SB Nation - Ehren Wassermann

Cubs Crush Crosstown Club, Ozzie Picks a Fight, and More Saturday White Sox Tidbits

larry — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 00:16:11 -0000

The Cubs beat the Sox 13-0. Oh well. The Marquez Era began well, with a strikeout of Alfonso Soriano to lead off the game and then on through two scoreless innings. Though for a "groundball pitcher", didn't seem to get many of those.... Matt Thornton then pitched a scoreless inning before heading off to the WBC. After that, though, things fell apart for White Sox pitching as Wasserman and Dotel each gave up 3 hits and 2 runs over an inning pitched. Something named "Williams" provided a brief inning respite, before Adam Russell got absolutely crushed for 8 runs (6 earned) without retiring any of the eight Cubs he faced, though he was hurt by Lillibridge's inability to deal with a double play ball.

The offense didn't provide much to write about either. Lillibridge staked his claim to the leadoff position by striking out three times in four AB. Wise had a couple hits, including a double, while batting in the second leadoff position. Thome had a double. That's about it.

Box.

In other news, Ozzie is picking a fight (again) with Ted Lilly (again). The Blue Jays, owners of the 20th pick in the draft, are possibly renewing their interest in Orlando Cabrera. Tomorrow, the game against the Dodgers will be televised on CSN, MLBN, and KCAL at 2pm (CST) as the two clubs officially open Camelback Ranch.

Masset Theory in Practice, 2009 Edition

larry — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:23:15 -0000

For those unfamiliar with the Conservation of Masset Theory – or who don’t recall the specifics – the one sentence summary is "No matter how much Masset you use up, there is always more Masset in your system." So, replacement level, back of the bullpen arms are readily available in any organization.

For the 2009 White Sox bullpen, there are four guys who are all but assured spots – Bobby Jenks, Matt Thornton, Scott Linebrink, and Octavio Dotel. Additionally, one of Aaron Poreda or Clayton Richard is likely to fill the second lefty role. DJ Carrasco and Adam Russell probably have the inside track on the last two spots in Ozzie Guillen’s probable seven man bullpen. Most White Sox fans know all of these guys pretty well – and the last three arguably have some Masset in them. But we also all know that we’re going to see some other guys in that bullpen, whether to start the season or replace someone due to injury or ineffectiveness. So let’s go over some of the Masset in the White Sox system that you may see this season.

Lance Broadway: There’s likely some familiarity with him. First round pick in 2005. Has made two winning starts in each of the last two seasons and each against the Royals. Despite this stellar track record as a starter, his future is likely in the bullpen as a mop-up/spot starter sort. In his repeat of AAA last season, he did improve his groundball and walk rates. However, these were counteracted by becoming far easier to hit – most alarmingly in his 1.5 per nine IP home run rate. While his curveball flashes as a plus pitch, this righty’s other offerings – 90 MPH fastball, 85 MPH cutter, and 80 MPH change – simply aren’t good enough to miss enough bats.

Kelvin Jimenez: This is some waiver wire Masset. Originally a Rangers signing out of the Dominican in 2000, this right-hander finally reached the majors as a Cardinal in 2007 and 2008 and posted some ugly numbers – 1.758 WHIP and 6.82 ERA. While he throws hard, this hasn’t translated into strikeouts at the major league level.

Ehren Wasserman: This side-arming righty had a promising major league debut in 2007, posting a 1.174 WHIP and regularly getting righties out. 2008, on the other hand, did not treat him so well. After losing out to the original Masset for a spot in the Opening Day bullpen, he proceeded to cut down AAA hitters in a repeat at that level while posting a tasty 3.2 K/BB rate. However, when called upon at the major league level, things didn’t go so well, posting 14 walks versus 9 strikeouts. It appears that major league hitters have seen the video of his funky delivery and are aware that his slurve isn’t going to be a strike and thus don’t swing at it.

Jon Link: Some traded for Masset – the fruit of the Rob Mackowiak trade. Spent 2008 as Birmingham’s closer and posted a sexy 10.6 per 9 IP strikeout rate to go along with a 57% groundball rate. He’s got a low/mid-90s fastball and his secondary offerings – a plus slider and an average change – make him profile as something more than Masset in 2010 and beyond. However, his 4.3 per 9 walk rate suggests a stint at Charlotte would do this righty some good and a MLB debut in 2009 could be a shaky proposition.

