May 15, 2013; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Chicago White Sox pitcher Dylan Axelrod (33) is visited by teammates and manager Robin Ventura (23) after suffering a cramp during the sixth inning against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

White Sox players–multiple White Sox players–are in a position to lose their jobs (or roles), but for the best reason: starting players are returning and the roster needs to make room for them. Gordon Beckham is getting everyone excited by spraying opposite-field line-drives in Triple-A, free from the top-level velocity he struggles against and John Danks, well, he can’t just do rehab starts for the rest of his contract.

It’s good, since there’s actually a debate over who should make way for each player rather than an obvious pariah–at least not an easily released one–but it would be bad if players as fringe-average as Beckham and Danks are likely to be are being looked to for substantial help. They will increase flexibility.

Gordon Beckham

Here I thought we were just looking for a way to say nice things about Gordon Beckham with all the talk over the past few years about his ability to turn double plays, avoid errors and complete outfield relays, but the past six weeks have been pretty brutal. Set whatever adjustments at the plate Beckham needs to hop back into aside, his simple presence can stabilize second base, and third in turn.

Conor Gillaspie is steadily sliding away from his hot start, but that could be abated by never playing him against left-handed pitching for the rest of his time on Earth. He has a .238/.238/.286 with six strikeouts and no walks in 21 plate appearances against southpaws, but is still over an .800 OPS against opposite-handed pitching. Jeff Keppinger’s start has been too across-the-board bad to get any kind of idea of what his recovery (he’s on a three-game hitting streak!) will look like, but platooning him against lefties is a time-tested reaction to his shortcomings, and might take pressure off him to produce in the biggest role he’s ever been given in a new town.

Utility man Angel Sanchez is also on a rehab stint, and the longer it lasts the better, given the decisions he forces by being a Rule 5 pick. If the White Sox feel comfortable with never giving Alexei Ramirez a day off (they haven’t all year) they could simply carry Beckham, Keppinger and Gillaspie and Ramirez in the infield and maintain the versatility for pinch-hitting that  Casper Wells provides. But if the Sox were that cavalier about not having a true backup for Ramirez beyond maybe Beckham in a pitch, Sanchez is probably not on the Opening Day roster anyway.

Whether or not the Sox feel Sanchez is even better than Tyler Greene, is another matter too.

John Danks

At some point, Danks simply has to get called up. He’s healthy, he’s locked in for three more years after this one and the White Sox need to know what they have and what they’re paying for. That’s the larger truth behind a looming decision of which productive starter should get booted out for a guy who’s walking the park in Triple-A.

Dylan Axelrod has as much immediate claim to a rotation spot as anyone, having allowed over three runs in just two of his nine starts, and he might have just pulled his greatest trick of the year in ducking punishment from the Boston offense for six innings. But while he used to post encouragingly half-decent strikeout rates in previous moonlighting sessions, Axelrod isn’t missing any bats at all these days–just 28 strikeouts in 52.1 innings–since his slider lost its use as an out-pitch. He’s seemingly on track for a 2011 Philip Humber-style fall to Earth, but at least the lack of trust he inspires results in a very beneficial use of caution by management. There’ll be no ‘inning too long’ outings for Axelrod.

Conversely, Hector Santiago has had two consecutive outings where he failed to avoid the troubles of big innings. It’s nothing alarming for a young pitcher who lacks a boatload of starting experience at upper levels and was stretched out fairly recently to struggle with control, but it comes along with a clearly demonstrated ability to miss bats–22 in 21.2 innings as a starter this year. That ability makes Santiago more interesting as a member of the starting the rotation down the road, even as he’s having long ball problems or losing control.

Conversely, that ability probably makes Santiago more interesting as a situational reliever as well, and since that’s the role he was in just last month, chances are the White Sox realize that too, while also remembering the wreck that Axelrod was out of the pen last season. A short-term move puts out Santiago to a bullpen that could use another guy usable in situations that aren’t described with the word “garbage,” and the White Sox typically like to think they’re in a position to make short-term moves until it’s proven to them they aren’t.

In either case, both of these guys have set too high of a standard for Danks to come in and pitch like its spring training again for a prolonged stretch. Meritocracies can only be suspended for so long.

Follow James Fegan on Twitter @JRFegan

May 20, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago White Sox designated hitter Adam Dunn (32) is congratulated by first baseman Paul Konerko (14) for hitting a three run home run against the Boston Red Sox during the first inning at U.S. Cellular Field. Mandatory Credit: Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports

Every day is a good day to prove yourself in the major leagues, but Monday night was a particularly fine time for Dylan Axelrod to show himself capable of side-stepping through a top-flight American League lineup, right before a starting rotation gig goes on the chopping block.

The independent league graduate-level pitching came from the visiting side, as Jon Lester couldn’t close out any of the first two innings of the night, and threw the Red Sox into a hole they could not finish climbing out of before losing 6-2.

To start things out for Lester, a two-out single allowed to Alex Rios, followed by a walk to Paul Konerko, one-upped with starting 2-0 to Adam Dunn before grooving a fastball to him and falling down a deserved 3-0.

