Sore left side benches White Sox' Beckham
TUCSON, Ariz. - Outside of Bobby Jenks' minor calf issue and some general soreness from a host of players including Alex Rios and Mark Teahen, the White Sox have been injury free this spring.
"Everyone should," manager Ozzie Guillen said Friday when if asked the Sox' projected 25-man roster is going to be ready for the April 5 season opener. "The question mark was Bobby, and Bobby's last two outings were fine, and he told me he was fine. He told me he feels very well. J.J. (Putz) came from injuries in the past. He is fine. Teahen is fine."
Before Friday's Cactus League game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the White Sox' run of good health hit a bump when second baseman Gordon Beckham was scratched from the starting lineup with soreness in his left side.
It's a potentially nagging injury, and Beckham also experienced some soreness in his right shoulder earlier in camp. But neither the player nor the manager appear overly concerned with the latest setback.
"In (batting practice), not hitting, I just got on the field and was moving around a little bit and my side got tight on me," Beckham said. "The good thing is I don't think it's an oblique. I did that last year and it's lower. Hopefully it's just a strain."
Last September, Beckham strained his right oblique and missed four games.
"It's tight, sore," Beckham said of his current injury. "I don't feel like, it doesn't really hurt. It's more like when I stretch it, it's pretty sore. I would rather be cautious about it because we have some time now rather than try to play and hurt it worse.
"That's what I did last year. I went out and let it get worse and hurt it worse."
The Sox play their final spring game in Tucson on Saturday, and Beckham is not expected to be on the field. Fortunately for the White Sox the regular season is 10 days away.
"He is just tight," Guillen said. "He felt it a little bit and decided to shut it down and is working with Hermie (trainer Herm Schneider). Good thing we have both trainers here.
"I guess he's day to day. I don't think it's a big deal, but I don't want to make it bigger. We'll see how he feels (Saturday)."
After his breakout rookie season, Beckham has somewhat quietly put together another solid training camp. In 13 games he is batting .300 (12-for-40) with 1 home run and 6 RBI and he ranks third in the Cactus League with 6 doubles.
Beckham also has made a fairly smooth transition to second base after playing third for the Sox in his rookie season.
"Great," Guillen said. "Unfortunately we haven't had that many times to turn a double play. But that's a good sign, we don't have many people on base. I think this kid will be a pretty good ballplayer.
"The reason we moved him to second base is we thought he was going to be a pretty good one out there. Less pressure than playing third base and shortstop. We can take a lot of good things from him. He's been great so far. He's been pretty good."