White Sox remaining cautious with Jose Abreu's finger

Share

ARLINGTON, Texas — Jose Abreu is out of the White Sox lineup for the third consecutive game in Tuesday’s series opener against the Rangers as the club continues to exercise caution with its All-Star first baseman.

Abreu’s been nagged by a bruised finger he initially injured about two weeks ago, and he began receiving treatment for it Friday night. X-Rays on the finger were negative, but manager Robin Ventura said he doesn’t want to risk playing Abreu and having the issue get worse.

[MORE: White Sox: Adam LaRoche embraces challenge of learning DH role]

"He is getting better,'' Ventura said. "You could send him out there and one swing could probably send him back five more days. It's gotten a lot better than it was in Houston, it's just not to a point where I'm comfortable having him go out there and swing full-time in a game."

Still, Ventura and general manager Rick Hahn wouldn’t rule out Abreu returning to the White Sox lineup Wednesday night at Globe Life Park, even if the 28-year-old hasn’t been able to take batting practice or hit in the cages since he last played Friday. Through 46 games, Abreu has a .282/.340/.481 slash line with 10 home runs.

On Sunday, Abreu said he was optimistic his finger would feel well enough to play in Texas, and even if he doesn’t play Wednesday that’s a belief shared by Hahn.

[NBC SHOP: Get your White Sox gear right here]

“The swelling has decreased, he still has a little bit of a bruise on the finger below the knuckle that hasn’t completely resolved itself,” Hahn said. “We’re going to hold him out today, keep him away from activity again today but hopefully tomorrow start ramping up again and hopefully have him back out there in the not too distant future. He’s definitely improving, it’s just not quite to the spot where we want to put him out there in games.”

With Abreu out of the lineup, Adam LaRoche is playing first base, Conor Gillaspie is the DH and Gordon Beckham is at third base against Rangers right-hander Colby Lewis. 

Contact Us