 15-4 game. The homer immediately drew the ire of Tony La Russa, who excoriated Mercedes in his postgame comments for ignoring the coach's sign to take the pitch. 

Mercedes' slump may have already begun at that point, but the public comments from La Russa hung around him for the next few weeks until his time in the bigs came to an end. 

White Sox general manager Rick Hahn told reporters he expected Mercedes would be back in Chicago at some point this season and wanted him to regain some confidence against less-refined pitchers. That seemed to work with Mercedes batting .309 with four home runs in 14 minor league games. Yet his road back to the big leagues only got more complicated since his demotion. 

Not only are the White Sox expecting both Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert to return from the 60-day Injured List by next month, call-ups Jake Burger and Gavin Sheets have played themselves into the lineup on a near daily basis.

Between those four, the trade deadline and Mercedes' struggles since April, even a strong showing in Triple-A was going to require a bit of luck before he suited up on the South Side again.  

 

  

Rather than wait to see what the free-agent market presented this offseason, Lance Lynn decided to sign a midseason extension with the Chicago White Sox.

The team announced Saturday that the two-time All-Star agreed to a two-year, $38 million contract with a club option for 2024.

The White Sox acquired Lynn in a December trade with the Texas Rangers. He had transformed himself into one of the best pitchers in the American League during his two seasons with the Rangers.

Lynn finished in the top six in AL Cy Young Award voting in 2019 and 2020. The right-hander led all pitchers with 84 innings last season. He posted a 3.57 ERA with 335 strikeouts and 1.17 WHIP in 292.1 innings over 46 starts with Texas.

As a member of the White Sox, Lynn has gotten better. The 34-year-old leads the AL with a 1.99 ERA and has 105 strikeouts over 90.2 innings in 16 starts. He was named to an All-Star team for the second time and first since 2012. 

Lynn has been instrumental in Chicago's rise to the top of the AL Central. The White Sox have the largest division lead (eight games) in MLB, and their 54-36 record ranks third in the AL, just one game behind the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox (56-36).

Chicago is in prime position to be among the best teams in MLB for years to come. Lynn's new deal leaves Carlos Rodon and Leury Garcia as the only regular contributors on the 26-man roster eligible for free agency after this season.   

Chicago White Sox closer Liam Hendriks earned the save during Tuesday's 2021 MLB All-Star Game and turned heads in the process when he cursed while wearing a microphone in the ninth inning.

"I'm sure that made for some interesting TV," he said while explaining he didn't know his mic was live when he said "f--k" after throwing a pitch, per Jayson Stark of The Athletic. "I hope the bleep-er guy was on point."

Turns out, it's a lot more difficult for the "bleep-er guy" to be on point during a live broadcast of a game, and fans were witness to a rather amusing moment of frustration from the pitcher in the exhibition contest.

Hendriks also said he could not hear the Fox broadcast booth of Joe Buck and John Smoltz, which is why he didn't know his mic was live.

While he allowed two base hits during his one inning of work, the White Sox closer still managed to escape without giving up a run and helped the American League clinch the 5-2 victory.

The AL has now won eight All-Star Games in a row after its latest triumph at Coors Field.

Hendriks received some timely help when catcher Mike Zunino threw out Omar Narvaez stealing after a leadoff single. He settled in from there and struck out Chris Taylor and induced a game-ending groundout from Trea Turner after an Ozzie Albies double.

Zunino also hit a home run in the top of the sixth inning to extend the American League's lead to 5-1.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. won the game's MVP award after he launched a solo homer in the third inning and drove in a run on a groundout in the fifth inning. Yet it was Hendriks' hot-mic moment that had social media abuzz after the game.

The Chicago White Sox announced Saturday that shortstop Tim Anderson has been named to the American League All-Star team.

The Sox noted that Anderson will join teammates Liam Hendriks, Carlos Rodon and Lance Lynn in Colorado for the All-Star Game:

Make that FOUR All-Stars.

Congratulations @TimAnderson7 on the well-deserved nod! pic.twitter.com/xCRUYCfJMW

— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) July 10, 2021

Anderson is the replacement for Houston Astros shortstop Carlos Correa, who informed MLB this week he would not attend All-Star weekend so he could be with his pregnant wife.

