Keuchel: White Sox pitching staff 'most talented I've ever been on'
As the regular season nears, the grim news that White Sox thumper Eloy Jimenez is going to miss most or all of the upcoming season is being digested in training camp.
"That's a big blow," said No. 1 starter Lucas Giolito, who gets the ball against the Angels Thursday night. "It absolutely (stinks), no way around that."
Dallas Keuchel, who follows Giolito in the Sox's rotation, expressed similar sentiments Sunday after making his final Cactus League start.
"We're going to miss Eloy," Keuchel said. "He's a big cog in anybody's lineup and he's a potential MVP candidate."
He certainly is, but all is not lost for the White Sox.
They still have a formidable lineup that features reigning MVP Jose Abreu, Tim Anderson, Yoan Moncada, Luis Robert and more.
The Sox also have a pitching staff that Keuchel says has all the pieces to be great.
"This is top to bottom, the most talented staff I've ever been on," Keuchel said. "I've been fortunate to play for a few really, really good staffs and I never take any of that for granted. It's truly special to watch four other great starters and some great bullpen pieces come in the game each and every day.
"I told pretty much the group, I think it was yesterday, I said, 'We have a chance to be really special this year.' I think just the bullpen itself, there's no real question mark. I mean we've got dudes, we've got guns, from the fifth inning on. If somebody comes in the fifth inning to bridge that thing together, you're 95 (mph)-plus and not a lot of teams have that ability to do what we have to do."
Keuchel, who finished fifth in Cy Young Award voting last season after going 6-2 with a 1.99 ERA, allowed 2 runs over 5 innings in Sunday's exhibition start against the Diamondbacks.
"I really think this last outing was really good on the basis of early on, I was just trying to find a groove, get my work in and then really tried to pitch and bear down the last two innings," Keuchel said. "I really accomplished a lot that I wanted to do today. This was a really, really nice final tuneup before the real season starts."
Jimenez is expected to be out 5-6 months after rupturing his left pectoral tendon trying to make a catch in left field last Wednesday.
Even if his big bat was in the lineup, Keuchel said it's more important for White Sox pitchers to keep opposing hitters quiet.
"As much as I like to watch our offense, and I'm going to enjoy it on my four non-pitching days, my true focus is not to become too attached to the offense because in certain situations you'll catch yourself on the mound saying, 'Hey why haven't we scored 5 runs?'" Keuchel said. "It's just an embarrassment of riches. so I try to really focus in on our task at hand, and that's pitching."