MLBPA threatens litigation over Kris Bryant demotion

So, the Cubs assigned third baseman Kris Bryant to their minor league camp on Monday.

You can't say the 23-year-old prospect didn't make a strong case to be included on the Cubs' 25-man roster to start the season. He hit .425 with nine home runs in 40 at-bats this spring.

We've talked about the service time rules before on this blog, but just to review, if Bryant spends 12 or more days in the minor leagues this season, the Cubs would delay him from becoming eligible for free agency by one year, until after the 2021 season, according to baseball's collective bargaining agreement. If the team keeps him on the roster for all of this season, he would be eligible for free agency one year sooner, after the 2020 season.

The Major League Baseball Players Association, as expected, was not happy with the Cubs' decision.

'"Today is a bad day for baseball,'' the union said in a statement. ''I think we all know that even if Kris Bryant were a combination of the greatest players to play our game, and perhaps he will be before it's all said and done, the Cubs still would have made the decision they made today. This decision, and other similar decisions made by clubs will be addressed in litigation, bargaining or both.''

Whoa, timeout here. Litigation? Seriously?

This is the part where I think the union is out of line. The rules for service time were collectively bargained, and the union signed off on them. The union can sue the Cubs or MLB if it wishes, but I don't think it will take long for that lawsuit to be thrown out of court.

If the union is unhappy with the service time rules, maybe it should bring that up in the next CBA negotiations. But with the rules that are in place right now, the Cubs are clearly within their rights to send Bryant down to the minor leagues. The question here isn't whether the Cubs can do this. They can. The question is whether they should.

From a purely business perspective, it's the right move. The Cubs can bring Bryant to the majors 12 days into the season and not cost themselves that year of control in 2021. Barring weather issues, the Cubs will play just nine games in those first 12 days of the 2015 season. If you're the club, would you rather have Bryant for the first nine games of 2015? Or would you rather have him for 162 games in 2021?

That's a no-brainer. Anyone would take the 162 games in 2021. But that's just from the business perspective. I don't think you can just ignore the baseball side of things and just make a pure business decision.

On the baseball side, the Cubs are running the risk of alienating their own players by sending Bryant down. In any workplace, employees don't like it when decisions are based upon something other than merit. It's no different with a baseball team. This move by the Cubs no doubt pisses off Bryant and his agent, but it probably pisses off some other players, too.

Think about it. If you're a prospect in the Cubs organization and Bryant is one of your peers, what are you thinking today? I'd be thinking, "Damn, that dude did everything right. He earned his shot, and they still didn't give it to him. Is that going to happen to me? How is the organization going to treat me when my time comes?"

Or, what if you're a veteran player on the Cubs? Say you're Anthony Rizzo or Jon Lester or Miguel Montero, and you're listening to Joe Maddon talk about how the team has "very high expectations" and "expects to win."

OK, that's good, it's Major League Baseball, and your manager should say he expects to win. But then you look over at third base and you see Mike Olt standing there instead of Bryant. If I'm a veteran Cubs player, I'm looking at Olt and saying, "If we expect to win, then what the hell is that guy still doing here?"

The idea that the Cubs are better positioned to win with Olt at third base instead of Bryant is complete fiction. It's not even an argument. Everyone knows it. The Cubs players aren't stupid. They know it, too. I'd be frustrated if I was in their spikes. A team that has "very high expectations" doesn't put Olt in its everyday lineup to start the year when there's a better option available.

That's the risk the Cubs are running here. Is sending Bryant down a sound business decision? Yes, no question, but it sure is a maddening one when looked at from a pure baseball perspective.

White Sox reliever Jake Petricka to start season on DL, Rick Hahn confirms

With just a week remaining before the season starts, the bullpen sits atop my list of worries as a White Sox fan.

The concern grew Monday when general manager Rick Hahn confirmed right-hander Jake Petricka will start the season on the disabled list with a sore elbow.

