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	<title>Toronto &#187; Chicago White Sox</title>
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		<title>3 Things to Watch for Against the White Sox</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/07/31/3-things-to-watch-for-against-the-white-sox-2/</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 31 Jul 2017 15:27:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[BP Toronto Team]]></dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[Written by Bennett Brauer, Dave Church, and Gideon Turk Rebuild Envy Since acknowledging they were not going to be competitive with their current roster, the White Sox have traded top players Adam Eaton, Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, Todd Frazier and David Robertson, as well as key middle relief piece Tommy Kahnle, Dan Jennings, and Anthony Swarzak. With a [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center"><em>Written by Bennett Brauer, Dave Church, and Gideon Turk</em></p>
<h3><b>Rebuild Envy</b></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Since acknowledging they were not going to be competitive with their current roster, the White Sox have traded top players Adam Eaton, Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, Todd Frazier and David Robertson, as well as key middle relief piece Tommy Kahnle, Dan Jennings, and Anthony Swarzak. </span>With a minor league system that had previously not yielded much depth and a big league team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2008, they weren’t exactly breaking up the ’27 Yankees. <span style="font-weight: 400">Through these trades, their system is now receiving </span><a href="https://www.milb.com/milb/news/white-sox-acquire-eloy-jimenez-dylancease-from-cubs/c-241971790/t-185364810"><span style="font-weight: 400">rave reviews</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400">. They currently have five of the top 50 prospects in baseball, and nine of their top 10 prospects have joined the team in the last nine months, including elite level ones like Yoan Moncada and Eloy Jimenez. </span>Don’t get me wrong, there is still a lot of work to be done and none of the players are locks to be stars, let alone everyday players, but the White Sox seem to be on the right track. <span style="font-weight: 400">Subsequently, there is a</span><a href="https://www.fanragsports.com/news/white-sox-say-yoan-moncada-call-boosted-wednesday-ticket-sales/"> <span style="font-weight: 400">renewed excitement around the South Side</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400">. They deemed monetizing their veterans while they have value to yield top prospects was better then what they were doing WITH those players.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Enter the envy from some Jays followers.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Some</span><span style="font-weight: 400"> think the Jays should follow Chicago’s template and trade away the likes of</span> <span style="font-weight: 400">Jos</span><span style="font-weight: 400">h Donalds</span><span style="font-weight: 400">on</span><span style="font-weight: 400">, Marcus Stroman, and even Roberto Osuna and Justin Smoak, capitalizing on their team friendly contracts and control to maximize their yield and get younger prospects. </span><span style="font-weight: 400">We won’t get into the fear of a potential decline from the current </span><a href="http://www.tsn.ca/jays-first-to-surpass-one-million-in-attendance-1.766568"><span style="font-weight: 400">massive crowds</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400"> and increasing </span><a href="https://jaysjournal.com/2017/06/08/blue-jays-leading-american-league-in-attendance/"><span style="font-weight: 400">ticket sales</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400"> and TV ratings; essentially WHY the Jays might not go that route. </span><span style="font-weight: 400">That is its own separate topic for another day, and </span><a href="https://jaysjournal.com/2017/07/05/blue-jays-al-leading-fan-base-isnt-ready-give/"><span style="font-weight: 400">is already well covered</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400"> and documented. </span>Simply, we want to acknowledge that Jays fans yearning for a rebuild may look at the White Sox lineup a bit longingly, and be a bit jealous of some of the young talent in their lineup.</p>
