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.

Jose Abreu homers twice as White Sox win in Lance Lynn's return

Jose Abreu

Jose Abreu hit a pair of two-run homers -- one in the first inning and another in the ninth -- to lead the White Sox to a 9-5 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Monday.

For Abreu, the home runs were his eighth and ninth of the season, and he finished the game 3 for 4 with a walk and four RBIs. The power numbers have been down for Abreu this season -- he has only 28 RBIs -- so it would be nice to see him start hitting the ball out of the park a little more often.

Through the first 13 days in June, Abreu, Jake Burger and AJ Pollock are the only Sox players with a home run this month.

Not to mention, the rest of the core of the Sox lineup is mostly absent right now:

Tim Anderson: injured

Yasmani Grandal: injured

Eloy Jimenez: injured

Yoan Moncada: batting .137 with a .399 OPS

Luis Robert: has only two extra-base hits in June (both doubles), although he was 2 for 5 with two singles in Monday's win

But, point being, a lot is on Abreu's shoulders right now with other key players either injured or not producing up to their capabilities.

The other big news Monday night was Lance Lynn's return to the starting rotation. The veteran right-hander had not pitched yet this season after having right knee surgery during spring training.

Lynn received a no-decision, going 4.1 innings. He allowed three runs on 10 hits. He struck out four and walked none. He threw 52 of his 88 pitches for strikes.

The 10 hits are the most Lynn has allowed in a single game since joining the Sox, so the rust was evident. In particular, Lynn struggled to retire left-handed batters.

The Detroit lefties combined to go 9 for 15 against Lynn, while righties were only 1 for 6. Something to keep an eye on in Lynn's next start, which no doubt will be against a better lineup than the Tigers.

The Sox are 28-31.

Luis Robert, Andrew Vaughn have both played a full season worth of games

Luis Robert played his 162nd career game for the White Sox on Sunday in a 6-5 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. For Andrew Vaughn, it was his 163rd career game.

Both of these 24-year-old players have now played a full season's worth of games. In Robert's case, it's a little hard to believe it took him this long, because this is his third season with the Sox.

Robert played in 56 games in the 60-game, pandemic-shortened 2020 season. Injuries limited him to 58 games last year, and he's appeared in 38 games this season after recently coming off the COVID-19 list.

Vaughn's path has been a little more conventional. He played in 127 games as a rookie in 2021. He spent some time on the injured list this season with a bruised wrist after being hit by a pitch, but he has appeared in 36 games this year.

So, how have the two players fared to this point? It looks pretty good. Here are the career numbers for both:

Robert: .294/.341/.494, 35 doubles, 1 triple, 30 home runs, 97 runs scored, 94 RBIs, 22 stolen bases

Vaughn: .250/.317/.420, 30 doubles, 21 home runs, 71 runs scored, 71 RBIs, 1 stolen base

Lately, manager Tony La Russa has been hitting Vaughn second in the lineup, and Robert third. And why not? Vaughn is hitting .298 with .839 OPS. Robert is hitting .296 with a .766 OPS. 

With Tim Anderson on the IL with a groin strain, Robert and Vaughn are the two best hitters on the team. And with both of them being 24 years old, I'm starting to believe they will be the centerpieces in the middle of the Sox lineup for the next few years.

For some time, we thought Eloy Jimenez and Yoan Moncada would be those players. Alas, Jimenez can't stay on the field because of injuries, and Moncada has been a combination of injured and bad all season. It's hard to say what's in Moncada's heart, but his body language is as bad as his .135 batting average.

Fortunately, Vaughn has made steps forward during his second season, and Robert, while inconsistent, looks like he will become the game-breaking player the Sox hoped he would be.

On this date in 1989 ...

Frank Thomas

 ... the White Sox selected Frank Thomas with the No. 7 overall pick in the Major League Baseball draft.

Thomas, of course, went on to become perhaps the greatest player in franchise history, and he was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on the first ballot in 2014.

