Is DeSoxification good for your soul?

Usually, but not always

This is a piece about how players traded to or from the White Sox at the deadline have fared since, but first a word of caution: Web stuff hangs around forever, so be careful to date your work.

I had gathered stats before the Houston series started, figuring half a month may be a small sample size, but not an unreasonable one. I give the warning not so much for those traded, but for those who might have been but were left behind, namely Garrett Crochet and Luis Robert Jr.

Even national publications have said the Dodgers and Orioles (among others) dodged a bullet by not swapping for Crochet, that his display of incredible arrogance and mind-blowing stupidity in issuing demands and threats he can’t contractually make saved them from a serious mistake.

That certainly seemed the case when it was written. Since the deadline, Crochet had been beyond awful, giving up 13 runs, 11 earned, in 9 1⁄3 innings, including ceding four homers to the Cubs, of all teams. Then came Friday’s game, when he again looked an All Star, or at least a member of the Pitch-Limited All-Star Team, with nine strikeouts in four innings of one-run ball.

One game does not a trend-breaker make, of course, but maybe Crochet was safely away from his lapse into stupidity and could remember how to pitch — and especially throw his cutter. (Or maybe a psychiatrist would find that Crochet is just deeply afraid of pitching in games that count, something he’ll never have to worry about throwing for the Sox.) Whatever the cause, it messed with the premise that Crochet had been a total failure after the trading deadline.

Same goes for Robert, in the same game. He’s been absolutely horrible since he All-Star break, hitting just .135 with a .377 OPS and only one home run, with 43 strikeouts in 92 plate appearances. And Robert managed to get even worse in August, batting an abysmal .093 with a .325 OPS, no homers and two RBIs — yeah, Martín Maldonado could have been called back to pinch-hit for him. Luis had even worked his way into negative dWAR as well.

Then came the first Houston game, which Robert won mostly by himself, with two homers, two singles and four RBIs. All-World stuff, that, and it even raised his August batting average 74 points — only to .167, to be sure, but still a hell of a one-day jump.

BUT WE DIGRESS — ON TO THE PLAYERS WHO GOT TRADED

Of those players Chris Getz got at the deadline, we’ll be able to tell more about the majority once they’re old enough to drive. If he did well, 2032 should be a really good year.

The one exception is Miguel Vargas, whose sad face has been spread across papers and screens across the country.

By all accounts, even though he’s a rookie, Vargas was extremely popular with teammates on the Dodgers. Witness Tyler Glasnow’s reaction to the video of the glum White Sox dugout scene:

As Glasnow said, being on a losing team sucks, so imagine going from a top team to probably the worst team ever. And Vargas’ performance has been as sad as his countenance. He’d been hitting .239 with a .735 OPS with the Dodgers, and has plummeted to .116 with a .449 OPS with the Sox. Welcome to your new reality, Miguel.

BUT WHAT ABOUT THOSE WHO LEFT?

The change in pitching performance has been a mixed bag. Michael Kopech has been unhittable with the Dodgers, giving up just one single in 6 1⁄3 innings while striking out 10, but in fairness to White Sox coaches and catchers, his miserable season had already turned around while still with the Sox, ceding just one hit in his last 5 2⁄3 innings while K’ing 11.

Tanner Banks had a 4.13 ERA with the Sox and has improved with the Phillies to 3.24, albeit with a higher FIP, holding opponents to six hits in 8 1⁄3 innings. So, an improvement, but not a dramatic one.

Then there’s Erick Fedde, who had been terrific with the Sox, but has had his wings clipped as a Cardinal. In his first St. Louis start, Fedde gave up four runs in five innings, although three of those were on a homer when he got careless against a backup catcher hitting well under the Mendoza Line. Next outing, one run in five, so the one-pitch mistake started to look like an outlier, but then the Reds scored four runs off him in six innings last time out, so maybe Fedde’s first game wasn’t an aberration.

AND AS FOR THE HITTERS ...

Leaving the White Sox may have had mixed results for the pitchers so far, but not so for the hitters. They all play like they’re glad to be gone.

Tommy Pham made the first big splash, when he hit a grand slam in his first game as a Cardinal, and he’s continued on the upside, if not so dramatically. He hit .266 with the Sox and is at .267 with St. Louis, but his OPS has jumped up from .710 to .838 and he has 10 RBIs in 45 at-bats, compared to just 19 in 271 ABs before the trade. Of course, there needs to be runners on base to rack up RBIs, but that’s another story.

Paul DeJong was the White Sox home run leader, with 14, but even with the power display he only had a middling .706 OPS to go with a .228 average. With Kansas City he’s been mostly platooning, but in his first 25 official at-bats he’s hitting .320 with an amazing 1.000 OPS, including two homers and five RBIs. He’s also remembered how to play defense, going to +1 defensive run saved from his horrible -10 with the Sox.

BUT FOR THE REALLY, REALLY BIG CHANGE ...

Lauren Leigh Bacho/Getty Images

A whole lot of folks thought the Orioles were nuts for trading for Eloy Jiménez. The Sox even had to cover most of his salary. But it turns out being a happy camper makes Eloy a happy hitter.

He was hitting .240 with Chicago, with an OPS of just .642, an OPS+ of 79, miserable for a power hitter. In Baltimore, his slash line is .414/.433/.483, for an OPS+ of 162, near the top of the heap. Small sample size? Sure. But still ...

SO IF WHITE SOX PITCH COACHING GETS MIXED RESULTS, HOW ABOUT THE HIT COACHING?

Yep, just as horrible as you’d thought all along, and all the other data shows.

Oh, remember the warning on timing — all these traded player stats as are through games of August 15. Things change.