Tyler Clippard — Clippard served as the awkward throw-in of one of the White Sox’ biggest trades this season. He was sent to Chicago along with three prospects, which made him a very certain outlier. At first blush it seemed like he was included to merely cover innings for a team that was trading away two of their best relievers at once. When he was traded to the Astros almost exactly a month later, it was clear his inclusion in the inital trade was merely to balance out salaries. It’s hard to say whether the team planned to flip him all along or his strong performance (10 IP, 2 ER) ignited interest from other teams. Regardless of the why, Clippard was in a White Sox uniform for merely an uninteresting month of the season.

Todd Frazier — Frazier was one of the many White Sox players belonging to the group of last ditch players from the era of the team piecing things together in hopes of finding something that worked. He spent a season and a half with the team, showing power in 2016 and nothing of great significance in 2017. The team was forced to package him with two strong relievers to get a team to bite, and he went on to find a leadership role with a Yankees team that was just one win away from the AL pennant.

Miguel Gonzalez — One of the big stories of the 2015 season was the massive failure of the Jeff Samardzija acquisition. There was absolutely no chemistry between Don Cooper and Samardzija, causing concerns about Cooper to ripple through the White Sox fanbase and baseball world. If it’s even fair to say there was a revival of Cooper’s reputation, it came in 2016 when Gonzalez went from throwaway player on the Orioles to one of the White Sox best pitchers. The 2017 was much rockier for Gonzalez, who battled injuries in the early part of the season. His 4.62 ERA on the season certainly wasn’t great, but he was effective while in Chicago. He weaved his way through hard contact left and right to make himself a trade asset in August, which helped the White Sox gain even more young talent in quantity even if not in quality.

Derek Holland — Holland always seemed like a great fit for the 2017 White Sox. He was a free agent whose price tag was greatly reduced by injury concerns, but if he was healthy he could easily provide a multitude of innings at at least a passable quality. That was a perfect fit for a team in the very early stages of rebuilding, and if the team got lucky he could have been a trade target by July. Instead things went horribly wrong, and Holland was cut from the roster before the season ended. His 6.20 ERA and 4.6 percent strikeout minus walk rate was not a site to behold, and as the summer came to an end his starts seemed to get worse and worse. The pitcher who appeared to be a solid signing with plenty of potential turned out to be a dud.

Dan Jennings — Jennings appeared in 77 games this season, which was good enough to put him tied for third in all of baseball among relievers. Perhaps it was the frequency with which Jennings was used that caused the Rays to show interest at the deadline. At the time they were certainly contenders for at least a Wild Card spot, if not within reach of the division title. With limited resources financially and within their system, they were forced to go bargain shopping. It’s hard to say why or how they landed on Jennings, but the fact remains that he was the guy they wanted. The White Sox were happy to oblige as they handed out bullpen arms like candy on Halloween throughout the months of July and August, and in return got Casey Gillaspie, a prospect who is flawed but interesting enough to more than justify the trade.

Tommy Kahnle — Kahnle and his morbidly huge thighs stepped out of nowhere and into our world in 2017. Before this season he was merely a fireballer who couldn’t find the strike zone, hardly a rare breed in this day and age of baseball. All it took for him to take off, as is the case for so many relievers, was a bit of command. He was able to establish the fastball early in counts and blow hitters away with his devastating changeup. The White Sox could have held out to squeeze more value from what seemed to be a very good reliever, but the general principle of selling high on relievers whenever you can is a good one. Kahnle went on to be a crucial part of the powerful Yankees bullpen, making strong and important appearances in a multitude of postseason games.

David Robertson — Robertson, like Frazier, was part of the team’s last ditch effort at contention over the last couple seasons. With contention out of the picture and Robertson still a valuable bullpen arm with a large salary commitment through 2018, the White Sox decided it was time to part with him. His value was neither at an all-time high nor all-time low, but when he was packaged with Kahnle and Frazier the return was at the very least a couple players of interest.

Anthony Swarzak — During most seasons you would be hard-pressed to find a reliever that came more out of nowhere to find success than Kahnle. However, in 2017 Swarzak did exactly that. The White Sox gave him a minor league deal, converted him to the bullpen and saw immediate success. He started the season on fire and finished with a 2.33 ERA and 30 percent strikeout rate. With Swarzak only signed on for the single season, it was an even easier decision to send him away to a contender. He landed in Milwaukee, where the Brewers were trying to keep themselves in the playoff race.

