Sharing Sox Podcast 76 — Eloy is back! — 2022-07-08

South Side Sox duty geezer Leigh Allan and his son, Will, who is usually the west coast correspondent, but will be the next room correspondent while he’s in Chicago for six weeks for (shameless plug follows) rehearsals and opening of the world premiere of his play “Campaigns, Inc.” at Timeline Theatre, praise the return of Eloy Jiménez, especially since Eloy helped salvage the Minnesota series with a homer on his first game back. The two agree (yes, agree!) that the return of Eloy may or may not have actual playing importance, but has unlimited spirit importance because he lifts up his teammates from the flatness they’ve suffered most of the season. They also agree being swept by the Twins would have been devastating — hard not to agree on that, so they thank Rocco Baldelli for pulling a HOFBP move and not pinch-hitting Carlos Correa in the 10th inning of the finale. The discussion turned at length to the pleasant problem of Seby Zavala — what do you do with a third catcher who is hitting well better than .300 and playing solid defense when the theoretical starter comes off the IL? Sure, based on performance Yasmani Grandal should be the one kept off of the 26-man, but that’s not going to happen. So would trading Seby while he’s hot (and before pitchers make adjustments) for much-needed pitching help be a good idea, or a disaster when Grandal’s knee goes out again? There’s also mention of the White Sox definitely winning the opener of the Detroit series due to Dylan Cease’s mastery of the Tigers, recorded before the series opener was played, and lost. But on the prediction accuracy side, Cease didn’t lose, either. And, of course, there must be some ranting, and the Joe Kelly acquisition leads the way on that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices