There is no question that the White Sox are playing boring baseball. The question is whether the White Sox are exercising their right to play boring baseball, or whether boring baseball is the result of forces being thrust upon them.
Both could be true, but there's a limited utility in talking about it since the latter has greater force. Theoretically, Tony La Russa never has to play Danny Mendick, but if the choice is between Mendick and a Yoán Moncada whose wrist can flare up when he swings right-handed, a flat performance can be the result no matter La Russa's course of action.
We'll get a good idea of where the White Sox stand on the spectrum this weekend when the White Sox regain their rotation. La Russa unofficially announced the returns of Lucas Giolito and Lance Lynn from the injured list, although corresponding roster moves will have to be made before they're official. Here's the vision La Russa stated before Thursday's game:
"I thought it was kind of ironic, after four months, we kept getting beat up with injuries and we always had our pitching. And here it is in September, and we've had three starters, ... each guy has had his injury or whatever the problem was," La Russa said. "Gio, ... throwing the ball great, I think he will pitch Tuesday. Lance is feeling improved. All of a sudden, the rotation against Boston is Carlos, Dylan (Cease) and Lance. Then you go into the Angels, and it's Gio.
"I like our chances of being the team we're supposed to be."
As we've seen with Carlos Rodón, there's a difference between getting a pitcher off the injured list and getting him back. Rodón returned from his shoulder fatigue and threw a couple of decent five-inning outings, but without the kind of power that made him an All-Star during the first half of the season. Then he needed another break.
Rodón summed up the state of affairs:
"Sometimes I just need a little more time," Rodón said Thursday. "I think it's smarter to go out there at pretty close to 100 percent than feeling something that could cause something else.
"The staff's been great with trying to get me rest, and it's much appreciated on my end. It's been a while. Last year, I threw 11 innings. The year before, I don't know, I threw around 30. It's kind of my body just getting used to it. But I have to go out there and make these last starts. I want to be ready for that postseason push."
The White Sox have designed Rodón's season around having him there at the end, with 15 of his 21 starts coming on extra rest, but they're still left to play it by ear with fingers crossed in September.
I'm a little more optimistic about Giolito and Lynn. The former has at least one mild hamstring issue in the past as a reference point for his optimism, and Tony La Russa wouldn't guarantee that Giolito's stay on the IL would be minimal. Lynn's IL stay preceded everything, and it seemed mostly voluntary at a time where they had four healthy starters and a Reynaldo López doing a fine job at filling gaps.
The absent starters are only part of the White Sox's problems, especially given the offense's struggles in Oakland, where the foul ball that struck Eloy Jiménez's leg was compounded by Moncada's wrist issue, Tim Anderson's vague leg, and Adam Engel's persistent lower-body limitations. That said, we've seen a full-strength White Sox rotation paper over similarly compromised lineups and an even worse bullpen, so it's getting the priority regardless of the competence shown by López and Jimmy Lambert.
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Think back to a few weeks ago, when we talked about the White Sox fighting that filler feeling, and how the length of the 162-game season affords times for lulls and redundancy. Cleveland's steadfast refusal to make a dent in the White Sox's lead despite the stasis adds to the lack of gravity. The White Sox are 26-25 in the second half, and that's been good enough to extend their lead from eight games to 10.
It seems like the White Sox can't afford to let this linger for too long, but how much of that is boredom talking? I'm inclined to indulge the ennui, just because the Yankees seem like a living, breathing example of dangers of demanding more interesting times. They went from winning 13 in a row to losing 10 of 12, including a four-game sweep by the Blue Jays in the Bronx during which the Yankees never led.
And this is while they have to be trying.
The White Sox have the luxury of being purposefully flat, and I don't mind seeing them use it. I also can't work myself into fearing a dangerous side effect, because it seems like you can engineer a neat story for any early October exit.
If the White Sox get swept in the ALDS while resting everybody, they were taking the season for granted and lulled themselves into a state of complacency. But if the White Sox get swept in the ALDS because they tried to play guys through injuries, then they didn't have their priorities in order. And if the White Sox are somehow able to integrate their injured players back into the lineup in such a fashion that they look like they're back to peak form, they could still get swept.
This is why the concept of a horse race is such a popular metaphor inside and outside sports. "Simply maximize your effort all of the time" isn't a realistic demand, so the focus turns to resource management, which is a much richer subject. This is also why I prefer regular-season baseball to the tournament that comes after, because I'd rather my dissatisfaction have a substantial sample size showing I should've known better, rather than having everything come down to four games that went awry.
I suppose that makes agency the theme of today's post. The White Sox only have theirs for a couple weeks longer, so I see why they might be willing to embrace it before randomness regains its hold.
(Photo by Denny Medley/USA TODAY Sports)
