White Sox left fielder Eloy Jimenez departed the team’s loss to the Royals on Tuesday with right elbow soreness after a collision with center fielder Charlie Tilson. While the severity of the injury isn’t yet known, Jimenez is “likely” headed to the IL, manager Rick Renteria told Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times and other reporters. He’ll undergo an MRI in the meantime, James Fegan of The Athletic tweets.
An IL stint would be the second of the year for the ballyhooed Jimenez, who suffered a right ankle sprain in late April. That injury cost Jimenez approximately four weeks of action. Since Jimenez returned May 20, he has started all but one of the White Sox’s games in left field.
Considered one of the majors’ elite prospects entering the season, the 22-year-old Jimenez has lived up to the billing at the plate since a rough April and May. The rookie posted a 144 wRC+ in June and has so far mustered a 124 mark in July. Overall, Jimenez has slashed .244/.307/.483 (107 wRC+) with 17 home runs in 267 plate appearances. Jimenez hasn’t been as successful in left, though, with minus-10 Defensive Runs Saved and a minus-2.8 Ultimate Zone Rating.
Thanks in part to Jimenez’s offensive contributions, Chicago was unexpectedly in the AL playoff race not long ago. But reality has set in of late for the White Sox, losers of five straight to begin the second half of the season. They’re now 42-49 and a potentially insurmountable 9 1/2 games out of a wild-card spot. Losing Jimenez isn’t going to help the fading club’s cause.
This has been a miserable week for the White Sox but I think a lot of us saw this coming. It just sucks to lose to the Royals…
Eight more years of tanking, Sox should be in contention for a playoff spot.
Only if you consider the #2 wildcard a legitimate playoff spot.
He was charged with his first error the other day but he is terrible in the field. Not sure what the official scorers have been watching.
Sox are only competing with their own division in payroll. They won’t compete with the big boys in payroll. Stuck with Jimenez for better or worse.
I have to believe that there are more than a few teams in MLB who would love to be, “Stuck with Jimenez for better or worse”, including the team that traded him in the first place.
Sorry. The team that traded that ‘Bust’ Eloy could not care less about him. 6 straight playoff appearances, baseball park filled everyday…even filling the ball park on the road…..why should they care about that no fielding .240 hitting overpaid rookie?
@tycobb016
Wow, a Tigers troll coming on here trolling. That’s funny. At least the Cub trolls have a playoff team to root for.
Yes, they’re certainly stuck with that turd Jimenez. There’s no way he could ever crack the Tigers vaunted lineup. The ’27 Yankees have nothing on the Tigers lineup. Please, the Tigers would be begging to have Jimenez in their lineup.
You just made the Idiotic Comment of the Day, tycobb016! Congrats!
I am a Sox fan since I was born in 1956. I just don’t see what you and other Sox fans see in Jimenez. He is no doubt powerful but he isnt even close to a good player. The sooner you get over the mega hype, the sooner you will see. Jimenez is a dime a dozen.
Because the end is near. Aging pitching staff. Absence of impact prospects on the farm. Stagnation of once ballyhooed prospects like Schwarber and Happ. Declining attendance and ratings. And scuffling in an easy winnable division during what should be the peak of their window. Other than all that, all is well!
Lol sounds bitter to me
their job security, probably. ‘official scorers’ are team employees, not league employees (one of the really big reasons errors are such a worthless metric)
Palka was terrible in the field also and the official scorer made several bad calls with his errors being called hits
If Abreu wouldn’t hit into so many DP’s, we would have won a couple of games since the break. UGH.
The Royals actually have a better run differential than the Sox, if you believe in that sort of thing.
Cease hasn’t exactly been lights out, either. Eloy is a disaster in the OF.
Eloy has actually made significant strides in the field, using his athleticism to get to balls and working with Boston to improve his routes. Would never have imagined that he would be making shoe string catches. Soon, those catches will look more routine with improved instincts. Have confidence he’ll be league average in LF with his instincts, much the way Abreu has improved at 1b.
I hope this guy is not injury prone
Mondesi left the game too. Is he injury prone? It happens.
Too many White Sox colliding over the years have cost them way too many games.
Many White Sox fans suffer from Beckham-Gillaspie Syndrome, the symptoms of which are sudden cold swears and a paralyzing anxiety whenever a high pop is lofted between two Sox fielders.
Jimenez is a one dimensional player. Put him at DH and find another outfielder that can hit and field his position.
Totally agree. It looks like he just started playing OF this year, but he’s always been there! Bad break on the ball, bad reads, bad arm. Let him focus on hitting and i believe he’ll take off
Bring up Robert
Madrigal too. Why not?
Let’s see what we have.
Why not? Because then you start their service clocks for no reason other than why not.
The reason is to start there development so they can get ready to compete next.
