Some updates on the White Sox roster

Tim Anderson

The Houston Astros defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series, which means the 2022-23 offseason can finally begin.

Let's go over some of the roster moves the White Sox have made thus far.

Shortstop Tim Anderson, who is coming off an injury-plagued season, had his $12.5 million contract option exercised.

However, it looks like his double play partner will be someone new. The Sox declined a $5.5 million club option on second baseman Josh Harrison, instead opting to pay him a $1.5 million buyout for a savings of $4 million.

The Sox cleared additional space on their 40-man roster by outrighting relief pitcher Kyle Crick and outfielder Adam Haseley. Look for those two players to have their jerseys on the clearance rack at the garage sale if the Sox ever host a SoxFest again.

First baseman Jose Abreu, shortstop Elvis Andrus, and pitchers Johnny Cueto and Vince Velasquez have elected free agency.

That leaves the Sox roster at 35 players, although they will have to reinstate infielder Danny Mendick and pitchers Garrett Crochet and Jonathan Stiever from the 60-day disabled list at some point. That would take the roster to 38 players, so there's still room.

The most notable of these moves is the decision to cut ties with Harrison, who played 119 games and batted .256/.317/.370 with seven home runs and 27 RBIs in 2022. The veteran basically met expectations. Maybe Harrison wasn't part of the solution, but he wasn't a problem either. He essentially earned his salary.

Had the Sox picked up that option, they probably could have gotten similar production next season. But perhaps they are looking to cut costs, figuring they can get the same numbers for less money from other internal options. Those options include Mendick, Romy Gonzalez and ... gulp ... Leury Garcia.

OK, actually Garcia makes $5.5 million, so he's making the same money as Harrison would have. But the two are somewhat redundant on the roster, so it makes little sense to carry them both.

Perhaps the Sox intend to fill second base via trade, since the free agent market at the position is thin. We'll find out in the coming months.

Yoan Moncada (finally) contributes to White Sox offense

Yoan Moncada

There's nothing like a series against the sad-sack Detroit Tigers to cure what ails you, right? 

The White Sox completed a three-game sweep in Detroit with a 13-0 victory on Wednesday afternoon. Their 22-hit attack was powered by ... Yoan Moncada?

Yes, Yoan Moncada. It's about time.

Moncada entered Wednesday's game with a .141/.198/.222 slash line. He had only two home runs, two doubles and seven RBIs in 106 plate appearances. Since May 22, he had just two extra-base hits, and one of them was a "bunt double" down the left-field line against a shifted infield.

Well, Moncada had two extra-base hits on Wednesday alone. He went 5 for 6 with a home run, a double, two runs scored and five RBIs. He nearly doubled his season RBI total, going from seven to 12. His batting average improved 40 points to .181. His OPS went from .420 to .527.

And, Moncada had the biggest hit of the game. He came to the plate with two on and two out in the first inning, and roped a fastball from Detroit starter Alex Faedo into the right-field seats for a 3-run homer.

That staked the Sox to an early multi-run lead, and they cruised from there.

Sure, the Tigers used position players to pitch the last three innings, and Moncada piled on with two of his five hits against those guys. But it's worth noting that Leury Garcia also had two at-bats against Detroit position players, and he made three outs.

Amusingly, or not amusingly, depending on your perspective, Garcia struck out against Harold Castro and grounded into a double play against Tucker Barnhart.

Garcia was 0 for 2 off the bench. He gave center fielder Luis Robert a few innings off after the game got out of hand. But enough about Garcia and his inept nonsense. The nine Sox players who started the game all had at least one hit.

Jose Abreu went 4 for 5 with three runs scored and two RBIs. Andrew Vaughn totaled three hits, and AJ Pollock now has seven straight multi-hit games after a 2-for-4 day. Pollock reached base four times and scored twice.

Danny Mendick and Seby Zavala homered for the Sox.

Rookie right-hander Davis Martin picked up his first career victory with 5.1 innings of scoreless relief. Vince Velasquez was activated off the injured list to start Wednesday's game. He worked 2.2 scoreless innings before being removed. Perhaps he was on a pitch count.

Reliever Kyle Crick was placed on the injured list with right elbow inflammation to make room for Velasquez on the roster.

The Sox are 30-31, still five games behind the Minnesota Twins in the American League Central.

The next six games are a little tougher. The South Siders play three games at Houston over the weekend, before coming home for three games against Toronto.

Not that anyone needs a reminder, but the Sox were 0-6 in Houston last season -- regular season and playoffs combined -- so we'll see if they can compete a little better in this next series.

