White Sox left fielder Eloy Jimenez suffered a mid-foot sprain on Thursday, and the club doesn’t expect to have him for its season-ending series against the Cubs, manager Rick Renteria told Scott Merkin of MLB.com and other reporters. It’s unknown whether an early playoff return is in jeopardy for Jimenez, who has helped the White Sox to a 34-23 record and a postseason berth with his stellar offensive output. The 23-year-old’s regular season concluded with a .296/.332/.559 line and 14 home runs in 226 trips to the plate.
- The Royals have placed reliever Greg Holland and outfielder Jorge Soler on the 10-day injured list with oblique strains, per a team announcement. They reinstated reliever Ian Kennedy from the IL and recalled first baseman/outfielder Ryan McBroom in corresponding transactions. The season’s now officially over for Holland, who enjoyed a major bounce-back year in his return to KC after signing a minor league deal in the offseason, as well as Soler. A 48-home run hitter a season ago, Soler totaled eight in 173 plate appearances this year and finished with a .228/.326/.443 line. He’ll be eligible for arbitration for the final time during the offseason.
- Tigers third baseman Jeimer Candelario is done for the year, as the club announced that it has placed him on the 10-day IL with a low back strain. Candelario, whom the Tigers acquired from the Cubs in 2017, made notable strides in 2020. The switch-hitting 26-year-old significantly upped his hard-contact rate en route to a .297/.369/.503 mark and seven homers in 206 PA. He leads all Tigers in fWAR with 1.6.
- The Rangers will be looking for starters in the offseason, especially if they trade Lance Lynn, but it doesn’t appear reliever Jonathan Hernandez will fill any voids in their rotation in 2021. Hernandez informed the Rangers that he’d rather stay in the bullpen next year than transition to a starting role, TR Sullivan of MLB.com tweets. The rookie Hernandez has been one of the main bright spots this season for Texas, with which the 24-year-old has posted a 2.51 ERA/2.49 FIP and registered 9.42 K/9 against 1.57 BB/9 across 28 2/3 innings. Hernandez has averaged almost 98 mph on his fastball along the way.
- The Blue Jays don’t expect first baseman/designated hitter Rowdy Tellez to be ready for the wild-card playoff round, GM Ross Atkins told Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet and other reporters. Tellez has been on the IL with a right knee strain since Sept. 9. He put up a career-best .283/.346/.540 line with eight homers in 127 plate appearances before then.
McBroom has already swept into town !!
I swear if we even think about moving Hernandez to the rotation, I will lose it. He’s a great bullpen arm that can go two innings at a time about every 3rd day, he’s a great luxury to have. Go get Kluber and make the rotation:
Kluber
Gibson
Cody
Hearn
Allard/Lyles
meh
Yikes that is one fragile and volatile rotation Rangers29. Would be lucky to win 60 games next year with that rotation and the horrible offense. But I agree Hernandez needs to stay in the bullpen. Don’t need another Feliz fiasco. Wouldn’t put it past JD to try though.
Yeah it is volatile, I mean looking at it, I only see one lock, and that is Kluber if he re-signs (obviously). I think Cody has a great chance to make it, so does Gibson (despite his numbers, I still like his stuff). Hearn has pitched 4 innings out of the pen a few times this season if I’m not mistaken. Lyles should move to the pen to replace Hearn, and we go get a free agent, but I just don’t see Texas making him a bullpen arm. As for Allard, being a soft pitcher, I think he is over-thinking things. He just looks like he is aiming his pitches, and you can’t be doing that.
I hope we sign Chris Archer to a minimum deal, because I love the reward on that. Coming back from TJ, we need to evaluate him, but if the stuff is still there, go get him and change a few things to help him. I also see us going after Anthony Desclafani (hope I spelled that right). Good break on his pitches, younger, not too messy mechanically. I like those guys as starting options.
Archer will be coming back from TOS not TJ. You would essentially be signing him for the year after next. His stuff was waning well before the surgery.
Is it too late to call up Vaughn for postseason play?!
They still have Mercedes who remains inexplicably off the roster.
Btw, the White Sox traded a player and have another 8 million to somehow end up with even worse combined production from the two positions as last season.
Are you referring to right field?
Right field and DH.
They are no better in either position than they were last season, despite historically bad performances in 2019.
They need to figure something out cuz it looks they’re falling apart lately. That Ohio trip was a disaster. If they keep it up it will be a swift playoff exit.
Eloy is a China doll
@wordonthestreet
I wouldn’t call Eloy a China doll.
Rodon, on the other hand…
Hopefully, Eloy can DH and run gingerly during the playoffs.
Can Ricky Renteria miss some time because of a brain strain? Preferably until the Sox window closes.
The Sox are in trouble. I’m not confident they can flip a switch for the playoffs, given that they’ve been a below average (AL) ballclub since August.
Why on earth is Encarnacion still on this team? Or at the very least, not on the bench? You gave Mercedes and Thompson waiting in the wings, who are much better hitters at this point than Edwin.
Not that it matters. The bullpen is cooked. O don’t care how many runs you score (or don’t, in the case of the Sox, a bad bullpen is an automatic loss in any playoff series against a quality lineup. So that is Hahn’s mission this offseason: build a world championship bullpen, sign the best RF available, and pray Robert is the player everyone thought he was to begin the season.
Apologies for the grammar, I’m not a happy sports fan at the moment.
@ChiSoxCity
Robert will be fine. He just needs to make the necessary adjustments. Eloy needed to after last year and Yoan did after ’18, and they’re both fine. Robert’s in far better shape now than those two were at the time.
The White Sox will not pick up Encarnicon’s option for next year. I am sure the Sox will bring up Vaughn next season where he will split time playing first base with Abreu while Abreu can be the DH once awhile. There is a good chance that McCann is gone as well since Grandal has his deal while Collins is going to be his back up. It would be interesting to see Collins catch for Cease since they were paired up in the minor leagues.
Tellez was having himself a year!
Call up McGuire, drop someone, DH Kirk with a lefty on the mound.