"We don't foresee this being a long-term problem," Hahn told ESPN Chicago's Doug Padilla. "There's a decent chance he'll be activated when his 15-day period is up. However, given the short time between now and Opening Day, it did not make sense to try to rush and jam an outing or two in and force him on to the active roster."

With Petricka down to start the season, I'm still thinking there are two spots open in the Sox bullpen. I'm got David Robertson, Zach Putnam, Zach Duke, Javy Guerra and Dan Jennings as my roster locks.

Neither Matt Albers nor Maikel Cleto have pitched well enough to solidify a spot, but both might make the team now.

However, there are a few other options. Most notably, the Sox claimed Kyle Drabek off waivers from the Toronto Blue Jays. For what it's worth, Drabek was pitching reasonably well in the Grapefruit League this spring. He had allowed two runs in seven innings with seven strikeouts and three walks.

I figure Drabek, a former first-round draft pick of the Philadelphia Phillies (2006), is going to get into a couple Cactus League games before the Sox break camp. If he fares well, he might make the roster and become pitching coach Don Cooper's reclamation project for the year, much like Hector Noesi was last season.

If the Sox decide they don't want Albers or Cleto, they could keep Drabek and bring Scott Carroll north to pitch in a long relief role. I know people are sick of Carroll (1.04 spring ERA), but he's pitched better than Brad Penny this March. He's also pitched better than Cleto and Albers.

Some dude named Arcenio Leon, a 28-year-old career minor leaguer, is still hanging around camp, too. The little-known right-hander hasn't given up a run yet this spring in six innings pitched, so he might be an off-the-grid possibility.

It's a little bit nerve-wracking for Sox fans right now, because I'm looking at all these names and feeling like Robertson and Duke are the only two relievers I can trust. Indeed, it would be a plus if Petricka's injury is just a short-term problem, because he's another guy you can feel pretty good about when he's healthy.

An inconvenient truth for Tyler Flowers critics

I am not a fan of Tyler Flowers. I wish the White Sox had a better catcher.

The slider-speed bat, the inability to lay off the high fastball, the strikeouts, the passed balls, the mediocre throwing arm, the lifetime .218 batting average, these are all things I dislike about Flowers.

Moreover, his .152 batting average this spring (through Thursday) doesn't give me hope that he can duplicate his modest (and career-best) .241/.297/.396 slash line from a year ago.

I'm not excited about having him as the Sox's No. 1 catcher for another year, especially since I saw him as being one of the culprits as the team struggled to a 73-89 record in 2014.

However, I read something today that gave me pause about Flowers. I don't know how much to read into it, but I think it's worth a mention.

Flowers started 120 games behind the plate for the Sox in 2014. Would you believe the Sox had a winning record in those 120 games? That's right, a team that finished 16 games below .500 overall won more than it lost with Flowers in the starting lineup.

Here's the breakdown:
2014 Sox with Flowers behind the plate: 61-59 (.508)
2014 Sox with Adrian Nieto behind the plate: 6-26 (.188)
2014 Sox with Josh Phegley behind the plate: 6-4 (.600)
Total: 73-89 (.451)

The main takeaway from this is the Sox really stunk when they played their backup catcher last year. In fairness to Nieto, he wasn't ready for the big leagues and was only kept on the 25-man roster because of Rule 5 Draft requirements. He'll be back in the minors this year to work on his skills, as he should be.

We can dismiss Phegley's 10 starts as a small sample size.

But isn't it interesting that for all the holes in Flowers' game, he didn't seem to be the guy who was holding the Sox back. Not that 61-59 is a great record; it is not. It's a mediocre record, and it certainly didn't hurt Flowers that he caught all of Chris Sale's starts last year. But in the context of what the Sox did as a team overall, 61-59 as a starting catcher is not bad.

I'm not going to draw any grand conclusions from any of this, but it's food for thought for the weekend.

Carlos Rodon shows promise in dominant outing against Royals

There's a reason the White Sox made pitcher Carlos Rodon their first-round pick in the 2014 draft: He's got a 95 mph heater, and more importantly, a big-league ready slider.

