Kuzul

For weeks, we’ve all been asking whether the New York Yankees would sell.

Turns out the Sale we should have been focused on is Chris, as in Chris Sale of the Chicago White Sox, as in the pitcher who could energize this July trade market.

If a team gets (or misses out on) Aroldis Chapman, it could be season-changing.

If a team gets Sale, it could change this season, next season and maybe every season left in this decade.

Too dramatic? Not really, given Sale’s age (27), stats (71-43 in his career, with a 2.95 ERA and sabermetric numbers to match) and contract (under control through 2019 with a salary that rises from $9.15 million to just $15 million). He’s also reliable (on track to top 200 innings for the third time in four years), he’s made five straight All-Star teams (he started the game this year), and he has received Cy Young votes every year since he became a starter in 2012.

He’s so good and so valuable you can ask why the White Sox would ever want to trade him. The answer is they don’t really want to, which is another reason this is so fascinating.

To get him, it’s going to take a massive trade, with huge names going back the other way. After Jon Heyman reported on Today’s Knuckleball that the White Sox are taking phone calls and at least listening on Sale and fellow top starter Jose Quintana, T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com tweeted this:

That’s Joey Gallo, the power-hitting third baseman ranked by MLB.com as the seventh-best prospect in all of baseball, and Jurickson Profar, who was once the top prospect in the game and now plays all over the infield for the Rangers.

You can bet the asking price will be similar for any other interested team. Perhaps that means Yoan Moncada from the Boston Red Sox or Julio Urias from the Los Angeles Dodgers or Alex Bregman from the Houston Astros.

The Astros haven’t yet been mentioned as a Sale suitor, but given their depth of talent and their need for a top starter, it’s hard to believe they wouldn’t be interested.

Any of those teams could put together a tempting offer, now that the White Sox have said they’re prepared to make moves. As general manager Rick Hahn told reporters, including Brian Hedger of MLB.com, the White Sox are “mired in mediocrity,” even with Sale and Quintana atop the rotation.

One baseball official with White Sox connections expressed doubt Friday evening that owner Jerry Reinsdorf would ultimately approve of trading Sale. But if the return is good enough, especially if it includes players who are big league-ready, it’s hard to believe he wouldn’t be tempted.

The White Sox have other players they could deal, and adding closer David Robertson could make it easier for a team to justify losing top prospects. Almost every team looking for a starter could use a back-end reliever, as well.

Here’s a look at what seem to be the three best fits:

Boston Red Sox

Heyman reported Friday they’ve already checked in with the White Sox, which is hardly a surprise. General manager Dave Dombrowski is well-known for his talent-for-talent philosophy, meaning he won’t hesitate to trade top prospects if the return is good enough.

The Red Sox have scored the most runs in the majors, and they’re extremely deep in young talent. But even after trades this month for starter Drew Pomeranz and reliever Brad Ziegler, they still could use another top-line starter.

With their young lineup, and with Sale and David Price atop the rotation, they might be in position to dominate the American League East—or the entire American League—for years.

Texas Rangers

Like Dombrowski, Rangers general manager Jon Daniels has shown willingness to pull the trigger on big deals. The Rangers added Cliff Lee in 2010 and Cole Hamels last year, and Daniels told reporters, including Sullivan of MLB.com, he’s focused on pitching again.

Yu Darvish has come back from Tommy John surgery and then from a month on the disabled list with shoulder trouble, but he showed again Friday night that his command isn’t back yet.

The Rangers lost 3-1 to the Kansas City Royals—their 15th loss in the last 19 games. Once 10 games up in the American League West, they now lead the Astros by just 2.5 games.

Put Sale with Hamels atop the rotation, and they could be the team that dominates. Put Sale with Hamels and Darvish atop next year’s rotation, and they might be the World Series favorite.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Are they really ready to make the type of big trade they stayed away from last July? We’ll see, but Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com tweeted earlier in the week that they’re “Big Game Hunting” this month.

Jayson Stark of ESPN.com connected them to Chris Archer—a natural fit given Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman’s history with the Tampa Bay Rays. But as good as Archer could be, he hasn’t accomplished nearly what Sale has (and is actually older than Sale).

The Dodgers had big uncertainty in their rotation even before Clayton Kershaw went on the disabled list with back trouble. Sale would give them a true ace while Kershaw is out, and a great one-two with Kershaw going forward.

There are other teams looking for starting pitching, including the Astros, Miami Marlins, Toronto Blue Jays and Detroit Tigers. The Astros probably have enough available talent to make a play, while the other three may not.

Just remember, we’ve already seen how quickly things can change in July. The Yankees have won five of their last six games, throwing more doubt on whether they’ll trade Chapman, Andrew Miller or others.

Who knows? If they win a few more games, maybe instead of selling, they’ll be the team trying to trade for Chris Sale.

Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow Danny on Twitter and talk baseball.

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As the Chicago White Sox continue their free fall in the American League Central, Chris Sale’s future is going to be a hot topic of conversation before the August 1 trade deadline. 

Continue for updates. 

Rangers Pursuing Sale

Friday, July 22

TR Sullivan of MLB.com reported the Texas Rangers are making a “serious effort” to pry Sale away from the White Sox, noting Chicago wants top Rangers prospect Joey Gallo and former top prospect Jurickson Profar in return.

Report: White Sox Rejected Big Offer

Thursday, July 21

Per Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, an unnamed team offered the White Sox a “king’s ransom” for Sale within the last 48 hours and was given a “no” by Chicago. 

White Sox Face Tough Decision With Sale’s Elite Talent, Team-Friendly Contract

There are two trains of thought for the White Sox when determining how to handle Sale. 

On the one hand, Sale is one of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball and has finished in the top six of American League Cy Young voting each of the last four years. He’s signed through 2017 with two team options for 2018 and 2019 totaling $26 million, per Baseball-Reference.com.

That contract allows the White Sox to ask any team interested in Sale for anything and everything they want. It’s hard enough to find an ace like Sale, let alone have him signed to such a team-friendly deal, that trading him would be difficult to justify. 

On the other hand, the White Sox are a team that has a lot of holes to fill on their MLB roster. Adam Eaton and Melky Cabrera are their only regulars with an on-base percentage higher than .324.

Todd Frazier hits a lot of home runs, but you can’t really work with a .217 average and .304 on-base percentage. Jose Abreu’s performance has dropped each of the last two years since he was named American League Rookie of the Year in 2014. Brett Lawrie has proven throughout his career that he’s not a starting second baseman. 

They inexplicably traded for James Shields, who has pitched better in July but still has a 4.99 ERA in 20 starts this season. 

The White Sox do have another No. 1 starter in Jose Quintana, who also has a favorable contract that is guaranteed through 2018 with team options for 2019 and 2020. 

At some point, a team has to accept that spending $100-plus million every year to win 75-80 games isn’t a smart strategy. The White Sox don’t seem to be there yet, but they need to get there soon or things will spiral out of control in a hurry for this franchise. 

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The Chicago White Sox placed starting pitcher Carlos Rodon on the 15-day disabled list Saturday morning because of a wrist injury.  

Continue for updates.

Rodon Expecting to Make Quick Recovery

Saturday, July 9

The team officially announced the roster move on Twitter and noted fellow pitcher Tommy Kahnle will fill the void on the 25-man roster. The Associated Press (via USA Today) reported Rodon was diagnosed with a sprained left wrist.

Jeff Arnold of the Chicago Sun-Times passed along further information about the ailment from Rodon. He stated the injury occurred Friday when he braced himself after he slipped on the dugout steps.

JJ Stankevitz of CSN Chicago reported the starter only expects to miss one turn in the rotation thanks to the timing of next week’s All-Star break. He initially didn’t think anything of the injury until returning to the clubhouse after the fall.

“I came back in and sat down and I was like, ‘uhh, all right, this kind of hurts a little bit,'” Rodon said.

The accident brings an end to a mostly disappointing first half for the 23-year-old lefty. He went 2-7 with a 4.50 ERA and 1.53 WHIP across 16 starts. He told Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago on Thursday he was hoping to turn things around after the break, but that goal will now be briefly delayed:

It hasn’t been what I wanted, that’s for sure. Frustrating, especially when you have a good team like this. You want to be able to win for them. You want to be a part of their winning. You got guys like (Chris) Sale and (Jose) Quintana shoving it … and pitching well. It’s tough to sit there and watch your start when you’re not doing what you’re doing.

His peripheral numbers suggest there’s reason for optimism once he gets healthy. The .349 batting average on balls in play points toward some bad luck, a thought backed up by his 4.12 xFIP and 4.11 SIERA, per FanGraphs.

Rodon has also struck out 91 batters in 92 innings, the type of rate a team likes to see from a pitcher who should eventually become a key cog in the rotation. The biggest factor in reaching that status is improving his command to cut down on his walk total.

