Before the Chicago White Sox’s game against the Houston Astros on Saturday, the team made four roster changes affecting pitchers. Two new players to the roster are Gus Varland, who was called up from Triple-A Charlotte, and Enyel De Los Santos, who the Sox obtained off waivers from the New York Yankees. To clear space on the roster, the White Sox placed Mike Clevinger on the 60-day IL and placed Steven Wilson on the 15-day disabled list.
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) August 17, 2024
Moving Along
After being designated for assignment by the Yankees earlier this week, Enyel De Los Santos makes his way to the South Side. Despite having a 4.52 ERA in 231 innings pitched during his career, the 28-year-old has struggled this season, recording a 5.79 ERA in 46.2 innings split between the San Diego Padres and Yankees. In his most recent appearance, he was thrashed for seven runs on Monday by the White Sox.
Gus Varland, who was claimed off waivers by the Los Angeles Dodgers on August 2, will get his first opportunity to play for the White Sox. The 27-year-old has a 3.00 ERA through six innings this season and a 5.81 ERA in 26.1 big-league innings during his career. Upon joining the White Sox organization, Varland threw 4.2 innings for Triple-A Charlotte and recorded a 3.86 ERA.
Due to a back issue, Steven Wilson has been placed on the injured list twice this season. The right-hander, who was acquired this past offseason by the White Sox in exchange for Dylan Cease, has had a difficult rookie season (5.71 ERA).
Mike Clevinger had disc replacement surgery on August 1 and will miss the remainder of the season. In order to make room on the roster for the recently acquired arms, he was placed on the 60-day injured list.
What’s Coming Up Next?
The goal of the White Sox’s Saturday game is to build on their 5-4 victory over the Astros on Friday. Hunter Brown of Houston will oppose Chicago’s Chris Flexen on the mound. NBC Sports Chicago will broadcast the game, with first pitch scheduled for 6:10 PM CT.
San Diego Wave of the NWSL announce the odd appointment of Landon Donovan as interim head coach.
Welcome to Wave FC, @landondonovan 🌊
Donovan will serve as our interim head coach for the remainder of the 2024 season. pic.twitter.com/UNOqlSyZSF
— San Diego Wave FC (@sandiegowavefc) August 16, 2024
On Friday, the San Diego Wave of the NWSL announced that Landon Donovan, a former USMNT player and current pundit, has been selected to assume interim head coaching responsibilities for the rest of the 2024 season.
The team announced that former head coach Paul Buckle left due to “personal commitments.”
Some experts, including Herculez Gomez of ESPN, were perplexed by the move, believing it to be a “PR stunt.”
The sole managerial experience Donovan has comes from a disastrous two-year tenure as the head coach and creator of the San Diego Loyal, a USL Championship team that had to close its doors in 2023.
Maybe this temporary position is actually a PR ploy, or maybe it’s the ideal testing ground.
After losing three of its previous five games and going winless since May 8, San Diego comes into the Donovan era in 10th place, just three points off of a postseason berth.
Perhaps the “stunt” can be considered a partial success if the joint all-time top scorer for the USMNT can share his knowledge with already established players like Alex Morgan and Naomi Girma, and they manage to make it into the league playoffs.
Ultimately, though, San Diego will probably have to look elsewhere for a more capable long-term management.
