Rick Renteria's handling of Yoan Moncada's "upper back tightness" progressed out of explicable territory and into the realm of the troublesome on Tuesday.
When Moncada missed the first two games of the Yankees series, the Sox faced a lefty starter each time, so no big deal. When he missed the third game on Saturday before starting (and departing) the finale on Sunday, I thought Renteria might've wanted to know whether Moncada could withstand the rigors of a game one way or the other so he wouldn't have a short bench for a National League series. The start would set back how far the Sox could retroactively place him on the injured list, but sometimes you want to see if a player can tough it out. That's a reasonable risk where something can be learned either way, the equivalent of leaving in a young pitcher maybe one batter too long.
Forget batters -- Renteria is now stretching that metaphor to three innings and a pitch count of 175. Even though Moncada left Sunday's game midway through looking just as uncomfortable as he did the week before, Renteria said, "All indications are he should be ready to go on Tuesday." And when Renteria left Moncada out of the lineup on Tuesday, Renteria said that he expected Moncada to be ready to go today.
Compounding the heavy overtones of denial, Moncada said that his back problems only affected his right-handed swing, and he reinforced that notion with his feeble attempt at hitting against Cole Hamels after Moncada was double-switched into the game. He showed bunt three times, ineffectively attempted bunting twice, and struck out looking. He technically took Iván Nova's place in the lineup, but you would've never known the difference from the game log.
AND YET:
"Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?"
The only thing thing that makes this Moncada misdirection easier to explain -- but not any easier to justify overall -- is Leury García's own obstacle. If García were 100 percent, then you could solve the roster rather easily, even without freeing up a 40-man spot for Danny Mendick. Assuming Jon Jay is ready -- and he departed Tuesday's game in Charlotte midway through -- you can plug him into the outfield and free up García for utility infielder duty.
But García is running poorly himself, which he emphasized twice over on Tuesday. First, he split the right-center gap with a line drive tailor-made for a triple. You know the kind -- it's not smoked, which entices the outfielders to take a shallower angle, only for both to see that it's going to roll juuuuuuust short of the wall. It should've been a stand-up triple, but García pulled into second with a stand-up double as the ball came in.
García bum wheel became even more noticeable in the eighth, when Kris Bryant hit a fly ball so routine that he didn't bother running it out. García was positioned deep, but the ball had enough hang time to allow him to close the gap. Alas, García never found that gear, he couldn't take charge, and the ball between a trio of upright Sox. Bryant would've had a double had he not taken the out for granted, and that fortunately kept a 5-6-3 double play intact, which Moncada's body allowed him to start.
García's quest to gut through his injury is easier to understand, if only because he's on the cusp of proving he's a possible Plan A for center field if only his body would allow him to play more than 87 games in a season. Unlike Moncada, he's also theoretically able to perform all baseball functions, even if not at full speed. If this were the only issue hampering the Sox' 25-man roster, Renteria's explanation might be taken more or less in stride:
“These guys are playing every single day,” Renteria said of García, keeping things vague. “Sometimes they’re not going to be moving at the crispness of speed. He’s doing everything he can to keep himself in the lineup and continues to play as well as he can.”
Handling Moncada's injury the way he is, it casts major doubt on his ability to evaluate any player's condition. That's what sank Ron Gardenhire's career in Minnesota, and that's what's making a mockery of Mickey Callaway in Queens right now.
Maybe the White Sox will survive a short bench and Moncada will prove himself 100 percent by the weekend's series against Texas, thus somewhat justifying Renteria's bizarre stance. As it stands, we can only judge this situation from Moncada's availability, his words, and his actions when on the field, and there's nothing backing up Renteria's version of the events. This a story you'd see coming out of the New York Mets clubhouse, which is probably the worst thing you can say about a team at the moment.
For one day, Jiménez erased the slate with a homer that will live on in crosstown lore, as A.J. Pierzynski, Carlos Lee and Jose Valentin can attest. Today brings another lefty starter, however, and thus another way for these injuries to surface. We're on Day 6 of wondering if Moncada's back is getting any better, and at least Day 3 of wondering whether Renteria is the reason it isn't.
