Chicago White Sox: 2017 Season Review and Offseason Preview

What Went Wrong

Shortstop Tim Anderson was a bright spot in 2016 when he was worth 2.5 WAR in 99 games. He rarely walked but a .375 BABIP helped him hit .283/.306/.432. This year he walked even less often than last year and his BABIP dropped to .328, which resulted in a .257/.276/.402 batting line. He was also worse on defense. He ended the year just barely above replacement-level.

As bad as Anderson was at the plate, he looked like Francisco Lindor compared to teammate Tyler Saladino. Saladino “hit” .178/.254/.229 in 281 plate appearances. Nobody with 250 or more plate appearances was worse, but teammate Adam Engel was close (.166/.235/.282). These two combined for 617 plate appearances with a .171/.244/.258 batting line. That’s brutal.

Matt Davidson hit 26 home runs but still managed to be a well below-average hitter because of a .260 OBP. After adjusting for league and ballpark effects, Davidson was 17 percent below average at the plate. Davison’s motto was go big or go home. He connected for 26 big flies but also struck out 165 times.

The White Sox signed free agent Derek Holland last offseason hoping he would help stabilize a pitching staff that had some young talent still developing. It didn’t work out. Holland had an ERA near 6.00 and was released in September having been paid $7.5 million for below replacement-level production.

In April, they signed Mike Pelfrey after he’d been released by the Tigers. At least Pelfrey didn’t cost much because the Tigers paid most of his $8 million contract. Pelfrey was even worse than Holland, with a 6.01 ERA in 21 starts. If you add together the 26 starts from Holland, 21 from Pelfrey, and 12 from Dylan Covey, you get 59 starts with a 6.33 ERA.

Then there’s James Shields, the $21 million pitcher with a 5.23 ERA (the Padres paid $11 million of his salary). Through May 6, 2016, Shields had pitched 2151.7 innings in his career with a 3.73 ERA. Then, this happened:

Since he gave up that fateful home run to Bartolo Colon, the only home run Colon has ever hit, Shields has a 5.96 ERA. Bartolo Colon broke James Shields. Some pitchers get “Steve Blass Disease”, which causes them to lose control of their pitches and walk the ballpark. Shields has “Bartolo Colon” disease, which has caused him to give up the most home runs of any pitcher over the last two years (tied with Ian Kennedy). I’m kidding, of course, but it’s been a rough go for Mr. Shields.

In the bullpen, reliever Chris Beck should have worn an asbestos uniform to protect himself from the fires he started. Of the 150 relievers who pitched at least 50 innings, Beck had the second-worst ERA (6.40) and worst home run rate (2.2 HR/9).