Remember these nuggets from the end of spring training?
4. Tyler Flowers, C — With Brent Lillibridge fallingshort of expectations, the Javy Vazquez deal is starting to lookone-sided, especially with Flowers looking lost at the plate thisspring.
In other words, re-sign A.J. Pierzynski.
Keeper or trade bait: Trade bait.
Tyler Flowers’ unimpressive spring showing makes it morelikely the White Sox will look to extend catcher A.J. Pierzynski’scontract during the season. …
I wonder if Joe Cowley and Phil Rogers would like to revisit those statements. Flowers received bloatloads of grief for his 2-for-18 performance in games that don't count, but it's been quiet on the Pierzynski front, even though he:
- Is hitting .171/.227/.195
- Owns a sterling 15 OPS+
- Has more GIDPs (two) than RBI (one)
Yes, give that man a new contract!
Pierzynski's probably not getting a lot of attention because the other slow starts are perhaps more noteworthy. Jake Peavy was supposed to be an ace, Mark Kotsay's Sox career is tanking, Carlos Quentin has the foot issues, and the guy Juan Pierre replaced is leading the American League in hitting.
(There's no such case for Freddy Garcia. His "problems" have received plenty of ink, even though with one great start and one terrible one, he's done exactly what's expected of him.)
Aesthetically, though, Pierzynski's start might be the ugliest. Erik at Pale Hose Pariah highlighted his problems with the way he swings at everything, but you can go deeper. Pitchers aren't even trying to fool him -- they're throwing him fastballs 70 percent of the time. And he's responding by hitting more than half his batted balls on the ground.
But because Pierzynski doesn't strike out as much, everything is relatively cool.
Flowers, meanwhile, is having the exact kind of start he needed at Charlotte. He's hitting .314/.415/.571, and nine strikeouts in 35 at-bats marks an improvement upon last year's contact issues (he struck out roughly once every three at-bats in Charlotte last season). It's early enough that one golden sombrero can put him right back where he started, but there isn't one way to knock his offensive game at this time.
If both players maintain their current performances through the end of the month, it's going to present a hell of a conundrum for Ozzie Guillen and Kenny Williams. Combine Pierzynski's self-preservation instincts, the pitching staff's preference to throw to Pierzynski, Ozzie Guillen and the media's anti-strikeout slant, and the fact that Williams has been deferential for the last six months ... there's no way it could go smoothly, right?
At least there's some silver lining. If this is a Hindenburg of a season and Pierzynski is in the center of it, Flowers should get plenty of low-pressure at-bats to figure out catching and hitting in the major leagues. Sadly, a collapse might be needed to give him any benefit of the doubt.
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But before we start writing off the season, I took a look through the last few playoff seasons to see how many teams were able to overcome a slow start and fight their way into the postseason. The Sox may be five behind the Twins already, but recent history says it can be overcome.
2009 Los Angeles Angels: Started 4-8, then 6-11 (5 1/2 games back). They were .500 as late as June 2, but winning streaks of seven, six and eight games over the next two months allowed them to pull away with the AL West.
2009 Colorado Rockies: Started 4-8 (5 1/2 games back), and hit a low-water mark of 20-32 (15 1/2 back). Of course, winning 17 out of their next 18 helped.
2008 Tampa Bay Rays: Were 9-11 on April 22, five games back. They then won six in a row to put them in a tie for first.
2007 Colorado Rockies: Started 7-11 (six games back), and were nine games below .500 as late as May 21. They won 14 of their last 15 games to make the playoffs.
2006 Minnesota Twins: Were 9-16 and nine games back at the start of May. A 21-2 run in June going into July put them back into the playoff hunt, and eventually they took the division.
The common thread is that all of these teams needed a massive hot streak (or several minor ones) to climb back into contention, and that great run was something the Sox couldn't pull off last year. And yes, the current edition of the White Sox seems awfully familiar.
There is one difference. Last April, the Sox were held to zero or one run in five games. The 2010 team? Just once, and they haven't been shut out yet. Scoring two or three runs a game isn't much to hang a hat on, but at least it allows a pitcher to make a mistake (see Garcia's first start against Minnesota this year as a terrific example).
Is that encouraging? Not particularly, but there's not much to work with right now. It's still going to take otherworldly starting pitching -- the kind that has been noticeably absent thus far -- but it's not like we didn't already know that going in.
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Christian Marrero Reading Room:
*You want to see a sentence? This is a sentence:
Actually, Podsednik, 34, and Pierre, 32, hold a few career similarities. Both have membership in good standing as part of the exclusive elite leadoff fraternity.
*Gordon Beckham vouches for Greg Walker:
"We changed my swing," Beckham said. "If you go back and look at the tape, my hands were by my head and I was very stiff, and within a month, I had my hands shoulder level and was very relaxed at the plate and hit .330 [in July].
"[Walker] got me through hopefully the toughest time of my career at the start when I struggled so bad, and when everyone was saying I shouldn't be up there, I shouldn't be playing, I shouldn't be in the big leagues. He didn't believe that. He believed I should've been there and just got me through it."
*Oral Sox has a new podcast up.
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Minor league roundup:
- Durham 11, Charlotte 2
- Erick Threets left the game after one batter with an injury.
- Carlos Torres wasn't sharp: 5 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, 1 HR.
- Flowers went 0-for-2 with two walks, and picked off a runner at second.
- Dayan Viciedo hit his first homer, a solo shot. Part of a 2-for-4 day.
- Jordan Danks went 1-for-3 with a double, an HBP and a strikeout.
- C.J. Retherford went 0-for-4.
- Former Sox farmhand Heath Phillips held the Knights to one run over five innings.
- Jacksonville 4, Birmingham 2
- John Shelby went 2-for-5, but was picked off/caught stealing.
- Brent Morel went 1-for-4 with an RBI and was hit by a pitch, but was also caught stealing.
- Christian Marrero went 1-for-5.
- Winston-Salem 4, Myrtle Beach 1 (11 innings)
- Justin Edwards pitched seven strong innings, allowing one run (solo homer), three hits and three walks while striking out six.
- Dan Remenowsky closed it out with two scoreless innings, striking out three. He allowed a hit and a walk.
- Justin Greene went 2-for-3 with a triple and two RBI. He was picked off/caught stealing.
- Jon Gilmore went 1-for-3 with a sac fly and a strikeout.
- Kannapolis 7, Hickory 0
- Joe Serafin struck out six over six shutout innings (three hits, three walks).
- Juan Silverio went 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. He also committed his fifth error, this one at third.
- Kyle Colligan went 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, an RBI and a strikeout.
- Miguel Gonzalez resumed 0-for-4ing.
- Trayce Thompson singled, walked and struck out twice.
Larry notes that Brady Shoemaker was sent down to extended spring training and Justin Collop was placed on the DL. Looks like we might be getting a long look at Thompson in A-ball.
