The *26* players on the White Sox Opening Day roster look set

I had an old-man moment Monday. On this blog, I said the Sox would carry 13 pitchers and 12 position players. I obviously forgot that 26-man rosters are in effect now, which means it will actually be 13 pitchers and 13 positions players.

So, Jake Lamb and Billy Hamilton are in luck. Both of them are on the team. Here's the roster breakdown:

Catchers (3): Yasmani Grandal, Zack Collins, Yermin Mercedes

Infielders (5): Jose Abreu, Nick Madrigal, Tim Anderson, Yoan Moncada, Lamb

Outfielders (4): Luis Robert, Adam Eaton, Andrew Vaughn, Hamilton

Utility (1): Leury Garcia

Starting pitchers (5): Lucas Giolito, Dallas Keuchel, Lance Lynn, Dylan Cease, Carlos Rodon

Relief pitchers (8): Liam Hendriks, Aaron Bummer, Codi Heuer, Michael Kopech, Garrett Crochet, Evan Marshall, Matt Foster, Jose Ruiz

The eighth spot in the bullpen was a question mark, with Jimmy Cordero out for the season after Tommy John surgery. The job goes to Ruiz.

I think fans are kind of sick of Ruiz, because he's been on the mound for some painful moments during the past couple of seasons. But now that a proven manager is in charge, maybe Ruiz will be used as the 13th man on a 13-man pitching staff, which is precisely what he is.

In the past, we've seen Ruiz on the mound in the bottom of the 10th inning, facing MVP candidates with the AL Central Division title on the line. Predictably, Ruiz failed miserably in that situation, but it's not really his fault that the lame-brained former dugout regime asked him to do a job he couldn't do.

Let's hope that the fringe guys on the roster are less exposed under the new manager.

White Sox roster news: Zack Collins and Yermin Mercedes are in; Jonathan Lucroy is out

Jonathan Lucroy

Veteran catcher Jonathan Lucroy will not make the 2021 White Sox roster. The 34-year-old asked for and was granted his release from a minor league contract, according to reports.

It sure seems like catcher Zack Collins is on the roster. First off, Collins has had a good spring, slashing .295/.380/.523 with three home runs and six RBIs. Most importantly, he's cut his strikeout rate. He's only struck out six times while also walking six times in 50 plate appearances.

Secondly, fortune smiled on Collins with left fielder Eloy Jimenez suffering a torn pectoral tendon that will sideline him for five months. Now, Andrew Vaughn, the presumed DH to start the season, is being tried in left field. That opens the door for DH at-bats for Collins, when he's not catching. 

It also sounds like Yermin Mercedes is on the club as a third catcher and DH, according to reports. Mercedes has slashed .283/.340/.348 this spring, and could be the right-handed half of a platoon with the left-handed Collins.

The Sox also are reportedly picking up infielder Jake Lamb, if he clears waivers and pending a physical. Lamb was in spring camp with the Atlanta Braves, but did not make the club. He's a left-handed hitter who can play first or third base.

All right, that's a lot to digest. But first let's talk about Collins. It's now or never for him. He's 26 years old, and he's been in the Sox organization since he was picked 10th overall in the first round of the 2016 draft. He's getting close to that line where he's too old to be considered a prospect anymore.

The Sox have invested a lot in him, and at some point they have to find out whether he can help them. I'm not a big believer in Collins, but at this time, there's no clear data about him one way or the other. What can you tell from 120 sporadic plate appearances at the major league level? There are no clearly superior options in camp for a second catcher -- Lucroy didn't meet that standard -- so it's time to find out once and for all whether Collins can play.

We know the Sox will carry 13 pitchers and 12 position players. The Opening Day roster hasn't been announced yet, but let's hazard a guess:

Starting lineup:

1. Tim Anderson, SS
2. Adam Eaton, RF
   
3. Jose Abreu, 1B
4. Yoan Moncada, 3B
5. Yasmani Grandal, C
   
6. Luis Robert, CF
   
7. Collins, DH
   
8. Vaughn, LF
   
9. Nick Madrigal, 2B

Bench players: Leury Garcia IF/OF, Mercedes, C/DH and ??????.

Will it be Lamb? Infielder Danny Mendick? Maybe outfielder Billy Hamilton? I'll guess Lamb. I don't think they picked him up to send him to the alternate site. And he's likely the left-handed fallback option if Collins fails.

