Luis Robert, Nick Madrigal Not Amongst White Sox September Callups

This was just about the fastest baseball season I can remember.  It seems like just yesterday we were at spring training and freaking out about Machado/Harper offers and here we are, with 25ish games remaining in the year.  And not that it matters, but Jon Heyman reported today that the Sox offered more money to Harper than they offered Machado once Machado signed with SD.  Oh, what could have been… but the point is the money is fucking there and they better fucking spend it.

But that’s not what this blog is about.  That’s a blog for a month from now once the season is officially over.

Truthfully, it was a good year.  Giolito turned into an ace, Moncada a star and there was growth all up and down the minors system.  Once Machado signed with SD, the season shifted from “let’s maybe make a run at the wild card” to “wins and losses don’t matter, let’s just make sure all of our important parts are developing into future cornerstones.”

But what we didn’t expect is Luis Robert and Nick Madrigal to dominate at such a crazy pace that they absolutely, 100% could be in a big league lineup as we speak.  Both started the season in HiA and could have legitimately taken the Juan Soto path to the show: HiA – AA – AAA – MLB.

But…. baseball.  It sucks.  The current rules of the CBA make it worthwhile to stow players in the minors instead of rewarding teams that make aggressive moves with their prospects.  It sucks, but that’s the way it is.  And that’s why Both Luis Robert and Nick Madrigal, in spite of these slash lines…

… will not see time in Chicago in 2019.  It’s complete and total bullshit that that’s the best way for the White Sox to operate at this juncture, but that’s also not their fault.  They are operating the way they should be operating.  The MLBPA and MLB need to figure this shit out and fast.  There are way too many disgustingly bad teams in baseball right now and it’s a goddamn shame that those teams have next to no incentive to call up their better prospects whenever said prospects are deemed “ready”.

It’s really going to be funny listening to Hahn spin zone this in March.

“We think Robert needs to stay on outside pitches better (he does tbh) and Madrigal needs to turn around an outfielder or two before they’re REALLY ready to face big league hitting.” – Rick Hahn, March 2020, probably

And again – it’s not their fault.  It’s baseball as a whole’s fault in conjunction with Tony Clark and the MLBPA.  Anyone with a brain would tell you that the 100ish plate appearances Robert would see against big league pitching this month will not make him so much better that the Sox should burn the extra year of control they’ll have him for.  The argument can be made that both should have been called up 6 weeks ago, but as of right now 7 years of team control >>>> 100 big league at bats.

That said… I still would have called Madrigal up.  I don’t think he’ll ever be some crazy superstar that will command some massive contract down the road.  Would have been nice to see him against big league pitching this month, but it is what it is.

All that matters is this: both players will be ready to rock next year.  Sub out Engel/Cordell/Tilson/Sanchez/Goins and sub in both of these guys.  The difference in talent between all of the AAAA players the Sox have played the last 3-4 years and Robert/Madrigal is night and day.

And though those two aren’t coming up, Zack Collins is.  I wrote about him just last week and you can read that here.  Now I’m not totally sure the reasoning for keeping him down until now, but that doesn’t matter either.  Collins showed incredible improvements with his hit tool this season.  He cut down on his strikeouts big time without seeing a dip in his power or walk numbers.  Should this translate against MLB pitching next year (eyeballs don’t typically go in slumps, so it should) Collins and McCann make a pretty nice L/R catcher platoon next year.  That and Collins can spell Abreu at DH and 1B, assuming they bring him back.

I’ll get into offseason finances later, but this is the big news of the day.  It shouldn’t shock anyone but this is just about the last storyline before we put the 2019 White Sox to bed.  2020 will be much different and there will be many more wins, but we should be happy, for the most part, with this season.

I’ll be breaking down a lot of shit as we head into the playoffs and offseason.  Until then, let’s hope the Bears are the perfect bridge for us into 2020.