Eloy Jimenez is on White Sox Opening Day roster (and so is Ryan Cordell)

As expected, top prospect Eloy Jimenez will be on the White Sox's Opening Day roster. He is scheduled to start in left field Thursday when the team begins the season against the Kansas City Royals.

Because Jimenez previously had been optioned to Triple-A Charlotte before signing a six-year, $43 million contract extension, someone had to be placed on the injured list for Jimenez to be recalled.

That someone is Jon Jay, who is sidelined by a hip injury.

As we noted in our previous blog, the Sox are carrying 12 pitchers to start the season -- four starters and eight relievers. Fifth starter Ervin Santana is on a minor-league deal. He isn't needed until April 10, so he won't be added to the 40-man roster, let alone the 25-man roster, until then.

That means the Sox are carrying 13 position players. Daniel Palka and Jose Rondon are safely on the team (for now), and surprisingly, Ryan Cordell is coming north with the Sox.

Cordell is likely to be optioned back to Triple-A Charlotte the moment Santana is needed. When Jay comes back, Palka, Rondon and possibly Adam Engel could be in danger of losing their roster spot.

Here are the 13 position players:

Catchers: Welington Castillo, James McCann
Infielders: Jose Abreu, Yonder Alonso, Yolmer Sanchez, Tim Anderson, Yoan Moncada, Rondon
Outfielders: Jimenez, Engel, Palka, Cordell, Leury Garcia

The thing I'll be watching on Opening Day: pitcher Carlos Rodon's performance. Rodon is "finally healthy," so they say, but I don't know if his velocity has ever come back since he had shoulder surgery late in 2017.

Rodon averaged only 6.7 strikeouts per nine innings in 20 starts last season. In previous seasons, he had never been below 9.0 strikeouts per nine innings. In 2018, he didn't have his best fastball, and his slider was spotty at best.

What kind of stuff will he feature this year? We get our first look Thursday.

White Sox set eight-man bullpen for Opening Day

Nate Jones

The White Sox's 25-man roster isn't in full focus yet, but we have a pretty good feel for who will be on the pitching staff when the season opens Thursday.

The Sox announced the eight members of their bullpen Sunday, before they concluded the Cactus League schedule with a 7-3 win over the Cleveland Indians.

The bullpen will be:

Right-handers: Alex Colome, Nate Jones, Kelvin Herrera, Ryan Burr, Dylan Covey
Left-handers: Jace Fry, Caleb Frare, Manny Banuelos

Five summarizing thoughts:

• Colome will get first crack at closing. Duh. He led the American League with 47 saves for the Tampa Bay Rays two years ago, so he's a logical choice.
• Jones is fortunate he has a track record. His spring ERA is an unsightly 12.71, and he's had a ton of injuries the past few seasons. His velocity is down to 94-95 mph. He used to sit at 97-98 mph. He doesn't have much deception in his delivery, so I'm wondering if he can be an effective late-inning reliever if the velocity doesn't come back.
• Burr made the team on the basis of a strong spring -- 15 strikeouts and no walks over 10.1 innings pitched. He also allowed only nine hits. That's how you earn a roster spot.
• Covey also was good this spring, a 2.45 ERA and only 12 baserunners allowed in 11 innings. He only struck out four, but maybe he's the guy the Sox bring in when they need someone to induce a double-play grounder in the sixth or seventh inning. His sinker has been working. Covey and Banuelos both are stretched out enough to give the Sox two options who can pitch multiple innings.
• Frare recovered from a terrible start to the spring to beat out Aaron Bummer for the LOOGY role. Frare's 7.88 spring ERA doesn't impress, but that number was at 16.20 after his first three spring appearances. He's been spotted against left-handed hitters in recent spring outings -- that's his role when the season starts -- and he has gotten the job done.

It also appears the Sox will carry only four starting pitchers to start the season. There are off-days March 29, April 2 and April 5. The Sox do not need a fifth starter until April 10, which means Ervin Santana will stay in Arizona to continue to get his work done. Starting pitchers Carlos Rodon, Reynaldo Lopez, Lucas Giolito and Ivan Nova will come north with the team.