<h3><b>Playing Pearce</b></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Steve Pearce has had an eventful week, to say the least. Most players don’t get one walkoff grand slam in their career. Pearce had two, with his most recent one on Sunday capping off an incredible comeback against the Angels.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">After an awful start to his season, Pearce has rounded into form and is now sporting a .267/.319/.462 slash line for the year. Despite his calling card as a lefty masher, he’s actually been equally effective against both sides in 2017, a nice bonus for a Jays lineup that is primary right-handed. A Blue Jays team that ranks 27th in baseball in runs scored needs to find playing time for Pearce’s bat.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">The thinking coming into the season was Pearce would find ample time in left field and first base, spots occupied by Ezequiel Carrera and Justin Smoak. Smoak’s ascension has been well covered and Carrera has himself had a quietly effective offensive season with a very solid line of .299/.365/.445. Both players have the advantage of being much better defenders than Pearce at those positions as well.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">With Kendrys Morales entrenched as the DH, Pearce is a man without a position. He has played second base in the past, though manager John Gibbons dismissed that possibility earlier this season (though watching Pearce in the outfield, one wonders how bad he could be playing second).</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Pearce’s name hasn’t come up a lot in trade rumors, which is something of a surprise when we consider how solid he’s been this year. As a man without a position on a reasonable contract, he might actually have some value, which isn’t something the Jays can say about a lot of their veterans right now.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Assuming that doesn’t happen, look for the Jays to find ways to get Pearce into the lineup, like they did yesterday. The occasional day off for Kevin Pillar and Kendrys Morales (and Bautista, as happened yesterday) might help a scuffling Jays offense against a shaky White Sox rotation.</span></p>
<h3>Walk Like a (Stro)Man</h3>
<p>In order to keep the opposing team from scoring in baseball, one needs to keep them off of the bases as much as possible. Logically, that also means that giving the opposing batters free bases via the walk is something pitchers don&#8217;t want to do. For some reason, the Blue Jays don&#8217;t seem to be following that advice this season. In 2016, the Blue Jays starters were already the fifth worst team in the American League according to BB%. They haven&#8217;t done themselves any favours to improve that this year, raising their 7.9% mark from a year ago by 1.5 percentage points up to 9.4%, and can now brag that they are fifth worst in MLB, just not the AL. So what happened?</p>
<p>The first two pitchers for the Blue Jays in this series against the White Sox can share some of the blame. Monday night, Marco Estrada is scheduled to take the hill and when he does, he will come in with a BB% up nine tenths of a percentage point over his 2016 numbers. The next night, Marcus Stroman will start and will be up 1.7 percentage points from last season.</p>
<p>While each pitcher has had even more problems recently &#8211; Stroman has walked 11 batters in his past two starts, Estrada 30 in his past seven &#8211; the White Sox are the perfect team to end these troubles on. At just 3.88 pitches seen per plate appearance, they rank in the middle of the pack in MLB. Their 6.7% BB% is the second to worst in the game, and their 31.8% o-swing%, fifth highest in the league, shows that they are willing to chase pitches the rest of the league is not. If Estrada and Stroman can use this to their advantage, they won&#8217;t try to be so fine, instead hoping that if they miss the zone a bit, the lowly White Sox will do what they have been doing all season long, and not do any damage.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: © Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>3 Things to Watch for Against the White Sox</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/06/16/3-things-to-watch-for-against-the-white-sox/</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 16 Jun 2017 15:57:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[BP Toronto Team]]></dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[Written by Elie Waitzer, Cole Nefsky, and Dave Church Is Jose Quintana Still An Ace? Big lefty Jose Quintana will bring an ugly 5.30 ERA into the series opener against Joe Biagini. Besides Masahiro Tanaka, you could argue that Quintana has been the most disappointing starter of 2017 so far. He’s pitched to a reasonable 3.48 [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center"><em>Written by Elie Waitzer, Cole Nefsky, and Dave Church</em></p>
