May 07--Joe Maddon and Robin Ventura could sleep well Wednesday night.
Maddon watched his Cubs avoid another late-inning meltdown against the Cardinals, albeit from his office after being ejected for arguing balls and strikes in the sixth inning.
Lip readers, and a hot mic near home plate, had Maddon telling umpire D.J. Reyburn: "I'll tell you what, you've been (bleeping) my young guys all night long."
It wasn't the Full-Metal Joe we saw when Maddon was ejected from a game against the Padres last month, but it was another example of why players love playing for him.
On the South Side, Ventura had another good night after having to deal with rumors Tuesday he was on the hot seat. After a pregame chat near the batting cage with Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, Ventura watched his White Sox rebound for a 7-6 comeback win over the Tigers, putting them in position to sweep Thursday afternoon at U.S. Cellular Field.
All the talk about Ventura's job security ignores the fact that he's still a favorite of Reinsdorf's. There's no reason to believe Reinsdorf would let general manager Rick Hahn whack Ventura during the season, as he let former GM Ron Schueler whack Gene Lamont in May of 1995. It's really not Reinsdorf's style.
Angry Sox fans who expect Ventura to win with a team full of underachieving players are delusional, and despite the two wins over Detroit, the Sox still have a ways to go before getting back to normalcy.
According to fangraphs.com, the Sox have six position players at or near the bottom in WAR at their respective positions (players with a minimum of 40 plate appearances).
Adam Eaton (-0.8 WAR) was 42nd among 42 center fielders, while Alexei Ramirez (-0.7) was last among 36 shortstops. Also near the bottom at their positions were catcher Tyler Flowers (31st of 35 at -0.3), second baseman Micah Johnson (32nd of 41 at -0.1), third baseman Conor Gillaspie (29th of 37 at 0.0), and right fielder Avisail Garcia (30th of 44 at 0.0).
Even Jose Abreu, their best player, was only middle-of-the-pack, ranking 22nd among 39 first basemen with a 0.3 WAR.
Obviously, the Sox can't succeed with a lineup performing like that, especially with the starting pitching ranked 28th in the majors with a 5.48 ERA. Chris Sale hasn't been Chris Sale, and until everyone improves, the Sox are going to have trouble winning consistently.
Power outage: With summer-like warmth Thursday, the Sox finally should be able to show some power at the Cell. Surprisingly, the Sox are last in the majors with 14 home runs (as many as Mariners slugger Nelson Cruz has by himself), despite playing in a homer-friendly ballpark.
"There are guys on our team that are home run hitters and you expect those guys at any given time to be able to do it," Ventura said. "But quite a few guys, looking at Eaton, Johnson, Conor, they are not really home run guys.
"Even Alexei for the most part, you want them just hitting line drives. Cabrera I wouldn't say is a home run hitter. He can hit them, but I don't want them getting into that mindset that they have to hit homers. If they do, great, but still stick with what your strengths are."
One guy the Sox are waiting for to turn on the power is Garcia, who has one home run so far and only 15 in 550 career at-bats. With his size and strength, Garcia should be able to run into a few homers by accident.
"He has too much power and talent and all that stuff to just his size and strength to not be able to hit them," Ventura said. "You don't want to really mess with what he's got going to say you now have to hit homers just because you are a big kid.
"It will eventually come to him. We also have to realize where he's at with his development in the big leagues. He's still doing stuff to help us win."
Garcia did come up with the game-winning hit Wednesday, so there's that.
Vacation time: Starter Jeff Samardzija started his phony-baloney five-game suspension Wednesday, meaning his penalty for his role in the brawl with the Royals was basically getting an extra day of rest.
MLB's five-game suspensions for starting pitchers are a joke and no one expected Samardzija to really fight his suspension, knowing he could drop his appeal and start serving it when it most benefitted the team. Look for Sale to do likewise.
Samardzija did not stick around to talk to the media Wednesday, and Ventura doubted his pitcher would watch the games from the press box, as former Cubs catcher Michael Barrett once did during his suspension for clocking A.J. Pierzynski and igniting the memorable Sox-Cubs brawl.
"He's already come in, gotten his work in, everything he needs to do," Ventura said of Samardzija. "Now there are probably a lot of nice restaurants in Chicago he would like to frequent. There is a good chance people might see him somewhere tonight."
Any Samardzija spottings in Lincoln Park? Holler.
