Eloy Jiménez’s status looms large for Game 2’s decisions

With the White Sox disposing of a left-handed starter after telegraphing their intentions to do just that in Game 1, they can’t count on facing another one, whether this series or the rest of the way.

Rick Renteria’s decision-making gets harder from here. It’s easy to play Adam Engel over Nomar Mazara and James McCann ahead of Edwin Encarnación, especially when he has a third catcher as a safety net. Leury García in place of Eloy Jiménez was a slightly more difficult call, since Jiménez could probably still hit after his mild foot sprain, but it made sense to allow García to knock off some rust when the rest of the lineup was in a position to cover for his struggles.

There’s less cover today with Oakland starting Chris Bassitt. He isn’t just a righty, but he’s a righty whose stuff makes life hard for right-handed hitters. It’d be great to have Jiménez back in some form with his plate coverage and power the opposite way, and Renteria is hoping for the same. We may as well use the morning to first-guess the possibilities before the lineups are revealed.

Case 1: Eloy Jiménez is 100 percent.

Preferred route: Jiménez plays left field, Engel starts in right. As for DH, Red_Hair_White_Sox pointed out in Game 1’s postgame discussion that Edwin Encarnación’s Statcast page shows he can hang in against sinkers and cutters. although if you filter out the lefties, it saps some of the enthusiasm:

• vs. LHP sinkers: .489 xBA, 1.856 xSLG
• vs. RHP sinkers: .203 xBA, .291 xSLG
• vs. LHP cutters: .586 xBA, 2.039 xSLG
• vs. RHP cutters: .242 xBA, .319 xSLG

(Small sample sizes indeed apply. He saw nine cutters from a lefty.)

I would endorse an Encarnación start if only for his batting eye and ability to make Bassitt throw strikes, especially since McCann has struggled all month. My bigger fear is that once Encarnación starts, it will be hard for Renteria to lift him for a pinch hitter in situations where a hard-throwing reliever can work him over.

Case 2: Eloy Jiménez can DH.

Preferred route: Jiménez serves as the DH, Engel plays left, and Mazara stands in right field. It’s not that Mazara is a plus, but García’s swings looked off-kilter, and it’s something I don’t expect to get better with a hand injury being the culprit. You don’t get the fun of fleet-footed outfielders all the way around like we saw in Game 1, but Mazara has plenty of experience playing in the Coliseum, and can be subbed out later if the White Sox hold a late-inning lead.

Case 3: Eloy Jiménez can’t play.

Preferred route: Ooh boy. None of these feel all that great. In order:

No. 1: The outfield from Game 1, with Encarnación at DH, assuming Renteria can bring himself to pull the guy with 424 homers against uglier matchups later.

No. 2: Engel and Mazara flanking Luis Robert left and right, with McCann as the DH in hopes that he can rediscover his opposite-field swing against a pitcher whose pitches should inspire settling for less.

No. 3: The outfield from Game 1 with Mazara at DH. I don’t think anything is lost if he’s not available to play the outfield with Dyson on the bench, although his ability to handle a corner outfield spot is what makes him useful on this roster. Filtering that out and focusing on his non-impact bat feels wasteful.

I think you save Dyson for the situations where his special set of skills can be utilized, since he’s not a better bet to outproduce García. Dallas Keuchel enjoys working with Yasmani Grandal and the numbers back him up, so I don’t think McCann should start behind the plate with Grandal DHing. Maybe Yolmer Sánchez would be the best DH with García back on the bench? That sounds like it shouldn’t be a real possibility, but here we are, and here’s hoping Jiménez can answer the bell and resume at least part of his duties.

(Photo by Nick Tre. Smith/Icon Sportswire)

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