Liam Hendriks is latest White Sox player to hit injured list

Relief pitcher Liam Hendriks is the latest White Sox player to hit the injured list. The veteran closer will be out for at least three weeks with a right forearm strain.

Hendriks has appeared in 25 games this season, going 1-2 with a 2.81 ERA. He leads the American League with 16 saves.

I always cringe a little when I hear a pitcher has a forearm strain. Those are often the precursor to a torn elbow ligament, which requires Tommy John surgery.

Hendriks appeared in 69 games for the Sox last season, and once appeared in 75 games for the Oakland Athletics in 2019. At age 33, he does have some mileage on his arm. 

There's no question he is very important to whatever chance the Sox have of getting back in the American League Central race, so here's hoping the three-week timetable for a return is accurate.

The Sox did not require a closer Tuesday night, as they defeated the Detroit Tigers, 5-1.

Dylan Cease (5-3) needed 108 pitches to get through five innings, but ultimately, he had a successful outing. The right-hander improved to 10-0 in 11 lifetime starts against the Tigers. He allowed one unearned run on seven hits. He struck out eight and walked one.

In a baseball oddity, Cease has allowed 10 runs over his past four starts, but none of them have been earned. He is the first pitcher since 1913 to allow at least one run, but no earned runs, in four straight starts. 

Cease's ERA is 2.91.

The top three batters in the Sox lineup collected eight of the team's 12 hits. Andrew Vaughn went 4 for 4 with four singles, a walk, a run scored and an RBI. Luis Robert was 2 for 4 with a run scored and two RBIs.

AJ Pollock now has six consecutive multihit games. On Tuesday, he was 2 for 5 with a double and two runs scored.

The Sox bullpen worked four scoreless innings. I suspect Jimmy Lambert is heading back to Triple-A Charlotte on Wednesday when Vince Velasquez is scheduled to come off the injured list, but Lambert served his purpose with two scoreless innings Tuesday.

Joe Kelly came off the injured list to take Hendriks' spot on the roster, and he worked a 1-2-3 eighth inning with two strikeouts. His stuff looked impressive.

Reynaldo Lopez allowed a two-out single but nothing more in the ninth. He recorded two strikeouts in his scoreless inning.

The Sox are 29-31.

White Sox game postponed because of COVID; Yankees up next

The White Sox game against the Cleveland Guardians was postponed Wednesday because of a COVID-19 outbreak in the Cleveland organization.

Seriously? This is still happening in 2022? OK, whatever. I don't care about viruses, so let's get back to baseball.

The Sox will welcome the New York Yankees for a four-game series from Thursday through Sunday at Guaranteed Rate Field. I don't believe in "measuring sticks" in May, but it's worth noting that the Yankees are a league-best 22-8 entering Thursday's action. It will be interesting to see whether the Sox can hold their own and win a couple of games.

Here are the pitching matchups:

Thursday: Dylan Cease (3-1, 2.38 ERA) vs. Luis Gil (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

Friday: Vince Velasquez (2-2, 3.97 ERA) vs. Gerrit Cole (2-0, 2.67 ERA)

Saturday: Dallas Keuchel (2-3, 6.86 ERA) vs. Jordan Montgomery (0-1, 2.90 ERA)

Sunday: Michael Kopech (0-0, 0.93 ERA) vs. Nestor Cortes (1-1, 1.41 ERA)

Some Sox fans have expressed bewilderment that Keuchel is being allowed to pitch in this series. The unexpected off day Wednesday theoretically would allow the Sox to skip Keuchel. Kopech could pitch on regular rest Saturday, and then Lucas Giolito would be lined up to pitch Sunday.

But here's what I think is going on: The Sox have Johnny Cueto getting ready in the minors. They have add him to the active roster by Sunday, or he can opt out of his contract. 

Cueto's fate is intertwined with Keuchel's. Velasquez has outpitched Keuchel and deserves to keep his spot. So the question becomes, "Cueto or Keuchel?"

In his last start, Keuchel had a good outing and picked up a win against the Boston Red Sox. He's getting one more chance to prove he can string together a couple of good performances, and to prove he can still keep the Sox competitive against a quality opponent.

If Keuchel gets cuffed around and the Sox get destroyed Saturday, then I think we see Cueto added to the roster. He'd take the last spot in the rotation, at least until Lance Lynn returns from knee surgery, presumably in early June.

