White Sox Trade Robbie Grossman

hello and welcome to the pin Wheels pregame show I am Mitchell Kaminsky we got a trade alert on our hands today the white socks announced they have traded outfielder Robbie Gman to the Texas Rangers for a pitching prospect it's a Hawaii native full name goes by David Maui Lea Hui tuo nitoa officially on the press release they're just calling them Anthony Hopi too ntoa it is a mouthful uh but you know like many you probably haven't heard of this guy before he was not ranked inside the Texas Rangers top 30 prospects um now that's a bit deceiving because Texas heading into this season MLB pipeline had him ranked as the seventh ranked farm system in the MLB they arguably had the two best Prospect combo they had Wyatt Langford there so they have a very good farm system I think in the White Sox farm system uh Anthony will be I'm just gonna call him Anthony for now last name kind of a mouthful he will be a uh probably a top 30 Prospect for the White Sox now while he wasn't a top 30 Prospect for the Rangers I think this is a good victory for gets now you got to remember Robbie grman they just signed him to a minor league deal in March and that was mostly because the offense needed some more Professionals in there there's a lot of guys slumping they needed some more professional at bats and to Robbie Grossman's credit he did just that I actually really liked Robbie Gman he didn't hit the ball hard he didn't slug all that well but he worked good at bats he was able to get on base um he had a 15 I think it was a 15.7% walk rate that ranked in the top uh 95 percentile or he was in the 95th percentile I should say in the MLB so I mean he was working really good for at bats the white sock I don't know if that was sustainable especially because he wasn't hitting that hard but you're able to get something for him for a guy who just signed to a minor league deal all four it and uh this Anthony tuo uh H op tuo nitoa we're just gonna call him Anthony I think from now on that's that's gonna be a mouthful to say we got to get this kid a nickname um while he wasn't a top 30 Prospect for the Rangers he there he does have some accolades he was an mlib organiz organizational Allstar in 2022 in 2023 he went to the all-star game for the Arizona fall league um and in that they call it the fall Stars game in that game he had a two- strikeout performance he looked pretty good doing it he's mostly a reliever and his stuff consists of he has a fast ball uh that sits in the mid 80s around 94 96 he can if he really reaches back he tops out about 97 miles an hour uh he also has a slider that also sits in the low 80s uh but that tops out at 85 uh miles an hour watching some of the film from this guy though that slider's got a lot of movement and he looks like a closer he's all tatted up I mean he he's had 18 saves in his minor league career he's mostly used as reliever he has not given up a run this year he's made 12 appearances uh he's given up an unearned run but no earned runs this year so Texas league right now he has the best ER spotless 0.00 erra all those appearances though came out of the bullpen uh he's a 61 tatted up I think he's just over 200 pounds He's Got The Look of a closer and that fast ball even though it sits in the mid 80s it does look like it has a little life on it and that slider has a lot of movement his stuff plays really well for his minor league career he's pitched Four Seasons all of them coming in the Rangers organization uh he has a 12.7 he's averaging 12.7 strikeouts per nine innings so pretty good in all things considered uh I think for his career he's holding opponents to a 213 average this year as we mentioned hasn't given he's holding opponents to a 1.67 uh average in those Four Seasons he has 18 saves 103 Innings of work and he has a career 315 ER so not too bad he was initially drafted in the 30th round of the 2019 draft out of Pierce community college in Washington I'd never heard of Pierce Community College I looked it up they've actually had 11 uh players drafted the ml or drafted in the MLB draft um and the latest uh to come out of Pierce Community College I found that a little interesting no really notable names coming out of there but they have produced some uh MLB draft picks before uh what really stood out to this guy he the opponent's average he ranks uh right now second in the league he also has a really good whip a lot of times the white sock bring in these arms common theme you see like Gregory Santos was a perfect example of this they get these guys that throw gas but not a ton of command Anthony on the other hand looking at the numbers the walk R's not bad it looks like he has a good command of the strikes on which why I think he could be an effective reliever he's set to report to double a Birmingham so I think you know they they they could have something here I think this kid has some potential like we mentioned the reason he probably wasn't in the Rangers top 30 prospects is because how deep that farm system is but those Prospect rankings I mean you take those with the grain of salt anyway so it looks like he's on the rise right now he had a pretty he's having a really good year this year he's going to be going to a good Birmingham Baron team that might have a chance to win the championship down there in daa they're playing some really good baseball right now so that'll be a good environment for him to come in all these guys kind of growing together in a winning culture finally uh which is I think is important I that's not talked about enough a lot of times the minor leagues especially you look at Charlotte right now these White Soxs minor league teams have a history of losing and now you might be asking well who cares it's just like the minor leagues