MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL | SPRING TRAINING
TUCSON, Ariz. | Considering the White Sox brought 51 players to camp this spring, the last place they thought they would find themselves was at the minor-league camp, looking for more bodies to fill the roster.
Then again, with all the freak happenings over the last week, manager Ozzie Guillen is just hoping for some normalcy.
"It's getting to the point where I put a pitcher in the game, and I've never even heard of him," Guillen joked on Saturday.
Guillen was already without back-up catcher Toby Hall, outfielders Carlos Quentin and Jerry Owens and starting pitcher Javier Vazquez was in Puerto Rico until Monday because of the birth of his daughter.
Projected No. 5 starter Gavin Floyd was scratched from his scheduled Thursday start with flu-like symptoms and still hadn't returned to the mound. Then there's reliever Scott Linebrink, who made his first appearance Saturday, after four days off with migraines.
The latest concern facing the Sox is the status of Danny Richar.
Richar is one of three candidates competing for the vacancy at second base, and was already a week behind because of visa problems. He suffered a back injury playing winter ball, seemed to slightly aggravate it when he got to camp, but played in several Cactus League games the last week without any problems.
That changed on Wednesday, when he again injured the back in a 2-for-3 performance against Colorado.
"Hopefully he can bounce back and not fall too far behind," Guillen said.
As it stands right now, Juan Uribe has emerged as the leading candidate for the second base job, although Guillen said he wants to see how it plays out with Uribe, Richar and Cuban rookie Alexei Ramirez.
Floyd returns to the mound on Tuesday, while Vazquez will start Wednesday's game. The Sox have an off day on Thursday, but John Danks will come in and throw a simulated game to stay on schedule.
"We'll get it together here in the next couple of weeks," Sox bench coach Joey Cora said. "Things will be running smoothly again soon. We're throwing guys out there that shouldn't be out there, and that's just the way it goes."
