CLEVELAND — The White Sox had a lot of new faces in the locker room on Thursday. Because of a rash of injuries, the team selected the contracts of outfielder Joshua Palacios from Triple-A Charlotte and catcher Omar Narvaez from Double-A Birmingham.
The team placed catcher Korey Lee — who sprained his ankle in the sixth inning of Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to the Guardians, and outfielder Mike Tauchman — who re-injured his hamstring rounding third in the ninth and attempting to score the game-tying run — on the 10-day injured list.
Lee said reducing the swelling is the “main priority” for him.
“It’s bruised, it’s swollen,” Lee said.”[The left ankle] doesn’t feel too hot, but it’s part of the game.”
For an already dormant offense — the Sox entered Thursday with the second-fewest runs scored in the majors, one run above the Rockies — those injuries are brutal. Lee was batting .333/.412/.467 with a .878 OPS. Tauchman collected three hits in Wednesday’s loss.
“[It’s] never a good time to lose your players, but [Tauchman] came back and he was looking really good,” Venable said. “[There was] just real substance to his at-bats and quality to what he was doing on the field.
“It’s gonna be one of these things that happens; we know every team deals with it, so we’ve got to push forward and figure out a way to pick up the slack.”
New faces
Palacios got the news that he was going to the majors at around 10 p.m. Wednesday night. last season.
New faces
His manager, Sergio Santos, told Palacios to come to the hotel lobby downstairs. As Palacios approached Santos, he could sense the news that he was about to receive.
“He let me know that I was getting called up, good job and go ball out,” Palacios said. “He was saying, ‘I hope I never see you again.’ I was like, ‘Well, maybe hopefully I’ll see you in Arizona. Not never again.'”
Palacios then rushed to the facility to collect his belongings and pack. After finishing at around 1 a.m., he was ready for the Uber to come get him.
Palacios, 29, was batting .231/.421/.308 with the Charlotte Knights. The outfielder from New York has played bits of four major-league seasons, including 23 games with the Pittsburgh Pirates last year.
Infielder Greg Jones was prepared to pinch run in Wednesday’s game. He said fans can expect defensive versatility and speed from him. He stole 46 bases in the minors last season.
Jones and Palacios are likely to be situational players brought in for specific situations. Narvarez, with 677 games of MLB experience under his belt, will likely assume backup catcher duties behind Matt Thaiss.
Narvaez said it was beneficial for him to have played in spring training with the Sox. It allowed him to get to know the pitchers and their tendencies.
“It’s way easier, trust me,” Narvaez said. “It’s way easier to catch everybody that I caught in spring training. It’s not a lot to figure out; just keep watching them and keep in touch with them.”
Roster moves
The Sox needed to create room on the 40-man roster, so they released right-hander Juan Carela. Carela underwent Tommy John surgery in March.