Scott Merkin relays some interesting information from John Dewan
regarding the White Sox rotation's workload:
According to John Dewan's Stat of the Week, the White Sox went into the
final week of June with four of the highest pitch-count totals in all
of baseball since the start of 2003. Mark Buehrle ranked fourth at
12,103, Javier Vazquez sat sixth at 11,628, Freddy Garcia was seventh
at 11,507 and Jon Garland rounded out the top 10 with 11,218. Livan
Hernandez topped all of baseball during this particular time frame with
13,127 pitches.
First off, Livan Hernandez is a beast, and let's hope that Jose Contreras resembles him more than Livan's half-brother, El Duque, in terms of health.
Secondly, those numbers don't surprise me, if only because I can't recall the last time a Sox pitcher worked less than five innings. In fact, it hasn't happened this year, and I wonder if the Sox are the only team in the majors that can boast that particular feat.
I
voiced a concern earlier about this, but Ozzie Guillen has been more judicious about pitch counts in recent starts. He put Mark Buehrle out of his misery after 101 pitches during a start in which every Red Sox bloop hit was falling in, and he had a very quick hook for Javier Vazquez, pulling him after 95 pitches and 5 1/3 innings. Jon Garland pitched an easy 92 before allowing a couple of hits in the eighth inning. Jose Contreras coasted through his start against Baltimore, and was out after 99.
Of course, there's a correlation between easier outings for pitchers and the improvement by the bullpen. Guillen was able to take the ball away from Garland and give it to Matt Thornton. Vazquez could leave because David Riske and Neal Cotts were available. Riske is the kind of pickup Kenny Williams has always excelled at -- picking up a part for nothing and turning it into something, whether through coaching or a trade, and I was dead-wrong about the Thornton deal.
Ozzie does get criticized for riding his starters too long, but I haven't seen a manager who's better at knowing his pitchers. The only problem earlier in the season was that Ozzie knew what he had -- or didn't have -- in his bullpen. Thanks to improved relief work, Ozzie finally has the opportunity to let his pitchers coast into the All-Star break.
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One more note about Riske: His presence in the bullpen as a competent, healthy righty has turned Dustin Hermanson's comeback and Cliff Politte's struggles into an absorbable problem. Cliff can get in games like today, where the Sox are flat and there's no hope, and just keep chucking in hopes of finding something, and Svengoolie can take his time getting his back in gear for Charlotte.
If neither pan out, Agustin Montero can get another look, or maybe Sean Tracey or Jeff Farnsworth, or maybe Kenny can put something together at the waiver deadline in August. Either way, Riske has shifted the only bullpen concern into a mop-up role, and there's no reason to panic now. And all Riske cost was Javier Lopez, who the Sox picked up for nothing and had no plans for thanks to the development of Thornton.