Back on Thursday, Tim Anderson drew the scorn of baseball rule-of-thumbers everywhere by making the third out at third base, and doing so in a way that took a run off the board. A couple days before that, Anderson got Adam Engel caught in a rundown after trying to take second on a throw that pulled Joe Mauer off the bag, but didn't get away from him.
In both these cases, as well as a handful of others, the question is, "Why was Anderson running?" The answer can be found in the ninth inning of Monday's game. Anderson scored the Sox' sixth and final run almost entirely with his legs.
I say "almost entirely" because Luke Voit's error gave him the first 90 feet. But as it bounced off the heel of Voit's glove, past the second baseman's usual position and into the outfield grass, Anderson did the rest. His instinct to keep running won him second base, after which he stole third to give Avisail Garcia a chance to score him with a productive out. Garcia struck out, but Anderson still scored on a not-terribly-wild pitch. He got a great break as Kyle Higashioka failed to initially locate where the ball ended up, and slid underneath the flip to the covering pitcher.
The hope is that Anderson cuts down on the senseless baserunning risks, along the same lines of the way he's reduced errors and obliterated the discussion to move him off shortstop (he saved a run with a tremendous play to his right). There's a little bit of overlap in the areas, as they both stem from trying to do too much, although unlike the defense, there's nothing to correct physically/mechanically.
The good news is that his glovework, which has him on track for a 3 WAR season for either interpretation of the metric, makes it easier to take the other rough edges in stride. If he never quite figures out the risk assessment balance, he'll still score runs other can't to make up to cancel out the runs he might've removed, but it's easier to keep track of the ledger when he only makes maddening mistakes in one area. There isn't much of a line between the way he unsuccessfully broke for second on Mauer, and the way he successfully got home against Higashioka. Maybe he can have one without the other, but I'm prepared for it being too much to ask and adjusting afterward.
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If you missed Sunday's post, I included a video of Kevan Smith, who describes why he carries Daniel Webb's name forward, both on his back during Players' Weekend and with his son.
If you saw it and didn't have time to watch the video, James Fegan wrote a great story about the Smith-Webb connection.
Is it sentimental? Of course. Does it require deep faith? Surely, but Smith has always had plenty. Long before his drive cleared the fence in Comerica Park Saturday night, his approach to life after losing Webb had switched from taking small comfort in moments like striking up a conversation with a stranger who happened to have the same birthday as Webb, to living his life as if his best friend will always be with him.
“I just always knew I could turn to him for advice and any kind of direction I may have been searching for which is a really cool aspect and something that I really miss about him,” Smith said. “It’s kind of ironic that as soon as I make the big leagues, it was almost like, ‘Alright man, you’re good now. I’m gonna take off and I’ll watch over you. You’ll be fine. I taught you everything I need to.’ That’s just how I look at it."
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Ryan Burr joined the bullpen because the Luis Avilan trade opened up a spot, but he'll be the first of a few relievers joining the fray in September. The Sox have Caleb Frare and Jose Ruiz among the pitchers who need immediate 40-man roster consideration, and there's Ian Hamilton among those who don't need to be protected, but demands attention with his performance. Maybe Carson Fulmer also comes back as a way to assess his transition into relief work.
Amid all this new talent coming in and foreshadowing considerable turnover, Nate Jones tries to rally.
The mound part is a big deal, as that's what was missing from his first attempt to gear up in hopes of rejoining the team. Jones last pitched on June 12, after which he headed to the disabled list with a strained pronator muscle in his right arm.
The White Sox possibly guarded themselves against this outcome with his extension, which might've knocked his 2019 option from $4.65 million to the league minimum if ulnar repositioning surgery counts as elbow surgery. (The original version didn't acknowledge this clause.)
If so, it helps him avoid the same conversation about Avisail Garcia, who could make $7 million or so in his final arbitration year after what's been a replacement-level season. Which is good, since he'll be 33 in January, whlie Garcia is 27 and just one year removed from an All-Star season. With Garcia, I was on the tender track when he was pulling homers like never before around scattershot production elsewhere. However, he's hitting .158/.221/.274 with a 31 percent strikeout rate in August, which is the kind of backslide that makes it more of an open question.
Jones will be 33 in January and has absorbed a lot of injury trauma, but as long as he's making the minimum, his presence is more about whether he should be saved a spot as the injury trauma piles up. They probably have a spot or two to play with during the spring, but when Zack Burdi's ready, the opportunities should get tighter.
