At 40-55, the Chicago White Sox are in the middle of a disappointing season and are expected to be major sellers at the trade deadline as they look to restock a depleted minor league system. While only eight-and-a-half games behind the Minnesota Twins for first place, they only have one win streak over three games this season. With only three postseason apperance since winning the World Series in 2005, a rebuild seems to be in order for the team on the southside.
Here are the White Sox trending up and down in 2023.
Stock Up
Luis Robert, outfielder: After making his debut in the covid-shortend 2020 season, Robert has expereienced back-to-back injury plagued seasons but is now enjoying a career year this season.
Despite being benched earlier in the year due to a lack of effort, Robert has had elite production.
With a .276/.332/.575 slash line to go with 27 home runs and 56 RBI he has shown the potential that made him one of the most hyped international signings in MLB history. His 51 XBH rank him second in the major league, trailing Los Angeles Angels phenom Shohei Ohtani who has 54.
Signed to be the face of the franchise, the 25-year-old is under team control until 2028 and could bring in a nice haul if the White Sox commit to rebuilding.
4-for-4. Luis Robert Jr. is hot today! pic.twitter.com/MH46OBv9f8
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) July 16, 2023
Lucas Giolito, pitcher: With a forgettable 2022 season that saw Giolito post a 4.90 ERA while allowing opposing batters to hit .272 against him. He has bounced back to the form that White Sox fans are used to.
6-5 with a 3.45 ERA, Giolito has been one of the hot names on the market as the trade deadline creeps closer. Due to be a free agent after this season, he is likely to get dealt as the White Sox look to retool a farm system thin on talent.
The 29-year-old has an All-Star apperance and a no-hitter under his belt and would provide a boost to any rotation in the MLB.
Lucas Giolito, Elevated Changeups. pic.twitter.com/VL0dieSKUz
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) July 5, 2023
Stock Down
Lance Lynn, pitcher: In the middle of his worst season of his 12-year-career, Lynn has failed to limit damage in 2023.
Currently 6-8 with a 6.06 ERA in 108.1 innings pitched he leads the MLB with 73 earned runs and 24 home runs allowed. Ranked sixth in the MLB in strikeouts with 133, he still posseses the ability to strikeout batters at the highest level.
With an $18M club option next season that will likely be declined, Lynn could be traded to a contending team looking to take a flier on the veteran pitcher who finshed third in the Amercian League Cy Young voting in 2021.
Tim Anderson, shortstop: Coming of back-to-back all-star apperances, Anderson is having argubly the worst season by any shortstop in the majors.
Slashing .227/.264/.266 with zero home runs and 14 RBI, the 29-year-old hasn't hit a home run in over a year. With his value at an all-time-low, the White Sox might have trouble trading him as there are no signs of his power returning in 2023.
With the White Sox holding a $14M club option in 2024, Anderson might be hitting the open market a year early if they choose to move on after this poor season.
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The 2025 Milwaukee Brewers can now claim to own an impressive franchise record that's indicative of the success of the season so far. Now a new franchise record, the Brewers' 6-5 extra-inning win over the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday marked the team's 14th consecutive victory. Just when it looked like Milwaukee was about to fall for the first time in the month, the Brewers scored one in the ninth to tie the game and then had to wait until the 11th inning to hold on for the win. And the way the Brewers avoided defeat required plenty of luck as well. With one out and two runners on base, the Reds were in the process of turning a double play that would've won the game. However, the throw to first for the third and final out had too much on it and got by Cincinnati first baseman Spencer Steer. This allowed a run to cross home plate, tying the game 2-2. Then, in the 10th, Milwaukee took the lead thanks to the ball getting away from Jake Fraley in left field. While Fraley's error wasn't enough to secure the record-setting win, the game would end soon enough when the Brewers sent Andruw Monasterio to the plate at the top of the 11th. Entering the game with only one home run all season and just four in his career, Monasterio crushed a pitch to the fair side of the foul pole in left field. Monasterio's three-run shot became the game-winning blast despite Cincinnati almost mounting a comeback of their own by scoring a pair of runs themselves in the bottom of the inning. Milwaukee, still amid its amazing streak, is now 78-44 as the best team in baseball and holds a nine-game lead in front of the Chicago Cubs in the National League Central. Next up is one more at the Great American Ballpark on Sunday afternoon. And if the Brewers achieve another series sweep, they will look to increase their advantage in the division at Wrigley Field. But no matter when the streak comes to an end, this Brewers team is shooting for the most wins in a season. Ninety-seven wins is the goal to become the winningest regular-season Brewers team ever, surpassing the 2018 club. Just seven years ago, that 2018 Brewers team set a new standard for the franchise in terms of a top single-season win total, going 96-67 in the regular season before falling in the National League Championship Series. Before that, the only Brewers team to ever win a league championship was the 1982 squad, which won 95 games and the AL pennant before losing the World Series in seven games.
