Pregame notes: Moving parts

Martín Pérez has been activated after almost four full months on the injured list for a flexor strain, and that is no minor feat for the 34-year-old left-hander.

"Proud of him and excited for him," said Will Venable. "He was at a point where he thought potentially that his career was going to be over. To get back to this point now with everything that he had to go through from the rehab and just mentally to get back online and commit to the rehab process and to the point where he’s here, back and helping us. It’s just amazing."

But Shane Smith is the scheduled starter for Wednesday, and pitchers are usually activated from the injured list when they're going to pitch, so what gives? Well, with the White Sox relief corps taxed by the recent slate of short starts and bullpen games--and Cam Booser was optioned in the latest round of roster shuffling--Pérez is going to be available out of the bullpen, with a cap of around 70 pitches.

Smith's innings are pretty carefully managed at this stage of the season, and it's hard to imagine him working more than three-to-five frames, so Pérez is essentially his piggyback partner in Wednesday's attempt to win a series from the AL Central leader.

As Venable has repeatedly said, the Sox are figuring out their rotation series-to-series (it's Aaron Civale, Sean Burke and Davis Martin in Kansas City, by the way). Accordingly, he was noncommittal about plotting out what's next for Pérez and Yoendrys Gómez, after saying the latter had earned more opportunities "in some form" on Tuesday night. Gómez is out of options, so the Sox have to keep him up in some form or otherwise would be offering up an apparently viable spot starter to the league.

But with all the innings-limited starters they have around, it's a question if they will have a traditional five-man rotation at any point for the rest of the season.

"We like the structure and stability of just a tight five-man rotation, at the same time we know that every time, it seems like every day, you’ve got to piece it together differently," Venable said. "We’re flexible to do that and do whatever we have to do. We’ll see how it goes here."

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Mike Tauchman was a pregame scratch from the lineup with a sore right shoulder. Venable said there wasn't a specific incident that spurred the discomfort, and that he's day-to-day.

"He’s able to swing, just wasn’t to the point where we could put him in a game," Venable said. "I think it’s been bothering him for a couple days. Too much to go for today so we had to make a change."

Brooks Baldwin is playing right field, but the most conspicuous change is that Kyle Teel is leading off and playing DH, which is both a career-first and a continuation of a recent uptick in lineups featuring both rookie catchers.

"It’s not completely comfortable," Venable said. "But we need these guys in the lineup, they’re two of our best hitters. They continue to perform out there. It’s hard to not have them in the lineup, so for me it’s worth the risk and something that we have to be comfortable with doing because I think it helps us and gives us the best chance to win."

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Jared Shuster was designated for assignment to clear a 40-man roster spot for Pérez as he came back from the 60-day injured list. Between Chicago and Charlotte, Shuster had allowed 58 hits in 38 innings this year, which had a way of overshadowing his good control and encouraging changeup development.

Do Braves fans refer to the Aaron Bummer trade as the Riley Gowens trade? Because he's the only part of it currently with a firm spot in the White Sox organization.

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The Sox are 15 wins ahead of where they were at this point in the season last year, and could still avoid their third-straight 100-loss campaign with a 19-23 finish.

First pitch: White Sox vs. Tigers

TV: CHSN

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