Having spent the weekend patching and painting over beat-up paneling, I wanted to spend this morning catching up on a few story lines we've talked about recently.
Nicky Delmonico's concussion
Still progressing through the concussion protocol, Nicky Delmonico was at least available to give a first-person account of his collision with the fence that knocked him for a loop on Thursday.
The good news is that he seemed to be aware of everything, including the self-consciousness to avoid barfing, lest he turn into a meme. But safety is the first priority, especially since Delmonico says he's no stranger to the situation.
In 2013, Delmonico sustained a concussion while sliding into second base that he described as a lot worse than this one. [...]
“I remember going for the ball. I thought I caught it. I remember hitting the ground and trying to stand up and telling [Ryan] Cordell to not let me go because I was feeling dizzy. It’s not my first time with a concussion so I know everything that’s going on.”
Bullpen battles
The White Sox claimed 30-year-old lefty Josh Osich away from the Baltimore Orioles on Monday, creating a spot on the 40-man by moving Michael Kopech to the 60-day DL.
Osich's career consists of 160 appearances over four seasons with the San Francisco Giants, but each year's been tougher than that preceded it. Take out his excellent rookie year, and he's got a 5.89 ERA with 53 walks and 78 strikeouts over 91⅔ innings spanning the three subsequent seasons. He's alternated between a changeup and cutter as the secondary pitch off a 95-mph fastball.
There might be something to take from the timing of this move, as the White Sox' top three lefties have all been lit up this spring:
- Jace Fry: 3.2 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 4 BB, 2 K
- Aaron Bummer: 5.1 IP, 11 H, 9 R, 8 ER, 1 HR, 7 BB, 9 K
- Caleb Frare: 6 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 HR, 4 BB, 7 K
Frare can at least point to a scoreless inning on Monday that lowered his ERA to single digits.
I imagine Fry accomplished enough last season to give him the luxury of surviving an ugly spring training. The other two have to show that they're too good for Triple-A. On the other hand, so will Osich.
On the literal other hand, Ian Hamilton will probably have to use Charlotte to get back up to speed. A car accident delayed the start of his Cactus League action, and after one ugly outing, he's still experiencing shoulder stiffness.
Contract renewals
Hot on the heels of Blake Snell's miniscule $15,000 raise after a Cy Young season, Alex Bregman is the latest young star to express discontent with his upcoming salary.
Bregman, coming off a breakout year in 2018 in which he led the Astros in nearly every offensive category and finished fifth in the American League Most Valuable Player Award voting, said he told the team to renew him at the league minimum of $555,000 after they couldn't reach an agreement, and the Astros instead renewed him at $640,500.
"I'm just disappointed and I feel like I outperformed that last year," Bregman said. "I understand that it's a business, but I feel like good business would be wanting to make a player who performed at a high level on your team happy and want to feel like he wanted to be kept and feel like they wanted him to play here forever. I'm just disappointed it doesn't seem like the same amount of want."
The White Sox get to avoid this conversation until their prospects turn into productive pre-arb players, but it's preferable if one of them forces them to have it.
