Ervin Santana officially joined the fold on Saturday, although it'll take him a couple of weeks to get up to speed. The White Sox announced his minor-league contract, which will turn into a $4.3 million deal if he can crack the 25-man roster.
Rick Hahn gave March 10 as a date where the Sox can establish Santana's shape, chances and schedule. Until then, candidates like Manny Banuelos and Dylan Covey will get a chance to gain a head start on the more veteran option.
Carson Fulmer is another one you can lump in that group, as it doesn't seem as though the White Sox have fully cemented him as a starter. After working over the winter with Driveline Baseball, he might get a chance to establish his draft-day bona fides.
All we know right now is he's back to his draft-day delivery. He pitched 1⅓ innings against the Dodgers on Saturday, and he's resumed fast-forwarding through his windup. Here's Fulmer delivering a borderline strike three to Welington Castillo, which Castillo dropped to set up Fulmer's lone walk.
It's a marked departure from Fulmer's more deliberate windup last season:
Will it work? Who knows. Fulmer's results didn't look much different. He threw a fair amount of strikes, but also struggled to get whiffs, and James Fegan said the stadium gun at him at 92-93, at least from the stretch. Fegan also relayed that Fulmer liked what he threw ...
... but Fulmer's also on record as saying he's lied to himself before while trying to maintain a positive mindset.
This isn't to say Fulmer has made another false step with another mechanical revision. It just may be a while --- maybe after spring training -- until we really know what he's working with.
For what it's worth, Fulmer looked better than Donn Roach, who couldn't make it out of the first. Jordan Stephens gave up a mighty blast to Joc Pederson on his second pitch of the game, although he came back to use his high fastball for a couple of strikeouts over his two innings.
In the other split-squad game, all five pitchers were scored upon against Oakland, although Evan Marshall was the only one to have a real rough go of it.
The first day of the Cactus League schedule isn't a time for sweeping judgments, but it's a reminder that there isn't one extra starter candidate who looks like a fine bet to beat the odds, which is where Santana comes into play.
Santana made just five starts for the Twins last year, and they weren't good ones -- he gave up 22 runs (8.03 ERA) on 31 hits over 24⅔, including nine homers.
Santana could be done. He's 36 years old, and his fastball velocity fell precipitously last year, four whole miles per hour to 88.8 mph.
Then again, he's only one year removed from 211 innings, with 16 wins and a 3.28 ERA to go along with it. One could call 2018 lost from the start, as he didn't make his debut until late July due to a series of finger problems. He had a calcium deposit removed from the middle finger of his throwing hand in February, didn't surface in the minors until late May, and didn't get back to the majors until two months later. The Twins decided to cut his season short in early September to allow Santana to get platelet-rich plasma injections.
Assuming Santana's finger issues are behind him, there's room for middle ground between the 4-WAR pitcher he was in 2017, and the fungible junk-thrower that showed up last season. If he can find that sweet spot, then he'll serve a purpose for the White Sox, who would then have the six credible starting candidates they need to avoid a complete relapse of last season's issues.
