Pregame Notes: Lingering injuries and stinging quotes

Another year, another voyage to the visitor's dugout to see a former White Sox mainstay looking content in a Red Sox uniform, and after 121 losses, it's pretty easy for Garrett Crochet to see it as moving a level up or two.

"Last year with the White Sox, we weren’t expecting to make the playoffs," Crochet said. "Everyone in the locker room was hoping to make the roster. This year we have bigger aspirations. The sense of urgency was greater in camp. The sense of veteran presence to your left and right wherever you were in the clubhouse was pretty huge, and just guys that have been there before.We went out and got [Alex] Bregman, [Rafael Devers] has won a World Series. [Walker] Buehler has won a World Series. It felt like it was the big leagues, you know?"

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Luis Robert Jr. is 6-for-39 with one extra-base hit (a double from the opening series) on the season. It's a cold enough start for him to address it in a media scrum, but he doesn't think making a lot of it is necessarily going to help his process.

"I know that I am a fundamental piece in this team in this offense and I know that when I’m doing good, I’m helping the team and the team looks better," Robert said via interpreter. "Sometimes I feel like I’m having a good at-bat. Sometimes I make good contact, but the ball doesn’t drop. And sometimes, you don’t get results and you start tweaking stuff you shouldn’t. Just trying to figure it out."

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Chase Meidroth is here and Chris Getz said he will play regularly, but move between different spots on the infield, but mostly stay up the middle. Meidroth seems happy enough to face his old team for his debut, and has his parents, an aunt, an uncle and a few friends coming in to see him. He can't keep track of them, or too many of the well-wishes, because he decided to turn his phone off when he reached his hotel here in Chicago. He's focused on the game, in case you hadn't picked up the gist.

"I haven’t even looked yet," Meidroth said. "I’m grateful for my agent to take care of my family and stuff.

Meidroth said he put some emphasis on working the pull-side more en route to his .267/.450/.600 start at Charlotte. Getz said their post-spring message to him was about not letting early count opportunities pass him by in the name of working the count.

There's room for both!

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Let's get through the rest of this rapid-fire since so many of you are just skipping to the gamethread anyway.

--Mike Tauchman has a Grade 2 hamstring strain. Getz said he will be out for "a couple of weeks." There were almost three weeks between Tauchman's mild strain from spring and his first regular season appearance, so maybe it will be more than a couple.

--There wasn't as much specificity for Korey Lee beyond that he has a left ankle sprain and that it will "take a little bit of time," which is usually executive speak for multiple weeks. Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero were not really considered as options to replace Lee this early in the season, per Getz. A more specific timeline is expected after a couple days of treatment.

What's that sound I hear piercing through the cold blackness of the darkest night? It's just the howl of The Narv Dog.

--Fraser Ellard was placed on the injured list with a strained right hamstring while Brandon Eisert was recalled. Ellard is also expected to miss "a couple of weeks." We got that notes piece out just in time.

--Brandon Drury has been playing in extended spring training and is expected to get sent to Triple-A Charlotte soon. Getz didn't commit to him batting cleanup the moment he's up to speed or anything, but did say if Drury is "doing what he was doing in spring training, he'll be in strong consideration to join the team."

--Bryan Ramos also played an extended spring training game on Friday, and most encouragingly, his elbow was well enough for him to play third base. It sounds like he's earlier in the ramp-up process than Drury. UPDATE: No it doesn't: Ramos has been reinstated from the IL and sent to Triple-A Charlotte.

--Josh Rojas still doesn't have a timeline for the hairline fracture in his right toe, suffered on March 15. The Sox have pivoted to saying it's an injury that needs to fully heal before Rojas can play, and Getz said that would require four weeks. He doesn't have an official timeline yet, but will inevitably need a rehab assignment or two.

UPDATE: Austin Slater was scratched shortly before first pitch.

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A White Sox spokesperson clarified that a CNBC chart of team ownership across the league that listed the Ishbia brothers owning the team alongside Jerry Reinsdorf is inaccurate, restating once more that their recent purchase of minority shares--however sizable--has no bearing on the controlling stake of the franchise.

First pitch: White Sox vs. Red Sox

TV: CHSN+ (yes, they're getting pushed by a Bulls game again, even their All-Access Broadcast)

Radio: ESPN 1000 AM, WTRO 1200 AM (Spanish)

Lineups: