Sox Machine: Chicago White Sox blog

Darin Erstad is scrumtrilescent

Brian Anderson and Andrew Sisco's previews are complete, closing the book on the 2007 edition of Meet the Sox, for the time being.  While that feature is complete, tomorrow will be the start of another project.  Whether or not this new feature is a recurring one depends on the response.  We'll see.

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I couldn't get past the second paragraph of Dave Van Dyck's Darin Erstad feature without laughing:


I had no idea "Midwest work-ethic" was an adjective.  An alternate title of this post could've been "Erstad weirds language."

Erstad cliche count, from this article and Scott Merkin's:

Grit, old-school, what you see is what you get, toughened, all-out, Midwest work-ethic, lunch-pail, down-to-earth, plays the game like it should be played, without fanfare, baseball player, credit to the profession, strong will to compete, something to prove, tough kid who grew up in North Dakota, determined, follow his lead, true competitor, Midwest, professional, work ethic.

...all about a guy who earned $32 million for playing half the games expected of him.  At least neither article mentioned he punted at Nebraska, which is also in the Midwest.

As The Cheat notes, if a quarter of the words spent gushing about Erstad this offseason were used to look into the Juan Uribe investigation, we would've all learned a lot more.  The SOB also outdid my run-on sentence.

Young guns (two)

John Danks and Nick Masset take their turns on the 2007 Meet the Sox preview carousel.  That leaves Brian Anderson and Andrew Sisco as the last remaining two, with two days left.  It's looking like deadline will be made.

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I picked up the 2007 Baseball America Prospect Handbook to help with the Danks and Masset previews, and it's a fun read.  If I brought books into the bathroom, I can imagine it'd be a good place to read it.  In a similar vein, I've been mulling over a subscription to the BA Web site, and I'm curious if it's worth the price tag.  Any input would be appreciated.

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Mark Buehrle looked more like his old self, pitching seven strong innings in a win over the Braves in Atlanta.  Making matters better, the Sox didn't commit an error.  These two occurrences generally go hand-in-hand.

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If Kenny Williams' solution to the Sox's problem with left-handed pitching was hoping AL Central lefties would get injured, well, it's kinda working.  C.C. Sabathia suffered a scare when a comebacker hit him in the wrist, but he's cleared to go for Opening Day against the Sox.  Kenny Rogers isn't so lucky -- he's out at least half the year after undergoing surgery to fix a blood clot.

Three things about the outfield

Scott Podsednik and Gustavo Molina are the latest Sox to be previewed for the 2007 season.  There are four left, with three days to go.  Let's see if I can get it done.

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Color me not shocked by the White Sox's near-loss to the Birmingham Barons this evening.  Sure, you'd think a major-league club could easily handle its Double-A affiliate, but when you consider the Sox faced not one, not two, but eight pitchers who hadn't thrown a major-league pitch, it's a miracle they came away with the win.  You know how they handle rookies.

On the Richter scale, what kind of impact do you think Brian Anderson made today on Ozzie Guillen the day after Oz made his "flipping the switch" speech, with B.A. hitting the go-ahead three-run homer in his only at-bat on the same day Darin Erstad went 0-for-3 and committed two errors in center?  I'm guessing 0.2, give or take 0.2, because Erstad was the last to leave the park after being the first one there.  Or something.

(That's a 53-word sentence, by the way.  It's probably the longest one ever written on this site, and yet still well short of the 99-word sentence I saw Peter Gammons drop a couple years ago.  I don't have his stamina.)

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Here's an interesting development:  Kansas City Royals manager Buddy Bell is putting Ross Gload in a left-field platoon with Emil Brown, meaning that Gload will be seeing the bulk of the at-bats in the outfield.

Gload played only four games in left field last year for the White Sox despite outperforming every other possible candidate in the second half.  If Gload isn't a disaster out there defensively (and he very well could be) while Pods continues to struggle, the trade for Andy Sisco could be a move that ultimately bites Kenny Williams in the butt for 2007.

Aardsma, Sisco up; Floyd, Logan down

Because I don't want to spoil the reasons for optimism, this roster news warrants a separate entry.  From the Trib's Mark Gonzalez:


Let's see how my guesses panned out: 

Danks, Scott Podsednik, Nick Masset, Boone Logan, Gavin Floyd and Brian Anderson, with Aardsma shifted down to Triple-A.

Hey, 4-for-6 is excellent in baseball terms.  And in terms of the final decision-making, I'm thinking Ozzie Guillen and Co. just batted .500.

Floyd was rushed through the Philadelphia minor-league system, so starting him in Charlotte is a good idea.  Likewise, Aardsma looked great at the end of last year, something neither Logan nor Sisco can claim.  If it's true that he struggled early because he was working on a new pitch, then his numbers can be justified.  Worst case scenario, he's optioned down to Triple-A, since he has one left.

Now, Sisco over Logan I can't quite understand, and I'll list the reasons:

1. Logan sucked last year.  Sisco was almost as bad, and for a much longer stint.  It's a push.
2. Even after struggling with his control in his last outing, Logan didn't allow a run to cross the plate the entire spring (11 IP).  Sisco struggled with focus and command.
   
3. Logan's future is in middle relief.  Sisco could theoretically be stretched out into a starter role.
   

This ain't worth spilling blood over, since Ozzie and Kenny Williams can easily reverse it.  I just can't say I get it.

UPDATE:  While I still have to get around to filling out the previews, the Meet the Sox roster is now complete as well.  I created pages for Anderson, Danks, Masset, Podsednik and Sisco in case there were people who were waiting until the final cuts to enter their projections, although it looks like nobody's game for guessing.  I'd buy the winner a drink, but I think the envelope would get soggy.   I suppose there's always the handsome Juan Uribe t-shirt.

Some spring training optimism, like it or not

With the shaky starting pitching this spring, the idea of two of the Sox's four worst hitters batting 1-2 and absorbing the most plate appearances, the suddenly putrid backup catcher situation and the question marks surrounding Bobby Jenks and two other bullpen spots, there are a number of substantial reasons to be pessimistic about the White Sox.

I'm going to try to counter that a bit, because it's way too early to feel this bad.  It's more difficult than I thought, but here are five reasons to look forward to Opening Day:

1) Juan Uribe looks good, and he's not in jail.  While Juan will never look lithe, he lost enough weight to give him that extra step back.  He's made pretty much all the plays at short, and his spring numbers (.286/.340/.490) are encouraging.  If he can maintain his power and range while getting his OBP back over .300, he becomes an asset once again.

Uribe's on the right track.  And he's not Ugueth Urbina.

2) Paul Konerko has been steady.  Good spring numbers are somewhat easy to come by, but the .317 average and .427 OBP means he's seeing the ball well, and he leads the team in RBI.  He doesn't make the most money on the Sox, but he receives more of the White Sox's money than anybody else on the club.  It's easy to take Konerko for granted, but his performance is important nonetheless.

3) Tadahito Iguchi is heating up.  The Emperor always has a bad start to his spring, but Iguchi's been on a roll as of late.  Half of his 14 hits this spring have been for extra bases. 

4) Matt Thornton continues to rub it in.  Boone Logan and his 0.00 ERA lead the Sox relievers this spring, but the disaster that was his major-league stint last year still leaves him with an enormous amount to prove.  That's not the case with Thorndog, who has allowed only one earned run in nine innings, while only walking one.

5) Brian Anderson is on the roster.  Yes, he's not starting, but that he made Ozzie Guillen (or maybe just Kenny Williams) keep him on the roster is a positive sign.  He's looked a lot more disciplined at the plate this spring and had no problems seeing the ball in center.  With a free pass in his only plate appeance today, he's walked more than he's struck out this spring.  That's a significant development.

Honorable mentions:

• Joe Crede is hitting .367 and flopping around the hot corner with no problem.  Jim Thome has overcome a slow start and is slugging .788.  Of course, we'll have to see if they can hold up during the second half.
• Josh Fields looks like he can cut it.  More seasoning in Triple-A won't hurt, but it would've been interesting to see where he would've ended up in a truly open outfield competition.
  

Hard to handle

Since the start of spring training, one word has surpassed all others as my least favorite:

"Handle." 

This also includes all other forms of the word, in all tenses and conjugation.  Synonyms, too.  At this point, I'm even starting to hate Handel.

While it used to be a fairly useful word, I'm now convinced its sole purpose is to sugarcoat what is, at best, pure mediocrity.  There's probably a way to mathematically prove that the usage rate of "handle" is inversely proportional to talent level of the "handler."

Now that I think about it, it's a lot like "grinder."

Exhibit A:  Handling the pitching staff.

Doing a quick search, I can't find any positive references to Toby Hall's ability to handle pitchers.  It's never been clear whether pitchers trust him, or if he catch a good game.  Yet there was no doubt Hall was the best backup catcher the Sox have had in years, prompting Kenny Williams to say, "When we got Toby, we thought we had the best of both worlds with our catching situation."

While I can't find any "handle" references with Gustavo Molina, it's only time.  There have been references to his ability to "take care" of pitchers and the ways he "worked behind the plate."  He's also a favorite of the White Sox pitching staff, and all of those refer to his handling of pitchers.  A direct "handle" is likely right around the corner.

Exhibit B:  Handling the bat.

Chicago Tribune:

Chicago Tribune:

Chicago Sun-Times

Although Scott Merkin's article is what set me off, I will give him some credit:


Merkin did fall into the "handler" trap from the get-go with both Erstad and Podsednik, but at least he acknowledged that guys who can actually, you know, hit, handle the bat pretty well, too.  However, that barrier-breaking doesn't make up for suggesting that "handling the bat" could be worth pushing Jim Thome, who has more ability to extend an inning than any other Sox hitter, further back in the order.

At any rate, I'm going to bookmark this entry and add all references to "handle" I can find to see how it grows.  If you happen to see any, don't hesitate to pitch in.

Hop on the bus, Gus

Let me tell you all a story about a man.

A man from Latin America, who plays catcher in the big leagues.

A man with a great reputation for handling pitchers, though the difference is hard to discern.

A man who hadn't experienced any sort of meaningful production at the plate in several years.

A man who is set to serve as the White Sox's second catcher in 2007.

The man's name? 

Gustavo Molina.  Or, as you'll know him in the future months, Sandy Alomar Jr. Jr., Sandy Alomar Double Jr., or Sandy Alomar III.

All I can do besides laugh and sob is offer the following for a Sox Machine pool.  Leave your guesses below:

1. Name the date Gustavo is sent down to Triple-A.
   
2. Name his OPS at that date.

(By the way, if you do a Google image search for "Gustavo Molina," this is the second result.  And it's still as true now as it was then.)

Sticky Wiki

I don't know what's funnier in an unfunny way:

1. The fact that our backup catcher tore his labrum playing first base in a blowout.
2. That after he injured himself, both mainstream media and independent outlets alike immediately thought of Sandy Alomar Jr.

It's probably safe to say that nobody deployed more words than I did on the backup catcher situation, but I'm not going to use many more at this juncture.  Plainly put, I'm fine with Wiki Gonzalez as a backup at this time -- in fact, he was in the third tier of five in my list of 21 possible backup catchers.

There's only one free option out there -- Javy Lopez -- and he doesn't do anything for me, since he has no interest in being a backup, lost all his power and isn't much of a presence behind the plate.  And unless a better option could be had for a truly expendable non-prospect, dealing for another catcher would be premature.

It's understood that Gonzalez isn't exciting, considering he hasn't had anything resembling regular playing time in five years.  But I'll give you three reasons why he can be adequate for the early part of the season:

1. He's thrown out 38.2 percent of basestealers for his career.
2. His career OPS versus lefties is higher than Hall's (.794 to .722)
3. He's a couple years younger than Chris Widger was when the Widge had his dynamite first half.

The only definite drawback is that if A.J. Pierzynski goes down for any length of time, it's about 99.5 percent likely that Gonzalez couldn't cut it as a full-time catcher, whereas Hall had already served that purpose, albeit for terrible teams.

At any rate, if I were Kenny Williams, I'd wait to see what Gonzalez has in the tank.  And I would delete Sandy Alomar Jr. from all my various electronic devices, if I hadn't already, just to eliminate the possibility of a drunk dial that ends up costing the league minimum.

Update:  The Trib's Mark Gonzalez says Gustavo Molina, not Gonzalez, has the edge for the backup catcher spot.  Considering Molina posted a sub-.600 OPS in the minor leagues last year, they'd be banking heavily on Molina's ability to handle the pitching staff.  That's something the Sox have raved about for some time, but it's really hard to tell when the Sox staff sports an ERA of 6.74 this spring.

Open season

We have about eight days and change until we actually have to start supporting Darin Erstad's home runs instead of cringing.  At least Ozzie's giving a kid a chance in another area.

Meanwhile, I'm likely away from the site for the next couple days due to a Ben Folds concert, but I figure I'd open it up to let you get whatever -- hopes, fears, trade possibilities, medical ailments, my musical tastes -- off your chest.  Have at it.

(Over/under on letting loose: 1.5 comments.)

He leapt up on the roster

Juan Uribe is the 20th White Sox to be previewed for the 2007, and the last player assured of a roster spot at this moment.  My projections are looking awfully lonely, so add yours and see how badly you can beat my best guesses.

Speaking of roster spots...

John Danks, come on up!  Sean Tracey's release (and subsequent signing by the Orioles) has opened up a spot on the 40-man roster for Danks, and his four shutout innings against the Rockies today has pretty much given him a spot on the big-league club for Opening Day.  There's still some question whether Danks will start, but the Sox won't gain anything by starting Gavin Floyd ahead of him if Danks is on the club. 

Danks didn't look his sharpest, but if he can hold the Rockies scoreless in Arizona without tip-top command, more power to him.  Floyd, meanwhile, was shelled in relief of Danks, and he has one start to redeem himself.  I'm not crazy about the thought of Floyd in the bullpen.  There's nothing about him that says he'd be transformed by a move to the bullpen, so the Sox may as well let him work his issues out in Charlotte.

With Tracey, the only question remaining is where does he fit in the all-time list of Sox relievers defined by a disastrous debut lasting one-third of an inning.  Jose Paniagua still has him beat from where I'm sitting.  Simply put, flipping off the umpire beats crying in the dugout every day of the week.

Speaking of questions....

What will the rest of the roster look like?

I have five, maybe six spots left in Meet the Sox, depending on the fate of David Aardsma, whose preview I already did.  My best guess:

Danks, Scott Podsednik, Nick Masset, Boone Logan, Gavin Floyd and Brian Anderson, with Aardsma shifted down to Triple-A.

Speaking of Anderson...

Carl Skanberg's never been better:  Check out his second strip from today's offerings.  It's the funniest one I've seen from him yet, counting both Palehose Six and 7.

The dirty dozen

With the subject of Sox bloggers squaring off still fresh, I figure this would be a good time to introduce the new competition amongst independent Sox scribes.

A few days ago, 12 Sox bloggers drafted their teams for a fantasy baseball team that will determine which site features the best luckiest baseball mind.  Some may be at a disadvantage due to an autodraft, which is why I let a couple days pass for the computer-selected teams to dump the bogus picks before releasing the rosters. 

The league participants:

• Jim from Sox Machine (naturally)
  
• The Cheat from South Side Sox
• Keith from SSS
• Jeeves from Sweet Home Sports
  
• James from SHS
• D.T. Kelly from SHS
• Jake from The Bard's Room
• Buda from ChiSox Daily
  
• Criminal Appeal from the Ron Karkovice Fan Club
• Fornelli from Foul Balls
• Panger from Foul Balls
• Jay from Black Sox Blog

The rosters are listed in their entirety here.

Given some of the things Ozzie Guillen has said this month, 12 Angry Men would've been a great name for this league.  Too bad Panger ruins it.