Blogging will resume March 29

Just wanted to drop in and point out that I'm not dead. I'm fine, I'm vaccinated, and I'm traveling to Florida next week for a vacation. 

I know the blog has been on hiatus as I tend to other priorities, but I'll resume Monday, March 29, as we get ready for the new season.

Until then, Go Sox!

White Sox will have some fans in stands when season begins

The authoritarians in charge of Illinois have come down from on high and told us it's OK for Chicago's baseball teams to host fans at 20% capacity when the season starts in April.

Effectively, that means a little more than 8,000 people will be allowed into Guaranteed Rate Field when the home portion of the White Sox schedule begins April 8 against the Kansas City Royals.

Will I be among them? I don't know so, but I hope so. I immediately emailed my ticket rep to request information, but she didn't have much for me -- which I guess is understandable because 24 hours ago, I was figuring I would need to go on the road to see the Sox in person this summer.

In any case, I later received an email from Sox marketing guru Brooks Boyer, and priority is rightfully being given to Sox season-ticket holders, with type of plan and years of seniority determining the pecking order. That's the only fair way to do it. I've had a partial season-ticket plan for the past 16 years, so I'm guessing I'll be pretty close to the front of the line after the full season-ticket holders have been accommodated.

Frankly, I have no idea how many full season-ticket holders the Sox have, and given that they have first priority, it's very possible that they will snap up all 8,000-some seats available for the first game. If that's the case, yeah, I'll be disappointed to not go, but I get it. Or maybe enough of those folks will be scared of the virus that an opportunity will fall in my hands.

I'd like to believe that I'll be able to attend at least one home game on that first homestand with the seniority I have built up. We shall see, and something is better than nothing.

Jose Abreu on cover of my March Baseball America

This came in the mail the other day, my March edition of Baseball America.

Jose Abreu is on the wraparound cover. Bet you never thought you'd see Abreu pictured next to the phrase "The Wilson Legion of Leather is here to save the day!"

Pretty awesome. At least the White Sox aren't an afterthought nationally anymore.
 

Lucas Giolito, Jose Abreu make spring debuts for White Sox

Lucas Giolito

Some notes from the White Sox-Rangers game Tuesday, which ended in a 5-5 tie after six innings:

1. Giolito pitched. After seeing the Sox use nothing but likely minor-league pitchers their first two games, staff ace Lucas Giolito got the start. He went two innings, facing seven hitters, retiring six and striking out four. He gave up a solo home run. Giolito used three pitches -- fastball, change and slider. He threw a fair number of sliders, in fact, but we did not see the 12-to-6 breaking ball he's allegedly been working on. Maybe next time.

2. Abreu played first base. Reigning American League MVP Jose Abreu is out of COVID-19 protocols, and he went 2 for 3 in his first spring appearance. He lined a two-strike single to left field in the first inning, and he also hit an RBI double to left field as part of a two-run rally in the fifth inning. 

3. Vaughn homers. Designated hitter candidate Andrew Vaughn pulled his hands in on an inside pitch and hit a three-run homer to left field in the bottom of the first inning off Texas starter Kohei Arihara. Good piece of hitting by the kid.

4. What's with all this ending innings with two outs crap? I guess you don't have to get three outs in an inning anymore. Three times in this game, the Rangers pulled their team off the field with two outs. In the second inning, the Sox had the bases loaded for Abreu, but I guess Arihara had thrown too many pitches, so the inning was declared over. The Sox also pulled their team off the field with less than three outs twice. So, out of 12 half-innings, five were not played to their completion. No wonder fans were booing. They paid money for that? I know it's spring training, but c'mon, let's play baseball.

5. La Russa hears the boos. For his part, Sox manager Tony La Russa said he took note of the fans' displeasure. “MLB is concerned about the health of the arms, and that’s why they shortened the games, and you can only have so many pitchers and players in camp,” La Russa told MLB.com's Scott Merkin. “There’s all kinds of professional reasons why it makes sense. But fans are paying to come to games. I know they were disappointed, they voiced it several times, so from the White Sox side, we’re going to do everything we can to avoid doing it.” Good. Hope so.

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At least the White Sox didn't lose Monday ...

Adam Eaton

As fans, we have to get used to the idea that these early spring games are not going to be nine-inning affairs. Major League Baseball is shortening games to limit contact and prevent COVID-19 infections during a time where results don't matter.