Eloy got nothing by being held down for no legit reason, and maybe the team could have got a better handle on his defense by calling him up last year and seeing where he is deficient, and work on in aggresively in offseason.
Instead, that development is delayed, and now he is one IL for who knows how long.
Stop worrying about what might happen in five or six years, and get this team ready to compete.
Service clock is NA as they will be given long term contracts immediately. Same as Eloy.
^Agreed. Watched the same crap last year with Vlad and this year with Bichette.
“Eloy got nothing by being held down for no legit reason”
Yeah, when Hahn said he “needed to work on his defense” he was clearly lying, right?
This was not a freak play. Tilson called for it, it’s his ball, Jimenez screwed up. This isn’t the first time that he has showed he doesn’t know how to play left field. He doesn’t seem to understand how to call for a ball so an infielder can pull up, or what to do when the CF calls him off. Those are almost the only responsibilities of a left fielder, he hasn’t mastered them yet, and now it has gotten him injured.
And Hahn was so concerned about his defense, he made sure he go no professional reps in September, and then signed him to a record deal the next offseason and put him on the opening day roster as the starting LF.
Yes, he’s not good defensively. But bringing him up last year would have given the ML staff a better look at what he was doing wrong, so they could have worked on it over the offseason. Or, made the decision that he needs to learn how to play 1B, which could have resulted in other roster moves being considered.
If the goal is to develop a winner, and develop ML ready players, holding guys back in AAA for service time considerations slows the clock on development. Eloy could have got all these struggles out last year.
If your primary concern is what is going to happen five years from now with a contract, you must have little confidence in your ability to find talent and develop players.
Chance the Rapper looked sharp tonight on Jimmy Fallon wearing his Sox hat!!
Hope he brings Chance the Snapper with him the next time he returns to the show. That would be a great buddy cop movie
So if, as it seems, Eloy is gonna go on the IL, who gets called up? Palka? Engel? Robert?
If they want to continue testing players who can possibly contribute, it should be Mendick. They can move Garcia back to OF.
If they want the best player available in outfield, it’s Robert.
But given this is Hahn, it’s probably Engel.
No need to rush Lou Bob. 20 seems about right. At least the end of the Nicky Cordell- Adam Delmonico- Ryan Palka corcus is in sight. Basabe, Gonzalez, Rutherford…. come on down.
He’s not being rushed. He has already shown he has nothing to learn by hitting against washed up prospects and AAAA pitchers throwing a beach ball.
Great. More Jon Jay and looking at 15 hop groundouts, flairs off the left field line, runners scoring easily on his rag arm, and basically the most worthless .285 career hitter whoever played the game. How worthless is this guy? He’s actually hitting over .300 right now and has a NEGATIVE WAR. The idiot manager is batting him 5th and 6th. He’s produced 0 HR and 5 Rbi.
The problem with the Sox is that it doesn’t take 6 years to rebuild. Follow the 1st place twins playbook. It only takes 6 years when your team is cheap and won’t spend any money to better themselves. Cant continue to talk about players EVERYDAY who are gonna be allstars when THEY NEVER FACED A MAJOR LEAGUE PITCHER!!! THE SOX DOOM CAME WHEN THEY TRADED SALE. We play in the WORST division in baseball and still cant win. Eloy has and NEVER will be an allstar. Cant run…hitting .240??????? Cant field…its scary out there with him……BOYCOTT THE WHITE SOX!!!
@Jr 2
You really think the rebuild is going to take another 3 years? I think next year they’re competing for the playoffs. Whether they get there or not is a different story, but they will definitely compete. I think the rebuild is pretty much done after this season.
And you do realize Eloy’s played only 1/2 a season. It is possible for him, only being 22, to improve upon those numbers.
He’s already further ahead than other prospects in his class, with the notable exception of Tatis, and is progressing by leaps and bounds growing much more confident in LF. His positive attitude and enthusiasm for soaking up knowledge like a sponge is palpable, he’s already made significant strides in the field, as compared to his earliest days in Cubs camp. Next year should be special with 2 bright lights talents in the OF, and hopefully a bevy of contenders for the 3rd spot.
Made significant strides in the field? Did he sit down while playing outfield before or something? I’m a huge sox fan and I think Jimenez will be a monster bat, but he’s got to be the worst outfielder I’ve ever seen. If we didn’t already have like 20 first base prospects, I’d say give him a try there, but he’ll never be a serviceable outfielder in my opinion
Palka was worse in the outfield
Disagree
When Jon Jay is batting 5th in your lineup, the rebuild is likely going to take 10 years.
The exact opposite is true. The problem with the White Sox is that they haven’t done a good job with player development, and haven’t committed fully seeing what young players can do.
The Twins — who arguably went through a rebuilding process beginning in 2015 — have done a solid job of player development, and have committed to letting younger prospects work through issues at the ML level.
