Spare Parts: White Sox reconfigure rotation
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.
Author
Is there a player who better symbolizes the frustration of being a Sox fan than Gordon Beckham?
I don’t think so. But Adam Dunn and Carson Fulmer probably belong in the discussion.
Another spare part:
Greenberg in the Sun-Times had an interesting writeup on “psychic” Steve Stone
https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/steve-stone-white-sox-psychic-2019/
That quote from Benetti is great. “I have no idea what haunts his soul, lives in his brain.”
Cool read. Thanks
If Greg Popovich decided on a whim he’d like to manage a baseball team, and the White Sox did their weird thing and hired him, I can’t say I’d be mad about it at all.
Looking forward to a Manny Bañuelos start. So far there have been extra walks, but fewer hits. If he could establish himself as reliable starting option, that would take the pressure off the kids coming up this year and next. Plus I like a lefty starter.
Man the Farquhar story gets me every time it gets brought back to mind. What a warrior.
Of all the times for Jerry to not be loyal he picks this one. Would have cost him pennies to do what the Yankees did.
I wonder if the Sox just think it’s not a good idea for him to play anymore. Completely different situation, but reminds me of the DNA test thing with Eddy Curry.
Reading the article, sounded like some teams had that general sense. Also wonder if that is where the Sox came down on things.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/04/yankees-rumors-gio-gonzalez-fires-scott-boras-expected-opt-out.html
Gio’s exercising his opt-out. I’m guessing we only have increasing amounts of Toasted Ervin to watch, but hey
300,000 per start on top of 3 million…. if he’s fine and starts 25 games. That’s 10 million plus. No wonder the Yankees are passing.