White Sox lose Davis Martin to Tommy John surgery; Eloy Jiménez ahead of schedule

When Justin Jirschele didn't have any sort of update — or even a straightforward answer — about Davis Martin last week, it was fair to assume fairly bad news. Martin hadn't pitched for a few weeks, and it's not because there's no room in Charlotte's rotation.

Manager Justin Jirschele on the offensive explosion in Atlanta last week & the status of Davis Martin (no news).⁦@FutureSox⁩ ⁦@KnightsBaseball⁩ pic.twitter.com/BgPhjYN6OG

The White Sox finally up and said that Martin needed Tommy John surgery, but only after Martin posted a picture of him in a surgical gown on his Instagram page.

A post shared by Davis Martin (@davis_martin30)

The only reason it doesn't feel like an incredible blow is because Martin's mysterious unavailability had blunted the specific impact of the announcement. Otherwise, it's fairly obvious that the White Sox will have a hard time absorbing this setback. They’re 15-28 despite their original five-man rotation making every start this season. Only one other team can make that claim, and the 24-18 Blue Jays have done far more with their fortune.

Now Martin's out, and Sean Burke is off to a difficult, injury-altered start himself, so that basically leaves Jesse Scholtens and Nate Fisher as the guys who might be able to take a spot start for the White Sox if one is needed. They might be able to steal a day or two here and there, but they don't have the long-term upside.

At least the Sox had some positive injury news to share with regards to Eloy Jiménez. The initial four-to-six week recovery period from his appendectomy seemed conservative, and now Jiménez is aiming for a return next weekend following a rehab stint, which would be closer to three weeks.

Eloy Jiménez hopes to be back by the end of next week. He feels a lot better than he did a couple weeks ago…considering. "A couple of weeks ago I thought I was going to die, so I feel really good."