1. Rodon has been one of the best pitchers in baseball in the second half of the season. Working with Omar Narvaez has greatly increased his changeup use, which has paid dividends against right-handed hitters especially. Everything was going right for Rodon coming into this start, and then everything went wrong. He gave up three runs in the fourth inning after walks got him into some trouble and Jose Ramirez lined a two-run triple to right and scored on a Brandon Guyer single, but Rodon still appeared to look in control of the game. In the sixth, his changeup turned on him. After giving up two-straight hits, he left a changeup over the middle of the plate to Coco Crisp, who simply waited and crushed the ball out to left-center field. That blast marked the end of Rodon’s night. In just five innings pitched, Rodon gave up six runs and three walks while only striking out five. It was a step in the wrong direction, but one start does not derail the progress that he has made throughout this season.

2. Jose Abreu struggled mightily, going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. The sample size is far too small to make any real conclusions, but it appears that Abreu’s strong affinity to playing in the field rather than being a designated hitter has affected his play at the plate. In 24 plate appearances as a designated hitter this season, he has just five singles.

3. As a whole, the Sox offense was dreadful against Tomlin, who has been very bad recently. This isn’t an entirely new phenomenon, but it certainly doesn’t inspire confidence. After two encouraging nights against two above-average pitchers, Sox hitters wer completely shut down by the Indians’ worst starting pitcher. The Sox collected just six hits the entire game, with five members of their lineup failing to reach base at all.

4. There have been very few bright spots in the White Sox season. One of which has been Melky Cabrera‘s recovery from a very bad 2015 season. Melky went 3-for-4 Wednesday, by far the standout of any Sox hitter in the game. The night Sox hitting had meant Cabrera was left on base each of the three times he reached.

5. In a game that has little to no meaning for the Sox, Robin Ventura managed to keep the important arms in the bullpen rested. Blake Smith, Michael Ynoa, and Juan Minaya all made appearances following Rodon’s exit. In the combined four innings they pitched they gave up just one hit, proving once again that baseball makes absolutely no sense.

Team Record: 70-75

Next game is Thursday vs. Cleveland at 1:10pm CT on CSN

Lead Image Credit: David Banks // USA Today Sports Images

After cold, snowy weather plagued the first two games of the White Sox home-opening series, more of the same is expected today with temperatures in the high 30s and rain possible at first pitch. But if the game IS played, the Sox will face Josh Tomlin, the lone Tribe hurler yet to get a start this season.

Tomlin allowed just three earned runs in two starts against the White Sox a year ago, and is coming off of an impressive partial-season of work in general after battling injuries and inconsistencies that have prevented him from playing a full season since 2011. In 10 starts and 65 innings a year ago, he was worth 1.2 WARP and had an impressive 89 cFIP, along with a TAv allowed of .222, giving Cleveland hope he can duplicate those numbers over the course of an entire season and make their already solid rotation even better. Tomlin’s game shows him keeping the ball around the plate almost exclusively, as he averaged just around one walk per nine innings a year ago, but the flip side is he’s relatively dinger-prone, giving up 13 in his 65 innings of work. That’s not an outlier from his career, either, as he averages exactly as many BB/9 as HR/9.

Quintana gets his second start of the season for the White Sox after a debut in which he allowed two earned runs, walked zero and struck out 7 in 5.2 innings of work against Oakland (and, not surprisingly, getting a no-decision). Quintana dominated Cleveland a year ago, allowing just two earned runs in 22 innings against the Tribe (yet somehow losing one of his three starts against them).

A win Sunday would leave the White Sox three game above .500 after the first week of the season including taking two of three against the presumed AL Central favorites entering the season. Little things like this aren’t worth losing sleep over this early in the season, but a good start is a good start, and it’d be nice to end the week with a pair of series wins before heading to Minnesota.

White Sox Lineup:

1. Austin Jackson – CF
2. Brett Lawrie – 2B
3. Jose Abreu – 1B
4. Todd Frazier – 3B
5. Melky Cabrera – LF
6. Avisail Garcia – RF
7. Jerry Sands – DH
8. Dioner Navarro – C
9. Tyler Saladino – SS

Jose Quintana – LHP

Indians Lineup:

1. Rajai Davis – CF
2. Jason Kipnis – 2B
3. Francisco Lindor – SS
4. Mike Napoli – 1B
5. Carlos Santana – DH
6. Marlon Byrd – LF
7. Roberto Perez – C
8. Jose Ramirez – 3B
9. Colin Cowgill – RF

Josh Tomlin – RHP

Adam Eaton is out for the second-straight game for the birth of his son, and Bruce Levine reports he’s headed for the Paternity Leave list, prompting the call-up of right-hander and former super IFA prospect Michael Ynoa from Double-A Birmingham. Eaton is not expected to miss anymore games, however.