<h3><strong>Is Jose Quintana Still An Ace?</strong><span style="font-weight: 400"><br />
</span></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Big lefty Jose Quintana will bring an ugly 5.30 ERA into the series opener against Joe Biagini. Besides Masahiro Tanaka, you could argue that Quintana has been the most disappointing starter of 2017 so far. He’s pitched to a reasonable 3.48 ERA over two June starts, but still hasn’t looked right.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Before we look at some of the issues that have derailed Quintana, let’s establish the fact that he was definitely an ace coming into this season. That fact has never been in question in Chicago, but to outsiders his average strikeout numbers were a turn off. Here’s how you know he was an ace: there are only </span><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/season_finder.cgi?request=1&amp;sum=smatchCar&amp;as=result_pitcher&amp;offset=0&amp;type=p&amp;min_year_season=2013&amp;max_year_season=2016&amp;min_season=1&amp;max_season=-1&amp;min_age=0&amp;max_age=99&amp;lg_ID=lgAny&amp;lgAL_team=tmAny&amp;lgNL_team=tmAny&amp;lgFL_team=tmAny&amp;lgAA_team=tmAny&amp;lgPL_team=tmAny&amp;lgUA_team=tmAny&amp;lgNA_team=tmAny&amp;isActive=either&amp;isHOF=either&amp;isAllstar=either&amp;throws=any&amp;role=starter&amp;games_started=70&amp;games_relieved=80&amp;qualifiersSeason=eratitle&amp;minIpValS=162&amp;minDecValS=14&amp;mingamesValS=40&amp;qualifiersCareer=nomin&amp;minIpValC=1000&amp;minDecValC=100&amp;mingamesValC=200&amp;c1criteria=IPouts&amp;c1gtlt=gt&amp;c1val=200&amp;c2criteria=earned_run_avg&amp;c2gtlt=lt&amp;c2val=3.60&amp;c3gtlt=gt&amp;c4gtlt=gt&amp;c5gtlt=gt&amp;c5val=1.0&amp;location=pob&amp;locationMatch=is&amp;orderby=earned_run_avg&amp;number_matched=1"><span style="font-weight: 400">three pitchers</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400"> who have recorded 200 IP+ with a sub-3.60 ERA in each of the past four seasons (2013-2016). Max Scherzer, Madison Bumgarner, and Jose Quintana. He is an ace.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">It’s been a completely different story so far, however, with Quintana struggling to average over 5 IP per start. It’s tough to go far into games when you’re running a career-high 9.2% walk rate, a career-high 11.2 HR/FB rate, and a career-low 66% strand rate. All of that points towards bad luck except for the walk rate. Despite pedestrian velocity, Quintana has always thrived on his fastball location. This year he’s been all over the zone with the heater, but if he can find his command there’s nothing preventing him from dominating the Jays.</span></p>
<h3><strong>White Sox Bullpen</strong></h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">While the White Sox have a pretty messy team overall with starting pitching either under-performing or living up to incredibly low expectations, a lineup made up of a little bit of pop, and the worst on base percentage in the league; the one thing they certainly have going for them is their bullpen. Tommy Kahnle has been leading a group of bandit relievers to strikeout success.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Much has been written of Kahnle’s added velocity and improved performance, but he isn’t alone at the back of their pen. Anthony Swarzak and David Robertson have both carried sub-3 FIPs so far this year. While there’s nothing new there with Robertson, it is encouraging for him and the team that he has bounced back this way after such a rough 2016.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Swarzak, on the other hand, has added a velocity and has made a good reliever out of himself. The biggest difference has been his slider, though. He has straightened it out a bit, and is throwing it more than ever. The offset between it and his fastball has also grown because of the added velocity, which hasn’t translated to his slider.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400">Their bullpen performing the way that it has isn’t entirely shocking, but who it has been is. Nate Jones has become one of the better relievers in baseball, when healthy, since 2013. That caveat is an important one, though, because he has not been healthy this year. Another high quality reliever that has been out is one of my favourites: Zach Putnam. Given their team construction, I don’t know when or how they’ll get a lead, but once the have it, the Jays will have a tough time fighting back.</span></p>
