Who could benefit from Andrew Benintendi’s absence?

This week, Andrew Benintendi was hit by a pitch in the hand causing a non-displaced fracture. This injury will keep him off the field for 4-6 weeks. This will open the door for someone to break camp with the team that wouldn’t have. Even though BeefLoaf assures me that this will be a minimal amount of regular season games and Benintendi will be back in April.

That leaves us with the question of who might get those plate appearances. The list feels longer than it should be, but let’s first address who we think/know will already be on the roster. Luis Robert and Mike Tauchman are gonna be there. Michael A Taylor, unless his elbow is worse than we think, is the only real CF backup they have. Austin Slater was paid like he’ll be there, not that $1.75M is all that much. Knowing there is additionally a DH spot to fill, we’re probably looking at 1 more guy.

Joey Gallo

I probably wouldn’t have put him first on my list, but Roster Resource has penciled him in as the starting LF. This is despite him not being on the 40 man, the Sox saying he’s meant to play 1B, and his atrocious 74 OPS+ in 2024. That said, I could see a realistic path to this happening. He’s a decent outfielder, though I think they might opt for him in RF where his arm would have more impact. Additionally, he’s a plus defender at 1B. That could be helpful for Andrew Vaughn who would probably DH when Gallo is at first. This really hurts my Gallo HR prediction and if you wanted to see less strikeouts from the Sox, well I don’t know what to tell you. There is opportunity for absolute bombs into the 108, so that’s something.

Dominic Fletcher

Just when I thought he was out, they’ve pulled him back in. Dom is on the 40 man already and he’s the best in the field out of the available White Sox. So much so, they still pretend he can play CF. If the Sox opt for the best defensive outfield they can put out there, Dom is the man. This is a big opportunity for him to try to hit at the big league level again. It’s one I did not expect him to get after the off-season signings the team made. But here we are. If I were a betting man, and I am, I’d bet on Fletch to be the man in front of Section 108 on Opening Day.

Oscar Colas

While you surely saw him take a ball off the cranium, you might not have seen this web gem from the win against the Guardians.

He’s seemingly doing all he can to not make the team including a .429 OPS thus far.

Longer Shots

There are still a lot of names you know vying for spots: Corey Julks and Zach DeLoach for example. But they both have minor league options available, so barring them catching fire, I’d guess they start in the minors. There are also guys like Brandon Drury and Nick Maton that can put on an outfield glove and be serviceable, but that’s pretty boring imho. Someone like Wilfred Veras is more intriguing as there is more upside, but could you really trust a small sample assuming Benintendi is back in April?

Other Teams’ Guys?

Don’t sleep on this one. There are plenty of teams that will max that 26 man roster with the best guys possible, leaving out of options casualties. Look at the Mets who have Juan Soto, Brandon Nimmo, Jesse Winker, Starling Marte, and probably Jose Siri on the roster, but also out of options guys like Tyrone Taylor, Alexander Canario, and Jose Azocar all trying to make the roster. Someone is getting DFA’d and the Mets ain’t the only ones in this situation.

-Chorizy-E