Same old song: White Sox trying to overcome another rash of injuries
Before the White Sox played the Blue Jays Monday night at Guaranteed Rate Field, general manager Rick Hahn met with reporters in the dugout.
Hahn has made it a habit to speak to the media on the first day of a homestand through the years, an admirable quality considering so many other GMs across professional sports only make themselves available when times are good.
Outside of winning 6 of 8 to open the season, the Sox have not been good this season - at least not yet.
"We are not where we thought we would be," Hahn said. "We are not where we think we are capable of going. I tell you what, I'm glad we've got ourselves a 162-game season and not a 60-game season like we did two years ago. We are going to have the opportunity to let this talent play out over an extended period."
Injuries were a big problem for the White Sox last year, but they never got bogged down and wound up winning the AL Central by 13 games over second-place Cleveland.
Injuries are a big problem again this season, but the Sox are still floundering under the .500 mark.
When Hahn grabbed a seat in the dugout Monday, he didn't take questions right away.
"Let's start with a couple of injury updates, because that seems to be our jam," he said.
Another crowded injury list has prompted Hahn to switch to gallows humor at times, but he's not laughing about third baseman Yoan Moncada going down again.
Tim Anderson (groin) was activated Monday and started at shortstop against Toronto.
To open a roster spot, Moncada went on the IL with a strained right hamstring.
He joins closer Liam Hendriks (right forearm strain), left fielder Eloy Jimenez (hamstring), catcher Yasmani Grandal (back) and four other players on the injured list.
"We obviously take the injury situation very seriously," Hahn said. "You don't want any of these guys to go through anything that not only compromises our competitiveness but more directly, their careers. So any time there's any injury issue, whether it's one guy or it's multiple guys, we look at it fairly seriously in terms of the causes and how we can get better.
"I have to say we've obviously suffered some this year. I'm not sure of the exact number, I think we're ranked 11th when it comes to injuries throughout the league right now, so obviously it's everywhere. We don't want to be in the middle third, we want to be at the bottom. But it's a very real issue throughout the league."
If there is any good news, it's the White Sox are still well within striking distance in the AL Central. If they were in the AL East or West or NL East or West, they'd be in big trouble.
"Look, we could be in worse shape," Hahn said. "It's absolutely true. Given the injuries, given the way we performed at times for stretches this year, we could be buried worse than whatever we are at right now. I sort of look at this in two parts. I first look at getting this team playing at the level consistently we think it's capable of and the second part being how much work we have ahead of us to chase down this division. We aren't quite where we want to be in that first part yet."