Good news: Carlos Rodon's wife was stuck in Chicago traffic.
Bad news: The White Sox need more than a starting pitcher.
Also, it remains to be seen how good the good news is. There's this ...
Worse thing about Chicago is the traffic 💀3 miles has taken 30 minutes
— Ashley Rodón (@AshleyRodon) May 30, 2018
... but it doesn't necessarily lock in Rodon for the spot currently occupied by Dylan Covey on Sunday, as Paul Sullivan said Rick Renteria wouldn't cede a likelihood.
“We still want him to get up six times, get a little higher (pitch count),” Renteria said before the game. “So we’re still discussing it. We’ll see where we’re at after the discussion.”
So he’s not in the rotation this weekend?
“Not at the moment,” Renteria said. “We’re still discussing it.”
But it’s a possibility?
“We’re still discussing it,” he repeated.
The Sox later announced Dylan Covey would start Sunday, eliminating that potential bright spot.
Then again, Sullivan said Renteria said the players weren't having a meeting, and Daryl Van Schouwen painted a different scene.
When reporters walked in after meeting with Sox manager Rick Renteria, a somewhat-animated Abreu stood at his locker, talking to about a half-dozen Spanish-speaking players.
‘‘It was about us,’’ third baseman Yolmer Sanchez, whose 446-foot homer in the ninth prevented the Sox from getting shut out, said of the meeting. ‘‘We don’t like to say what we talk about, but it was about us.
‘‘Try to stay together, that’s the most important thing. Stay together and come together. If we win, we win together; if we lose, we lose together.’’
The White Sox have the worst record in the baseball at 16-37, and this is the kind of stuff that comes along with it. The hope is that the discontent doesn't manifest itself for that long, because Renteria can misdirect so much before nobody can trust what he says.
We'll find out on Monday whether the White Sox draft an infielder. For what it's worth, Keith Law's latest mock has them taking Florida right-handed pitcher Brady Singer, even with Nick Madrigal and Alec Bohm still on the board.
Should they draft Madrigal, expect louder calls for Tim Anderson to move to the outfield. He tells Scott Merkin he could do it ...
"When you are an athlete, I can play anywhere on the field," Anderson said. "I try to sum it all up and keep it easy. It's an honor to be in any lineup. Whatever they want to do with me, I'm fine with it. As long as I'm in the lineup, that's great.
"I'm going to just keep working at shortstop, and it's going to be hard to move me off there. But you know it is what it is. Like I said, an athlete can play anywhere."
When asked how long it would take to adjust to hypothetical life as a center fielder, Anderson smiled and said it can be done in "one day."
... but I'd rather this discussion be saved for when there's an actual middle infielder knocking on the door in Charlotte. When the calls to push Anderson to center or left field happens while Eddy Alvarez is the most ready replacement in the minors, it takes me back to 2000, when people dwelt on Jose Valentin's 36 errors at shortstop instead of all the cool things he did at a premium position. That led to Royce Clayton bumping Valentin off short and batting .115 through the White Sox' first 50 games, during which they went 20-30.
The further removed I get from high school English classes, the more I'm convinced that "King Lear" was about shortstops with one glaring flaw.
How far your eyes may pierce I cannot tell.
Striving to better, oft we mar what's well.
It's good to be aware of the possibilities, but it's counterproductive to dredge it to the surface every time Anderson hits a rough patch, because shortstop is one of the few not-problems on this roster. He's on pace for a 30/30 season and walking at a league-average rate, both of which are difficult to fathom at this stage given what his game looked like last year. Why people have resigned themselves to zero improvement on the defensive side escapes me.