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As far as actual Sox news, it's pretty much SSDD:

• Ozzie says Darin Erstad is his Opening Day center fielder, and Brian Anderson needs to "step it up."  Evidently, outperforming his competition isn't up enough.
• I wish I could be as pleased about Scott Podsednik's rehab as everybody else.  A real return to 2005 form (verbal doesn't count) would help greatly.
• Charlie Haeger had another rocky outing, coming in way sooner than expected due to a rain delay.  The performance hasn't hurt his chances to make the team, Ozzie says, which should be music to Nate Whalen's ears.
• There's a White Sox minor league evaluation report on MLB.com that's probably as good a read about prospects as you'll find for free.

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Statement of the day that makes little sense to me, non-Erstad division:

Courtesy ChicagoSports.com:


Wait a second -- he'd serve the Sox better hitting lower in the order, because of his ability to ignite rallies?  This is either a misprint, unintentionally shortsighted, or a serious prediction so flat-out ridiculous ESPN producers wouldn't even think of making John Kruk say it.  Consider:

• Iguchi hitting second: Jim Thome, Paul Konerko, Jermaine Dye behind him.
• Iguchi hitting seventh:  A.J. Pierzynski/Joe Crede, Juan Uribe, Scott Podsednik/Brian Anderson

If you're saying Iguchi will help create more runs in the latter situation, then I have a bet or five I'd like to make with you.

Four on the floor

Thoughts from today's game:

• Tadahito Iguchi tied it up in the seventh with a grand slam.  When have we seen that before?  He also had a triple, so it's good to see him coming around.  Not that I was doubting his crummy spring, since it's a ritual with him.
  
• Not coming around:  Javier Vazquez.  He gave up 11 hits in five innings.
• Not coming around either:  Bobby Jenks.  Chris Singleton said he just looks uncomfortable, and the results back him up.  Let's cross our fingers that Mike MacDougal stays healthy.
  
• Toby Hall played first, which backs up the theory that Eduardo Perez isn't making the 25-man roster.

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Tremendous spam subject line in my mailbox today:  "Tristan was left holding a hand full of poo while Mane was pummeled by a basketball!"  Needless to say, I'm now investing every penny I own into the Chinese version of YouTube.

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Watch every Chicago reporter look up Mike Sirotka on Lexis-Nexis:  Freddy Garcia left today's Phillies game with bicep tightness after getting rocked in the first inning.  What's funny is that Charlie Manuel thought something was wrong when his fastball didn't touch 88 m.p.h. and he gave up a big blast to Troy Glaus.  We White Sox fans just call that May 26.

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SI.com has a poll asking you to vote on your favorite White Sox site.  From what I understand, there's a link to the vote in the actual Sports Illustrated baseball preview mag, but nowhere on the actual website, which is kind of backwards.  At any rate, it includes South Side Sox, The Bard's Room, White Sox Interactive, and this site.  That's pretty cool of them, though I have yet to see it for myself.

Mackowiak enters the rumor mill

The hits just keep coming.  Apparently, Ozzie isn't as worried about having nobody on base in front of his best hitters as he is about Rob Mackowiak.  From Mark Gonzalez:


Two things:

1. Mack could always lead off against righties.  He wouldn't be rusty then.
2. Non-rusty players Alex Cintron and Scott Podsednik were a combined 2-for-25 off the bench last year.

In other words, pinch-hitting is kind of a crap shoot, but you're better off if you have some semblance of a batting eye. 

But this sounds more like Ozzie priming the path for Mackowiak to be traded than actual, legitimate managerial concerns.  Which would be a shame, since he's the only guy on the Sox bench with 1) double-digit home run power, and 2) a good idea of what constitutes the strike zone.  He also has a nice arm, which could be useful out of left field if he weren't being pushed out by a guy he vastly outperformed last year.

It'd be a bigger shame if Mack were moved for Brady Clark (the only possibility of a return Gonzalez names), who would've been a great idea last year.  But Clark had a down year in 2006, which could be easily overlooked if he weren't older than Darin Erstad.  Not to mention he runs wild and free -- 13-for-30 stealing bases over the last two years -- so he sounds like Ozzie's kind of player.

At any rate, it's a rare pre-work post should something actually happen.

Despite cutting mustard, B.A. can't ketchup

If yesterday's news wasn't bad enough, Ozzie just keeps bringing the pain:


This wouldn't steam my hams so much (and I can say that because it's an Albany expression) except at this moment, Brian Anderson is playing circles around Erstad this spring.  The lines:

	AB	HR	RBI	BA	OBP	SLG
Erstad	51	0	6	.275	.296	.333
Anderson	33	2	5	.303	.385	.585
Terrero	29	2	6	.276	.323	.483

Since Anderson scraped bottom in a game a couple weeks ago, he's been even better -- 7-for-17 with three walks and two homers.  Both Anderson and Erstad are 2-for-2 stealing bases as well.

(Aside: Not only did I witness the worst moments for Anderson, Mike MacDougal and Nick Masset this spring, but considering the same Adam Russell I saw get absolutely pummeled is now under consideration for a bullpen spot, I really don't know what the hell I was watching in Tucson.  At least the weather was great.)

I'm well aware that Anderson can provoke heated arguments by the mention of his name alone, but I don't think his fiercest critics could expect him to do more than he has this spring.  And while I ultimately wait until Ozzie's actions do the talking since he says 1,000 times more than he could possibly do, I don't think this amount of gushing is negligible.  It'd be like trying to dam up Niagara Falls, where they say "hamburgers."