Eaton’s absence, along with efforts to rest Jimmy Rollins and Alex Avila regularly, has prompted Robin Ventura to dump a slate of hitters into Sunday’s lineup who are generally hopeless against right-handed pitching. Josh Tomlin‘s multi-year TAv platoon splits show him significantly more effective against lefties than righties, however (.226 vs. .288), so perhaps that weighed into the thinking.

Top photo credit: Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports

Back end pitchers also play enough of a role to matter during the course of a 162-game season. Last year, the White Sox played 67 games that were started by someone other than their presumed Top 3 pitchers going into the season (Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, Jeff Samardzija). Or more specifically, they accounted for 26 percent of the total innings completely by White Sox pitchers in 2015.

Granted, not every back end starter is cut from the same cloth. Using the White Sox as the most obvious example, Carlos Rodon being your fourth or fifth starter in 2015 is much, much different from John Danks. Looking across the division at Detroit, Daniel Norris at the back end of the rotation is much different than Mike Pelfrey. Likewise, the guys who aren’t necessarily expected to be counted on as more than a back end starter who eats innings at the beginning of the year can sometimes ascend (Esteban Loaiza always comes to mind, for some reason), and guys who start the year as a potential key cog in a rotation can fall off drastically (Hello again, Mr. Samardzija).

Keeping all these caveats in mind, let’s try to get an idea of where the back end of the White Sox rotation stacks up compared to those of their AL Central rivals. Most teams have their rotations basically set at this point in Spring Training, but understanding how incredibly rare it is for a team to use as few as five starters during the season, we’ll look at the projected Nos. 4 and 5 starters for each team, as well as guys who won’t necessarily start the season with the big league club, but have a good chance to start at some point during the season because of injury or performance.

White Sox

Probably most of the work: John Danks, Mat Latos

Other possibilities: Scott Carroll, Erik Johnson, Chris Beck, Carson Fulmer, Jacob Turner

Of the pitchers we’re going to go over, there’s only one pitcher PECOTA actually likes more than Latos, who is projected to be worth 1 WARP and have an ERA in the low 4.00s. The question with Latos, of course, is health, and that’s where the other guys come in.

We pretty much know at this point what to expect out of Danks at this point. Unless Dioner Navarro’s pitch-tipping discovery was truly a revelation, Danks will continue to be a guy who eats innings and occasionally gets hammered. But if Latos can’t stay healthy, the White Sox will depend on a mixture of guys who have struggled to find success during their respective brief major league careers.

Carroll, Johnson, and Beck and Turner to a lesser extent, are all guys who shouldn’t kill you with a spot start or two here and there, but Latos’ ability to stay healthy and be effective enough to remain in the rotation is rather important.

The wild card here is Fulmer, who some believe could join the rotation as early as May or June. In the very good chance that someone ahead of him falters, his ascent could give the White Sox a big boost.

Indians

Probably most of the work: Trevor Bauer, Josh Tomlin

Other possibilities: Cody Anderson, T.J. House

At 31, one has to wonder if Tomlin’s impressive work in 65 innings in 2015 is truly a sign that he’s fully recovered from Tommy John surgery in 2012 and even better than he was prior to that, but PECOTA seems to think so, as he’s projected to be worth more WARP than any other pitcher currently pegged for the Nos. 4 and 5 spots in their respective rotations.

Between Bauer — a former top prospect who has shown flashes of brilliance but continues to be erratic and inconsistent, and Tomlin if he’s as good as he could be, the Indians likely have the best back end options of any team in the AL Central. Where things get dicey is what comes if either guy falters or suffers injury. House and Anderson, like the White Sox group of mediocrity, are fine in a pinch, but depth is lacking here. After those two, there isn’t a whole lot to fall back on, and unlike the rest of the teams in the division, there’s no youngster close to major league-ready who could break through.

Luckily for the Indians, they arguable have the best pitching staff in the division. It’s just the depth that is lacking.

