Carlos Rodon returns to White Sox on one-year deal

Carlos Rodon

Carlos Rodon had a disastrous relief outing in Game 3 of the playoffs against the Oakland Athletics. The White Sox non-tendered him when the season was over, and at the time, it was reasonable to believe that Rodon had thrown his last pitch for the Sox.

Wrong. On Saturday, the Sox brought him back on a one-year, $3 million contract. 

I'm not sure what the purpose of this move is, but the Sox will probably tell us it is to bolster the depth of the starting rotation. And it's not wrong that the Sox could use more depth in that area.

You can feel pretty confident in the top three pitchers in the rotation: Lucas Giolito, Dallas Keuchel and Lance Lynn. But then you've got the inconsistent and unproven Dylan Cease, the enigmatic Reynaldo Lopez (who was injured in 2020) and Michael Kopech -- who hasn't thrown a competitive pitch since 2018 -- competing for the other two spots.

So, yeah, it makes perfect sense to bolster the depth. But why would any person have confidence that Rodon is the answer? Here are the innings pitched totals for the oft-injured left-hander over the course of his career:

• 2015: 139.1
• 2016: 165.0
• 2017: 69.1
• 2018: 120.2
• 2019: 34.2
• 2020: 7.2

And here are Rodon's ERAs over that same period:

• 2015: 3.75
• 2016: 4.04
• 2017: 4.15
• 2018: 4.18
• 2019: 5.19
• 2020: 8.22

Rodon is getting worse and less reliable all the time. He's had surgeries on both his shoulder and his elbow during his time with the Sox, and while the quick ramp-up during the pandemic-riddled 2020 season certainly did him no favors, it's hard to give Rodon the benefit of the doubt when he's gotten injured every other year, too.

Some people have noted that Rodon's velocity returned in 2020, and that could be a reason for optimism going forward. It's not wrong to say that Rodon was consistently hitting 96 mph with his fastball the last time that we saw him. However, in his last three outings -- a meltdown against Cleveland, a game against the Cubs the last weekend of the regular season, and the aforementioned crapfest in Oakland -- Rodon threw 60 pitches and only got two swings-and-misses.

The velocity is there, but is the stuff? 

And you know, the Sox had other options for rotation depth. If they wanted to stick with somebody they know, Jose Quintana was a free agent this offseason. Sure, Quintana had injures in 2020, as well, but as recently as 2019, he made 31 starts and threw 171 innings -- two benchmarks that Rodon has never reached in his career. 

Alas, Quintana signed a one-year deal worth $8 million with the Los Angeles Angels. 

Left-hander James Paxton remains a free agent and could have been an option for the Sox. Paxton also had injury problems in 2020 that limited him to five starts. But, again, as recently as 2019, Paxton made 29 starts, won 15 games and posted a 3.82 ERA. Rodon has never made 29 starts or won 15 games in a season, and he hasn't had an ERA below 4.00 since 2015. Just sayin'.

Lastly, I don't know why the Sox didn't consider right-hander Garrett Richards, who was hurt for most of 2019, but made 10 credible starts for the San Diego Padres in 2020 -- he went 2-2 with a 4.03 ERA in 51.1 innings.

Richards signed a one-year deal worth $10 million with the Boston Red Sox.

Granted, these pitchers all cost more than the $3 million that Rodon is going to make in 2021, but the Sox tend to get what they pay for when they make these sorts of moves.

If Rodon posts 10 reasonably good starts sometime in 2021, I'd take that right now. I'll be pleasantly surprised if he does. Nothing against the guy -- I think he truly wants to get healthy and turn around the negative narrative of his career -- but in a win-now 2021 season, I can't trust him in any role with the Sox.

American League news: Yankees dealing with early injuries

Luis Severino

The New York Yankees are among the favorites in the American League this season, but they have had some bad news on the injury front during the first couple weeks of spring training.

The Yankees on Tuesday announced that starting pitcher Luis Severino has a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. The two-time All-Star needs Tommy John surgery and will miss the entire 2020 season.

New York already is without left-hander James Paxton, who will be out through at least April after having something called microscopic lumbar surgery. Right-hander Domingo German will not be eligible to return to the roster until June 5, as he must serve 63 more games of an 81-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball's domestic violence policy.

Don't cry for the Yankees too much, as they have the game's best pitcher, Gerrit Cole, at the front of their rotation. They also have veterans Masahiro Tanaka and J.A. Happ to help hold things down until Paxton and German return.

But in the meantime, New York has two gaps in its rotation. Candidates to fill those roles include left-hander Jordan Montgomery and right-handers Jonathan Loaisiga and Luis Cessa.