The fact that he’s hoping to miss just a single start is good news for a White Sox club that’s looking to contend for a playoff berth. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the team ends up giving him a little extra time to fully recover, though, since it’s an injury to his pitching wrist.

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Chicago White Sox manager Robin Ventura is reportedly on the hot seat after the club’s 33-33 start to the 2016 season, which leaves them fourth in the competitive AL Central. 

Continue for updates.

Ventura’s Job Could Be In Jeopardy After Team’s Recent Slide

Thursday, June 16

Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball reported one source told him Ventura’s situation is “not great” after he has come under the microscope because of the team’s recent struggles. Heyman noted some people in the organization are starting to wonder whether a switch is on the horizon.

While the front office isn’t placing all of the blame at the manager’s feet, Heyman added there’s a “growing feeling” that it might be time to do something to spark the team. There’s no timetable for a decision on his status, though.

Bench coach Rick Renteria is listed as the favorite to fill the void if Chicago moves forward with the change. A source told Today’s Knuckleball he’s made the Sox “as prepared as they’ve ever been.”

General manager Rick Hahn wouldn’t provide a definitive update on the manager’s status when asked about the situation last week, per Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago.

“I don’t think you have ever seen me telegraph any move or comment on any individual,” Hahn said. “The best thing you do (is) rally around the guys you have here. My job is to put them in the best position to win, with the people you have in this clubhouse.”

Chicago started May with an 18-8 record, the best mark in the American League by 2.5 games and three games better than its closest division rival at the time, the Detroit Tigers. Since then, the South Siders have gone 15-25 and slid down the standings.

Given the overall parity in the division, with just 2.5 games separating the top four teams, the White Sox need to break out of their funk before the Tigers, Kansas City Royals and Cleveland Indians start to leave them in the dust.

Now the question is whether a managerial change is the way to go. Ventura, who’s in the final season of his current contract, has compiled a 330-384 record since taking over ahead of the 2012 campaign. The team hasn’t finished above .500 since the former third baseman’s first year in charge.

In the bigger picture, the White Sox haven’t qualified for the postseason since 2008 and last won a playoff series in 2005, when they won the World Series. It adds more urgency to take advantage of a wide-open division, which could leave Ventura as the fall guy if things don’t turn around soon.

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Player: Zack Collins

Position: C

DOB: Feb. 6, 1995 (21 years old)

Height/Weight: 6’3″, 220 lbs

Bats/Throws: L/R

School: Miami

Previously Drafted: 2013 (27th Round, CIN)

Background

College catchers tend to sneak up draft boards when June rolls around, as teams are always looking for more catching depth, and high school catchers are arguably the toughest players of all to project.

There are still some questions whether he will in fact stick behind the dish long-term, but with a monster season offensively, Zack Collins his seen his stock trending up all spring.

Ranked as the No. 113 prospect in the 2013 draft by Baseball America, Collins slipped to the 27th round with a strong commitment to the University of Miami.

He made his presence felt immediately for the Hurricanes, winning Freshman of the Year honors with a .298/.427/.556 line that included 14 doubles, 11 home runs and 54 RBI.

That huge first season earned him a spot in the collegiate national team and quickly put him on the 2016 draft radar.

While questions about his defense remained, his stock continued to rise as a sophomore when he hit .302/.445/.587 with 14 doubles, 15 home runs and 70 RBI.

More accolades followed, as he was named to the All-American Third Team by Rawlings and All-ACC First Team, and he entered his junior campaign as a potential first-round pick, even if he was forced to move out from behind the plate.

He’s still not a plus defender by any means, but he’s shown enough improvement this spring to lead some to believe he can in fact catch at the highest level, which has obviously boosted his stock even further.

At the end of the day, though, it’s still his bat that will carry him, and it’s been an awfully loud bat in 2016.

Collins is currently hitting .358/.534/.631 with nine doubles, 13 home runs and 53 RBI. He’s also lowered his strikeout rate from 20.6 percent to 19.1 percent, while raising his walk rate from 18.4 percent to 27.5 percent. That’s the kind of improvement scouts love to see.

Pick Analysis

With a .534 on-base percentage that ranks fourth in the nation and plenty of home run pop, Collins is the rare catching prospect who is legitimately among the top bats in the country, not just a plus bat for his position.

Baseball America provided the following scouting report:

Collins has plus power, and does a good job of getting to it in game action. He has excellent plate discipline, working counts and waiting for pitches that he can drive. He has walked twice as often as he has struck out this spring.