<h3><strong>Broken Bats</strong></h3>
<p>Much was made of the return of the Blue Jays hitting during a successful month of May. Great months from Jose Bautista, Devon Travis, and Justin Smoak drove the offense, and the hot start of Kevin Pillar was still fresh in the minds of most. Josh Donaldson continues to be the best third baseman in the game on both sides of the ball. But it wasn&#8217;t just them: Veterans Kendrys Morales and Russell Martin supported the effort, notching OPSs of .930 and .839 respectively.</p>
<p>The calendar turning to June has cooled off some of the Blue Jays&#8217; hot bats. Pillar&#8217;s blazing start is fading fast, Travis is hurt, and Bautista has cooled down. Smoak and Donaldson have continued to rake, but the lineup is ice cold after those two. So the team may look to the veterans to pick up the slack: Morales, Martin, and Troy Tulowitzki (who has struggled for the majority of the season). Thus far in June, none of them have had much success either.</p>
<p>While the Jays will take anything they can offensively at the moment, some signs of life from those three veteran bats would be very encouraging as they look to recover from their awful April. The White Sox are sending Jose Quintana, Mike Pelfrey, and James Shields to the mound this weekend and if we look hard enough, we can find some reasons to hope (in those small sample sizes that manager John Gibbons loves). Morales has a .929 OPS against Quintana in 39 plate appearances. Tulowitzki has a career .922 against Pelfrey in 25 PAs, and Martin a blazing 1.196 (in a scant 8 PAs, it should be noted). Russell Martin had some success against Shields in 2012, with an .896 OPS over 14 appearances. And it was only last year that Shields had an ugly 6.77 ERA for the Sox, though his three starts so far this year have been excellent.</p>
<p>This is certainly cherry picking, but the greater point remains. With some of the Jays hitters hurt or struggling, they need these guys to step up, and there may be opportunities for them to do so this weekend against a White Sox pitching staff that no longer has Chris Sale at its head. Morales is on the team exclusively for his bat, and Tulo and Martin are here at least in part because they are good hitters for their positions. The Jays have gone 6-6 so far in the month of June, which would be fine if they only needed to tread water. But with the way they started, and a competitive division and wild card race in front of them, they need to start making up ground, and some contributions from these guys would go a long way towards getting them some wins.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo © Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>Recap: White Sox 5, Blue Jays 2; Struggling Stroman Sunk by Sox</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/06/26/recap-white-sox-5-blue-jays-2-struggling-stroman-sunk-by-sox/</link>
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		<pubDate>Sun, 26 Jun 2016 20:59:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jenn Smith]]></dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[There were two opposing narratives entering today&#8217;s rubber match against the Chicago White Sox: Could the Jays&#8217; offense score any runs off of Chris Sale, and would Marcus Stroman&#8217;s struggles on the mound continue? Stroman began the game strong, getting three groundball outs on seven pitches in the first inning. He looked a bit shaky in [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>There were two opposing narratives entering today&#8217;s rubber match against the Chicago White Sox: Could the Jays&#8217; offense score any runs off of Chris Sale, and would Marcus Stroman&#8217;s struggles on the mound continue? Stroman began the game strong, getting three groundball outs on seven pitches in the first inning. He looked a bit shaky in the second, giving up two singles, a walk and a wild pitch, but managed to exit the inning unscathed. It all came apart in the third inning, when Stroman started to leave balls up in the zone, resulting in what would become four earned runs by the time Stroman exited after the fifth inning. The Jays would start a rally in the eighth inning, with Troy Tulowitzki and Junior Lake each hitting solo home runs to cut the Sox&#8217;s lead in half, but Chicago would add an insurance run in the bottom of the inning with a J.B. Shuck home run off of Bo Schultz, who was called up ahead of today&#8217;s game to replace the injured Gavin Floyd. David Robertson pitched a clean top of the ninth to notch his 20th save of the season and to hand the Jays a series loss and their fifth loss in the last seven games.</p>
