Mike Clevinger has started 142 of his 156 career Major League games, and only one of his 14 relief appearances has come during Clevinger’s last six seasons.  However, now that the right-hander has returned to the White Sox on a minor league deal, the team intends to look at Clevinger as relief pitching during Spring Training and into the regular season.

“Everything looks really crisp, and just hopefully we can continue to give him opportunities to see what it looks like out of the bullpen and hopefully it all lines up,” Sox manager Will Venable told MLB.com’s Scott Merkin and other reporters.  “I think the focus right now is getting into the routine of shortening down, and seeing what the recovery looks like in between appearances.  We’ll go from there as we continue to build out our roster.”

The decision is a little surprising given Clevinger’s history as a starter, and the lack of experience within Chicago’s rotation.  Martin Perez was signed to a one-year, $5MM to be the veteran anchor of the staff, and Bryse Wilson (who has pitched in each of the last seven MLB seasons) was brought in as at least a swingman, and possibly a full-time rotation member.  Beyond that duo, Jonathan Cannon and Sean Burke only made their big league debuts last season, and Davis Martin has 113 1/3 innings over parts of the 2022 and 2024 seasons.

Still, it isn’t surprising that the rebuilding White Sox want to see what these younger arms (plus others competing for rotation jobs) have to offer, rather than give innings to the 34-year-old Clevinger.  The new bullpen role also reflects the reality of Clevinger’s abbreviated and injury-riddled 2024 season, as he was limited to 16 innings due to elbow inflammation and then a disc surgery on his neck in early August.  Clevinger also didn’t sign until early April, so he spent his first month ramping up in the minors before making his 2024 debut in May.

On the injury front, Clevinger told Merkin that he is feeling far better in the aftermath of the neck procedure, and also provided some insight into just how many additional issues he was facing due to his disc problem.

“That first night after surgery I slept better than I had in probably six months.  I was throwing two weeks after that, and now I feel as healthy as I have since 2019,” Clevinger said.  “I instantly was already moving my head around better.  My [scapula] mobility got a lot better.  I was sleeping better.  I was throwing bullpens again.  By the time I got back to lifting and throwing bullpens, all the numbness in my hand, the forearm muscles shutting down, all that stuff had already stopped.”

In regards to his bullpen job, Clevinger views the transition as “an interesting new challenge” after years of establishing his starting pitching routine.  “It’s going to be finding the flow of things, when I’m getting ready, the throwing before the game, and just really ironing out those details is going to be the biggest challenge,” the right-hander said.  “I don’t think it will be a problem.  Mitigate each day to try to get back out there and go back-to-back days, three games in a row, and find that flow.”

If there seemed to be plenty of opportunity within the White Sox rotation, the bullpen is the same story.  Sox GM Chris Getz said earlier this week that Clevinger could even receive consideration as the team’s closer, underscoring how fluid things are with Chicago’s roster.

Countless starting pitchers have revitalized their careers with moves to the bullpen, so there’s certainly a chance Clevinger could join this long list.  Since the White Sox aren’t aiming to contend, every veteran player is a potential deadline trade chip, and a successful reliever version of Clevinger could certainly garner some interest by midseason.