JJ predicts who will be the 7th and last bullpen pitcher

JJ looks into his crystal ball and predicts the last pitcher in the Sox bullpen:

After struggling as a starter for the first four years of his professional career, Carter saw success after being moved to double-A Birmingham’s bullpen in 2010. The 24-year-old right-hander posted a 3.91 FIP and struck out about a batter per inning with the Barons before striking out 16 and walking none in 10 Arizona Fall League innings. He features a typical power arm repertoire, throwing a mid-90’s fastball, a good slider, and a good changeup. …

Good stuff!

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FutureSox’ White Sox Top 25 post-season prospects list [UPDATE]

FutureSox:

1. Chris Sale
2. Dayan Viciedo
3. Brent Morel
4. Jared Mitchell
5. Tyler Flowers
6. Trayce Thompson
7. Eduardo Escobar
8. Jacob Petricka
9. Jordan Danks
10. Addison Reed
…

UPDATE: Jim covers the White Sox Top 10 prospect list by Phil Rogers for Baseball America.

Baseball-Intellect reviews its White Sox prospects list

Eisenberg:

7. Trayce Thompson | OF | Age – 19 | Grade – C+

Numbers don’t completely reflect it, but he’s made a lot of progress since last year. Upside remains huge, but as big as his upside is, he’s just as raw.

FutureSox’ Midseason Top 25 Prospects

Cassidy:

Rank	Player	Points	Previous	Change
1	Dan Hudson	179	1	unch
2	Dayan Viciedo	172	4	+2
3	Chris Sale	168	n/a	NEW
4	Tyler Flowers	161	2	-2
5	Jared Mitchell	156	5	unch

…

I’d rank them in this order: Hudson, Sale, Flowers, Mitchell, Viciedo.

Fautino returns

BA’s Wednesday Dish:

Fautino Back On The Hill

Righthander Fautino de los Santos has rarely been heard from since blowing through two Class A stops in the White Sox system in 2007, going a combined 10-5, 2.65 and earning a trip to the Futures Game. Traded to the A’s in the Nick Swisher deal after that season, de los Santos logged just 35 innings over the last two years after needing Tommy John surgery in 2008. After a prolonged rehab period, de los Santos finally got back on the mound for high Class A Stockton last night, making his 2010 debut by coming out of the bullpen in the seventh inning of the Ports’ game against Modesto. He didn’t take long to knock off any rust, retiring all six hitters he faced and striking out two of them.

Boxscore:

Stockton
Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Smith, M (W, 3-2)	6.0	5	2	1	0	4	0	5.63
De Los Santos (H, 1)	2.0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0.00
Smyth (S, 4)	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	0	1.21

Stats: B-R, FI

Meanwhile, Nick Swisher has an 165 OPS+ for the Yankees, Gio Gonzales has a 114 ERA+ and Ryan Sweeney has an 105 OPS+ for the A’s, and Kanekoa Texeira has a 114 ERA+ for the Mariners.

How about the players on the Sox end? Wilson Betemit was released, Jeff Marquez is struggling in the minors, and Jhonny Nunez is kinda struggling in the minors.

FutureSox’ Top 25 White Sox prospects

FutureSox:

Rank	Player	Points	Previous	Change
1	Dan Hudson	208	2	1
2	Tyler Flowers	203	1	-1
3	Jordan Danks	194	4	1
4	Dayan Viciedo	186	3	-1
5	Jared Mitchell	184	6	1
6	Brent Morel	178	7	1

…

Harold Baines Jr. retires

Eddy:

Minor League Transactions

Chicago White Sox
Signed: OF Alejandro De Aza*
Released: RHP Ryan Strauss, LHP Wander Perez
Added to 40-man roster: C Donny Lucy
Optioned to Triple-A: RHP Dan Hudson, SS Brent Lillibridge, OF Alejandro De Aza
Option transferred: RHP Jhonny Nunez (Triple-A to Double-A)
Voluntarily retired: RHP Levi Maxwell, OF Harold Baines Jr.

BTW, Jhonny Nunez switched from relieving to starting.

Joe Cowley plays GM

Cowley says trade Flowers and re-sign AJ. Joe says trade Marquez too. Who will take him?

FutureSox reviews Sox Relieving pitching prospects

Here’s what they have to say on Sergio Santos:

What he needs to improve: Control, big time. Santos has the ability to be a very good Major League reliever, but until he can harness his stuff he isn’t going to succeed. His slider can be inconsistent.

Sox make 8 roster moves

whitsox.com:

Prior to today’s game vs. the Colorado Rockies, the Chicago White Sox made the following eight roster moves:

• Optioned RHP Freddy Dolsi, RHP Lucas Harrell, RHP Jhonny Nunez, RHP Brian Omogrosso and RHP Clevelan Santeliz to Class AAA Charlotte;
• Outrighted RHP Brandon Hynick to Charlotte;
• Optioned RHP Santo Luis to Class AA Birmingham;
• Reassigned C Cole Armstrong to minor-league camp.

With the moves, the White Sox have 44 players remaining in major-league camp: 20 pitchers, four catchers, 11 infielders and nine outfielders. The 40-man roster decreases by one to 39.

