Some White Sox start spring training in less than best shape

Last year, Daniel Palka departed a game on Feb. 24 with hamstring tightness, which he initially shrugged off.

It ended up costing him 11 days of spring training, and a sympathetic observer could make the case that it threw off the rest of his year. He went just 7-for-37 with 16 strikeouts in spring training, then started the regular season 0-for-32.

Shortly after Palka returned, Jon Jay had to sit with hip soreness. Jay tried to downplay it.

But after appearing in just one other spring training game, Jay was sidelined for months, and didn’t surface in Chicago until late June.

Both of those injuries were reminiscent of 2017, when Carlos Rodón laughed off questions about his slow-going throwing program, then ducked the media that April when his left biceps still wasn’t healthy enough for regular action.

This is all to say that spring training isn’t the most honest time for injury assessment, and when the first day of spring training offers three separate injury reports …

… you have to account for the chance that at least one of these is worse than they’re letting on. Yasmani Grandal has no real history of health issues while Lucas Giolito missed starts last season with two unrelated muscle strains, but considering Gio Gonzalez spent a chunk of the 2019 season on the shelf with shoulder tightness, that holds the initial lead in ominousness.

But it could be worse. For instance, Chris Sale has pneumonia.

* * * * * * * * *

It’s not all bad news, either.

Reynaldo López, whose rotation spot can’t be taken for granted unless Gonzalez can’t shake his shoulder issue, seems to have taken the challenge to heart.

In the past, his references to a lack of focus after bad outings could seem vague. But López addressed it specifically this offseason, meeting with team psychologist Dr. Jeffrey Fishbein and another psychologist in the Dominican Republic before moving forward with a variety of methods. He now does meditation (similar to but not the same as Dylan Cease), uses a focus training for athletes (similar to but not the same as Giolito) and took some additional instruction on the topic at the Mamba Academy in Los Angeles, where he moved in December.

Blake Rutherford hasn’t yet shown the kind of power to make his major-league future projectable, and if he can’t find it in 2020, it won’t be for a lack of trying.

Among guys who just need to keep doing what they’re doing, here’s Luis Robert’s bat defying the capabilities of mobile microphones:

And it doesn’t seem coincidental that Rick Hahn is laying the groundwork for extension hype shortly after Yoan Moncada changed his representation.

“This tends to be the most productive time of year in terms of getting extensions done,” Hahn said. “Doesn’t mean anything is going to happen. But especially early in camp when things are a little quieter, it’s a little easier to have those conversations and certainly not distract the player from their in-season games or their late camp preparation.

“In terms of whether any of those will materialize, we’ll see.”

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shaggy65

If one of the five projected starters starts the season on IL and Kopech looks rusty, what’s Plan C?  Detweiler?  Throw Kopech to the mlb wolves anyway?

We should have plenty of starter depth by July, but the first half of the season still scares me. 

NorthSideSouthSider

Can I interest you in Collin McHugh? He’s still looking for work.

Jason.Wade17

I would like McHugh, but since no team has signed him, I wonder if his elbow is healthy.

andyfaust

At least you can take comfort in knowing it won’t be Covey. 

As Cirensica

Early on, teams might get by with 4 starters.

John SF

I don’t think our spring schedule is conducive to that this year as it has the last few.  

Not nearly as many off days as usual, & a ton of west coast & Texas games that are unlikely to be snowed or rained out.   

As Cirensica

Don’t forget that there will be rain postponed games. It’s April! The month of rain.

lil jimmy

Rodon is still 6 months out. I bet being around all the guys, you try to fit yourself in. Doing all the same things. Maybe pushing yourself farther than you should. Dial it back Carlos.

knoxfire30

Some up and down injury news to start camp is a little concerning but hopefully not that important in the long term.

Robert has that special sound… ball jumps off his bat, mercy.

Sounds like the sox have interest in a couple more Cuban players according to scott merkin, dyan jorge and yoelkis cespedes …

Willardmarshall

Haven’t heard such special sound since… Dayan Viciedo

Josh Nelson

C’mon, Rick! Make me look smart again.

ICYMI – I was on Mully & Haugh this morning:

DuckSnorting-CanofCorn

Pleasant surprise this morning to hear some Sox talk. I was expecting segment after segment on the cubs new TV network and how cord cutters like myself are basically screwed. Thankfully I’m a Sox fan…but I still get to hear many of my friends complain.

andyfaust

I just listened Josh, and you kicked butt big time, baby! Way to represent the best Sox blog out there. You gave them some great content today and I could tell they loved it. You were concise, and hit on a lot of relevant issues that both casual and hardcore fans will appreciate.  Keep doing spots like these and your numbers will shoot way up. I’m a proud Patreon supporter. 

Neat_on_the_rocks

You’ve been killing it on your radio spots lately Josh. it seems like you’ve really got the hang of what they’re looking for, how long you should answer their questions, stuff like that. I think you’re right there as 670s best sox guest at this point, and they know it.

NorthSideSouthSider

A Moncada extension would be awesome. It would make the 2020 gap between the Twins and Sox less worrisome, as it should greatly help in trying to extend the contention window.

Lurker Laura

Agree on Gonzalez being the biggest injury concern of the three. 

Having just had the flu myself, you can strain a muscle from coughing, so I’m not worried about Lucas.

Soxfan2

I got light headed when I saw that Daryl Van Schouwen tweet about Jon Jay. I thought the White Sox had brought him back for 2020 without me noticing… crisis averted 

dansomeone

Woof, 54 prospects expected to move into the top 100 next year according to Longenhagen at Fangraphs, not a single White Sox among them.

dongutteridge

yup. back to being same old barren farm system.

Michael Kenny

The only one on last year’s list was Jake Burger, so at least that went well.

John SF

I’ve staked some of my reputation on the fact that Jonathan Stiever will be a top 100 prospect next year.  I firmly believe it. Am I smarter than Longenhagen?  Bookmark this comment I guess & let’s come back to it next June.  

I also think Oscar Colas will obv be a top 100 guy, & it looks like we have a pretty good shot at him.

Considering how important pitching depth is, & that we will also have all that 2nd round quality depth (Thompson, Dalquist, NC Vera, Dunning) that’s some comfort in our system.  Also the widely assumed fact that the Sox will end up with some college pitching from the 2020 draft.  

Anyway, all that considered and I’m not quite as morose as I could be about our farm rating. When you go back & look at Sox prospect lists 2011-2016 those are truly truly ugly lists.  Our system may not have any top 100 guys beyond Vaughn for a portion of next year after Robert, Madrigal, & Kopech graduate— but it won’t be *barren* barren.

All our positions in the bigs will be manned by young controllable talent, & our farm will have quite a lot of pitching ready to come help them. Not the worst position to be in.  

Hopefully in the 3 drafts & international signing periods between now & when we start losing guys we can rebuild the farm.

kalihiwai47sbcglobal-nnet

Any word if there has been a Jake Burger siting?