Coming into the year, many doubted Collins’ ability to stay behind the plate as a professional. But he has shown marked improvement this spring. While it’s unlikely he’ll ever be an above-average defender, he has enough catch-and-throw skills to give him a chance to catch as a professional.

That bat will play wherever he winds up playing in the field, and it’s the decision about his defense that will ultimately decide how quickly he arrives on the scene in the majors.

Pro Comparison: Mike Napoli

Some believe Collins is capable of making a Kyle Schwarber-type impact with a quick ascent through the minors and an immediate MLB impact with his bat.

However, he doesn’t quite have the same raw power that Schwarber possesses, and if his future is in fact behind the plate, a more traditional path through the minors to further develop his skills will be in his best interest.

Instead, a better comparison might be a left-handed-hitting version of Mike Napoli.

Napoli was never a standout defender behind the plate and has since moved to first base, but back in his catching days with the Angels and Rangers, he was one of the premier offensive players at the position.

The slugger recorded six straight seasons with at least 20 home runs during his peak, including a 30-homer season in 2011 that was accompanied by a huge .320/.414/.631 line.

That batting average proved to be an aberration, but Napoli has always displayed plus on-base skills with a .353 career on-base percentage that is 100 points higher than his .253 career average.

Collins has all the tools to develop into a passable defensive catcher who regularly slugs 20-plus home runs with an on-base percentage north of .350. That would make him one of the elite offensive players at a premium position.

Projection: Starting catcher with a bat that would play at first base if needed

Major League ETA: 2019

Chances of Signing: 90 percent

The questions about Collins’ future behind the plate remain a major talking point, and he’d almost certainly improve his receiving skills with a return to Miami for his senior season. However, there’s no reason to think he won’t take the money and start refining those skills at the pro level.

College statistics courtesy of The Baseball Cube, unless otherwise noted, and accurate through Wednesday, June 8.

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With a 12-18 record since the calendar turned to May, the Chicago White Sox are in need of answers.

What they’ve found instead is James Shields.

A trade sending the veteran right-hander from the San Diego Padres to the south side of Chicago that had been circling the rumor mill has come to fruition. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman was first to report Saturday on an agreement that is now a done deal:

“We’re pleased to add a starter of James Shields’ caliber to our starting rotation,” White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said, per Scott Merkin of MLB.com. “We believe this move makes the entire pitching staff stronger, and the club certainly benefits from his addition, in terms of pitching depth and quality.”

There’s still the question of how the two clubs are splitting the remainder of Shields’ big-money contract. Although nothing is official yet, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports the Padres and White Sox are basically splitting it down the middle:

Without even a hint of doubt, the biggest winner of this deal is Shields. At 29-26 coming into Saturday, the White Sox are still contenders in the AL Central even despite their recent struggles. In joining them, Shields is escaping a Padres team headed by a guy who just threw him under the bus.

“To have a starter like Shields perform as poorly as he did yesterday is an embarrassment to the team, an embarrassment to him,” Padres chairman Ron Fowler said in a radio interview after the Seattle Mariners shelled Shields for 10 earned runs Tuesday, per Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports.

Fowler also referred to his whole team as “miserable failures.” At 22-34 and in last place in the NL West, he at least has that part right.

For their part, the fact they’re keeping shortstop Tim Anderson, right-hander Carson Fulmer and their other top prospects while only paying half of Shields’ remaining contract means the White Sox aren’t risking much in this deal. Which is a good thing, because the pitcher they’re getting is clearly past his prime.

With a 3.76 career ERA and nine straight 200-inning seasons under his belt, Shields still boasts impressive credentials. But the 34-year-old hit a snag with a 3.91 ERA in his first season in San Diego last year, and he is working on a 4.28 ERA through 11 starts this season.

His bomb against the Mariners didn’t help, of course. Before that, his ERA was a respectable 3.06. As Rosenthal noted, Shields was doing things to earn that.

“His ground-ball percentage is the 38th-highest out of the 103 pitchers who have thrown a minimum of one inning per team game, according to STATS LLC,” Rosenthal wrote. “His home run rate, tied for the 47th-lowest, is also better than league average.”

These were facts, and they allow for a bit of optimism about how Shields will fit in Chicago. A high ground-ball rate and a low home run rate are good things that become even better things with a good defense. Per Baseball Prospectus, the difference between the Padres and White Sox is that of a bottom-11 defense and a top-eight defense.

