The White Sox came home from their 2-8 coast-to-coast road trip and promptly went 2-8 on their 10-game homestand. This latest disastrous stretch was capped by a sweep at the hands of the Mets, during which Tim Anderson and Eloy Jiménez returned to the lineup.
They combined to go 2-for-22 with a sac fly, zero walks and nine strikeouts.
As Anderson worked his way through a rehab stint and Jiménez regained the feeling in his elbow, Jason Benetti and Steve Stone treated them as the missing pieces. Anderson's absence in particular was acutely felt, they said, as the team fed off his energy he injected into the clubhouse and game.
Anderson, Rick Renteria and Daryl Van Schouwen said the same thing themselves:
Anderson had an All-Star-caliber first half and has an energy his teammates feed on.
‘‘Energy, the energy,’’ he said. ‘‘That’s something that allows me to be myself.’’
‘‘You’re looking at a guy who has put himself on the map with everyone,’’ Renteria said. ‘‘He’s an elite shortstop, and his defense speaks for itself in terms of how he’s grown out there. And offensively, he’s grown so much. Having [Anderson and Jimenez] in the lineup picks us up.
‘‘Everybody else sees what [Anderson] brings to the table. You feel a little more comfortable.’’
This was and is a storyline I'm wary of. The Sox running game had slowed to a crawl during a June in which Anderson was healthy. He didn't draw a walk in the 25 games before his injury, and he stole only two bases in four attempts over that time. As a team, the White Sox finished below 50 percent when they tried to run in June, and they barely tried (4-for-9).
Since his last walk -- which is now 28 games ago -- Anderson's hitting .283/.287/.453. He's got six errors over that stretch, including one on a Wilson Ramos grounder that started the Mets' game-winning rally on Wednesday.
I've been reluctant to dwell on Anderson's shortcomings because remains unclear what his final form will be, and how his strengths and weaknesses will ultimately balance out. Also, he doesn't need to be that good to be worth the contract he signed. I don't want to contribute to the same conditions that Alexei Ramirez operated under, where people focused on his unwillingness to make tough tags instead of the fact that he brought an average bat, above-average glove and unmatched durability to the table for less than $5 million a year.
On the other hand, it's not great for a team when the guy whose OBP runs below .300 for weeks upon weeks is viewed as the irreplaceable Energy Guy. Perhaps Anderson's intangibles feel outsized because the Sox played so poorly while Anderson's replacement performed so well, but I'd like to draw attention to who's doing the drawing:
- Tim Anderson: Seven walks over 292 PA
- Ryan Goins: Seven walks over 48 PA
It's hard to do more for the White Sox than Goins has over his few weeks on the team. He's come out of nowhere to bat .293/.396/.537 with decent defense around the infield ... and the team is 1-9 in games he's started. That might seem damning, except the Sox have lost the last seven games Anderson's been in the lineup.
The Sox haven't struggled to score runs because of output at shortstop. They're struggling to score runs because their batting order lacks a heart. Jiménez got hurt, Jose Abreu's OBP also ducked under .300, James McCann lost nearly 50 points of batting average during July, and A.J. Reed wandered into the lineup and stayed there until somebody finally asked to see ID. The White Sox are struggling to score runs not because they're unclutch, but because so few of their players are able to keep the line moving to create regular pressure. The White Sox are struggling to score runs because they have the American League's worst walk rate, second-worst strikeout rate, and worst isolated power number (corrected).
So now Anderson returns. He doesn't walk, he strikes out a lot, and his power comes and goes. Depending on the kind of week he's having in terms of strength of contact, he stands as good a chance of hurting the Sox as he does helping them.
That's not fun to say, because Anderson is fun as hell when he's playing well. Baseball sorely needs the flavor he adds to the game, which is why I don't want to write off the "energy" thing. When Anderson has the good plays/bad plays balance in his favor, that and the 20/20 power and speed should be enough to solve shortstop for the foreseeable future.
But in order for these traits to play up, 1) Anderson is going to have to make plays, and 2) the White Sox are going to have to find other guys who make pitchers work harder. When both of these objectives go unmet, it almost makes Yoan Moncada's injury a relief. Sure, the offense gets even harder to watch somehow, but at least it makes the shortcomings far less agonizing to explain.
