When 'settling for a split' feels like the best possible outcome ...

Jose Ramirez

If you read or listen to recaps of this week's four-game series between the White Sox and the Cleveland Indians, someone may note that the Sox "settled for a split."

The phrase is commonly used when a team wins the first two games of a series, only to lose the last two. And that's precisely what the Sox did in this case.

Jose Ramirez hit a two-run homer off Kelvin Herrera in the bottom of the ninth inning Wednesday, lifting the Indians to a 5-3 win. Cleveland also won Thursday, 5-0, in a game that was shortened to five innings by rain.

Truthfully, the rain was a blessing for the Sox. Their bullpen didn't get have to pitch another three innings in a game that was a lost cause. Sox hitters, as is their custom, could do nothing with Carlos Carrasco. And Manny Banuelos is a long reliever (at best) being asked to be a starting pitcher on this team.

Predictable results ensue.

And that's pretty much the problem here. If you had asked me Sunday night if I would take a Sox split of this four-game series, I would have said, "You bet."

We've reached a point of hopelessness to where two wins out of four games is considered a rousing success. Let's not pretend the Indians are a juggernaut -- they are 20-16; they aren't going to win 102 games like they did two seasons ago.

It shouldn't be completely implausible for the Sox to take three out of four from this Cleveland team, and while they had two opportunities to do so, there was never any real feeling that they'd actually pull it off.

That's a reason why I refer to Sox fandom as being like a second job these days. The absolute best you can hope for is for the team to not embarrass itself. The Sox didn't embarrass themselves in Cleveland, so we gleefully "settle for the split" and get ready to watch a weekend series against Toronto.

White Sox rotation looking to avoid 'worst-ever' label

Just when I was ready to label the White Sox starting rotation as the worst I've seen on the South Side in my lifetime, Sox pitchers came up with two outstanding starts.

Ivan Nova (1-3) went seven innings of one-run ball Monday to pick up his first victory as a member of the Sox, as the South Siders roughed up Cleveland's Trevor Bauer in a 9-1 win.

The veteran right-hander allowed eight hits, but walked only one while striking out five. Even with the quality start, his season ERA is at 7.04.

On Tuesday, Lucas Giolito (3-1) backed that up with perhaps the best start he's had since he joined the Sox. He tossed 7.1 innings of shutout ball in a 2-0 victory, allowing three hits and three walks with eight strikeouts.

Remarkably Giolito threw only four breaking balls among his 105 pitches. He threw 67 fastballs and 34 changeups, and since the Indians never solved that two-pitch combination, he wisely stuck with it.

Nevertheless, this Sox rotation of Nova, Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, Manny Banuelos and Dylan Covey is not going to intimidate anyone.

Entering Wednesday's action, the Sox's team ERA was 5.35, and the starting rotation had posted only 11 quality starts in 34 games. Against that backdrop, it's remarkable the Sox won 16 of those first 34 games.

Going back through my lifetime, I was trying to think of another Sox rotation that looked as leaky as this one does. The one that stood in my mind was the 1998 team, which finished the season with a 5.22 ERA.

That Sox club managed to go 80-82, but that was a team with a excellent offense. Albert Belle rewrote the franchise record book, and the lineup also featured Frank Thomas, Robin Ventura, Ray Durham and Magglio Ordonez.

But the starting pitching, oh boy, it was bad. Here's a look at the numbers for Sox pitchers who made 15 starts or more in 1998:

Mike Sirotka: 14-15, 5.06 ERA, 1.427 WHIP in 33 starts
Jaime Navarro: 8-16, 6.36 ERA, 1.737 WHIP in 37 games (27 starts)
James Baldwin: 13-6, 5.32 ERA, 1.484 WHIP in 37 games (24 starts)
Jim Parque: 7-5, 5.10 ERA, 1.628 WHIP in 21 starts
Scott Eyre: 3-8, 5.38 ERA, 1.664 WHIP in 33 games (17 starts)
Jason Bere: 3-7, 6.45 ERA, 1.865 WHIP in 18 games (15 starts)

Yeah, so that's the low bar this Sox rotation has to clear. You could say they should sign Dallas Keuchel (or maybe even James Shields). You could say they should bring up Dylan Cease, but there's no indication any of that is going to happen, so why bother discussing it?