At the very least, it's looking like I'll get a shot to see Anderson in mid-April when the Charlotte Knights visit Rochester.  They say "hamburgers" there, too.

'Two outs, nobody on, and here comes Thome...'

Mark Gonzalez bears the bad news:


Can Jim Thome make a run at Alfonso Soriano's amazing 46-homer, 95-RBI season?  Only time will tell.

Here's the interesting thing -- if there really is a combo of Scott Podsednik, Darin Erstad and Thome at the top of the order, then situational lefties will cut through the lineup like a hot knife through butter late in games.  That's what killed the Sox last year, and with Tadahito Iguchi buried towards the bottom with Joe Crede and Juan Uribe, Ozzie's creating an even greater chance of that to happen again.

Split decision

So far, the one consistent theme spanning the two showdowns between John Danks and Gavin Floyd is that no matter who starts the season in Charlotte, he should be pretty good at getting minor-league hitters out.

On the other hand, the guy who sticks on the roster may provide White Sox fans flashbacks to Fifth Starter Hell, although either one is better than Danny Wright, Felix Diaz, Arnie Munoz, et al.

Danks, getting his first shot at starting a game this spring, posted a line nearly identical to the one Gavin Floyd put up in his previous outing:

• Danks: 3.2 IP, 9 H, 6 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
• Floyd: 3.2 IP, 9 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 3 K

Freaky-deaky stuff right there.  And just like last time, the second man in cleaned up the mess and helped his team win a slugfest:

• Floyd: 4.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
• Danks: 3 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K

After two starts, we remain at a standstill.  Danks and Floyd each struggled to get first stringers out, but retired the Triple-A and AAAA guys with relative ease.  At least their identities as pitchers are growing more evident, based on what I've seen in Tucson and heard from Ed Farmer.

Danks:  He's surprising me with a higher amount of strikeouts than I thought he'd get, based on his profile.  He induced plenty of check-swings today.  His fastball sets up a plus curve and change, but when he leaves it up in the zone like he did in the fourth inning today, hitters don't have much of a problem sitting on it.  If his fourth-inning troubles weren't due to sheer fatigue or hitters getting a second crack at him, Farmer said that sitting in the dugout for long periods of time may have been a factor, since the Sox were smacking David Wells around the park.

Floyd:  He doesn't have Danks' control.  Farmer suggested that Floyd didn't trust his fastball enough, because he kept throwing first-pitch sliders and getting behind in the count.  The good news is that he gets a lot of ground balls, and has excelled at keeping the ball in the park despite his other troubles.  He's given up only one homer in 14 innings, even while pitching in an outstanding environment for hitters.

Right now, I don't have a dog in this fight, and it doesn't seem like Don Cooper and Ozzie Guillen do either.  There's no real reason to rush Danks, even if he's slightly better than Floyd and/or Charlie Haeger, because it doesn't seem to me like the possibility of a thin edge once every five days offsets starting his arbitration clock.

Keith and RME JICO at South Side Sox saw the duel on TV and provided some nice running commentary worth checking out.

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Other fun stuff:

The Bard's Room's Jon Baskin had this to say about the bottom of the roster situation:


That would surprise me, if only because that would mean either Jim Thome, Rob Mackowiak or Jermaine Dye would give Paul Konerko days off at first base.

Either way, Perez's trade value couldn't be much, since the Sox were able to sign him for nothing a month ago.  Just last summer, the Indians traded him to Seattle for Asdrubal Cabrera, a 20-year-old playing shortstop at Triple-A, and I'd be thrilled for a similar return.  Given the way Perez finished the year with the Mariners, though, I doubt Kenny Williams could do it again.  Especially since Bill Bavasi isn't a likely trading partner.

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I like this Ozzie quote, by way of Chris De Luca:

Penciling in the 'pen

Last year, the Chicago White Sox entered spring training with two open spots in the bullpen, and they were claimed by a guy who started out in minor-league camp, and another guy acquired on March 20.  All the other 58 pitchers invited to major-league camp couldn't close the deal.

This year, 33 percent of the bullpen is still up in the air, but the picture is far rosier.  Here's what I can make of the situation, and feel free to disagree.

(And if you miss live blogging and evaluation of the candidates from Tucson, check out the work Jon Baskin is doing at The Bard's Room.)

LOCKS

Matt Thornton, Mike MacDougal, Nick Masset.  Unlike when I saw him start a game for the Mariners last March, Thorndog has been outstanding in Tucson this year.  Outside of one horrendous outing, the same can be said for MacDougal.  They've struck out 14 batters in 10 1/3 innings combined, so ThornDougal will ride again as the left-right eighth-inning punch.

Masset, meanwhile, has given up six earned runs this spring, and I witnessed five of them, so I'm going to go with what the Sox are saying and not what I saw. 

LIKELY A LOCK

Bobby Jenks.  I'm guessing Jenks will make the squad, if only because I haven't heard any chatter saying he isn't, and we know chatter runs rampant when there aren't any real games.  If Jenks were a no-name, middling half-prospect, however, his perfomance so far wouldn't be worthy of a spot on the 25-man roster.  In five innings, he's walked five guys while only striking out one.  He looked very hittable when I saw him, and he blew a save against the Cubs a couple days ago.  One of the game threads on South Side Sox had Jenks' velocity in the low 90s, and while there weren't any radar guns at Hi Corbett Field, nobody I saw had any problems getting around on Bobby's heater.