Jose Quintana — The most inevitable trade of the season was one involving Quintana. It was a shock, however, to see him sent to the other side of town. Despite struggling in the early parts of the season, he rebounded enough to convince teams that confidence in his past performance was enough to warrant sending prospects to the South Side. His departure was the saddest of the season from a rooting standpoint, but it sent the most exciting prospects the other way. Suddenly a White Sox system that still seemed arm-heavy had one of the best hitting prospects in baseball along with another high-ceiling pitcher. Seeing Quintana go after so many years of improbable success was unfortunate, but it was a huge step in the right direction for the White Sox rebuilding efforts.

Lead Photo Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

1. The White Sox requested waivers for Derek Holland to grant him his unconditional release.   It’s a sad result for a clubhouse leader who has been very candid about his struggles.  Brought in on a one-year deal to rebuild his value, Holland likely thought the White Sox would be the best possible fit given their track record on both reclamation projects and pitcher health.  After all, Holland had been a well-above average pitcher throughout his mid-20s and doesn’t turn 31 until this winter.

For the first month or so of the season, it looked like a very cagey signing for both organization and player.  Through six starts, Holland had a 2.02 ERA, and although there was certainly luck involved, he represented a potential bounceback candidate who might fetch something good at the deadline.

It’s been a nightmare since, as over his last 100 innings, Holland has pitched to a 7.70 ERA while opposing batters hit .322/.417/.595 against him.  For reference, Mike Trout is a career .308/.411/.567 hitter.  He didn’t look much better in relief and evidently enough was finally enough.  One wonders what options will be out there for Holland this offseason, but I’d expect a minor league relief deal or NRI will see him in the majors again at some point next season.  It could be that he simply cannot handle a starter’s workload anymore and preparing to pitch all season in relief could yield several more years of effective work.

2. In happier news, the White Sox called up Jace Fry from Double-A Birmingham.  A 3^rd round pick out of Oregon State in 2014, Fry hasn’t pitched much—in June 2015, Fry underwent Tommy John surgery which was already his second.  There isn’t a long list of guys who have gone on to have long careers after two such surgeries, and I believe an underrated aspect of a player getting his first surgery is that it means should another one be required he may be completely done.

Prior to his second surgery, Fry was a potential starter, but all of his 2017 appearances have been in relief.  Fry has generally pitched well when he’s been on the mound, and hopefully the workload out of the bullpen agrees with him, as he misses bats and at keeps the ball in the park.  As a lefty, there is certainly plenty of major league work to be had if he can simply stay on the field.

3. In happiest news, Yoan Moncada has been reactivated after being placed on the DL with a bruised shin.  One hopes he can pretty up his batting average before the end of the season, if only to mitigate some anxiety.  If nothing else, he provides one more thing to watch in games where Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez aren’t on the mound.

Lead Image Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

First, the important stuff: The injury. Rick Renteria said after the game that Lopez is day-to-day with right side soreness. It’s a discomfort, it turns out, that may have not been discovered without a little prodding from Jose Abreu.

Lopez said through a team interpreter after the game that he started feeling soreness on the right side of his rib cage Thursday morning but attempted to pitch through it. After showing signs of discomfort in the fifth inning, manager Rick Renteria and trainer Herm Schneider came out and asked him about his arm. Lopez said his arm felt fine and he was good to go, but Abreu saw it differently.

“First and foremost, we have to highlight he wanted to pitch through the pain,” Abreu said through a team interpreter. “But when Ricky left, I asked him, ‘Hey, are you sure you’re feeling good?’ Because I think with that kind of talent, you can’t mess around. You have to take care of these kids, especially if you are thinking of the future. He told me his right side was sore, and then at that moment, I decided to call Ricky back to let him know.”

As to his performance up to the point of his departure, it was a bit of a roller coaster.

Where last week’s debut against the Royals saw Lopez come out firing before wearing down late, Thursday’s featured less-than-stellar command, a tight strike zone, but still swing-and-miss stuff, particularly with the changeup.

All six of Lopez’s strikeouts were of the swinging variety, and five came on changeups. The lone exception being an face-high 94 mph fastball he blew past Brett Nicholas in the fourth (two innings after the catcher took Lopez deep off the aforementioned changeup).

Joey Gallo, he of TTO lore, had no chance in his lone plate appearance against Lopez, fouling off 97 mph heat on 3-2, only to be way out in front of an 83 mph changeup out of the strike zone on the very next pitch.

Prior to the injury being discovered, Lopez seemed to be rounding into form, striking out Drew Robinson and Nicholas on a combined seven pitches to end the fourth and opening the fifth with his final strikeout of the game against Delino DeShields Jr. on another well placed changeup.

