Catching up on a few other White Sox roster moves

Jake Petricka

A few other White Sox roster moves to note from the past week:

Relief pitchers Jake Petricka, Zach Putnam and Al Alburquerque, along with utility man Alen Hanson, were not tendered contracts for the 2018 season.

The Sox also avoided arbitration and agreed to a one-year contract with relief pitcher Danny Farquhar.

The lesson here? It pays to be healthy. Petricka appeared in only 36 games over the past two seasons (27 in 2017), while Putnam pitched in only 32 games over the past two years (7 in 2017). Both men generally have been useful when available, but if you're not available, what good are you?

No surprise to see the Sox move on from Alburquerque, who was signed a minor-league deal in August. He made 10 appearances in a September call-up, and while he posted a 1.13 ERA in those outings, he only has one effective pitch -- a slider -- and the Sox evidently didn't see enough to believe he can be a useful stopgap in 2018.

They apparently did see enough from Farquhar, who is healthy and posted a 4.20 ERA in 52 appearances combined between the Tampa Bay Rays and Sox last season. Farquhar's fastball-changeup combination makes him a useful piece against left-handed hitters, who slashed a paltry .185/.317/.222 against him in 2017.

As long as manager Rick Renteria is aware of Farquhar's reverse splits -- and I'm sure he is -- the veteran right-hander can help.

Hanson did not distinguish himself in 69 games with the Sox in 2017. He slashed .231/.276/.651 in 175 plate appearances, hitting four homers, driving in 10 runs and stealing nine bases.

Nothing special there, and Hanson is redundant on the roster with the likes of Leury Garcia, Yolmer Sanchez and Tyler Saladino. A team only needs so many utility players, and clearly, Hanson is the odd man out.

With these moves, the Sox's 40-man roster sits at 36.

Reynaldo Lopez was good; the rest of the White Sox were bad

Carlos Carrasco

The White Sox are 54-84 with 24 games remaining. That's a lot of losses, and it's hard to say any one single game is the worst I've seen this team play this season.

However, Wednesday's 5-1 loss to the Cleveland Indians has to be on the short list.

Yes, the Indians are good. They've won 14 in a row for a reason. And Carlos Carrasco is a good pitcher. He's 14-6 this season for a reason.

But there were some pretty pathetic at-bats turned in by Sox hitters Wednesday, as Carrasco needed only 97 pitches to sail through a complete-game, three-hitter. The Cleveland right-hander was one out away from a shutout, and he faced the minimum 26 batters through 8.2 innings. Adam Engel hit a meaningless solo home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to save the Sox from complete disgrace.

As bad as the Sox offense was, their defense was even worse. Rookie right-hander Reynaldo Lopez (0-3) has three quality starts in his four outings with the Sox, and this performance was probably the best of the bunch. He deserves a handshake for making it through six innings and allowing only one run to the red-hot Indians, especially given the horrible play behind him.

In the first inning, first baseman Matt Davidson booted a grounder that should have been an inning-ending 3-6-3 double play. Lopez bailed him out by getting Edwin Encarnacion to pop out and Carlos Santana to fly out. No runs allowed.

Shortstop Tyler Saladino kicked a ball that should have been a double play in the second inning. The official scorer inexplicably ruled it a "double." Lopez faced a second-and-third, one-out situation for the second inning in a row, and he again escaped with a strikeout and a popout.

In the fourth inning, the Indians loaded the bases with nobody out on a walk and two "singles." One glanced off the glove of Nick Delmonico after the rookie left fielder took a bad route to the ball. The other "single" should have been turned into an out by second baseman Alen Hanson but was not. Lopez was forced to get five outs in the inning. He allowed a sacrifice fly and nothing more, and that was a good job of pitching.

When Lopez left the game, the Sox trailed 1-0 in a game that could have easily been 5-0 or 6-0. The Indians broke it open late against the Chicago bullpen, and the Sox received a well-deserved loss, even though Lopez deserved a better fate.

The Sox are outmanned against the Indians, so to some extent you can live with losses to this Cleveland team. But there was a sloppiness to Wednesday's game that cannot sit well.

Carlos Rodon will get his shot at ending the Cleveland winning streak Thursday night, and with his stuff, he always has a puncher's chance against any lineup. But he's going to need his teammates to catch the ball for him. The Indians have their ace, Corey Kluber (14-4), scheduled to pitch, so Cleveland has good reason to like its chances of extending this win streak to 15. If the Indians are successful, it will be a new franchise record.