When the White Sox signed Dallas Keuchel, I didn't think he'd have to shave his beard, but with a Jerry Reinsdorf team, it's hard to be sure.
Sure enough, he's taken the mound for the White Sox wearing more facial hair than I can remember hovering above the black pinstripes. Bob Nightengale says the Keuchel and Reinsdorf reached a sort of compromise. Keuchel has shaped it somewhat, and Reinsdorf has backed off.
When White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf met last week with his team, telling his players he was available for anything they needed, he told Keuchel afterwards that he wanted to see him.
“I thought, 'Oh, crap, I’ve got to trim this even more,’ ’’ said Keuchel, who has had a beard since 2014. “He was like, 'Hey, man, you’re officially violating team policy. But I hear you’re a great guy. So let’s just keep winning, and we’ll be all right.’
If Keuchel's beard doesn't look robust, it's only by his standards.
And if the White Sox get off to a poor start, I'd cite Adam LaRoche's career and point out that Reinsdorf should've played the Mr. Burns to LaRoche's Don Mattingly.
Spare Parts
For the second straight year, Keith Law said the White Sox have the 13th best farm system. It's a less controversial opinion this time around, although leaving Nick Madrigal off his top 110 prospects list still gives it a little bit of spice.
Law continues to be an outlier when it comes to Madrigal, as Kiley McDaniel, on his own at ESPN, gives the Sox their usual four in the top 50. Madrigal brings up the rear at No. 47, after Luis Robert (5), Michael Kopech (16) and Andrew Vaughn (32).
Speaking of Vaughn, here's a double.
And speaking of Robert, friend of the podcast Dan Szymborski lays out Robert's spectrum of ZiPS outcomes and illustrates how a great season from him can really swing the White Sox's win projections. What's more, he also expounds on the idea that Robert could be a great center field defender, instead of merely a good one.
With Robert's 50th percentile ZiPS projection and merely above-average defense, he says the Sox have a 22.6 percent chance of reaching the postseason. If Robert somehow immediately capitalizes on all his rookie-year potential, he almost doubles it by himself (44.1 percent).
Back when the Yankees added Gerrit Cole to a 103-win team and the Red Sox still had Mookie Betts, it appeared that the White Sox's best chance for the postseason went through the AL Central instead of the wild card.
Now? The Yankees won't have two-thirds of their outfield by the start of the season, and two of their top non-Cole starters are out for longer. The Red Sox lost Betts and David Price in the salary dump, and now it appears Chris Sale is on the verge of succumbing to Tommy John surgery. Superteams might be harder to find in 2020.
Sale looked smart in signing his extension from the moment the ink dried, even at a sum that failed to challenge records. The events of the past year have only reinforced that notion.
Speaking of extensions a player would be smart to sign -- so many segues! -- the Brewers are getting a three-year head start on locking in their best player into his late 30s. Milwaukee has Yelich for two years and a club option, during which he is owed $41.5 million. This new deal would rework the original commitment and result in a nine-year deal worth somewhere around $215 million, with some money deferred.
It's a situation the White Sox might encounter in the next decade, and it's something that has to be carefully considered.
That said, the Brewers extended Ryan Braun through his age-36 season under similar circumstances back in 2011. It expires after this season, and the Brewers can say they survived it.
And if this post didn't cover enough ground, here's Jeff Passan going in so many other different directions. Competitive integrity is going to be a big part of league efforts, and that also expands to foreign substances pitchers use. It's been a major gray area, because advocates say it makes the game safer, but Trevor Bauer showed it can make a big difference in spin rate.