If it's any comfort, he had a lousy spring last year that raised a lot of the same questions.  He went on to dominate the first half and earn a spot on the All-Star team.

DON'T SEE WHY NOT

Boone Logan.  Sure, Logan was an unmitigated disaster in the big leagues last year after a lights-out spring, but he's the first to admit it.  The good news is that he's gotten right back on the horse, throwing 7 2/3 scoreless innings this spring, with a WHIP under 1.00 and healthy walk and strikeout totals (2:6).  Barring another meltdown, I'd give him another shot.

SHAKY GROUND

David Aardsma.  He entered spring training with a spot waiting for him, but he has yet to claim it.  Ed Farmer said on today's broadcast that he was trying a knuckle curve, but has abandoned that for now and is back to being specifically a fastball-slider pitcher.  He's coming off a scoreless outing against the Angels, and we'll see if he finds a groove.

Andy Sisco.  Kenny Williams' displeasure with Sisco has been well-publicized, though he actually hasn't been bad in non-'B' games.  His biggest problem is putting innings away after recording the first two outs, and that continued today when he retired the first two Angels he faced, then went down 3-0 on Howie Kendrick.  Kendrick then knocked one over the 50-foot batter's eye in Tucson Electric Park, which proved to be the winning run.

DARK HORSES

Charlie Haeger.  Not only is Chuckleball a candidate for the last reliever spot, but he's not out of the fifth starter's race, either.   He could work multiple innings and throw on consecutive days with no problem, so he brings some unique skills to the bullpen, but the propensity for a wild pitch makes him a bad candidate for runners-on situations.  Kenny Williams and Ozzie Guillen are probably going to assume he's better than what he's shown so far in the Arizona air (which isn't all that bad).

Ryan Bukvich.  Bukvich has a few things going against him.  One, he hasn't experienced any sort of success at the major-league level and is the oldest of the bunch.  Two, his last name rhymes with not one, but two profanities, and "suck" as well.  Three, he's a native of Naperville.  If you can get past those black marks, he's put together a decent spring (7 IP, 8 H, 2 ER. 0 BB, 8 K), and had one outing where he struck out five in two innings.  He's probably Triple-A insurance, because he signed a minor-league contract and there's no pressing need to bump him up.

Easy money

I'm not going to reveal the subject of that quote yet.  Before I do, I'd like to compare two players based on what they did on their last contracts before coming to the Sox (the last column represents average salary over the length of the contract):

	G	HR	RBI	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	$$$
Player X	111	17	62	3	.243	.318	.425	10M
Player Y	96	5	39	9	.273	.326	.371	8M

If you had to pick one in hindsight, which one would you choose?  Neither are great shakes; the top line is superior in most aspects, but that $2 million a year could be used well to sign draft picks or pick up a decent reliever if allocated wisely.  Either way you, you're taking on an albatross, right?

Now, what if I told you one of them punted?

Yes, as many of you may have already guessed, the guy on the bottom is Darin Erstad, a player who received yet another fawning piece in the media today.  Okay, two of them.  No, three.  And don't forget a fourth from earlier this week.

The one above him?  Jermaine Dye, considered then and now to be the worst-ever signing in Billy Beane's tenure as the general manager of the Oakland A's.

Maybe Jermaine should have played hockey in high school, because that's the only difference I can see between the two of them.  Yessirree, that's the only way I can tell them apart.

*Now* we can start the season

This is the old Scott Podsednik:



Thanks, Pods.  Even though we're getting at least 10 inches of snow here tonight, you make it feel a little more like summer.

Missouri two-step

St. Charles, Mo., native Mark Buehrle is the 19th White Sox to be previewed for the 2007 season.  Remember to leave your projections between now and the start of the season.

*************

If you visited this site last year, I told you about one of my NCAA Tournament bracket selection methods called the Missouri Corollary. 

To summarize, any team that embarrasses itself by losing to Mizzou during the regular season will be embarrassed in the playoffs.  Last year, I was the only person in my office pool to pick Bradley over Kansas because the Jayhawks dropped a game to Missouri earlier in the year.  It's just a shame I hedged my bets and picked Kansas in the three other bracket pools I was in.

This year, it's still holding to form despite the fact that the Tigers have Mike Anderson coaching them instead of Quin Snyder.  The only teams to lose to Mizzou during the regular season in the NCAA Tournament are Davidson, Texas Tech and Arkansas.  So far:

• Maryland 82, Davidson 70
• Boston College 84, Texas Tech 75

C'mon, Razorbacks, do your worst.  I mean it.

Excess in the outfield

UPDATE:  So, I'm an idiot and forgot Tadahito Iguchi.  So let's pretend the following outfielder assessment involves a trade, because I don't see a situation in which Scott Podsednik or Rob Mackowiak is forced to play center, especially since they're all left-handed.

Things are beginning to get tight in Tucson, with the first round of options and reassignments posted:

• To minor-league camp:  Lance Broadway, Junior Spivey, Donny Lucy, Cole Armstrong, Wes Whisler, Corwin Malone.
• To Triple-A:  Andy Gonzalez, Pedro Lopez, Heath Phillips, Paulino Reynoso and Casey Rogowski
• To Double-A:  Oneli Perez, Dewon Day, Carlos Vazquez

No real surprises there, although it's sad to see Junior Spivey in that group.  He sticks out like a sore thumb.