“He’s got a very good changeup, obviously,” Renteria said. “They were trusting it to get some big outs.”

But amid the occasional ability to miss bats was sloppy command that saw Lopez battling behind for much of the night. His curveball was missing to the point where he appeared to completely abandon it early on, and while he worked around the plate and home plate umpire Mark Wegner’s zone seemed small, he wasn’t commanding it as well as we saw early on against the Royals, nor during most of his season at Triple-A. Patient veteran hitters Shin-Soo Choo and Adrian Beltre accounted for three of his four walks issued on the night.

The start epitomized everything both enticing and risky about Lopez as a prospect. Injury concerns aside, it was Lopez’s second straight start where he showed how advanced his swing-and-miss stuff can be while simultaneously displaying a fragile command that can abandon him at a moment’s notice.

Other notes from Thursday:

• Nick wrote Thursday about the White Sox’s bare bones bullpen and the series opener against the Rangers featured more of the same in terms of the parade of arms struggling to get outs. Chris Beck relieved Lopez, gave up a three-run homer and the lead to Nomar Mazara, and then exited after taking a line drive off the back (he’s day-to-day). After Mike Pelfrey allowed just two baserunners in his 1 2/3 innings, Brad Goldberg walked four, including one with the bases loaded that proved decisive, in just 2/3 innings of work.
• However, Thursday also featured the return of Dylan Covey as the Rule V selection made his first appearance since going down with an oblique injury on May 23. Covey tossed 1 1/3 perfect innings and given how long he spent on the disabled list, will now likely be able to stay rostered for the duration of 2017, meaning the White Sox won’t have to return him to Oakland.
• Covey didn’t walk anyone, but between Lopez, Pelfrey, and Goldberg, the White Sox walked nine batters on the night, which is a season high in walks drawn from their opponents. On the other side of the ball, Tyson Ross couldn’t find the plate for Texas in issuing six walks in his 4 1/3 innings of work. Ross is a veteran with subpar command and stuff to the point where advanced batter’s eyes from Yoan Moncada and Omar Narvaez combined to draw four of those six walks.
• Speaking of Moncada, he was in a 2-for-20 funk since his walk-off hit against Houston last week before launching his third home run on a 3-2 pitch in the first inning. He finished 1-for-3 with the home run and two walks, and also committed his third error on an errant flip to Tim Anderson in the fifth inning.
• Derek Holland starts Saturday in his first series back in Texas after spending the first eight years of his career with the Rangers. He was seen hours before the game playing frisbee with Carlos Rodon in the outfield grass and yelling greetings to ballpark employees. He raved before the game about Beltre and said he got him a bottle of Johnny Walker Black Label engraved to say “Congratulations on 3,000 hits.” Holland, who lives in Dallas, also said it was good to be back home and sleep in his own bed for once.
• Abreu launched his 23rd home run of the season in the ninth inning and has very quietly put up yet another great season, with an OPS up to .868 and a wRC+ entering the day of 126. He also displayed the veteran “older brother” trait we’ve heard so much about with him in insisting Lopez tell his manager about his injury.
• Nicky Delmonico went 0-for-4, ending his career-beginning on base streak at 13. All good things must come to an end.

Lead Photo Credit: Ray Carlin-USA TODAY Sports

Their run differential following Wednesday’s 4-2 loss in Minnesota is now zero, which is somehow second best in their division, and their Third Order Winning Percentage entering the day was .495. Put simply, the White Sox performance to date is more in line with approximately a .500 team.

That difference also only equates to about three wins, so we’re not saying the White Sox have been unlucky to a substantial degree, but this illustrates by larger point. The White Sox are somehow playing better than their record despite their staring pitching performing like utter trash.

First, the season stats: Entering play Wednesday, White Sox starters have thrown the third fewest innings in the American League, ahead of just Minnesota and Baltimore. Their 4.85 ERA is ahead of only the aforementioned pair and Seattle. Their HR/9 is tied for third worst with Seattle, ahead of only Minnesota and the LA Angels. They’re striking out batters at the fourth worst rate in the league, and they’re walking batters at the second highest rate in the league.

Using an arbitrary end point, in 18 games since the calendar turned to June, the White Sox have had only one starter go seven innings and only five times have they gone six innings. Starters have only lasted as much as five innings in half of those 18 games.

You get the point.

