With Saturday's date with the Tigers in Detroit washed out, Rick Renteria used the opportunity to reorganize his rotation as the White Sox see how much Lucas Giolito's absence will hurt.
As expected, Manny Bañuelos will take Giolito's start in the rotation. He's worth a look, as he's thrown three consecutive effective innings of at least three innings, even if he's survived a bunch of walks along the way.
In a twist, though, Renteria pushed Iván Nova ahead of Ervin Santana for Tuesday's start. We'll find out from Renteria why he's giving Santana two extra days instead of one, but the two likeliest answers are 1) hoping Santana recovers extra velocity with an extra day, or 2) pure avoidance, if not some combination thereof.
Spare Parts
Danny Farquhar is currently in extended spring training with the Yankees as he tries to work his way back to the majors after a life-threatening brain aneurysm last season. Michele Steele puts the story together in a compelling fashion by talking to Farquhar, Herm Schneider, the surgeon who operated on him, and other key figures.
Aaron Judge looks like he'll be the latest Yankee to hit the shelf after straining his oblique on an opposite-field single. The Yankees' injured list can now fill out a lineup card, and would be competitive in most divisions.
Rangers reporters Levi Weaver dragged all sorts of people into a comment-thread about what it means to strike out the side. For what it's worth, I always interpreted "striking out the side" as recording all three outs by strikeout regardless of what else happens, but it loses its descriptive power with every batter that reached safely. That said, go far enough, and it has value as a tongue-in-cheek gag.
Gordon Beckham is getting one last chance to stick in the majors with the Detroit Tigers, and one last chance for a reporter to dig into where it all went wrong with the White Sox.
This story on Gregg Popovich's insane passion for wine and fine dining is the best thing I read all day. It makes you wish you could throw a wad of cash into the kitchen of a restaurant you love, but there are other ways to be generous.
