Sox Machine: Chicago White Sox blog

Real offseason decision No. 1: Toby Hall

Last year, Kenny Williams didn't have much work cut out for him at the very beginning of the offseason.  The decisions were swift:

• Watch Darin Erstad go.
• Watch Mike Myers go.
• Re-sign Juan Uribe, but not to his original extension.

The trade for Orlando Cabrera made the Uribe decision seem redundant at the time, but even that one was justified.

Williams has his share of gimmes this time around, and to tear through them briefly:

Orlando Cabrera:  Williams will offer Cabrera arbitration; Cabrera will reject it and test the free agent market as the premier shortstop.  Some team will sign him (Minnesota?) and the Sox will have two extra draft picks at their disposal, as he likely maintained his Type A free agent status.

Ken Griffey:  The Sox will exercise the buyout ($4 million, with Cincinnati throwing in half).  Although there will be no draft picks, the Sox will benefit from never giving Ozzie Guillen the option of penciling him into center field for another game.

Joe Crede:  Offering arbitration is not necessary, as Crede won't even be a Type B free agent.  That will save a headache, if you remember the acrimony surrounding the decision to not offer arbitration to Magglio Ordonez after the 2004 season thanks to his knee injury.

Horacio Ramirez:  Har.

But there are three decisions that aren't so easy.  Let's take 'em one at a time.

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Difficult decision: Toby Hall

Two routes:

1. Exercise his one-year option for $2.25 million.
2. Buy him out for $150,000 and look for a new backup catcher.
   

Why keep Hall?

The last three years have illustrated that getting a competent backup catcher isn't as easy at it seems.  Putting another year on the trusty backup catcher chart, Hall posted the best OPS for the position since 2005:



Compared to Chris Widger, Gustavo Molina, Sandy Alomar Jr. and one-armed Toby Hall, the two-armed version was a marked improvement, even if still below-average -- especially considering he more than held up his end against lefties.

Hall hit southpaws to the tune of .377/.411/509 over 56 at-bats, with more homers (2) than strikeouts (1).  Even while his overall numbers took a nosedive in the second half, he had seven hits in 21 at-bats when the match-up was in his favor.

He also saw significant improvements in his catcher's ERA (3.68, compared to 6.12 in 2007) and his caught stealing rate (17 percent, up from 10), which isn't awful.

The Sox don't really have anybody else, as Cole Armstrong is still a season away at the very least.  And even if you don't like Hall, it's hard to say he was much of a problem.  The Sox went 22-14 when he started, a near reversal of his 2007 record.  Perhaps they played better because his teammates were hoping for one of his delightful pies.



The case against Hall

A.J. Pierzynski is 31 years old and has a two-year extension ahead of him, and yet his plate appearances keep shooting up.  He set a record for plate appearances while catching more than 130 games for the third consecutive year.  Not surprisingly, he went into a major slump at the end of the year.

Hall isn't helping lighten Pierzynski's workload much, mainly because he's so miserable against righties.  He posted a .431 OPS in such situations, including a .321 OPS after the break (.133/188/.133 in 30 ABs).  God forbid a foul tip ever catch Pierzynski the wrong way, because the Sox would likely receive zero production in his absence.

And one full year after the shoulder injury, he still had trouble generating extra-base power.  Part of it was due to his inside-out swing that is built to dump singles to right field, but he lost out on a handful of doubles because he couldn't outrun a glacier.  Paul Konerko grows impatient watching him.

He's part of the reason why the Sox struggle against the turf teams (Minnesota, Toronto, Tampa Bay).  He can't turn deep gappers into doubles easily, and he can't throw runners out unless he gets a lot of help from the pitcher.

So what to do?

There's actually an OK crop of backup catchers out there, with a few interesting buy-low candidates like Javier Valentin, Josh Bard and David Ross.  But Bard is an offense-first catcher who stopped hitting (his rate against basestealers is worse than Hall's, although Padres pitchers are more indifferent to runners than even Sox pitchers), and Valentin and Ross both lost their jobs on a bad Cincinnati ballclub.

Below them are guys like, well, Paul Phillips.  That wouldn't help, either.

Everybody else would cost more than Hall's $2.25 million salary (especially adding the $150,000 it'd take to buy out Hall in the first place).  So I see the Sox picking up his option, citing the way he handles the pitching staff and his antics as clown prince of the dugout.

Perhaps one more year off his shoulder injury coinciding with a contract year will show Sox fans they haven't seen the best of him yet.  Chances are he'll make Pierzynski the most valuable member of the club for a third straight year, so hold your breath that he survives.