I think bringing these guys up in winning cultures it it does help now you take a look at like we'll go to hockey for a second the Chicago Wolves for example that was like their always big sales pitch now they so they were not affiliated for a long time but their big pitch to a lot of these teams is like hey look we're trying to win the AHL CER Cup every year your prospects are going to be coming up in a winning culture that's only going to help them thrive in the future and you saw that materialize a lot with the St Louis Blues now I know the hockey and uh baseball bit different but I want these guys playing in a winning environment to get used to winning because a lot of the guys right now they have up in the MLB clearly not used to that so good good trade for Chris guts able to get some something out of Robbie Gman who I mean let's be honest minor league deal wasn't really expecting a whole lot so that's good that kind of leads in uh to our next uh next thing so there's a report that came out this week from Bob Nightingale uh which really shouldn't come as much of a surprise but basically he said white socks they're looking to have a fire sale at the deadline uh they're expected to trade starters Eric fety Chris flexen Mike cleer Michael copc and Eloy Jimenez according to USA Today Bob Nightingale so I mean that shouldn't really come as much as a priz but I think you see grman kind of the first Domino to fall and all of those so uh we'll see what other trades they make coming up but that leads me into my next one we'll talk Mike cler so he made his debut uh 2024 season debut uh this week he was one of the guys listed in that list of guys that the white socks are trying uh to trade here his debut did not go well he was getting hit really hard he had two baseballs that were like tattooed over 102 miles an hour I mean the Tampa Bay Rays we're seeing the ball really well off of them now this might be a controversial take so with Clevenger it's interesting and we've discussed this at lengths before you can listen to the episode when Missy Carroll came on of the sports mocker or the pin Wheels Ivy podcast and broke this down but Chris gats before the season was talking about he wants to win the trust of the white socks fan back you're talking about this during an episode of of file territory he's like hey our goal for this season I want to earn the trust the white so fan and to AJ pinsky's Credit in that episode he called him well isn't that exactly what the last regime said and it is I'm a guy who likes to remain optimistic so I still watch this crappy white socks team even though they've won eight games like to remain remain positive so I'm like you know what we'll give Chris gats the benefit of the doubt see if he can earn earn her trust back with that Clevenger signing it kind of was like odd to me because like if you're trying to earn their trust back why are you bringing in a guy like Mike clevage because as and we won't get obviously you have that big cloud of all those allegations hung over his head we won't get into that again but I know a lot of people well he was found innocent no he wasn't found innocent really the MLB just decided not to suspend him because he agreed to go to counseling which is what the family there wanted but where there's smoke there's fire there's been a lot of incidents with him look at his track record with Cleveland and San Diego it's not a one-off there's been a lot of issues with him aside from the obviously uh the domestic abuse and child abuse allegations and usually people that get those type of allegations you know that's not a good good people usually don't have those allegations on around if you're completely in so a little bit of baggage there so they bring him in and that alienates a large portion of the fan base well especially the female portion of the fan base like why you bring this guy back in at least Rick Han when he signed him last off season had the excuse were that didn't come out until after he was signed so they had that excuse like hey we didn't know found him in inent let him pitch and to clevenger's credit he did Pitch well for the white socks last year he was probably their best starting pitcher 377 ER throughout the whole season he looked pretty he threw the ball well last season despite that though nobody wanted admit the trade deadline White Sox placed him on waivers could anyone could have taken him nobody wanted to pick him up now when he was on waivers they would have had to pay a decent amount of money I think with that buyout which for a few starts at the end of the year they're not gonna be paying I think it was a couple million dollars teams so I understand why no one necessarily wanted them in waivers but they still could have traded for him nobody wanted them when on waivers nobody wanted them free agency once again nobody picked up the phone I heard a report the first team to call Mike Clevenger was the white socks so now you're asking yourself why you bringing in a guy like Mike clevinger it's because you're alienated portion of the fan base this team is not suspected to be good now I would understand not necessarily agree with it but I would understand if you're in contention you will bite the bullet on a guy with baggage if he's pitching well and he's gonna help you win ball games Mike Clevenger probably will help the white sock win baseball games but what good does that do this year they have eight wins it's not really going to make a difference I would understand if you're signing them to try and trade them like they're suggesting they're going to do here but no teams wanted him last year when he pitched well what makes you think the teams are going to want him this year when he pitches well so now we get to like his current