This means the Sox will have 13 position players on the roster for the first few series of the season. If one of those players is going to be Eloy Jimenez (and I don't see why not), someone will have to go on the disabled list to create a spot for the top prospect, because he was optioned to Triple-A Charlotte earlier this spring.

Nicky Delmonico already has been optioned, so the guess here is Daniel Palka or Jon Jay will come down with some sort of minor ailment that will cause a trip to the injured list.

Reports: White Sox working on long-term deal with Eloy Jimenez

Eloy Jimenez

So, there's hope that all that nonsense about Eloy Jimenez's service time will become a moot point.

Reports say the top prospect and the White Sox are close to agreeing on a contract that would put Jimenez under team control for the next eight seasons. Jimenez would get $43 million guaranteed over six years, and he could earn up to $77.5 million over eight years if two club options are triggered.

In other words, if this contract is signed, there is no need for the Sox to bury Jimenez in the minors for the first three weeks of the regular season in order to get a seventh year of team control -- now they've got him for eight.

As we've said all along, Jimenez appears to be the best starting option at a corner outfield spot, so that means he should be there on Opening Day.

Fingers crossed that it all works out, because the Sox are a team desperately lacking in buzz. They haven't even sold out their home opener yet.

If Jimenez is going to be on the team, that has ramifications for position battles in the final week of Cactus League play, too.

For the sake of argument, let's say the Sox are going to carry 13 pitchers. Personally, I think 12 is enough, but let's be honest, the Sox disagree with that. They've been carrying 13 pitchers for the past several seasons, and I fully expect them to break camp that way this spring.

That leaves room for 12 position players. Here's how it would look with Jimenez in the fold:

C: Welington Castillo
1B: Jose Abreu
2B: Yolmer Sanchez
SS: Tim Anderson
3B: Yoan Moncada
LF: Jimenez
CF: Adam Engel
RF: Jon Jay
DH: Yonder Alonso
Bench: James McCann
Bench: Leury Garcia
Bench: ????????

Daniel Palka, Jose Rondon and Nicky Delmonico are on the bubble. Before this Jimenez news, you'd have three men battling for two spots. Now, you've got three men for one spot.

I'm thinking Delmonico is an odd man out. Palka vs. Rondon is a much tougher call. Palka has that one big skill that nobody else on the team has -- left-handed power -- but that's all he does. Meanwhile, Rondon is right-handed hitter who hits lefties and can handle all infield positions competently.

Not an easy decision, but it's a decision I'd be happy to see the Sox have to make if Jimenez is coming north with the team.

White Sox prospect Dane Dunning has 'successful' Tommy John surgery

In the history of baseball reporting, has any pitcher ever been described as having "unsuccessful" Tommy John surgery?

Not that I'm aware of. They always say it was "successful."

White Sox pitching prospect Dane Dunning is the latest player to "successfully" have the procedure. His visit with Dr. James Andrews was Monday.

Dunning is the No. 6 prospect in the Sox organization and the No. 80 prospect in baseball overall, according to MLB pipeline.

So, with Michael Kopech also recuperating from "successful" Tommy John surgery, that means two of the Sox's three best pitching prospects will miss the entire 2019 season.

Yep, that rebuild is right on schedule.

We're about to embark on Year 3 of this rebuild, and I'm not sure the Sox have *anything* in place for the long haul. Maybe Tim Anderson is a keeper? Does a shortstop who plays good defense and bats .240 with a .687 OPS qualify as a success story?

That's about all we have from these young players right now, Sox fans. It's already ugly, and some things need to start going right sometime in 2019.

Carlos Rodon gets Opening Day start for White Sox

Carlos Rodon

The White Sox on Monday announced that left-hander Carlos Rodon will start the season opener March 28 on the road against the Kansas City Royals.

