White Sox need to be cautious with Yasmani Grandal

The Chicago White Sox officially reported to camp this week, but are already dealing with three injuries. 

Yasmani Grandal (minor left calf strain), Lucas Giolito (chest muscle strain), and Gio Gonzalez (left shoulder discomfort) all suffered injuries as detailed by Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times.

No injuries are good to have this early in Spring Training, but they are all seen as minor injuries that will keep them out for the first week of Cactus League games coming up.

With Grandal, the team should be particularly careful about playing him early on, though, as there really is no reason to risk anything with him before the regular season starts.

He was the team’s biggest signing this offseason as he joined the South Side in November on a four-year, $73 million contract.

While it would be great for him to develop a rapport with the pitching staff before the regular season starts, the team should actually not let Grandal play too much this spring.

That is especially true given the team needs to find out if Zack Collins has any role on the 2020 roster to start the season and/or if James McCann really should be the backup catcher.

McCann, 29, is entering his final season before free agency and the team could theoretically trade him if they deem Collins ready to be the team’s backup.

The argument for picking Collins over McCann is that the former actually has a future with the White Sox long-term while it would appear pretty unlikely that the latter lasts with the team past this season, if even that.

Grandal, 31, has also been working closely with Collins this year so far too, which might make it worthwhile to carry him over McCann this season so they can continue to work together.

However, on the flip side, the argument could be made that Grandal’s injury proves that the team should have a capable backup like McCann just in case the wear and tear of playing the catching position proves too much at times this year for Grandal.

The point is that Grandal getting playing time should really not be a priority for this team in Spring Training as they have some roster issues to figure out.

It simply isn’t worth risking further injury in February and March when the team has their eyes on playing meaningful games in September and October.

White Sox fans should not complain if they have to wait a little bit longer to see Grandal take the field in their uniform this spring.