Rodon put his nasty breaking ball on display Wednesday night in a spring training start against the Kansas City Royals, and the results were spectacular. He worked four scoreless innings in Chicago's 6-0 win, recording nine of his 12 outs via the strikeout. He walked none and gave up four hits, all of them singles.

I just finished watching the outing on my DVR, and by my unofficial count, eight of the nine strikeouts were with the slider. That pitch breaks quick down-and-in to right-handed batters and down-and-away to lefties. The Kansas City hitters had no chance. They were swinging right over the top of it.

I know what you're thinking: Spring training numbers don't count. You're right, but consider this: The defending AL champs from Kansas City had eight of their nine regulars in the lineup to face Rodon. Catcher Salvador Perez was the only notable absence.

Here is the list of Rodon strikeout victims from Wednesday: Alcides Escobar, Alex Gordon, Eric Hosmer, Alex Rios, Erik Kratz, Escobar again, Lorenzo Cain, Hosmer again, Kendrys Morales.

All familiar names except for Kratz, who was catching in place of Perez. This was not a "B" lineup by any stretch.

Rodon still needs to go back to Triple-A to start the season and work on his changeup, which both Omar Infante and Morales got base hits against in this outing, but I came away impressed that Rodon was able to do that kind of work against established players.

Samardzija to start opener; Sale throws bullpen session

The worst-kept secret in Sox camp is no longer a secret. Jeff Samardzija will be the starting pitcher on Opening Day, manager Robin Ventura announced Wednesday.

A lot of ink got spilled on this issue, because Ventura previously told the press he knew who his starter would be, but declined to reveal that information. Nonetheless, anyone with a calendar who knows pitchers work every five days, and who knows how to count, could have figured out Samardzija was going to get the nod in the opener. He's been on schedule to start April 6 for more than two weeks. What should have been obvious to all is finally official.

And, really, does it matter that much who starts on Opening Day? It's mostly symbolic, and everyone will have long forgotten about it when mid-August rolls around. I think most observers are aware that Chris Sale is clearly the Sox's best pitcher. He's just not going to be available to make that start this year.

And speaking of Sale (broken foot), he threw a short bullpen session Wednesday and remains on track to make his season debut April 12 against the Minnesota Twins.

How important is Sale to the Sox? Consider this quote from Kansas City TV broadcaster Rex Hudler, which I heard while watching Wednesday's game:

"Anytime you have a series against the White Sox, and you don't see (Sale), that's a break."

That about sums it up.

White Sox trim roster by seven; at least two jobs in bullpen still open

The White Sox are down to 44 players in camp after trimming their roster by seven on Tuesday.

Infielder Leury Garcia, first baseman Andy Wilkins and pitcher Onelki Garcia were optioned to Triple-A Charlotte. Pitching prospect Francellis Montas was optioned to Double-A Birmingham. Pitchers Logan Kensing, Nolan Sanburn and Joe Savery were assigned to minor league camp.

The most prominent player on the list, of course, is Garcia, who was on the White Sox's 25-man roster for the entirety of the 2014 campaign. He posted a horrific slash line of .166/.192/.207, prompting the Sox to sign Emilio Bonifacio and bring back Gordon Beckham over the offseason to ensure Garcia's utility services would not be essential this year.

Of the players remaining in camp, 25 are pitchers. The Sox are still carrying four catchers, nine infielders and six outfielders, as well.

What part of the roster remains unsettled at this point? You'd have to say its the bullpen, where at least two and possibly three jobs are open.

We know closer David Robertson is on the team. Jake Petricka, Zach Duke and Dan Jennings also are assured of spots.

I'm pretty sure Zach Putnam is on the team. He was the Sox's best reliever last year, going 5-3 with a 1.98 ERA in 49 appearances. Based upon that performance, you assume he'll get the benefit of the doubt despite a poor spring. But, Putnam has a 15.43 ERA and has allowed four home runs in 4.2 IP this March. That's bad enough to give anybody pause.

