Ozzie Guillen doesn't often say what many of us want to hear, but he surprised on Wednesday:
If manager Ozzie Guillen has his way, Hudson probably will start the season in the starting rotation at Charlotte.
"To me, he needs to go out and pitch," Guillen said after Hudson allowed four hits and two runs in two innings against the A's. "I think we have to keep this kid ready just in case something happens (to a starter)."
This is good news. Not that putting Hudson in the bullpen was bad news, as Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland, Gavin Floyd and Clayton Richard have shown, but Hudson still needs to work on his third pitch, and a bullpen on a contending team with an unimpressive offense isn't the greatest place to take lumps in stride.
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Case in point: Aaron Poreda.
Some of you have already seen the line he posted for the Padres on Wednesday, but if not, it bears highlighting:
0 IP, 3 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 0 K
I wouldn't make too much of this, because he tossed two scoreless innings with one walk and three strikeouts, and had a tendency to lose the zone when he was in the Sox system.
His dud is timely, though. MLB.com profiled him earlier in the day, and he shared some interesting insight into his 2009 season:
"When I got called up with the White Sox, I went to the bullpen. They usually brought me in during the middle of an inning so I couldn't go out of the windup. I stopped my windup completely, so I went out of the stretch," Poreda said.
"I got sent down and became a starter again and tried to go from the stretch and I wasn't really comfortable. I stopped going over my head and using my big league kick and tried to stay more compact and I was thinking about mechanics. It's when the wheels fell off."
Poreda said variations on instructions from five different sets of coaches left him overloaded. That's understandable, but if it's the case, it makes Hudson and Richard's accomplishments all the more remarkable. Hudson went through five sets of coaches himself, and his performance never wavered. Richard struggled with inconsistency while bouncing between the rotation and the bullpen, but compensated with a short memory.
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Bullet points from Wednesday's game:
- Andruw Jones delivered a two-run triple.
- Good day for minor-leaguers: Brent Morel had two hits and two RBI; Dayan Viciedo went 1-for-2.
- Jeff Marquez allowed one hit over two innings of work, a solo homer to Eric Chavez.
- Randy Williams threw two scoreless innings, outdoing Erick Threets' one perfect inning.
- Freddy Dolsi has been taking lessons from Daniel Cabrera.
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Christian Marrero Reading Room:
*Jared Mitchell was among the first re-assigned to minor-league camp, but he didn't need much time to make a positive impression. Guillen liked what he saw, and Greg Walker has some things for him to work on.
*Jerry Reinsdorf regretted approving the first Jake Peavy trade and initially said "no thank you" to the second one, but Kenny Williams and Rick Hahn made the long-term numbers work. There are enough unique wrinkles to the way they acquired Peavy to make for a great White Sox story. All that's missing is the great White Sox career to follow. Your move, Jake.
*Paul Konerko's outlook on the 2010 offense careens between motivational and terrifying.
*Milton Bradley's Chicago crossfire is the exact reason why I said, "No, no, no, no, no" to the idea of the Sox picking him up on the cheap. Even if it would've gotten rid of Scott Linebrink.
*Andrew's got a way with words. On the rotating DH:
Imagine telling someone you need a sledghammer, and they bring you four fly swatters. How confident would you be in getting the job done?
*A massive thank you to everybody who has bought White Sox Outsider 2010 so far -- I've sold as many copies in six days as I did all of last year, which is just awesome. If you like what you read, tell your sons, daughters, friends and neighbors. I'm pushing for wider distribution this year, and any and all momentum will help.
