The White Sox rotation was already a man down with last week’s announcement Lance Lynn would have knee surgery. Now he appears to have been dealt another unfortunate blow, according to manager Tony La Russa Luke Giolito will go to the IL with two missed starts being the optimistic result, per James Fegan of The Athletic.
Giolito started last night in the season opener but left the team after four innings after suffering a stomach ache. While the long-term prospects are still unclear at this point, the fact that two launches are described as “optimistic” downtime suggests it’s likely to be longer. Giolito told reporters that the injury was a “random and crazy thing” but had nothing to do with his slant. (Twitter connections by Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times)
Regardless of how long he’s out, it’s bad news for the White Sox as Giolito has established himself as one of the better starters in the game. Last year, he threw 178 2/3 innings with a 3.53 ERA, 27.9% strikeout rate and 7.2% walk rate and ranked 11th in the AL Cy Young poll. With Lynn and Giolito both on the shelf now, the planned rotation has come to an end Dylan stops, Dallas Keechel and Michael Kopech. Some of those names were already question marks, as Kopech has only pitched a total of 69 1/3 innings over the past three years due to Tommy John’s surgery and dropping out of the 2020 campaign shortened by the pandemic. Keuchel is coming off a bad year in which he posted a 5.28 ERA.
Because of these concerns, the club reinforced their depth by signing Vince Velasquez. Although initially slated to be a long man in the bullpen, those injuries quickly pushed him into the rotation. He will start Tuesday’s home opener for the club, per Scott Merkin of MLB.com. Velasquez has always produced intriguing results due to his strikeouts (25.4% career rate), but his penchant for long balls has pushed his career ERA to 4.95 and 6.30 last year.
This leaves one space free in the rotation. Reynaldo Lopez started nine games for the club last year and could be an option, although La Russa say they will wait and see if he’s needed from the bullpen in the coming days before making a decision on that. per Fegan. go outside the box Tanner Banks, who just cracked a major league squad for the first time at age 30, is another possible option. (Per Schouwen) Banks started in triple-A in just five of his 25 appearances in 2021 and didn’t log more than four innings on any outing last year.
There’s still a lot up in the air here, but it’s still a matter of concern for the Sox and their fans. The bullpen had also recently been dented from trading Craig Kimbrell and the announcement that Crochet Garrett will need surgery from Tommy John. The pitching team must now endure another notable absence. Johnny Cueto was signed on a minor league deal recently, but he only arrived yesterday via Fegan at the club’s Arizona spring facility. He needs to step up at extended spring training and maybe hit the minors before he’s ready to help the big league team.
Elsewhere in the squad, AJ Pollock will leave the team after Sunday’s game on paternity leave. per mark. La Russa says so Andrew Vaughn will get more playing time in Pollock’s absence, per Fegan.