<h3>Top Play of the Game by WPA</h3>
<p>The game started to get away from Stroman in the third inning. It began with a one-out walk to Tyler Saladino who subsequently advanced to second base on an Edwin Encarnacion error. A single by Tim Anderson and squeeze bunt by Adam Eaton to score Saladino set the stage for former Blue Jays outfielder Melky Cabrara to single home Anderson for the top play of the game by WPA (.104).</p>
<h3>Bottom Play of the Game by WPA</h3>
<p>After a strong first inning, Stroman began the second by giving up back-to-back singles to Melky Cabrera and Todd Frazier, who subsequently advanced to second base on a wild pitch. After Cabrera made an out at third and a walk to Alex Avila, Stroman got Brett Lawrie to ground into a double play to end the inning, which was the bottom play of the game by WPA (-0.090).</p>
<h3>Junior Lake Records First Hit with Blue Jays</h3>
<p>Though he hasn&#8217;t exactly impressed fans this series, Junior Lake recorded his first hit &#8211; a home run &#8211; in the top of the eighth inning off starter Chris Sale.</p>
<h3>Marcus Stroman Still Isn&#8217;t Right</h3>
<p>Despite making a mechanical adjustment to bring his hands away from his head and eliminate some extra movement during his set-up, Stroman once again struggled to keep the ball down in the zone. His day ended after just five innings during which he gave up four earned runs on seven hits and four walks.</p>
<h3>Up Next</h3>
<p>The Blue Jays will face the Rockies next, in what will be Troy Tulowitzki&#8217;s first return to Colorado since he was traded to Toronto last July. Marco Estrada will face Jon Gray in the series opener, which begins at 8:40pm ET. Gray, who is 4-3 with a 4.80 ERA and 1.23 WHIP, is a groundball pitcher who relies on his 96 mph fastball and hard slider. It will be interesting to see if the Jays&#8217; offense can get firing on all cylinders in Coors Field, which is notorious for being the most hitter-friendly ballpark in the majors. Equally as interesting will be how Marco Estrada, a fly ball pitcher, fares in a ballpark that sees an average of 1.417 home runs per game.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Caylor Arnold-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>South Side Struggle: White Sox Series Preview</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/06/24/south-side-struggle-white-sox-series-preview/</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 24 Jun 2016 14:26:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[BP Toronto Team]]></dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[Toronto Blue Jays @ Chicago White Sox Friday, June 24th &#8211; Sunday, June 26th Written by Sean Addis and Gideon Turk The Blue Jays just completed a two-game split with the Diamondbacks and will now head on the road for six games starting with a three-game set in Chicago against the White Sox. At the end of [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2 style="text-align: center">Toronto Blue Jays @ Chicago White Sox</h2>
<h3 style="text-align: center">Friday, June 24th &#8211; Sunday, June 26th</h3>
<p style="text-align: center"><em>Written by <a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/author/seanaddis/" target="_blank">Sean Addis</a> and <a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/author/gideonturk/" target="_blank">Gideon Turk</a></em></p>
<p>The Blue Jays just completed a two-game split with the Diamondbacks and will now head on the road for six games starting with a three-game set in Chicago against the White Sox. At the end of April, Chicago swept Toronto at the Rogers Centre and the Jays will be looking to return the favour at U.S. Cellular Field.  Since the last time these two teams met, they have been moving in different directions.  The Jays enter this series having won 21 of there last 32 games, while the White Sox have won only 9 of their last 28 games (though they did just take three of four in Boston).</p>
<h3>Pitching Matchups:</h3>
<h4>Friday June 24th – First Pitch 8:10 PM ET</h4>
<p><strong>Aaron Sanchez (7-1, 3.35 ERA) @ Carlos Rodon (2-6, 4.16 ERA)</strong></p>