On the major-league front, however, Scott Podsednik's return to the lineup is going to mess things up a little, especially since Darin Erstad is being treated as a starting lineup lock.  It still amazes me how Erstad has skated by on four consecutive subpar campaigns -- or six if you discount his contributions in the 2002 postseason. 

If Pods comes back on only one-half of a spring training, then there's one less roster spot for a group that, unlike the Battle for the Bullpen last year, is up for the challenge.

If you count the guys who are sure to make it, there are 11 pitchers, plus Podsednik (if healthy), Erstad, Paul Konerko, Jim Thome, Jermaine Dye, Joe Crede, A.J. Pierzynski, Toby Hall, Juan Uribe, Alex Cintron, Rob Mackowiak and Pablo Ozuna.

That leaves only two roster spots -- and by now, one of them has to be going to Eduardo Perez, even if he couldn't round all the bases on a homer.  Citing Pablo Ozuna and Boone Logan as examples, Ozzie likes guys who distinguish themselves in Spring Training.  If posting a line of .526/.550/1.053 in 19 at-bats isn't distinguishable, then they may as well retire the word.  He also plays first and hits lefties, so I can't imagine a situation in which he doesn't make the team barring injury.

Perez leaves Luis Terrero and Brian Anderson battling for the last spot, and I have a hunch Terrero's going to steal it.  At 26, he's not old enough to think that he's tapped out, but he's not young enough to spoil his future by playing him strictly in a reserve role.  Outside of a dropped ball, he's been fine in center and has plenty of experience in the corner spots, too. 

Add in the fact that he's stinging the ball (.350/.409/.650 in 20 ABs), and I'd put money on him being the fourth outfielder when camp breaks if Podsednik's healthy. 

It's a tough spot for Anderson, who knew he'd be under the gun to play well in spring and has answered the call.  Not only is he hitting better than he did last spring (.320/.400/.520 in 25 ABs), but he's 2-for-2 stealing bases.  He couldn't do that at all in Tucson last year.  Plus, Anderson's rookie season was barely worse than Terrero's career line.

Instead of platooning with Erstad in center at the very least, he could find himself starting in Charlotte thanks to a guy who was the Brian Anderson of his time when he came up for the Diamondbacks in 2004.  That would have to hurt.

Two things

Reminder:  There's about 36 hours left to fill out your brackets -- why not do it in the Sox Machine pool?  Here's the link to Yahoo's registration page, and check the comments below for league ID and password.

Also, for those who watch clocks in class or at work, you can now count down to Opening Day on the Sox Machine home page.  Don't say I never gave you anything.

Floyd loses the round

Today was billed as the first big duel between Gavin Floyd and John Danks, who were both scheduled to throw four innings if their command allowed it.  Much like last week, Danks proved the victor in a head-to-head comparison:

Floyd		Danks
3.2IP, 9H, 6R, 6ER, 2BB, 3K	Line	3IP, 2H, 2R, 1ER, 1BB, 3K
Kenny Lofton (3) Ian Kinsler (3) Michael Young (3) Sammy Sosa (3) Hank Blalock (2) Marlon Byrd (2) Brad Wilkerson (2) Chris Stewart (2) Jerry Hairston Jr. (2)	Batters faced	Marlon Byrd (2) Brad Wilkerson Chris Stewart Jerry Hairston Jr. (2) Freddy Guzman (2) Ian Kinsler Ramon Vazquez Jason Botts Matt Kata Nate Gold

Floyd had somewhat of an excuse with facing the far better hitters, but Danks took care of what he needed to do.  If Andy Gonzalez were able to start a double play instead of throwing it away twice, Danks would've gotten out of his last inning of work without a run crossing the plate.  Last week, his defense made him look good, but he managed to stay afloat even with no help. 

After the first error, Danks went ahead and got another double play ball -- though Gonzalez threw it away again.  If he were Buehrleish, like the comparison I drew last week, the line drives would've started coming after the first run scored.

At least Gonzalez made up for it with a three-run homer that helped Danks earn the win.

Unless the terrible results are due to Floyd working out of his comfort zone based on Don Cooper's orders, and I doubt that's the case, Danks should get the start next time.  Whenever that does happen, it promises to be the most interesting development of the spring to date.

LFT2: A big, fat wrap-up

GUYS WHO IMPRESSED ME

John Danks:  I talked about this before, but he looked under control against a lineup of major-leaguers.  Not great major-leaguers, but people who know how to hit to some degree.  If Gavin Floyd and Danks keep doing what they're doing, I'd gladly give the ball to Danks to see what he has.

Jim Thome:  Early on this spring, he was chopping the ball to first a lot.  It seems like he started to find his stroke in the 'B' game, when he hit a 385-foot double to left (Hi Corbett's practice field is 400 feet to both corners).  He hit a homer two days later, and then added two in today's game.

Paul Konerko:  Looks balanced, appears to be stinging the ball.

Joe Crede:  His bat didn't wow either way, but he was flopping around with no problem.  Didn't miss any routine plays, and his only error in my presence was going far to his left.

Josh Fields:  I still wish he were an outfielder.  Made a lot of good contact, even with two strikes.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENTS

Ryan Sweeney:  Definitely needs another year.  He didn't show anything aside from a decent arm.  Nice guy, though.

Tadahito Iguchi:  He's having a bad spring.  What else is new?

