White Sox Finally Make This Much Needed Roster Move

I thought that the White Sox would’t be able to surprise me anymore, but I guess I was wrong. After Eloy was taken out of one of the first games due to an injury almost a week ago, the White Sox for some reason did not place him on the Injured List, leaving them a man down very early in the year.

This is absolutely absurd considering all the factors that go into this type of move. First, it is early in the season and there are roster limits on how many position players can be on the team. One of the only ways that the White Sox were going to win a decent amount of games was if they stayed heathy, and playing a man down this early in the year isn’t going to help. Plus, even if putting Eloy on the IL gives him an extra few days of rest over what he needs, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it could prevent the injury from lingering.

But, the White Sox, in typical fashion, let him sit on the bench wasting a spot for a few games. Now, the Injured List placement will be retroactive to April 2nd, but this should have been done immediately. They had plenty of players they could have called up in his place, but they chose not to for whatever reason.

However, the corresponding move might help the White Sox win a few more games. It was announced they purchased the contract of Robbie Grossman, while DFA’ing reliever Alex Speas.

Robbie Grossman will be a nice addition, as he can platoon with Gavin Sheets at DH for the time being. Grossman has killed lefties in his career, which will give the White Sox the matchup advantage at DH, as Sheets hits righties significantly better. In fact, every single one of Sheet’s 36 career homers have come against right handed pitchers.

This allows the White Sox to have a very solid DH spot in the order, as two players who are significantly better against the opposite handed pitcher allow the White Sox to have a nice advantage at a position in which they desperately need it. I’m not sure if this is how they will do it, but I think this would make the most sense.

I was not sure how long it would take Robbie Grossman to be ready to get called up, but he got ready pretty fast. In three games, he hit .400 with two homers and five RBIs. That was a clear sign that he was ready to make it back to the MLB.

Now, once Eloy returns in a few days, this is where it gets more complicated. The Sox will have to make the decision on which outfielder to keep. They could option Kevin Pillar, Robbie Grossman, or even Dominic Fletcher, as he has underperformed at this point.

My money would be on Pillar, as they would likely want to get Fletcher as many at-bats as possible as he is still a rookie and has played very solid defense. It will likely be a battle between Pillar and Grossman, but since they brought in Grossman after Spring Training, I would imagine he gets the leg up, as they clearly didn’t like what they saw out of Pillar.

The White Sox should be in just of a good spot at DH if not better than if Eloy was there. He was not having good at-bats, so this break might be good for him. He needs to come back and play well, otherwise no team will want him at the deadline, which could hamper the White Sox, as he is likely not going to be on the team in 2025.

Look for a lot of roster shuffling over the next week or so, as the White Sox will have to add a 5th starter in a few days, as well as make the decision on who goes when Eloy is back.