By way of comparison, here are the numbers the Sox rotation is putting up (through Tuesday):

Nova: 1-3, 7.04 ERA, 1.696 WHIP in seven starts
Giolito: 3-1, 4.06 ERA, 1.290 WHIP in six starts
Lopez: 2-4, 6.69 ERA, 1.761 WHIP in seven starts
Banuelos: 2-1, 5.96 ERA, 1.676 WHIP in seven games (three starts)
Covey: 0-1, 4.50 ERA, 2.000 WHIP in three games (one start)

There are still 128 games to get through this season ...

Adam Engel may have run out of chances with the White Sox

Adam Engel

At the White Sox home opener April 5, there was an incoherent drunk with a ridiculous-looking beard sitting a row behind me.

He was really getting on my nerves for multiple reasons. Not the least of which, he kept talking about Adam Engel. No fewer that 67 times, he must have said of Engel, "If he could just hit .240 ... If he could just hit .240 ... "

I felt like turning around, punching him right in the face and telling him, "LOOK! ENGEL IS NEVER GOING TO HIT .240!!!!!!! GET OVER IT!!!!!!!"

After all, Engel hit .236/.367/.301 during his junior season at the University of Louisville. He couldn't hit .240 there. What sane person would think he could hit .240 in the big leagues?

In 26 games with the Sox this year, Engel was hitting .212/.281/.346. He's had 857 plate appearances in the big leagues, a pretty decent sample size, and his career slash line is .207/.262/.316.

Despite his elite defense in center field, Engel wasn't playing every day any longer. He was being used as a late-inning defensive replacement and an occasional starter against a left-handed pitcher.

Now, he'll be getting reps in Triple-A Charlotte, because the Sox optioned him after the game Sunday. On Monday, Charlie Tilson was recalled from Charlotte.

Tilson was hitting .333/.396/.475 for the Knights at the time his contract was purchased, and he was starting in right field for the Sox on Monday against the Cleveland Indians.

Pitcher Ryan Burr also was activated from the 10-day injured list, and pitcher Nate Jones was transferred to the 60-day injured list.

As for Engel, it's too bad for him. He's a player who always hustles, and as a finalist for the Gold Glove in the American League last season, he has a competency on the defensive side that no other Sox player possesses.

Unfortunately, he's an automatic out against most pitchers. Manager Rick Renteria said he wants Engel to bat .250 and put up a .330 on-base percentage.

Again, the "If he could just hit .240 ..." stuff is a pipe dream. We've seen enough now to know that. 

White Sox's pitching house of cards crumbles vs. Red Sox

Chris Sale

Here's one way to look at this weekend: The White Sox won one more game against the Boston Red Sox than expected. It turned out to be the first game of the four-games series, but oh, those three losses ...

They were as ugly as ugly gets.

The starting pitching is crumbling on the South Side of Chicago, and we still have 130 games to go. Carlos Rodon is out for an extended period. Ivan Nova is failing miserably as the veteran innings-eater. Ervin Santana already has been released.

Manny Banuelos is NOT the answer the Sox hoped he would be when they touted his skills at SoxFest in January, and once again, we're stuck with Dylan Covey as the most viable option to fill space.

Here's a look back at the series that was:

Thursday, May 2
White Sox 6, Red Sox 4: Nicky Delmonico hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to turn a possible 4-3 loss into a Sox victory. And my main reaction was, "Well, at least they won't get swept."

Boston opened the door when third baseman Rafael Devers kicked a routine grounder hit by Jose Rondon. Yonder Alonso singled to move Rondon to third, and that set the table for Delmonico.

But, the one positive takeaway from this whole weekend, for me, was something else: Lucas Giolito looked competent on the mound in his first game back from the injured list. He worked five respectable innings, allowing three runs on seven hits. He struck out seven and walked two against a good lineup.

Obviously, we want more than five innings from Giolito his next time out, but this performance was encouraging.

Friday, May 3
Red Sox 6, White Sox 1: Chris Sale was 0-5 coming into this game. His velocity was down, he has a World Series hangover, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Whatever. That guy is still a great pitcher, and him being 0-5 just meant he was due for a win.

He's now 1-5 after blanked the Sox over six innings, striking out 10 and allowing only three hits. He kicked the Sox's asses fair and square, and that had to be satisfying for him.

Reynaldo Lopez (2-4) gave up a three-run homer to Devers in the top of the first inning, and that was all Sale would need.

Rondon pitched an inning of scoreless relief in the ninth for the Sox. I was scratching my head as to why a team with an eight-man bullpen was using an infielder to pitch in a five-run game. It was 6-1, not 15-2, you know?