<p>Aaron Sanchez will get the ball in the opener against the White Sox. Due to the two off days this week, he will be going on six days rest. This has helped not only to provide extra time to recuperate but also to delay the inevitable &#8211; his eventual return to the Jays bullpen. Sanchez continues to be dominant and effective, having pitched six of more innings in all but two starts this season. After being pounded by the Baltimore Orioles offense on June 12 for four home runs over five innings, he was able to adjust his approach and hold the same Orioles lineup to two runs over six innings the following start. His ground ball percentage has remained effective at 58 percent, but he has also seen his strike out rate rise to 11.1 K/9 this month. If Sanchez is able to continue this combination, he should succeed against the White Sox lineup.</p>
<p>Carlos Rodon will be the third left-handed starter the Jays will face in a row. The number three pick in the 2014 draft has a 93-94 mph fastball that he combines with his devastating slider to produce an impressive 8.8 K/9 rate. However, he has had an inconsistent 2016 campaign due in large part to a less than impressive slash line against right handed hitters (.309/.374/.472). This will be the first time Rodon will face the Blue Jays right handed heavy lineup and should be a real test.</p>
<h4>Saturday June 25th – First Pitch 2:10 PM ET</h4>
<p><strong>R.A. Dickey (4-8, 4.08) @ Miguel Gonzalez (1-2, 4.29)</strong></p>
<p>The slow starting Dickey has been on fire of late, posting a 2.97 ERA since May 1st. His last bad start in 2016 actually came against these same Chicago White Sox on April 26th, when he gave up six earned runs in six innings on eight hits, two of which were home runs. He was cruising early on in that game but ended up giving up some big hits that did a lot of damage. Now that he&#8217;s rolling, it&#8217;ll be interesting to see how things work out. This matchup against Gonzalez will be a bit easier for him than last time out, when he had to face Sale, so he won&#8217;t have to be nearly as perfect in round two.</p>
<p>Gonzalez, a 32-year-old righty, joined the White Sox rotation in the end of April and made his first start of 2016 against the Blue Jays on April 25th. He was hit hard, allowing five runs in five and a third innings pitched. He features a four pitch mix composed of two fastballs in the low 90s, a slider that sits in the mid 80s, and a changeup that has averaged 84.2 mph. That the Blue Jays were able to score five runs off of him in the midst of their worst stretch of the season, when they couldn&#8217;t score at all, is definitely a good sign for this game. Gonzalez will have to work extra hard to keep this game close.</p>
<h4>Sunday June 26th – First Pitch 2:10 PM ET</h4>
<p><strong>Marcus Stroman (6-3, 5.23) @ Chris Sale (12-2, 2.83)</strong></p>
<p>The Blue Jays getting away from the AL East could be huge for Marcus Stroman as he looks to bounce back from his worst start of the season. Stroman&#8217;s problem then is still that he doesn&#8217;t get strikeouts. Being a groundball pitcher is fine, of course, but when he loses his control, like he has over the past two months, it becomes much more difficult to survive. The White Sox have a lot of power, so it will be key for Stroman to keep the ball down, or to be out of the zone when he gets the ball up. Hopefully this will be Stroman&#8217;s first game as part of his rebound.</p>
<p>On the flip side of recent (and 2016) success is Stroman&#8217;s counterpart, Chris Sale. Sale is a strikeout pitcher extraordinaire and one of the best overall arms in baseball. Sale last faced the Blue Jays on April 26th, when he shut them down, allowing just one run on four hits and two walks. The tall lefty survives with just three pitches, but they&#8217;re all elite. He averages 94 mph on his fastball (but touches 99), and has a wicked changeup and slider combo that keeps him strong against hitters from both sides of the plate.. Against a pitcher of this calibre, the Blue Jays just need to hope he makes mistakes, because when he&#8217;s on, he&#8217;s extremely tough to beat.</p>
<h3>Additions and Subtractions</h3>
<p>The Blue Jays haven&#8217;t made any roster moves recently, but they did send left handed relief options Brett Cecil and Franklin Morales on rehab assignments to Dunedin this week. Their returns are probably a couple of weeks away at this point, but it will be nice for John Gibbons to have some quality left handed options in his bullpen once again.</p>
