Sale said he was mindful during warmups and at the start of the game to not go hard from the onset.“
Just taking it nice and easy and really loosening it up because you have time,” he said. “You’re in no rush. That was nice to go out there and flip some in and start stretching it out and pick it up as it goes.”
Since the White Sox traded Sergio Santos to the Blue Jays, who is in line to become the White Sox closer in 2012?
– Steve, Plainfield, Ill.
Assuming no other trades are made involving the bullpen, Jesse Crain and Matt Thornton would be the leading candidates to start the season. But Addison Reed is one of the major reasons why Santos became expendable.
Reed, who turns 23 just after Christmas, had a 1.26 ERA over 43 games during four Minor League stops last year. He struck out 111 and walked just 14 in 78 1/3 innings, not to mention his 12 strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings with the White Sox. The right-hander definitely stands as the team’s closer of the future, and the organization has no doubt he can handle the role.
One guy that many fantasy owners, not to mention White Sox faithful, would like to see handed the job is Addison Reed. Reed, 22, tore through the minor leagues making mincemeat of hitters at every level, Rookie through AAA ball, finishing with a minor league career 1.41 ERA over 108 innings pitched, striking out 155 and walking just 20. He earned a late season call to the majors in September where he threw 7.1 innings, striking out 12 batters and walking one. Reports from his minor league appearances put his fastball in the 94-97 range and that fits with what batters saw in his brief major league stint, averaging 94.9 mph. He has fantastic command and a very good slider, and in terms of just overall stuff, he’s probably the closer of the future and perhaps even the best man for the job in 2012. But it could be that Robin Ventura and company would prefer someone more seasoned, not wanting to throw the kid into the proverbial fire just yet — not to mention the fact that Reed very well could start the season in the minors.
The Chicago White have acquired right-handed pitcher Nestor Molina from the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for right-handed reliever Sergio Santos.
… The 6-foot-1, 180-pound Molina spent most of the season with Dunedin, going 10-3 with a 2.58 ERA (31 ER/108.1 IP), 16 walks and 115 strikeouts in 21 games (18 starts). He was named to the Florida State League mid and postseason All-Star Teams.
A native of Valencia, Venezuela, Molina made his final five starts with New Hampshire, where he was 2-0 with a 0.41 ERA (1 ER/22.0 IP), two walks and 33 strikeouts. He finished the season with a streak of 16.0 consecutive scoreless IP over his final four outings.
Molina is 27-7 with a 2.21 ERA (72 ER/292.2 IP) and 277 strikeouts in 103 games (27 starts) over six seasons in the Blue Jays minor-league system. He was signed by Toronto as a free agent on April 2, 2006 and spent the 2006-07 seasons as an outfielder/third baseman before being converted to a pitcher. …
2) Nestor Molina, RHP, Grade B+: Ranking the Blue Jays pitching prospects is quite difficult. Although Molina hasn’t received as much press as some of the other guys, his performance was impeccable, I think his stuff is underrated, and he’ll get to the majors sooner than the others. Despite his season, he is still underrated by a lot of people.
and
Molina [ranking] is both stats and scouting reports. I think the scouting reports that are out there are underrating his stuff. But we will see.
Q: What is Nestor Molina’s stuff? He is making double a look very easy.
A: It’s all solid: fastball, slider, changeup, occasional curveball. Not sure you’d call any of his offerings a plus pitch, but he mixes them well and moves the ball around the strike zone. Not the sexiest scouting report, but that’s the type of guy who winds up in the big leagues.
“I would hope that we give him a little bit more seasoning, but he’s got the kind of ability that, there are certain guys that will force his way onto major league rosters. When you look at a young pitcher, you look at what kind of stuff he has, what kind of composure he has, and his ability to command the strike zone, and this guy does it in a way that very few do so. I’m not going to say that he can’t, and he won’t.”
I like the trade from what I hear so far. Molina’s stats are impeccable. And Addison Reed can take over.
Chris Jaffe at The Hardball Times writes about the 1961 trade of lefty Billy pierce to the Giants and tells us the happenings on the Sox at the time:
The 1961 season placed the South Siders at a crossroads. Beginning in 1951, the team rattled off a series of winning seasons that culminated in the 1959 pennant winning Go-Go White Sox. Hoping to seize the moment and create a dynasty for himself, then-team owner Bill Veeck spent the 1959-60 off-season trading away his best prospects for established veterans.
… Worse yet, the veterans did not quite pan out as expected. The 1960 Sox fell from first to third place. In 1961, they fell further still, finishing in fourth place with an 86-76 record.
… So in the 1961-62 off-season, the Sox engaged in a series of trades in hopes of undoing the 1959-60 offseason. …
So, how did those off-season moves turn out?
The Sox actually won one fewer game in 1962 than the year before, but moving out some of their older players helped them out down the road. In 1963, they began a series of three straight 90-win seasons and remained competitive through 1967.
Will Kenny clean house or go for it again? We could know by this time next week!
The White Sox have been looking to trade Matt Thornton since July and are still trying to move him, according to ESPN.com’s Buster Olney (on Twitter). Before the 2011 season, the White Sox signed the left-hander to a two-year, $12MM extension that covers the 2012-13 seasons and includes a club option for 2014.
The 35-year-old posted a 3.32 ERA with 9.5 K/9, 3.2 BB/9, 0.45 HR/9 and a 48.8% ground ball rate in 59 2/3 innings this past season. Armed with a fastball that averages 96 mph, Thornton figures to draw interest this offseason, as he did last summer, especially since the free agent market doesn’t feature lefty relievers of his caliber. The Yankees, Blue Jays and Rangers are among the teams that may seek left-handed relief this offseason.