We knew coming into the season that the White Sox pitching depth was thin. The fact that as we approach the halfway point, the only starters who started the season with the team and have yet to spend time on the disabled list are Jose Quintana and Derek Holland — and neither have been particularly good — means we’ve seen a whole lot of Dylan Covey, David Holmberg, and Mike Pelfrey, hardly a trio that elicits a whole lot of confidence. What’s funny is that those three more or less held their own, relative to expectations, but Holland, Quintana, and Miguel Gonzalez have all been underwhelming.

2. Really, it’s been a credit to the White Sox bullpen that the White Sox are merely the second worst team in the American League and not on par with, say, the Philadelphia Phillies. They currently sport the fourth best ERA in the American League and sixth best K/9.

This, of course, is not sustainable, and Rick Renteria is well aware.

“These guys are trying to give us length,” manager Rick Renteria said. “It just hasn’t happened. I get it. I don’t anticipate that’s what’s going to continue to happen as we move forward. I don’t think anybody could sustain over a long haul using your starters for three or four innings. It’s impossible. You would wear out your arms in the pen. Today we were fortunate in that we just used two guys for quite a few innings and outs. … They did a very nice job. That type of work is unsustainable.”

One of the crazier aspects of the White Sox bullpen’s stellar performance is that it hasn’t come from the guys you would’ve expected coming into the season. David Robertson has been better than last season, but Nate Jones and Zach Putnam have both been injured for most of the season, while Tommy Kahnle could be an All-Star and Anthony Swarzak has been lights out for long stretches of the season. Likewise, they’ve gotten competent innings out of the likes of Chris Beck, which I never would’ve imagined coming into the season.

3. We worried at the start of the season that the White Sox pitching depth issues would lead to premature promotions for any of the heralded prospects. That, uh, hasn’t been a problem.

So that’s now 32 IP, 36 H, 27 ER, 23 BB, 16 K, 6 HR and a 7.59 ERA over Carson Fulmer’s last 7 starts

— James Fegan (@JRFegan) June 21, 2017

Once the White Sox acquired Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez, Fulmer fell down the totem pole a bit in terms of pitching prospect upside, but the White Sox top arms taking longer than normal to look major league ready is at least worth keeping an eye on. The plus side of having no interest in winning is that their struggles simply mean they get more time at Triple-A to develop, while the downside is that, ya know, they’re struggling.

4. Tim Anderson committed his 16th error of the season in Wednesday’s loss, which is the highest total in baseball by any player at any position.

Errors don’t tell the whole story, of course, but FRAA has him at -2.1 on the season, which is 26th out of 35 qualified shortstops this season (although above bigger names like Jean Segura, Xander Bogaerts, and Brandon Crawford) and right in line with how they viewed him last year (he finished at -4.7 last year in a little more than half a season).

Anderson’s struggles are noticeable, but also given his athleticism and what we’ve seen from him when he’s at his best, they’re likely mental. I’d fathom a guess he’ll break out of his defensive funk sooner rather than later.

5. The White Sox announced the signing of first round pick Jake Burger on Wednesday to a signing bonus worth $3.7 million. They also reportedly came to terms with second round pick Gavin Sheets on an over-slot deal worth approximately $2 million.

They saved approximately $500K on signing Burger under-slot, and also reportedly got third round pick Luis Gonzalez to sign for $119K less than his slot, so some of those savings went to Sheets. It’s nice to see the White Sox avoid any type of draft pick signing drama, and all of their top picks should be reporting to short season ball soon enough.

For full coverage of White Sox draft pick signings, our friends at FutureSox are a great resource.

Lead Photo Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

1.  Derek Holland got shelled again. For the second start in a row, Holland surrendered three homers while only striking out two batters.  After his June 2 outing, Holland sounded like he knew what was wrong and that the problem was fixable, but if he was correct, he hasn’t been able to implement the correction yet.  His velocity isn’t noticeably off over his last two games, although after throwing only 203 innings from 2014-2016 combined he may be experiencing some fatigue, which could impact his command.

Holland has pretty much already justified his 1-year, $6 million contract, but after his strong start to the season it had some hoping that he would actually be a meaningful trade chit at the deadline.  The last two games have pushed expectations back toward the, “He’s just here to eat innings,” column.

2. After a three-hit game with his third home run in four games, Todd Frazier has boosted his line to .206/.312/.429.  The recent hot streak is fortuitously timed and is consistent with the narrative that he simply started the year cold, and then got crushed by a serious bout of the flu.  With his defense still sound at third, Frazier may yet represent something of value at the deadline, if the White Sox feel the return they can get is worth parting with his leadership.

