Tim Anderson headed to the IL, other White Sox roster moves

Tim Anderson

Rosters expand from 26 to 28 on Sept. 1, and the White Sox made six roster moves Wednesday ahead of their game against the Pittsburgh Pirates:

1. Shortstop Tim Anderson was placed on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain. The move is retroactive to Aug. 29.
2. Pitcher Matt Foster was recalled from Triple-A Charlotte.
3. Outfielder Billy Hamilton was activated from the 10-day injured list.
4. Infielder/outfielder Jake Lamb was designated for assignment.
5. Infielder Romy Gonzalez was added to the 40-man roster and called up from Triple-A Charlotte.
6. First baseman Gavin Sheets was recalled from Triple-A Charlotte.

Now for a few thoughts on these moves.

First off, the Sox must have a healthy Anderson in October if they have any hope of advancing in the playoffs. This whole business of him being available for a couple of games, then needing a couple of days off has been both annoying and concerning. It's a good decision to sit him down for 10 days and let him get right. 

Adam Engel is still rehabbing a shoulder injury, so it's good to see Hamilton back on the roster. His defensive skills are needed as a backup center fielder. The Sox probably aren't going to play Luis Robert every single day in center field, so Hamilton can handle that position when Robert takes a day off. And Hamilton can do that job better than Brian Goodwin or Leury Garcia can.

Gonzalez has had a terrific season split between Double-A Birmingham and Triple-A Charlotte. Between the two levels, he has batted .275/.357/.525 with 23 homers in 335 at-bats. He needed to be added to the 40-man roster by this offseason, or else he would be subject to the Rule 5 draft. Gonzalez has played every position except pitcher and catcher, and with Garcia hitting free agency at the end of the season, this is an opportunity to see if Gonzalez can play the same role as Garcia for less money.

Lamb has hit only .179 with one home run in 12 games in August. Sheets can probably do a better job as the left-handed bat off the bench. I'm just surprised the Sox are OK with Sheets sitting on the bench in Chicago, as opposed to playing every day in Charlotte. There aren't a lot of at-bats available at DH or at first base, although Sheets (much like Lamb) can masquerade as a right fielder for a game here or there.

The one thing Lamb can do that Sheets cannot is play third base. However, with Garcia, Gonzalez and Danny Mendick all on the 28-man roster, there are other options to back up Yoan Moncada. That makes Lamb expendable.

Chris Bassitt struck by line drive; White Sox trounce A's

Chris Bassitt

It's probably the scariest thing that can happen at a baseball game: The batter hits a screaming line drive right back up the middle, and the pitcher doesn't have enough time to get his glove up or get out of the way.

That happened to Oakland ace Chris Bassitt on Tuesday night at Guaranteed Rate Field. Sox outfielder Brian Goodwin's 100-mph liner struck Bassitt in the face in the bottom of the second inning.

The right-hander was bleeding profusely, and medical personnel took him off the field on a cart. Fortunately, Bassitt never lost consciousness, and he was taken to the hospital for further evaluation. After the game, Oakland manager Bob Melvin said Bassitt had suffered some cuts, and the team was awaiting word on possible fractures. Melvin added that he believed the pitcher had escaped any injury to his eye, which is good to hear.

Bassitt, 32, made his big league debut with the Sox in 2014 before being traded to Oakland as part of the Jeff Samardzija deal. He is a 12-game winner for the A's this season, and earlier this year, he was selected to the American League All-Star team for the first time.

There's no question Bassitt has turned himself into a very good pitcher. He has always spoken highly of the White Sox organization, and folks in Chicago have always had nice things to say about him. The baseball world prays that his injuries are not serious, and that his stay in the hospital will be a short one.

After that injury, the Oakland team understandably didn't show much life the rest of the game. The Sox went on to score five runs in that second inning -- two on a single by Andrew Vaughn and three on Jake Lamb's sixth home run of the season. The South Siders cruised to an easy 9-0 victory.

Jose Abreu added a 3-run homer, his 25th of the season, in the fourth inning. Abreu now has 89 RBIs and is tied for the AL lead with Boston third baseman Rafael Devers.

