Meet the Sox

Neal Cotts

Neal Cotts' most important contribution to the White Sox might have been keeping the Billy Koch-for-Keith Foulke deal from being Kenny Williams' third nothing-for-something trade in two years.

Williams already dealt Kip Wells, Josh Fogg and Sean Lowe for Todd Ritchie, and shipped Ray Durham and cash for Jon Adkins.  When Williams, thanks to Jerry Manuel mismanaging Foulke into oblivion, swapped closers with Oakland and received Koch, who suddenly threw 94 m.p.h. instead of 99 after the trade, he just about became a laughingstock.

And that was before he traded for Carl Everett and Roberto Alomar twice.

Of course, it took a while for the Sox to reap any sort of results.

Cotts rose through the ranks under the radar, due to Foulke succeeding with Oakland and then Boston while Koch fell out of baseball, and put up great minor league numbers along the way.  He never could match them in the big leagues as a starter, and his name became synonymous with Manuel's passive style when he started in place of Mark Buehrle with the Sox on the verge of sweeping the Yankees in the Bronx late in the 2003 season.

In one-third of an inning, Cotts gave up five runs, and in about a 10-minute span, the sweep was out of reach.  The South Siders never found the necessary momentum to push into the playoffs, and that game may have cemented Manuel's eventual firing.  After one more start with results nearly as dismal, Cotts no longer factored into rotation plans.  Fifth Starter Hell had claimed yet another victim.

Fortunately, for at least one magical season, Cotts was able to reinvent himself into an ace setup man. 

It's hard to explain how it happened, because he didn't look like anything special in his first year as a reliever in 2004.  Some say he hit his spots better, but his walk rate was actually worse in 2005.  His stuff -- a fastball and a so-so slider -- also appeared the same.  Whatever the case might've been, the results were eye-popping.

Cotts only allowed one homer after giving up 13 the year before.  His batting average allowed was 70 points lower, and opponents couldn't even crack .250 slugging against him.  Better yet, he dominated both lefties (.206/.285/.279) and righties (.155/.288/.209).  Over the course of a couple months, he gained the trust of Ozzie Guillen and transformed himself from a LOOGY into a top setup guy. 

He was also up to the test in the postseason.  He did walk Mike Lamb in Game 3 of the World Series to put the eventual tying run into scoring position, but he came up big in the other three games.  In 11 playoff games, Cotts pitched six scoreless outings.  It's safe to say he earned his share.

In 2006, Cotts was following up nicely on his breakout season until the All-Star Break.  I don't know if I've seen such a dramatic fall from a non-injured reliever.  The numbers speak for themselves:

	G	IP	H	ER	BB	K
Pre-ASB	39	36.2	30	12	10	30
Post-ASB	31	17.1	34	19	14	13

Cotts did lead the team in appearances, but he was able to work so many because many of his outings were tragically short.  Either he was hit hard early, or Guillen only trusted him with one batter. 

Ozzie maintained his faith in Cotts to the press, but it was clear that he didn't have it, and thus the trade to the Cubs surprised few.  No matter how poorly he fared in 2006, it didn't detract from his 2005.  When thinking back to this team, everybody will remember the pitching.  With a 1.94 ERA over a team-leading 69 appearances, Cotts had his hand in more victories than any other Sox arm.