The White Sox announced on Thursday outfielder Eloy Jimenez suffered a rupture of his left pectoral tendon, which will require surgery. General manager Rick Hahn mentioned the traditional recovery time for that injury is 5-to-6 months. The team will provide further detail regarding Jimenez’s timeline to return in 8-to-12 weeks.
A week prior to Opening Day, the White Sox are forced to explore various options to fill left field. Hahn, as well as manager Tony La Russa, indicated to the media on Thursday the club will first look internally to determine the roster.
Hahn mentioned the value of Nick Williams, Billy Hamilton, Leury Garcia and, when available, Adam Engel as immediate alternatives. Although, the No. 3 overall draft pick of 2019 is getting considered, too.
“We’ve had some conversations about the potential of Andrew Vaughn playing some left field as well,” Hahn said. “He did get some experience doing that in Schaumburg last year during the alt-site process. He has been getting a little experience on the backfields in some early work.”
Hahn didn’t make the Vaughn in left field option seem likely.
“It’s not one I would necessarily etch in stone, but when talking about the internal options, his name potentially belongs on that list as well,” Hahn said.
Last week, La Russa mentioned Vaughn has continued to work in the outfield throughout camp.
La Russa believes there is value in Vaughn not having to pick up the position from scratch. The White Sox manager also stated there were discussions of the soon-to-be 23-year-old playing the outfield even prior to the Jimenez injury. Vaughn will see time in left across the remainder of Spring Training.
“We had talked about Andrew [Vaughn] as an outfielder,” La Russa said Thursday. “Based on what they (White Sox player development) say, you’ll see him out there as much as possible in the last games.
“When you’re an infielder it’s easier for an infielder to move to the outfield. You’re used to dealing with jumps, reading the ball off the bat. I’m not saying it’s easy to play the outfield, but he has all those things working for him. I feel real good about his chances to be productive.”
WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE REST
In our top 30 preseason prospect rankings, only one outfielder cracked the top 10. Yoelqui Cespedes, 23, signed as an international free agent in January and is considered an advanced prospect. However, Hahn called it “premature” to expect Cespedes to contribute at the big league club any time soon.
“There’s some rust there,” Hahn said as he referenced the extended layoff of Cespedes’ immigration and signing process. “We need to get him playing on a regular basis before putting him in queue for the big leagues.”
An opportunity does arise for several players to force their way onto the roster whether it’s now or the near future. With another 40-man roster spot available due to Jimenez’s absence, the White Sox will almost assuredly start with three catchers on Opening Day, making it easy to add Jonathan Lucroy. Zack Collins adds value to the lineup and the White Sox are impressed with his development behind the plate this spring.
Holding the theory the Sox will operate with 13 pitchers on the 26-man, the final few back-end roster spots are crucial. With the additions of Vaughn and Lucroy to the 40-man, as well as Jimenez, Engel and Jace Fry beginning the season on the injured list, I count two open spots on the active roster.
One, I believe, will go to Danny Mendick and the other to Billy Hamilton or Nick Williams. That leaves Leury Garcia, Luis Robert, Adam Eaton and either Hamilton or Williams as the primary outfielders.
Vaughn can operate as a last resort in the outfield while also working as a designated hitting option if the White Sox want to deploy its best lineup with what’s available.
Gavin Sheets, Blake Rutherford and Luis Gonzalez are worth keeping in mind as options once the season progresses. I think it’s unrealistic to believe any of the aforementioned will be on the roster come April 1. However, an outfield that was previously covered suddenly boasts a tremendous opportunity for prospects who have been pushing to become Major League contributors.
Photo credit: Sean Williams/FutureSox
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The White Sox would be crazy to not add Mercedes to their roster. Forget Lucroy. He’s done as a hitter and has only an average arm. They are going to need someone to even come close to Eloy’s offensive numbers and having some weak hitting back-up .220 hitter with no power to fill up a roster spot. They should also only go with 12 pitchers particularly at the beginning of the season with all of the rain-outs and open dates in April.
I’d put Vaughn in left field and shade Robert over there with Vaughn guarding the foul line.
A lot of people are blaming Eloy for his injury. Not me. I blame the coaches and LaRussa for not TEACHING the guy how to play the wall. They should do the same damn thing with Robert. HE doesn’t know to play at the wall either. What the hell are coaches for anyway? Someone call Griffey or Icharo to help teach these guys.
Or…. tell a guy who doesn’t know how to play the wall, to NOT play at the wall. Good outfielders practice jumps at the wall but they were also TAUGHT how to do it by other outfielders and outfield coaches.
Yeah, when you manager tells his team that he wants them to play in late spring training like he expects them to play in the regular season and a player goes all out and hurts himself in the process, I don’t blame the player, especially if he doesn’t know the proper way to climb a wall. I blame the manager, in this case, LaRussa.
I agree. Add Mercedes instead of Lucroy.