Dallas Cowboys first-round pick Tyler Booker finally had his NFL debut in the second preseason game, in the 31-13 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. And yeah, he was as advertised. Booker looked at home in the NFL, and yes, we get it, it's preseason, but we saw all that we needed to, and given the fact that Dallas had its best running plays behind the right side of the offensive line, ittells you all you need to know. But how was getting on the grass in a real NFL game? “Great,” Booker said. "It's really a dream come true. I was glad to be out there with my teammates. Glad to see some live action, and I'm very excited to watch the film. Just going out there having any debut was really a dream come true. Being able to play with my teammates and some live action. It was definitely a great time. Had a great time. Perhaps the best thing was that Booker wasn't just able to be serviceable, he was good. Per PFF, Booker, on 15 pass plays, didn't offer up a single pressure with No. 52 stout against the Ravens pass rush, and also, his push in the run game was something that will no doubt make Schottenheimer and the coaching staff happy. Yes, it was only preseason, but with all the question marks surrounding the Cowboys, one that we don't have is whether Booker will be able to compete at a high level and look good doing it.
After joint practice on Wednesday between the Minnesota Vikings and New England Patriots, I was asked by some members of the Patriots beat about just one player. "Who's 61? He's a dude." That player is Jalen Redmond, who has quite the story heading into his second season with the Vikings. He was playing in the UFL in the spring of 2024 with the Arlington Renegades. He was a signing the Vikings made on June 18th, 2024, which came after mandatory minicamp. Redmond was the 90th player on the roster and excelled throughout training camp to earn a roster spot. That ability is showing up once again. Jalen Redmond is taking another step forward The signing of Redmond was a massive win for general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and his scouting staff, especially Ryan Grigson, who was given a lot of credit for finding him. "I remember he [Grigson] called me and said, 'I like this guy.' I think it was late May," Adofo-Mensah explained. "You have to ask yourself, what's your standard for bringing people in, because a lot of good players are on teams already, so there's going to be something there that's not perfect, not clean, and earlier he had injuries, so you've got to understand why he's available, but ultimately here's why he might be a good bet. "And you saw the flashes for an interior guy with burst, his run defense kind of jumped out to me. That's the other thing, when you've been together for two or three years, and my history with Grigson before, he knows how to communicate with me, makes a cut-up, knows exactly what we look for." You can see the power and explosiveness in Redmond's game. He rarely gets washed out by the offensive line, and often penetrates the backfield with his ability. Where things have gotten really interesting with Redmons is seeing how good he can be from a short and long-term perspective. Last season, Redmond played in 13 games and flashed in a major way. While he went undrafted out of Oklahoma, it wasn't so much due to talent, but a health issue that kept him from being selected. He certainly looks like a player who should have been selected. Over the course of the season, Redmond got one sack and 6.0 tackles for loss to pair with 18 tackles. His ability to be a penetrating force on the line earned him a starting role at the end of the season, with two starts in his first year with the Vikings. Going into year two, Redmond shouldn't be overlooked. He won't be a starter with the additions of Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave, but it shouldn't be much of a surprise if he approaches 500 snaps as a rotational player. His teammates believe he's a stud, something that Jonathan Greenard emphasized last week. "Redmond is a dog," said Greenard after Redmond's great practice on Thursday. "Jalen's been a dog since last year in training camp. I knew he was a dog when he got thrown out of practices last year. So I was like, listen, from that day forward, he got thrown out, he came back in just completely, just dominating. And at that point even to see it during the season and see him continuously build. Now I'm like, man, everybody knows, but when you see, obviously, you bring in two guys like JA [Jonathan Allen] and Grave [Javon Hargrave], you kind of think that he gets put in the wayside, making the same place he was last year, if not more. And that just helps us out to know that it's not gonna drop off whenever those guys get a breather or something like that. If I'm coaching, I'm putting him in." Don't sleep on Redmond going into this season, as he's only getting better.
Earlier this summer, the Boston Celtics parted with the entirety of their center rotation for the 2024-25 season. They traded away Kristaps Porzingis and allowed Luke Kornet to leave via free agency, and while Al Horford is yet to sign with a new team, he isn't expected to return to Boston. With three bigs leaving in the same summer, Neemias Queta appears to have jumped from being the fourth-string big last season into the starting center role for the 2025-26 NBA season. And as the franchise is in a retooling year, it will likely try to develop the 7-foot rim-runner. Fortunately for Celtics fans, they're going to get a solid look at how Queta deals with starter-level minutes against high-level opponents in the coming weeks. The 26-year-old big man is with the Portuguese national team, where he will likely anchor the middle of the floor throughout the FIBA EuroBasket tournament. On Friday, Queta suited up against Iceland as part of Portugal's warmup schedule. He earned 14 minutes of playing time and quickly filled the box score, ending the contest with 12 points, six rebounds, one assist and one block. Queta has shown flashes of his upside since joining the Celtics. He played in 62 games last season despite being fourth on the depth chart. He's already proven that he's capable of making an impact against NBA-level opposition. However, there's a difference between earning some spot starts or making a splash against second units and to being a full-time starter. Queta will undoubtedly find himself working through a new learning experience, especially deep into the season, when games start to come at you fast. Fortunately for Queta and Celtics fans, the EuroBasket tournament will serve as a reliable proving ground. He will face some of the best bigs in the world this summer and could quickly squash any concerns Boston's fanbase may have. And with that in mind, Celtics fans will likely hope that Queta's performance against Iceland was a sign of things to come.