Carlos Torres: A 15^th round pick in 2004, this righty was shifted to relief in 2007, had success at both high A and AA, and then was largely shifted back to starting in 2008 at Birmingham before ending the year at Charlotte mostly in relief. It is thus unclear what the long-term plan for Torres is. Has always posted good K rates, though his three pitches – fastball, slider and change – all grade as average.

[Note by The Cheat, 02/18/09 5:25 PM CST]: Don't forget to participate in the Josh Fields Community Projection

White Sox' Pitching Holds Indians Under a Dozen

The Cheat — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 05:04:38 -0000

The scoreboard in right field read KC - 6, MIN - 0. John Danks was pitching well enough, and the Sox clung to a slim 4-3 lead. The door was open for the Sox to step right back into control of the AL Central race. But a tough start to the 5th inning for John Danks, and a bullpen that refuses to provide any relief slammed the door shut.

John Danks wasn't great Friday, but he wasn't nearly as bad as the box score makes him appear. His biggest crime was walking Ben Francisco in one of those How Was That A Walk at-bats immediately following a Don Cooper mound visit. Danks followed his no-out walk to load the bases with single to Shin-Soo Choo, finishing his night down 5-4.

Ozzie was forced to turn to the bullpen, which turned in a performance that would have to make even Jose Paniagua cringe. DJ Carrasco started the reliever roulette by throwing 5 straight pitches outside the strike zone to load the bases and put himself in a Here Comes A Grooved Fastball situation. Ryan Garko, homered off Danks in the 4th, welcomed Carrasco's center-cut fastball by sending it just over the outstretched glove of a wall-climbing Brian Anderson in center field.

Following the grand slam, Carrasco hit Franklin Gutierrez with a pitch. A clearly disgusted Guillen chased Carrasco from the mound and handed the ball to Mike MacDougal, of all people, in search of somebody, anybody, who could throw strikes and get a batter out. MacDougal promptly hit the first batter he saw, and fell behind the second 3-0.

Boos rained down from the crowd even before Carrasco allowed the grand slam, and though they had grown larger now that the Indians had sent 9 men to the plate and had yet to make an out, it was almost as if the sellout crowd was enjoying unloading their frustrations on the terrible display from the bullpen. Finally a strike. A huge Bronx cheer rolled through the crowd, thirsty for even the slightest display of competence.

MacDougal retired the next three batters in order to stop the bleeding, but walked the bases loaded in the next inning before being pulled. Ehren Wasserman added to the parade with a 4-pitch walk of his own to force in a run. And eventually Horacio Ramirez saw action, adding a run onto his historically bad record with the Sox.

If the Sox weren't essentially in a dead-heat in the Central with just 2+ games to play, it might be comical. But it's not. There's nothing funny about Octavio Dotel finding his dominant stuff when the game has been decided, but serving up longballs anytime the game is in doubt. There's nothing funny about a game which features double-barreled suck, while Nessie remains only a legend, an old wives tale you hear from section 160 season ticket holders. There's nothing funny about watching the season go down the tubes in the weakest AL Central division since 2000.

It says a lot about the game as a whole that when I go searching for something nice to say, I turn to a couple good effort, close but no cigar plays by Nick Swisher and Brian Anderson attempting to bring back homerun balls.

Ozzie Guillen's Quick Hook Costs Sox

Christopher Michaels — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 03:59:14 -0000

It says a lot about the year Ozzie Guillen is having as a manager that I don't think I have complained loudly about his decision making in a single recap this season. I might have voiced a difference of opinion on occasion, but until tonight, the most egregious decision I've seen from Guillen was over the use of Pablo Ozuna, whose presence alone was questionable. Perhaps I've mellowed, or perhaps, Guillen should be in contention for manager of the year honors. (He's not. The award already has Joe Maddon's name engraved on it.)

This is going to be one of those entries. Ozzie's decision to turn to Ehren Wasserman and Horacio Ramirez in the 7th inning was the defining moment of the game. While he didn't guarantee a Sox loss with the move, it set into motion a series of events that made a White Sox victory extremely unlikely.