For the sake of argument, let's assume Putnam is on the club, and five of the seven bullpen spots are filled.

That leaves Matt Albers, Maikel Cleto, Javy Guerra and Daniel Webb competing for two jobs.

Cleto strengthened his case Tuesday with two scoreless innings in a 7-6 loss to the Colorado Rockies. Albers took a step back, allowing three runs on four hits in two-thirds of an inning. The runs were unearned, thanks to some sloppy defense from Melky Cabrera in left field, but Albers has now been scored upon in each of his last two outings after beginning the spring with four consecutive scoreless appearances.

It's worth noting Webb is the only one of these pitchers with an option remaining, so he and his 7.56 ERA remain squarely on the bubble. Guerra continues to lead this group of four with a 2.45 ERA to this point in the spring.

Here's a look at the numbers for each of these four relievers:

Guerra: 7.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 Ks, 3 BBs, 2.45 ERA
Cleto: 7.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 9 Ks, 4 BBs, 4.91 ERA
Albers: 6.1 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 8 Ks, 3 BBs, 2.84 ERA
Webb: 8.1 IP, 11 H, 7 ER, 7 ER, 5 Ks, 7 BBs, 7.56 ERA

I'm expecting the Sox to keep Guerra. It might go right down to the last day between Cleto and Albers.

Tuesday thoughts: Matt Davidson, Brad Penny, David Robertson

I was on board with the move last offseason when White Sox GM Rick Hahn traded closer Addison Reed to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for third base prospect Matt Davidson.

In theory, it's a trade I'd still endorse today. Closers have a short shelf life, and while Reed is a solid relief pitcher, he is not All-Star caliber. It's not a bad baseball move to trade a player like that for someone you believe will at some point play every day in your infield.

That said, it's hard not to be discouraged about what we've seen since Davidson joined the White Sox organization. 2014 was a terrible year for him. His slash line at Triple-A Charlotte was .199/.283/.362. His 20 home runs and 55 RBIs hardly made up for the 164 strikeouts in 539 plate appearances.

You'd like to believe it was just a poor season -- it can happen to any player -- and that Davidson will bounce back this year. Maybe he will, but it's been an ugly spring for him so far. He's 1-for-12 with four strikeouts in the Cactus League, and he committed errors on back-to-back plays Monday that opened the door for the Diamondbacks to score four unearned runs in their 6-2 win over the White Sox.

Davidson continues to struggle both with the bat and with the glove. He turns 24 next week, so you can still say he counts as a prospect, but it will be hard for the Sox to keep him in their plans if he doesn't show anything this year.

Penny getting a long look

Quick quiz: Name the pitcher who has logged the most Cactus League innings for the White Sox this spring.

It's not Jeff Samardzija or Jose Quintana. It's veteran right-hander Brad Penny, who is in camp on a minor-league deal.

Penny has worked 7.2 innings thus far. His results have been mixed. He's allowed three runs on 11 hits, and opponents are hitting a robust .355 against him. But, he has struck out six men, and he's only walked one. Unlike some other pitchers who are trying to make the roster (Daniel Webb, cough, cough), Penny is throwing strikes.

He's been a starter for most of his career, and there is obviously no room for him in the White Sox rotation. But team brass is giving him a long look this spring, perhaps considering whether he can be the 12th man on the pitching staff -- the guy who works in long relief or makes a spot start when needed.

Because of service time rules, five days before opening day, the Sox have to either add Penny to the major league roster, cut him, or give him a $100,000 bonus for staying on the minor league roster.

Every team needs a staff saver. Could Penny be that guy? He hasn't pitched himself out of contention yet.

Robertson working on command issues

Speaking of closers, David Robertson hasn't been sharp in his first few spring outings. He allowed two runs in 2.2 innings pitched, while walking three and striking out just one.

Cause for alarm? No.

I watched Robertson work an inning Sunday against the Los Angeles Angels, and by my unofficial count, he threw nothing but fastballs and cutters during his 23-pitch outing. Robertson has a put-away breaking ball in his arsenal, but he didn't use it even once -- despite facing both Mike Trout and Albert Pujols in that inning.

Robertson walked two, but got out of trouble when Pujols grounded into a double play.

It was clear from watching the outing that Robertson doesn't have command of his fastball yet, so that's what he was focusing on when he stepped on the mound Sunday -- results be damned.

That's why it doesn't make sense to put too much stock in spring training numbers. Guys might be working on specific things, and they may not be doing things the same way they would in a regular-season game.

It's an important thing to remember as a fan, even though it is sometimes hard not to draw grand conclusions from what you're seeing in spring ball.

White Sox should send Carlos Rodon to Triple-A to start the season

The White Sox announced on Wednesday that ace left-hander Chris Sale (broken foot) will not be ready to pitch on Opening Day. This will only fuel speculation that top prospect Carlos Rodon has a chance to make the team's 25-man roster coming out of spring training.

The Sox should resist that urge. They should instead send Rodon to Triple-A Charlotte to begin the season.

And I'm not just saying that because Rodon allowed three runs on five hits in 2.1 innings in Wednesday's 4-4 tie with the Texas Rangers. Even if the left-hander had struck out all 12 batters he faced Wednesday, it wouldn't change my opinion.

There are a couple good reasons not to rush Rodon. First and foremost, there's the business side of the game. Michael Bauman at Grantland (no relation) did a great job of explaining the service time factor in this article about Cubs prospect Kris Bryant. The same principle with Bryant applies to the situation with the White Sox and Rodon:

"There are about 183 calendar days in a major league season; anyone who spends 172 or more of those days on the active roster or major league disabled list is credited with a full year of service time, while players who spend less than that are credited with the fraction of the season they spent in the big leagues," Bauman wrote. "Service time progresses players toward three primary milestones: arbitration eligibility (which takes a little less than three years, depending on moving goalposts that aren’t worth explaining here), free agency (six years), and a pension (10 years)."

In simplest terms, this means Rodon needs to spend a few weeks in Charlotte this year. If he starts the season with the Sox and stays in the majors the whole year, he'll hit free agency after the 2020 season. But if the Sox keep him in Charlotte for just a little while longer, they'll have him under team control for one extra year -- the 2021 season.

A no-brainer, right? Seems like it to me.

Then, there's the baseball side of things. Rodon has great promise, but he is not a finished product. Most guys need three major league quality pitches to be in a team's starting rotation. Rodon slider is great; there's no doubting that. He's got a good fastball, although his command could use a little polish. The changeup, while improving, is not there yet. Why not let him continue to work on that third pitch in the minors? It's the right thing to do, regardless of Sale's status.

Senior Vice President Ken Williams made it sound like Sale is on track to make his season debut April 12 -- the fifth game of the season. If Sale stays on that timetable, the Sox won't need to take an extra starter with them when they break camp. Sale would simply pitch fifth in the rotation instead of first.

And even if Sale falls a little behind that schedule, and the Sox need to reach into their depth for a starting pitcher, I don't see the harm in giving a veteran like Scott Carroll or Brad Penny one or two starts in April.

I know watching Carroll or Penny pitch doesn't excite anyone, but if it's the right thing for Rodon's development and his future with the organization -- and it is -- then that's what you do.

Tuesday thoughts: Micah Johnson, John Danks, Michael Taylor

So far, so good for White Sox prospect Micah Johnson this spring.

Johnson, the organization's preferred candidate to start at second base this season, raised his Cactus League average to .500 with a 4-for-4 performance in Tuesday's 6-2 win over the Kansas City Royals. The left-handed batter has hits in each of his last six at-bats, dating back to Monday.

