By and large, the White Sox made it through Cactus League play and their two exhibition games against the Arizona Diamondbacks in good health, so they can check off the first goal of the season.
The Sox unveiled their 2019 Opening Day roster this evening, and of the players who were likely to be listed at the start of spring training, Jon Jay is the only one who couldn't make it to Opening Day. He'll start the season on the injured list with what the White Sox are calling a right hip strain.
Even then, Jay's injury is beneficial for the time being, as the Sox needed somebody to shelve in order to call up Eloy Jimenez before the otherwise-mandated post-option 10-day waiting period. We'll only find out whether Jay and the Sox are truly set back a couple of weekends from now.
Dane Dunning's Tommy John surgery aside -- and that was more of a 2018 injury -- the White Sox come out of the spring in much better shape than last year. If they needed any further reminder of their good fortune, the opposition offered it on Monday. Diamondbacks outfielder Steven Souza Jr. destroyed his knee in the first of the two exhibition games when he slipped on home plate scoring a run.
This video provides the slightest hint about how much pain Souza suffered:
So yeah, if Jay's cranky hip is the biggest health issue the White Sox' major-league club carries into the season, they can consider themselves quite fortunate.
The White Sox had unofficially announced their bullpen over the weekend, but now they've filled out the rest. The one surprise is Ryan Cordell, who made the cut by process of elimination. Nicky Delmonico was optioned and can't be called up to the Sox for 10 days unless another injury arises, which leaves Cordell as the only other active position player on the 40-man roster.
Looking at the changes to the Opening Day squads year over year...
Pitchers
| 2019 | 2018 |
| Carlos Rodon | James Shields |
| Reynaldo Lopez | Reynaldo Lopez |
| Lucas Giolito | Lucas Giolito |
| Ivan Nova | Miguel Gonzalez |
| Carson Fulmer | |
| Manny Banuelos | Hector Santiago |
| Caleb Frare | Aaron Bummer |
| Jace Fry | Luis Avilan |
| Ryan Burr | Gregory Infante |
| Dylan Covey | Danny Farquhar |
| Nate Jones | Nate Jones |
| Kelvin Herrera | Juan Minaya |
| Alex Colome | Joakim Soria |
Only three pitchers from the last Opening Day made it to this one, and mostly for good reasons. A healthy Carlos Rodon makes a big difference on the complexion of the rotation, assuming he's also the effective version of Rodon, and not the guy who got whaled on by lefties in September. Ervin Santana figures to fill in the blank spot next to Fulmer when the first fifth starter turn comes around on April 10.
The bullpen is also a lot deeper than it used to be. I'm not convinced this particular mix of relievers will last the month, but Ricks Hahn and Renteria should be able to find a working combination by mid-May.
Position players
| 2019 | 2018 |
| Welington Castillo | Welington Castillo |
| Jose Abreu | Jose Abreu |
| Yoan Moncada | Yoan Moncada |
| Yolmer Sanchez | Yolmer Sanchez |
| Tim Anderson | Tim Anderson |
| Eloy Jimenez | Nicky Delmonico |
| Adam Engel | Adam Engel |
| Daniel Palka | Avisail Garcia |
| Yonder Alonso | Matt Davidson |
| James McCann | Omar Narvaez |
| Leury Garcia | Leury Garcia |
| Jose Rondon | Tyler Saladino |
| Ryan Cordell |
The presumptive White Sox starting nine looks awfully familiar, and we've seen plenty of McCann over the years. Only Jimenez and Alonso offer true year-over-year mysteries.
Cordell has about a fortnight to make me regret leaving him off my top 40 most essential White Sox list, because the Sox will likely cut the Cord when they need Santana to start.
As for Jay, I imagine he'll need a rehab stint to make up for missing the last 11 days of spring training, giving the Sox a little more time to weigh cutting their bullpen down to seven, demoting Palka or attempting to outright Rondon later in April. Unless all relievers are running on fumes at that point, I'd start there.
