Why Must God Smite The White Sox?

So last night Eloy Jimenez and Chuck Tilson collided on a fly ball to the left/center gap:

At first it looks like a rather innocuous collision.  It wasn’t head on and the smaller player spun off the larger one rather easily.

And after a lot of deep thought, this is exactly what scares me.  It was more or less a non-contact injury.  And I say non-contact as in it didn’t look near as bad as this:

or this:

or this:

or a billion other high impact collisions you see in baseball and other sports daily.  It sucks.  Now we don’t know what the official diagnosis is as of yet, but it should be a safe assumption that it’s not just a day-to-day thing because Eloy immediately flew back to Chicago from KC after leaving the game:

I’ve said it a billion different times now and it’s gotten to the point where I’m sick of explaining it to people.  The 2019 season is focused on one thing and one thing only: player development.  But it’s impossible to develop as a player if you’re not playing in fucking games.

I’ll get to the laundry list of injuries that have riddled the White Sox organization from top to bottom in a moment, but this is the 2nd time this season that Eloy Jimenez has hurt himself making a stupid fucking play defensively.  Let’s rewind the clock back to April:

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Just stupid.  Spiderman isn’t catching that ball, and it cost him a 4-5 week DL stint.  All because it was a stupid defensive play.  Now a proper way to play that ball would have been to sprint to a spot on the warning track, find the ball and make an attempt at the catch.  Now this ball was a shot, but if Eloy had sprinted to a spot instead of trying to half sprint/half watch the ball in flight he would have realized he had zero chance at making the play and would have avoided jumping into the padded wall which ultimately lead to a turned ankle.

Same thing last night.  He was watching the ball in flight the entire play.  Again, an outfielder is taught to sprint to a spot and re-find the ball.  Eloy didn’t do this and it resulted in his mini-collision with Tilson.  Now I don’t know what kinda communication they had on the play, but if Eloy made a correct fundamental play on the ball, it more than likely could have been avoided.

And here we are, back on the DL with whatever injury it is.  We are PRAYING it isn’t a tear and just a contusion, but regardless, he can’t continue to develop if he’s on the shelf.

Now I know the White Sox want him to turn into at least an average left fielder.  Should he be able to do that, he will provide crazy value to the team.  But as it is right now, he’s awful defensively.  His fundamentals are bad and his instincts are worse.  That, and he can’t overcompensate for said bad fundamentals and instincts because he’s not some stud athlete.  He posses average at best athleticism.

So my opinion is this: nip it in the bud and make him a full time DH now.  I doubt the White Sox do this, but his value to the team is 99% in his bat, but he can’t provide any offensive value if he’s getting hurt making boneheaded plays defensively every few months.  I legit hold my breath every single time I see him dive or running to the fence or gap because he’s such a big dude.  Big dudes fall hard.

And with this injury, it proves again how snake bitten the White Sox are.

1. Kopech TJS
2. Dunning TJS
3. Rodon TJS
4. Burger achilles x2, bruised heel
5. Lambert TJS
6. Eloy DL stint x2
7. Burr TJS
8. Burdi TJS, fractured tibia or some shit
9. Hamilton liner off the face, done for year
10. Basabe lingering injuries, hasn’t played much all year

and so on and so forth.  Someone wrap Giolito and Moncada in goddamn bubble wrap. Injuries are the #1 factor in why the White Sox aren’t in “win now” mode in 2019.  They’re the #1 factor in why the rebuild was extended one year.  They’re the #1 reason why this team isn’t gunning for that 2nd wild card as we speak.

and it fucking sucks.  Do the baseball gods have incriminating info on Jerry Reinsdorf or something?  I really have no explanation other than they’ve gone through a stretch of AWFUL luck.

And spare me your “the White Sox can’t keep anyone healthy” bullshit.  Injuries happen in baseball, especially arm injuries.  This has nothing to do with Herm Schneider retiring and everything to do with shit luck.  Every organization has injuries up and down the system, but they also seem to be spread out and not happen all at once.

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Goddamnit this sucks.  And no, Robert isn’t replacing him.  It’ll be Palka, Engel, or a MIF I think.

Prayers up for Eloy.  Really hope this is minor.