The White Sox have reinstated right-hander Michael Kopech from the 10-day injured list, and also called up left-hander Jace Fry from Triple-A Charlotte. The moves come in response to a pair of bullpen injuries, as both southpaw Aaron Bummer (right hamstring strain) and righty Evan Marshall (strained right flexor pronator) are headed to the 10-day IL.
Due to a Tommy John surgery and then a COVID opt-out, Kopech’s 31 1/3 innings this season marked his first big league action since his debut campaign of 14 1/3 frames in 2018. One of the game’s more highly-touted pitching prospects, Kopech has displayed that potential with a 1.72 ERA and a 36% strikeout rate this season before a strained left hamstring sent him to the IL on a retroactive May 28th placement.
The White Sox planned to keep Kopech in a hybrid swingman role a way of managing his innings, and it’s possible he could get more looks out of the pen in the near future considering the absences of Bummer and Marshall. Chicago manager Tony La Russa told reporters (including James Fegan of The Athletic) that the club is hopeful Bummer is able to return after a minimal stint on the IL, though Marshall will be out of action for a to-be-determined longer period of time.
Bummer has a 3.26 ERA over 30 1/3 innings, with his typically large ground ball rate (a career-best 74%) as well as a 32.1% strikeout rate that would be a career high by a large margin over a full season. Bummer has been an effective weapon out of Chicago’s bullpen for five years now, with the exception of an injury-shortened 2020 campaign.
Marshall pitched well last season to help account for Bummer’s absence, but 2021 has been a much tougher ride for the right-hander. Marshall has a 5.60 ERA over 27 1/3 innings, due to the combination of a larger-than-usual homer rate, a below-average strikeout rate, and a 40.8% grounder rate that is well south of his 52.6% career average.
it’s like this team’s constantly doing line changes
Yay!
Kopech will lead Sox to 2021 WS!
Can’t wait for Kopech to join rotation.
1 step forward, 2 steps back.
This is great news!
At least 5 steps forward.
‘1 step forward, 2 steps back.’
Read my mind.
More like one huge step forward, one step back. I’d much rather have the Kopech/Fry combo over the Bummer/Marshall combo.
Not to say I don’t want Bummer back as soon as possible, because I do. As for Marshall, well…
Jeffress is still a free agent
I likey. One of my classic dumpster moves
Because he’s not very good…
More like 1 massive leap forward and 1.5 steps back. This is still a net positive for the team.
Looked like hand cramps for Marshall the other night…
Using muscles he hasn’t had to use in a while until this new foreign substance crackdown?
Doubt it. Marshall has been bad since late last season. Was a nice overachiever for a bit with the changeup, but such is the state of bullpen arms. Foster and Ruiz are also unfortunately of little value on a contending team. May as well keep bringing up guys like Burr to see if they have some short-term magic to fix a weak group.
CWSasc, they could really use another bullpen arm almost as much as a 2b if you asked me. They should have a much easier time trading for one without giving up much, one would hope. Just anybody with an ERA under 4 that looks reliable, does not have to be someone spectacular. Their whole bullpen aside from Hendricks, Kopech, Crochet looks quite hittable. I hope Burr keeps it up but is asking a lot to count on that. It seems like they have very few guys that they can rely on against good offenses.
Crochet was lights out last night!!
2 K’s and a soft fly ball out.
ERA 3.0 now.
@MyWhiteSox
Yes, because the foreign substances have helped Marshall considerably this season.
It’s called a joke bruh
@MyWhiteSox
Sorry, but you forgot to remind me to laugh at your lame joke. Maybe next time.
…. If only you had a brain cell or two to rub together
@MyWhiteSox
And I’m sure Mensa International is in awe of your wit and wisdom.
Based on your reaction, handling criticism isn’t one of your strong suits.
You might not want to start a career in stand-up comedy. The hecklers will eat you alive.
Bummer, man.
I know. He probably wants to keep wins in the record books.
Then him going on the IL wouldn’t be a bummer
That was certainly slick on your part. Almost as slick as your name.
I would prefer that Marshall be DFA, but this is almost as good. I hope he makes a lengthy recovery in 2022.
