Quintana looking to finish what he started – Lineups 6/1

The last time Jose Quintana was getting ready to stride to the mound, the White Sox were .500, full of unabashed hope and getting ready for another series against a losing ball club.

Now, they’re four games under, trapped in Oakland against a red-hot Athletics team and mired in another offensive crisis that is prompting speculation about whether they will sell, who they will sell, what they will sell them for and whether they will be willing to sell players in pieces. It’s been a fun week.

While he’ll look to reclaim the form that saw him strike out the side in the first inning on Monday–before petering out amid the madness that surrounded and eventually consume him–the lineup for Saturday shows how much room for tinkering last night’s shutout created.

Robin Ventura has switched what positions Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko play, he flip-flopped Conor Gillaspie and Dayan Viciedo again–after Gillaspie was hitterish Friday night–and he’s sat Tyler Flowers.

Sure, he could stop batting a truly awful Adam Dunn in the heart of the order, but this lineup looks like what happens when a manager gazes upon his bench, sees Dewayne Wise, Tyler Greene and a platoon-mashing Casper Wells–with no lefty starter–and sighs deeply.

White Sox lineup

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

Jose Quintana, SP

Holy hell, do the A’s have 937 position players? Is their lineup written out in a Boggle cube? Can you even imagine how annoying it is to copy and paste yesterday’s lineup into the post only to see that no one is in the exact same position or place as the previous night!?!? Bob Melvin is a menace.

Oakland A’s lineup

1. Jed Lowrie – 2B
2. Chris Young – CF
3. Yoenis Cespedes – DH
4. Josh Donaldson – 3B
5. Nate Freiman – 1B
6. Josh Reddick – RF
7. Derek Norris – C
8. Seth Smith – LF
9. Adam Rosales – SS

Dan Straily, SP

Straily has been getting roughed up to the tune of a 5.08 ERA in seven starts, but is a perfectly capable back-end starter when given the chance. He vaulted onto the scene with a huge season across three-levels last year despite not being a notable prospect previously. He’s got an average amount of strikeouts, average control and a fly-ball tendency that’s mitigated by it being Oakland and the Coliseum being a stadium it’s physically impossible to hit a home run out of.

If the White Sox snap out of their funk, it won’t be a gift.

Follow James Fegan on Twitter @JRFegan