DETROIT — Another day, another injury for the White Sox.
Catcher Yasmani Grandal, the team’s hottest hitter and potential All-Star, left Friday’s game against the Tigers with left calf tightness. He was replaced by Zack Collins to start the Tigers’ half of the fifth inning.
“It doesn’t look like it’s anything serious,” manager Tony La Russa said. “But he won’t catch tomorrow.”
Catcher Seby Zavala will likely be in Detroit Saturday in case the Sox need to make a roster move. Zack Collins is the only other catcher on the roster.
Grandal collected his 38th RBI with a single in the first inning against Casey Mize and scored from first on Brian Goodwin’s triple. Grandal has hit safely in 10 of his last 11 games, going 12-for-35 with four homers and 14 RBI.
The Sox, who lead the Indians by six games in the AL Central, are playing without Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert, Nick Madrigal, Yoan Moncada and Adam Engel due to injuries.
Timing of trades ‘impossible to predict,’ Hahn says
Nothing has materialized from the Eduardo Escobar trade rumor — one report had the second baseman already on his way to the White Sox five days ago — and general manager Rick Hahn was typically coy on trade talk in general on a Zoom call Friday.
“It’s really impossible for me to predict when any deals will happen,” Hahn said. “More things tend to happen with the [July 31] deadline in everyone’s face. That said, we’re putting forth a strong and consistent effort and we’ll see what happens here.”
The Sox are feeling less pressure to add offense to the outfield, what with Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert possibly returning from injuries in August, and a cast of fill-ins patching things up. Escobar would be a substantial upgrade at second base, with Nick Madrigal out fo the season, but the Sox aren’t the only team with interest.
An arm or two to shore up the bullpen is also being sought.
“Nothing’s done until it’s absolutely done, so I’m very hesitant to project out or predict when anything’s going to to come to fruition,” Hahn said. “A lot of work is being put in, we’ll see what happens.”
Jimenez and Robert
The Sox are hopeful that Robert and Jimenez, who have resumed baseball activities in Arizona, could return from their injuries by August.
Hahn said the next updates on the pair will ideally be given when they’re assigned to minor league affiliates for rehab assignments.
“At that point, a 20-day clock begins,” Hahn said. “If everything goes smoothly in that time period, you’ll see them back in Chicago.”
Hahn said the front office visualizes different scenarios of how the team will look in the final two months of the season, “both with internal options and potentially anything from outside.”
Eaton returns
Outfielder Adam Eaton, who hadn’t played since June 14 because of a strained right hamstring, was reinstated and and played right field. Eaton was batting .195 with five homers in 54 games.
Eaton, 32, said more than the hamstring has been ailing him.
“A little bit of everything,” he said. “When one thing goes a little haywire … you break a little bit of the chain and some of the links of the chain don’t want to operate quite as well. So, just try to get everything working and back in order. We are in a good place.”
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