Carlos Rodon, Nate Jones, Micker Adolfo out for the season

Carlos Rodon

White Sox general manager Rick Hahn meets the media before the first game of every homestand at Guaranteed Rate Field, and typically, those news conferences are chock full of (mostly) bad injury news.

Here's the rundown from today's pregame before the Sox opened a two-game set with the Cleveland Indians.

• Pitcher Carlos Rodon will undergo Tommy John surgery later this week, as expected. Hahn hopes that Rodon will return sometime during the second half of the 2020 season.
• Pitcher Nate Jones had surgery Monday to fix a flexor mass tear in his right arm. He will miss the remainder of the 2019 season.
• Outfielder Micker Adolfo, a prospect who was playing for the Double-A Birmingham Barons, will have arthroscopic surgery on his elbow and miss the remainder of the 2019 season.
• Outfielder Eloy Jimenez is heading to Triple-A Charlotte to begin a rehab assignment on Tuesday. Jimenez has been out since April 26 with a sprained ankle.

A few reactions:

• Rodon cannot be counted upon to be anything more than a No. 5 starter moving forward. He's 26 years old, so youth is on his side in recovery, but the guy just keeps getting hurt. Despite his high-end talent, you have to assume anything you get from him is a bonus.
• It's time to move on from Jones. He has a team option for $3.75 million for 2020. It was a $5.15 million option, but language in the contract reduces it to $3.75 million because elbow surgery was required before the end of the 2019 season. The buyout is $1.25 million. Buy him out.
• This is the second straight season Adolfo will miss significant development time because of an elbow injury. He's 22 years old, so again, youth is on his side in terms of recovery. However, these are at-bats than can never be recouped, and I am no longer hopeful about his future with the Sox.
• I'd like to renew my call for Jimenez to DH when he returns to the majors, at least in the short run. Let him get the offensive part of the game down, and then once he's comfortable at the plate, work him back into left field. Right now, his awkward movements in the outfield are a danger to himself and his teammates. Work with him in the outfield before the game, but when the game starts, DH him. And, no, I don't care about Yonder Alonso's feelings. He's batting .178, and so what if he loses playing time? 

White Sox take two out of three from Blue Jays

Lucas Giolito needed more than just a fastball-changeup combination to get through his start Sunday against the Toronto Blue Jays, but it worked out well for him. The White Sox right-hander improved to 4-1 with seven innings of one-run ball in the South Siders' 5-1 victory.

With the win, the Sox (18-21) took two out of three from the slumping Blue Jays (16-24) and completed their seven-game road trip with a 4-3 record.

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

Friday, May 10
Blue Jays 4, White Sox 3: One of the most frustrating things about the Sox rebuild is Dylan Covey finding his way back into the rotation. Covey has made 35 starts and appeared in 49 games for the Sox since the beginning of the 2017 season. In that time, he's gone 5-23 with a 6.09 ERA.

I think we know this isn't working. Covey shouldn't be in the rotation, but the Sox have yet to draft, develop or sign anybody good enough to relegate him to the bullpen, or to Triple-A Charlotte.

Covey's 23rd career loss came Friday when he gave up three-run homer to Randal Grichuk in the first inning and a solo home run to Teoscar Hernandez in the second inning. That put the Sox in a 4-1 hole, and they couldn't recover.

Covey went 4.2 innings, allowing four runs on three hits with three strikeouts and five walks. Tim Anderson went 2 for 4 with his seventh home run of the season in the loss.

Saturday, May 11
White Sox 7, Blue Jays 2: I hated the signing of catcher James McCann when it happened, and I'm not sure his red-hot start to the season is real. But, kudos to him for shutting me up so far.

McCann went 4 for 5 with two doubles, two runs scored an RBI to power the Sox's 11-hit attack in this victory. Late-inning offense also was key. The Sox led 2-0 after six innings, but they blew the game open with two runs in the seventh inning, two in the eighth and one in the ninth.

Yolmer Sanchez homered, Charlie Tilson had two hits, and the Sox were productive despite an 0-for-5 day from Jose Abreu.

Ivan Nova (2-3) won his second start on the road trip, working six-plus innings. He allowed only one run on a solo home run by Grichuk, and limited Toronto to five hits.

Let's also give props to recently recalled right-handed reliever Evan Marshall, who needed only six pitches to get three outs in the seventh inning. The Sox could use some more competence from low- and medium-leverage guys in the bullpen.

Sunday, May 12
White Sox 5, Blue Jays 1: Giolito was shaky early. The Blue Jays got a run on three hits in the first inning, and they got a leadoff single in the second inning. But after that, Giolito allowed absolutely nothing.

He worked seven innings with eight strikeouts and one walk. In his previous outing, a win against Cleveland, Giolito used only four breaking balls the whole game. This time, he threw 22 sliders and nine curves, as the early struggles showed him that he needed to rely on more than just two fastball-changeup. However, he made the adjustment effectively and turned in another outstanding start. Good to see.

There have been other times when we thought or hoped Giolito was turning a corner, so we'll reserve judgment on what this means for the long haul, but give him credit for two A-plus starts on this trip.

The Sox got all the offense they needed in a five-run fourth inning. Yonder Alonso hit his sixth home run of the season, a two-run shot to put the South Siders ahead. Anderson added a three-run homer, his eighth of the season and second of the series, to make it 5-1.

Giolito took over from there. Ryan Burr and Aaron Bummer each worked a scoreless inning of relief, and the Sox had a solid series win against a team that, frankly, they should beat. I'm not impressed with the Blue Jays this season.

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?