The first and second round of White Sox spring training cuts were harmless, as the club dispatched with guys who were happy to be there but not (yet) in the plans.
The third round of cuts leaves a mark, mostly because I get the sense that the White Sox optioned Eloy Jimenez to Charlotte before he could resuscitate his spring training stats.
Jimenez did look out of sorts this spring, going 4-for-26 with a homer, two doubles, zero walks and nine strikeouts. Had Jimenez wobbled all the way through, say, the third week of March, I could understand why the White Sox wouldn't want to expose themselves to issues that stem from calling up a guy who hadn't seemed to resemble himself. But when they do it well in advance of playing time concerns, it seems like they didn't want Jimenez to get hot, forcing them to scramble for the see-through "defense" argument.
However it happened, we're a month away from no longer having to elaborate on why "7>6" fails to satisfy. Yes, the circumstances incentivize the White Sox lying to everybody and putting a product on the field that's even worse than it has to be, so they do it. They're not alone. It's just in bad faith, which isn't normally so enabled in most arenas, and it's more severe here because Jimenez could've been called up last July and accrued 200 or so plate appearances by now, which is really the heart of this specific matter. We've all been marinating in manipulation for months, and the White Sox were unwilling to convert some of it into goodwill when they came up well short of the asking prices for the big-name free agents they allegedly pursued. None of this qualifies as "entertainment."
(Side note: Tim Dierkes panned the White Sox' offseason at MLB Trade Rumors, and he used a couple of Patrick's posts to hammer points home.)
With this in mind, Astros pitcher Collin McHugh's dig was richly deserved.
The other cuts are more in line with mid-March expectations. Dylan Cease, Jordan Stephens, Jimmy Lambert and Donn Roach moved out to make room for longer innings from starting candidates. Seby Zavala and Zack Collins aren't usurping Welington Castillo and James McCann. and Luis Robert and Micker Adolfo need to ready themselves for regular playing time. Eight of the nine cuts are legit. The other one? Welp.
Oh, and while Dane Dunning isn't yet cut, another spring setback has everybody almost wanting to let Dr. James Andrews make the decision by incision.
