While September rosters only gain two spots this year, the White Sox opened the month with a transaction frenzy that would resemble any Sept. 1 B.C. (before coronavirus).
The White Sox made a whopping six roster moves in between games against the Pirates:
- Placed Tim Anderson on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain retroactive to Aug. 29
- Selected the contract of Romy González
- Reinstated Billy Hamilton from the injured list
- Recalled Gavin Sheets from Charlotte
- Recalled Matt Foster from Charlotte
- Designated Jake Lamb for assignment
The addition of González is the main attraction here. After hitting .244/.329/.364 over 101 games in Kannapolis in 2019 and losing all of 2020 to the cancellation of the minor-league season, González took an aggressive season-opening assignment to Birmingham and ran with it. Between the Barons and a recent promotion to Charlotte, González hit .275/.357/.525 with 23 homers and 22 steals over 87 games. It comes with a 27.8 percent strikeout rate, but they tend to come in bunches. He's had 11 games with at least three strikeouts this year, and 29 games without a K, including three of nine games at Triple-A.
I remember being at Regions Field in Birmingham for the Barons' first three games of the season. González went 5-for-10 with two homers and three walks, and broadcaster Curt Bloom told me that the Sox must've seen something in González, because they could've rolled with Laz Rivera at shortstop without much thought. Instead they plugged González into a position he didn't play in any of his first 155 professional games with the White Sox, and now he's an 18th-round pick who will wear a major-league uniform.
One question to be resolved is whether González is eligible for a postseason roster if he looks worthy of a spot. The deadline for postseason eligibility lapsed at midnight ET, but there appears to be potential path:
In a typical season, any player who is on the 40-man roster or 60-day injured list as of 11:59 p.m. ET on Aug. 31 is eligible for the postseason.
Those on the restricted list at that point are also eligible if they haven't been suspended for performance-enhancing drugs during that season. (All players who have served a suspension for PEDs in a given season are ineligible for postseason play that year.)
A player who doesn't meet said criteria for postseason eligibility can still be added to a team's roster in the postseason via petition to the Commissioner's Office if the player was in the organization on Aug. 31 and is replacing someone who is on the injured list and has served the minimum amount of time required for activation. (For example, a player on the 10-day injured list who has been on it for at least 10 days, or a player who has been on the 60-day injured list for at least 60 days.) Players who are acquired in September or after are ineligible.
That last paragraph theoretically means somebody like González could still work his way in. However, somebody like Carl Edwards Jr., who is reporting to Charlotte after the White Sox signed to a minor-league deal today, would not be eligible.
González has played 67 games at short in 2021, along with 12 at second base and four at third. He'll probably be first in line for MLB reps at his new primary position because Anderson is getting a proper injured list stint for an issue that's been draining playing time from him during the second half of August.
The presence of González indirectly afforded the Sox the ability to part ways with Lamb, whose ability to play third was his only distinguishing skill after the returns of Luis Robert and Eloy Jiménez crowded him out of the outfield. Brian Goodwin already gave the Sox a left-handed bat in a corner spot, and since Lamb doesn't have noteworthy splits, Tony La Russa had to generate reasons to play him.
Lamb hit .212/.321/.389 over 43 games with the Sox, but like so many other players who have passed through the roster, he timed his best stretch extremely well. His .893 OPS over 20 games from mid-may into late June allowed the White Sox to transition the DH spot away from Yermín Mercedes.
Unfortunately for Lamb, he suffered a quad strain that kept him out of action for all of July, and by the time he returned to the majors, Jiménez had already beaten him to the roster, and Robert returned a few days later. I'll always appreciate him for being the subject of one of my favorite posts this year:
PERTINENT: One smaller step for Jake Lamb, one giant leap in production
Sheets returns to the roster to take his place, because if you're going to have a career infielder faking it in the outfield, you'd at least like him to be dangerous against pitchers of a certain handedness. Sheets hit .260/.333/.558 with six homers over 87 plate appearances against righties in his first go-around with the Sox, and while he's 0-for-12 against lefties, he shouldn't see many of them, if any.
Sheets didn't show any signs of a hangover in his return to Triple-A, hitting .303/.385/.591 over 19 games for the Knights in August. The question is whether he has a better understanding of breaking balls and other low, slow stuff, which neutralized his power and forced him to settle for shift-thwarting singles.
Hamilton and Foster are the other two moves, but you already know what they're all about. Hamilton gives La Russa a second great defender in center for whenever he wants to rest Luis Robert without taking a big hit in outfield range, while Foster is a fresh arm for a bullpen that had to cover half a game on Tuesday.
One player the transaction tornado didn't touch is Lucas Giolito. It wouldn't have been surprising if the White Sox put him on the injured list for his hamstring issue in order to free up a roster spot that couldn't have been put into game action for another four-plus days, but the month is still young.
(Photo by Laura Wolff / Charlotte Knights)