According to a report on whitesox.com, Rodon will be followed by Reynaldo Lopez, Lucas Giolito and Ivan Nova in the starting rotation. Manny Banuelos and Ervin Santana are competing for the No. 5 spot.

For the first time in a couple years, Rodon is healthy and ready to begin the season on the active roster. After experiencing shoulder problems at the end of the 2017 season, he started the 2018 campaign on the disabled list before returning to make 20 starts, going 6-8 with a 4.18 ERA, 90 strikeouts and 55 walks in 120.2 innings pitched.

Rodon, 26, has made three starts this spring, allowing seven runs on nine hits with eight strikeouts in 12.1 innings pitched. He figures to get one more Cactus League outing before the first performance that counts.

Bummer, Fulmer optioned to Charlotte

The Sox announced four roster moves before Monday's 5-2 loss to the San Francisco Giants. 

Left-handed reliever Aaron Bummer and former first-round draft pick Carson Fulmer were optioned to Triple-A Charlotte. Outfielder Charlie Tilson and left-handed pitcher Colton Turner were reassigned to minor league camp.

Of the four, Bummer had the best chance to make the club, but seven walks in nine innings and a spring ERA of 12.00 earns a pitcher a demotion, for sure.

The Sox are 7-14-2 this spring after the loss to the Giants. They have lost four in a row.

Eloy Jimenez among the latest White Sox players to be optioned to minor leagues

Before Wednesday's 10-7 Cactus League victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers, the White Sox made nine roster moves. Most notably, top prospects Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease were optioned to Triple-A Charlotte.

Also bound for the Knights are pitcher Jordan Stephens and catcher Seby Zavala. Outfielder Micker Adolfo was optioned to Double-A Birmingham. Catcher Zack Collins, pitchers Donn Roach and Jimmy Lambert, and outfielder Luis Robert were reassigned to minor-league camp.

There are some big names among those nine, and obviously, Jimenez is most notable because he's the best corner outfielder in the organization. Alas, this is not an era of Major League Baseball where the best players are necessarily on the field.

Top prospects are held in the minors for service time reasons, and veteran free agents go unsigned for reasons unknown.

I knew Jimenez would start the season in Charlotte, but I really expected him to hang around big-league camp for another week or so. Why wouldn't he? We know he's going to be in the majors sooner rather than later, and who is he taking at-bats from?

You have to believe the Sox wanted to option Jimenez now, while he's 4 for 26 on the spring. Nobody can question the move at the moment. If Jimenez stayed in camp for another week and went, say, 9 for 17 with three home runs, all of a sudden Sox brass would have to give some baloney about the need for Jimenez to work on his defense as the reason for demotion.

I'm somewhat amused that Houston Astros pitcher Collin McHugh called the Sox out on Twitter as a result of these moves.

McHugh tweeted, "Wishing Eloy the best of luck as he goes to AAA to work on...defense? baserunning? creating excess value for a $1.5 billion franchise that hasn’t made the playoffs in a decade? bunting?"

There's a lot of truth in that criticism.

Time to read the season previews ...

Hey, guess what I'm doing this weekend? Time to read some season preview magazines and see what the "experts" think of the upcoming season.

One thing I'm thinking: The folks who produce these magazines must not have been too happy about the slow free agency period this offseason.

They probably had to go to press before Manny Machado signed with the San Diego Padres and before Bryce Harper signed with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Heck, Craig Kimbrel and Dallas Keuchel still don't have contracts, and both could be difference-makers in the pennant race. If someone ever signs them ...

Latest guess at White Sox's Opening Day roster

Tim Anderson

The White Sox are 6-10-2 in Cactus League play, and both of their split-squad games were rained out Tuesday. So with nothing meaningful to comment on, and with spring training about half over, let's take a guess at who makes the Opening Day roster as it stands right now.

Starting pitchers (5): Carlos Rodon, Reynaldo Lopez, Lucas Giolito, Ivan Nova, Ervin Santana.
Comment: Of course, Santana's presence is dependent on his health, and so far, there's nothing that's been said that leads me to believe he's off track. The only real question is who starts the season opener. The smart money is on Rodon, because he is the most experienced and most accomplished of the younger guys. And I don't think they are going to give the nod to the journeyman Nova.