Heuer and Foster need to take their sorry asses back to AAA. Reinvent the whole damn bullpen heading into the all star break. Burr and Hendricks are the only consistent ones as of late. They need to stop messing with Crochet’s mechanics and just let him throw gas like last season. His velocity is down almost 5 mph. He ends up with TJ surgery so be it. Get it out of the way ASAP. Hopefully Fry can do a Burr and give the pen a boost.
Panic panic panic panic
Agreed, Foster and Heuer are awful. Nik Turley with really excellent numbers at AAA, might be worth giving him a try and sending one of those two down. Marshall was pretty awful himself even without injury.
Yeah usually it’s the lefties that are hard to find. Sox seem to have trouble finding a decent righty for late innings this season. As long as their lefties can get both hitters out it should be a good pronto have. We’ll see what Fry can do this up coming week.
TLR: Well, it’s time for me to pull Dylan Cease an inning early again. Gotta pick someone from the bullpen. Who’s that fellow who’s always messing up and causing havoc?
Ethan Katz: Cody Heuer, sir?
TLR: The way I see it, he’s due for a good performance!
6 solid innings for Cease last night.
A little Burdi mentioned this was all goin down
Another hamstring injury.. for a pitcher.. I mean where did the Sox get their conditioning staff and how do they all still have jobs at this point?!
For all the talk about 2B and OF, the bullpen might be as big of a need, if not bigger. Really hope they can land a reliever or two at the deadline. Even Sulser or Cisnero types of moves would be welcome if they can’t afford a Yimi Garcia or a Richard Rodriguez.
@lago Agree, this team has definite holes in the bullpen. I would think in terms of prospect cost, it would be much easier for them to address this with even a mediocre but reliable reliever or two, than getting a position player. Foster, Heuer, and Marshall have been just bad mostly, Bummer has been shaky, and while Burr has been a pleasant surprise, it is probably asking a lot to count on his sustained success. I don’t have much faith in Ruiz either. Really other than Liam, Kopech, Crochet, the whole bullpen has been a mess compared to how well they were supposed to do. Hope they are looking at this as you said, not just 2b/OF.
Feels like you could field a WS champion if you had all the players from the Dodgers’ and White Sox’ IL healthy and on the same team.
Pleeezzzee, don’t even begin to compare your ‘achieve nothing’ white Sox to the world championship Dodgers. You must listen to far to much white Sox TV propaganda.
If you’re talking talent, and not WSC’s, then the WS match up pretty well. They lost Eloy for the year, they lost Roberts for an extended period, they lost Madrigal for the year, and they have Eaton on the DL.
And they still have a .595 winning %. That’s really, really good.
Eloy and Roberts will BOTH be back.
Likely this September or sooner.
@joe All due respect, Eaton is really, really bad if you have followed the Sox this season. Having him on the DL is a blessing, giving Sheets a chance to show what he can do at the moment, which appears to be way better than anything Eaton is capable of even if the guy is a bad fielder.
I’ll give you that they are doing well considering injuries, but Eaton has nothing to do with their success. They never should have signed him in the first place, and would have been better putting his money toward somebody who can actually hit, and hasn’t spent 1/2 the past 4 years on the DL.
And don’t forget, Joe , the Sox competition is ‘really really BAD’.
Dogbone, doing his thing with hating on the White Sox as usual on this forum. The White Sox can win the World Series this year and he will still be on here hating on them. The Dodgers are not going to repeat and may miss the post season this year since it’s not a 60 game season and they are not playing in a weak NL West like last year. Bauer might be done with these allegations against him but time will tell us about that one.
It’s obvious Dogbone is just mad that his Cubs were never the dynasty every Cubs’ fan thought they would be thanks to the baseball genius who is known for blowing money and depleting a farm system. We can not blame the guy. Bryant is not getting the Cubs a boat load of prospects.
The White Sox should really consider making a move for Joey Gallo by the trade deadline even if means Vaughn as the main piece.
That wouldn’t solve much for us considering what it would cost.
What players would it actually cost the White Sox for a player like Joey Gallo who one year of arbitration left after this season where the White Sox get their solution in right field for this season and next season while
Cespedes develops in the minors? Maybe Vaughn as the center piece for two other mid level players?