You won’t see the White Sox busting it out of the box, and the team is just fine with that. In fact, they are even telling their players not to run hard to first base to avoid injuries.
“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, according to the Chicago Sun Times.
The White Sox currently have 10 players on the injured list, and they have told Andrew Vaughn, Jose Abreu, Tim Anderson, AJ Pollock and Luis Robert to be extra careful.
“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.”
Entering the year, the White Sox had high expectations, but they have yet to meet them. Entering Sunday they were four games under .500 at 33-37 and 5.5 games behind the AL Central-leading Twins.