Chicago White Sox have wrong approach with injury management

Over the course of the past two seasons, the Chicago White Sox have consistently been plagued with injuries that have prevented the team from reaching their full potential. Entering the 2022 season, the thought was that the season would be different because the team would not be dealing with the same magnitude of injuries that they dealt with during the 2021 Major League Baseball season.

Unfortunately for the White Sox, 2022 has arguably been worst from an injury standpoint. The Sox recently lost utility infielder Danny Mendick for the rest of the season due to a torn ACL injury and have several players in outfielder/first baseman Andrew Vaughn, first baseman Jose Abreu, shortstop Tim Anderson, and outfielders AJ Pollock and Luis Robert that are all on the active roster but dealing with injuries. That does not include outfielder Eloy Jimenez and catcher Yasmani Grandal as they are both on the injured list.

The injuries have reached the point to where it is having a clear impact on how the White Sox are going about playing the game of baseball. While speaking with reporters this weekend, White Sox manager Tony La Russa confirmed that the team has told several players to limit their effort while playing.

"“We literally have five of the nine guys who are playing under trainer instructions that if they make a routine out, they slow it down,” manager Tony La Russa said Saturday.“If you watch closely, there are extra bases we haven’t taken and you can sit them, but they’re key offensive guys,” La Russa said. “So as long as the fans understand it, they’re not lazy, but their legs are important.”"

The treatment of these players highlights yet another flowed principle of La Russa’s managing style with the White Sox.

If the players are not at 100 percent but still playing, then yes, it would make sense that they are not giving full effort. The White Sox can not afford a player with the stature of Anderson or Abreu to be lost for a significant of time due to re-aggravating an already existing injury.

The Chicago White Sox have once again been plagued with injuries but it is the management of those injuries that is creating questions.

The question, if not problem, is why are these players being activated from the injured list if they are not fully healthy? The whole reason why Major League Baseball allows leniency in regards to the injured list rules and rehab assignments is to make sure that the players are 100 percent when they return from injury.

White Sox players are consistently not 100 percent when they are activated from the injured list. Unfortunately, under La Russa, the White Sox are not a team that has the luxury of players being able to “slow it down”. The White Sox are a fundamentally unsound baseball team and need their players at full effort. As a meatball as that may sound, it is the truth for a team in the White Sox that has been unable to have their talent take over games. Talent needs to be healthy in order to be fulfilled and this offseason, the White Sox will need to find why their injured list is consistently more talented than their active roster.