Chicago White Sox: Carlos Rodon to the DL
On Saturday the Chicago White Sox announced that their 23 year old pitcher would head to the disabled list. His injury was not severe, and was not one that is typically associated with young pitchers.
Carlos Rodon was running out of the dugout on Wednesday for the National Anthem when he slipped and fell on the stairs. As he went to catch himself, he put too much pressure on his wrist. Rodon was seen with a brace on his wrist the next day and the team officially placed him on the disabled list on Saturday, retroactive to Wednesday July 6.
The team says that the injury isn’t too serious, and Rodon himself said that he hopes to only miss a single start from the injury.
Rodon says he should only miss one start, hope he doesn't have to go on a rehab assignment.
— JJ Stankevitz (@JJStankevitz) July 9, 2016
The wrist he injured was his left wrist, which is on his throwing arm. That fact alone could make his stint on the disabled list a little longer than he expects. What does this mean for the White Sox as a team?
They will need to find someone to pitch at least one spot start, if not two. One of those starts will be before the All-Star break and the other would be after. Mat Latos refused his assignment to AAA when the White Sox acquired James Shields, and Erik Johnson was traded in the Shields trade, so the White Sox don’t have very many MLB tested options.
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Scott Carroll is most likely one of the top options, but he hasn’t started a game since 2014 a year when he had an ERA of 4.80 in 129.1 IP. He has pitched in 2.1 innings this season from the bullpen, but his 7.71 ERA was enough for the White Sox to send him back down pretty quickly. Jacob Turner is another possibility, but the White Sox were not entirely impressed with his play during Spring Training. At AAA Charlotte this season he has started 17 games and pitched 101 innings while holding a 4.90 ERA.
The White Sox seem to be leaning towards Turner as the option to replace Rodon, but that may not end very well for them. The White Sox are clinging onto contention, and need every win they can get during this very crucial part of the season.
If this injury stays short term, they probably don’t have a whole lot to be worried about. Throwing Jacob Turner out for a start or two can’t possibly hurt them much more than pitching James Shields every five starts.
In the end this injury only hurts because of the lack of depth in the system for starting pitching. Rodon came into the season with expectations that he would easily slide into the third spot in the rotation and be very good behind Chris Sale and Jose Quintana. He has disappointed so far with his 4.50 ERA in 101 IP, despite his strikeout rate remaining very good. He’s been hit hard and lost control of the zone too many times.
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Having Jacob Turner, James Shields, and Miguel Gonzalez as the bottom three in the rotation isn’t going to help the White Sox climb back into the playoff hunt, but perhaps some rest will be good for the struggling Rodon. If his wrist heals completely, maybe he finds his groove following this injury. The White Sox surely need him.