However, Shields’ shellacking at the hands bats of the Mariners was probably inevitable. His ratio of 2.43 strikeouts to one walk through 10 starts was a bit worse than the league average for starting pitchers in 2016. He also wasn’t especially good at inducing soft contact or limiting hard contact on balls in play:

• Shields’ First 10 GS: 15.8 Soft%, 31.0 Hard%
• 2016 MLB Starters: 19.0 Soft%, 30.9 Hard%

The two homers Shields surrendered against the Mariners upped his home run rate over the last two seasons to 1.4 per nine innings. That’s worse than the two-year average of 1.1 for starting pitchers. As Eno Sarris of FanGraphs quipped, that doesn’t bode well for a guy who is about to move from roomy Petco Park to less roomy U.S. Cellular Field:

White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper is one of the best in the business, but it won’t be easy to solve this problem.

It’s no secret that Shields’ velocity has come back down to earth after peaking between 2012 and 2014. His fastball sat in the 92-93 mph range in those three seasons, and his cutter topped out in the 89-90 mph range. In 2016, his fastball is 90-91, and his cutter is 86-87.

They say velocity isn’t everything, but Shields’ last two seasons prove it helps. As Baseball Savant can vouch, less velocity has meant higher slugging percentages against his heat:

At Shields’ age, it’s pointless to entertain the idea of his velocity being rejuvenated by his move to Chicago. It’s still going to be an Achilles’ heel. And because he’ll now be pitching half his games at U.S. Cellular Field rather than Petco Park, it could hurt him even more.

This is not to say the trade will be a complete waste for the White Sox. Shields should at least be a good innings-eater for them. Considering their bullpen has hit the skids over the last month, they could use a guy like that.

But relative to the White Sox’s biggest needs, that’s not a big fix.

Shields doesn’t figure to be the reliable No. 3 Chicago has been missing behind stud left-handers Chris Sale and Jose Quintana. He’s also not going to solve what’s ailing the offense. The White Sox rank 10th in the American League in runs scored and 14th in OPS. It’s a wonder the White Sox didn’t try to make a move for an impact bat instead of Shields.

With the Minnesota Twins (16-38) far back in the chase and the Detroit Tigers (27-28) still struggling to find their footing, the Shields trade shouldn’t result in the White Sox losing any ground in the AL Central. But with the Kansas City Royals (30-24) and Cleveland Indians (29-24) playing great baseball, it’s unlikely to help them gain ground either.

The White Sox did well to land Shields without risking much. But in this case, that doesn’t entitle them to a reward.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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Even before the 2016 Major League Baseball season began, the American League looked like it was going to be a wide-open battle that any team could win in the end.

Even still, it’s surprising to see the Chicago White Sox pacing the AL in the beginning. They’ve been really good. So good, in fact, that you can’t help but stroke your chin and wonder if they’ve been too good.

But the chin-stroking can wait until after we’ve given the White Sox their due credit. They went into Wednesday’s contest against the Toronto Blue Jays riding a five-game win streak, and they pushed it to six with a 4-0 victory. Jose Quintana struck out 10 in six scoreless innings, and Dioner Navarro provided the big hit with a two-run triple in the seventh inning.

The White Sox are now 16-6, making them the winningest team in MLB and the best team in the AL by a comfortable margin.

If the AL was a town, the White Sox would be the new sheriff. They were a wildly mediocre team last year, after all, going 76-86 and finishing in fourth in the AL Central. And where it’s taken them only 22 games to get to 16 wins this year, it took them 33 games to do that last year.

How the White Sox needed to improve on last year’s thud was no a mystery. An offense that ranked last in the AL in runs and OPS needed to be fixed. The same went for a defense that finished last in the AL in efficiency, according to Baseball Prospectus. Their pitching was fine, but both a top-heavy starting rotation and bullpen needed more depth.

And for now, the good news to report is the White Sox have improved on all fronts in 2016.

The White Sox’s biggest improvement has been on the run-prevention side. Their pitching staff is rocking a 2.24 ERA that edges the Washington Nationals for the major league lead, and it’s been a joint effort between their starters (2.65 ERA) and relievers (1.32 ERA).

