Tracking Chris Getz as he puts together his first White Sox Opening Day 26-man roster is like watching a student driver. In either case, it's best to not follow too closely.
It was just Friday that Kevin Pillar appeared to be out of the mix, as the Sox released him a few hours after signing Robbie Grossman to a minor-league deal. The sequence surprised, in that Pillar appeared to fit perfectly as right-handed relief in right field for Dominic Fletcher, and he'd performed well enough in Cactus League play.
However, Grossman offered the same right-handed production, just in a different shape (less defense, more OBP). If the Sox preferred Grossman all along and had to wait until he could accept going from a World Series champion to ... (gestures wildly) all of this ... then you couldn't necessarily blame them for the awkward order of operations.
Not 48 hours later, the White Sox reversed course. Pillar is back on the roster, and on an unspecified major-league contract. He was supposed to earn $3 million on his previous minor-league deal, so I'm curious to see whether one side benefited financially from the rigamarole. Pillar sounds like he would've rather have made the team in a more straightforward fashion...
... and now we'll have to see what Grossman's future looks like, because barring something like an Eloy Jiménez injury, there isn't room on the roster for both.
The White Sox designated Touki Toussaint to clear Pillar's spot on the 40-man roster. In the end, my Opening Day roster projection from Thursday is still wrong by at least one player, but Getz pulled the ol' rope-a-dope with regards to the individual.
Toussaint's DFA is less of a surprise because he put himself on shaky ground with an unwatchable start to his spring, walking eight batters over his first 1⅔ innings. He eventually stabilized into the erratic-but-effective-enough form, allowing just one unearned run over his last six innings, except he'd only struck out two of the 43 batters he faced.
With every team in cutting mode, perhaps the White Sox are trying to time the move for the greatest chance that Toussaint clears waivers. Then again, the Sox will have further cuts to make, because the White Sox will have further 40-man cuts to make, because Daryl Van Schouwen reported and James Fegan confirmed that Jordan Leasure will be making the Opening Day roster.
That move was on my Opening Day roster projection, because Leasure's terrific stuff was reflected by a terrific spring. Given that he's 25 and has a full flight of options remaining, they're in great shape if he sticks, and they have recourse if he doesn't.
