Sox Machine: Chicago White Sox blog

Freddy Garcia, gone (updated again)

Kenny Williams has made his first huge move of the offseason, sending Freddy Garcia to the Phillies for Gio Gonzalez and Gavin Floyd. 

It passes the first test, by which I mean I didn't recoil in horror when I read it.  I didn't celebrate either, but I am sufficiently intrigued by it all.

Kenny wasn't lying when he said he was only interested in pitchers, and he accomplished at least three things with this trade:

1. He opened up a spot for Brandon McCarthy
2. He frees up $10 million
   
3. He gave some beef to the high minors, and...

And there's also a fourth possibility:

     4.  He may have found a left-handed reliever.

Gonzalez could have a role set for him on the 25-man roster as soon as Opening Day.  He's been a starter throughout his minor-league career, but his slight frame (5'11", 180 lbs.) generally gives the impression that he couldn't handle the workload of a starter.  Sometimes that's a load of BS, as Roy Oswalt and Pedro Martinez have shown time and time again, and so far Gonzalez has been fine in the minors.  This is more of a "just sayin'" point.

Even if Gonzalez's future is in the rotation, the Sox have broken in a starter or two by putting him in the bullpen first, including the Sox's most noteworthy lefty in recent history, Mark Buehrle.

Buehrle was promoted to the club in 2000, originally as an emergency starter to fill in for Cal Eldred after his elbow blew out.  After three starts with mixed results, he shuffled to the bullpen and pitched pretty well.  In 25 outings, he posted a 3.53 ERA over 35 2/3 innings.

Of course, that was in the last year of the Ron Schueler era.  Since Kenny took over, the only Sox starters to spend time in the bullpen found their way there because of ineffectiveness.  Dan Wright, Neal Cotts, all the victims of Fifth Starter Hell... none of them were pegged as future stars, only possible fort-holder-downers.

Gonzalez could very well start the year in Charlotte, if not Birmingham, where the Sox often like to store their top arms.  His surface numbers from Double-A Reading last year don't look like anything special (7-12, 4.66 ERA), but those 166 strikeouts in 154 innings say something else.  If the Sox find themselves in a desperate situation like last year, where Boone Logan was able to claim a spot after a year of Single-A ball, Gonzalez could be in the mix if they feel like relief work is in his future.

I don't think it would be a bad idea, if the Sox are in win-now mode.  It's better than overspending on a LOOGY.

Floyd, on the other hand ... this sounds like a job for CooperMan.  He was once a highly acclaimed prospect, but his numbers have never matched his stuff -- a fastball that touches 95 and a big curveball.  The Phillies had pretty much given up on him, and with an ERA around 7.00 and a BB/9 IP rate of 5.3 over 100+ major-league innings, it's not hard to say why. 

Plainly put:  He couldn't find the strike zone with Gheorghe Muresan at the plate and a map. 

However, the Phillies' recent trail of disappointments have been linked to pitching not panning out.  He was part of a plan that involved Brett Myers, Randy Wolf, Vicente Padilla and Ryan Madson.  Myers has turned out to be above-average, yet has frustrated fans with inconsistency, among other things.  Wolf had Tommy John surgery, Padilla battled the bottle, and Madson posted an ERA of 6.28 as a starter last year.

So when Floyd comes with the baggage of inconsistent mechanics and an attitude the Phillies organization deemed lacking killer instinct, well, he wouldn't be alone in that city.

Fortunately, Floyd still have an option left.  He was a September call-up in 2004, then bounced back and forth in 2005 and 2006.  If Cooper doesn't have immediate results, he doesn't have to stick on the Sox's 25-man roster.

If he manages to make the team for Opening Day, he could give us some McCarthy Moments out of the bullpen, but if Cooper has some time to work with him, we could turn out to be pleasantly surprised with the results.  After all...


Lest we forget:



There's also the chance that Floyd's presence may be short-lived if he's packaged with somebody else for another deal.  Or his presence could mean another pitcher is on his way out.  Or none of the above.  Kenny says the Sox, like the state of West Virginia, are "still open for business," so who the hell knows?

Center stage

Maybe the Aarections the media have sported the last couple of days weren't pure fantasy after all.  From Mark Gonzalez:


Just yesterday I went over how I feel about Rowand returning, and a couple of weeks ago, I went over Baldelli.  My opinion of them as players hasn't changed much since then.

I did think this quote from Ozzie Guillen was interesting, however:


Ozzie's absolutely right -- and even more correct when he later says that Rob Mackowiak won't be an option there, thank God. 

On the other hand, it's funny that Baldelli and Rowand are brought up as everyday solutions, considering they've missed a lot of time due to injuries.

Let's pretend that this entry is a Fox baseball broadcast, and to the right is our injury update brought to you by WebMD (WebMD: Better information. Better Health.").  Combine Baldelli and Rowand's injury histories since 2002, and that's what you get -- something resembling chipped beef. 

If I had to pick between the two, I'd go with Baldelli considering we know what Rowand can bring.  So can Philadelphia, evidently -- that's why they're content with seeing what Shane Victorino can do, even though he isn't much younger than Rowand, posted an OPS+ of 92 and was only successful on four of seven stolen base attempts.

Besides health, plate patience is the thorn in Baldelli's side -- but Rowand has the same exact problem there.  Baldelli's shown better speed, better power, and I'd say they're on the same level with the glove if we're talking 2006 Rowand, not the 2005 version. 

Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather go with the guy who hasn't hit his ceiling yet.

(Side question:  Can you name which injuries are Baldelli's and which ones are Rowand's?)

Winter blast

The most significant sign that a Vernon Wells-to-Chicago deal isn't going to happen is that Phil Rogers is a proponent of it.  There's nothing particularly novel about his Wells analysis, but I thought this line was interesting:


I think Kenny knew full well what he was getting into, and had the Sox made the playoffs, MacDougal would've been a big reason why.  During just about the entire month of August, Meiklejohn was the only right-handed reliever worth a damn.

The Secret Weapon is back!  Pablo Ozuna signed a one-year, $800,000 deal, avoiding arbitration in the process.  Maybe it's a little too much, but as long as it's only six figures, call me a fan.

I like this quote from Kenny Williams regarding Brandon McCarthy:


Makes sense to me.

Attention, Fatty Fat-Fats:  Ozzie Guillen and Williams wants his players in better shape entering the season, specifically Mark Buehrle.  Williams said:


Meanwhile, Ozzie says that Freddy Garcia is one of the hardest workers on the team.  That guy is a mystery wrapped (not rolled) in a riddle.