debut he got knocked around a little bit and despite all that bag I I hate to say this might be you know people might not be happy I'm rooting for him to pitch well this season one because I like watching the white sock win but two he needs to pitch well because I want to see him traded if we were gonna put up with all this baggage and all this crap and all these people getting angry we might as well get some sort of prospect back for them uh halfway through the year so so they're taking a gamble out Gris cats already took a big gamble from one a PR standpoint if you're going to say you want to earn the trust of the socks fans back bringing him in is already you're all in the dice because that pissed a lot of people off understandably so so I hope for claver's sake that he does throw the ball well this year so they can try and trade him but I mean that first start it looked rough you know it be one thing and now he was knocking off some Rust Pedro said after the game like look he only had two starts in Charlotte there was some Rust there Cory Lee defended him and I know a lot actually a lot there's a lot of white sock players that have come out defended him I know Dylan C said last year he was a good teammate Pedro really wanted him back Cory Lee said they were happy to have him back after that game so we'll see how it goes but um it's kind of a gamble if he pitches poorly now like Chris gats is gonna have some explaining to do because now you have a guy that's blocking some younger starters like Jonathan Canon from getting more opportunities so I hope he pitches well just for the fact so they can trade him now looking down the rest of that list of guys that they're looking to trade bet I think he makes the most sense I think with the way he's throwing right now he's going to get you the most value out of any of these guys cop's another one that could be interesting depending on how he keeps throwing the ball ELO am menz I don't think nets all that much because he still owed a decent amount of money and with the injury because there's only one spot you can really put him is at DH so I don't really expect a ton uh back this year so this will be very telling to see and the the grossan trade I think was a good start they got good value for a guy that you know he wasn't hitting all that well he was just getting on base and he's not like a great defender so that's a good first step so I'll be interested to see a if he can trade all these guys especially Clevenger I really hope that he's the one guy I hope they do get something for because um you know at least justify me having to watch him pitch every fifth day with you know those allegations that that they had uh so we'll we'll we'll see how that all uh pans out now White Sox lost another game last night no surprise there it was very ugly white socks are now off to the worst start in franchise history at 8 in 28 through 36 games they now have a negative 92 run differential Chris gets talked about and this is also going into like the account this leading into what we're gonna be talking about the accountability stuff but he all off season you know we gotta improve this defense we gotta improve the culture here and that starts with improving the defense because free agent pitchers they didn't want to come here so we got we got we got to improve the defense well their defense stinks they're last in defensive run saved right now I think they are seventh in the MLB in airs on top of that horrible run differential they they Pedro is talking about rambling how hey we got this acronym fast we're gonna be playing Fearless aggressive selfless technically sound baseball and none of that has happened right now they rank dead last in the MLB in batting average on base percentage Ops sluggy percentage walks pitches seen War home runs runs scored hits Barrel percentage and hard hit percentage uh I think I said they were tied for seventh they actually tied for sixth in airs right now last and defensive run safe so they drop another game last night ozie Yan gets on the white sock postgame show and he sounded off on the team and rightfully so calling them out for their lack of accountability he says here's his quote he those the word accountability they say that every day they're lying they're not accountable they don't I'm sorry they don't they're not I told my wife last yesterday last night I got home she was like are you okay I said no I'm tired of watching this thing every day day in and day out I'm getting paid yes but I'm a white socks fan bro and that's telling because you have this like the NBC Sports Chicago postgame show like look they're owned by Ryan zarf and them they're White Soxs employees they're supposed to kind of tow the company line now I give Guan credit because he will be critical of the team uh they' have been critical of the team on that show but when you're coming out and saying like straight up calling out the manager like that for the lack accountability that was very telling to me because that's the type of thing that usually gets you fired with Petty owners like Jerry reinsdorf so that was interesting but he's spot on he is spot on the the fact that Chris get we're gonna improve the defense has the defense improved this year no Pedro Gul we're gonna play Fast technically sound baseball does it look like technically sound baseball they're playing no these guys are not taking professional at bats and I'm not saying they're not trying but at some point you got to hold some of these players accountable and the coach the manager accountable you you know we are seeing the same issues that we saw last year and the roster has been completely overhauled I know the team got a lot worse than from what last year was but how are we seeing the same mistakes we