White Sox hopeful Anderson can return next week

After a short two-game homestand against Colorado, the White Sox head to Cleveland Thursday for a big makeup game against the first-place Guardians.

A weekend series at Detroit follows, the Sox get Monday off and they're back at Guaranteed Rate Field Tuesday night against Cleveland.

With a little luck, Tim Anderson is in the White Sox's lineup when the Guardians come in for a three-game series that could determine the outcome of the AL Central.

The Sox's all-star shortstop has been out for over a month after having surgery to repair a tendon in his middle left finger. Anderson saw a hand specialist Tuesday and was cleared to resume full baseball activities.

"The most important part of that is once he starts swinging," White Sox general manager Rick Hahn said. "In terms of likely return date, we don't have that in place yet. It's going to be a function of how quickly and painlessly he's able to ramp up.

"But it's possible for him to return at some point during next week's homestand."

Given the amount of time he's been sidelined, Anderson would benefit from a couple of rehab games with Class AAA Charlotte.

That's possible, but he might just move right back to the Sox's roster when he's ready to play.

"It's a possibility, yes," Hahn said. "Let's just see how this ramp-up goes. Let's see how smoothly that goes as we undertake his swing progression and then make an assessment about where the swing's at, timing, etc."

Robert returns:

Already dealing with a sore left wrist, center fielder Luis Robert was hit by a pitch on the left hand last Tuesday at Seattle, forcing him out of the game.

Robert didn't play in the final five games of the White Sox's road trip to Seattle and Oakland, but he was back in the lineup Tuesday night vs. Colorado.

"Obviously, getting drilled in that area didn't help things once he was back in the lineup, which certainly set things back over the last several days," GM Rick Hahn said. "We did not place him on the IL because I don't think at any point, either prior to his most recent return or in the period of time between when he was hit in the hand and tonight, that more than 10 days elapsed. We were trying to maximize his availability."

Sick bay:

General manager Rick Hahn spoke with the media Tuesday, but he was on an audio Zoom call after testing positive for COVID-19 earlier in the day.

Hahn said he was experiencing mild symptoms.

"I feel fortunate that I'm vaccinated and double boosted and as a result have been able to avoid this for about 2½ years," he said.