It's fun to go back and look at the top 10 players chosen in that draft:

1. Ben McDonald, Baltimore Orioles

2. Tyler Houston, Atlanta Braves

3. Roger Salkeld, Seattle Mariners

4. Jeff Jackson, Philadelphia Phillies

5. Donald Harris, Texas Rangers

6. Paul Coleman, St. Louis Cardinals

7. Thomas, White Sox

8. Earl Cunningham, Chicago Cubs

9. Kyle Abbott, California Angels

10. Charles Johnson, Montreal Expos

Yikes. The Sox got the gem of that group, didn't they? 

McDonald didn't have a bad career. He went 78-70 with a 3.91 ERA over nine seasons, seven of them with the Orioles.

Johnson was a good catcher. He played 12 seasons, won two Gold Gloves and played in two All-Star Games. In fact, he won the All-Star Game MVP in 1997. Thing is, he didn't sign with the Expos, who drafted him out of high school in 1989. Johnson played college ball at the University of Miami, and then was drafted in the first round again in 1992, this time by the Florida Marlins. He played for six teams, including the Sox, from 1994 to 2005 and accumulated a career WAR of 22.6. Respectable.

Thomas has a career WAR of 73.8, even though he wasn't a good defensive player and had below-average speed. That's what a .301/.419/.555 slash line with 521 home runs, 495 doubles and 1,704 career RBIs will do for you.

Looking back at these old drafts, it's also a reminder of what a crapshoot it is trying to find the next great player. No doubt, all 10 of these guys were highly regarded when their names were called on draft day.

But beyond Thomas, you basically had two other decent-to-good players in the top 10 of this draft.

Remember, being available to play is a skill

The White Sox are 23-26 are getting swept by the Toronto Blue Jays this week. Their run differential is minus-55, so they are lucky their record isn't even worse.

I've been guilty of not blogging as frequently this season, and there's a reason for that. The truth is, I don't enjoy watching this team, and I don't have much to say about them. How many different ways can you write, "They stink"? 

It's June 2, so we've passed the threshold of using the weather as an excuse. It's warm enough to hit now, but the Sox still aren't hitting. 

I'm sure injuries will be cited as the excuse now. The team is without its best offensive player, Tim Anderson, who strained his groin Sunday against the Cubs. He's expected to miss three weeks, and make no mistake, that's a big blow.

Injuries have limited Yoan Moncada to 17 games, and he's hitting a measly .138 with a .422 OPS when he has been on the field. As per usual, Eloy Jimenez is injured. He's only appeared in 11 games this season, although he's rehabbing in Triple-A Charlotte now. But how long until he gets hurt again?

Catcher Yasmani Grandal has cited offseason knee surgery and a short spring training as reasons for his slow start. But it's June now, and he's still looking terrible -- a .160 batting average, a .483 OPS and only four extra-base hits (2 home runs, 2 doubles) in 174 plate appearances.

Andrew Vaughn, AJ Pollock and Luis Robert have also missed time at different points this season, although all are healthy now.

But here's something to keep in mind: Being available to play is a skill, and teams that win championships usually have their players in the lineup more often than not.

Robert, Jimenez, Grandal and Anderson all missed significant time last season, too, so waiting for guys to return to the lineup is a familiar Sox lament. At some point, you just have to admit that this core group can't stay healthy, and it's time to change the mix. How long are you going to wait for the band to get back together, especially since they were never really together in the first place?

Obviously, the Sox have won only one championship in my lifetime. Here are the games played for the regulars on the 2005 Sox:

C: A.J. Pierzynski -- 128 games

1B: Paul Konerko -- 146 games

2B: Tadahito Iguchi -- 133 games

SS: Juan Uribe -- 146 games

3B: Joe Crede -- 130 games

LF: Scott Podsednik -- 124 games

CF: Aaron Rowand -- 157 games

RF: Jermaine Dye -- 140 games

Imagine that ... six regulars with 130 or more games played, and a catcher who almost got there while playing the most demanding position on the diamond.

