Injuries always play a role in determining the success or failure of a team in a given season. Even a team like the White Sox that has a solid history of keeping their players healthy is affected in one way or another by players lost to injury.
Read MoreWith SoxFest in the books, the only third baseman currently on the MLB Trade Rumors free agency list being Donnie Murphy and Jayson Nix, and Gordon Beckham filling out the last bit of the roster in some sort of utility/mascot role, it looks like Conor Gillaspie has survived the offseason after his breakout season without completely losing his job.
Read MoreI knew I was supposed to strongly approve of the Emilio Bonifacio signing when it was originally announced, but I had a hard time getting particularly excited for it. A light-hitting utility man most prominently featured in center field and second base, and mostly anticipated to provide veteran stability to the latter, Bonifacio carries a slappy .262/.319/.341 career line after fluttering down from a hot start to a .259/.305/.345 season in 2014.
Read MoreThese are people on the White Sox 40-man roster. Grown men. Proud men. They've dedicated their lives to a challenging, brutal craft and many have lived their last few years fighting against the odds to keep it going, even as the once dreamed about financial windfall become faded and childish fantasies, they've trudged on dutifully and fought to keep playing until they're asked to go.
Let's fantasize about cutting them.
Read MoreWith the 2014 season behind us, I found it apt to take a look back at some of the more significant individual moments of the campaign, for better or worse.
Read MoreIt's a tremendous testament to what phenomenal teases Dayan Viciedo and Gordon Beckham are that they have both have had streaks this season that led to wide speculation that they had made real improvements to their game, and now, streaks that have led to wider speculation that they have exhausted all reasonable hope of developing into worthwhile players.
Read MoreThe White Sox entered this season with more outfielders than they could really hope to spread work to. With Avisail Garcia and Adam Eaton installed as franchise fixtures, and Dayan Viciedo in an unwieldy arrangement where two imperfect starters would serve as overqualified platoon. The plan hardly left time for Quad-A side projects like Leury Garcia, or, gulp, Jordan Danks.
Read MoreI don't understand what John Danks is doing. And I am becoming increasingly of the opinion that I do not want to. Squinting at an illusion forever seems like a good way to make it go away. Danks' stuff hasn't found great newfound life. His control has improved but he walked three batters Thursday. He's just unhittable now, and the more people stay ignorant as to why, the better.
Behind Danks' one run allowed over 7.1 innings, the Sox were able to skip their way out of Chavez Ravine with a series victory, despite having two solo home runs as their only offense.
Read MoreJohn Danks is on something like a roll. He's sopped up 15 innings in his last two starts, allowing just two runs while striking out eight over a single walk. Opponents hit .200/.228/.327 against him in those outings, in contrast to the .864 OPS opponents have on him for the month. To prove it's still him, the Sox lost both games.
This is the equivalent of threading on the first try twice in a row. It's impressive and worthy of praise, but doesn't suddenly change the practice into a high-percentage activity. Danks is still going to be challenged to get through the Dodgers lineup because his margin for error is slim.
Read MoreAdam Dunn's ninth-inning blast gave the White Sox their second straight win over the Yankees on Friday night and the team has won four of five overall to climb back to .500 once again. Saturday, the White Sox will look to climb above that mark for the first time since May 9 and it will take an improved effort from John Danks to do so in the 1:10 p.m. tilt at U.S. Cellular Field.
Read MoreAfter a pair of subpar outings and general blah results through six starts this season, the White Sox hope John Danks can turn things around as they go for their fourth straight victory and a series win Wednesday against the Chicago Cubs.
Read MoreWhen the White Sox agreed to bring back Paul Konerko on a "last hurrah" contract for 2014, one had to wonder how the roster would fare with three DH/1B types on the roster in Konerko, Adam Dunn and Jose Abreu. (Well, four if you count Dayan Viciedo).
Early-season injuries to Avisail Garcia, Conor Gillaspie and, now, Adam Eaton made that a conundrum earlier than most expected, and when the White Sox played their fourth of 10 games in National League parks Monday against the Cubs, the issue was further magnified.
Read MoreTwo victories bookended the White Sox's first significant losing streak of the season in a week that further highlighted the team's pitching woes.
Read MoreRonald Belisario didn't even screw up that bad this time, honest.
Sure, he got tagged with the loss and got charged for two runs in 1.1 innings, but he really only allowed two (just two!) ringing base-hits in the ninth. It's not his fault that the second one scored the go-ahead run in the form of Mike Napoli, who reached when his nubber kicked off the heel of Marcus Semien's glove at third.
Read MoreA day after the atrocity that is the White Sox bullpen used up every last pitch in its arsenal in a 6-4, 14-inning loss to the Red Sox, Chris Sale takes the mound in hopes of avoiding the shenanigans that led to that embarrassing conclusion.
Leury Garcia is starting at second base and will likely be unavailable in relief for tonight's 7:10 rubber match against Jon Lester and the Boston Red Sox, but one can rightly assume Daniel Webb, fresh off of a gutsy, 59-pitch performance as the only actual arm left in the bullpen, won't be.
Read MoreThe number of reigning Southern League MVPs who have opened the next season in the major league is likely not especially small. The number of reigning Southern League MVPs who have opened the next season in the majors after the incumbent in front of them was injured...is probably small since this is now a rare set of simultaneous circumstances but the point is, for all the accolades and accomplishments Semien has racked up while flying through the minor leagues, he puts the White Sox in what has become a rare position recently.
They have an injured starter (in this case Gordon Beckham, who will be out all of a handful of days) and they have a minor leaguer who is ostensibly qualified to serve as a replacement. Being unable to provide a minor league replacement has a brought the Chicago baseball world Orlando Hudson, Ray Olmedo, and it is probably going to bring it Hector Gimenez again at some point this year.
Opening week will allow the White Sox a brief respite from having to decide between Semien as a superior utility and third base platoon option to Leury Garcia, and Semien working full-time in Triple-A to become a permanent replacement.
A decision is probably necessary, since Jeff Keppinger has no scheduled return date and the Sox actually playing well could make this issue quite nuanced.
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