I didn't listen to Ozzie's post-game press conference--I switched the TV immediately to Monday Night Football--so I don't know what his rationale was for turning to double barreled suck, as 3e8 put it, out of the bullpen in the 7th. Buehrle was only at 101 pitches through 6. Based on my best estimate of the Sox rotation picture, he only has 2 guaranteed starts remaining (@ KC & @ MIN), with the possibility of throwing on short rest in the makeup game with Detroit.

I'm not even going try to make the argument that Ozzie turned to the wrong reliever, because let's face it, they've all been various degrees of terrible lately. Though I have to admit after Mike MacDougal failed to appear in Sunday's doubleheader, I thought Monday would be a good opportunity to roll the dice by giving him some high-leverage work. I'm simply going to ask this; how bad does Mark Buehrle have to be feeling, how many runs does he have to give up, how many pitches does he have to throw to make the decision to pull him in favor of Wasserez?

Wait. Don't answer too fast. Keep in mind that there are (12 or) 13 games remaining on the season, and that a run here in the 7th all but guarantees your offense will have to face the two-headed monster of Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera for the final 6 outs. Don't forget Wasserman entered the game with a WHIP of 2.05, and Ramirez has been even worse (2.23) while in Chicago. Oh, and Buehrle has thrown over 110 pitches 42 times (only 2 this year) with Guillen as his manager, so there's a precedent for letting him work a high pitch count.

If ever there was a reason to ride your starter deep into a game, this was it. The entire complexion of the game changes if the Sox are able to get out of the bottom of the 7th unscathed. I'm not quite sure of the bullpen tendencies of Joe Girardi, but I have to believe he'd be much less inclined to turn to the Joba-Mo tandem in a tie game, even though that would be the right call.

I could go on and on about the suck that is the White Sox bullpen right now, and especially Ramirez, whom I greeted to the south side noting his special variety of suck, but I'm not a masochist. If the Sox are going to win this division, it's going to be on the strength of it's starters, with some strong performances by the offense (You're doing great Dewayne.) and maybe a surprise arm out of the bullpen (I'm still looking at you, MacDougal.). Now is not the time to count on the bullpen, let alone the back of the bullpen, late in a tie game.

I missed the first 5 innings of the game, so if it seems like this recap focused only on Ozzie's bullpen management, it's because that was the game for me.

Staters Games w/ 110+ pitches

Year	Games
2004	53
2005	37
2006	40
2007	36
2008	13

* * * * *

I was about to post this as a comment, but it's too important to the discussion at hand to hide from our RSS readers or those who don't bother to venture deeper than the front page. Ozzie Guillen has become more dependent on his bullpen in his tenure as White Sox manager. He used to let his pitchers get over 100 pitches regularly, but rarely let them top 115, and almost never 120. Now 100 is the rarity, with 110 being the "almost never." It's quite obvious that he Sox would be a better team right now if he reverted to his '04-'07 hook.

White Sox Sweep First DoubleHeader Since '01

Christopher Michaels — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 05:58:58 -0000

After the Rain Comes a Rainbow

Record rain fell on Chicago Saturday, postponing the White Sox scheduled doubleheader with the Tigers. Rain fell all afternoon and night on Friday, postponing that scheduled game to after the end of the "regular season." Rain fell all morning and into the early afternoon on Sunday, delaying the start of game one of the doubleheader by 3 hours and 11 minutes. According to head groundskeeper Roger Bossard, US Cellular Field saw about 9.5 inches of rain during the 50 hour span when the ACE hardware tarp saw more TV time than actual players. To his credit, the playing condition of the field was not an issue even with the record-setting rains.

The sun never came out; there wasn't any parting of the clouds, or a rainbow straddling the stadium; but there was baseball to be played. And after two days cooped up in flooded northern Chicagoland, that was good enough for me. With the Twins dropping a game to the faltering Orioles, the Sox had an opportunity to take advantage and pick up the 1.5 games they lost in their last doubleheader effort. And take advantage they did.

Vazquez Victorious, Verlander Vanquished

The White Sox have an incredible record against Justin Verlander. For some reason, they just seem to have the Detroit ace's number. But for the first half of the opening game, it looked like Verlander might have the Sox number on this night. Thankfully, Javier Vazquez was there to match him pitch-for-pitch.

