The White Sox would have been perfectly content with an early postponement of Wednesday's rubber match with the Braves, but MLB's reluctance to schedule a return trip to Chicago for the Braves held out until 12:36pm.
Now that a makeup date for June 27 has been settled upon--right after a three-game set against the Dodgers--the White Sox grand design looks a bit more sensible than a bullpen game fronted by Dominic Leone against one of the most fearsome offenses in the sport, right before seven straight games on the road.
The postponement allows the Sox to stay on rotation in Kansas City this weekend, beginning with Michael Soroka on Thursday, and also kicks the can down the road on the 40-man roster move and purge of a bullpen contributor necessary for adding a fifth starter. Relatedly, Nick Nastrini is making his season debut at Triple-A Charlotte on Wednesday night.
Brad Keller has been ramping up in Arizona to be a rotation option, and the signing of Mike Clevinger is likely to become official on Thursday. Neither would figure to be a rotation option immediately, and if the Sox play out their games as scheduled, Nastrini would be ready for the next open turn. However, the AL Central weather that intervened before we got to watch a Leone vs. Spencer Strider showdown could also be waiting for the Sox in Cleveland.
If another postponement pushes back the need for a fifth starter, not only would the Sox get to maintain a nine-man pen, but an astute observer would note that there would be less than 172 days left in the season and Nastrini would no longer be set up to accumulate a full year of major league service time.
Your daily Eloy
White Sox manager Pedro Grifol said his starting designated hitter was able to do some running on Wednesday, and that his progress in recovering from an adductor strain lends hope to the idea that Eloy Jiménez could play in Kansas City.
"We have to go on what he’s feeling and what our doctors are saying and what our trainers are saying," Grifol said. "If we feel that he can get back before the 10 days, then that’s what it is. That’s why we have these people. We trust our doctors, we trust our trainers, we trust our strength-and-conditioning guys, we trust Eloy. When everybody gets together, which we do, and that’s what we come up with, then that’s what we go with."
Gavin Sheets remains the primary DH -- albeit needing a platoon partner -- while Jiménez is sidelined.
Lee's swing and ringtone
Now that the season has started, Korey Lee's boffo spring is history and he's simply 1-for-4 on the year with a long homer and a strikeout. He's certainly not guilty of overselling the significance of his offseason swing changes, even if the early signs are encouraging. The scouting rap on Lee previously is that he wielded above-average pull side power but was vulnerable on the outer half. The likely adjustment is something that allows him to protect out there well enough to stay alive for the heater that creeps into his kitchen, and Lee's general description didn't contradict with that.
"Just sticking with my strengths and hitting the pitch where it's given to me," Lee said. "It's on the outer half, going with it. If it's on the inner half, turning and burning. Keeping everything really, really simple. I think that's a good plan. People try to complicate things and I'm a simple guy. Having that simple approach leads to success and that's what we're seeing right now."
Lee didn't wind up having to navigate a bullpen game against the Braves after all, but he had been planning to go over the attack plan with Martín Maldonado. The two have been partners in the veteran catcher-potential future starter dynamic dating back to their Astros years, to the point where Lee has to shape his phone notifications around Maldonado. After pitching coach Ethan Katz mentioned that Maldonado often calls him at 7:30 a.m. to go over things, I wondered if Maldonado had ever woken Lee up for a check-in.
"Yeah," Lee confirmed. "I always keep my phone on loud just so I can talk to him, because everything he says is really beneficial."
Soroka's sinking sinker usage
Soroka worked all spring to re-establish a reliable sinker out of his new three-quarters arm slot. While he felt good with his once signature pitch in the later innings of his debut, he's not intending to return to the day of throwing 60 percent heaters and waiting for the ground balls to pile up. Both Soroka and Katz are expecting to find success through increasing his use of off-speed in the zone, which the righty feels was where his game was already trending before his injury.
"If you look at my best games in the '19, I didn't throw my sinker that much," Soroka said. "Everybody kinda assumes that's how it was, but those were the games that I got beat, when that usage creeped up there. My game in the NLDS against the Cardinals, it was a real steady mix of both my fastballs, tons of breaking balls and changeups. That's always been my game's been at its best."
The Grossman is nigh
Maybe this isn't the most shocking thing to read about a guy who homered twice in his team debut, but a scout in attendance at Charlotte Tuesday night suggested Robbie Grossman looked big league ready and was clearly the best hitter in a Knights lineup that was otherwise pedestrian, with Colson Montgomery still feeling his way out early at Triple-A.
Grifol talked up Grossman as a switch-hitter, rather than just a right-handed platoon option, when asked about him on Tuesday. Grifol's starting DH is currently sidelined, so he's not in a position to wall off paths to Grossman at-bats anyway.
"Our communication will be on point when it comes to the point that we feel he’s ready, and he feels he’s ready to come up." Grifol said.
