Mike Clevinger seemed to have avoided the worst-case scenario when he departed the White Sox-Mariners game on June 14 with biceps soreness, because just like forearm tightness can signal an elbow issue, biceps pain often stems from a shoulder problem, particularly with the rotator cuff.
Still, even one of the better outcomes will still result in him missing a month. He went on the injured list with right biceps inflammation the next day, and Pedro Grifol said before Sunday's game that a return before the All-Star break doesn't appear to be in the cards:
The way Grifol spoke it sounds like [Liam] Hendriks is a definite “no” to return before the break as he deals with right elbow inflammation. Clevinger’s return is a little more up in the air as he works through a biceps injury.
“He’s a starter, you know?” Grifol said. “So he’s not coming back for one inning. We’ve just gotta make sure, we’ve gotta build him up. So that one’s a little harder to tell.”
With no obvious sixth starter, this could've very well slid into disaster, and that still can't be ruled out. But one benefit of having no obvious replacement candidates is that it forces a manager to practice his improvisational skills.
That's something Rick Renteria was averse to doing, and it cost him when a shortage of starting pitchers forced him to scramble during the 2020 Wild Card series in Oakland. Tony La Russa didn't really have to think about it. In 2021, he had four starters make at least 28 starts, and Carlos Rodón made 24. In 2022, Vince Velasquez and Davis Martin and Johnny Cueto represented feasible options for spot starts or better.
This time around, Martin's Tommy John surgery took him out of play before he was needed for sixth-starting duties, and Sean Burke hasn't been right all year, so the White Sox have been forced to scramble.
So far, Grifol's used two different methods for the two starts Clevinger's missed to get a decent line of production in his place.
June 19: 9 IP, 12 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 10 K,
With everybody available after an off day, Grifol used Tanner Banks as long as he could go, and then covered the remaining 5⅓ innings with typical reliever deployment -- NIck Padilla, Jesse Scholtens, Aaron Bummer, Joe Kelly and Kendall Graveman the rest of the way. They lost, but only because they could only score two runs against Andrew Heaney and the Rangers bullpen.
Sunday: 9 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 10
Grifol didn't have to use Banks between turns, so Banks once again got a shot to go as long as he could. But when the pitches started piling up after an easy first inning, Grifol switched to the standard opener arrangement, in which Scholtens stepped up as the Bulk Boy with four scoreless innings. The two of them covered 6⅔ combined, after which Aaron Bummer finished the seventh and eighth, with Keynan Middleton pitching a clean ninth for his second save.
Provided the rest of the rotation doesn't deliver a string of duds that compromises the options for Day 5, Grifol has some wiggle room for solving this particular problem. Banks, Scholtens and Touki Touissant give him swingman options who can go as long as their efficiency and effectiveness allow them to. On the other side of the line score, Grifol's flexibility with the closer role has made the appearance by somebody who isn't Kendall Graveman normal enough to not immediately raise alarm.
(Side note: The White Sox have six different players with at least one save, but that doesn't even put them in the top five. The Yankees lead the way with eight, and the Reds, Phillies, Giants and Rays are tied with seven. All those teams are above .500, so it seems like MLB teams are finally gaining some freedom from the tyranny of the closer.)
Grifol hasn't done a perfect job with the pitching staff -- he seems to want 100 pitches out of Lance Lynn no matter what, and believes Reynaldo López and Aaron Bummer to be better than they've shown -- but he's shown some comfort in situations that historically made a lot of managers uncomfortable, and that's probably the best argument yet with regards to his staying power. He still has to contend with an offense that can't get enough guys on base to regularly cover for any pitching shortcomings, but one disaster area is better than two. That's what resulted in the White Sox of April, as opposed to what we're seeing in May and June.
In other White Sox roster news
José Rodríguez's first cup of coffee came and went without a plate appearance. The White Sox optioned him to Charlotte while recalling Adam Haseley, although it's hard to see how Haseley will be more useful, unless this foreshadows some outfielder health issues that we haven't yet learned about.
Obviously Rodríguez wasn't needed, and Haseley certainly provides center-field depth behind Luis Robert Jr. that Clint Frazier doesn't. But the White Sox called up Rodríguez because it wasn't clear what Tim Anderson would be able to contribute around his shoulder problem, Anderson really hasn't done anything to answer that question.
