A Favorable Pitching Matchup? - Lineups & Preview 4/26

Last night will be a pretty tough act to follow - indeed, Jose Abreu's walk-off grand slam topped off an extremely strong night of Chicago sports as the Bulls held on to defeat the Wizards and the Blackhawks won in overtime against the Blues. In the sober light of day, however, there are certainly issues to worry about with the White Sox.

The rotation did not have a lot of margin for error or depth to begin with - with Felipe Paulino completely ineffective and then injured, Chris Sale on the DL, and now Erik Johnson unable to find the zone, things are starting to get pretty desperate. Indeed, with Johnson averaging 89.5 mph on his fastball (as opposed to 92 last year), and his control atrocious he has simply not been the pitcher that he appeared to be for his entire minor league career. Those things make me wonder if he is in fact hiding an injury.

So now the rotation consists of Jose Quintana -- John Danks -- ??? -- ??? -- ???.  Fortunately, John Danks is taking the mound today. His profile has morphed yet again this year, although at least his ERA is pretty at 2.84. Danks continues to not miss bats, as his K-rate is below 6, as it has remained since 2011.  Worse, his walk rate has spiked up to 4.6 BB/9. At the very least he's been less hittable and homer prone than last year, which explains the nice ERA. 

Even with all of his shakiness, Danks probably has the edge over his Rays counterpart today. The Rays' rotation has taken on even heavier losses than the White Sox so far. Matt Moore is out for the year with Tommy John surgery, while Alex Cobb and Jeremy Hellickson are both on the DL as well. So, today they are forced to run Cesar Ramos to the mound who at age 30 is making the 6th start of his career. Ramos throws low 90s heat from the left side with a slider and a change up. He is an emergency option, and hopefully the White Sox can take advantage.

Another edge for the White Sox is that the offense is still motoring ranking 4th in the majors in wRC+, although Conor Gillaspie has just landed on the DL due to soreness in his left hand. Marcus Semien will be manning third base now that Beckham is back.

White Sox

1. Adam Eaton - CF

2. Marcus Semien - 3B

3. Jose Abreu - 1B

4. Dayan Viciedo - RF

5. Paul Konerko - DH

6. Alexei Ramirez - SS

7. Alejandro de Aza - LF

8. Gordon Beckham - 2B

9. Adrian Nieto - C

Rays

1. Ben Zobrist - 2B

2. Desmond Jennings - CF

3. Wil Myers - RF

4. Evan Longoria - 3B

5. Sean Rodriguez - LF

6. James Loney - 1B

7. Logan Forsythe - DH

8. Yunel Escobar - SS

9. Ryan Hanigan - C

Matt Joyce takes a seat against the lefty. 

Where to Watch: CSN 6:10pm CT