saw with these veterans that were supposedly lazy uh you know and they didn't care well now we got all these guys that you know look like they're trying to care and we're still seeing the same mistakes and nobody is held accountable from it Azie hit it right on the head I'm glad he had the balls to come out and say it on that postgame show because it's true and it's frustrating to watch his socks like socks fans they're not idiots I mean maybe we are because we watch this team every day despite the fact that they lose so much but um he he's right he's right something's got to change I don't know what I and I this is where I did see this argument on Twitter where like they're like look at some point uh someone brought up like look this is the Players fault everyone it's a lazyy take to blame Ryan dorf when the players are the ones who are not performing so they're ranking the order of blame but I think it does start at the top with Rin dorf because who are the ones hiring all these guys they keep hiring new coach we say this every year like the coaching staff needs to change how many hitting coaches have they gone through in the last three to five years I think they've changed the hitting coach the last three years in a row we've had Frank manako now you know like they they roll through hitting coaches that doesn't seem to change uh you know we we hired terrible managers like the Tony larusa hire I'm sorry like that was a bad hire that completely backfired I think they won in spite of him but that was a total Sideshow and an unnecessary distraction for a very good team that overcame that in 2021 and then in 2022 it just be it was still a distraction and they didn't have the breaks go their way so I think that really derailed a lot of the momentum they had then you bring in Pedro obviously that's been a mistake they're on track to be one of the worst teams in MLB history so that's where it does start at the top with Derry weinor because if you're not willing to spend the money on the guys like and he was willing to spend when Han was in that's a kind of a misconcept he he's cheap because they haven't spent over hundred million dollars on a player which is true you you probably should if you want to win but they were in the top 10 in payroll for two years in a row but Rick KH identified the wrong free agents to bring in well who's hiring the guy and who let him stay there for 10 years Jerry so that's where it starts at the top from Jerry and that's why I think he's obviously the most to blame for this mess because he's the one hiring these guys he's the ones that hired Chris gats and now the jury's still out on Chris gats I they think there's been some good there's also been some bad as we were talking about earlier clevinger thing is going to be very telling they are able to get something for him I will understand why they signed him if not you're going to have some explaining to do especially with how poorly he is pitched and all that side that that baggage on top of that um that has come up so it's ugly it's ugly in white sock L it was actually funny I heard an interesting um uh Andy here in the chat Pedro has to talk to the players the same way he talks to the media fans cookie yeah no this is right Andy Andy's right so he goes he must he probably talks to the players the same way he talks to the media and fans with his cookie cutter motivational BS and everyone sees right through it absolutely absolutely because you hear the same thing every day he's always like well you know we got to flush it we're just going to flush this get back out of it guys working hard well you know what the toilet's clogged because how many losses they've had to flush this year it's been that many you can't just keep saying flush it every day oh you know the guy's working hard we're gonna get this right you know it's ridiculous it's ridiculous he's got to be held accountable 's gotta roll he's gotta go he he shouldn't he should not last the allar break he will they're not going to make the change I don't think but they they they really should because it it's getting ridiculous now another interesting thing actually we I forgot to mention with the trade that I thought was they decided to resign Zack remelon which that had Pedro's I think that had Pedro's fingerprints all over he's had a lot of say in these Personnel decisions apparently he was the one that was lobbying for them to bring Mike clevinger back in and I know Pedro really likes rard because rard is a very good bunter he uh interesting enough Coastal Carolina when he was in college he uh I think he laid down eight successful bunts for a hit in the College World Series which is a record um we've seen that a lot up in the MLB too it's a good buncher Pedro likes to play small ball this team is playing fast so I could see where he'd like Zack Remillard I wouldn't be surprised if he was the one that asked him to come come back up but you know it's a little weird to me that you got Dom Fletcher still in the minor leagues that I thought you would be wanting to evaluate this full season and get a good look at the guy um and they're not calling him back up so I mean I don't that that was a little interesting to see rard got called up and then he's probably to get sent down or DFA within a week anyway so I mean we'll see not that it not that it really uh matters there but I thought that was interesting but the white sock right now and this is no shock kind of uh talking about lack of accountability they're the laughing stock on the MLB I heard on MLB Network there talking um that opposing teams have to treat the white socks like it's their World Series because they it should be you should come into that series assuming you going to sweep them like it's an opportunity for you