Saturday, May 4
Red Sox 15, White Sox 2: About that 15-2 ... Banuelos retired the first eight men he faced. Then he gave up 10 straight hits as the Red Sox posted a nine-spot in the top of the third inning.

I actually felt bad for Banuelos, who should not have been left in the game that long. But the Sox have a taxed bullpen, so on and so forth, and they were trying to get a few more outs from him. Those outs simply weren't forthcoming.

Carson Fulmer appeared with his gas can and gave up five more runs in the fourth. He retired only one of the seven hitters he faced and walked three. After the game, Fulmer was mercifully sent back to Triple-A.

Here's the thing: If you can't throw strikes when there's no penalty for throwing strikes, such as when your team is down 9-1 in the fourth, you don't belong in the major leagues. Fulmer is a tremendous disappointment, being a former first-round draft pick.

Banuelos is a scrap-heap pickup who is being asked to handle more than he should. I have no bad feelings toward him. Rather, I have bad feelings toward those who erroneously believed he was a viable answer for this starting rotation.

Kelvin Herrera, a high-leverage reliever, finished this game instead of a position player, for some reason.

Sunday, May 5
Red Sox 9, White Sox 2: Covey did his job. I was hoping for four decent innings. He provided 4.2 decent innings, allowing two runs.

This game was tied at 2 through seven innings, and then Boston scored seven runs in the eighth against Herrera, Caleb Frare and Juan Minaya. (Yep, Minaya's back. Somebody had to take Fulmer's place. And maybe Herrera shouldn't have been wasting bullets Saturday.)

That Boston rally started with a clown shoes play that I'm not sure I can do justice. Devers hit one off the left-field fence, and Delmonico actually did a great job of playing the carom. He got the ball in quickly, holding Devers to a long single.

Problem is, Tim Anderson tried to catch Devers as he scrambled back to first, and he threw the ball away. As Devers broke for second, Jose Abreu retrieved the ball and decided he'd try to throw out the Boston runner. Instead, he chucked the ball into left field, allowing Devers to make third.

So, a one-out single turned into a Little League triple. Before you knew it, there were walks and hits and a grand slam by Xander Bogaerts, and the game was over.

There was a crowd of 36,553, more than on Opening Day. They were all still there when the eighth inning started. By the bottom of the eighth, there were about 6,000 there, and probably 5,000 of them were in Red Sox gear.

Oh well. Easier for me to get out of the parking lot, I guess. 

All this means the Sox got outscored 30-5 in the final three games of the series. Rick Hahn talks a lot about positioning the organization to "compete for multiple championships." He just got a lesson in how far away he truly is. 

Carlos Rodon's elbow injury the latest blow to White Sox rebuild

Carlos Rodon

As an anti-ownership, anti-Rick Hahn, anti-rebuild White Sox fan, I should probably be taking more delight in the continuing collapse of this ill-fated "rebuilding plan."

There's a part of me that wants to say, "See, I told you they wouldn't be good in 2019, or 2020, or 2021, either," but now that it's coming to pass, I'm more angry than anything else.

I'm sick of the losing. I'm sick of the excuses, and I'm sick of being told to be patient. And there's was another reason for anger Thursday, as the Sox announced that Carlos Rodon is headed for a lengthy stay on the injured list.

Rodon has left elbow inflammation, which Hahn described more specifically as edema in the flexor mass, or blood in the muscle. Both Hahn and Rodon conceded that Tommy John surgery is a possibility.

Over his past two starts, Rodon has been terrible by any standard. He gave up eight runs in three-plus innings against the Detroit Tigers on April 27, and he failed to get through the fourth inning Wednesday against the Baltimore Orioles, despite being handed an early 4-0 lead.

The Sox ended up losing, 5-4, although they recovered to win the second game of the doubleheader, 7-6.

I'm guessing we've seen the last of Rodon for 2019, and possibly a good chunk of 2020, as well. The worst-case scenario tends to find the Sox. It's the residue of bad design.

Speaking of bad design, guess who is back in the Sox starting rotation? Yep, it's Dylan Covey!

It's feeling like 2018 all over again, and with Boston, Cleveland, Houston and Minnesota looming on the May schedule, the Sox's record likely will look like it's 2018 all over again.

After all, you don't get to play Kansas City, Detroit and Baltimore every day.

P.S.: How long until they sign James Shields to plug the gap in the rotation?

Thyago Vieira, Aaron Bummer and Dylan Covey, oh my!