White Sox sweep Red Sox at Fenway Park

Jose Abreu

The White Sox have scored four runs or fewer in each of their past six games. However, they've won all six of them. That's never happened before in franchise history.

As Chris Kamka pointed out on Twitter, the Sox once had a five-game winning streak where they scored four runs or fewer in every game -- from Sept. 18-25, 1904.

Has the dead ball era returned? The run-scoring environment has certainly been low in Major League Baseball so far this season, but this weekend in Boston, the Sox managed to score a run or two more than the Red Sox every day and complete a three-game sweep.

Let's look back at the weekend that was:

Friday, May 6

White Sox 4, Red Sox 2: A three-run third inning ended up being all the Sox needed in this game. Tim Anderson and AJ Pollock singled. Jose Abreu hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Anderson, and Luis Robert hit his fourth home run of the season -- a two-run shot -- to put the Sox ahead 3-0. Boston never caught up.

Vince Velasquez (2-2) pitched five innings of one-run ball to earn his second victory during this winning streak. Four relievers combined to limit the Red Sox to one run on three hits over four innings. Liam Hendriks worked a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his eighth save of the season.

Saturday, May 7

White Sox 3, Red Sox 1 (10 innings): This was an extremely frustrating game for eight innings. Boston starter Nick Pivetta entered the game with a 7.64 ERA, and he blanked the Sox for six innings.

In fact, Boston took a 1-0 lead into the ninth inning. The Sox offense woke up just in time. Jake Burger drew a leadoff walk, advanced to third on a double by Adam Engel and scored on a sacrifice fly by Leury Garcia to tie the game and force the extra inning.

In the 10th, Abreu doubled in the ghost runner to put the Sox up 2-1. Robert then singled to score Abreu and account for the final margin.

Hendricks worked a 1-2-3 10th for his ninth save of the season, making a winner out of Reynaldo Lopez (4-0), who escaped a second-and-third, one-out jam in the bottom of the ninth.

Dylan Cease struck out eight over five innings of one-run ball for the Sox.

Sunday, May 8

White Sox 3, Red Sox 2: Just like Friday night, a three-run third inning was all the Sox needed. The rally featured an RBI infield single by Garcia and a two-run double by Abreu. The Sox had only six hits in the game, but at least they bunched three of them in one inning.

Dallas Keuchel (2-3) might have been pitching for his job, and it showed. He kept Boston off the scoreboard for the first five innings, before cracking and allowing two runs in the sixth. Keuchel struck out five and walked only one, and he ended up getting the win because the lesser-known relievers in the Sox bullpen were able to hold a one-run edge over the last three innings.

Hendriks had worked five out of six days and was unavailable. Kendall Graveman and Aaron Bummer were also unavailable, with Bummer headed to the injured list with a knee problem.

Turns out Ryan Burr, Matt Foster, Jose Ruiz and Bennett Sousa got it done. Burr had a 1-2-3 seventh. Foster struck out the side in the eighth. Ruiz gave up a leadoff double in the ninth to J.D. Martinez, but he recorded two outs after that. Sousa came on and got pinch hitter Kevin Plawecki to fly out to Robert to end the game. For the left-handed rookie, it was his first career save.

The Sox are 14-13.

Is it time for the White Sox to cut Dallas Keuchel?

White Sox left-hander Dallas Keuchel has faced 82 batters through his first four starts of the 2022 season. Thirty-five of them have reached base either by a hit or a walk.

That means opposing batters have a .427 on-base percentage against Keuchel. It's stating the obvious, but this is not good.

Keuchel (1-3) took the loss in the latest South Side debacle, a 6-5 defeat against the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field. He allowed four earned runs on six hits over five innings, while striking out only one and walking five (!). His ERA is 8.40.

We know the Sox are reluctant to release high-salaried players in the middle of the season, but such a move is not unprecedented. John Danks, another left-handed starter, was designated for assignment after making four starts in the 2016 season. Danks, like Keuchel, was in the last season of a lucrative contract at the time.

Earlier Sunday, Jordan Lazowski from Sox on 35th tweeted a helpful comparison:

2016 John Danks after four starts: 22.1 IP, 7.25 ERA, 6.10 FIP, 16 SO, 11 BB  

2022 Dallas Keuchel after four starts: 15.0 IP, 8.40 ERA, 6.78 FIP, 8 SO, 11 BB 

Danks was owed $14.25 million in 2016. Keuchel is owed $18 million this season. But as you can see from the numbers, Keuchel is actually pitching worse now that Danks was when he was designated in 2016.

