The White Sox bench makes a little more sense now, although that now creates questions about certain White Sox lineup decisions in the present and future.
The Sox placed Hanser Alberto on the 10-day injured list with a strained left quad, and replaced him with Adam Haseley. Since Haseley needed to be re-added to the 40-man roster, the White Sox designated Nick Solak for assignment. If Solak gets claimed, then you can sum up his White Sox career with the Grandpa Simpson GIF.
There's a little bit of symmetry, in that Haseley, whose biggest impact on the 2022 White Sox was the collision that tore Danny Mendick's ACL, replaces Alberto, whose most noteworthy contribution thus far was putting Tim Anderson in a position to sprain his MCL.
Haseley had been hitting .229/.339/.438 over 14 games at Charlotte. Cut an already small sample into its home/road splits, and the Truist Boost is even more warped:
- Home: .333/.419/.704, 4 2B, 2 HR over 31 PA
- Away: .095/.240/.095 over 31 PA
Setting aside whatever he might offer as a hitter, the presence of Haseley now gives the White Sox a defined outfielder, to go along with the defined infielder (Romy González), the bat-first guy (Jake Burger/Gavin Sheets) and the backup catcher (Seby Zavala).
Pedro Grifol resisted the luxury of an extra real outfielder by starting Sheets in left field, although since the game is delayed by rain, there's some time to change his mind.
Sheets is starting in left field because Pedro Grifol gave Andrew Benintendi the day off. Benintendi has thrown his body around a lot the last couple days, so if they agreed that he could use a breather before the Sox start a three-game series against the Phillies on Monday, I don't see a reason to question it.
I do see a reason to question Grifol's assessment of Sheets as an outfielder. Vinnie Duber relayed Grifol's lengthy defense, and I transcribed his tweet in order to highlight sentences. The sentiments I agree with are in blue, and the ones I disagree with are in red.
"I don't evaluate (the entirety of) his defense on that particular play. That can happen to anybody at any time, and I have complete confidence in him playing the outfield. I've seen that happen over and over and over again in the major leagues. It's just one play. It doesn't define who he is as a defensive player, and it definitely doesn't define what he brings to us as a player, in general. He's a big bat in the middle of the order that we're confident on both sides of the ball.
"I don't know what people think. I know what we evaluate and what we see and the work we see being down. And it doesn't mean he's going to go out there and have a great defensive game. He might not. He might make an error, he might make two. It doesn't change the fact that we have confidence in him playing the outfield. If we didn't, he wouldn't be playing out there. You can't just look at a player on one side of the ball. You look at the player for what he brings to this club and to this lineup. And he's worked out there, he feels comfortable out there, and he's a big part of today's lineup. He brings the thump that we feel like we need today to win this ballgame."
This reminds me of the way Grifol talked about Eloy Jiménez as an outfielder over the winter. He can't act as though he'll never play Sheets on grass because the White Sox only have three MLB-caliber outfielders on their depth chart, and Sheets' plate discipline and coverage makes his at-bats credible. Grifol also can't act as though Sheets' dizzy-bat defense against the Twins was an aberration. He ranked 105th out of 125 outfielders in Outs Above Average while only playing a half-season's worth of innings in the field. Throw in the fact that he's been limited to singles and walks this season, and that his best contact isn't that good, and there is a legitimate question about whether Sheets offers more thud than thump.
If Grifol had an editor, you could whittle down that answer to something a lot more palatable ...
I don't evaluate (the entirety of) his defense on that particular play, and it definitely doesn't define what he brings to us as a player, in general.
We see the work being done. And it doesn't mean he's going to go out there and have a great defensive game. He might not. He might make an error. It doesn't change the fact that we have confidence in him playing the outfield (ᶺ once in a while). You can't just look at a player on one side of the ball. You look at the player for what he brings to this club and to this lineup, and he's a big part of today's lineup.
... and since he's never had to detail such decisions to the public before, maybe this is an area where he'll improve with reps. Concision is a skill, and when it comes to the rosters the White Sox front office will hand him, he'll probably realize that the less said about them, the better.