I mentioned the Eloy Jimenez injury in my previous blog post. The White Sox's rookie left fielder has a high ankle sprain and will be re-evaluated in two weeks.

What I didn't mention: Nate Jones and Ryan Burr also have been sent to the injured list. Jones has elbow inflammation; Burr has shoulder inflammation.

The Sox's bullpen wasn't very good with Jones and Burr in it, so imagine it now.

Who is taking these three roster spots, you ask? Well, Thyago Vieira, Aaron Bummer and Dylan Covey, of course. Three pitchers who have received opportunities in the past and didn't do much with them.

All three are available as the Sox open a series against the Baltimore Orioles on Monday night.

This 2019 roster is starting to remind me a little too much of the 2018 roster, you know?

White Sox sweep snow-abbreviated series vs. Detroit Tigers

Tim Anderson

Tim Anderson apparently isn't listening to the Kansas City Royals.

The White Sox shortstop hit a game-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning Friday night, and he punctuated the moment with a bat flip similar to the one that provoked a benches-clearing incident with the Royals on April 17.

Nope, he isn't changing his ways.

The home run capped a 12-11 victory over the Detroit Tigers, and the Sox went on to sweep a snow-abbreviated, two-game series. Here's a look back at the weekend that was:

Friday, April 26
White Sox 12, Tigers 11: Coming into the game, you figured the recipe for a Sox victory would include a quality start by Carlos Rodon. You would be wrong. Rodon pitched terrible, giving up eight earned runs, including three homers, in three-plus innings.

After the top of the fifth inning, the Sox trailed, 9-2. But they stormed back with two runs in the fifth inning, five in the sixth inning and two more in the seventh.

It should have been three in the seventh. Jose Abreu hit what should have been a three-run homer, but he passed Anderson on the bases rounding first. He was called out and credited with a two-run single.

That was a dumb play, but nevertheless, Abreu had a great night -- 4 for 5 with five RBIs, including a home run that actually counted during the five-run sixth. Yonder Alonso and Jose Rondon also homered for the Sox, and Anderson totaled four hits.

Anderson connected on the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the ninth, a hanging slider from reliever Joe Jimenez (1-1), and sent it into the left-field seats to break an 11-11 tie.

That made a winner of reliever Alex Colome (1-0), who worked a scoreless ninth.

All that said, we might have buried the lead here. Rookie left fielder Eloy Jimenez was injured in the third inning when he crashed into the wall chasing a home run hit by Detroit catcher Grayson Greiner. The future of the rebuild hung in the balance as Jimenez writhed about on the warning track in pain.

Diagnosis: high ankle sprain. Jimenez will be re-evaluated in two weeks. That means he'll likely be out at least a month. He's lucky he didn't break his leg, and this is why I recently called for him to receive more DH at-bats.

Saturday, April 27
Tigers at White Sox, ppd. snow: I was holding tickets to this game, and I'm glad it didn't happen. We had a freak late-April snowstorm in Chicago. It was that heavy, wet snow that leaves slush on the road.

The 6:10 p.m. game was postponed by 10:30 a.m. Good decision. You can't play baseball when there's a winter storm warning.

Sunday, April 28
White Sox 4, Tigers 1: Reynaldo Lopez tossed the most dominating six innings of his career, totaling 14 strikeouts against three walks. He allowed only one unearned run on two hits.

The right-hander's fastball overpowered Detroit hitters. Thirteen of the 14 strikeouts came on the four-seamer, and they were evenly distributed. Lopez (2-3) struck out the side in the second and sixth innings, and he had two strikeouts in each of the other four innings he pitched.

Instead of having to play from behind, the Sox took the lead in the first inning for a change. Welington Castillo's two-out, two-strike double with the bases loaded gave the South Siders a 2-0 lead.

Detroit nicked Lopez for an unearned run in the second, and the game remained 2-1 until the seventh. Matthew Boyd pitched well for the Tigers through six, but the Sox scored one in the seventh and one in the eighth against the Detroit bullpen.

A squeeze bunt from Leury Garcia plated the run in the seventh. Yolmer Sanchez added a sacrifice fly in the eighth.

Jace Fry, Kelvin Herrera and Colome each worked a scoreless inning of relief. Colome picked up his fifth save.

Each reliever struck out two, so Sox pitchers totaled 20 strikeouts for the game. Yeah, that's a team record for a nine-inning game.

Next up for the Sox (11-14): a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles, starting Monday night.