It hasn’t all been luck, either, as Chicago’s collective 3.04 FIP (fielding independent pitching) also rates as elite. And as White Sox pitchers have done their part, so has their defense. Going into Wednesday, these were the top two defensive teams in MLB as rated by defensive efficiency:

1. Chicago Cubs: .753
2. Chicago White Sox: .748

That’s quite the turnaround from last season, and defensive efficiency (which measures the rate at which batted balls are converted into outs) isn’t the only metric that rates the White Sox’s defense as elite. They began Wednesday tied for second in defensive runs saved and third in ultimate zone rating.

“That’s what we focused on in spring training, and it’s kind of a culture change,” right fielder Adam Eaton told Christina Kahrl of ESPN.com. “We wanted to execute on good fundamentals, good defense, good pitching, and that’s what we’ve been getting. Defense comes to play every day.”

The White Sox’s offense, meanwhile, hasn’t been great in posting just a .683 OPS. But their lineup at least has a handful of above-average hitters after containing only two (Eaton and Jose Abreu) last season, and it’s been getting hits when they’re needed most. Navarro’s big triple Wednesday contributed to a high-leverage OPS that was an impressive .820 at the start of the day.

It all adds up to a plus-29 run differential. Just like their record, that’s the best in the American League. As far as excuses to say “See, this isn’t a fluke!” go, that’s a solid one.

But as for whether it can last, there’s good news and bad news.

The good news is the White Sox’s offense can be better than merely “good enough.” It’s still waiting on Abreu to start providing his usual production, and the 29-year-old slugger presumably will get around to it eventually. Likewise, Todd Frazier is a normally dangerous hitter who’s so far been just OK. If he and Abreu get going, likely regression from guys like Melky Cabrera and Brett Lawrie will be offset.

The tricky part, though, is that the White Sox’s run production could start moving forward just as their run prevention starts moving backward.

With Eaton moving from center field to right field and Frazier in to play third base, the White Sox’s defense is certainly better now compared to last year. But only those two and Cabrera are providing standout defense early on, and Cabrera’s track record suggests his glove is not to be trusted. Add in only moderate use of shifts, and Chicago’s defense is probably playing a bit over its head.

On the mound, Chris Sale and Quintana have proved their excellence time and again, and yours truly fairly digs Carlos Rodon. And between David Robertson, Zach Duke, Matt Albers and a healthy Nate Jones, I agree with Cliff Corcoran of Sports Illustrated that the White Sox have enough talent in their bullpen to sustain their excellent relief pitching.

But if the club’s defense comes back to earth, so will its pitching. And nobody’s going to feel that more than Mat Latos. The veteran right-hander has been a pleasant surprise with a 0.74 ERA in four starts, but he’s still struggling with diminished velocity and has put too much pressure on his defense with a minuscule strikeout rate. They haven’t yet, but the hits will come.

Once that happens, Latos‘ numbers might come to resemble the big ones attached to John Danks‘ name. That will make the White Sox’s rotation the same thing it was last year: top-heavy.

Looking down the road, the White Sox may be out of luck if they desire to fix that with help from outside. There may not be many sellers on the summer trade market, which could jack up the prices of whatever pitchers become available. And with a farm system that Baseball America ranks at No. 23, the White Sox aren’t exactly drowning in young talent.

The obligatory “long story short” here is the White Sox are overachieving. They’re an elite team in the win column, but they look less elite when you consider all the individual pieces. Their position atop the AL isn’t fixed with super glue.

However, don’t take this to mean we’re only looking at a coin with “elite” on one side and “useless” on the other.

The White Sox aren’t where they are because they’re skating by on good luck alone. With more depth on offense, defense and on the mound, they do indeed look like a better team than they were a year ago. And in this year’s AL race, that should be good enough to keep them in contention.

Maybe they won’t stay at the top of the league, but the White Sox probably aren’t going away.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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Chicago White Sox catcher Alex Avila is currently hampered with a strained right hamstring, according to Jon Morosi of MLB.com.

Continue for updates.

Avila Placed on Disabled List by White Sox

Sunday, April 24

The White Sox announced on Sunday that Avila would be placed on the disabled list and catcher Kevan Smith, 27, would be recalled to the active roster.

Avila, 29, is hitting .214 this season with a run scored. He has yet to register a home run or RBI. 

He was clearly disappointed to suffer this latest injury, as he said after Saturday’s game.

“I’ve been feeling great physically,” Avila said, per JJ Stankevitz of CSN Chicago. “I was really swinging the bat well and having some good at-bats the last few games, as well. It’s a little frustrating.”

Per the White Sox, Smith is hitting .345 with two home runs and six RBI in eight games with Triple-A Charlotte this season. He has no MLB experience and will likely serve as the team’s backup catcher behind Dioner Navarro.

