At 12-11, the White Sox are currently three games back from the Twins for the division lead. They are one and a half games behind the Indians for second place in the American League Central. While things stand, they would cry like a seed in MLB’s expanded playoff format of 2020 in the off-season, but the organization that spent $ 169MM in free agency and $ 168MM in expansions for young talent has its sights a bit set higher. By removing some form of collapse in the next few weeks, ChiSox will seek to add pieces to this year’s deadline, but GM Rick Hahn said yesterday that renters will not be his focus (Twitter link via Scott Merkin of MLB.com).
It’s an understandable prospect, given that the South Siders are only in their first season of trying to emerge from a long rebuilding process. The early returns look promising, as young players want Luis Robert, Eloy Jimenez, Yoan Moncada en Tim Anderson have committed a strong misdemeanor. There still needs to be done on the pitching side – especially in the rotation – but the Sox are clearly not interested in participating with one young talent for a one-off shot on the postseason in a bizarre 2020 campaign. Many franchisees could feel the same way, choosing instead to focus on players who can help them at least in 2021, if not longer.
A few more notes on the ChiSox …
- Hahn also gave strong indications yesterday that pitching prospect Dane Dunning could be called up on Wednesday for his MLB debut against the Tigers (link via Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times). The GM warned that he would prefer not to announce roster movements until the day they occur, to avoid unforeseen circumstances that require a change of plans, but he followed up shortly thereafter with an acknowledgment that Dunning was firmly in the mix is as an option. ‘I know Detroit is going Casey Mize, that’s going to be fun to watch, ” sei Hahn. “En we certainly have conversations about one of our good young arms, like Dane Dunning, who is coming to make that start. ” Dunning, 25, ranks among MLB’s 100 best prospects, but underwent Tommy John surgery in 2018 and has not played a game in a regular season since. However, he has worked and pitched in intrasquad games on the team’s alternative training side. The referee has a career 2.94 ERA with 9.9 K / 9 and 2.5 BB / 9 in 429 small league frames since he was drafted by the Nationals with the no. 29 general election in 2016. The White Sox got him into the trade that sent Adam Eaton to DC
- Yasmani Grandal went out last night’s game with stiffness in his lower back after field felt a ball in front of the home plate, writes Vinnie Duber of NBC Sports Chicago. There is no indication at this point how much time he expected to miss. The Sox have a lot better options for backup than many other clubs in terms of James McCann, which is out after a blistering .333 / .400 / .583 slash with three things via 40 plate appearances. That said, Grandal was the center of the White Sox’s off-season release and offered superior defensive and framing chops to McCann. Grandal is a slower start in terms of hitting for power, but has run in 17 percent of his record appearance, helping him to a .346 OBP. Duber notes that he was also plagued by an angry foot problem, so maybe a few days after that would do him some good. Grandal has been in the Sox lineup early every day, spending time at DH and first base when he can’t find it.