Throughout the rebuild, the White Sox have continued to yo-yo younger players, and have often never given guys who looked promising a chance, in favor of signing guys to “flip” for prospects that, ironically, they don’t play unless there is an injury.
There is no reason Jordan Stephens shouldn’t have gotten a shot last year, no good reason Mendick is still in AAA in favor of a guy like Rondon, and no good reason why Eloy shouldn’t have been called up last year, so he could have gone through these struggles and worked on them in the offseason.
Twins are an awful comparison for the argument you are making. They rebuilt by drafting well and developing players, not signing free agents. They need to continue playing young guys if this is going to work, and stay committed to them when they struggle.
Good observation. The Sox have certainly done that with their bullpen and its paid off. With Coop on hand to watch young talent scuffle at the highest level, its given the likes of Bummer, Fry, and the promising Ruiz the opportunity to learn by making mistakes. Thinking Collins cup of coffee will be instrumental in getting him ready for 20-21.
Team is cheap? How about the international investments, including signing Abreu, breaking the bank for Louis Robert, and proactively anticipating value and inking win/win team friendly deals for Sale, Q, and Eaton- each of which has reaped massive dividends. Do you have any understanding of how teams are built in the post modern age? Or are you still a relic of the 80s- throwing money at past their prime 30 somethings? Aside from the celebrated trio of the Rays, Cubs and Astros, even the Yankees, Dodgers, and Red Sox get that.
Ask the Red Sox how that Sale deal is working for them in say. 2 years
It doesn’t take 6 years?
The Cubs started their rebuild after 2011, and made the playoffs in 2015. Even Theo said that was about a year ahead of schedule so they were planning on it taking 5 years.
Tha Astros rebuild started after 2010. Took them 5 years to get to the playoffs and 7 years to win a division.
The White Sox are in year three. At that point the Cubs went 73 – 89 and the Astros went 51 – 111.
With respect to Charlie Tilson, that boy is not much use to us alive. He cannot hit. While he “can” play all three outfield positions, he is a butcher out there. Now, he has taken out our boy Eloy! Will there be consequences? Yes, for Sox fans, as Tilson will probably get more playing time. Bring up Luis Robert. After all, it seems that Robert can hit. The Sox have been using guys who cannot hit at DH. Figure it out, “hitter” is in the job title for DH! The SOx should not be running out guys with sub .200 batting averages and no pop.
Second that. Tilson has been sub replacement level. Lacks instinct: speed but bad routes. Limited upside. Much better off with Adam Engel until Lou Bob is ready.
Jon Jay is hitting 345 and his WAR is -0.1. That tells you how empty and worthless his hits are
2019 statistics
Player A:
.243/.316/.511
RC+: 114
BB/K: 8.1/28.4
DEF runs saved: -9.2
fWAR: 1
Player B:
.244/.307/.483
RC+: 107
BB/K: 7.9/27
DEF runs saved: -5.7
fWAR: 0.7
Player B is obviously Eloy. But Player A is …
…
…
…
…
Jorge Soler. Obviously, it’s Eloy’s first year in the majors and he has five years to make adjustments to not turn into the next Jorge Soler. But it’s difficult to unsee the similarities at this point. I actually think Cease will be the better pro than Eloy. His stuff is straight filth.
But I’m not sure why the football has already been spiked on the Quintana trade. 1) Q’s contract was the determining factor in why the Cubs were willing to part with such ballyhooed prospects. The trade should be viewed more as Eloy+Cease+pieces for Q+top FA SP on the market the year after the trade. Obviously, Darvish hasn’t yet worked out as well as the Cubs’ brass would have hoped, but that was the idea behind the trade.
This post reeks of desperation.
By using current statistics/production and making comparisons? What am I desperate about, exactly? I’m confused.
More or less trying to make a case tbat the Cubs didn’t get fleeced in the Quintana trade based on half a season from Eloy and 2 starts from Cease. You probably thought Moncada was a bust too.
The point is, you’re getting ahead of yourself.
I literally put qualifiers in my post noting that Eloy has five years to make adjustments to not turn into Soler and mentioned how much I actually like Cease. Are you sure you read the whole thing?
I’m not a terrible human being, so I’m not rooting for these 20-somethings to fail at their chosen profession for the sake of “winning a trade.” I’ve followed Cease since he was a young fireballer in A ball and hope he has a great MLB career.
All I pointed out was merely that the narrative surrounding the trade was premature and inaccurate. It was a great baseball trade and hopefully will benefit both teams as intended. But the comparison to Soler right now is a real thing. Eloy has a long way to go before he’s a star in this league. I hope he gets there.
What’s funny is the criticisms about Eloy are pretty much the same ones said about Moncada last year. Interesting, isn’t it.