The Sox also got a good spot start from Reynaldo Lopez (2-0), who is temporarily taking Carlos Rodon's rotation spot. Lopez allowed only one hit over five shutout innings. He struck out four and walked two.

Relievers Ryan Burr and Mike Wright each threw two shutout innings to close out the game for the Sox. But again, Oakland was probably happy just to get this one over with after seeing what happened to Bassitt.

The Sox are 70-50 and hold an 11-game lead over Cleveland in the AL Central.

When the White Sox hit home runs, they win

Yoan Moncada

When the White Sox hit at least one home run in a game, they typically win. When they do not homer, they typically lose.

I guess that makes them typical of baseball in 2021, right?

The Sox are now 30-6 when they hit a home run after they hit four solo shots Thursday in a 4-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers.

Yoan Moncada got the Sox on the board in the bottom of the first inning with his fifth home run of the season. It was a good piece of hitting from Moncada -- Detroit starter Casey Mize (3-4) threw a splitter at the knees on the outside corner, and the Sox third baseman went with the pitch and hit it into the left-field bullpen.

Jake Lamb made it 2-0 in the bottom of the second when he hit a Mize fastball to Goose Island in right field. For Lamb, it was his fourth home run of the season. Lamb is now batting .265 with a .931 OPS. He might be in line for some more playing time against right-handed pitchers.

The Sox took a 2-1 lead into the seventh inning, when Yasmani Grandal connected against Mize for a 457-foot homer to right-center field that left the ballpark traveling at 110 mph. It was Grandal's seventh home run of the season. The Sox catcher continues to have the most bizarre season of any player in baseball. His season slash line is .137/.384/.363. Obviously, Grandal has the lowest batting average of any Sox regular, but he also has the second-highest on-base percentage, behind only Moncada (.426).

Tim Anderson hadn't homered since May 13, but he broke that drought in the bottom of the eighth with a solo shot to dead center off Detroit reliever Daniel Norris. It was Anderson's sixth home run of the season, and that capped the scoring.

For the record, the Sox are 4-16 this season when they do not hit a home run.

The power barrage helped right-hander Lance Lynn improve to 7-1 on the season. Lynn worked six innings, allowing a run on four hits with six strikeouts and two walks.

Relievers Aaron Bummer, Evan Marshall and Liam Hendriks each worked a scoreless inning in relief. Hendriks earned his 14th save in 16 chances.

It was good to see Marshall collect two strikeouts in a 1-2-3 eighth inning. The Sox need either Marshall or Codi Heuer to step up in high-leverage relief in the seventh and eighth innings. In this game, Marshall got it done, as he made quick work of the top three hitters in the Detroit batting order.

Heading into Friday's action, the Sox are 34-22 and have a three-game lead over the Cleveland Indians in the AL Central. Thursday's game was the first of four against Detroit.

2019-20 version of Lucas Giolito appears at right time for White Sox

Lucas Giolito

The best way for the White Sox to move past all the unnecessary drama created by manager Tony La Russa over the past 24 hours was to win a baseball game Wednesday afternoon in Minnesota.

Lucas Giolito made that happen with by far his best effort of the season. The right-hander, who entered the game with an uncharacteristic 2-4 record and 4.97 ERA, dominated the Twins over a season-high eight innings in a 2-1 victory.

He struck out a season-high 11 and allowed only two hits, both to Nelson Cruz, one of which was a home run. Giolito's signature changeup is back in effect. On Wednesday, he threw it 46 times out of 111 pitches, and it led to 13 swings-and-misses by Minnesota batters.

That allowed Giolito to get away with three walks, including two leadoff walks. As the game moved along, he became more efficient with all three of his pitches -- fastball, change and slider. He had 40 pitches through two innings, which made an eight-inning performance seem improbable, but from the fourth inning through the eighth, Giolito used only 58 pitches.

