Garcia doesn't expect to return this season

Avisail Garcia has been playing catch this week, and his presence on the field instantly makes the White Sox a better team.

But after tearing the labrum in his (non-throwing) left shoulder in early April, Garcia had surgery and isn't likely to play again until winter ball.

"This is really just the start of a long process for him," manager Robin Ventura said. "Just because he's out here right now, I don't necessarily see him making it back for this year. The prognosis the whole time was he would be back for spring training. It's a long process, so this is the start of it. Hopefully he can move along and everything goes smoothly, but just because he's out here right now doesn't mean he's necessarily going to be here at the end of the year to play in games."

New role:

Fired last year after managing the Cubs for two seasons, Dale Svuem was quickly hired by the Royals to coach third base. In late May, he was moved to hitting coach.

"I'm enjoying it," said Sveum, who was the Brewers' hitting coach for three years before moving to the Cubs. "It's always been a passion of mine. It was unfortunate how it all happened, but thank God no one lost their job over this. We all kind of just rotated, so that was a good thing how that all happened."

Royals hitters have positively responded to Sveum so far.

"Unfortunately, we all know (hitting) is the hardest thing to do in all of sports, and unfortunately sometimes the struggles happen at the beginning of the year," Sveum said. "It's a very difficult thing to coach, especially now because it's the best pitching I've seen in baseball on a consistent basis. It's a lot harder than when I played, that's for sure."

Good to go:

Chris Sale threw 116 pitches in Thursday night's loss to the Tigers, which is news only because the White Sox ace was shut down for five weeks with a strained flexor muscle after throwing 127 pitches against the Red Sox on April 17.

Since coming off the disabled list, Sale's pitch count has steadily increased under watchful eyes.

"He felt great going out there and he didn't have that inning where he really had to fight through it and battle," manager Robin Ventura said of Sale's start against Detroit. "He felt great. I talked to him the whole time. He felt pretty comfortable with that."

Minor move:

After being released by the Marlins earlier this week, the White Sox signed relief pitcher Henry Rodriguez to a minor-league contract. Rodriguez pitched in two games for Miami this season but was optioned to Class AAA New Orleans after allowing 2 runs on 2 hits and 5 walks in 1⅔ innings.

The 27-year-old Rodriguez was assigned to AAA Charlotte. He pitched in 5 games for the Cubs last season and has also played with the Athletics and Nationals.