The offense seemed content to help Verlander out in the early going, making an inning's worth of outs on the basepaths. Juan Uribe singled home Ken Griffey Jr. after he hit a double off the wall to put the Sox on the board after 5. That might have been enough for Vazquez, who altered his side-session schedule to be ready to go on short rest Saturday, but the offense didn't stop there. Alexei Ramirez added a solo-shot. And in the 8th, after Vazquez had been lifted, the Sox strung together a 2-run, 2-out rally.

That 4-0 lead headed to the ninth gave Ozzie Guillen some flexibility. I thought it would be a good time to turn to Scott Linebrink for some easy late-inning work to continue to ease him back into higher leverage situations. But Guillen decided to turn to Bobby Jenks, who has been getting hit around lately. The two runs he allowed were essentially meaningless, but he still brought the tying run to the plate for the second straight time in a non-save situation.

Wise, Thornton Rescue Wobbly Pen

John Danks was originally scheduled to pitch on Friday. In fact, his start was pushed to Sunday because he had gotten warmed up Friday when it still appeared as if the game would be played. So Ozzie had to keep an eye on the 23-year old southpaw who has seemed to tire over the last month. Danks showed no ill-effects from the impromptu side-session, and probably would have gone deeper into the game if not for the lingering concerns about his workload and a seemingly comfortable 7-0 lead. That lead would prove to be much more precarious than it seemed when Danks left the game and especially after ESPN cut the Carlos Zambrano no-hitter.

With the exception of Matt Thornton, the bullpen has provided no relief lately. In addition to Jenks troubles which I touched on above; the lightning has escaped DJ Carrasco's bottle; Octavio Dotel has allowed 8 homers, including the game-tying grand slam Sunday night, since the All-Star break; Linebrink is understandably rusty, and probably not 100% after spending 2 months on the DL; Ehren Wasserman has sprinkled brief outings of effectiveness in between long periods of awful. I think it says a lot about the shape of the White Sox pen that Mike MacDougal, who spent nearly the entire season wasting away in Charlotte, might be the best available right-hander right now. So, when the Sox managed to blow a 7-run lead over the span of about 25 minutes, it's hard (read: impossible, to those who possess critical thinking ability) to blame Ozzie for the blowup.

As quickly as the Sox lead disappeared at the hands of a grand slam allowed by their bullpen, it was given back by a grand slam off the bat of Dewayne Wise off an equally bad Tigers pen (read: Kyle Farnsworth). Wise, who drove in a key insurance run while starting in LF of the first game, earned himself some more playing time in Konerko's absence with his day of work, culminating in his pinch-hit, eventual game-winning slam and curtain call.

The two victories, which lowered the White Sox Magic Number to 13 and increased their division lead over the Twins to 1.5 games, were the spoonful of sugar to wash down the medicine that is the alarmingly shaky bullpen. The Sox will need to rely heavily on the pen down the stretch, as they eventually plan on throwing some starters on short rest. It goes without saying that the pen can not continue to pitch this poorly if the Sox have hopes of holding off the Twins in the final 13 or 14 games (if necessary).

Meta (Moron Prevention)

We get it. The bullpen blew a lead. Therefore, Ozzie is an idiot. You have AOL--don't they all--and you seem to think it's your god-given right to use it as an avenue to vent your misdirected rage.

Thanks to an influx of, how do I say this nicely--ah, fuck, who cares about being nice--short-bus riding mouth-breathers, who think that the ability to complete the registration process and string together 75 words gives them poetic license to infect this site with their own special blend of ill-informed stupidity, I've implemented a 24-hour waiting period for all new posters. This obviously won't effect any of the regular users here, but it should help curb the mongoloids who wish to misdirect their anger towards Ozzie and other troll-types.

Danks Returns to Form, Sox Still Fall

The Cheat — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 05:33:57 -0000

There was a small silver lining to be found from Sunday's loss to the Angels. John Danks appeared to have worked through his dead arm period, lost release point, whatever he had going on, to put together a nice (though not "quality") start. Danks still found himself leaving his changeup high in the zone in his last two innings of work, but the change was down in innings 1-4. Plus, he seemed to have both better control and the ability to more readily put hitters away, as evidenced by his 7:1 K/BB ratio.