In news that broke Wednesday, Yankees outfielder Giancarlo Stanton's ability to start the season is in question because of a Grade 1 strain in his right calf. Manager Aaron Boone says Stanton will miss "a couple of weeks," which could make it difficult for him to be ready by March 26. Injuries limited Stanton to only 18 games in 2019.

Even with these injuries, New York is still the favorite in the AL East. That said, the Yankees could be vulnerable early in the season, and it would behoove the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox to get off to quick starts.

Is new Yankees left-hander James Paxton really an "ace" or a "star"?

James Paxton

There is a difference between being an ace and having ace stuff.

Case in point, left-hander James Paxton, the starting pitcher the New York Yankees acquired Monday from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for three prospects.

Let me preface this by saying I would take Paxton on my team. He was 11-6 with a 3.76 ERA in 28 starts for the Mariners in 2018. His fastball sits at 95-98 mph, and he's got a four-pitch mix that also features a cutter, a curve and a changeup.

That is ace stuff, no question about it, and he's got two years left of team control.

But I found myself disagreeing with a couple headlines I saw this morning: "The Yankees Now Have a Second Ace" on Fangraphs, and "Yankees acquire star pitcher James Paxton in trade with Mariners" on Yahoo Sports.

Paxton, for all of his good stuff, is entering his age 30 season, yet he's never made as many as 30 starts in a year, and his 160.1 innings pitched in 2018 represent a career high. Before this past season, he had never pitched more than 136 innings in a year.

Can you really be an "ace" or a "star" when you've been plagued by injuries throughout your career? The days of starting pitchers throwing 200-plus innings might be gone, but for me, 180 innings is the new 200. Paxton has never approached that, so despite his fantastic stuff, he's going to have to show me that he's reliable for a full season, plus playoffs, before I believe that he's the missing piece for the Yankees.

New York will slot him No. 2 in its rotation, behind Luis Severino and ahead of Masahiro Tanaka. The Yankees also have CC Sabathia, but he's just a fifth starter at this point in his career. I expect New York to make another move to add a starter, likely in free agency, as a hedge against the possibility that Paxton gets hurt again.

As for the Mariners, it looks as though they are changing directions and going young. They acquired the Yankees' No. 1 pitching prospect, Justus Sheffield, in this deal. Sheffield is a 22-year-old lefty with a fastball that tops out about 97 mph. Right-handed pitcher Erik Swanson, 25, and outfielder Don Thompson-Williams, 23, also are headed to Seattle.

With Paxton gone, I assume the Mariners are listening to offers on Dee Gordon, Robinson Cano, Kyle Seager and Jean Segura, as well. I expect an active offseason in Seattle.

Todd Frazier comes through for White Sox against Seattle bullpen

Todd Frazier

Third baseman Todd Frazier leads the White Sox with 80 RBIs, although you'd never expect that if you looked at his statistics with runners in scoring position.

Frazier has been terrible in those situations this year, 19 for 110, which will pencil out to a .173/.302/.345 slash line.

Those numbers were even worse until Thursday night, when Frazier came through twice in the late innings to lift the Sox to a 7-6, come-from-behind win over the Seattle Mariners.

With the Sox trailing 6-4 in the seventh, Frazier tied the score with a two-out, two-run single off Seattle reliever Steve Cishek. The right-hander got too much of the plate with a 2-0 slider, and Frazier ripped it through the hole between shortstop and third base to plate both Adam Eaton and Tim Anderson.

The score remained tied until the bottom of the ninth. Eaton led off with a bloop single against Seattle reliever Nick Vincent (3-4). Anderson advanced the runner with a sacrifice bunt. The Mariners elected to walk Jose Abreu with first base open -- a wise decision, frankly, since Abreu has been tearing it up in August.

That strategy was foiled, however, when Frazier smacked a Vincent sinker down the left-field line that allowed Eaton to score easily from second base and end the ballgame.

The clutch hits had to be a relief for Frazier, who was 0 for 3 with three strikeouts against Seattle starter James Paxton. He looked terrible on each of those 3Ks, one of which came with runners at first and third and nobody out in the first inning.

But fortunes changed once the Mariner bullpen entered the game, and the rally got Sox starter Anthony Ranaudo off the hook. The right-hander was decent enough for five innings -- the score was tied at 3 headed to the sixth. However, Ranaudo gave up three runs in the sixth and only got one out before having to be removed. It didn't help than Dan Jennings allowed two of his inherited runners to score.

The Sox bullpen kept it close by keeping the Mariners off the board the last three innings, and closer David Robertson (4-2) ended up with the win after he pitched around a one-out walk to post a scoreless ninth inning.

The Sox are 4-2 on the homestand entering Friday's play, with three more to go against Seattle.