RV tabs Angel Sanchez as utility infielder. So, only roster spot left is Crain or another reliever

— Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) March 24, 2013

Angel Sanchez was brought in with a Rule 5 draft pick. That meant that beyond the lack of another plus-fielding shortstop near the majors, his candidacy was aided by the White Sox needing to not just think Steve Tolleson was better than him, but superior to the point that it was worth it to cede all claims to Sanchez. Not to mention that, hey, it’s high time the White Sox got something in return from the Astros.

Tolleson outhit Sanchez over their respective collection of scant spring plate appearances, but never sufficiently outplayed him in terms of the true function of the roster spot–play up the middle defense and hit ninth, ideally in less than 40 games.

Other bench slots had similar contract-issue influences.

The White Sox felt the need to be proactive in securing Dewayne Wise‘s services with a guaranteed contract, which left Jordan Danks and Blake Tekotte pressing for a role that didn’t exist. And when third basemen Conor Gillaspie arrived via trade fresh out of minor league options, Brent Morel suddenly had to not only prove he was healthy, but prove he was  better than the level of play most often associated with Brent Morel.

That’s no good at all for Tolleson, Morel and Danks, who are getting kicked into Quad-A existence with no tangible reward for strong springs, but good in practice, because it removed the historically dubious results of spring training competition from the equation of determining roster spots. None of these guys have proven very valuable yet, so it might be prudent to stockpile them.

Even Hector Gimenez went more or less unchallenged. The only competition the White Sox lined up for him was a non-roster invitee that received less than half of the plate appearances Gimenez received, even with Tyler Flowers missing time.

So…

Catchers

• Tyler Flowers
• Hector Gimenez

Infield

• 1B – Paul Konerko
• 1B – Adam Dunn
• 2B – Gordon Beckham
• SS – Alexei Ramirez
• UTIL – Angel Sanchez
• 3B/IF – Jeff Keppinger
• 3B – Conor Gillaspie

Outfield

• Alejandro De Aza
• Alex Rios
• Dayan Viciedo
• Dewayne Wise

Pitchers

• SP – Chris Sale
• SP – Jake Peavy
• SP – Gavin Floyd
• SP – Jose Quintana
• SP – Dylan Axelrod
• RP – Addison Reed
• RP – Matt Thornton
• RP – Jesse Crain? (Brian Omogrosso/Ramon Troncoso)
• RP – Nate Jones
• RP – Matt Lindstrom
• RP – Donnie Veal
• RP – Hector Santiago

Disabled List

• John Danks

A decent group, you might say.

Follow James Fegan on Twitter @JRFegan

Well, I looked up the thesaurus entries for both “boring” and “vapid”, but none of the options laid forth really spoke to me.

Similarly, it’s unlikely that the signing of Jeff Keppinger, and certainly not the pickup of Angel Sanchez in the Rule 5 draft, speaks to any White Sox fan in any viscerally inspiring way. Keppinger is a utility infielder being asked to masquerade as a starting 3rd basemen, because he’s the only one who can approximate offensive competence, and Angel Sanchez…can field the shortstop position.

It is honestly not a whole hell of a lot, but it removes the White Sox from assessing the reality of having to do some things they really cannot be excited about–actually entrusting Brent Morel to produce again, and for the time being, plugs a hole in the backup infielder sinkhole that has gone to unfavorable places before.

Last year, that was Eduardo Escobar followed by Ray Olmedo. Escobar was the prospect who got promoted by simply outplaying all the other candidates too egregiously to be ignored, and Olmedo was as close as a major league team comes to actually rolling with the proverbial “guy off the street”.

It’s unclear how much Angel Sanchez can really outperform Ray Olmedo. His glove is well-regarded, but Olmedo was actually a pleasant surprise for the most part defensively. Sanchez’s scant major league numbers  (.255/.304/.308) are only a slightly more pleasing shade of pathetic, but he has at least has proved himself capable of excelling against AAA competition, which is beyond anything Olmedo ever accomplished.

It’s more important that Angel Sanchez, and his Rule 5 roster situation, is another body standing in the way of another Eduardo Escobar; which in this case is Carlos Sanchez. To hear Buddy Bell tell it, Angel will have a fine chance to offer the necessary performance to protect Carlos from his own success.

“This is a lot different than finding a guy that is throwing 95 or 100, then you can just hope you can hide on your roster somewhere. This guy here, we think if it works out, it can really help our club from Opening Day beyond that.”

Keppinger and Angel Sanchez remove the emergency that could have produced a desperate rush job of the 20 year-old prospect, and that’s certainly necessary. Even counting the Arizona Fall League, Carlos Sanchez has under 300 plate appearances–and mixed results–above A-ball. But while it’s nice to hear protective talk from the organization about a prospect’s development, it also make sense financially.

The benefits of holding back the start of Sanchez’s service clock are such that it’s not worth it to ever break camp with a rookie unless their immediate impact is virtually assured and desperately needed. Carlos Sanchez is far too raw to be a sure shot, and now there’s no longer a reason to throw caution to the wind for him.

The White Sox aren’t going to win a division just by removing all of their disasters. In fact, accepting the mediocrity of Keppinger and Angel Sanchez on the roster might  be looked back on as the indication that the Sox would not put up a fight against Detroit in 2013. But after the peril and damage done by individual spots like the DH slots from 2010 and 2011, and 3rd base in 2012, making a point of looking for security, looking for assurance and an acceptable baseline level of performance from every place on the diamond is hardly a bad habit for Rick Hahn to get into.

Follow James Fegan on Twitter @JRFegan