posted on Saturday, May 24, 2008 1:39 AM
by
Jim
Minor developments, major implicatons?
Prior to Friday night's 3-1 loss to the Anaheim Angels,
the Sox put Juan Uribe on the DL retroactive to May 16 and promoted
outfielder Dewayne Wise.
Wise, if you haven't been paying attention to the non-prospects, had been far and away the best hitter in Charlotte this season, leading the Knights in:
- Batting average: .338.
- On-base percentage: .420.
- OPS: 1.029.
- Doubles: 11.
- Triples: 3
- Runs scored: 31.
- Walks: 18.
- Stolen bases: 12.
- Caught stealing: 7
He was second on the team in homers (8) and third in RBI (18) before his promotion.
Now, there's definitely a reason to temper enthusiasm.
He has a career line of .201/.238/.360 in 361 career big-league plate appearances, and has never really hit this well in the minors, either. He came closest in Richmond in 2004, where he hit .314/.341/.576 in 118 at-bats, but hadn't come close to matching that at Triple-A before or since.
Given that he's 30 years old, he's most likely the 2008 version of Jason Bourgeois, a career minor-leaguer having a career year. But maybe the Sox can get something out of him at the big-league level before he regresses to the mean. He already made an impact Friday by stealing a base to get into scoring position in the ninth inning. He's now 13-for-14 stealing bases in his career.
On the other hand, that the Sox purchased his contract means
the 40-man roster now sits at 39, which gives them a little less flexibility if they wanted to trade for a second baseman or bench help. It's also additional insult to injury for Jerry Owens, who was already on the 40-man roster and yet didn't get the call.
Ozzie Guillen said about Owens:
"He's not swinging the bat well right now. He's not going to play here,
and we are going to send [Wise] down in three, four or five days when
Uribe comes back, so it's not worth it."
It's interesting that they'd consider filling a roster spot more worthwhile than promoting a guy for a few days, but this goes to show how far Owens' stock has fallen. I'd guess Wise would get at least one start, as Paul Konerko
took a cortisone shot and might miss the entire weekend, and Brian Anderson still doesn't look good.
I wouldn't take this as any implication of Anderson's job security, as his pinch-running job Thursday
gave Ozzie some glide in his stride.
**********************
In other news:*Jerry Reinsdorf speaks about Joe Crede's contract status
without saying anything at all.
*Carlos Quentin has nice things said about him
here,
here,
here, and answers questions
here (I was expecting to see, "Mr. Quentin, your campaign seems to have the momentum of a runaway freight train. Why are you so popular?").
*The Cheat talks about the Sox offense and
their middle-inning struggles.
**********************
Predictions for Jered Weaver Saturday afternoon?
According to the way
he keeps improving his game score against the Sox, he's set to beat Kerry Wood's 20-strikeout game. I'm not going to go that far, but I'll say...
7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K. He'd go deeper, but the strikeouts rack up the pitch count.
**********************
Minor league roundup:- Charlotte 5, Lehigh Valley 2
- Josh Fields homered twice, walked drive and drove in four for his first big game since returning from the DL.
- Brad Eldred hit homer No. 17, and his 12th in May.
- Danny Richar played his first game of the year, going 0-for-4 with a walk and a steal.
- Jason Bourgeois also returned from the DL, going 0-for-4 in his first game since May 11.
- Tomo Ohka won his first game of the year, allowing one run over 5 2/3 innings.
- Adam Russell pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings, and has nine scoreless innings in a row.
- Birmingham 5, Huntsville 4
- Victor Mercedes went 3-for-4 with a double and three RBI.
- Cole Armstrong doubled, walked and drove in one.
- Justin Cassell threw a quality start -- 6 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 3 K.
- Fernando Hernandez earned the win with 1 2/3 scoreless innings.
- Kinston 6, Winston-Salem 3 (April 4 game completed)
- Aaron Poreda's bad start -- 6 IP, 11 H, 6 ER, 5 BB, 6 K -- is now in the books as the suspended opener was completed.
- Paulo Orlando, John Shelby and Brandon Allen each had solo homers.
- Winston-Salem 8, Kinston 7
- Ricky Brooks picked up the win with four scoreless innings in relief. He allowed one hit, one walk and struck out six.
- Salvador Sanchez had two hits and two RBI.
- Orlando, Javier Colina, Allen, C.J. Retherford and Greg Paiml also had two hits apiece.
- Delmarva 3, Kannapolis 1
- Adam Bowling and Wander Perez combined for four scoreless innings in relief of Juan Moreno.
- The Intimidators only managed four hits, and Joe Persischina drove in the lone run.