The Cubs return to Wrigley Field using excessive.
Although a 3-0 loss Sunday at Busch Stadium snapped an eight-game successful streak, the Cubs put themselves ready to purchase forward of Tuesday’s 5 p.m. CT commerce deadline.
The White Sox have been in promoting mode.
Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López are Los Angeles Angels. Lance Lynn and Joe Kelly are Los Angeles Dodgers. Kendall Graveman is with the Houston Astros.
How will the roster take care of Tuesday’s commerce deadline?
Every Monday all through the season, Tribune baseball writers will present an replace on what occurred — and what’s forward for the Cubs and Sox.
Nick Madrigal producing plus-defense at third base
It didn’t take lengthy into his first sport off the injured record Saturday to indicate why Madrigal statistically charges as one of many higher defensive third basemen within the majors this yr.
Madrigal made two nice performs in Saturday’s win in opposition to the Cardinals. One required a diving cease into foul territory earlier than popping as much as ship an on-target one-hop throw to get the runner at first. In the opposite, he received to a ball glove-side towards the opening that supervisor David Ross thought was a fair more durable play.
“For him to solidify that left side and the defense he’s played, it’s definitely above what anybody expected,” Ross mentioned Sunday.
It’s a testomony to Madrigal’s dedication to his place change, beginning with the work he put within the offseason which included time with bench coach Andy Green in Arizona earlier than spring coaching.
“You see how much more comfortable he’s gotten throughout the season,” Ross mentioned. “… Part of our identity is good team defense and we pitching and defense, those things go hand-in-hand. The more we can solidify those types of guys around the field, the better off we’re going to be.”
Advanced metrics have backed up the attention take a look at on Madrigal’s defensive work. His 8 Outs Above Average (OAA) are tied for eighth-best among the many 39 certified third baseman within the large leagues this season whereas his success charge is the best. Conversely, Patrick Wisdom’s minus-6 OAA is tied for second-worst on the place.
With the give attention to the long run, what’s subsequent for Sox pitcher Garrett Crochet?
As the latest trades have indicated, the Sox are wanting forward.
They have some openings of their rotation. And pitcher Garrett Crochet wish to be thought-about for a beginning position sooner or later.
“That will be a conversation I need to have with (general manager) Rick (Hahn) and (manager) Pedro (Grifol) as well,” Crochet mentioned Saturday. “I hoped to get a little bit little bit of an innings base beneath my belt this yr. So then I might do this a little bit bit simpler.
“At the end of the day, I feel like that sort of routine is a better routine for me based on the bumps and bruises that have been happening to me. I feel like I have the stuff to fulfill that role. I just want the opportunity to do it.”
The crew’s first-round decide in 2020, Crochet has made 69 reduction appearances in three seasons. He missed 2022 after present process Tommy John surgical procedure.
Crochet has appeared in 10 video games in 2023. He is presently on the injured record with left shoulder irritation.
There was a pause in his latest rehab task due to what Crochet mentioned was a “little muscle strain in my shoulder.”
“I’m just going to take a few weeks off throwing,” he mentioned. “I just want to take this comeback slow and don’t want to rush anything. I still plan to pitch at some point at the end of the year.”
Pitching coach Ethan Katz mentioned Crochet has the stuff, however the first aim is to verify he’s wholesome.
“He has a very nice pitch mix,” Katz mentioned Sunday. “There’s some issues that we wish to be extra environment friendly with the pitches. If that’s the route we’re seeking to go, he’s going to need to be a little bit extra environment friendly.
“But the stuff is there. The ability to get guys out in the big leagues is there. But there’s still some stuff we need to do to make sure he’s able to go out there and go five, six, seven innings, whatever the case may be starting and help develop him that way.”
Week forward: Cubs
The final yr has introduced “a lot of growing pains” for right-hander Hayden Wesneski as he approaches the one-year mark of coming into the group.
“It’s been a long year, I will say — I forgot it’d been a year,” Wesneski mentioned Sunday of his commerce to the Cubs. “Man, I’ve learned a lot being in the big leagues, just learning from older guys.”
Wesneski was recalled to begin Friday in a piggyback position with Drew Smyly. He made probably the most of three begins at Triple-A Iowa the place he particularly centered on tinkering along with his sinker and throwing it to his glove aspect. He particularly checked out higher using his pitch versus lefties by throwing a sinker to their entrance hip or seeing what occurs when he throws one away. He mentioned he didn’t throw his changeup as a lot as he wished, however felt he made progress on discovering issues that may assist him higher navigate lefties who’ve hit him too typically this yr.
“I was just trying different things that I can’t necessarily test out here and fail,” Wesneski mentioned. “It’s OK to fail in Iowa and try, ‘OK, that didn’t work or hey that did work, it didn’t work out in my favor.’ … I had at-bats I could try it on.”
Ross mentioned Sunday that Wesneski shall be within the bullpen and his position shall be outlined as they transfer ahead.
- Monday: vs. Reds, 7:05 p.m. Marquee
- Tuesday: vs. Reds, 7:05 p.m. Marquee
- Wednesday: vs. Reds, 7:05 p.m. Marquee
- Thursday: vs. Reds, 7:05 p.m. Marquee
- Friday: vs. Braves, 1:20 p.m. Marquee
- Saturday: vs. Braves, 1:20 p.m. Marquee
- Sunday: vs. Braves, 1:20 p.m. Marquee
Week forward: White Sox
All eyes are on Tuesday’s commerce deadline.
The Sox have been lively already.