Relief pitchers (8): Alex Colome, Kelvin Herrera, Nate Jones, Jace Fry, Juan Minaya, Dylan Covey, Ryan Burr, Manny Banuelos.
Comment: None of the left-handed relief candidates have distinguished themselves. Fry was the Sox's best reliever last season, so he's on the club despite his struggling spring. But Aaron Bummer and Caleb Frare need to pick it up to make the team, and I can see Banuelos getting the nod as a second lefty ahead of both of them -- if for no other reason than Banuelos is out of options. Minaya has had a terrible spring, too, but he'll probably hang on because he had a 2.70 ERA the second half of last season. Covey has pitched himself back into the picture with a strong spring. Burr has been strong, as well, after struggling in his call-up to the majors last season. I'm thinking Burr gets a spot over Ian Hamilton, who is dealing with shoulder stiffness after he was in a car crash.

Catchers (2): Welington Castillo, James McCann
Comment: Same as it ever was. Will either Zack Collins or Seby Zavala be ready to come up from Triple-A Charlotte this year?

Infielders (6): Jose Abreu, Yonder Alonso, Yolmer Sanchez, Tim Anderson, Yoan Moncada, Jose Rondon
Comment: The Sox decided to rearrange the deck chairs after whiffing in their attempt to sign Manny Machado. Moncada now is the third baseman, probably for the long term, while Sanchez switches back to his natural position at second base. Is he keeping the seat warm for Nick Madrigal? Maybe. Anderson is having a great spring -- 12 for 27 with five extra-base hits and only four strikeouts. Please let that be real. Rondon makes the club because he's out of options and can play competent defense at any position on the infield. He also hits lefties, which is a skill this club needs.

Outfielders (4): Adam Engel, Daniel Palka, Jon Jay, Leury Garcia
Comment: Yuck, yuck, yuck, yuck. At least Engel is a good defender, so he's your everyday center fielder. Garcia being a switch-hitter, I assume we'll see him quite a bit against left-handed pitching, since neither Palka nor Jay are particularly good at hitting lefties. Somebody on the roster is keeping a seat warm for Eloy Jimenez. The guess here is Palka, Rondon and whoever the eighth reliever is will be in a battle to stay on the team past mid-April.

Eloy Jimenez's spring training slump provides cover for White Sox front office

Eloy Jimenez

Eloy Jimenez would have been called up to the big leagues last season if it weren't for service time manipulation.

Let's just be honest about it. The White Sox aren't *that* concerned with his outfield defense. They are concerned about what their payroll will look like seven years from now, and they want to delay Jimenez's free agency for as long as possible.

For that reason, he will start this season at Triple-A Charlotte, even if he were hitting .997 in the Cactus League.

While I believe Jimenez, the No. 3 prospect in baseball, should be starting at a corner outfield spot for the Sox on Opening Day, the reality is we won't see him until about mid-April at the earliest. After that, the Sox can call him up without losing a year of team control.

And make no mistake, some in the front office have to be breathing a sigh of relief that Jimenez is 3 for 23 with eight strikeouts and only one home run so far this spring. If this continues for another week or two, Sox brass will be able to point to this slump as a good reason to keep Jimenez in the minors for a little while longer.

They won't be completely wrong. As a rule, I'm in favor of calling players to the majors for the first time when they are playing well, not when they are struggling.

However, I don't think Jimenez is your typical prospect. I don't think this slump will lessen his confidence. He didn't seem concerned in this latest interview, and I think he believes that he's a big-leaguer right now, today. That's half the battle right there.

Regardless of what anyone says, Jimenez is without question the best corner outfield option on the Sox's 40-man roster. No way Jon Jay, Daniel Palka or Nicky Delmonico should be playing ahead of him.