Correa was subsequently placed on the injured list Friday because of MLB's health and safety protocols.

Anderson has spent some time on the injured list this season, but he has been highly productive when healthy, slashing .312/.350/.429 with six home runs, 31 RBI, 53 runs scored and 14 stolen bases in 72 games.

Despite the fact that Anderson has established himself as one of the premier shortstops in baseball, this marks his first career All-Star nod.

His breakout came in 2019 when he won the AL batting title with a .335 average, while also racking up 18 homers, 56 RBI, 81 runs and 17 steals.

There was no All-Star Game last season since COVID-19 shortened the campaign to 60 games, but Anderson likely would have been selected if there was one.

He hit .322 with 10 home runs, 21 RBI and an AL-best 45 runs for a White Sox team that reached the playoffs for the first time since 2008.

This season, Anderson has been one of Chicago's best players, and the White Sox find themselves in prime position to return to the playoffs, as they lead the AL Central by 7.5 games with a 52-35 record.

Xander Bogaerts of the Boston Red Sox was selected as the AL's All-Star starter, meaning Anderson will come off the bench in the game.

The 2021 MLB All-Star Game will emanate from Coors Field in Denver on Tuesday night. 

Chicago White Sox ace Lucas Giolito didn't take kindly to Josh Donaldson's taunting in the Sox's 7-6 win over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night.

Donaldson hit a two-run home run in the first inning off Giolito. After he crossed home plate, the 2015 American League MVP rubbed his hands and appeared to say, "It's not sticky anymore."

Still raining!! ☔️@Twins | #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/nG2dINt1X1

— FanDuel Sports Network North (@FanDuelSN_NOR) June 30, 2021

After the game, Giolito called Donaldson a "f--king pest" and said the third baseman should "talk s--t to my face."

"We won. The 'W' is next to my name. They're in last place."

Lucas Giolito goes OFF on Josh Donaldson pic.twitter.com/xFwsEIX4WA

— White Sox on CHSN (@CHSN_WhiteSox) June 30, 2021

Giolito isn't the only pitcher from whom Donaldson has drawn a level of ire.

In an interview with The Athletic's Dan Hayes, Donaldson asked if it was a coincidence that Gerrit Cole's spin rate trended down in a recent start amid MLB's crackdown on sticky substances for pitchers.

Cole struck out Donaldson twice in the New York Yankees' 9-6 win on June 9 and said dialing up a little more velocity on his fastballs for those punchouts was "probably a bit of the moment."

Donaldson's apparent comments may not have been meritless, as Giolito's spin rates were noticeably below his season averages Tuesday, according to Baseball Savant.

The pitcher's insistence the Twins star should've made comments to his face is a little off base, because baseball doesn't lend itself to those kind of interpersonal conversations in the middle of the game, especially between a hitter and pitcher.

But the sport can certainly use more individual rivalries involving teams in the same division.

Giolito's next turn in the rotation puts him on pace to just miss the White Sox's three-game set with the Twins, beginning next Monday. Minnesota and Chicago play each other seven times in the second half, though, and the right-hander's next appearance against his American League Central foe will be appointment viewing.

The Chicago White Sox announced first baseman Jose Abreu is day-to-day after leaving Sunday's game against the Seattle Mariners with a bruised left knee.  

The team noted X-rays were negative after he was struck on the knee by a pitch from M's reliever JT Chargois.

Abreu, 34, just keeps on slugging. Last season he hit .317 with 19 homers and 60 RBI in 60 games en route to winning American League MVP. Over the course of a full 162-game season, those numbers would have translated to 51 homers and 162 RBI. 

His pace would have surely slowed, likely to the tune of the 33 dingers he hit in 2018 to go along with a career-high 123 RBI. Abreu's career high in homers is 36, set during his rookie season in 2014, so a 50-homer campaign would have been a major outlier. 

He's a bit off that pace this season, with 12 homers and 53 RBI through 72 games played. Another 30-dinger season isn't out of the question, however.

If he's forced to miss time, look for Yasmani Grandal or Andrew Vaughn to slide over to first base, which would open up some playing time for Zack Collins and Luis Gonzalez.