Much like Avila, Navarro, 32, has had his own struggles at the plate, hitting just .100 with two RBI. If Smith brings a hot bat to the big leagues, he could very well find himself earning a big share of the playing time while Avila is shelved.

Despite the offensive struggles from the catchers, the White Sox have gotten off to a strong start, going 12-6 to open the season and finding themselves in an early lead in the American League Central. If there is one position where the team seems capable of handling an injury, it’s at catcher, so Avila’s setback shouldn’t be a major loss for the White Sox.

You can follow Timothy Rapp on Twitter.

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The Chicago White Sox always used to thrive on turmoil, and maybe they still do.

Or maybe it’s just that Chris Sale is really this good.

Sale, you might remember, was the face of the White Sox player anger over the Adam LaRoche mess in spring training. He was the one who said club president Kenny Williams “bold-faced lied to” Sox players, as detailed by Bleacher Report colleague Scott Miller.

It got ugly enough that there were columns written in other cities suggesting this would be a great time for one team or another to trade for Sale.

All that happened five weeks ago. It may as well have been five years ago.

Sale is the first major league pitcher to four wins, after dominating the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday. The White Sox were the first American League team to 10 wins.

If they were spring training losers (and I know one guy who called them that), the White Sox are April winners. What happens in April is a heck of a lot more important than anything that happens in March.

And what Sale does with his left arm is a heck of a lot more important than whatever comes out of his mouth.

What came out Wednesday, when he spoke with reporters, including Scott Merkin of MLB.com, was this: “We have a bunch of guys in here willing to do what it takes to win together.”

Back in the old days, in the era that included the White Sox’s 2005 World Series title, Williams was the general manager and Ozzie Guillen was the manager, and there was always some crisis on the South Side. Things have been calmer since Rick Hahn took over as GM and since Robin Ventura became the manager—at least until LaRoche‘s sudden retirement this spring.

Things have been calmer, but the White Sox also haven’t won as much. They’re on a run of three straight losing seasons, and they haven’t been able to take advantage of having one of the best starting pitchers in the majors.

Sale has been consistently good since the start of the 2012 season. Baseball-Reference.com credits him with a 137 ERA+ over the last four seasons, which translates to 37 percent better than the average pitcher and better than any other American League starter.

Better than David Price, who signed for $217 million last winter. Better than Sonny Gray or Felix Hernandez, and better than Max Scherzer‘s last year in Detroit, the one that got Scherzer a $210 million contract with the Washington Nationals.

The White Sox have had something special with Sale, and they might have something even more special this year. He’s always seemed unhittable, but after the Angels managed two hits in seven innings-plus Wednesday, Sale’s 2016 batting average against stands at an absurd .162.

You can’t hit him, and maybe now you can’t outlast him, because Sale has learned the value of pitching efficiently. His 108 pitches got him into the eighth inning Wednesday, and he now has seven consecutive starts of seven innings or more, dating back to last September.

He’s less focused on strikeouts (only three Wednesday) and more focused on just getting outs.

It’s working. He hasn’t allowed an earned run in either of his last two starts, and his ERA through four starts is 1.80.

All of those starts have been White Sox wins, and while we all understand that wins by themselves can’t define a starting pitcher, having your ace win four straight to start the year is a pretty good way to get your team off to a good start, too.

The White Sox have gotten strong starts from Mat Latos, Carlos Rodon and Jose Quintana, too, and they’ve had better-than-expected work from the bullpen. They could be doing better offensively, but a lot of teams in the American League could say that.

They look like the team that had a nice winter, with the addition of Todd Frazier, and not the team that had a bad spring, lowlighted by the LaRoche turmoil and the resulting Sale-Williams spat.

It’s another reminder that we make too much of what happens in March. Either that, or it’s another reminder that a little bit of turmoil on the South Side isn’t always a bad thing.

Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

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It’s clear the Chicago White Sox mean for Carlos Rodon to be another ace left-hander alongside Chris Sale. He was their No. 3 pick in the 2014 draft, and they called him to The Show after only nine appearances in the minors.

And now, they may be on the verge of getting their wish.

Rodon‘s second start of 2016 on Wednesday night was a good one, as he pitched six scoreless innings in a 3-0 win over the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. The 23-year-old allowed only three hits, and he used six strikeouts to overcome five walks.

