Three updates as I catch up from an overnight outage...
Miguel Gonzalez
After years of managing shoulder inflammation and avoiding procedures, Miguel Gonzalez couldn't outrun surgery this time.
Gonzalez underwent an operation on Wednesday, with the White Sox describing it as "a labral repair and debridement on the shoulder." The Sox said recovery is nine to 12 months, but with Gonzalez being 34 and the labrum being involved, it's hard to imagine a comeback.
Gonzalez went 12-21 with a 4.39 ERA over 48 starts with the Sox, although it was a 4.01 ERA before his 12.41 ERA from three starts this year got involved.
Bruce Rondon
He was seen getting farewells from teammates in the clubhouse following his disastrous two-strikes-in-14-pitches outing against the Cardinals on Tuesday, and the White Sox made the move official on Wednesday by designated Rondon for assignment. Fellow non-roster invitee Jeanmar Gomez took his place, and Rick Renteria's request is pretty clear:
“Strikes,’’ he said. “Multiple innings. Those are the the biggest thing we’re looking for. He’s a gentleman with experience. He had a very nice spring, commanded the strike zone and his off-speed pitches were working very well.’’
If I were Gomez, I'd put "Gentleman with Experience" on the header of my résumé.
Gomez threw two scoreless outings over the last week, which is the time frame between Rondon looking like he was getting DFA'd and it actually happening. That lowered his ERA to 2.03 over 40 innings. He's somebody who relies more on unproductive contact (54 percent ground-ball rate, 21 percent strikeout rate), and he's only had one clean outing over his last 12, but he gives Renteria a competent veteran righty that the bullpen had missed since Danny Farquhar was hospitalized.
Carlos Rodon
It's a beautiful thing when Rodon has his putaway slider. It's even more beautiful when he doesn't have to throw it.
Thanks to fastball command that set up favorable counts and a changeup that got weak contact, Rodon didn't face the kind of baserunner traffic that forced him to go for the kill on Wednesday. Even then, he struck out seven over 7⅓ innings, just because he could.
It could've been eight innings had Yoan Moncada been able to glove a likely double-play ball, and Rodon wasn't happy with the way he walked the next batter on four pitches to end his game. While he couldn't pitch over Moncada's mistake, he talked over it after the game:
“Look, it’s not an easy play,” said Rodón, who tapped Moncada on the chest forgivingly as he left the mound with the bases loaded in the eighth. “He was kind of shaded over to pull on Wong. Ball up the middle to his backhand, and it would’ve been a tough ball to turn, especially on Wong, good runner. Ball was hit hard. Those things happen often. It’s my job to pick those guys up.”
