Avisail Garcia underwent successful surgery for the grisly torn labrum and avulsion fracture in his left shoulder on Tuesday. From the press release:
The surgery was performed by a team of surgeons, led by Dr. Anthony Romeo with assistance from Dr. Nik Verma and Dr. Charles Bush-Joseph. Garcia, 22, will remain in Chicago with the club while undergoing approximately six months of rehabilitation. He is expected to be available without restriction for the start of 2015 spring training.
From Jake Peavy's detached lat to John Danks' shoulder capsule to Garcia's injury, Romeo hasn't been lacking high-profile action. Peavy is a big fan of his work, and hopefully the other two will turn in equally gushing reviews.
Paul Sullivan revisited old times with two old friends before the start of the series with Boston. Peavy could finally open up about White Sox attendance a little:
"That's a huge bummer," Peavy said. "I hate the situation they're in now with the fans. But I don't know what it takes to get those fans to come out because I want to tell you, down the stretch in 2012, we were in first place in September and we couldn't fill the ballpark when we were playing a team that was right behind us that we were trying to hold off.
"That was a bit of bummer, to see the fan support at the ballpark that we had throughout my time in Chicago. I know they're great fans and care a lot, but you've got to stick with your club, good and bad.
While A.J. Pierzynski wondered why Paul Konerko hasn't seen much action:
"The thing is though, I don't think he has, what, 10 at-bats yet? It's weird. He's hardly played at all. I'm sure that's different for him, but I know he didn't want to end it the way it did last year. I could tell by the way he was talking he was itching to come back.
"I wish they'd find a way to get him some more at-bats, but that's the way it is. He knew what he signed up for. Hopefully he'll go out on his terms, the way he wants to go out.
Adam Dunn answered that question with a perfect night at the plate, which raises his season line to .294/.468/.618. When he and Jose Abreu have OPSes above .900, it's pretty easy to forget Konerko's around.
Rick Hahn has some roster issues to iron out, but third base isn't one of them at the moment. Thanks to a fine start by Conor Gillaspie and a bumpy one for Matt Davidson in Charlotte, there's no reason to get worked up about the current pecking order.
It could have been a potentially toxic situation if the roles were reversed -- especially if the Sox fared worse than 8-6 through the first 14 games. If you don't believe it, check out what's happening in Arizona with Archie Bradley. Quick summary
Bradley: A consensus top-10 prospect who posted a 1.97 ERA in the Southern League last year at age 20, and is off to an equally strong start in Triple-A (0.92 WHIP, 1.50 ERA over 12 innings).
Diamondbacks: Off to the league's worst start at 4-14, thanks in large part to starters posting a cumulative 7.82 ERA. Bronson Arroyo added to the mess by giving up nine runs over 11 outs in a 9-0 loss to the Mets on Tuesday. They were booed at home.
The juxtaposition of fortunes made Bradley's agent, Jay Franklin, wonder aloud -- to Ken Rosenthal -- about why the Diamondbacks wouldn't give his client a chance to solve the problem. Franklin believes the answer centers on service time concerns, which Towers couldn't admit even if he wanted to. So the awkward dance commences:
Instead, Towers cited two concerns:
* The pressure Bradley would face if the D-Backs promoted him in the middle of such a poor start.
* Bradley's struggles in his last two starts of spring training, including his final outing against Team Australia, in which he allowed three runs and nine baserunners and a homer in 3-2/3 innings."I would not bring him up in this environment the way we're playing," Towers said. "I know how it would be perceived if he came up: 'Archie is going to save us.' I don't want to do that to a 21-year-old kid." [...]
To which Franklin replied: "Trust me, Archie thrives in that position. I've known him since he was 15 years old. He loves pressure."
As long as Gillaspie keeps hitting (.311/.365/.400) and blending in defensively, the Sox will have enough baseball reasons to save themselves headaches this year, and six years down the road.