Liam Hendriks, after a rough outing Tuesday, bounced back with a 1-2-3 ninth inning with two strikeouts to earn his ninth save. Hendriks needed only nine pitches to get three outs, and five of the nine were breaking balls. The Sox closer clearly made an adjustment after surrendering the game-winning hit on a fastball in his previous outing.

The elite run prevention was necessary, since the Sox only managed two runs off Minnesota starter Matt Shoemaker, who had struggled before Wednesday. 

Props to Leury Garcia, who we've criticized a lot on this blog. He was good Wednesday. In the fifth, he doubled and scored on a infield single by Adam Eaton. In the sixth, he delivered a go-ahead RBI single that scored Jake Lamb, who had doubled.

Add it all up, and the Sox finished 10-3 in this 13-game stretch against the Kansas City Royals and the Twins. Any fan should be happy with the team's overall 26-16 record.

I'll admit that I'm more pissed off than I should be. It's just an interesting time for the Sox. They are getting national respect for the play on the field. They are ranked No. 1 in almost every MLB power ranking you can find. But at the same time, they are laughingstocks and a national punching bag, because their 76-year-old manager is lecturing players about unwritten rules, while he himself doesn't know some of the written rules of baseball.

Only the White Sox. But we can hope this team is good enough to drown out the noise and continue to win. Giolito's performance was a good first step in that direction.

White Sox complete sweep of Twins, will host Royals this weekend

Tim Anderson

The White Sox didn't exactly crush Minnesota right-hander Michael Pineda, but they did finally beat him. The South Siders completed a three-game sweep of the Twins with a 4-2 victory Thursday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Pineda had made five starts against the Sox since joining the Twins in 2019. He was 4-0 in those starts, and the Twins were 5-0 in those games. Alas, that spell has been broken.

Tim Anderson hit Pineda's first pitch of the game for a home run to left field, his fifth of the season. Jake Lamb homered for the first time this season in the third. Andrew Vaughn added an RBI single in the sixth, as the Sox scored three runs off Pineda (2-2) in 5.1 innings.

Yermin Mercedes added a pinch-hit, two-out RBI single in the bottom of the eighth, which took a 3-2 Sox lead to 4-2. Remember what I said yesterday: Teams that get two-out RBIs win championships.

Those four runs turned out to be enough as Sox pitching wobbled but didn't break. Lance Lynn (4-1) needed 111 pitches to get through five innings. The Sox committed three errors behind him, which didn't help matters. 

But the veteran right-hander made one of the biggest pitches of the game in the bottom of the fifth. With the bases loaded and two outs and a 3-2 count on Mitch Garver, Lynn preserved a precarious 2-1 lead with a blazing fastball that caught Garver looking. That was Lynn's 111th and final pitch, and he made it count.

Matt Foster worked a 1-2-3 sixth. Garrett Crochet walked two in the seventh, but he also struck out two to escape trouble. For some reason, Jose Ruiz was allowed to pitch in high leverage in the eighth. He gave up a home run to Max Kepler that cut the Sox's lead to 3-2, plus two singles.

Minnesota had runners at first and second with one out and a chance to tie the game. Enter Liam Hendriks, who cleaned up that mess, then worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his seventh save.

Hendriks threw 28 pitches in Wednesday's win, so there was some question about his availability Thursday. But not only was he available, he also retired all five men he faced in high leverage.

Give Sox manager Tony La Russa full credit for going all in to win Thursday's game. Hendriks may not be available Friday against the Kansas City Royals. But if the Sox lose to the Royals on Friday because Hendriks couldn't pitch, oh well, I think it was more important to beat the Twins on Thursday.

Now, the Sox (22-13) are a full 10 games ahead of the Twins (12-23) in the AL Central standings. We expect Minnesota to play better and make a push at some point. But in the meantime, it was important to kick sand in the Twins' faces while you can.

Next up, a four-game weekend series against the Royals, which includes a doubleheader Friday. I'm going to Sunday's game, and we'll review the series when blogging resumes Monday.

