Discount sale: Can White Sox deal damaged goods?
If the trade deadline comes and goes without the Sox making that big splashy deal to start their rebuild, it won't be because a lack of trying as much as it would be just bad luck.
The Sox entered the season with a handful of chips that could be used come trade deadline time, starting with pitchers Gavin Floyd, Jake Peavy, Jesse Crain and Matt Thornton. As far as hitters, there was Alex Rios, Adam Dunn, Paul Konerko and maybe even Alexei Ramirez. Floyd was lost for the year with Tommy John surgery, Peavy is on the disabled list with a fractured rib and now Konerko and Crain were placed on the DL, with Konerko's back problems continuing to worsen and Crain nursing a sore throwing shoulder.
Brent Morel and lefty pitcher David Purcey were called up to take their places, although neither played in the 3-2 win over Baltimore on Thursday.
As far as a return for the two, Konerko was likely on a faster track than Crain. He's had issues with the back each of the last four seasons, including last week, where he missed a handful of games. He came back and played in Tuesday's game, but the comeback was rushed.
"By the end of the (Tuesday) game, it was not only painful, but not functional," Konerko said. "I couldn't even take the swings I wanted to take, couldn't even get through holding on with two hands -- that kind of stuff, where I knew the first night (back) would be a little bit of a battle just from not having played, but that night I knew no way this was going to improve until (Wednesday). And even yesterday was like it was the first day after Kansas City (when he first felt back pain), and (Thursday), truthfully, might be a tick worse than (Wednesday)."
Konerko promised that he will now wait until he's 100 percent before trying to return this time around.
"I was probably 95 percent going into that game on Tuesday night," Konerko said. "It felt like it was behind me. I'd taken eight days off and gotten it all calmed down. Didn't see that coming. Usually you go into a game a little bit left over from an injury or stuff that's bothering you, but you come out and play its way out of there over a day or two."
Konerko and Crain were the ninth and 10th Sox players placed on the disabled list this season, but that wasn't being thrown out there as an excuse from the team captain.
"We haven't been that unlucky," Konerko said. "We've had a couple injuries, but if you match us up against any team, I don't think we've been any more injured. I think if you look at any other team, you'd find the same situations. I don't look at it like that's been the biggest problem for us this year."