Danks was pulled in the 6th after he allowed his first run of the game following back-to-back-to-back hard hit balls over the span of just 5 pitches. His quick exit was determined more by base and out situation and the scoreboard than it was by pitch count, but with his change losing effectiveness late I'd say he was getting a bit tired. Still, Danks as an 80-90 pitch pitcher is better than the Danks we saw doing 5th starter impersonations in the last few outings. If I was Ozzie, I'd keep Danks at or around 90 pitches for the remainder of the regular season.

Offensively, the Sox managed just two solo-shots (one each by Paul Konerko and Toby Hall) against Joe Saunders. Ozzie went with a rare all-right-handed batting order, subbing in Brian Anderson and Josh Fields (combined 0-6) in addition to Hall. Individually, all of the subs could be defended, but I don't like seeing 3 subs in any one so-called Sunday lineup and I would have liked to have seen at least one left-hander breaking up the parade of righties.

The Angels scored the eventual winning run following a couple of questionable choices. First, Horacio Ramirez entered a tied game. As if that wasn't bad enough, Ozzie called up Ehren Wasserman with the go-ahead run 90 feet from home and nobody out. After Wasserman coaxed a first-pitch ground out from Vlad Guerrero, Ozzie called for the intentional IBB of Torii Hunter to load the bases, which seemed odd to me with Juan Rivera on deck, almost assuredly to be replaced by the left-handed Garrett Anderson. Sure enough, Anderson came on as a pinch-hitter, and lifted a deep fly ball down the right field line. Jermaine Dye caught the ball in foul territory, just a step or two from the wall, which allowed Guerrero to score easily from 3rd.

I questioned the IBB, but if you're going to play for the double play, if your intent is to increase the likelihood of allowing no runs in the inning at the expense of increasing the odds of a big inning, why catch a ball in foul territory that results in a sure run? Wasn't the all-or-nothing directive set by the walking of right-handed batter to load the bases for what eventually turned into left-handed batter? I don't fault Dye for catching the ball. It just seems to me that the two plays came from opposite ends of the run-prevention playbook. But baseball players probably don't think that way, and certainly not as they're running toward the line to make a catch just a few feet in front of a low wall.

Where Was That Pitch?

For once, Hawk's constant whining about balls and strikes was warranted. Just take a look at this chart. See those 7 or 8 little green squares in the lower right side of the zone? Those are called balls for White Sox pitching. Notice all those red triangles around that area? Those are essentially the same pitches thrown by Anaheim pitchers, but they were called strikes. One or two of those pitches going uncalled is unfortunate, 7 or more is a pattern. That pattern really seemed to get accentuated after Ozzie Guillen gave home plate ump Eric Cooper an earful from the dugout when he awarded timeout to an Angels batter for the second time after Danks had started his motion.

I'm not saying. I'm just saying...

Make no mistake about it, the Sox did not lose Sunday's game because of Cooper's divergent strike zones. But there's no question that those strikes-called-balls changed the outcome of at-bats, which in turn changed the shape of an inning, and thus influenced the outcome of the game.

Bigger Picture

For a weekend that started out about as poorly as imaginable, with the loss of the unicorn-riding, stuff-you-liking, homer-hittin' Carlos Quentin, and ended with the Sox blowing a 2-run lead, I'm feeling pretty good about the weekend in general. I quickly processed the loss of Quentin, with a little Al Davisism "Just win, baby."

The Sox and Twins are both flawed teams. The Sox are an offensively old, slow team and don't really know what they're going to get from any of their 5 starters on any given night. While the Twins offense is powered by 2 superstars surrounded by a merry band of role players, but their bullpen, which is usually a strength, has let them down. One of these two teams, flaws included, has to make the post-season. Might as well be the Sox.

If you had told me on Friday, in that woe-is-me happy hour after we found out Q! had passed on but before first pitch, that the Sox would have taken 2-out-of-3 from the first place, playoff-bound Angels, I would have been happy. If you would have told me that the Twins were gonna drop 2-out-of-3 to the Tigers in the Metrodome, blowing leads in both losses, I wouldn't have believed you. Picking up a game on the Twins, while simultaneously taking 3 home games off their remaining schedule is a big win for the Sox.

All-in-all, the weekend turned out about as well as you could have reasonably expected.