(670 The Score) The White Sox have made a habit in 2022 of keeping banged-up players active on their 26-man roster even when they clearly need to be sidelined for a handful of days.
The intention in such situations is to not lose a key player for 10 days when he might only need, say, four or five games off. At times, there’s wisdom in that thinking.
In other instances, it’s hurtful and makes manager Tony La Russa’s job more difficult from a strategical standpoint, NBC Sports Chicago color commentator Steve Stone said on the Mully & Haugh Show on Friday morning. In general, Stone seems perplexed why the White Sox so often choose to play a man down.
“One of the things that I’ve seen this year, unfortunately for the Sox, is they have in many instances, they have not put any guy on the IL,” Stone said. “They seem to spend a lot of games leaving Tony one man, one move short on the bench. I think at times when you’re consistently a move short, that’s a problem.
“This whole idea of you optimistically don’t want to put a guy on IL because you think he’s coming back a little more quickly, we don’t seem to have the fastest healers around. It’s not the players’ fault. They want to get back and play as soon as possible. It’s just that these guys haven’t been able to bounce back as quickly as we would have liked. And consequently, when you keep playing a man short on your bench, it leaves you one less move. If it doesn’t come into play, you don’t really notice it. But on some instances where it does, then it becomes a problem.”
The latest example of this White Sox habit is the status of center fielder Luis Robert, who suffered a wrist injury while sliding last Friday. Robert has remained on the 26-man roster but hasn’t started or batted in any of the six games since. He did pinch-run in one game. It’s unclear if he’ll return to action when the White Sox visit the Guardians on Friday evening.
Chicago trails AL Central-leading Cleveland by 2.5 games.
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