Heading into the final month of the season the White Sox starting rotation, previously a strength of the team, is starting to show signs of fatigue.
Chris Sale has thrown 157 innings, without a doubt the most of his career. Jose Quintana has thrown over 160 innings between the minors and majors, well above his previous high of 102 innings last year with Single-A Tampa. What this adds up to is a couple of guys that are into uncharted territory in terms of innings pitched that the White Sox have to rely on down the stretch.
That left arm is the one that the Sox season may hinge on. Credit: CBS Sports
This is where the injuries to John Danks and Gavin Floyd are really going to hurt. Sox fans will argue and say that neither of them pitched very well this year and that is not really true, nor is it the point. Yes, Danks was a disappointment before undergoing season ending surgery. Yes, Gavin Floyd was up and down for most of the year. I won’t argue that; what I will argue is that both those guys have the ability to go out every fifth day and give you a professional start. They can chew up innings and give your team a chance to win on most nights.
It is going to be very hard for the White Sox to win this thing down the stretch without Sale and Quintana pitching effectively. The current state of the Sox staff makes it tough for them to skip either of them in the rotation in an attempt to get them more rest.
“Screwgie” has never started an MLB game. Credit: Getty Images
With Axelrod filling in for Floyd and Humber and Santiago picking up the long relief out of the bullpen there isn’t really anyone left to pitch in a spot start situation. When the rosters expand on September 1st the Sox will have the option to bring up some more relievers and can move either Humber or Santiago back into a starting role to try and get the other guys an extra couple days off here and there. But really how many times do you want to run out Axelrod, Humber and Santiago to start games down the stretch in a pennant chase?
You can only rely on so many rookies to get the job done and when those pitchers start reaching uncharted waters with their workloads things can get a little dicey. Quintana has been awesome for the Sox, without the job he has done they are probably at least 3 games back of Detroit.
Sale has been outstanding and is a Cy Young candidate. Nate Jones has been a pleasant surprise out of the bullpen. The White Sox wouldn’t be where they are without those guys but they haven’t had this much work in one season and you don’t really know what you are going to get the rest of the way.
So what can they do? Not a whole lot. The hope is that Floyd will be able to return to the rotation at some point before the end of the year, but he has now had two trips to the DL for the same problem since the All Star break so it’s tough to know how much you are going to be able to count on him for.
As stated earlier the Sox can bring up some players from the minors when the rosters expand in September but do you really want to start throwing those guys into the rotation in a pennant chase? Anyone remember Scott Ruffcorn? I do and it wasn’t pretty. No the Sox best option is likely to skip Quintana’s next start since he is clearly tired and take a wait and see approach with Sale. If Chris can bounce back with a solid start Sunday night against the Tigers then he probably keeps throwing in regular turn. If he struggles and his velocity is down again, he probably needs some extra rest. Don’t let it be mistaken – it’s not time to get too worried about Sale just yet.
As they move into September the White Sox have only two fifths of their opening day starting rotation pitching for them every five days. That includes Sale, who may need to skip a start. With that much change from your original plan there are going to be consequences and bumps in the road.
The Sox have to hope that they can cobble together enough good starts to finish with one more win than the Detroit Tigers coming down the stretch. For better or for worse, that’s all it comes down to.