More unforgivable was Lester getting the first two outs of the second inning, but letting a double from Tyler Greene prolong his misery. Alejandro De Aza knocked Greene in by rolling a ball up the third base line that Will Middlebrooks whiffed on for the second-straight double, and Alexei Ramirez sliced another shot into the right field corner for the third-straight double of the inning.

With Axelrod at the helm, that outburst more or less salted away the game. Dylan’s only cluster of poor play came in the third, when he issued his only walk of the night to Stephen Drew and had a low fastball golfed out for a two-run bomb by Jarrod Saltalamacchia. The offer was Axelrod’s usual shade of vulnerable, but too low for it to even count as a mistake.

Robin Ventura pulling Axelrod after six innings and only 83 pitches seemed like a product of a generalized cautious approach with the journeyman hurler rather than a reaction to trouble. Why test Axelrod another time through the order when trusted relievers can be used the rest of the way? After all, Axelrod had struck out two guys all night and his success didn’t make much sense.

Well, the thing about that is…Matt Thornton didn’t step in with his good control, walked two batters and allowed them home with a two-run double off the bat of Will Middlebrooks that missed leaving the yard by a couple feet. Even with Dayan Viciedo providing a run of insurance with a two-out RBI single in the fifth, Jesse Crain and Addison Reed both put the tying run on base in the eight and ninth innings.

Luckily for Crain, David Ortiz popped up a high fastball that he clearly though he should have hammered–though at 96 mph at the letters, that may have been hubris talking–and luckily for Addison Reed, Will Middlebrooks’ booming fly ball to dead center–first of all, he was lucky it went to dead center–died a foot or two short of the wall.

It might be the mark of a good team–talking about the Red Sox here–that a game where the White Sox seem to get every decisive hit and rip out the guts of their opponent within the first hour, was still a nervy affair by the end.

Team Record: 20-23

Box Score

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Before he was old, hitterish, and beset with achilles injuries, David Ortiz was merely old and hitterish, and is now again. He’s OPS’ing over 1.000 and had eight hits this past weekend. I might have had eight beers.

Before he was bad at pitching, tonight’s Red Sox starter Jon Lester was quite great at pitching and has become so again. He has a 2.72 ERA, so some things have been going right for him this year, I would gather.

Alongside their legions of distressingly pervasive fans, the Red Sox will descend upon the South Side starting this Monday night and threaten to outclass their brothers in linen. Dylan Axelrod has already faced up against Cy Young winners Felix Hernandez and David Price this season, so Lester presumably looks like Happy Gilmore’s caddy to him, but concerns about the ability of his peripherals-defying nibbling to navigate an offense averaging 4.93 runs per game are in effect and throbbing in our collective, shared temples.

White Sox lineup

1. Alejandro De Aza – CF
2. Alexei Ramirez – SS
3. Alex Rios – RF
4. Paul Konerko– 1B
5. Adam Dunn – DH
6. Dayan Viciedo – LF
7. Jeff Keppinger – 3B
8. Tyler Flowers – C
9. Tyler Greene – 2B

Dylan Axelrod, SP

In light of the left-handed starter, Robin Ventura has sat the fading Conor Gillaspie, pushed up supposed lefty-killers Dayan Viciedo and Jeff Keppinger and spaced out the two remaining lefties in his batting order as much as possible without slighting Adam Dunn in any way. Of course, this means Paul Konerko is the cleanup hitter, which means the most important run-producing slot in the batting order will be draped in self-directed disgust until further notice. For him to be anywhere else, however, would be just as heartbreaking as his struggles.

Alex Rios is hitting .301/.363/.558 for a 144 wRC+. He should run for office.

Boston Red Sox lineup

1. Jacoby Ellsbury – CF
2. Shane Victorino – RF
3. Dustin Pedroia – 2B
4. David Ortiz – DH
5. Mike Napoli – 1B
6. Daniel Nava – LF
7. Will Middlebrooks – 3B
8. Stephen Drew – SS
9. Jarrod Saltalamacchia – C

Jon Lester, SP

Boston was the victim of perhaps the most dominant Dylan Axelrod start of all-time last year, when he struck out eight batters over 6.2 innings of one-run ball, before having his work ruined by Leyson Septimo.

‘Anything can happen what the hell do we know?!’ is the tone I shoot for in all of these game previews, but that is especially true with Axelrod. He struck out David Ortiz last season and used the video as the centerpiece of a clip about his work with cerebral palsy patients, but he could easily allow a home run to him tonight that flies out of the stadium, above the clouds, and punctures Jupiter, sending the gas giant flapping through the solar system like a deflating balloon.

Technically, Ortiz could do the same off Chris Sale, but–WAIT NO HE COULDN’T THAT’S CHRIS SALE WE’RE TALKING ABOUT, BUDDY–it would just provoke a different type of reaction.

Where to Watch: CSN

Follow James Fegan on Twitter @JRFegan