Sox sign Beckham, Flowers, Hudson and 13 others to contracts for 2010

whitesox.com:

The Chicago White Sox have agreed to terms on 2010 contracts with the following 16 players:

Catchers (1) – Tyler Flowers

Infielders (3) – Gordon Beckham, Brent Lillibridge and Jayson Nix

Outfielders (2) – Alejandro De Aza and Stefan Gartrell

Pitchers (10) – Lucas Harrell, Daniel Hudson, Brandon Hynick, Santo Luis, Jeff Marquez, Jhonny Nunez, Brian Omogrosso, Clevelan Santeliz, Carlos Torres and Randy Williams.

All members of the White Sox 40-man roster are signed for 2010.

UPDATE: Beckham got $445,000.

Ozzie Guillen conflicted with Dan Hudson; Erick Threets impressive

Levine:

Manager Ozzie Guillen said on Sunday that he is torn between letting Hudson pitch out of the bullpen and occasionally have a spot start as opposed to pitching every five days at Triple-A.

I asked Guillen for an assessment of Hudson at this point.

“I love him,” Guillen said. “Right now if he doesn’t make the ballclub, it’s better to get his innings because we never know what is going to happen with the five starters.” …

Merkin:

Decisions will have to be made about what to do with rookie Daniel Hudson, who is competing for the long-relief spot. Manager Ozzie Guillen indicated on Sunday that Hudson might be better served getting his regular work in the Minors, as opposed to being used sporadically by the White Sox.

Freddy Dolsi, Lucas Harrell, Sergio Santos, Carlos Torres and Daniel Cabrera all are in contention for that long-relief job, while Guillen said Randy Williams has the upper hand for the left-handed specialist spot but is no roster lock. That assessment is good news for non-roster invite Erick Threets, the hard-throwing southpaw who has impressed during the first week of camp.

Gonzales:

The second left-handed relief spot is Randy Williams’ job to lose, but Erick Threets has been given an extended look and has impressed the coaching staff so far. Look for Threets to challenge Williams.

Chicago White Sox Top-15 Prospects of 2010, No’s 6-15

Alex Eisenberg posts the 6-15 part of his Sox prospect list. Here’s a sample from Dayan Viciedo’s scouting report:

Viciedo struggled to consistently center the ball, swinging through fastballs or fouling them off, but when he did connect, the contact was usually of the hard variety. Part of the problem was Viciedo swinging for the fences more often than not. He swings extremely hard and doesn’t adjust for the situation at hand, making it more difficult for him to center the ball.

*Credit to TriB81

Viciedo has tremendous raw strength and plenty of bat speed. In addition, he’s able to keep his swing relatively short in the process though he does wrap his bat behind his head, which adds to the length.

Viciedo also has to work on keeping his weight back as he gets too far out in front on his front foot at times. This happens often when he’s thrown an off-speed pitch and usually you’ll see him ground out meekly as a result.

It’s easy to forget that Viciedo is just 20 y/o and we have to ask ourselves how many other 20 y/o prospects would fare in Double-A in their first season of pro ball? I think most would say not well. …

Part 1: Chicago White Sox Top-15 Prospects of 2010, No’s 1 – 5.

A look on some Sox prospects in Winter Leagues

Looking on the stats of White Sox players in Winter Leagues page we find a couple interesting players, all pitchers (AFL excluded):

Clevelan Santeliz: 2.92 ERA and 1.09 WHIP with 27 Ks and 10 BBs in 24.2 IP. Has allowed 1 HR.

Miguel Socolovich: 2.87 ERA and 0.96 WHIP with 17 Ks and 4 BBs in 15.2 IP. Has allowed 1 HR.

Johnny Nunez: 4.82 ERA and 1.29 WHIP with 11 Ks and 4 BBs in 9.1 IP. Has allowed 0 HRs.

Randy Williams: 0.00 ERA and 0.95 WHIP with 7 Ks and 2 BBs in 6.1 IP. Has allowed 0 HRs.

Santo Luis: 3.46 ERA and 1.15 WHIP with 6 Ks and 8 BBs in 13.0 IP. Has allowed 1 HR.

Freddy Dolsi isn’t doing so well: 9.82 ERA and 3.82 WHIP with 2 Ks and 7 BBs in 3.2 IP. Has allowed 0 HRs.

Freddy Garcia made a brief appearance too (December 3): 2.70 ERA and 0.90 WHIP with 3 Ks and 0 BBs in 3.1 IP. Allowed 0 HRs.

Socolovich came from Boston in the David Aardsma trade. Dolsi was claimed from the Tigers last month. Luis was a AAA Rule 5 selection from Houston.

John Sickels 2010 Top 20 Sox prospects

Sickels:

1) Dan Hudson, RHP, Grade B [changed to B+]
2) Jared Mitchell, OF, Grade B
3) Tyler Flowers, C, Grade B
4) Brent Morel, 3B, Grade B-
5) Jordan Danks, OF, Grade C+
6) Dayan Viciedo, 3B, Grade C+ …

Go to the link for descriptions and the entire list.