In my write-up of Aaron Bummer's return to the bullpen Thursday afternoon, I'd mentioned that I had posts in mind for two other pitchers.
One of them was Carlos Rodón, and in between plotting some thoughts yesterday and fleshing them out this morning, I didn't expect him to be airlifted into a high-leverage bases-loaded situation on Thursday night.
There were no survivors.
Rodón only needed to record one out, and he had a three-run lead, but because the White Sox bullpen fears an MVP would fundamentally change the José Abreu they love, Rodón joined the effort to build José Ramírez's case instead. After Cesar Hernandez made it a one-run game with a two-run single, Ramírez doubled off the left-center wall for his third go-ahead hit of the series.
You know how a quarterback or running back will award watches, steaks, or some other fine gifts to their offensive lines to share the wealth and recognition from a big season? Abreu should open credit cards in the names of White Sox relievers and transfer some balances. Congratulations, José Ruiz, you're paying for a Blue Apron subscription.
The debate is whether Rodón should be included, because is he really a reliever? In the eyes of the box score he is, because he took the loss and the blown save, and Rodón didn't make excuses for failing to close the door. Rick Renteria certainly treated him as a reliever, asking him to put out a fire he didn't create. He thought Rodón was a decent idea because he's certainly had to fight his ways out of similar jams.
“He’s a big-league starter,” Renteria said of Rodón. “He’s been in the big leagues going on five years now. He’s handled those types of situations before. Coming off of all the preparation he’s been doing, we weren’t asking him to go through a full inning. It was just going to be trying to get the one out.”
That misses a big element. When Rodón has faced "those types of situations," it's because he's already thrown 20 or so pitches in the inning, building a knowledge of which options are(n't) working. He doesn't have any real experience coming in cold to hot zones, especially when it's his first competitive action in two months.
It was only a week ago when I was praising Renteria's work as a manager, saying he had handled the more important parts of the job with relative grace. To quote myself in order to emphasize the way he came up short here:
A manager basically has to enforce a certain level of standards, tolerate the inconsistency of young talent, AVOID PUTTING PLAYERS IN A POSITION TO FAIL WHEN BETTER OPTIONS ARE AVAILABLE, protect the well being of those he’s in charge of, and realize when he’s making the same mistakes over and over again.
This was not that. As I wrote in the post about Bummer, if he fumbled one of his first high-leverage situations in an attempt to reclaim his old role, there'd at least be something to be gained from the loss -- a better understanding of where his abilities stand before the games really count. Renteria tried to frame Rodón's foundering in a similar light ...
“We talk about situations that are going to present themselves as we move forward into the postseason,” Renteria said. “Do I want to find out then, or do I want to find out now?”
... but in a bullpen that features Alex Colomé, Codi Heuer, Garrett Crochet, Matt Foster, Bummer and presumably Evan Marshall, when is that use case for Rodón going to occur again? As I see it, if Rodón is used in the postseason, it's coming in after one of the right-handed starters barely makes it one time through a lineup. Dylan Cease, Dane Dunning and Reynaldo López are all going this weekend against the Cubs to afford Rodón one of those opportunities.
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None of the stated explanations hold water, which leads me to wonder what can't be said. There's always the matter of availability, and with just one day off between a stretch of 17 consecutive games and the postseason, it makes sense to lighten the workloads of all the critical relievers, especially since the offense isn't providing the low-leverage situations with the occasional huge outburst.
Renteria alluded to this, but it's not something he'll itemize. He's not going to say that Foster looked a little ragged after pitching three times in four days if he thought so, or that Heuer and Crochet were out after pitching on consecutive days. If he also wanted to normalize the conditions for Bummer's return -- a half-inning to warm up for a full inning ahead -- then all of the remaining options are iffy. Jimmy Cordero was already out there, and Jace Fry is likely a better option against Cesar Hernandez, but not so much against Ramírez or Carlos Santana. It still ends up being unfair to Rodón because of the experience deficit, but it's a little more explicable when viewed less as a strategy and more as a cry for help.
There's also the bigger question: What is Carlos Rodón's future with the White Sox, anyway? He can't be counted upon to be available enough to be penciled in as a top-six starter, but nobody knows what he looks like as a reliever, so maybe that's why enough people wearing White Sox pants decided that a crash course in late-inning situations was worth a shot. The game results weren't rewarding, but in terms of his pitches, he hadn't found that kind of max velocity in years.
The location wasn't great, and the slider didn't look all that intimidating, so I wouldn't say he even fought half the battle. But there's probably a reliever there if everybody can hang in there, physically and mentally. Rodón probably won't see much of a raise on the $4.45 million he's making this year, and the White Sox throw away that kind of money on a reliever every year (that's the next post). Perhaps his ill-fated outing on Thursday night was a way of committing to that tomorrow, today.
It cost them a game of a series in which they were swept. The only silver lining is that Renteria has preserved the big picture for the pitching staff. Lucas Giolito and Dallas Keuchel look ready for their starts in the first two games, and he's mindful of all key relievers being overworked. Few will want to give Renteria the benefit of the doubt. I'm still inclined to help him out in that regard because 1) it paints a fuller picture for our discussions, and 2) the White Sox don't fire managers, so it seems more useful to work with him than against him. It'd be cool if he could help me out here, and I'm sure he'd appreciate a 12-2 romp over Jon Lester that allows everybody to collect themselves.
(Photo by Larry Radloff/Icon Sportswire)
