GLENDALE, Ariz. — When constructing a bench, Chicago White Sox manager Pedro Grifol keeps in mind a conversation he had in Kansas City, Mo., while the Royals coaching staff constructed their playoff roster.
“We’d go back and forth and we’d go through everything, and finally somebody said, ‘Look, there’s no perfect team,’ ” Grifol said Saturday morning.
Grifol spent the previous 10 seasons on the Royals staff — they reached the World Series in 2014 and won it the next season — before the Sox hired him in November.
“We’ve just got to pick the guys we think are going to mesh together and give us the most versatility and coverage in things we think are important,” Grifol said. “But to try to cover everything is almost impossible.”
That type of conversation is where the Sox find themselves as the final day of camp nears and with Thursday’s season opener against the Astros in Houston on the horizon. Grifol anticipates clarity in the “next day or two.”
“Those guys in (the clubhouse), they’ve busted their (butts) and they deserve some of the answers,” Grifol said. It’s not like we haven’t wanted to, it’s just that it’s really tough. It’s a really good problem to have. That means you have some depth, you have some things to think about and you have good players competing for (a) few spots.”
Grifol said several questions come up when making those tough decisions.
“You try to go through every single scenario and you’re always going to be missing on one or two,” he said. “Can this guy play out here? What if this happens, can we cover this? If that happens, can we cover this? What if they bring (in) a lefty? What if they bring (in) a righty? What if we need a baserunner? What if we had already pinch hit and we have an injury?
“We’re going to do our very best to be well-suited to cover many different scenarios with the understanding that something may come up that we just either can’t cover it or we can’t cover it the way we would want to cover it because we tried to attack another area we felt was more important. Over time, that’s the one thing I’ve learned. But the reason for the difficult decisions are because there are a lot of guys that do a lot of really good things.”
Infielder Hanser Alberto was slashing .459/.474/.811 entering Saturday. Fellow infielder Jake Burger was tied for the team lead in home runs (four) and RBIs (nine) with catcher Seby Zavala. Infielder/outfielder Romy Gonzalez also had four homers, including one each in his last three games.
“He’s a talented kid, dynamic, he’s got power, he brings a lot to the table,” Grifol said when asked about Gonzalez’s spring. “He’s in the mix. You look at everything that you bring to the table. That’s how I look at our utility players or our bench players. How many things do they do well? Not how many things do they do great.
“(Gonzalez) does a lot of things well. And he’s got pop and he’s got energy. Leury (García has) had a really good camp, Alberto’s had a good camp, Burger’s had a good camp, (Gavin) Sheets has had a good camp. You can only take four (position players for bench depth). You can’t take 11 pitchers and six position players. You have to make decisions.”
The first baseman faced Garrett Crochet during a live bullpen session Friday.
“His stuff was electric as always,” Vaughn said Saturday of Crochet, who is working his way back from Tommy John surgery that sidelined him last season.
Vaughn has been dealing with lower back soreness. He had an active Friday, including two at-bats in the live batting-practice setting. Vaughn also went 1-for-3 with a double and one run in a minor-league game.
“It felt normal, which is really good,” Vaughn said. “I was able to run full speed, swing the bat.”
Vaughn was the DH on Friday and planned to play first base in another minor-league game Saturday.
“He came in here, he was pumped,” Grifol said. “Said he feels like 100%, feels great.”
Vaughn last played in a Cactus League game March 12. He’s hoping for more action this spring.
“I was glad to be back out there (for the minor-league game Friday),” he said. “Just trying to be smart. I’d rather play 162 games than blow out in spring training and then not be able to play opening day.”