3. Trading Frazier may also serve to free up space on the infield when Yoan Moncada eventually gets called up. Yolmer Sanchez is one of the many young White Sox position players who have dramatically resuscitated their careers from life support so far in 2017.  After three seasons of failing to put up an OPS north of .600, Sanchez is hitting .292/.341/.435 and it would be to the White Sox’ benefit to see what he can do with a full season of PAs in his age-24 season.  I don’t really think of Sanchez as a natural third baseman, but if the White Sox do call up Moncada, he will obviously play every day at second, meaning third is the only potential spot for regular reps, and that’s only if Frazier is gone.

Even if Sanchez, Leury Garcia, and Avisail Garcia are going to see some regression, there is more hope than ever that they can be solid regulars or plus bench contributors.  Seeing unexpectedly significant developmental wins at all three of these spots could actually alter the strength of the organization moving forward.  After all, if you think Moncada and Anderson can be star players, the Garcias and Sanchez only need to be solid to help fill out your roster.

4.  The Red Sox just got smashed twice in two games by the Yankees.  Sitting at 32-27, the Red Sox are hardly in bad shape, but the Yankees have certainly gotten off to a better start than many would have predicted, and with their robust farm system they are probably going to get stronger rather than weaker as time progresses, and the Red Sox third base situation has been just about as bad as you could have imagined before the season started.

Our prospect team adores Rafael Devers, who is crushing Double-A. But Devers doesn’t turn 21 until October and banking on him to save the position as a rookie seems risky for a team with World Series aspirations.  Similarly, the Yankees have Chase Headley‘s on-base skills following his power into the underworld, and although their 20-year-old hot prospect, Gleyber Torres, is in Triple-A, he is barely getting his feet wet, and you don’t want to risk rushing a top-tier prospect to throw a band-aid on a position of need.

These are two potential matches for Frazier, but speculating from the outside as to what he’s worth or whether these two organizations deem him a worthwhile investment is quixotic.  It is hard to identify other potential suitors unless someone on a contender gets hurt between now and August 31, however.

5. In statistical odds and ends, the White Sox are really, really bad at stealing bases, with a 57.5% success rate as a team. It’s even odder as the team has more than its fair share of young speedy players, although they are largely being dragged down by Sanchez’ 3/9 efforts to date.  Fortunately, and much more significantly, the White Sox have been the second best defense in all of the majors so far this season by Park Adjusted Defensive Efficiency with a defense that includes the aforementioned Garcias and the error-riddled Anderson as regular fixtures. A very encouraging sign, as the defense may feature those players consistently moving forward.

Lead Photo Credit: Kim Klement – USA Today Sports Images

Thursday’s start was vintage Holland. He jammed hitters with the fastball on the inner half of the plate to generate soft contact, while fooling hitters on a regular basis with the slider. Six of his seven punch outs were swinging, and three of those six came on sliders.

It’s obvious to say that when a pitcher’s command is shaky, his performance drops off, but Holland’s margin for error is slim, and Thursday he demonstrated, albeit against an underwhelming offense, just how effective he can be when his stuff is working.

He’s been an asset to the White Sox through the first month of the season, and if he’s able to demonstrate this kind of ability with some consistency, it’s not inconceivable that he could rebuild his value even more ahead of the trade deadline. We’re still several starts away from that happening, and injury or decline are still probably more likely, but the stuff is clearly still there.

2. Nate Jones was placed on the 10-day disabled list Thursday after experiencing minor nerve irritation, and reliever David Holmberg was called up to take his place on the roster. Elbow injuries are scary for any pitcher, and particularly so for Jones, who had Tommy John surgery in 2014. But the White Sox say they are confident it isn’t anything major after an MRI showed no major damage.

Jones’ 2016 season was sneakily great, and along with David Robertson entered the season as the White Sox reliever with the most trade value. Hopefully, this absence doesn’t hinder that too badly, but with Jones joining Zach Putnam and Jake Petricka on the DL, the the White Sox are fortunate in having the two greatest relievers in major league history emerge out of nowhere in Tommy Kahnle and Anthony “Backdraft” Swarzak, which should make these absences less cumbersome.

3. On the subject of injuries, Carlos Rodon was transferred to the 60-day DL in order to get Holmberg on the 40-man roster, a move Rick Hahn said was purely administrative because, by the time he’s ready to play it will be at least 60 days from when he was initially placed on the DL.