His cold spring hasn't cooled my opinion on him. I want to see him in the major leagues, and I think it pretty much stinks that he's being held back because of silly service time rules that hopefully will be changed in the next collective bargaining agreement.

Carlos Rodon's second spring start a good one

Carlos Rodon

Here's something encouraging: White Sox starting pitcher Carlos Rodon was sharp in his second Cactus League start.

The left-hander tossed four scoreless innings, allowing only one hit Thursday in a 9-5 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. Rodon struck out three and walked one.

Dylan Covey also is making his case for a roster spot -- as a reliever, thankfully, not a starter. I've long thought Covey was miscast as a starting pitcher. I think he can help a team as a swingman, the 11th or 12th man on a pitching staff.

On Thursday, Covey relieved in the eighth inning and pitched the rest of the game, retiring all six Brewers he faced. Granted, none of this was against an "A" lineup, but I'm in favor of guys throwing strikes and getting outs, no matter the situation.

Rodon and Covey have been exceptions to the rule for Sox pitchers this spring. We've seen some inflated offensive numbers and some ugly Arizona box scores.

Let's look at the ERAs for Sox pitchers. For purposes of this exercise, we'll limit it to guys who are candidates for roster spots:

Alex Colome: 0.00
Covey: 0.00
Ryan Burr: 1.59
Ivan Nova: 3.38
Rodon: 3.86
Nate Jones: 6.75
Lucas Giolito: 7.71
Manny Banuelos: 8.10
Jace Fry: 9.00
Carson Fulmer: 9.00
Thyago Vieira: 9.82
Reynaldo Lopez: 10.13
Randall Delgado: 10.80
Caleb Frare: 13.50
Aaron Bummer: 17.18
Juan Minaya: 22.09
Kelvin Herrera: 27.00
Ian Hamilton: 36.00

Funny thing is, Hamilton got the win Thursday. He entered in the top of the seventh inning with a 5-1 lead and gave up four runs. The Sox answered with four in the bottom of the inning to retake the lead, highlighted by a 3-run homer by Danny Mendick.

Covey did the rest, and all of a sudden, Hamilton was a winner. In fairness to Hamilton, it was his first game action of the spring after he was in a minor car crash, so we'll give him a pass.

But looking at that list, there's nobody on the bubble who is stepping up to claim a job -- except for Covey.

Hysterical White Sox prediction from some guy at yardbarker.com

Check this out.

Am I reading that right? The author predicts the White Sox will go 91-71.

That would be a 29-win improvement over last season. Did this person step into an alternative universe where the Sox signed *both* Manny Machado and Bryce Harper?

Because that's what it probably would have took for me to believe that sort of improvement would be in the cards for the Sox. As we all know, the Sox signed *neither.*

Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease are cited as reasons for optimism. I, too, have high hopes for Jimenez and Cease, but even if that hope becomes reality, those guys are rookies. Even in the best-case scenario, I can't seem them boosting the Sox's win total by more than four or five wins.

I'm thinking 71-91 is going to be much closer to the reality, even in the weak American League Central.

Well, I guess I give the prognosticator credit for going out on a limb.

White Sox prospect Luis Robert injures thumb (again)

Can someone on the White Sox's coaching staff please teach Luis Robert how to slide?

The prized outfield prospect is once again injured, having hurt his thumb sliding head-first into second base on a stolen base attempt Saturday during an intrasquad game.

This is the third time Robert has hurt his thumb in the past 12 months. He first got hurt on a slide during spring training last year, and he reinjured the thumb on July 3 of last season.

Robert played in only 50 games in 2018; the injuries cost the 21-year-old valuable development time.

Fortunately, this injury is not thought to be serious. The team expects him to return to game action as soon as Thursday.

Sox manager Rick Renteria said Robert wasn't supposed to be trying to steal in the intrasquad game. He apparently made the attempt on his own. Renteria said the youngster was guilty of a "lapse in his own judgment."

I do applaud the Sox coaches for not wanting Robert to take risks on the base paths in meaningless games. However, it's clear he needs to be coached on his technique.

