Almost Fun

The nice thing about the split-squad White Sox winning two games yesterday is I can back away from the ledge, if only for a day. On top of that, the people I’m rooting for to make the team all had themselves a good day. Starting with Gavin Sheets. The big guy hit two homeruns against the Royals and looks more comfortable at the plate, something he said he’s been working on. Sheets could be good for, oh, 200 homers in his career if he has in fact put things together. Players with sweet lefthanded swings tend to play for a very long time, provided those swings lead to hits. Zach Remillard and Danny Mendick aren’t so blessed, two righthanded hitters who, at the age of 30, are fighting for a roster spot. Remillard homered, and Mendick drove in two runs against the Mariners, and that’s good, to an extent. Because the odds are stacked against them. Neither is on the 40-man roster, and both of them are tied to the old regime of Kenny Williams and Rick Hahn, though new GM Chris Getz should be quite familiar with the duo from his days as director of player development. Still, that may not be enough to get either of them to stick with the team come Opening Day. Teams talk about grinders, then collect or discard them according to need. That’s baseball, which is a lot like life.