guys to take three games while really saw that play out here I live in Central Missouri right now uh that really played out this weekend with that Cardinal series uh the White Sox surprisingly they took two of three from the Cardinals got another Series win I believe that's their second series win um of of the year but boy Cardinal Sands panicking they you would think like around here it's like Rock Bottom they are like oh my God I cannot believe we lost to the white socks so they're kind of going through the same convers like we need to fire somebody it's bad like they've already been freaking out because I think the Cardinals and they have expectations every year that they're going to make the playoffs and that's why you know you always say oh there's such great fans it's like well I mean the team's been good for like the last decade of course they're getting these good turnouts I think you see that in most cities if the team's good and you have a watchable product people are going to show up everyone always rags in the white socks with the attendance stuff but you saw they made the playoffs that next year in 2022 you know they had one of their highest tendances in the last decade because people will show up if the team is good so that's where Cardinals I think that number is a little deceiving because they' consistently In Contention all these fans show up but now they're starting to get these crowds middle of the week like mid 20s like a typical white socks crowd and they're like oh my god I've never seen Bush Stadium like this this is rock bottom but it was really funny how much how panicked these teams this team was in organization was just from the fact that they had lost to the white socks in the series and if you are the white sock I mean that should be all you need to know you are the new Oakland Athletics right now you are the new Oakland Athletics where teams are rolling in expecting to beat you and the guy who's leading the ship is the guy who came in his in introductory press conference saying we are going to prepare every night to kick your ass well guess what all these teams are coming in expecting to kick your ass every night so you got to look in the mirror and it goes back to what Azie said hold yourself accountable enough with these cookie County cut cookie cutter answers you know let a fire under their ass or something I mean that's like that something needs to change you gotta hold these it's too much and I get trying to protect your players but when you're seeing all these mistakes and like simple erors and stuff come on call someone out D like do something fires I mean they got they got to get a spark somehow it's it's a tough tough watch but you know it'll be interesting to see how things progress moving forward I like that guy they got from uh the Rangers I think I think that'll be that that should be interesting to see how he progresses um it looks like he's got pretty good stuff again right now if you're just joining us Texas league has not given up a run this year 315 career ra and the miners that's pretty good so they might they might have something here and that also kind of feeds to the fact if you're able to trade copack you got Leisure who looks like a good reliever this kid could be a good reliever so I'm glad they're restocking the pitching they got a lot of good they got a lot of good pitching prospects those other guys now maybe even like cleer we're talking about with clevinger and Jimenez and copc and fetty let's get some more positional players in to restock this uh restock this farm system and hopefully by trading some of these veterans now we're able to get some of these younger guys up because at this point like look obviously like wins are not going to mean much I would rather watch the team win that's why I like having Tommy fam there but like it doesn't make a whole lot of sense playing Tommy F you should be evaluating these other younger guys like even with lenan Sosa we think he's a quad a player just give him the rest of the year in the MLB why not see what you got make damn sure what you got it's the same way I feel about Andrew vaugh he's hitting terribly right now he doesn't have a home run yet Kevin polar just hit two the other day and that uh you now has three on the year who would have thought at this point of the Year Kevin par would have more home runs than Andrew vaugh which is kind of sad but you know let him figure out his struggle I'm fine with them keeping him in the major leagues the rest of the year it's make sure he's the guy and if he's not after this year if this is the performance this is who Andrew vaugh is so be it we'll go with we'll go with Tim El but I don't want to say I don't think sending him down to Triple A does anyone any good I mean maybe it'll build this I don't know maybe he send him down for a week and it helps build his confidence but like even then he's tearing it up and like Triple A like me what does that do I I I'd rather just keep them the majors give them as many bats as they can get as big of a sample size as you can the end of the year all right this is what he is so be it we we shall see but um you know be interesting to watch the rest of the way white sock got the Cleveland Guardians this weekend big tailgate Chicago Sports bombs whiskey at kisy so if you're in the area should show up to that and also make sure you tune in tonight the pin wheels and Ivy show at 10 or 8 o'clock 800 PM Central uh fids Alo zo will be on there their reaction uh to this white socks trade and a lot more Cubs talk for all you Cubs fans out there as well Cubs playing some uh you know they they Cody Bellinger back exciting walkoff last night with Michael Bush so some exciting stuff 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