This is a player who is important to the Sox's rebuild. Fix this problem, so that Robert can stay on the field.

Madrigal among first cuts

The Sox made their first roster cuts of the spring Tuesday. Nick Madrigal, the team's No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft, was among the players reassigned to minor-league camp.

Outfielders Blake Rutherford and Luis Gonzalez and left-handed pitchers Jordan Guerrero and Bernardo Flores also are headed to minor-league camp.

Second impression of 2019 White Sox ... more tolerable

I'm a glutton for punishment. After Sunday's disastrous game, I gave White Sox spring training baseball another chance on my commute home from work Monday afternoon.

I picked up the game in the bottom of the seventh inning, with the Sox trailing the Los Angeles Angels, 6-5.

Moments later, the Sox tied the game on an infield single by minor-league catcher Nate Nolan that included a throwing error by Angels minor-league third baseman Jordan Zimmerman (not the Detroit Tigers pitcher).

I listened to the rest of the game, which ended in a 6-6 tie, before I made it home.

Hey, at least they didn't lose!

And they rallied from an early 6-2 deficit. I've read that Reynaldo Lopez struggled, allowing four earned runs on four hits over 3.1 innings. However, he said he was happy with the outing, and that he's not worried about his spring numbers. True enough, spring numbers don't matter for guys who know they are going to be on the team.

That said, it's nice when guys who are going to be on the team perform well. Take presumed closer-to-be Alex Colome, who retired the side in order in the bottom of the fifth inning. Or reliever Nate Jones, who allowed a hit but worked a scoreless sixth.

Backup catcher James McCann went 2 for 3 and is hitting .333 for the spring, so there's that.

The Sox are now 3-6-2 in Cactus League games. It will be nice when a game or two makes its way to TV, so there can be more to observe than just a few nuggets gleaned from a box score.

In the meantime, the next game on the radio is Thursday against the Milwaukee Brewers. Presuming I have a decent day at work, maybe I'll be in the mood to tune in and listen to Ed Farmer and Darrin Jackson during my drive time.

First impression of 2019 White Sox ... intolerable

High temperatures on Sunday in Chicago never made it out of the teens. Wind chills were in the single digits all day. Amid this miserable March weather, I thought it would be nice to think spring and listen to some baseball on the radio.

I made it to the bottom of the third inning before I remembered that White Sox baseball is intolerable.

I turned off my radio with the Sox trailing 9-0, on their way to a 13-4 loss to the Cubs. The Sox had no hits through the first three innings. Their pitchers had walked six men and hit a batter through 2.1 innings, and at one point, eight consecutive Cubs batters had hits.

Feel free to insert jokes here about the Sox being a laughingstock, but after six consecutive losing seasons, I'm tired of my favorite team being the butt of every joke.

Remember SoxFest, when general manager Rick Hahn touted Manny Banuelos as a candidate for the starting rotation? That seems ridiculous after Banuelos faced nine batters Sunday and five of them reached base -- four on walks and one on a hit batsmen.

This is the pitcher Sox talent evaluators identified as someone who could help the big-league team right now? No wonder I don't believe in the rebuild.

Banuelos gifted the Cubs a run in the first inning with four walks, then hit the second batter of the second inning before thankfully being removed.

Too bad Juan Minaya was even worse. He walked his first hitter, then gave up five consecutive hits. Included was a three-run homer by the Cubs' Kris Bryant, and the rout was on. Aaron Bummer relieved Minaya, and at least he managed to get three outs.

He did, however, give up two runs on four hits with one walk.

Minaya's spring ERA is 21.00. Bummer's is 17.18. These are pitchers who are supposed to be candidates for the 25-man roster. Hell, Minaya is almost certain to be on the club.

Maybe that's why it is hard not to feel as though the Sox are destined for a third-straight 90-plus loss season.

The loss drops the Sox to 3-6-1 on the spring, and granted, none of this counts. But after the misery of the past several seasons, you'd like to see some signs of hope this March.

But through the first 10 games of spring training, this appears to be more of the same.