<p>Ezequiel Carrera was nursing an injury to his achilles tendaon against the Diamondbacks, and may not be 100 percent for this series. If he needs to go on the disabled list, Dalton Pompey would like be called up to take over the starting right field job now that Jose Bautista is out for a while with &#8220;turf toe.&#8221;</p>
<p>Since the Blue Jays last saw the White Sox, they have undergone quite the roster transformation. In order to try to jump start some success, Jimmy Rollins and Mat Latos were released, while James Shields was acquired from San Diego and Justin Morneau was signed. Morneau was subsequently placed on the disabled list, along with outfielder Austin Jackson, and relief pitcher Zach Putnam. Taking Putnam&#8217;s spot in the bullpen is right handed pitcher Chris Beck, who was called up from the Charlotte Knights on June 21st.</p>
<h3>Keep an Eye On</h3>
<p><strong>Blue Jays Bullpen</strong></p>
<p>Roberto Osuna continues to anchor the back end of the bullpen (1.95 ERA, 14 saves, 11.2 K/9), but it&#8217;s the recent performance of four other relievers that has been turning heads.  Right-handers Jason Grilli (9 games, 2.35 ERA, 15.3 K/9), Jesse Chavez (10 games, 2.25 ERA, 10.5 K/9), Gavin Floyd (7 games, 1.29 ERA) and Drew Storen (8 game scoreless streak) have provided manager John Gibbons with more confidence in his bullpen. In the two game series against the Diamondbacks, the Jays bullpen had a pitching line of seven innings, three hits, one run, no walks and 10 strikeouts. Add in the off days from this week, the Jays should have a rested and effective bullpen for this series.</p>
<p><strong>Aches and Pains</strong></p>
<p>Jays have a couple of players nursing nagging injuries.  Ezequiel Carrera aggravated his achilles tendon running in Tuesday&#8217;s game and Josh Donaldson suffering from some neck discomfort was removed at the end of Wednesday&#8217;s game. Both players are expected to start the series, this is especially important as the team is already without right fielder Jose Bautista.</p>
<p><strong>White Sox Bullpen</strong></p>
<p>Over the last seven games the White Sox have been involved in three extra inning games, a short start (1.2 innings), and the final two games of the recent Red Sox series required them to go deep in their bullpen. As a result, Chicago&#8217;s bullpen has been used a lot in the last week. It would be advantageous for the Blue Jays to get to the bullpen early in the series, as they may be experiencing fatigue due to over usage.</p>
<h3>Probable Lineup</h3>
<table style="background-color: #ffffff;border-collapse: collapse;border: 1px solid #000000;color: #000000;width: 100%" border="1" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="2">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">
<h3>Toronto Blue Jays</h3>
</td>
<td style="text-align: center">
<h3>Chicago White Sox</h3>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">1 Devon Travis-2B</td>
<td style="text-align: center">1 Tim Anderson-SS</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">2 Josh Donaldson-3B</td>
<td style="text-align: center">2 Adam Eaton-RF</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">3 Edwin Encarnacion-DH</td>
<td style="text-align: center">3 Jose Abreu-1B</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">4 Michael Saunders-LF</td>
<td style="text-align: center">4 Melky Cabrera-LF</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">5 Russell Martin-C</td>
<td style="text-align: center">5 Todd Frazier-3B</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">6 Troy Tulowitzki-SS</td>
<td style="text-align: center">6 Brett Lawrie-2B</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">7 Justin Smoak-1B</td>
<td style="text-align: center">7 Alex Avila-C</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">8 Kevin Pillar-CF</td>
<td style="text-align: center">8 Avisail Garcia-DH</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: center">9 Ezequiel Carrera- RF</td>
<td style="text-align: center">9 J.B. Shuck-CF</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><em>via <a href="http://www.rosterresource.com" target="_blank">Roster Resource</a></em></p>
<h3>Final Thoughts</h3>
