If you haven’t already heard, the White Sox’ leadoff man, spark plug, and center fielder Alejandro De Aza was placed on the 15-day disabled list prior to Tuesday’s game, a move retroactive to August 18th, which means he’ll be eligible to be reinstated on September 1st if my calendar serves me right. De Aza has been battling lower back stiffness, a common injury that we’ve seen more often than we’d like in the last few years.

Jordan Danks, outfielder for AAA Charlotte who was recently with the Sox for a while will be called up to fill the roster spot, as he comes back to Chicago after ending his first major league stint on a high note when he hit a walk off home run beating the Athletics back on August 10th.
Since being sent down, Dewayne Wise has done well as the team’s 4th outfielder. He’s gotten a handful of starts with De Aza going down, and has surprisingly been a solid run producer, clubbing three home runs in limited action of late.
So with all of that laid out, what does De Aza’s trip to the DL really mean for the Sox going forward?

Going Forward

As the optimist that I am, I usually like to make the best out of every situation. I’ll do something similar here, but first I need to note that I fully acknowledge this could be a very big loss. His stats aren’t as big & sexy as others on the squad, but he’s been as valuable as anyone on this team in 2012. With that being said, there is a bright side here.
De Aza had multiple serious injuries back in his Florida Marlins days. Highly touted in their system, he was never given the ability to flourish as the organization had a rather short leash in his case. This injury, thankfully, is not a terribly serious one like those ones were. Back stiffness happens, and while once in a while it does linger, it usually isn’t something that instantly becomes career-threatening or anything of that nature. Alejandro has been used heavily all year and plays hard 100% of the time. The extended rest for the first time in a while could do the trick and have him at 110% for the last month of the season.
Dewayne Wise and Jordan Danks have proved capable, as they both play very good defense and have some extra base power with the bat. Danks has hit .265 in his first 49 big league at bats, and Wise has hit .272 with 11 XBH and 9 SB in just 63 games this year. I expect manager Robin Ventura to ride the hot hand throughout the next week & a half to two weeks until De Aza is ready to go again.
All in all, this minor injury and brief DL stint shouldn’t automatically hurt the Sox’ record over that stretch. Dewayne Wise has helped us win some offensive-loaded games in recent series, so there’s no reason to believe his hot streak will end anytime too soon.

Sure, De Aza will be missed, but if there’s one thing we can say about this 2012 White Sox team it’s that they’re resilient … just when you count them out, they get better and shut up the critics. Hopefully more of the same will come in the next two weeks as many tough matchups lay ahead.