Why would now be a good time to cut losses with Keuchel? Well, the Sox don't need a fifth starter until May 10.

Dylan Cease is pitching in Monday's series finale against the Angels. Michael Kopech and Lucas Giolito are lined up to pitch Tuesday and Wednesday against the Cubs.

Then comes an off day Thursday before a three-game series in Boston. Vince Velasquez could pitch Friday, having gotten an extra day of rest. Then Cease and Kopech could pitch on regular rest to finish that series.

The Sox come home May 9 to open a series with the Cleveland Guardians, and Giolito would be available on regular rest.

By May 10, perhaps veteran right-hander Johnny Cueto will be ready to pitch in the majors. Cueto is ramping up at Triple-A Charlotte, and he pitched four innings of one-hit, shutout ball with six strikeouts and no walks (!) in his last appearance.

If Cueto is not ready, the Sox still have other options for that fifth spot. How about using Reynaldo Lopez as an opener, and backing him up with Tanner Banks? 

There is a great chance that Keuchel is going to be out of the rotation anyway when Lance Lynn (knee surgery) rejoins the team, likely in late May. But why wait that long?

The Sox are 8-13 and already 4.5 games back of the Minnesota Twins in the AL Central. It's time to think about moving some underperforming players out of the way, and Keuchel tops that list.

White Sox add Joe Kelly, Josh Harrison, Vince Velasquez

Joe Kelly

None of these additions are likely to tip the balance of power in the American League, but the White Sox made three moves over the weekend to fortify their depth.

Right-handed reliever Joe Kelly is coming to Chicago on a two-year deal, and veteran infielder Josh Harrison has agreed to a one-year deal. Right-handed pitcher Vince Velasquez also has reportedly agreed to terms. 

A few thoughts on each signing:

Kelly: If it's postseason experience you seek, Kelly has it in abundance. He's pitched in the playoffs for seven straight seasons and eight times in the 11 years he's been in the league. He's appeared in the World Series three times and owns two championship rings. 

Kelly made 48 appearances with the Dodgers in 2021, going 2-0 with a 2.86 ERA. In 44 innings, he produced a ground-ball rate of 58.9% and a strikeout rate of 27.5%. He features a high-90s fastball and a swing-and-miss curve, and he only gave up three home runs last season. The Sox tend to like relievers who throw grounders and suppress home runs, especially playing in hitter-friendly Guaranteed Rate Field. In that context, this addition is not a surprise.

The Sox bullpen is getting a little crowded, however. Kelly joins Liam Hendriks, Craig Kimbrel, Kendall Graveman, Aaron Bummer and Garrett Crochet as relievers likely to make the Opening Day roster -- barring a trade of Kimbrel. That leaves Ryan Burr, Jose Ruiz, Reynaldo Lopez and the aforementioned Velazquez competing for what is likely to be two spots. Burr is the unlucky one with options remaining.

Harrison: I guess the 34-year-old veteran in the starting second baseman? Harrison is probably best suited for a utility role at this stage of his career, but throw him in the mix with Leury Garcia, Danny Mendick and Romy Gonzalez as players competing for playing time at second.

Harrison played decently for the Washington Nationals in both 2020 and 2021, posting a .291/.363/.431 slash over 123 games. The .363 on-base percentage jumps out at me -- I would take that right now if Harrison could provide that. At the trade deadline last season, the Nationals sent Harrison to Oakland as part of a fire sale. He batted an uninspiring .254/.296/.341 as the Athletics missed the playoffs.

Harrison can also play third base and stand in an outfield corner, if necessary. The guess here is he plays a lot at second base. The hope is he'll play good defense and add some on-base ability to the bottom of the lineup. But I've already expressed my skepticism.

Velazquez: Here are Velazquez's ERA for the past five seasons ... 5.13, 4.85, 4.91, 5.56, 6.30 ... yikes. I don't know about this move. Velazquez has what they call "arm talent," meaning he throws hard. But he's never been able to establish a secondary pitch, causing plenty of frustrating for Philadelphia fans over his six years and 116 starts with the Phillies.

Did the Sox need to make a move to fortify their rotation depth? Absolutely. It would have been nice to see them trade for, say, Chris Bassitt, who was traded from Oakland to the New York Mets, or Sean Manaea, another member of the Oakland rotation who is reportedly on the trade block.

Alas, the Sox have the 30th-ranked farm system in baseball, so maybe they don't have the trade capital to make such a move. Hence, you end up signing a guy such as Velazquez as insurance against injury.