Here are your pitching matchups:

• Friday, Game 1: Lucas Giolito (2-3, 4.54 ERA) vs. Brad Keller (2-4, 7.31 ERA)
• Friday, Game 2: Michael Kopech (2-0, 1.61 ERA) vs. Jakob Junis (1-2, 5.14 ERA)
• Saturday: Carlos Rodon (5-0, 0.58 ERA) vs. Mike Minor (2-2, 5.75 ERA)
• Sunday: Dylan Cease (2-0, 2.80 ERA) vs. Brady Singer (1-3, 4.19 ERA)
  

Jose Abreu, Yoan Moncada, Yasmani Grandal all slumping at the same time

Jose Abreu

A lot of the talk about the White Sox offense has centered around early-season injuries to Eloy Jimenez and Tim Anderson. Those hurt, no question, although Anderson returned to the lineup for Thursday's 4-2 loss to the Cleveland Indians.

Even more talk has centered around the usage of fringe players such as Nick Williams, Leury Garcia and Jake Lamb. Yes, it was a little odd to have Williams batting fifth and Lamb batting seventh on Tuesday night when the Sox were facing the best pitcher in the American League, Cleveland's Shane Bieber.

Williams was designated for assignment to make room for Anderson on the roster Thursday. In two days, he went from batting in the middle of the order to off the team. And Williams was the logical guy to go, so it's a fair question as to why he was given much responsibility while he was here.

And that said, the Sox's real problem offensively is slumps from key guys:

Jose Abreu is batting .184 with a .643 OPS. He is 9 for 49 on the season with 21 strikeouts. Twenty-one strikeouts in 13 games for the reigning AL MVP! And while he's got two home runs and nine RBIs, almost all of that production is tied up in the two grand slams he's hit already this season. 

Yoan Moncada is batting .191 with a .573 OPS. He is 9 for 47 on the season with 17 strikeouts. He has one home run and four RBIs, while batting in the cleanup spot. That's not enough production. 

Yasmani Grandal is batting .133 with a .600 OPS. He is 4 for 30, with one home run and six RBIs. Thank goodness he's taken nine walks to boost his OPS, but that's not enough hits for a guy who is batting No. 6 in the order.

The Sox are 6-7 after Thursday's loss. That's not too bad, considering they've gotten little from the Nos. 3, 4 and 6 batters in their lineup.

Let's see if any of these guys wake up this weekend as the Sox open a four-game series in Boston on Friday night.

Shane Bieber is just a little bit better than Lucas Giolito

Shane Bieber

The heavyweight pitching matchup lived up to the hype. Neither Cleveland Indians ace Shane Bieber nor White Sox ace Lucas Giolito gave up a run Tuesday night.

These two high-end pitchers have matched up three times since the start of the 2020 season. All three times, Cleveland has won, and Bieber came away with a 2-0, 10-inning victory in this latest showdown.

Here are the final lines for both pitchers:

Bieber: 9 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 11 Ks, 1 BB, 113 pitches, 85 strikes

Giolito: 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 8 Ks, 2 BBs, 107 pitches, 75 strikes

Nothing against Giolito, who is a strong pitcher for the Sox, and he was excellent in this game. However, while Giolito is a top-10 pitcher in the American League, Bieber might be the very best.

The Cleveland right-hander was absolutely dominant through eight innings. He allowed only three men to reach base, and not a single Sox base runner reached second until the bottom of the ninth. And, he was efficient with his pitches -- I believe he only had 67 pitches through six innings. That's how you hang around through the ninth.

Bieber was not vulnerable until the ninth. With the score still 0-0, Adam Eaton singled with one out, and Jose Abreu walked with two outs. That put runners on first and second for Yoan Moncada, who had a chance to win the game, but he struck out swinging, flailing helplessly at Bieber's knuckle curve.

That ended Bieber's night, and when Cleveland scored two in the 10th, he got the win.

As for Giolito, he was strong through seven, but with his pitch count elevated, he walked Roberto Perez to lead off the top of the eighth, and his night was over.

Evan Marshall was effective for the second straight night, stranding that inherited runner and retiring all three men he faced in the eighth. Liam Hendriks also did his job for the Sox, working a 1-2-3 top of the ninth.