People have said of the current Sox, "Just wait until they get healthy." Well, what reason do you have to believe they are ever going to be healthy?

No way in hell they have six regulars who approach 130 games played; I can promise you that.

Memorial Day 2022

 Make it a safe and reflective one.

White Sox finally stand up to Yankees in doubleheader sweep

The White Sox lost five of six games to the New York Yankees in 2021, and through the first five meetings of 2022, not much had changed. The Yankees won four of the five.

So, it was a real pleasant surprise when the Sox finally stood up to New York and swept a doubleheader Sunday at Yankee Stadium.

The strange part was I didn't feel as though the Sox played any better than usual. When the Sox have won this season, they've done it with pitching. Sunday was no exception, as the South Siders limited the Yankees to one run in 18 innings. They won, 3-1, and 5-0, respectively.

The Sox offense was generally substandard, as they left a combined 16 men on base in the doubleheader and misfired on numerous scoring opportunities. But hey, you don't have to cash in many of them if you can keep the opposition off the board, and that's what Sox pitching did. 

I will bring up a couple of encouraging signs about the offense, but first, credit has to go to Sox starting pitchers Johnny Cueto and Michael Kopech. Neither of them allowed a run to the Yankees across 13 innings pitched.

Cueto went six shutout innings in Game 1. He allowed six hits, struck out five and walked two. When he left the game in the seventh inning, the Sox were leading 1-0. He got a no-decision because the Yankees tied it in the eighth before the Sox won it in the ninth, but the veteran Cueto has been better than expected since being added to the roster. 

He's yet to allow a run across two starts. His first outing was against the lowly Kansas City Royals, so maybe that's not overly impressive. But six scoreless against the Yankees, the second-best offense in the AL, that gets your attention.

Speaking of getting your attention, Kopech (1-1) retired the first 17 batters he faced in Game 2. He ended up going seven innings and allowing only one hit. He struck out six and walked two, with both walks coming in the seventh inning when he was starting to run out of gas.

Kopech threw 92 pitches, 65 strikes, and got 16 swings and misses. It's hard to believe Sunday was his first victory of the season, for as well as he's pitched. He ranks second in the AL with a 1.29 ERA. Opponents are batting just .122 against him, as he has allowed only 17 hits in 42 innings pitched. He has yet to allow a hit on a first pitch to any batter this season.

I think it's fair to say Kopech has made the transition from reliever to starter successfully. The big test is whether he can hold up physically through the whole season. On Sunday, his fastball topped out at 100.2 mph. So far, so good.

Now, back to the offense. Game 1 was tied 1-1 going into the ninth inning. AJ Pollock's home run off New York closer Aroldis Chapman gave the Sox the lead for good.

It was easily Pollock's biggest hit of the season, as no one would say he's played up to his capabilities to this point. For the season, Pollock is batting .245/.277/.383 with only two homers and 10 RBIs.

But ....

In his last 13 games, Pollock is batting .326/.362/.581 with two homers, five doubles and six RBIs. There are signs of life from the 34-year-old veteran outfielder.

And, then there's Tim Anderson. I don't have any hot takes on Anderson's altercation with Josh Donaldson. You can find those all over the internet. The Sox shortstop capped a 3-for-5 night with a three-run homer in the five-run eighth inning in Game 2. 

Anderson is batting .359/.400/.517 with five home runs and 18 RBIs. He leads all major league shortstops in WAR, wRC+, wOBA, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS.

So, whether you like traditional statistics or the more new-age stuff, Anderson's your guy at shortstop. And while he does have nine errors this season, he has not committed an error in 21 of his past 22 games, so perhaps his defensive slump is over.

And even with those errors, he's a 2.0 WAR player a quarter of the way through the season. That's how good his bat is. If this keeps up, it will be hard to deny Anderson a spot on the AL All-Star team this season. Right now, he's the best in the league at the position, no matter what New York fans have to say about him.