“Based upon the program we have laid out ahead of him, at this point, we don’t believe he’s going to be completed with all of his eventually rehab starts by June 1,” general manager Rick Hahn said. “So, from an administrative standpoint, it made sense to go ahead and transfer his DL placement from 10-day to 60-day DL. He continues to progress in Arizona. At this point we do not have a specific when we know he’ll begin a rehab assignment, but he’s getting closer to that.”

Rodon’s injury and the uncertainty that surrounded his status for so long has led to some anxious feelings. Getting to the point where a return date is actually known would be a step in the right direction, and while we aren’t quite to that point yet, things seem to at least be progressing.

4. Thursday’s game marked the end of a season-opening stretch where the White Sox played 24 of their first 27 games against American League Central teams, as they open a three-game set against the Baltimore Orioles on Friday. They went 14-10 in those 24 games, with the only outlier a three-game set in New York against the Yankees. The White Sox have been dreadful against AL Central teams in recent years, finishing below-.500 against those teams in each of the last four seasons. From 2013-16, the Sox went 123-181 against the AL Central, a .404 winning percentage, so it’s only fitting that the one year they’re not supposed to contend is the year that luck seems to be turning around.

There’s still a long way to go, but the White Sox have already played 31.5 percent of their AL Central schedule this season. And even if it doesn’t amount to much, seeing wins against the Indians, Tigers, and Royals is nothing if not gratifying.

5. Avisail Garcia went 2-for-5 with a pair of RBI in Thursday’s win, and his slash line is currently at .371/.419/.598. This has been your semi-regular “Avisail Garcia is still unfathomably hot” update of the week.

Lead Photo Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

Holland allowed six earned runs in 4.2 innings, but was forced to pitch around a Tim Anderson error in the second inning and was unable to do the same after the Abreu bobble and another error — this one by Melky Cabrera — in that ill-fated third.

Holland was unlucky on Monday. This is a solid narrative when discussing Monday’s loss, but it also fails to illustrate some of the more troubling trends that came out of his performance, namely, his inability to miss bats.

Even in his more successful years, Holland’s fastball has never been an “out” pitch. Hitters have swung and missed at his fastball just 5.79 percent of the time throughout his career, according the BrooksBaseball.net. And even during his most successful stretch — specifically the 2011 season — that number only reached 7.47 percent.

Holland generated 12 swings and misses in Monday’s start. As one would expect, 10 came on breaking pitches — sliders and curveballs — zero came on his fastball, and one on his sinker (Gameday classified this as a four-seamer and Brooks Baseball called it a sinker).

Holland’s profile relies on placement more than most, as he’s not wont to overpower hitters. Even in his two, more successful starts to begin the season, Holland wasn’t missing bats with the fastball, generating just four swings and misses (all on breaking pitches) in last Wednesday’s win over Cleveland, and just two against his fastball in his opening start against Minnesota.

Holland said as much after the start. After all, the 459-foot bomb hit by Matt Holliday came on a fastball left on the top of the strike zone, and the two-run shot by Aaron Judge that ultimately knocked Holland out of the game came on a hanging curveball that grabbed way too much of the plate.

Just as we weren’t about to overreact to the results Holland produced in his first two starts of the season, it would be foolish to predict doom and gloom based on Monday’s results. While it’s true that Holland’s location wasn’t sharp, there’s no telling what affect the additional pitches he was forced to throw because of misplays had.

But for the sake of both his trade value and his ability to soak up innings, his progress remains worth monitoring.

Lead Photo Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

1. Derek Holland had another strong outing, taking a no hitter into the 6th inning.  Given that his best 3-year run of success was from 2011-2013 and he has lost multiple seasons to injury, it is easy to forget that he’s only 30 and was once quite good.  The outing was an emotional one for the Ohio native, who lost his grandmother this spring and had family in attendance to watch his victory.

Comeback stories are always good, but from a selfish, organizational perspective it would a huge win if Holland can stay healthy and effective. It would mean he had covered much needed innings for the first half of the season and could potentially yield something meaningful at the deadline.  For a rebuilding team that’s pretty much a best case scenario for a 1-year signing.

2. Center field may be a problem.  Batting average isn’t everything, but it’s hard to ignore it when it’s zero.  Jacob May got the day off last night in favor of Leury Garcia.  One imagines that the plan was for these two to cover center until Charlie Tilson came back, but it’s still unclear how long that is going to take.  And even though wins and losses are a secondary concern this year, there are limits to what a team can tolerate in good faith for the sake of its fans and the other players on the roster.