Alex Cintron:  His arm looks a little weak from the offseason surgery right now, and his bat is behind as well.  At least Juan Uribe looks somewhat rejuvenated.

OUTFIELDER DERBY

Brian Anderson:  Might've hit rock bottom on the second day of the trip, but he's on a roll now after his 'B' game.  Made all the plays he'd be expected to make in the outfield.

Darin Erstad:  Could make positive contributions if his spring is any indication, but I only saw real great contact from him once.

Luis Terrero:  He should be far better insurance in Triple-A than we had last year, but I don't know what he offers that Anderson doesn't.

Rob Mackowiak:  His problems in center have carried over to left field, but I'd take him seven days a week over last year's version of Scott Podsednik.

RANKING THE STARTERS

1. Danks
2. Contreras
3. Buehrle
4. Floyd
5. Vazquez
6. Haeger
7. Garland

If Gio Gonzalez were legitimately under consideration, he'd be No. 2.  At any rate, I'm glad to see Don Cooper getting slightly agitated.

COOLEST MOMENT

Duh.

DAY-BY-DAY

• Day 1:  Recap | Photos | YouTube
• Day 2:  Recap | Photos | YouTube
• Day 3:  Recap | Recap | Photos | YouTube
• Day 4:  Recap | Photos | YouTube
• Day 5:  Recap | Photos | YouTube

LFT2: Day 5 photos and video

The bad news, aside from being back in New York:  Hi Corbett Field's screen is made of thick black rope, which made taking pictures and video during the game a bitch, due to focus issues. 

The good news:  We got to the game early enough to stake out a spot right by the bullpen pitching rubbers, so I got some decent video and pictures of Mark Buehrle before the game for all you mechanics geeks out there.

• Photo gallery
• YouTube gallery

If you see black screens for the videos, YouTube's still chewing on them.  They've been "processing" for a couple of hours, and I just got tired of waiting.  But they'll be up eventually, I hope. 

Also, I've added some missing video to the Day 2 gallery, with footage of Oneli Perez (who got shelled) and Tyler Lumsden.

LFT2: The losing half

The White Sox played two games in Tucson today -- against Oakland at Tucson Electric Park, and against Colorado at Hi Corbett Field.  They won the former, lost the latter.  Guess which one I went to?

After losing a 15-11 slugfest to the Rockies, my spring training record fell to 0-6. 

The bright spot is that I got to see Mark Buehrle pitch, meaning I've seen all eight possibilities for the rotation over the five days I've been here.  His line -- 4 IP, 6 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 4 K -- wasn't as ugly as it looked.

Buehrle almost got a double play ball from Kazuo Matsui to end the inning, but Willy Taveras knocked out Alex Cintron's legs on the double play relay toss to extend the inning.  After a walk, Ryan Spilborghs homered to tie the game at 4.

John Mabry had the other big shot off Buehrle, a two-run job in the fourth.

There are a couple reasons why I wasn't discouraged by his outing.  One is that his fastball sizzled from where I sat, which was three rows up about 30 feet down the first-base line.  Right-handed hitters had a hard time getting around on his inside fastballs, and it set up his offspeed stuff nicely for a couple of backwards K's.  Hi Corbett doesn't have any visible radar guns, so I'm going off what I saw.  At this point in the season, I'd rather his problems be location-based rather than velocity-based.

I'll tell you what was ugly -- Mike MacDougal's day.  After looking so dominant two days ago, MacDougal experienced a meltdown today.  He walked the first guy he faced entering the fifth inning, and then went triple-double-single-single-walk to allow the Rockies to take the lead.  But when he finally appeared to right himself by getting a chopper back to the mound with the bases loaded, instead of zipping it back to Toby Hall for a 1-2-3 double play, he lobbed it short-armed a few feet over Hall's head, allowing two more runs to score.

Boone Logan came on after MacDougal got his first out via a strikeout and looked tough in his 2-1/3-inning outing.  He didn't allow any more runs to score in the fifth, pitched around a Josh Fields error (it was a tough play -- funky spin off a shattered bat) starting off the sixth.  In the seventh, Rob Mackowiak got Logan in and out of trouble when he horribly misjudged a dive in left field, giving Omar Quintanilla a chance for an inside-the-park homer.  However, Mackowiak hit the cutoff man, and the throw beat Quintanilla just in time for Donny Lucy to tag him out.

Nick Masset finished the game in the loosest sense of the word, giving up all four of his runs with two outs in the ninth.

It's a shame the pitchers were so erratic, because this was the first time I actually saw a legitimate offense, and it was keyed by Eduardo Perez, who had an interesting day.  He scored the Sox's first run when he singled, stole second (!!) and scored on Darin Erstad's two-out double.  Perez also added two homers, one off righty Jason Hirsh with two outs, and the other in the ninth off lefty Tom Martin. 

Rob Mackowiak had a two-out, two-run double off Denny Bautista, Jim Thome also launched a two-run shot and Andy Gonzalez hit his first homer of the spring.  Alex Cintron was the only Sox starter to not reach base.

Thomas Collaro impressed me considerably for a guy I'd never heard of.  He entered the game in the first inning after Luis Terrero fouled a ball off the inside of his knee, and turned an 0-1 count into a walk after fouling off a few pitches.  He had two other hits before flying out to right.  Not bad for a split-squad guy.

Photos may be coming later today, but videos will wait until tomorrow, since I have an early flight to catch.