UPDATE: It's official -- Thome's out, Sweeney's in. Please note Merkin's notes were updated, and that the first paragraph of the below entry wasn't a failing of my reading comprehension. This time. Anyway, Merkin's expectations sound a bit too high:
[Sweeney] did not start for Triple-A Charlotte during Saturday night's game in
Durham, but the current .256 hitter, who has 18 games of Major League
experience, provides a left-handed-hitting presence off the bench with
a good mix of power and speed. He will be in Sunday's starting lineup
against Kelvim Escobar.
(Sweeney is slugging .397 at Charlotte.)
*****************
There's kind of a weird information lag regarding Jim Thome's status.
Scott Merkin's notes, which pretty much serve as press releases, said Jim Thome is likely to go on the DL. During
tonight's highly predictable loss, Hawk Harrelson made it sound like Thome had already been placed there, but no replacement had been chosen yet.
Either way, Thome
should be out for the next two weeks considering the vigor of his swing and the location of the injury.
That leaves the question of Thome's replacement, and when I looked at the
Knights' box score today, I saw four interesting things:
1) Ryan Sweeney didn't play. An unexpected day off is a pretty good sign of movement in situations where promotion/demotion can be anticipated.
2) Josh Fields played like he was jilted. Three strikeouts, three errors. It could be a coincidence, or it could be that Fields likes making me look stupid.
3) Wiki Gonzalez got the day off. Could this be the sign that
Gustavo Molina's days are numbered? Not likely, since Charlie Haeger
started for Charlotte, and Ryan Smith has caught every one of his
games. Curses!
4) Andy Gonzalez started in left. Gonzalez was likely shoehorned into this spot because of Sweeney's day off/short-notice flight and Jerry Owens is battling elbow soreness. Still, let's hope this was a very temporary solution. Considering how poorly Alex Cintron has played so far, the Sox may need Gonzalez's services in the infield shortly.
Cintron had nothing during spring training, and the numbers reflected that (.179/.193/.250). Take him away from the light air and mix of minor-league and major-league pitchers, and it makes sense that he's hitting even worse in the first month of the season -- tonight's 0-fer makes him 1-for-20. Even Brian Anderson is kicking his butt.
It's hard to tell exactly how much slower his bat is this year compared to last season, because his swing makes the bat look like a sledge hammer even when healthy. His whole body must pivot just to bring the bat through the zone. All I know is that it's even harder to watch, and I wouldn't be surprised if the offseason surgery he had on his elbow is still hindering him big-time.
Right now, the only thing Cintron brings to the table is his status as the only other true shortstop aside from Juan Uribe, but Juan's hot start has limited his action there. Instead, Ozzie's been slotting him in the DH spot, where he's
2-for-20 lifetime. And if Cintron's going to see the bulk of his action away from his primary position, I'd rather give Gonzalez a shot while Cintron figures things out.
Gonzalez might have a subpar glove, but he has
a track record of solid on-base skills, a laser rocket arm and plenty of experience standing between second and third base. That's good enough for what the Sox need right now, which is offense from anybody while Thome's on the DL. Sweeney, Fields, Eduardo Perez or whoever takes Thome's spot won't equal his production, so they need to make up for it from
somewhere.
Just to finish up the Charlotte briefing: Haeger had his best start of the year, though that's not saying
much. 6 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 8 K. Two runs scored on passed
balls. Pedro Lopez and Ernie Young had two hits apiece.
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The rest of the round-up:- Birmingham 4, Huntsville 2
- Jack Egbert continues to impress -- six innings of two-hit, shutout ball. He walked one and struck out six. His numbers on the season: 31 IP, 15 H, 0 HR, 5 BB, 32 K, 1.45 ERA.
- Robert Valido went 1-for-3, but he made his only hit count: a two-run double.
- Thomas Collaro went 2-for-4, and Ricardo Nanita had two hits as well.
- Winston-Salem 3, Wilmington 2
- Victor Mercedes went 0-for-3, but he did draw two walks. He also started a fight Thursday, punching a guy who he felt slid too hard into him during a takeout attempt, leading to two fractured vertebrae for a Nationals prospect. They really need to expand the box scores, because there's no category for that.
- Aaron Cunningham went 2-for-4 with his second triple of the year.
- Kyle McCulloch pitched his longest outing of the year -- 6 1/3 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4.
- Asheville 10, Kannapolis 5
- Scott Madsen, who I can't recall seeing before, went 2-for-5 with a triple and two RBI.
- Steven Spurgeon gave up six runs in 1 2/3 innings.