Pregame notes: White Sox trade winds providing just a light breeze for now

A trio of National League contenders have scouts present Saturday night to watch what is probably Erick Fedde's White Sox finale. Since this Sox team has been known to be sellers since April, and we live in a digital age rather than 1995--when a similar situation might have drawn dozens of scouts--it's more scenery fitting this time of year than indication that Fedde is imminently returning to the NL East.

All anyone talks about is how the White Sox are driving a hard bargain, which will either end heroically, tragically, or shift at a crucial point in the final 24 hours before Tuesday afternoon. Or maybe all three.

-- Initial word, per sources, were that Davis Martin and reliever Fraser Ellard were traveling to Chicago to serve as a taxi squad for a team that is essentially expected to be dealing away pitching at any moment. But with Sammy Peralta pressed into throwing four innings Friday night to close out Drew Thorpe's blowup, he was optioned while Martin was added to the active roster.

Martin immediately provides another multi-inning option out of a bullpen almost entirely composed of long relievers already, but seemingly the only thing stopping Pedro Grifol from putting him in the rotation right away are the trades that would free up spots.

"There’s a good possibility," Grifol said of Martin starting. "You never know what’s going to happen here at the deadline. You never know what’s going to happen moving forward. We got [Garrett] Crochet with some workload management as well. We have a couple of young guys with workload management possibilities as well. I would almost be certain that he’s going to get a start here and there."

Martin was unscored upon in 7 2/3 innings of rehab work at Triple-A Charlotte and was progressing toward a starter-level of stamina after undergoing Tommy John surgery last May. He's a well-liked kitchen-sink right-hander who added a cutter during his rehab process to better attack lefties, and with the current state of this roster, should have plenty of runway to realize his ceiling as a back-end major league starter.

"It kind of felt like a debut all over again," Martin said of getting news of his callup from Justin Jirschele, who has been his manager for much of his minor league career. "It’s 14 months of hard work, it’s 14 months of long, sleepless nights in the Martin household. It’s a lot of work my wife and I put together to get back to this point. It just means a lot. The fact that they’re here, my son's here, it’s going to be a lot of fun to kind of live this life again." 

-- Mike Clevinger is out for the season.

The neck issue that had postponed many a bullpen and rehab assignment will require disc replacement surgery on Aug. 1. The Clevinger reunion, and the accompanying PR hit it came along with, for what the White Sox viewed as a positive clubhouse presence and reliable source of innings, ultimately produced a 6.75 ERA over 16 innings in four starts.

The six-man rotation with Clevinger just wasn't ready to live in this cruel, fickle world.

-- Recently recalled from his rehab assignment for his adductor strain, Yoán Moncada is at Camelback Ranch and is scheduled to see a doctor soon for clearance to resume baseball activities.

-- Michael Soroka (shoulder strain) and Jordan Leasure (shoulder impingement) should both begin playing catch early next week.

First pitch: White Sox vs. Mariners

TV: FOX

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