But when extra innings began, the Sox had already used two of their best relievers, because Giolito didn't go as deep in the game as Bieber.

Garrett Crochet (0-2) came out to work the 10th, and with his diminished velocity, he was bad. He couldn't field his position. We all know the man-on-second-to-start-the-inning rule was in effect, and Crochet flubbed a comebacker off the bat of Josh Naylor. Just like that, Cleveland had runners on the corners, and there was real trouble coming.

After Yu Chang flew out to shallow right, Roberto Perez had an RBI infield single, and Amed Rosario added an RBI double to make it 2-0 Cleveland.

It could have been worse. The Indians had runners at second and third with only one out when Matt Foster relieved Crochet. The Sox right-hander stranded those runners to give his team a fighting chance.

Moncada started the inning as the automatic runner at second base, and he would not score. Nick Williams, batting in the fifth spot for some reason, struck out against James Karinchak. Yasmani Grandal grounded out, and Jake Lamb flew out to the wall in right field, narrowly missing a game-tying homer, to end the game.

Tough loss for the Sox, who are 5-6, but have yet to have a starting pitcher suffer a loss. In the 60-game 2020 season, the Sox bullpen took 10 losses. In the first 11 games of 2021, the Sox bullpen has lost six times.

I'm thinking maybe they should use a more veteran guy when they get to extra innings. Crochet has been called on in that situation twice. The rookie has lost twice.

White Sox roster news: Zack Collins and Yermin Mercedes are in; Jonathan Lucroy is out

Jonathan Lucroy

Veteran catcher Jonathan Lucroy will not make the 2021 White Sox roster. The 34-year-old asked for and was granted his release from a minor league contract, according to reports.

It sure seems like catcher Zack Collins is on the roster. First off, Collins has had a good spring, slashing .295/.380/.523 with three home runs and six RBIs. Most importantly, he's cut his strikeout rate. He's only struck out six times while also walking six times in 50 plate appearances.

Secondly, fortune smiled on Collins with left fielder Eloy Jimenez suffering a torn pectoral tendon that will sideline him for five months. Now, Andrew Vaughn, the presumed DH to start the season, is being tried in left field. That opens the door for DH at-bats for Collins, when he's not catching. 

It also sounds like Yermin Mercedes is on the club as a third catcher and DH, according to reports. Mercedes has slashed .283/.340/.348 this spring, and could be the right-handed half of a platoon with the left-handed Collins.

The Sox also are reportedly picking up infielder Jake Lamb, if he clears waivers and pending a physical. Lamb was in spring camp with the Atlanta Braves, but did not make the club. He's a left-handed hitter who can play first or third base.

All right, that's a lot to digest. But first let's talk about Collins. It's now or never for him. He's 26 years old, and he's been in the Sox organization since he was picked 10th overall in the first round of the 2016 draft. He's getting close to that line where he's too old to be considered a prospect anymore.

The Sox have invested a lot in him, and at some point they have to find out whether he can help them. I'm not a big believer in Collins, but at this time, there's no clear data about him one way or the other. What can you tell from 120 sporadic plate appearances at the major league level? There are no clearly superior options in camp for a second catcher -- Lucroy didn't meet that standard -- so it's time to find out once and for all whether Collins can play.

We know the Sox will carry 13 pitchers and 12 position players. The Opening Day roster hasn't been announced yet, but let's hazard a guess:

Starting lineup:

1. Tim Anderson, SS
2. Adam Eaton, RF
   
3. Jose Abreu, 1B
4. Yoan Moncada, 3B
5. Yasmani Grandal, C
   
6. Luis Robert, CF
   
7. Collins, DH
   
8. Vaughn, LF
   
9. Nick Madrigal, 2B

Bench players: Leury Garcia IF/OF, Mercedes, C/DH and ??????.

Will it be Lamb? Infielder Danny Mendick? Maybe outfielder Billy Hamilton? I'll guess Lamb. I don't think they picked him up to send him to the alternate site. And he's likely the left-handed fallback option if Collins fails.