Oh, That Rebuild

I don’t know how White Sox fans make themselves go to ballgames, and yet over 20,000 went to Guaranteed Rate Whatever Friday night to watch Reynaldo Lopez give up not one, not two, not three, not four but, yes, five homeruns to the Blue Jays in a 10-5 loss.  The day before, the Sox hit six homers and still managed to lose.

Part of the reason for that was they tried to pitch Chris Volstad, he of the 1-5 record and 6.27 ERA.  Volstad pitched two innings Wednesday against the Angels and gave up five runs on seven hits   Sox manager Rick Renteria liked those numbers so much he trotted Volstad out the next game, too.  Lo and behold, Volstad was good for three runs on four hits in one inning of work.  You would think the Sox release of the veteran righty on Friday would be good new, but I don’t see it that way, really.

Why?  Because the Sox refuses to call up any of their highly touted rookies.  Michael Kopech, with his 135 strikeouts in 99.1 innings at Triple A, stays mired in Charlotte.  What that means is added pressure on the likes of Lopez, who was very good pitching through June, until the need to be very good every start (thereby keeping the likes of Chris Volstad sitting in the bullpen) finally became too much.  By trying to protect a young pitcher, the Sox risk ruining another.

Did I mention outfielder Eloy Jimenez?  Well, Renteria or general manager Rick Hahn does, it’s all about how Jimenez can’t be rushed, that he has to be ready for the big show by passing tests the exact nature of which can’t be revealed.  So far this year, Jimenez has hit .317 in Double A with ten homeruns and 42 RBIs and .372 at Triple A, with six homers and 10 RBIs after his promotion in early July.

Heaven forbid anyone good should get called up to play at 35^th and Shields.  That would start the clock on team control, and it might even lead to winning baseball.  We wouldn’t want that, now would we?