The last two times the White Sox climbed over .500 were the last two times that the White Sox used Joe Kelly, Kendall Graveman and Liam Hendriks in successive order.
Those games came two months apart.
The one on May 25 didn't work as planned -- Graveman had to finish Aaron Bummer's seventh, and Hendriks had to finish Kelly's eighth because Kelly pulled his hamstring while recording the second out of the inning. Hendriks then finished the four-out save and the White Sox improved to 22-21, only to spend the following two months bumping their heads against the break-even mark.
The White Sox got back over .500 with the same game plan on Tuesday, with Hendriks being the one to stumble. He gave up a leadoff homer that halved the lead, then labored to record three outs, but the combination still got the job done.
Then Tony La Russa tried to use Kelly and Graveman on consecutive days in the back half of the two-game set at Coors Field, and the wheels came off. Kelly departed early because the nerve issue in his bicep resurfaced and he lost feeling in his fingers. He said after the game that they were able to restore sensation and it shouldn't result in any missed time, but it's evidence as to why the Kelly wasn't allowed to pitch on back-to-back days until this month.
The White Sox had also shielded Graveman from such situations whenever possible, not because of a specific health reason, but because he doesn't seem to be good at it. Half the runs and nearly half the walks he's allowed all season have come on his second consecutive day of pitching:
| Situation | G | IP | H | R/ER | BB | K | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rest | 33 | 34.1 | 34 | 10/7 | 9 | 29 | 1.83 |
| No rest | 10 | 9.1 | 11 | 9/7 | 8 | 15 | 6.75 |
I've already written a couple times this season about the way Rick Hahn directed his boat toward the waterfall of diminishing returns from overinvesting in the bullpen, so I'm wary of belaboring the point. (That's a lie -- belaboring is one of my favorite hobbies, followed by relitigating.)
But I'm also raising the topic because I don't particularly care to see Rick Hahn try to throw more resources at the money pit of imported high-leverage solutions by winning a bidding war for somebody like David Robertson. Hendriks, Graveman, Kelly $28 million this season, and each one was supposed to provide a layer of insurance for the one who came before. Instead, the bullpen still isn't stable, and I don't see $35 million or whatever solving what $28 million couldn't.
I'm not opposed to Hahn adding a reliever, but I'd rather see it be along the acquisition cost of a Ryan Tepera instead of a Craig Kimbrel. Based on last year's results, it sounds like I'm saying "Hahn should get a cheap reliever who overachieves," and sure, but it's more that I'd support Hahn adding a credible medium-leverage guy for an unremarkable prospect, and hope that the natural volatility of bullpens swings in his favor, because trying to build a team backward has left too much to chance. Whatever real resources the White Sox have should be directed toward the players who pad margins over the first six innings, because that's probably the best way to prevent overusage of the Hendrikses, Kellies and Gravemen from here on out.
