The White Sox simply refuse to stop swapping out the last spot in the bullpen, acquiring right-handed reliever Trevor Richards from the Phillies in exchange for cash considerations. The White Sox made room on the 40-man roster by moving Drew Thorpe to the 60-day injured list, but the corresponding move hasn't yet been made for the 26-man spot.
To say Richards is a journeyman would be an understatement. Whenever he pitches for the White Sox, they'll be his ninth MLB team in nine seasons, and it'll be his third consecutive year pitching for multiple organizations. He most recently appeared in two games covering 4⅓ innings for the Phillies, the 296th and 297th appearances of his career.
Before then:
- 2025: Diamondbacks and Royals
- 2024: Twins and Blue Jays
- 2022-23: Blue Jays
- 2021: Rays, Brewers and Blue Jays
- 2020: Rays
- 2019: Marlins and Rays
- 2018: Marlins
For his career, he has a 4.52 ERA and 621 strikeouts over 570 innings, and his K numbers spiked with Triple-A Lehigh Valley this year, striking out 26 hitters against eight baserunners over 14 innings with the IronPigs. He throws two pitches -- a 92-93 mph fastball from a high arm slot that he uses two-thirds of the time, and a changeup the remaining third. If you'd think that combination results in few grounders, you'd be correct.
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The long foretold Munetaka Murakami off day has finally come to pass; his first of the season. Along with the already-present limitations of the White Sox offense against left-handed starters, which spurred the recent signing of Randal Grichuk, it maybe doesn't look like a lineup that's about to win the AL Central.
But, Angels starter Sam Aldegheri is pretty unestablished at the big league level. And if the Sox win this game, they will have taken five of their last six series, and will be .500 for the first time since March of 2025.
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Even though this series' victor hasn't yet been determined, the White Sox have been successful enough that national outlets are starting to talk about them with open minds and hearts.
For instance, James appeared on Foul Territory this afternoon to talk about the White Sox with AJ Pierzynski, Scott Braun and Eric Kratz.
First pitch: White Sox at Angels
TV: CHSN
Radio: ESPN 1000 AM
Lineups:
| Angels | White Sox | |
|---|---|---|
| Zach Neto, SS | 1 | Chase Meidroth, 2B |
| Mike Trout, CF | 2 | Miguel Vargas, 1B |
| Nolan Schanuel, 1B | 3 | Colson Montgomery, 3B |
| Jorge Soler, DH | 4 | Randal Grichuk, RF |
| Jo Adell, RF | 5 | Edgar Quero, C |
| Yoán Moncada, 3B | 6 | Andrew Benintendi, DH |
| Vaughn Grissom, 2B | 7 | Derek Hill, CF |
| Sebastian Rivero, C | 8 | Luisangel Acuña, SS |
| Josh Lowe, LF | 9 | Sam Antonacci, LF |
| Sam Aldegheri | SP | Erick Fedde |
