Can Quintaña win when losing? Will White Sox benefit despite all the “L’s?”

There are those baseball fans who like to follow the game through the use of various statistics that supposedly tell us more about a ballplayer’s true worth than the traditional ones about batting average or wins.

An 0-4 ace pitcher?!?

For the Chicago White Sox’ sake, they had better hope such logic is applied. Because this is the team supposedly in a building mode that has made it clear their Number One pitcher these days is up for trade.

THEY’RE HOPING EVENTUALLY to find someone eager enough to acquire Jose Quintaña that they’ll give up a lot of talent. Perhaps a team that thinks one more quality pitcher will help them win a championship in 2017 – while the White Sox focus on what could take place in 2019 or 2020.

Until then, Quintaña pitches for the White Sox, taking the ball every fifth game and tries to do his best to pitch the White Sox to V-I-C-T-O-R-Y.

But while the White Sox as a team have managed thus far to win about half of their ballgames (making them mediocre rather than lousy), Quintaña has statistically been a flop. Unless you factor statistics other than “games won” into the equation.

For Quintaña in 2017 has a record of 0-4. In four starts (including the first game of the season against the Detroit Tigers), he has managed to be the losing pitcher of record. Not usually the kind of guy who’d get featured on Jimmy Fallon’s late night TV talk show (the two spoke in Spanish about who would pay for a thong)!

BUT IT’S GETTING to the point where some White Sox fans may start dreading the appearance of their alleged top pitcher because they’re figuring there will be enough losses in ’17 – we don’t need to give up on ballgames before they even start.

 

Jose will face pitchers like Kluber all season

Of course, it should be noted that Quintaña is facing a decades-old phenomenon of being a ball club’s top pitcher – he pitches in the rotation against the other ball club’s “ace.” How much better would one-time Chicago Cubs pitcher Ferguson Jenkins’ record be if he hadn’t always had to pitch against Sandy Koufax, Juan Marichal or Bob Gibson – Hall of Famers all!

In Quintaña’s most recent ballgame on Friday, he pitched and lost to the defending American League champion Cleveland Indians, who had their own ace Corey Kluber pitching.

Quintana gave up three runs, and under different circumstances that might not have been so bad.

 

Too bad Fergie couldn't pitch against Cubs

BUT ON FRIDAY, it stunk because Kluber used the night game as an occasion to pitch shutout ball. 3-0 was the final score. But the CBS Sports account of the ballgame made a point of calling the game Quintaña’s second quality start of the season.

Even though the other two ballgames he pitched are to blame for that earned run average of over 6. Better for people to focus on the BABIP for this season of .293 – which is the batting average of balls hit in play while Quintaña pitches.

It actually is better than the .304 figure he has during the length of his professional ballplaying career.

He also has managed to strike out 20 batters during his four starts, where he lasted 23 1/3 innings in all.

THE SPORTING NEWS recently published a commentary arguing that “pitcher wins and losses are stupid stats” and that baseball fans should “banish” them from their discussions about the game.

As one who’d like to see Quintaña be turned over for something of quality to wear a White Sox uniform in coming seasons, I can only hope others take that line of logic seriously.

Some of the strangest stats ever seen!

Because the bottom line of "wins" and "losses can be deceptive. I still remember the Wilbur Wood of the early-to-mid 1970s White Sox, who had a three-season stretch where he lost 17, 20 and 19 games. But he also won 22, 24 and 24 and in one season also had the earned run average of 2.51. He was doing something right in order to keep being used to pitch despite so many losses.

Which likely is to be Quintaña’s fate for 2017 – he’ll keep throwing until he’s traded. But wouldn’t it be nice if he could get at least one “W” on his record before that moment. Perhaps his next start Wednesday against the Kansas City Royals before the Sox begin a road trip to Detroit, Kansas City and Baltimore?

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No sale for Sale, even though many Sox fans liked the jersey giveaway

I find it ironic that the Chicago White Sox got themselves into a funk concerning their promotional giveaway from Saturday night.

 

The 'controversial' jersey

The ballclub had as its ballpark giveaway meant to attract fans to the game replica jerseys such as the team wore in the late 1970s. The ones of dark blue and white with the funky collars that were a ‘70’s take on what the team wore back when they were first created in the early 20^th Century.

I WAS AMONG the people who went to the ballgame (although I didn’t put up with the heavy rain that caused the game to be halted three times before ultimately being postponed until Sunday).

I saw for myself how there were several fans who were there specifically for the jersey giveaway (although to tell you the truth the jerseys being given away were cheap knockoffs of what the team actually wore in those days some four decades ago).

There were many people who, upon being handed the package containing the jersey couldn’t wait to open it and wear it – stripping themselves as quickly as possible of whatever shirt they were really wearing so they could change into their new freebie giveaway jersey.

 

This uniform has some interesting detail,...

For a team that perennially faces attendance issues (although the reality is that no team has a right to think they’re entitled to capacity crowds for every ballgame), the mood was a plus.

DESPITE THE HEAVY rains that came off and on, and the presence of Detroit Tigers fans who made sure to wear their own gear while working their own way around the ballpark.

 

...unlike this garish predecessor...

There just seems to be one person who couldn’t get with the program, so to speak. And that was White Sox starting pitcher Chris Sale – who probably was the other big reason that some fans chose the Saturday night game to show up at U.S. Cellular Field.

For he is arguably the best pitcher in the American League these days, and is one of the few assets the White Sox can claim as their own, and a reason to not totally count out their chances of competing for something resembling a championship this season.

