Pregame notes: A hole in the White Sox rotation

DETROIT -- No one talked about Jackson Flora or anything, but otherwise there was a lot of the premise of Jim's column about the White Sox thin upper minors pitching depth being bandied about before Sean Newcomb starts a pure bullpen game.

He was originally announced as an opener, but the Sox don't have a bulk guy for which to open, and even Newcomb might not be at the height of his powers.

"Normally we’d say go out there and expect two plus innings from him," said Will Venable. "But with the ball off his tricep in New York, and really not knowing what it’s going to look like, kind of take it batter-by-batter and hope that he is feeling good and healthy and can pitch a couple innings for us."

Noah Schultz is in line to throw three to four innings, and get up to 50-60 pitches on Sunday in a rehab outing for Triple-A Charlotte on Sunday, but will need at least one more, longer rehab start before he's in line to return to the rotation. David Sandlin is the scheduled starter for the Knights on Saturday night, and would be beyond the 15-day mandatory stay in the minors by the time this empty slot in the rotation comes around again.

Which is worth considering if only because Venable doesn't plan on being stuck with managing a bullpen day again next week.

"I guess potentially it could be sustainable," Venable said. "I don’t think it’s ideal. It’s not something we are looking forward to doing next time around. I think that we are hoping that whether it’s Noah or somebody else, there’s someone ready to step in and fill that spot in the rotation. We will see when we get there, but it’s not in our plan to do this every fifth day."

With Shane Smith, Hagen Smith and Tanner McDougal all on the injured list, Jonathan Cannon and Duncan Davitt both ineffective in Charlotte, and no real candidates for major league consideration emerging from Birmingham, the Sox don't have a lot of in-house options to consider. But hope to again, someday.

"That changes throughout the year and certainly we’ve been at spots during this year where we had multiple guys you feel confident coming up," Venable said. "Some of those guys are hurt or working their way back. It’s just a time right now where we don’t have it on this day, but we look forward to the next day having some guys we can lean on."

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Kyle Teel's five-hit performance Friday night certainly built some extra excitement, but physically it sounds like it's all about him completing Saturday's game in good working order for him to return against the Cleveland Guardians on Monday.

"He’s in there today and an off day Sunday and we’ll see where we’re at," Venable said. "It's more about how he’s feeling. At the same time, love the results, obviously part of him getting minor league games under his belt is getting his timing at the plate, and certainly that’s very important. It seems like he's doing that."

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There are multiple ways to demonstrate it, but if you think Brandon Eisert getting tagged for a two-run first inning homer by Matt Vierling poisoned the Sox coaching staff against the opener strategy, you simply don't look at it the way they do.

Most of it is that on principle they're committed to chasing what they view as favorable matchups whenever possible, and won't be swayed by day-to-day results nearly as easily. But Venable was also inclined to give the strategy credit for downstream results, and not just immediate ones for the opener himself.

"No. 1, we have some upside to the matchups upfront," Venable said. "Where in the case of lets, say the Tigers, you have a [Riley] Greene and a [Kevin] McGonnigle. You know, regardless if you throw a lefty or righty, you’re going to get [them] in the top four. Also there is an adjustment usually by the opposition which benefits your bulk guy. So yesterday, a really good example,

[Matt] Vierling, you end up with an extra righty or two for [Erick] Fedde, and you’re able to drop him and start him in a spot that's more beneficial to him. There’s a lot of benefits, and even yesterday even with the two runs they ended up scoring that maybe you don't love because you did use the opener, it really did put Fedde in a good spot to go through that lineup a couple times and he was able to be successful, and then a tough luck play that they ended up scoring. So there’s a lot of benefits to it. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. But in the right situation against the right lineup, it’s a good strategy."

First pitch: White Sox at Tigers

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