Jimenez close to rejoining White Sox; Rodon, Jones out for season
Chicago White Sox general manager Rick Hahn took a different approach Monday when meeting with reporters at Guaranteed Rate Field.
He started with the good news on the injury front - namely Eloy Jimenez.
Out since April 26, when he went down with a high ankle sprain, the rookie left fielder is feeling good enough to begin a rehab assignment with Class AAA Charlotte on Tuesday.
"He is progressing nicely," Hahn said. "Should everything go smoothly, we'd hopefully be able to activate him by the start of the next road trip against Houston, if not potentially sooner. We'll see how the next week goes."
The White Sox are home through Sunday and open a seven-game road trip at Houston Monday.
The Jimenez news is good, but Hahn eventually turned the page and got to the bad news regarding starting pitcher Carlos Rodon and reliever Nate Jones.
Rodon is scheduled to have Tommy John surgery Wednesday in Los Angeles and is expected to be sidelined until the second half of next season. Dr. Neal ElAttrache will perform the surgery.
Jones is also done for the year. On Monday, Dr. James Andrews repaired a tear in the flexor mass of the reliever's right forearm.
Rodon had a good idea Tommy John surgery was coming the day after he made his last start, on May 1 against the Orioles.
"Honestly, I'm only 26 years old, luckily, and hopefully I can play this game for 10 more years," Rodon said. "I'm still fairly young. If it's Tommy John, so be it to get me back on this field."
Rodon also had shoulder surgery late in the 2017 season and was sidelined until early June of last year.
"I think he is at peace with it in terms of the road ahead of him," Hahn said. "He knows it's not going to be, necessarily, an easy rehab. At the same time, it's one that has a very, very high likelihood of success and one that should put him in a position to continue on and have a very promising career once he returns."
The No. 3 overall pick in the 2014 draft out of North Carolina State, Rodon was 3-2 with a 5.19 ERA in 7 starts this season. Over the past five years with the Sox, he's 29-31 with a 4.08 ERA.
Jones came back from Tommy John in 2014, and the 33-year-old reliever had surgery in 2017 to reposition the ulnar nerve in his right arm.
"He's obviously a great competitor and someone who's worked very hard to get back each time," Hahn said. "To now undergo another setback is, I'm sure, very discouraging. As Nate and I talked about a few weeks ago when it looked like it was heading down this path, there's been a decent number of very fine relievers in the last several years who have had this and been able to be productive into their mid, late 30s.
"Certainly, there's no reason to think Nate can't be one as well. Get this behind him, get him healthy and see where it goes."
The longest tenured player (2012) on the White Sox, Jones was 0-1 with a 3.48 ERA and 1 save in 13 appearances this season.