“Was mine an interim thing? If I had success, I’m sure it wouldn’t have been,” said Thornton of his abbreviated run at closer. “Obviously everyone knows what happened in the games I was in. Things just didn’t go well for me in that role.
“Maybe it was a sign I wasn’t meant to be a closer here. Over the years, I’ve done a good job of filling in as closer, and I believe in myself in that role and think I can get the job done at any given time when they give me the ball in the ninth inning. But the surge of [Chris] Sale this past year, what he did, and how good Sergio was for most of the year, this is the way it worked out.
“It’s one of those things where things weren’t going good for us and I was part of that in the back end of the bullpen,” Thornton said. “They had to make changes at the time. Just the lack of performance was the most frustrating part for me, my inability to have success that I expect myself to have, prepare and dedicate myself to have all offseason long. It’s very frustrating when you let the team down.”
If Thornton is traded, with Chris Sale moving to the starting rotation, the only lefty in the bullpen will be Will Ohman.
Ken Williams says "we're going to let the kids play," will know what they have in mid-season, young culture coming— Peter Gammons (@pgammo) October 03, 2011
Does that imply Carlos Quentin is gone? Will Kenny try to get A.J. Pierzynski to waive his 10-and-5 rights, so he can trade him?
His [Kenny Williams] revelation that virtually silent but sound coach Harold Baines will play a greater role on the next coaching staff is a step in the right direction.
Or the new hitting coach? I think both positions require more communication though than 1st base coach though.
[Sergio] Santos, 28, and the White Sox agreed on a three-year, $8.25 million deal, with club options for 2015-17. Under the terms of the agreement, Santos will earn $1 million in 2012, $2.75 million in 2013 and $3.75 million in 2014. The club option for 2015 stands at $6 million, with an $8 million option for 2016 and an $8.75 million option in 2017. If any of the three club options are declined, then Santos receives a $750,000 buyout.
The deal covers Santos’ final pre-arbitration year and the first two arbitration years. The three 1-year options cover the final arbitration year and the first two free-agent years. That’s a very good deal for the Sox. Fangraphs says Sergio was worth $7.3 million this year. Sergio must stay away from Adam Dunn, Alex Rios, and Jake Peavy. Kenny did good.
Ozzie Guillen accused White Sox players of quitting, and he meant even before Wednesday’s regularly scheduled choke against Detroit.
Quitting is a serious charge, maybe the worst thing you can say about a player, other than “He’d be a perfect Cub.’’
Quitting. Man, where do kids learn such things?
Perhaps Sox players learned it from their manager who spouted off two weeks ago that he’ll likely quit on next year’s contract unless he gets an extension.
You want players to follow their manager’s lead, but do the Sox want that type of leader — the kind who is with you win or extension? …
… The performance of this group of players did jump quite a bit in the 2nd half of the season with the biggest increase coming in the form of power (SLG increases by 0.115 and ISO increasing by 0.086). Using these numbers to predict how the rest of the season would go, Adam Dunn would have a 2nd half triple slash line of 0.198/0.340/0.427. …
ESPN’s Stats & Information Group broke down its pitch performance data and looked at strikeouts by pitch type, compared to the number of two-strike pitches thrown with that particular pitch. A good “putaway rate” with a pitch is upwards of 30 percent. The major league average for all pitches is just below 20 percent. In Santos’ case, he’s thrown the slider 101 times with two strikes this season and netted 47 strikeouts, most recently whiffing Royals rookie Mike Moustakas in the ninth inning on Monday. Santos’ “putaway rate” with the slider is 47 percent (47 divided by 101). …
Pitch classifications provided by the Gameday Algorithm and may be inaccurate.Pitch Type LWTS correspond to how many runs were likely to score on a particular pitch based on average run expectancy when each pitch was thrown and what happened as a result. Negative scores indicate more effective pitches. Time to Plate is the time, in seconds, that it takes an average pitch of this type to reach the plate. This is strongly correlated with velocity, but also factors in movement.
Nice comeback. Alexei and Juan came through. Sergio and the bullpen shut it down. Crain has been very good this year.
RE24: Juan Pierre 1.58, Alexei Ramirez 1.07, A.J. Pierzynski 0.88, Alex Rios 0.69, Carlos Quentin -2.05, Edwin Jackson (P) -0.75, Brent Lillibridge -0.59, Edwin Jackson -0.55 (H).
Pitch classifications provided by the Gameday Algorithm and may be inaccurate.Pitch Type LWTS correspond to how many runs were likely to score on a particular pitch based on average run expectancy when each pitch was thrown and what happened as a result. Negative scores indicate more effective pitches. Time to Plate is the time, in seconds, that it takes an average pitch of this type to reach the plate. This is strongly correlated with velocity, but also factors in movement.
Pitch classifications provided by the Gameday Algorithm and may be inaccurate.Pitch Type LWTS correspond to how many runs were likely to score on a particular pitch based on average run expectancy when each pitch was thrown and what happened as a result. Negative scores indicate more effective pitches. Time to Plate is the time, in seconds, that it takes an average pitch of this type to reach the plate. This is strongly correlated with velocity, but also factors in movement.
Pitch classifications provided by the Gameday Algorithm and may be inaccurate. Pitch Type LWTS correspond to how many runs were likely to score on a particular pitch based on average run expectancy when each pitch was thrown and what happened as a result. Negative scores indicate more effective pitches. Time to Plate is the time, in seconds, that it takes an average pitch of this type to reach the plate. This is strongly correlated with velocity, but also factors in movement.
