Gamethread: Rockies at White Sox

Battle of the bottom-tier continues as the South Siders look to sweep

Happy Sunday, Sox fans. Today, the Chicago White Sox will play the third and final game in this series against the Colorado Rockies, as they look to complete their first sweep since April, and just their second all season. Garrett Crochet will be on the bump in attempt to claim Chicago’s 25th win of the season and fourth in a row. Kyle Freeland will take the mound for the Rockies.

Speaking of Crochet, his future seems to be looking more and more clear — and it doesn’t seem to be on the South Side.

According to an article from Bob Nightengale, it looks as if Crochet will be traded this deadline after extension talks went nowhere. In short, that means that Crochet and team probably wanted triple-digit numbers of at least a $100 million deal (rightfully so), and Jerry Reinsdorf rejected it. So instead of having an ace to build around, we will trade him for prospects and do this all again when they excel in a few years and want to get paid. Can’t say I’m not disappointed, just used to the cycle by now.

You know those teams where a player is doing good, they want to stay, so the owner rewards the players and the fans by extending that player and it’s almost with no question every time? I wonder if we will ever experience that, because it seems that at least 20 other teams do.

Because it seems a trade may be looming, let’s hope Crochet can continue putting on a show this afternoon against the Rockies. He has a 3.05 ERA in 17 games with a 0.94 WHIP and 130 strikeouts.

Freeland has spent his whole career with the Rockies, and has been below average but just tolerable enough to stick with the team. This season the lefty has only played in five games due to an injury, but since coming back in late June he has a 9.55 ERA in 21 2⁄3 innings pitched. The 31-year-old vet looks to have a solid outing against a lineup that has actually been raking in the runs the last few games, so we will see.

In today’s episode: Korey Lee hit a home run yesterday, so we will reward him by sitting him and instead playing Martín Maldonado.

Game time is at 1:10 p.m. CT on the usual NBCSCHI and ESPN 1000.