The White Sox announced a series of roster moves today, reinstating right-hander Mike Clevinger and infielder Elvis Andrus from the injured list. In corresponding moves, they optioned right-hander Jesse Scholtens and designated infielder Hanser Alberto for assignment.
The White Sox haven’t had a good solution for second base for most of the year. Andrus was signed with the idea of slotting him next to Tim Anderson but Anderson ended up missing most of April due to a knee sprain. Andrus slid over to short to cover for him but hit just .201/.280/.254 before going on the IL himself due to an oblique strain about three weeks ago.
With Andrus out of action of late, the club has tried a couple of different players. Jake Burger had been playing third base, covering for the injured Yoán Moncada, and hit well enough that the club has considered moving him over to second base now that Moncada is back. He has 11 home runs in 40 games this year and an overall batting line of .270/.314/.603, leading to a 145 wRC+. Given that output, it’s unsurprising that the club wants his bat in the lineup, but he’s still only been entrusted with two innings at the keystone so far this year. Another option is Romy González, who had a terrible start to the season but has been on fire lately. He had a dismal .103/.103/.103 line through April 25 but has hit .286/.295/.667 since that time.
Manager Pedro Grifol recently spoke to James Fegan of The Athletic about the situation, essentially saying that the club will try to ride the hot hand. “I don’t think I’m going to be mixing and matching at second base,” Grifol said. “We need to win baseball games so if somebody’s playing as well as Romy (Gonzalez) is playing, then he’s going to play. If Elvis comes in and he does what he can do, then he’s going to play. Those are conversations that I’ll have with whoever’s involved and we’re going to put the best team on the field that’s going to help us win a baseball game every day.”
With the club suddenly juggling multiple options for the second base position, it has squeezed Alberto out of the picture. Signed to a minor league deal in the offseason, he made the club’s Opening Day roster to serve as a bench piece. He has since played in 30 games for the club, around a two-week IL stint due to a quad strain, but has hit just .220/.261/.390. That’s not too far off from his career line of .269/.292/.381, but it seems the Sox will roll with the younger and more exciting players in Burger and González.
The Sox will now have a week to trade Alberto or pass him through waivers. He has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and retain his $2.3MM salary. Given that financial commitment and his tepid production this season, it seems likely he simply ends up released in the coming days.
In a blind taste test Jake’s Burgers beats Alberto’s for the White Sox roster spot
Jakes Burgers comes with a Cola
Hanser…come back to the Dodgers. They need relief pitchers!
Ha-ha. Yeah. Great entertainment value too. The human bobblehead.
Dang, Hanser was one of their best pitchers
These Hanser made for pitchin’
No surprise the Sox leadership doesn’t have the balls to kick Lynn to the pen, leaving Scholtens as a starter. My guess is they are hoping Lynn can get a few good starts to help flip him at the deadline. Regardless, it’s a shame they are in a spot where, instead of competing in the peak of their “window,” they are hoping to maximize value for has-been or never-were type players.
The saddest part is that any prospects they get will be joining the perils of white sox minor league baseball (not to be confused with their major league team).
Yeah, you don’t know this organization very well if you expect them to be agile and bold with roster decisions. This roster was destined for failure based off of decisions made two years. There’s nothing that can be done at this point. Other than hope the team is sold when a certain someone has left the building.
It’s a shame the league’s leadership as a whole is only focused on revenue. It shows how dysfunctional the league is when teams like the Sox, Pirates, and especially the A’s can deliberately lose or make infinite incoherent decisions. Sadly, I know all too well that nothing will change for the better until JR croaks. Fingers-crossed his kids think he’s a POS, so they actually run the team with passion and respect.
Hanser got DFA’d, and Andrus is coming off the IL. Yup real solid improvement there…
And they will sit Romy just as he was starting to hit.
Not much the Southsiders can really do at this point. Likely an active team at the trade deadline. Put it this way-They should be.It will be interesting to see who they move and what the returns are.
That’s what scares me. They’ll trade their best players and not have the brains to get good prospects. Just more has-beens to clog up the farm system.
Hahn and Co. need to go.
Ken Williams said on an interview (6/2/23) that the Sox will be buyers at the deadline, and will come out as division champs. Even if that somehow happens, they’d be a near .500 team that gets romped in the playoffs. I don’t think Sox leadership understand that simply making the playoffs by being in a god-awful division is not what the fans want. But then again, I don’t think they care in the slightest.
Lynn, Giolito, Anderson to be traded. Those moves create what’s left of a wasted season.
Good thing I didn’t buy MLB TV.
There’s no chemistry with them.
Everyone needs to quit whining and see what happens between now and the All Star game.
If the Sox get to 500 by the ASG, they could win the Central in September because KC is continuing in its perpetual rebuild; Detroit is continuing in its perpetual suckiness; Cleveland has its real good starting pitching hurt and unable to get unhurt; and the Twins well they’re the Twins and will find a way to lose the tiny lead they have now.
Having said that there are a few changes that need to be made now: 1. Find spots to play Burger every day; 2. Aaron Bummer should only pitch if the Sox are winning or losing by 10:; 3. Send Crochet to the minors and START him every fifth game to see if he can get to throwing 80 or 90 pitches; 4. Absolutely stop the Sunday lineup garbage, the Sox need to win every game.