Mike Myers entered
the Sox's final game with one out in the seventh inning to face Curtis Granderson. Granderson, as awesome as he is, is extremely susceptible to left-handed pitching (.153/.206/.253 entering today's game). Boone Logan proved this to be true
Saturday evening when, after allowing a first-pitch, game-tying homer to Marcus Thames, he struck out Granderson on three pitches.
So Myers got his chance today, and he ... hit Granderson with an 0-1 pitch.
No worries, though! Myers has been better at retiring right-handed batters, anyway. He might be able to handle Carlos Guillen.(Granderson and lead runner Omar Infante get huge jumps on Myers, giving Toby Hall no chance to throw them out. Runners on second and third.)
Aw, snap! Two runs are in after Guillen's double. But hey, Jermaine Dye just barely missed it with a dive, so a faster right fielder would've been able to handle that no problem. (Intentional walk to Magglio Ordonez.)
Hey, Sean Casey is up -- another lefty-lefty matchup. One of these has to work. OK, not this one -- but that wasn't hit that hard. If that grounder is five feet to the left, that's an easy 4-3.(Ozzie Guillen comes out and calls for Mike MacDougal)
OK, Ozzie Guillen's going to the bullpen again, but Myers just had some really bad luck...Sorry -- I'm just trying to figure out what the White Sox see in Myers, who, with some help from MacDougal, finished the White Sox part of his season with an 11.19 ERA over 17 appearances.
That likely won't faze Don Cooper, though:
"I'm not looking at ERA," Cooper said. "Every club would like to have
three lefties in the bullpen. We have that ability to have three
lefties every day, at least two, especially in our division where we
have a lot of good-hitting lefties and guys who switch-hit." [...]
"I also like the veteran presence he can bring," Cooper said. "We had a
bunch of younger guys out there. [But] we're not looking [just] for
presence, or a guy who is good in the clubhouse. We're looking for guys
who can help us get guys out, and then if they bring those things in
the clubhouse, it helps."
In that Trib article, Mark Gonzalez points the fact that Myers has allowed only six hits in 27 at-bats to lefties -- a paltry .222 average. But if he waited a couple days, he would've seen that increase to .250 after Casey's single, which isn't good for a reliever with only one purpose.
In fact, here are some better ways to use that roster spot:
- A platoon partner for Jim Thome.
- A real outfielder.
- Middle-infield insurance should Williams stick with Juan Uribe and Danny Richar.
- A reliever with better stuff than Myers (not hard)
And here's a better way to spend the $1.1 million option on Myers:
- A high-quality draft pick
- A high-quality draft pick
- A high-quality draft pick
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Speaking of draft picks, the Sox will have
the eighth pick in the draft. They finished with the same record as the Cincinnati Reds, but the Reds win the tiebreaker since they had a worse record in 2006.
Looking at
the list of eighth-overall picks in draft history, it's not going to encourage anybody. Todd Helton's the only definable star of the bunch, unless you want to count Jim Abbott, who became famous more for other reasons.
The seventh slot, on the other hand, has produced such players as Troy Tulowitzki, Prince Fielder, Nick Markakis, and another guy you might have heard of -- Frank Thomas.
But don't get too down --
the 10th slot has them both beat (Tim Lincecum, Cameron Maybin, Robin Ventura, Ben Sheets, Eric Chavez, Mark McGwire, Carl Everett, Charles Johnson). Of course, it helps if a team does what it can to remove signability roadblocks. That's how the Tigers landed Maybin that far down in 2005, and he's the No. 1 prospect of a pretty talented bunch.
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For those of you who bow out of baseball as soon as the Sox are done for the year, thanks for reading and responding. The input, feedback, and ball-busting is always appreciated.
Even though the 2007 White Sox stopped playing meaningful baseball in July, I'm pleased to report that the amount of visitors to this site tripled in comparison to the 2006 regular season. I suppose misery loves company.
At any rate, I'll still be here nearly every damn day. It's going to take that long just to sort through the wreckage that was the past six months, not to mention
brace for look toward
2009 2010 2008. Oh, and there's the bloody conclusion to The AL Central Trail. Hopefully you'll continue to join the mourning, but for those seeking separation from this mess in the offseason, we'll see you next February.
Only 181 days until Opening Day...