It took the White Sox and Los Angeles Angels two hours and 16 minutes to play five innings Monday, and honestly, that was probably enough for the second game of Cactus League ball. Did these two teams need to stand out there for four hours in what was a poorly pitched affair? Probably not.

Anyway, Monday's game ended in a 4-4 tie. The Angels got one run in the first and three more in the third to take a 4-0 lead. The Sox rallied with four runs in the fourth to force the tie.

I didn't see a single pitch, because the game was over before I got off work, which prevented me from using my free subscription to MLB.tv for the first time. Oh well. 

The good

Some of the good news, based on the box score:

1. Adam Eaton. The new (old) Sox right fielder was 1 for 1 with an RBI in three plate appearances. He was hit by a pitch in the first inning, singled in the third and tied the game at 4 with a sacrifice fly in the fourth.

2. Luis Robert. The center fielder batted leadoff and went 1 for 3. The hit was an RBI double as part of the four-run fourth inning.

3. Leury Garcia. He had a single and a walk in two plate appearances, and he added a stolen base.

The bad

Some of the bad news, based on the box score:

1. Ryan Burr. The right-hander missed all of 2020 with Tommy John surgery, and he probably doesn't figure in the Sox's Opening Day roster plans anyway. But he got shelled for three runs on three hits in the Angels' three-run third.

2. Eloy Jimenez. He was 0 for 3 with a strikeout and didn't get the ball out of the infield. Not that we're really worried about Jimenez. He'll be fine, but other than Burr, he was probably the only guy who had a rough day.

Observations from White Sox spring training opener

The White Sox opened Cactus League play with a 7-2, six-inning loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Ariz. Here are some observations:

1. Hey, fans in the stands! It didn't matter that this game was only six innings. It didn't matter that the Sox didn't pitch a single guy who has a chance of making the major-league roster. It was just good to see baseball on TV again, and most of all, it was good to see 2,000 or so fans in the stands at a Sox game. While that's a relatively sparse gathering, it sure beats zero fans. The broadcast almost felt like watching a normal spring game.

2. The second coming of Dan Wright? As noted before, the Sox trotted out pitchers whom we will likely not see at Guaranteed Rate Field at any point in 2021. Six pitchers all worked one inning. They were: Mike Wright, Jacob Lindgren, Kade McClure, Bennett Sousa, Kyle Kubat and Danny Dopico. You could be forgiven if you're not familiar with any of those guys. 

Mike Wright, a 31-year-old veteran with previous big-league time with the Baltimore Orioles and Seattle Mariners, got the start. He immediately evoked memories of erstwhile right-hander Dan Wright, who made 70 horrible appearances for the Sox from 2001 to 2004. Mike Wright had a full count on his first three batters, giving up a walk, a single and a three-run homer to Keston Hiura. Absolutely terrible pitching. Mike Wright even wore the same number as Dan Wright: 46.

3. Still hitting lefties. The Sox got their two runs in the first inning off Milwaukee starter Eric Lauer, who didn't pitch much last season. Lauer, a left-hander, was a member of the San Diego Padres starting rotation in 2018 and 2019. He gave up a leadoff single to Tim Anderson, and a two-run homer to Adam Engel. Anderson and Engel dominated left-handed pitchers last season, and they picked up where they left off. But that was about it for the Sox offense, which totaled only four hits for the game.

4. First look at Vaughn. One of the big stories in Sox camp is whether Andrew Vaughn can win the everyday job as designated hitter. The former first-round pick batted fourth in Sunday's lineup, and he went 0 for 1 with two walks. Vaughn's understanding of the strike zone and plate discipline are of major-league quality, and he showed that with those walks. In his other at-bat, Vaughn fouled out to the catcher. We know Vaughn won't swing at many bad pitches. It remains to be seen whether he can punish pitches that are in the zone.

5. Burger back on the field. Jake Burger, the Sox's first-round draft pick in 2017, hasn't played affiliated ball since his draft year. He's torn his Achilles' tendon twice, and, of course, that pesky pandemic got in everyone's way last year. But Burger got the start at third base Sunday -- Yoan Moncada served as designated hitter. Burger went 0 for 3 with two flyouts and a strikeout, but hey, just getting him on the field represents progress. He's now a long shot to make the majors, but it's hard not to pull for the guy after the horrible injury luck he's been through.

The Sox have another game Monday against the Los Angeles Angels. The next televised game is Tuesday against the Texas Rangers. That one might be a little more interesting ... because Lucas Giolito is scheduled to be the starting pitcher.