Tigers

Probably most of the work: Daniel Norris, Mike Pelfrey

Other possibilities: Shane Greene, Kyle Ryan, Michael Fulmer, Matt Boyd

Detroit’s pitching depth will be tested right off the bat this season, as promising youngster Norris will begin the season on the disabled list. Greene seems most likely to get the fifth slot in the rotation in his absence, and after impressing despite being thrust into duty with the 2014 Yankees, he fell back down to earth last season after a trade brought him to Detroit.

Most of Detroit’s depth is relatively untested at the major league level, as Ryan has gained a spot start or two during 66 career innings across two seasons, and Boyd, while still only 25, was really, really bad in spot start duties with both Detroit and Toronto a year ago.

The only non-youngster of the bunch is Pelfrey, who was surprisingly competent in Minnesota a year ago after a variety of injuries — including Tommy John surgery back in 2012 — limited him to 37 starts from 2012-14. If he holds up, he should be a constant in the back end of Detroit’s rotation, eating innings and pitching to contact. He is Detroit’s Danks.

Fulmer — the other Fulmer — is like the White Sox’s version, a wild card. After being acquired from the Mets in last season’s Yoenis Cespedes deal, he immediately became the best prospect in Detroit’s moribund system and could see the majors this year. Between Fulmer and Norris, Detroit has a pair of young arms to be excited about.

Twins

Probably most of the work: Tommy Milone, Ricky Nolasco

Other possibilities: Tyler Duffey, J.R. Graham, Taylor Rogers, Jose Berrios

I believe Ethan Spalding put it best when it comes to the Twins and their pitching staff:

the Twins pitching dev is obviously a front for a top secret cloning op but why did they choose to clone Brad Radke instead of Johan Santana

— Ethan Spalding (@SpaldingBalls) March 29, 2016

It’s true that the Twins’ rotation is filled with mediocrity. The fact that the back end of the rotation isn’t much less impressive than the top guys isn’t a good sign for the team as a whole, but that they’re loaded with guys who eat innings, stay healthy and keep them in games is at least somewhat nice. Milone and Nolasco are basically interchangeable in that regard, but if Duffey slips into the fifth starter role at some point he may be a nice change.

While his profile doesn’t portend a lot of strikeouts, the 25-year-old did strike out 8.2 batters per nine innings, but he also walked his fair share. He’s likely a swingman long-term, but the Twins would be well served to give him and fellow 25-year-old Rogers a look if they fall out of the race early.

Those two, along with the aforementioned veteran inning eaters, are of course just holding the place of 21-year-old flamethrower Berrios, who in reality you should’t expect to see until September. The five guys listed before Berrios won’t be the problem with the 2016 Twins, it’ll likely be the lack of a dominant arm at the front of the rotation.

Royals

Probably most of the work: Kris Medlen, Chris Young

Other possibilities: Danny Duffy, Mike Minor, Kyle Zimmer, Chien-Ming Wang

The defending champions have, on paper, the weakest backend of the rotation in the division. Medlen, who is kept together by pins and needles at this point, was a solid reliever for most of 2015 after finally recovering from his second Tommy John surgery, while Young rode some good BABIP luck to good results in 2015 before falling apart late. In fact, Young is the only player mentioned on this list who PECOTA projects to be worth a negative amount in 2016.

Royals Devil Magic could strike once again, but if Medlen’s body falters and Young can’t produce, what’s left?

The most likely candidate to get innings in that scenario is Duffy, who outpitched his peripherals in 2014 before falling back to earth a season ago. Duffy is a fine back end of the rotation option who the Royals would probably be better off using over Young at this point, but after that things get very dicey. Minor hasn’t pitched since 2014 and will begin the season on the 60-day DL, and I’m just as surprised as you are to see Wang still hanging around.

Zimmer, much like the law firm of Fulmer & Fulmer, could be a game-changer for Kansas City, however, and may be closer to making his major league debut than either of them. If he does, and one of the Medlen/Young/Duffy trio proves capable, the Royals will be fine.

Summary

OK, so what we just looked at proves something that may be rather obvious: that the back end of the rotation isn’t always very pretty. However, while the raw numbers of these guys aren’t pretty, it’s clear that having a number of pitchers who won’t murder your team’s chances of winning every time they step on the mound is as important as ever, especially with starters throwing fewer innings than ever before in major league history.

The White Sox rolling with Danks and Latos at the start of the season seems fine, especially when you compare them to their division rivals. Those two and the rest eating up innings while Sale, Quintana and Rodon do all the heavy lifting will be an important factor in the team’s success in 2016.

Top Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports