Bad health luck has defined Dylan Covey's career than anything else to date, but he might have finally caught a break.
Covey threw a bullpen session on Tuesday after leaving his last start early with a hip/groin issue, and Rick Renteria described him as "100 percent," so he's still penciled in to make his next start on schedule Friday.
"I don't know exactly what it was," Covey said. "We didn't get any tests done but all the manual tests they did said my strength is good. Just probably like a cramp or something like that that was lingering a little bit. I was feeling it on the mound, so definitely thinking about it.
"If something doesn't feel right on the mound, I'm aware of it, and it's probably a good thing to get me out of there when they did before anything more serious happened to it. It's definitely relieving. I feel good today enough to throw a side and get after it a little bit."
That'll shelve the Michael Kopech discussions for another week. Kopech bounced back from three worrisome starts to deliver a more classic line -- four hits, two walks, nine strikeouts over six scoreless innings. He did so mainly on the strength of his fastball, though, so the conversation is back to, "Is his arsenal developed enough?" While that's annoying, it's better than the previous question, "Is something wrong?"
This is also a point of evidence to not read anything into Covey's voice when he's discussing something less than fun.
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The metrics have liked Avisail Garcia's defense more than fans have over the last two years -- or at least 2016, because everybody felt OK about his All-Star breakout last season. They're back to being cool on him this year, although 20 games isn't nearly enough of a sample to determine anything.
I've settled on "inelegant, but not a liability," and when you see Daniel Palka crashing around right field in his absence, it makes Garcia's brand of fly-tracking a little easier to appreciate.
One of Palka's more notable misplays happened back on May 4, when a Joe Mauer drive in his direction turned him around, and he couldn't even come close to getting a glove on it.
And here's Garcia in the fifth inning on Tuesday, dealing with basically the same exact drive off Mauer's bat.
Garcia didn't take a straight line to the ball, but his conservative approach minimized spinning in the event he underestimated the slice off the bat. In the end, the arc of his route bent toward justice.
A run scored on that catch, but considering the Twins had runners on first and third with nobody out and a run already home, that play might've bought Reynaldo Lopez an extra inning. Even if Palka's reads had improved over his time as the primary starter in right field, I wouldn't have liked his chances.
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Jose Abreu has a healthy lead at first base in the American League All-Star balloting, holding a 318,000-vote advantage over fellow Cuban Yuli Gurriel.
Balloting ends on July 5, and maybe that can't come soon enough. For one, the White Sox haven't had a position player voted a starter since Frank Thomas in 1996. He's also in the middle of a career-worst month, hitting .208/.245/.354 with just four walks to 21 strikeouts over 102 plate appearances.
When Abreu was asked about the All-Star vote totals, he opted for the self-effacing response.
“The fans know me better now,’’ he said. “I’m also realistic. Miguel is not playing, and Eric Hosmer is now playing in the National League. I’m happy, but maybe that’s why.’’
But he was hitting .290 when the vote totals first came out, and now he's hitting .269. Is he scared of success? You be the judge.
