J.B. Shuck rejoins White Sox, and could hang around for a while

The White Sox' media relations team was scooped by Robin Ventura's lineup card this morning.

The lineup for the opener against the Mets at Citi Field showed J.B. Shuck batting fifth, which was noteworthy for a few reasons:

1. Shuck is batting fifth after not being good enough to be on the White Sox' pretty limited bench.
2. He's replacing Latham's Tommy Kahnle, who is expendable two days after being thrown into the weekend's toughest situation.
3. The roster change wasn't yet officially announced by the team.
   

The novelty of a Monday day game shuffled the order of business, but the result is the same. Shuck is on the 25-man roster, Kahnle is off it, and the bench is restored to four players as the Sox begin a series in a National League park.

Shuck is back because Austin Jackson came down with turf toe on Sunday after coming up with a catch to end the seventh inning.

Jackson removed himself in the middle of the eighth, although maybe because he knew what Nate Jones was going to do. The timing was convenient. Perhaps too convenient.

The return of Shuck could very well be temporary, but I'm guessing he'll hang around in one form or another. His promotion comes one day after making his eighth start of the year at first base for Charlotte. That's a position he'd only played once in his professional career before this season, so Jerry Sands should be a touch uncomfortable. Shuck gives the bench a left-handed bat and a better outfield alternative than Sands, who hasn't worked for the bench since he isn't hitting lefties.

The worse outcome is that both Shuck and Sands hang around while Jackson goes on the DL. That'd be just the White Sox' luck this month, as Jackson finally started producing. He's batting .464/.484/.607 over his last eight games.