While no man need feel shame to be beaten by Sonny Gray, the White Sox are presented with their first chance to bounce back from a loss in 2016. Today also marks the first day game of the season (much needed for those of us here on the East Coast who cannot bear not to watch), as well as the first opportunity for the back end of the rotation to show us just how accurate our fears really are.
Although no single game is dispositive of anything when it comes to baseball, Mat Latos presents as a much less known commodity to White Sox fans than the three starters who have gone thus far. Latos presents a wide range of possibilities, given his once-glittering track record contrasted against his recent struggles with health and effectiveness. His Spring Training starts were not exactly reassuring, but then again, that could be explained by the oddities of Spring Training, but could also be consistent with him being cooked. The acquisition of Miguel Gonzalez was definitely a prudent one, but it may also be interpreted as a lack of confidence in Latos. If Latos can, in fact, be a solid fourth starter that would be a significant boon to the season. If not, they’re going to have to identify it as quickly as possible and start moving on to other options before it does lasting harm.
So, if Latos can go out and at least look effective, even if the results aren’t there today, it could go a long way towards his continued presence.
Oakland counters with Kendall Graveman. I discussed him with David Wiers on the preview podcast, but if you did not have a chance to listen, he has a back-end starter’s arsenal, and therefore relies on command in order to muddle through. Whether or not he has that command today remains to be seen.
White Sox Lineup
1. Adam Eaton – CF
2. Melky Cabrera – DH
3. Jose Abreu – 1B
4.Todd Frazier – 3B
5. Avisail Garcia – RF
6. J.B. Shuck – LF
7. Brett Lawrie – 2B
8. Dioner Navarro – C
9. Tyler Saladino – SS
Athletics Lineup
1. Billy Burns – CF
2. Jed Lowrie – DH
3. Josh Reddick – RF
4. Danny Valencia – 3B
5. Stephen Vogt – C
6. Chris Coghlan – 2B
7. Yonder Alonso – 1B
8. Marcus Semien – SS
9. Coco Crisp – LF
Given that this is Oakland’s first look at a right-handed starting pitcher, Melvin is able to deploy his full complement of lefty bats.
Ventura is making some rather significant tweaks to the lineup, although most of those tweaks can be attributed to “day game after a night game” and “Saladino and Shuck need to get reps at some point.” I’m glad to see that he is looking for opportunities to give Alex Avila rest as opposed to simply operating on a strict platoon. Similarly, Jimmy Rollins gets the day off, which seems advisable given his age.
Avisail Garcia has looked horrid through the first three games, and now he has an opportunity to do more damage in the field. One hopes that the boost to the outfield defense provided by J.B. Shuck will offset the weaker configuration of benching Austin Jackson (who has gotten off to a strong start) and replacing his glove with Avisail’s. Latos isn’t exactly getting the best defense behind him, but Saladino should also be an upgrade on Rollins in that respect.
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