This is coming on the heels of a season debut that was even better. Though he took the loss against the Oakland Athletics last week, Rodon surrendered only two runs in seven innings, striking out six and walking one. Put it all together, and he’s pitched 13 innings and allowed two runs on 10 hits and six walks. He’s struck out 12.

OK, so, there’s an obvious reality check to be made. Beating this year’s A’s and Twins isn’t quite like the 1927 New York Yankees or the 2003 Boston Red Sox. Early on, they’re both at the bottom of Major League Baseball’s offensive food chain.

What draws an ace-seeking eye to Rodon, however, isn’t so much what he’s done in two starts this season. What’s much more interesting is how these two starts fit into a stretch that dates back to last August. Here’s CSN Chicago stats guru Christopher Kamka to explain:

Those are some dominant numbers, and they get at the truth of the matter: Rodon isn’t an ace yet, but he’s now a lot closer to earning that distinction than he used to be.

Flash back to this time last year, and the hype around Rodon was palpable. Baseball America rated him as the No. 15 prospect despite the fact he was only a year removed from being drafted. And after he struck out 21 batters in 17.2 innings in spring training, it seemed like the White Sox were struggling to find excuses not to call him up.

They finally did on April 21. And in Rodon‘s first 18 appearances (including 15 starts), there was one part of his game that lived up to the hype.

The southpaw came equipped with a slider that ESPN.com’s Keith Law wrote had once been considered “the best amateur slider scouts had seen in 15 or 20 years,” and it mostly looked the part. Per Brooks Baseball, it held hitters to a .160 average and got whiffs roughly 20 percent of the time.

To illustrate the awesomeness of said slider, here it is making the game’s best hitter look like a doofus:

Apart from his slider, though, Rodon didn’t have much.

His fastball had good velocity at 93-94 miles per hour, but his inability to locate it played a part in him walking over 5.3 batters per nine innings. He also got hit hard, serving up a line-drive percentage of 27.1 and an overall hard-hit rate of 30.0 percent.

But then everything changed in Rodon‘s final eight outings. In addition to a 1.81 ERA, he put up a respectable 3.5 walks-per-nine rate while also striking out eight batters per nine innings. Over half his batted balls were on the ground, to boot, and he also dropped his hard-hit rate to 25.6 percent.

To hear him say it, all this was the result of Rodon feeling better about himself.

“Everything was there. I was confident,” he told Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago. “Just bringing that confidence into this year and having it carry over and giving this team a chance to win.”

But Rodon made tangible changes, too. White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper suggested a new between-starts routine, and that helped him find his control. And as Eno Sarris at FanGraphs uncovered, Rodon shifting his position on the mound gave him a slightly different release angle. That helped improve his control.

Granted, Rodon isn’t out of the woods in that department yet. In all likelihood, he’s never going to be Tom Glavine. But going from walking over five batters every nine innings to more like three or four at least signals that his control has gotten an upgrade from “all over the place.” 

In more recent days, improved control isn’t the only thing Rodon has going for him.

After trading off between the two in 2015, he’s now shifted his focus from his four-seam fastball to his two-seam fastball in 2016. The pitch accounted for 54 of his 99 pitches against the A’s, and a whopping 70 of his 107 pitches against the Twins. This should allow Rodon‘s awakening as a ground-ball pitcher to continue, as his two-seamer is naturally much better at inducing grounders than his four-seamer.

Meanwhile, Rodon still has his slider for when he needs strikeouts. As a few frames in this GIF can vouch, the Twins found that out the hard way Wednesday:

All Rodon needs now is a reliable changeup, but it doesn’t sound like anyone should be holding their breath. Rodon told Sarris his changeup is a “work in progress,” and White Sox catcher Alex Avila doesn’t seem to think games are the right place for him to work on it.

“There are going to be times that will call for that pitch, and he’ll throw it,” he told Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune after Wednesday’s win. “But at the same time, we can’t get away from what got him here.”

For any notions that Rodon might one day occupy the same level of baseball’s Mt. Acemore as Sale, this and his mediocre control are tough deal-breakers for him to overcome.

But he’s not to be underestimated as is. The Pittsburgh Pirates‘ Francisco Liriano is an excellent left-hander whose abilities to miss bats and jam hitters allows him to overcome subpar control. That’s the mold Rodon is beginning to fit into, and he’ll be one of the game’s nastiest lefties as long as he stays there.

The White Sox were arguably too quick to act on their high hopes for Rodon last season. But a year later, he’s showing they weren’t wrong to have high hopes in the first place.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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