When crappy weather prevented Matt and me from heading to Phoenix for a Sox game that would be cancelled, we stayed in Tucson to catch the Diamondbacks and the Mariners, since it was the only game around.
Had I known the Mariners were starting a future White Sox that game, I would’ve paid closer attention. Matt Thornton, acquired by the Sox today for the equally disappointing Joe Borchard, threw the first three innings that day, and I didn’t think much of it. He struggled with his control, went deep in a lot of counts and walked a few guys, giving up three runs in three innings, if I remember correctly (a box score for this game is not available).
Then again, I was ready to cut him some slack considering his was pitching into 30 mph gusts. But when I looked up
his stats on The Baseball Cube, it matched up with his track record to date, wind or no wind.
It also reminded me of another lefty the Sox have tried out already and have deemed unsuitable for anywhere except Charlotte,
Stephen Randolph. Both have pitched two seasons in the major leagues, and here are their career stat lines.
| |
IP |
BB/9 |
K/9 |
K/BB |
ERA |
| Randolph |
141.2 |
7.56 |
7.12 |
0.94 |
4.89 |
| Thornton |
89.3 |
6.72 |
8.73 |
1.30 |
4.82 |
Thornton's rates are slightly better across the board, but they still stink. And when you compound the plentiful amount of baserunners (a career WHIP of 1.68 to Randolph’s 1.71) and his propensity to surrender homers (13(!!!!) in 57 innings last year), he’s every bit the gas can Randolph is.
I’m also guessing that strikeout rate is buoyed by the sheer amount of hitters he faced. Damaso Marte struck out 54 batters in 45 innings last year, but with a WHIP of 1.72, he got an awful lot of chances to strike hitters out by letting the ones he didn’t reach base.
On the other hand, I guess that’s all we can expect to get for Borchard, who could only be classified as a bust. With Dustin Hermanson likely going on the DL, Thornton will get a couple extra weeks to prove himself during the regular season, whereas Borchard would’ve had to earn a spot by the end of Spring Training. It’s likely that neither player will amount to much, and in five years we’ll forget this trade ever happened.