Pregame notes: White Sox deal six players at deadline, defend clubhouse, face record losing streak

Shane Riordan of 670 The Score tweeted a claim that White Sox manager Pedro Grifol addressed his team after the All-Star break and said "it's on absolutely no one but the players" if they set the record for the most losses ever in a season. Riordan also reported that batting practice and running (assuming that he means full team stretch) have been mandated.

Surprisingly, Grifol addressed the report and wound up confirming a lot of material events, but disagreeing greatly with the representation of his tone as blaming the players for the team's (very) poor results.

"Anybody that knows me, that's been around me for the last year and a half here knows that's not something I would say," Grifol said. "It doesn't really surprise me. When you're not winning games, things come out that are not true."

Grifol confirmed he did address the team after the break, and that wanting to avoid setting an all-time record did come up.

"My mentality and the way I look at things is we're all in this thing together, and I'm the first one to take blame for anything that happens on this team," Grifol said. "I'm the manager, right? And I've done that since Day 1. I did it last year. I'll do it again this year. I don't hide away from blame. Blame is what it is. I've got the position, the office, that's the chair. I would never blame our players for this season. That's not my makeup. However, I did have a meeting with the players. And I said the one thing we don't want to do as an organization is to go down in history as the worst record in baseball."

Grifol also did admit to mandating stretch and BP, albeit while leaving ample room for exemptions in case of injury or workload management, with the sport performance team's guidance weighing heavily into the latter. Ironically, Grifol said that directive was spurred by an incident earlier this season, where yours truly tweeted out a photo of the Sox clubhouse videoboard in an effort to share the day's lineup, and a chorus of people misinterpreted the meaning of a team have an optional batting practice and pre-game stretch, which was displayed alongside the lineup.

Usually, the fact that an optional BP and stretch is an opportunity for sore players to rest amid a heavy stretch of the schedule is implied, and both activities remain heavily attended. But since it was used as a lazy excuse to dunk on a team hurtling toward infamy, the Sox stopped the practice and made any exemptions something that had to be individually communicated. They also have stopped displaying the lineup, or anything, on that specific videoboard. The ignorant reaction made a lot of people's lives harder, including my own. They have another videoboard for that information, in a less public part of the clubhouse.

"We've lost 80 games, and we're talking about work and work ethic," Grifol said. "We're talking about work to improve ourselves as individuals and improve ourselves as a team. With the understanding that if there's something going on physically, you don't have to be there, and with the understanding that we can't do this every single day, that we're going to have our days off. We need to come together as a group and understand that if we do need a day off, let's talk about it and we'll have our days off, like we did in Texas, like we will tomorrow, like we've done for years and years in baseball. But the one thing I did tell them is that I want us to get out there and I want us to work together and I want us to work hard, because the one thing we cannot do in this type of season is stop working."

To round out some minutiae from the day's news, Eloy Jiménez was traded for left-handed relief prospect Trey McGough. The 26-year-old will report to Triple-A Charlotte, but with the Sox 40-man roster down to 37, it's hard to imagine he'll be down there for that long.

William Bergolla, the contact-heavy 19-year-old infielder acquired from the Phillies for Tanner Banks, has been assigned to High-A Winston-Salem. Jarold Rosario, a 21-year-old right-handed relief prospect acquired for Paul DeJong, will report to Low-A. What playoff bound team upgraded more at the deadline than the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers?

A few, admittedly, but I still like my joke.

Grifol said that Garrett Crochet (still here) should have "at least one more" start around 75 pitches in length, "and then start dwindling this thing down a little bit."

"It’s definitely a hot topic within our organization, and within that clubhouse and my office as well, and it’s really, really important, because if he’s here he’s a huge piece to this thing moving forward. You’re talking about a guy that pitched Opening Day this year and will probably pitch Opening Day next year, and it’s important for us to put him in a position to take that ball without restrictions and try to move this thing in the right direction."

Lefty reliever Fraser Ellard, residing in town on the taxi squad for a few days now, was activated as a corresponding move for the loss of Banks. Jim asked Charlotte pitching coach RC Lichtenstein about Ellard over the weekend, and Lichtenstein gave his full endorsement.

"He's been awesome," Lichtenstein said. "Early on, he hit some bumps in the road with starting the year in Triple-A and trying to put together a body of work. There was some learning-curve things that he needed to get involved with. He needed to get the slider going more, but basically since June, he's been a lockdown reliever, and he's been pitching in leverage outings with the game on the line and he's earned that just because he's got his slider going."

Indeed, Ellard has a 2.21 ERA with 28 strikeouts against 21 baserunners over 20⅓ innings, dating back to May 28. Eight of his last nine outings have been walkless.

Lenyn Sosa was recalled to take the spot of DeJong, who is already active for the Royals. Jiménez was technically replaced by the activation of Miguel Vargas, who will also DH in his White Sox debut.

"I thought the coaching staff maintained a pretty positive attitude," DeJong said in his new uniform. "It’s hard to say what the future for the White Sox is. There’s a lot of things that can happen depending on [Luis] Robert [Jr.] and Crochet, I’m not sure where they’re at in their careers. I wish them well and was thankful for them giving me this opportunity and I’ll always remember my time here."

Speaking English comfortably, the Cuban-born Vargas did not struggle to find words of what purpose being dealt to the White Sox has for his career.

"Obviously coming to play here every day is a big thing for my career," Vargas said. "I’m happy to help the organization be better in the coming years. I know the history of a lot of Cubans here so I’m excited to put the jersey on. A lot of Cuban players have been here, like Minnie Miñoso and José Abreu. For me they are good models, they represent my country. Obviously I know them. I know El Duque. I know [José] Contreras, too."

Vargas also knows Robert well from their days playing youth tournaments together in Cuba, and considers him one of his closest friends. Between that and his longtime relationship working under assistant hitting coach Mike Tosar, he has some points of comfort to cope with the transition of moving from arguably the best organization in the sport to its worst major league team.

"I feel healthy after a couple injuries last year, my main goal for this season, I’m happy to be healthy and ready to play," Vargas said. "Every player wants to be on the field every day. I wasn’t able to do it with the Dodgers. To have the opportunity is good for my career and help this team for the future, I’m very excited."

First pitch: White Sox vs. Royals

TV: NBCSCH

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