Here's what I like about Johnson's four-hit game: The hits came against four different pitchers, and all four of those Kansas City pitchers are big leaguers: Jeremy Guthrie, Greg Holland, Jason Frasor and Brandon Finnegan. Johnson wasn't just padding his stats against pitchers we're never going to hear from again.

I still have a healthy amount of skepticism with regard to Johnson's readiness to play second base in the majors every day -- he's never played in a regular-season game and still has to prove to me that he can stay healthy -- but it's nice to see him taking the early lead in the competition for the position.

I think all Sox fans would agree they'd rather see Johnson win the job than default to the fallback options at the position (Gordon Beckham, Emilio Bonifacio).

Sox keep Danks away from Kansas City hitters

Tuesday would have been John Danks normal day to pitch, but the Sox instead had the veteran left-hander pitch four innings in a simulated game. Prospect Tyler Danish got the start on the mound against the Royals.

This is smart because Danks' first start of the season will likely be against Kansas City. Why give Royals hitters any edge by letting them get a look at Danks' pitches in the spring?

In fact, Sox used nothing but minor leaguers and fringe roster pitchers in Tuesday's game -- Danish, Zach Phillips, Raul Fernandez, Scott Carroll and Eric Surkamp.

When you think about it, that makes a lot of sense. The Royals are a Central Division foe, one the Sox face all the time. There's no reason to let them see the better pitchers on the team when the games don't count.

You look for any little edge you can find in what is likely to be a balanced, competitive division race this summer.

Outfielder Taylor retires

The Sox announced on Tuesday that outfielder Michael Taylor has retired from baseball.

The 29-year-old former top prospect was a longshot to make the roster, and after 3,765 career plate appearances in the minor leagues, perhaps he had tired of long bus rides.

Taylor hit .306 at Triple-A Charlotte last year, and the Sox promoted him to the majors in September. Still, he had appeared in just 37 major league games with the A's and Sox over the past four years.

In 2010, Taylor was a highly regarded player in the Oakland organization, ranked as the 20th best prospect in the game by Baseball Prospectus. It never panned out for him.

Let Taylor's story be a reminder that prospects are only prospects, and most don't make it big, even those who are ranked highly on these lists by various publications.

A reason not to fret about Chris Sale's injury: The early-season schedule

It was not good news earlier this week when the White Sox announced that ace left-hander Chris Sale would miss three weeks with an avulsion fracture in his right foot. The injury reportedly occurred at home when Sale was unloading his pickup truck, and it seems unlikely he'll be ready to start Opening Day when the Sox open the season at Kansas City.

Obviously, the Sox would like Sale to make 34 starts this season, but realistically, the team has to assume he'll miss his first two or three starts of the year as a result of this mishap.

But here's the good news: The schedule is set up as such that the Sox can get by with just four starting pitchers until April 21. There are three off-days the first 10 days of the season. Assuming Jeff Samardzija, Jose Quintana, John Danks and Hector Noesi all remain healthy and are ready to go when the bell rings in April, here's how the pitching rotation may work for the first two weeks of the season:

April 6 at Kansas City: Samardzija
April 7: Off-day
April 8 at Kansas City: Quintana
April 9 at Kansas City: Danks
April 10 vs. Minnesota: Noesi
April 11 vs. Minnesota: Samardjiza
April 12 vs. Minnesota: Quintana
April 13: Off-day
April 14 at Cleveland: Danks
April 15 at Cleveland: Noesi
April 16: Off-day
April 17 at Detroit: Samardzija
April 18 at Detroit: Quintana
April 19 at Detroit: Danks
April 20 vs. Cleveland: Noesi
April 21: vs. Cleveland: ?????

As you can see, the early-season off-days would allow the Sox to use their other four guys on regular rest during this stretch. Naturally, if Sale is ready before April 21, he's going to pitch. But it's at least somewhat comforting that the Sox aren't going to have to rush Carlos Rodon into the rotation, or force someone else who doesn't belong to start a couple games, if Sale's injury happens to linger until mid- to late April.