It’s still early, but even before his 0-for-17 start there was reason to doubt that May was ready for the majors.  And as much as I’d like to see Garcia get regular at bats now that he’s conquered AAA, being a full-time center fielder might be too much to ask.  Unfortunately, short of going outside the organization, their options are rather limited.  Charlotte offers Adam Engel–who, outside of one great Arizona Fall League appearance–has never really hit at all, despite being old for every level, and Jason Bourgeois, a 35-year-old who has not played in the majors since 2015.

Here’s hoping it doesn’t come to that.

3. Geovany Soto was scratched yesterday with a sore right elbow and is headed to the 10-day DL, with Kevan Smith getting a shot at a few more big league games. This illustrates some of the potential logic behind Soto getting more starts than one might have anticipated to this point.  Sure, Omar Narvaez is the player who will be with the organization after this year, but you don’t want him catching 140+ games, and Soto is so injury prone you might as well use him while he’s healthy.  Narvaez will still get plenty of reps.

UPDATE: Immediately after this piece ran, it was announced that Soto’s right elbow inflammation was sufficient to place him on the disabled list, and Kevan Smith has been called up to take his place.  Smith, as you’ll recall, was one of the many rookies last year who was injured immediately, indeed, injuring his back before he could even make his debut.  Smith is listed at 6’4″ and he was a two-sport athlete in college. There’s still a chance there’s a backup catcher in here.

So far this year he has mashed at AAA to the tune of .438/.500/.562 in very limited action.

4. Avisail Garcia and Matt Davidson can both still boast an OPS over 1.000.  Their track records and identical 1:7 BB:K ratios throw cold water on any undue enthusiasm, but a good start is a good start.  Davidson has languished for so long in AAA after his Top 100 Prospect ascent to the majors in 2013 with the Diamondbacks.  He has alluded to putting too much pressure on himself before, so one hopes that hitting the ground running (and ideally not breaking his foot) can allow him to recover some of his old prospect shine.  After all, the criticism on him coming up was that it didn’t look like he could handle third defensively, meaning his bat would have to move to 1B/DH where it was much less impressive.  Davidson then improved his defense to the point where it could play at third and his bat promptly imploded.  Perhaps it isn’t too late to get his bat on track to pair with a serviceable glove at the hot corner.

5. Anthony Swarzak made his White Sox debut last night and posted two strikeouts in one perfect inning.  Swarzak, Zach Putnam, and David Robertson have combined for 10.33 scoreless innings this year, striking out 16 and walking none.  Yet another area to monitor for potential trade assets at the deadline, and another way in which the White Sox still do not wholly resemble a “tanking” roster.

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The idea that a rebuilding team doesn’t need depth doesn’t hold in the same way for starting pitching. No matter how you slice it, a team needs to get at least 850 innings or so from its starters in a year. If it has trouble picking that many up then there’s a likely increase in bullpen injury risk from overuse — plus whatever psychic toll that many four-hour blowouts has on fans and players.

In the same way that some in this space were critical of the White Sox failure to bring in a veteran catcher who could perhaps stabilize the pitching staff and prevent catastrophe in the event of Omar Narvaez playing like PECOTA expects, there’s some room for concern — not a ton, but some — that there’s no backup plan if something befalls the Sox rotation.

This has become even more apparent after last week’s revelation that Carlos Rodon may start the season on the disabled list. Even before that injury, each of the other four starters breaking camp with the major league club either are likely to be traded (Jose Quintana, Miguel Gonzalez), have injury concerns above even a normal pitcher (Gonzalez, Derek Holland), or are quite possibly finished (Holland and Big Inning James Shields).

While the Sox have Carson Fulmer, Lucas Giolito, and Reynaldo Lopez waiting in the wings, nobody really wants to see them called up earlier than planned because Shields gets brutally mauled by a gopher. As Rick Hahn put it last week:

“You don’t want anyone young or any prospect pushing the issue because there is a need in Chicago. What dictates when a player is in Chicago is going to be his ability to succeed in Chicago, as opposed to a need in Chicago.”

Not counting the prospects, the next set of starters on the depth chart are a pretty unsightly batch, even by the standards of a team that cycled through Mat Latos, John Danks, Erik Johnson, and Anthony Ranaudo last season. There’s nobody bringing even the guarantee of a Scott Carroll or a Dylan Axelrod.

There’s Tyler Danish, who’s young, still has some upside, and didn’t acquit himself last year in his emergency call-up. (Hahn suggested Danish is their most likely option.) While Rule 5 pick Dylan Covey has started in the past, he’s never pitched above Double-A, and it’s not clear he’ll break camp with the team anyhow. Chris Volstad is 30 and posted an ERA close to 5 in Charlotte last year; Cory Leubke is 32 and hasn’t started anywhere in years. (There’s also the free agent market, in case you wanted an even sadder end to John Danks’s tenure with the franchise.)

