The White Sox open a series with the Texas Rangers tonight, which will be their 14th, 15th and 16th consecutive days playing a game, but after Wednesday, the workload eases up a bit. There's an off day on Thursday, and then rosters expand to 28 the following Tuesday, allowing teams to carry one extra pitcher and position player.
This year's roster expansion pool doesn't figure to produce significant ripples. There's the technical matter of the White Sox needing to be mindful of all the players they have to reinstate from the 60-day injured list after the season. Drew Thorpe is nearing the point of reactivation, and he represents the tip of an iceberg that also includes Mike Vasil, Jordan Leasure, Ky Bush, Prelander Berroa, Brooks Baldwin and Tanner Murray. The White Sox can try outrighting some of them, but start your thinking as though the White Sox eventually need to whittle down their 40-man to 33, and then adjust accordingly.
Beyond the mandatory actions to consider, positive and negative circumstances have resulted in rookies and pre-arb players taking up a lot of the major league playing time as is. There's no Braden Montgomery, Sam Antonacci or Hagen Smith to call up, because they're already a big part of games already being played.
As a result, the pool of potential additions is much smaller than one might've expected entering the season, so my sense is that Sept. 1 won't result in a permanent expansion, but the first of a series of September swaps that prioritize fresh arms and respond to health concerns.
Let's start by assessing the landscape, which comprises three groups of players:
40-man position players not on 26-man roster
- Rikuu Nishida
- Junior Pérez
- Kyle Teel
Both Nishida and Pérez got run earlier this season thanks to a shortage of players of the same handedness. Nishida took Jarred Kelenic's spot until the White Sox deemed Braden Montgomery ready for his debut, and Pérez spent a solid six weeks on the 26-man roster after Everson Pereira suffered a concussion.
The trade for Brenton Doyle basically renders Pérez unnecessary. Nishida has a barely wider use case as a lefty who can play small ball and handle four positions, but he's also not somebody who you'd expect to see in a game unless Will Venable made three other changes.
As for Teel, he begins his rehab assignment in Charlotte tonight, and three catchers seems to be a direction the White Sox are inclined to explore, but we'll get to it at the end.
40-man pitchers not on 26-man roster
- Jonathan Cannon
- Tyler Davis
- Tyler Gilbert
- Tanner McDougal
- Chris Murphy*
- David Sandlin
- Noah Schultz
- Shane Smith
- Drew Thorpe**
(* -- on IL; ** -- Not technically on the 40-man, but will need a spot once he's reinstated.)
Let's start by tabling Smith and McDougal. The former's stuff has been diminished the whole year, and the latter isn't yet showing the kind of command that makes you think a second bite at the apple would be meaningfully more successful than his major league debut. McDougal is more likely to suddenly make himself a candidate, but lower your expectations for the time being.
From there, you have the Tyler Two, Davis and Gilbert. They're theoretically available when any fresh arm will do, but unless Davis' last four outings represent a corner-turning, you wouldn't expect either to handle any sort of leverage assignment. Murphy joins Teel in beginning his rehab stint tonight, and if he looks no worse for the wear after his flexor strain, he's the best bet of the bunch for basic bullpen work.
The other four on this list present the potential for length. Schultz has been limited to four innings in his two starts for Charlotte, and while the combined line (8 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 97 pitches) is impressive with regards to effectiveness and efficiency, you'd expect a full-power Schultz to record more than two strikeouts over any 29-batter stretch. Sandlin has worked deeper in games, but his tendency to hit walls -- or for lefties to run him into one -- suggests that bulk work would still be the most responsible way to deploy him.
As for Thorpe and Cannon, they seem suited for starting and seeing if they can throw five innings or more. It might not work, but their viability is less rooted in handedness or in-game stamina, and more about whether their stuff is good enough for long enough.
Off-roster/Rule 5 candidates
In many years, the call-up conversation is partially driven by which players require protection from the Rule 5 draft over the upcoming winter, but the clear-cut cases from the acquisition periods in play have already been taken care of. When you look at the eligible players who remain, only two jump out as potentially offering immediate assistance.
- William Bergolla Jr.
- Ryan Burrowes
- Ryan Galanie
- Lucas Gordon
- Jairo Iriarte
- Mathias LaCombe
- Connor McCullough
- Peyton Pallette
- Jeral Perez
- Jaden Woods
- Samuel Zavala
I'd put Woods at the front of the line in this field. The White Sox acquired him from Pittsburgh in the Jacob González trade, with the idea being that they'd traded Brandon Eisert for a lefty who doesn't immediately require a 40-man roster spot, and might be a better use of one down the road. Woods has fulfilled that billing thus far, at least in a situational role. He's faced 104 lefties this year and struck out 39 of them while only walking four. Iriarte is the other arm to consider, as he's been Charlotte's most consistent reliever over the course of the entire season, even if the peripherals and pitch characteristics suppress enthusiasm about his upside.
Otherwise, Galanie is the only other guy performing on a reliable basis at Double-A or higher, but first basemen are often an overrpresented group in Rule 5 draft pools. Unless an injury arises at his natural position, I'm not sure the White Sox would rush to protect him and add to the 40-man clutter before weathering all the 60-day IL cases.
What's the likeliest course?
My guess is that you see the extra roster spots as a way to accommodate players who have been on the IL, or are injury-adacent.
Before Sunday's game, Walker McKinven was asked about Teel, and whether the White Sox could carry three catchers to accommodate him, and he said September is the time to consider it.
"There's certainly some benefits towards it," McKinven said. "It depends on the profiles of the three catchers, right? Obviously handedness, their availability to play, offensive, defensive, all those things. There's some advantage to it, if that's something you want to go to. Certainly if rosters expand, that gives you an extra spot to consider something like that. It's a little bit harder with the 13 position players, in my opinion."
Teel isn't a great candidate to take Andrew Benintendi's plate appearances at DH, which is the biggest benefit of carrying three catchers. Still, having both Jake Rogers and Drew Romo on the bench would allow Venable to protect Teel by having a pinch runner or defensive replacement at the ready when it looks like he won't have any more chances to impact a game. It's a niche use case to be certain, but pathways for Nishida or Pérez aren't any more pressing or obvious, and the White Sox would be free to option Romo if/when Teel no longer requires special consideration.
The pitching side seems like a true revolving door, especially whenever the White Sox are ready to test whether Davis Martin's IL stint provided him a second wind. I'd prioritize Thorpe if the holes in the rotation open wider, and Woods if the need for a lefty reliever arises and Murphy isn't able. Then again, an extra arm also makes it easier to devote consecutive days to openers, so all options are truly on the table. My default assumption is that timing and availability will determine which arms are called upon more than any other factor. When it comes to carrying the load, the big shoulders are already in Chicago.
