Archive for Nate Jones

The White Sox’s doubleheader against the Twins on Tuesday served as a closer drama with two acts. In the first game, the Sox crusied into the bottom of the eighth inning with a 2-0 lead, and they were on the verge of something they hadn’t had since May 22 — a ninth-inning save situation. Nate Jones, who recorded the team’s last save in that game from 15 days ago, was brought in for the eighth inning to face the Twins’ 8-9-1 portion of the batting order. He retired Ehire Adrianza and Mitch Garver at the bottom of the order, but leadoff hitter Brian Dozier reached on a single. After walking Eddie Rosario, Jones allowed Miguel Sano to cut the lead to one run with an RBI single. Then Eduardo Escobar snatched the lead away with a three-run homer.
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When the White Sox faced the Rangers this past weekend, they found themselves in late-inning situations with a slim lead and a cluster of lefties due up. That situation availed itself on both Saturday and Sunday, and both times, Rick Renteria turned to Jace Fry. After an eighth-inning rally against the Orioles on Tuesday night, it was déjà vu all over again for Renteria, but this time, it was Nate Jones who got the call.

Jones started off the ninth inning by walking Chris Davis, but then he struck out Pedro Alvarez, giving himself some breathing room before facing right-handed Mark Trumbo. On the first pitch from Jones, Trumbo singled into center field, but even with lefties Jace Peterson and Chance Sisco due up, Jones stayed in the game. Fortunately for Jones, he retired them both for his fourth save. Unfortunately for Fry’s fantasy owners, the young lefty was robbed of a chance for his second save in three days. And we all lost, because we were deprived of the chance to see a Jace-Off between Fry and Peterson.
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All 13 Tampa Bay Rays fans in attendance last night almost got a little too much excitement with their “closer” once again. Romo and Colome were both warming in the bullpen, up by three runs, as the Rangers threatened with two on, two out in the bottom of the eighth.

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On a night that didn’t have much bullpen drama, Francisco Rodriguez had a notably messy save. Entering the bottom of the ninth inning with a 7-1 lead, it seemed unlikely that the Tigers would have a reason to employ Rodriguez in this game, but William Cuevas loaded the bases and allowed a one-out Yandy Diaz RBI single. Rodriguez inherited a five-run lead but a bases-loaded situation. After striking out Abraham Almonte, he coughed up a pinch-hit grand slam to Lonnie Chisenhall.

Rodriguez protected the one-run lead that remained by striking out Austin Jackson, notching his fourth save in five tries, but he lifted his ERA to 5.40. On just about any other team, this could be cause for a controversy, but Rodriguez does not have any real rivals for the job at this point. Justin Wilson has been effective and could be a candidate if Rodriguez has protracted struggles. Joe Jimenez carries the label of “closer of the future,” but he was optioned to Triple-A Toledo earlier on Friday to make room for Cuevas, who was promoted from Toledo.

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We all have guys we like more than others. That’s just the nature of the beast. Whether it’s guys coming off down years we expect to rebound or ones we’ve done extensive research on to forecast a much better than expected season, we all have our favorites. Sometimes, we even have them for even less legitimate reasons.

As we get knee deep into draft season, I thought I’d share with you some of the guys I like more than most at each position:

C- Yasmani Grandal (NFBC avg. 145, No. 8 C)

Scoring just 49 runs while hitting 27 home runs seems crazy fluky, but I like what Grandal brings to the table overall. He does a little bit of everything — though the average might hurt — and brings the kind of pop we don’t usually see associated with the catcher’s spot. He’s still young enough (28) to be reasonably on an upswing, and he was markedly better in the second half last year (.245/.356/.521) than before the break (.212/.323/.434). He had nothing much in the way of platoon splits last year as well. Right now I like him better than Salvador Perez, who is going about 14-15 picks earlier in drafts. Further down the list, I’m intrigued by Devin Mesoraco (No. 21 catcher, No. 298 overall) after seeing a video of him testing out his bum hip doing some pretty wild plyometric drills. He could be a huge value. Read the rest of this entry »

With established players fleeing the south side of Chicago like their hair’s on fire — like any good rebuild, honestly — it’s a little strange that one of the vested veterans left standing is closer David Robertson.

If not perfect, Robertson has been perfectly useful over his first two seasons with the White Sox in the closer’s role. Despite the team only winning an average of 77 games in those first two seasons, Robertson has saved roughly half of those wins (71) with a decent 3.44 ERA (3.04 FIP), much more than a strikeout per inning (11.5 K/9) and a walk rate right around his career mark, though it was much better in year one (1.8 BB/9) than year two (4.6).

With $25 million left on his deal and the free-agent market barren for late-inning relievers not only now, but at the advent of the offseason, Robertson still presents a fairly decent value. It makes sense for the White Sox to cash that in for myriad reasons, not the least of which is the closer-in-waiting and today’s subject: Nate Jones.

Who? Read the rest of this entry »