Bluntly, none of those seem like good bets to make more than one start in April or May without the wheels falling off, but that doesn’t make a real catastrophe particularly likely. (It wouldn’t take a “Homer at the Bat” level collapse, but it does require at least two or three players becoming totally unusable.) Even if one or two of the front five take a hit, one of the backup options should be able to do enough to merit a couple of turns; if nothing else, giving each of the four listed above a start or two soaks up enough turns through the rotation to take care of any early DL stints. Thinking more broadly, if none of Fulmer, Giolito, and Lopez is ready by mid-June then the organization has bigger problems to worry about.

Even before Rodon went down, I was concerned about their having to rush prospects. Hopefully — maybe — if the rebuild goes as planned there can be a few years’ hiatus on articles referring to a “crippling lack of depth” on either side of the ball; God knows the White Sox have run that trope into the ground this decade.

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This week’s Derek Holland signing has shifted, ever so slightly, the focus to how they will eat innings on the 2017 major league roster. The major league team is probably a lower priority for the organization than it has been in decades, but it will still provide a fantastic proving ground for the upper-level talent in their organization, an opportunity to take fliers on reclamation projects, alongside crucial developmental seasons for foundational pieces Tim Anderson and Carlos Rodon. And someone besides Rodon will need to pitch.

Again, it’s a low priority. Jose Quintana is currently slated to be the No. 1 starter for the 2017 White Sox, but could obviously be traded before you, the reader, make it to third paragraph of this piece. In return, the Sox likely will not–nor should they specifically target–receive anyone who will replace his innings. Which would leave the rotation looking like:

1. Carlos Rodon

2. Miguel Gonzalez

3. Derek Holland

4. James Shields

5. ???

Gonzalez is a weird case, since the fact that he was effective at all last years means he would be a top-10 starting pitcher on the free agent market, were he a free agent, but also is a useful guard against the Sox newly acquired upper-level pitching prospect not breaking into the majors too early. Obviously, Gonzalez having trade value and wanting to hold pitching prospects until midseason are desires that can reach a mutually beneficial compromise provided he continues to perform.

But there’s a balance that needs to be struck here. Holland has been so beset by injury that he’s accumulated just over 200 innings in the last three season, Shields is certainly durable, but needs a dramatic turnaround to even continue his career. Triple-question marks are completely unproven in their ability to fill a rotation spot.

The Sox don’t want 1,000 innings from five built-in major leaguers. Lucas Giolito, Carson Fulmer and Reynaldo Lopez all saw major league time in 2016, and Lopez even flashed dominance at times. Not to mention that Spencer Adams and Jordan Stephens will likely be readying themselves at Double-A, and Michael Kopech will be coming to that level at some point. Reinforcements are obviously near and will only become more plentiful. But they need something, and again, they don’t want to dedicate trade assets that are meant to serve the rebuild.

The free agent market is less than promising. Holland getting $6 million with his health record may have been surprising, but Tommy Milone getting a guaranteed $1.25 million deal might be even more representative of the floor. Anyone familiar with recent Sox history has memories of Milone’s changeup cutting their lineup like a buzzsaw and he would have been an interesting reclamation candidate, but he also was dropped from the rotation of the 103-loss Twins for poor performance last year. If he was not on minor league deal level, who is?

Well, no one. Rubby De La Rosa is still 28 and misses bats (though not left-handed ones). Henderson Alvarez and Jarrod Parker are also in their 20s and would be popular if there was any hope they could be healthy again. Even someone who missed nearly all of 2016 like Brett Anderson should have significant demand, so anyone who was relatively healthy but simply mediocre like Doug Fister should have the option of playing for a contender. A good thing to remember is that anyone who seems like an intriguing buy-low, or an undervalued arm with statistics trending upward, is being picked at by far hungrier teams with more immediate goals

It’s in this environment that I can manage to work up some Edwin Jackson enthusiasm. He was pretty awful last year in San Diego, but he was healthy in and still sat in the low-to-mid 90s. 2010 in Chicago with Don Cooper standing him up straight remains the best ball he’s pitched in his career–far better than 2011 in Chicago with Don Cooper, though–and the sliver of possibility there’s some upside to be squeezed out clears the subterranean bar of a fifth starter trial on a possible last place team in a poor pitching market. It has almost no chance to work, but the Sox will get through the games somehow anyway, which is all that really matters in the end.

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