“I’m certainly not going to lie, the idea where we’re at this point where guys like (Lucas) Giolito and (Renaldo) López who we acquired back in ’16 when we kicked off the rebuild in earnest are logically the guys that make sense to move, given their contract status, there’s an element of real deep disappointment that we’re at this point right now, that there wasn’t more postseason victories along the way as part of their tenure with the White Sox,” Hahn mentioned Wednesday.
“But in terms of that, frankly, we have a job to do right now. I’ll have time come Aug. 2 to have a drink and a cigar if I want to wallow in disappointment, do it then. But now is not the time. Now is the time to continue to improve the future of this organization.”
Hahn mentioned after Friday’s strikes that whereas it was powerful to foretell if there could be any extra exercise, the Sox would proceed speaking to groups, “and if there’s something that makes sense, we’ll pull the trigger.”
- Monday: off
- Tuesday: at Rangers, 7:05 p.m., NBCSCH
- Wednesday: at Rangers, 7:05 p.m., NBCSCH
- Thursday: at Rangers, 1:05 p.m., NBCSCH
- Friday: at Guardians, 6:10 p.m., NBCSCH
- Saturday: at Guardians, 6:10 p.m., NBCSCH
- Sunday: at Guardians, 11:05 a.m., Peacock
What we’re studying this morning
This week in Chicago baseball
Aug. 2, 1990: Frank Thomas makes his White Sox — and MLB — debut
“I was shocked,” mentioned Thomas, the Sox’s No. 1 decide in 1989 of the call-up from Double-A Birmingham. “They mentioned, ‘Clean out your locker. You’re going to Milwaukee.’“
He began the primary sport of a doubleheader in opposition to the Brewers in County Stadium — and drove within the successful run with an 85-foot grounder within the ninth.
His debut sport in a sport through which the Sox began their final three No. 1 draft picks: Thomas, pitcher Alex Fernandez and third baseman Robin Ventura.
Aug. 2, 1906: The “Hitless Wonder” White Sox started their AL document 19-game successful streak with a 3-0 win over Boston.
The document could be tied by the 1947 New York Yankees.
Aug. 3, 1921: 8 members of the Black Sox are banned for all times
The entrance web page headline of the Aug. 3, 1921, Chicago Daily Tribune blared: “Jury Frees Baseball Men.”
Eight White Sox gamers charged with throwing the 1919 World Series have been acquitted by a 12-man jury on Aug. 2 that deliberated simply 2 hours, 47 minutes.
Several hundred individuals who jammed into the Cook County courthouse shouted: “Hooray for the clean Sox!” as they flung their hats within the air and whistled.
White Sox pitcher Ed Cicotte leaped to his toes and pounded teammate “Shoeless” Joe Jackson on the again, in accordance with the Tribune article. Cicotte then headed over to the jury field and shook the hand of the jury foreman. “Thanks, I knew you’d do it,” Cicotte mentioned.
But the acquittal served solely as a reprieve from authorized ramifications for the gamers related to the “Black Sox Scandal.”
A day after their acquittal, Kenesaw Mountain Landis — a Chicago federal choose who was newly put in as MLB’s first commissioner — dominated the gamers allegedly concerned could be banned for all times from organized baseball.
“Regardless of the verdict of juries, no player that throws a ball game, no player that undertakes or promises to throw a ball game, no player that sits in a conference with a bunch of crooked players and gamblers where the ways and means of throwing games are planned and discussed and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever play professional baseball,” Landis mentioned.
Aug. 3, 1959: The second sport of All-Star play this yr was gained by the AL 5-3 at Los Angeles’ Memorial Stadium
Nellie Fox of the White Sox singled within the deciding run within the seventh inning.
Aug. 3, 2006: Matt Murton tied a major-league document with 4 doubles and drove in 5 runs for the Cubs
Murton turned the fourth Cub to hit 4 doubles in a sport and the primary since Billy Williams did it in opposition to the Phillies on April 9, 1969, at Wrigley Field. The major-league document has been achieved quite a few occasions, however Murton is appreciative that his identify shall be within the document e-book.
“It’s a great honor,” Murton mentioned. “But you have to remember, as good a game as you can have, you have to forget those the way you forget the bad ones”
The doubles helped the Cubs salvage a break up of a doubleheader with the Diamondbacks 7-3.
Aug. 4, 1993: White Sox’s Robin Ventura costs the mound and fights Nolan Ryan
The Sox and Rangers took trip from a wonderfully mundane sport to sq. off in one of many nastiest and dirtiest brawls.
Ryan began the free-for-all by drilling Ventura on the correct elbow with a fastball within the third inning. Ventura took a few steps towards first base, then thought higher of it. Instead, he took a pointy left flip, threw his helmet to the bottom and charged Ryan.
Ryan locked Ventura within the sort of armlock normally reserved for branding steers and began flailing away with punches. Five roundhouse photographs in a row landed on prime of Ventura’s head.
“He gave me a couple of noogies on my head and that’s about all,” mentioned Ventura.
Ryan was nonetheless swinging when each benches descended upon him.
Rangers coach Mickey Hatcher left the sector with blood streaming down his face. Usually mild-mannered Sox supervisor Gene Lamont had a trick knee exit on him when somebody clipped him from the aspect.
To add insult to harm, Lamont was ejected from the sport. So was Ventura.
“Robin thought he was throwing at him and he did exactly what he should do,” mentioned Lamont. “It’s strange that that was the only pitch that got away from him all night.”
Quotable
“Man, we’re playing really good baseball. Just a great series for us, still even there (Sunday) we’re in the game, we’ve got a chance. That’s what we’ve got to keep doing to be in every game. Play the fundamental baseball like we’ve been doing and keep this momentum rolling back home.” — Kyle Hendricks after the Cubs took three of 4 video games in St. Louis
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Source: www.bostonherald.com