<p>The Jays have had two off days this week, Monday and Thursday, so the full lineup and bullpen should be rested. They really want to take advantage of the White Sox, who just had a hard fought series with the Red Sox, winning two out of three would be an acceptable start to this road trip.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>Recap: White Sox 10, Blue Jays 1; Good Baseball Not on Sale at the Rogers Centre</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/04/26/recap-white-sox-10-blue-jays-1-good-baseball-not-on-sale-at-the-rogers-centre/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/04/26/recap-white-sox-10-blue-jays-1-good-baseball-not-on-sale-at-the-rogers-centre/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2016 02:10:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sean Addis]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Recaps]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chicago White Sox]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chris Sale]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[r.a. dickey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Toronto Blue Jays]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=2025</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[On Tuesday night at the Rogers Centre, two pitchers beginning their respective seasons in polar opposite manners took to the mound. White Sox starter Chris Sale came into the game with a 1.80 ERA in four starts, having allowed only one earned run in his last two starts, or 16 innings pitched. Blue Jays starter R.A. [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>On Tuesday night at the Rogers Centre, two pitchers beginning their respective seasons in polar opposite manners took to the mound. White Sox starter Chris Sale came into the game with a 1.80 ERA in four starts, having allowed only one earned run in his last two starts, or 16 innings pitched. Blue Jays starter R.A. Dickey had struggled in his first four starts with an ERA of 6.10 with and only one quality start.</p>
<p>Both of those pitchers continued their opening season trend.</p>
<p>Dickey pitched effectively through the first four innings allowing only three hits, one of which was an Avisail Garcia solo home run. However, after that, the early season struggles continued. In the fourth, a two-run double by Austin Jackson and in the sixth a two-run home run by Dioner Navarro ended his night. Dickey ended by going six innings, giving up six earned runs on eight hits and a walk, while striking out three batters.</p>
<p>On the other side of the diamond, Chris Sale made easy work of the Blue Jays. He surrendered just one hit through the first six innings and besides a seventh inning Edwin Encarnacion solo home run, he was untouchable. Sale’s final line was  8IP, 1ER, 4H, 2BB, 6K. 1HR. 100 pitches/63 strikes.</p>
<p>Overall the Jays couldn’t put together much offense and the White Sox would add on four more runs off a trio of Blue Jays relievers.  When everything was settled it was the most lopsided loss of the season by the Jays, as they lost 10-1.</p>
<h3>Top Play of the Game by WPA</h3>
<p>In a game that saw limited chances by the Toronto Blue Jays, the play that had the greatest WPA of 0.115 was the lead off home run by Avisail Garcia in the third inning.  It was almost all the offense Chris Sale would need on this night.</p>
<h3>Bottom Play of the Game by WPA</h3>
<p>The game opened with an uncharacteristic error by short hop Troy Tulowitzki and with one out power hitting Jose Abreu came to the plate. Dickey induced him to hit into an inning ending double play and end the threat.  This resulted in a WPA of -0.5.</p>
<h3>Matt Dominguez Debuts</h3>
<p>Matt Dominguez made his debut against the tough lefty Sale, in part because he is a right handed hitter and also to give another day of rest for Josh Donaldson nursing who is still nursing a bruised calf muscle.  It wasn’t very memorable (or easy), as he went hitless in three at bats with two strikeouts.</p>
<h3>Drew Storen</h3>
<p>One of the key acquisitions by the Blue Jays this offseason was trading for right handed reliever Drew Storen from the Washington Nationals for Ben Revere.  One disturbing trend has been the results he has shown early in the season.  He has had only one performance in which he has not allowed a base runner. Tonight was no exception, as he recorded only one out while giving up four hits and three earned runs.  It is imperative that his performance improve to help the Jays solidify a bullpen which has been an early season weakness. In order for that to happen, he&#8217;ll need his stuff to return to where it has been in years past, as that has not been the case thus far in 2016.</p>
<h3>Up Next</h3>
<p>The Jays will try to avoid a sweep on Wednesday as Marco Estrada will face another tough lefty in Jose Quintana. The game will be starting at 7:07 pm.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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