Gamethread: White Sox at Twins

Strange move, in the dead of last night, the White Sox sending Aaron Bummer down to Charlotte and recalling Xavier Cedeño. Bummer was fine and dandy overall this season, OK, a bit leaky with the inherited runners, but the peripherals (3.26 ERA, 21 strikeouts and six walks in 26 games) were not punishable.

Not to say Cedeño hasn’t been lighting it up in Charlotte. The veteran was aces in the spring and would have broken camp with the big club if not for some arm crankiness about 2/3rds in (shoulder, right?). The 31-year-old has a 1.25 ERA and 0.74 WHIP, with 25 strikeouts against four walks in 20 games for the Knights this season. He limited opponents to a .162 average, as well.

The move would point to Cedeño nearing some sort of opt-out in the deal he signed with the White Sox back in January. But even then, making Bummer the fall guy rather than another 40-man guy like Chris Beck, is curious. Chicago has three lefties in the pen (Luis Avilán, Jace Fry, presumably Hector Santiago after Carlos Rodon hits the rotation this weekend), so switching out lefthander Bummer for lefthander Cedeño means it’s definitely not a case of too many southpaws spoiling the soup.

Anyway, Omar Narváez is back catching today, making all of us miss Kevan Smith already. Shortstop Tim Anderson is back to sparkplugging the Chisox, but he is out of the lineup, in favor of Jose Rondón (at least Rondón is not batting cleanup this afternoon).

Spicy redass Paul Molitor, clearly drinking out of the same water cooler Ron Gardenhire once did, kindly scoots Sox killer Eduardo “Esky” Escobar up a notch in the batting order from cleanup this afternoon. All the better to break hearts, my precious.

Oh yeah, Minnesota Twins starter Jose Berríos killed against the White Sox earlier this season, with a curveball that wouldn’t quit. Perhaps the early sunlight will scald his demon bender and give the Pale Hose a fighting chance today.