White Sox pitchers and catchers reported for spring training on Saturday and already we have this bit of not-so-great news:
Nate Jones told #WhiteSox officials he suffered glut strain 7-10 days ago. Informed them upon arrival Fri. Team to eval him in few days.
— DanHayesMLB (@DanHayesMLB) February 15, 2014
Spring Training just got started and Nate Jones is hurt already. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
Jones is one of the candidates to replace Addison Reed as the White Sox closer but while this is an obvious setback for the 28-year-old, it’s not uncommon for teams to be overly cautious with injured players during spring training, particularly this early. As Hayes notes, last season Jessie Crain missed almost all of spring training but still broke camp with the team and was ready for Opening Day.
Whether this setback ends up doing harm to Jones’ chances of starting the season as the team’s closer is still to be determined. While many consider him the presumptive favorite, Daniel Webb, Matt Lindstrom and others are in the running and the White Sox don’t appear to be in any rush to name a closer at this point.
It’s entirely possible, of course, that this is nothing more than a minor setback that is all but forgotten by April, but at the very least it’s a situation worth monitoring as camp drags along.