posted on Friday, September 05, 2008 2:07 AM
by
Jim
ETAs for the injury kids
Depending on whom you believe,
Carlos Quentin could be back with the White Sox for the upcoming series with the Los Angeles Angels is over, and
not Monday as originally thought:
After further testing Thursday afternoon, early results on the MVP
right forearm and wrist of White Sox left fielder Carlos Quentin were
‘‘good so far,’’ a team source said. [...]
If the Sox get the thumbs up Friday morning, Quentin could be back in the lineup for the start of the Angels series.
Cowley (and/or his sources) have been known to jump the gun before, so buyer beware. But since I often play the role of Col. Silver Lining, here's some more of it:
This is exactly the reason why they got Ken Griffey Jr.
Not to play him in center field. Not to take at-bats away from hotter hitters. Nope, Griffey's true value is providing some depth if one of their corner players had to take some time off. One might've figured Jermaine Dye or Jim Thome to be more likely candidates, but hey.
Now, if only the Sox would play him in left. That doesn't seem likely, 1) because they think center is easier on him, and 2) because he's only played 13 innings of his entire career in left field, but
as Joist said, excusing his defense in center is fairly hypocritical.
(By the way, in case anybody was wondering, Thome is 58 plate appearances away from triggering his 2009 option.)
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Questions about sources aside, Cowley did a nice job
getting some answers from Joe Crede about his future. But perhaps what's most interesting is what Crede
didn't say.
After he took himself out of Tuesday's game,
he tried to downplay the matter, saying, "It was just acting up a bit." In Cowley's follow-up, Crede makes no mention of a 2008 return, nor does he address Ozzie Guillen's outright frustration.
That's probably for the better. Looking back at the other three times he missed times with "tightness":
May 20, 2007: He took himself out of the game after three innings, but returned five days later and played the next 10 games. As far as Crede with a bad back goes, he wasn't awful -- 7-for-32 with three doubles. But
he underwent back surgery June 12, and was out for the rest of the year.
June 24, 2008: Pablo Ozuna replaced Crede at the last minute before the beginning of the Los Angeles series, and was held out for the next game as a precautionary measure. He returned for the final game of the series and lasted another month, but his bat wasn't there. He hit
.186/.234/.314 before...
July 22, 2008: The problem was described as
not being able to get loose, but it ended up sidelining Crede for the next month. Between his return and his most recent episode,
Crede went 4-for-23 with a double and triple.
If two's a coincidence and three's a trend, then we probably have a good idea of what to expect from issue No. 4 -- a lengthy absence or near-zero production if he returns.
Thank goodness
Juan Uribe is making it a non-issue.
Here's a pleasingly startling fact: As a third baseman, Uribe is hitting .281/.340/.448.
The league is hitting .268/.336/.420.
Factor in BillJamesOnline.com having him at +3 baserunning and +3 at third base in limited play,
Uribe has been above-average in nearly every facet of the game in Crede's absence.
If that's not worthy of a bold tag, nothing is.
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Scott Linebrink, meanwhile, suffered no ill effects from warming up Wednesday, although he didn't come into the game. Get ready for another sentence I never thought I'd type this season:
Mike MacDougal might be a big help in easing Linebrink back in.
Guillen likes what he's seen so far from the artist formerly known as Mac the Ninth:
"His body language and composure are better," Guillen said. "He's not a goofy-loosey guy all over the place."
Guillen isn't ready to commit to using MacDougal in his former role as
a setup reliever but he is encouraged by his effectiveness while
pitching on consecutive days.
Throwing 2 1/3 scoreless innings in low-leverage situations isn't anything worth banking on, but it's nothing to sneeze at when considering how hot the Indians offense is, and how they pounded Boone Logan when he appeared in consecutive days.
He's hitting 96 on the gun, and he's 2-for-2 in preventing runners in scoring position from doing any damage. There are reasons to be encouraged, even among the mountain of caveats.
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Minor league roundup:- Mississippi 1, Birmingham 0
- Justin Cassel allowed just one hit over eight shutout innings, walking five and striking out seven.
- Javier Castillo had three of the Barons' six hits.
- Kanekoa Teixeira took the loss, allowing one run on two hits and a walk over two-thirds of an inning.
- Winston-Salem 6, Myrtle Beach 5
- John Ely allowed one run (solo shot) on four hits over five innings, walking two and striking out four.
- Ronnie Gaines was perfect at the plate, going 2-for-2 with three walks.
- Greg Paiml and Sergio Miranda each went 2-for-4 with a double.
- Great Falls 6, Missoula 1
- Tyler Kuhn doubled, tripled and scored three runs; Johny Celis hit two doubles.
- Mike Grace and Jesus Avila each drove in two runs.
- Po-Yun Lin allowed one run on two hits over five innings, striking out four.
- Franklin Rosario, Enrique Lechuga, Drew O'Neil and Wilmer Rojas each threw a scoreless inning.
Also, check out
Cheat's quick turnaround on the 2008 draft class.