What’s the latest on Eloy Jiménez, Yoán Moncada and Joe Kelly? GM Rick Hahn updates the Chicago White Sox injuries.
The Chicago White Sox can look to catcher Yasmani Grandal and pitcher Lance Lynn while mapping out Eloy Jiménez’s injury timeline.
The left fielder underwent surgery Tuesday to repair a torn hamstring tendon behind his right knee, the team announced. His estimated recovery time remains six to eight weeks.
Sox general manager Rick Hahn said the procedure was the same one that Grandal had last season and that Lynn underwent earlier this month. Grandal was out July 6 to Aug. 27, and Lynn is projected to miss the first eight weeks this season.
“On the positive side of things, we have some track record and feel pretty confident in that six-to-eight return time frame being the outer bounds, depending on any potential setbacks,” Hahn said.
Jiménez stumbled after crossing first base in the second inning Saturday and exited the game — the latest setback for a team hit hard by injuries.
Hahn provided several injury updates and discussed the team’s tough road trip before Tuesday’s homestand opener against the Kansas City Royals.
He said third baseman Yoán Moncada (right oblique strain) and reliever Joe Kelly (right biceps nerve injury) could begin rehab assignments soon. Neither has appeared in a game this season.
“Moncada continues to progress,” Hahn said. “Those of you who were on the trip saw him on the field (pregame) doing more activities. That will continue over the next few days with the hope that he will be able to start a rehabilitation assignment perhaps this weekend with (Triple-A) Charlotte.
“Joe Kelly has made a couple of outings in Arizona, which have gone well at the extended (spring training) level. He’s going to make at least one more down there and then he, too, could potentially join Charlotte this weekend for a rehabilitation assignment.”
Closer Liam Hendriks has a “back spasm issue,” according to Hahn, and is day to day.
“He walked into the clubhouse and slipped on the slippery surface and tweaked his back,” Sox manager Tony La Russa said, adding that the injury occurred after the ninth and before the 10th inning of Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Twins. “It affects everything you do, no matter what position you play.”
Center fielder Luis Robert is expected to return Wednesday. He last played Thursday in Cleveland, leaving in the eighth inning with a groin strain.
“It’s close,” La Russa said. “Just want to make sure we’re cautious on him. His legs are an important part of his game. I’m looking forward to getting him back.”
While the Sox will be without Jiménez for a few weeks, the projection is shorter than the time he missed last year — almost four months — after suffering a ruptured left pectoral tendon in spring training.
“I’ve caught wind of some lazy analysis that put it on him being injury-prone or something like that,” Hahn said. “Couldn’t be further from the truth in terms of the fact he’s missing significant time this year and last year. That’s the extent of (how) you can call the guy injury-prone.
“The thing (is), he made a bad decision last year trying to make a play (on a home run ball during a Cactus League game). This year, trying to get to a level he barely accessed all year, that’s more a guy trying to do everything he can to help his team to win, even if it’s perhaps not the right decision at the time. That’s not a guy who is injury-prone.”
Andrew Vaughn started in left field Tuesday as the Sox are employing the “next man up” mentality for a second straight year.
“Part of the experience of last year is that this team should know that we faced perhaps even greater injury issues, yet we still were able to win 93 games and win the division,” Hahn said. “We never quite had a week like the one we just experienced (going 0-6 on the road trip), but at the same time, the memory and the resourcefulness (of 2021) should be there for these guys to understand what they’re capable of doing and pull themselves out of this.”
The Sox returned home hoping to pull themselves out of a funk after dropping three in Cleveland and three more in Minnesota.
“We still very much believe in this team’s talent,” Hahn said. “We believe in this team’s upside and are confident over time that talent will prevail and take us to the level that we aspire to be at, that we intended to be at the start of this season.
“There’s no avoiding the frustration and disappointment, but one of the beautiful things about this sport is the length of the season really forces the cream to rise to the top over the course of the six-month season. And there’s still an ample opportunity to prove we’re capable of being that again this season.”