 

...or this truly tacky successor

The plan was that the White Sox were going to wear the late ‘70s uniforms as well during the Saturday game – bringing to memory for those of us old enough to have see it such ballplayers as Francisco Barrios, Bill Nahorodny and Harry Chappas.

BUT DEPENDING ON whose report one reads, Sale either didn’t like the look or the feel of the uniform. He didn’t want to wear it.

And when team officials responded to his tantrum by telling him to just take the ball and pitch, he sliced up the special promotion uniforms with a knife. Meaning nobody was able to wear them.

The White Sox wound up wearing their uniforms they usually use for Sunday ballgames – the ones copied from the 1980s with the big red-white-and-blue stripe across the chest reading “SOX” that some have sarcastically dubbed as the “license plate” uniforms.

 

Maybe he didn't want to pitch in rain?

Now I know some White Sox fans don’t think much of the uniforms from the second coming of Bill Veeck (his wife, Mary Frances, designed them). They may well be willing to brand Sale as a hero for preventing the ball club from making a horrendous fashion statement.

WHILE OTHERS ARE quick to denounce him as a whiny baby – yet another ballplayer who thinks that what he does has some inherent value to society, rather than just serving as entertainment for the masses.

Personally, I always thought the lettering across the jerseys had some interest. The fact that the uniform has the White Sox wearing white socks also is a plus.

It will be interesting to see what kind of fan reaction he gets when he returns to play. Suspended for five days, he won’t be available to pitch again until Thursday which is the final game to be played in this week’s “city series” against the Chicago Cubs.

It could be more intriguing than the actual games – what with the way the Sox are struggling for that .500 winning percentage and would consider it a plus if they could be the team that knocked the Cubs off-stride in their own drive for a first National League pennant in 71 years.

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Baseball is more than a game, that some don’t seem to want to actually play

I can’t help but be repulsed by the mentality that seems to think something wise was done this weekend by the Chicago Cubs and the Washington Nationals; both of whom took their best pitchers and decided to end their seasons now – even though there is nearly a month to go with in the season.

It bothers me more in the case of the Nationals than the Cubs. The latter ballclub isn’t accomplishing much of anything this season – and the presence (or lack thereof) of Jeff Samardzija isn’t going to radically change anything.

BUT THE NATIONALS are actually a first-place ballclub in their division. They could very well be a playoff-bound ballclub.  It really would be pathetic if Washington were to have a ballclub make its first World Series appearance since 1933 WITHOUT its top pitcher.

What happens if this IS the Nationals’ year, and pitcher Stephen Strasburg winds up never pitching in a World Series because his team doesn’t make it back? Strasburg could wind up being just like Frank Thomas – whose only appearance on a World Series team was entirely from the bench. Injuries kept him from actually playing much of 2005, and not at all during the playoffs or World Series.

Even the great Walter Johnson managed to pitch in the 1924 World Series for Washington (being the winning pitcher in the seventh and final game).

For Strasburg, it is a shame. But it was one brought on by physical injuries.

IN THE CASE of Strasburg, it seems to be a case of a short-sighted ballclub gambling on a future that may never arrive.

The fact that the Nationals ballclub would think this is some sort of strategic move is evidence that professional baseball has changed – and not necessarily for the best!

It is part of the modern-day strategy that believes in pitch counts and innings limits, and ignoring that a pitcher who truly is worth anything is capable of reaching limits beyond the levels that too many managers artificially set.

The theory with Strasburg is that he was recovering from anterior cruciate ligament surgery (the proper name for the procedure originally tried by Tommy John back in the mid-1970s) meant to rebuild his arm after he suffered what once would have been a career-ending injury.

THIS WAS SUPPOSED to be the year that he got limited use, with future seasons intended to be when he would have his full comeback.

In the case of Samardzija, it would seem that team officials figure this was the first time he ever really pitched a full season of baseball in the major leagues (more innings this year than his whole career to date combined).

Does this mean the Cubs believe that NO one is capable of pitching a full season of professional baseball?

It’s definitely a long ways away from 1974 when Nolan Ryan pitched 332 2/3 innings for the California Angels, or when Wilbur Wood of the Chicago White Sox kept getting sent out to pitch every four games even though he nearly lost 20 games that season.

IN WOOD’S CASE, he also managed to win 20 games (with a 3.46 earned run average that season). He was the best arm on a mediocre ballclub, which used him repeatedly because it was their best attempt to win ballgames.

Nowadays, Wood would have been shut down to “spare” him some embarrassment – not taking into account the fact that Wood would have been more embarrassed by not pitching.

Now I know some claim that these innings restrictions can add on seasons to a ballplayer’s career. They’ll cite cases like Sandy Koufax or Fernando Valenzuela of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Koufax suffered from arthritis and retired at age 30 because his arm couldn’t take the strain any longer, while Valenzuela’s last years as a ballplayer were incredibly mediocre. Both will claim they were overused by the Dodgers, and could have lasted longer had their pitching stints been rationed out.

YET I’M NOT convinced. It’s as though some people think they can erase the chance of the fluke incident that cannot be statistically predicted.

In fact, I’d like to think that Strasburg these days is disappointed that he’s not pitching in the heat of a pennant race – even though Nationals’ management has said uncertainty over whether he would continue to pitch was actually causing him more mental anguish.

A part of me would like to think that Strasburg and Samardzija are capable of “sucking it up,” bearing down and going for another month.

Because there really is no guarantee that there will be a “big game” in the future that he’s being saved for by shutting him down for now.

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