SB Nation - Randy Williams

Rosterbation-Mania!

U-God — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 05:18:10 -0000

More photos » by Ted S. Warren - AP

Raise your hand if you want to play for the White Sox next year. Esteban, please put your hand down. Seriously though, Esteban, you aren't welcome. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

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Over the past couple days, and inspired by the infamous U.S.S. Mariner post and the on-going reader input over at Sox Machine, I've been putting together my off-season plan. I tried to keep it as realistic as possible (no video game trades), especially in terms of payroll. Feel encouraged to leave your own roster plans in the comments section. U-God's 2010 plan lies after the jump.

Free Agent Acquistions:

DH- Nick Johnson, 1 year/5.5 mil

I love Jim Thome and always will. He is my back-up plan. With that being said, I would be thrilled if KW went out and got Nick Johnson. The 31 year old lefty has a career .849 OPS fueled largely by his .402 career OBP. Johnson also allows us to rotate Paul Konerko and Carlos Quentin in at DH as well. He does come with injury-risks, but using him mainly as a DH in combination with one of the premier medical staffs in baseball should counteract that. The injury risk combined with the down market should allow the Sox to grab him at a reasonable price for a year.

RF- Marlon Byrd, 1 year/4.5 mil

Byrd would be a very refreshing change of pace out in rightfield. He has posted an OPS above .800 each year since joining the American League and has been an above-average defender in right as well. His career high 20 homers last year will guarentee him a raise, though probably a modest one. Byrd also provides a nice stop-gap for our outfield prospects.

C- Brian Schneider, 1 year/1.5 mil

Schneider's days as a starter are over. He's a lefty-catcher who has had good success stopping opponent's run games (38 CS%). Being a backup drops his price tag and lowers his risk of getting hurt again.

1B/OF- Mark Kotsay, 1 year/1.5 mil

Bring him back. He was good after we traded for him and gives Ozzie more flexibility with his bench and lineups.

Contract Extension:

Offer John Danks the Jon Lester deal (5 years/30 mil). It's a back-loaded contract that buys out John's arbitration years and allows him to hit free agency at age 31. It may take more money to lock him up, but for simplicity's sake, I'm just going to use the Lester deal.

Batting Order:

DH- Nick Johnson, 3B- Gordon Beckham, LF- Carlos Quentin, 1B- Paul Konerko, C- A.J. Pierzynski, CF- Alex Rios, RF- Marlon Byrd, SS- Alexei Ramirez, 2B- Chris Getz.

That OBP in front of Beckham gives me dirty thoughts.

Bench:

C- Brian Schneider, 1B/OF- Mark Kotsay, UTIL- Jayson Nix, OF- Alejandro De Aza

Nix gives pop off the bench and De Aza gives Ozzie a speedy pinch-runner for late in the game.

Starting Rotation:

Jake Peavy-RHP, Mark Buehrle-LHP, Gavin Floyd-RHP, John Danks-LHP, Freddy Garcia-RHP

I like the idea of having Peavy and Garcia pitch back to back.

Bullpen:

Bobby Jenks-CL, Matt Thornton-LHP, Scott Linebrink-RHP, DJ Carrasco-RHP, Tony Peña-RHP, Jhonny Nuñez-RHP, Randy Williams-LHP

I wanted to trade Jenks, but his value is too low right now and I don't want a repeat of the Nick Swisher trade.

Other Costs:

$1 mil buy-out for Jermaine Dye

$.35 mil for Mike MacDougal, damn him

Team Payroll:

$96.65 mil, only .55 higher than last season's opening salary. All figures (except my FAs and arbitration guesstimates) taken from Cot's Baseball Contracts.

Twins 7, Sox 0: Opportunistic Twins win 7th of 8

Jon Marthaler — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 02:56:54 -0000

More photos » by Nam Y. Huh - AP

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Maybe it's just having Ozzie Guillen in the opposing dugout, but something about playing the White Sox turns the Twins into the "Piranhas" of old. Minnesota took advantage of nearly every opportunity they had, while the White Sox put runners on base throughout the night but couldn't plate any of them. In fact, Nick Blackburn gave up at least one hit in innings 2 through 7, but each of the eight hits were singles, and Blackburn pitched around every one of them.

Span OK after taking a pitch off the coconut

The Twins had a scary moment in the sixth inning, as Denard Span was hit in the back of the head with a Randy Williams fastball. Span stayed down for a few minutes, but never appeared to lose consciousness, and walked off the field under his own power. Reports said that Span had a slight headache, but no concussion, and is listed as day-to-day.

Meanwhile, the Twins were scoring runs largely thanks to clutch hitting. Minnesota got single runs in the first, second, and fifth innings, banging out just one hit in each inning but getting a run home anyway. In the first, it was Orlando Cabrera tripling and scoring on a passed ball. In the second, the Twins sandwiched three walks around a single. In the fifth, Cabrera ended up on second after an error, and scored on a Michael Cuddyer single.

Perhaps the best example came in the sixth inning; the .222-hitting Matt Tolbert singled, went to second on a wild pitch (after about fourteen throws to first), then scored on a single by the .232-hitting Nick Punto. Punto then went to second on a hit batsman, stole third, and came home on a Cabrera sacrifice fly.

At that point, Minnesota led 5-0, and with Blackburn pitching out of jams (and the Sox unable to get a meaningful hit), the Twins could coast to victory.

Detroit was off, of course, meaning that Minnesota moves to two and a half games back in the AL Central race.

The three stars for Monday night's game:

3. Orlando Cabrera
The shortstop ws 2-4, scored three times (once after reaching on an error), and drove in two other runs.

2. Nick Punto
Yes, Nick Punto. He reached base all four times he batted, singling twice, walking twice, scoring twice, and stealing two bases. He also drove in a run, and will probably mop the clubhouse and drive the team bus back to the hotel.

1. Nick Blackburn
I made fun of him before the game, but he was nothing but great, scattering eight hits over seven innings, walking nobody, and striking out six. Beautiful, is all. Bravo, Mr. Blackburn.

Twins vs White Sox coverage

The White Sox Need a LOOGY

larry — Mon, 11 May 2009 18:01:49 -0000

More photos » by Tony Gutierrez - AP

Jimmy Gobble

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With Jose Contreras now in Charlotte and lefty Clayton Richard to be inserted into the rotation, Ozzie Guillen will be left with a bullpen that has only a single lefty, Matt Thornton, for him to play match-ups. But with Jose’s demotion and plenty of room on the 40 man roster, it is a near certainty that it will be a lefty who is called up from the farm to give Ozzie the second lefty he pines for. Let’s take a quick look at the candidates:

Jimmy Gobble: White Sox fans are familiar with the long-time Royal, most notably for his ability to get Paul Konerko out of any slump. Of course, using Gobble against any righty is an unforgivable offense by a manager. Gobble is the epitome of a LOOGY. After he dropped his arm slot in 2007, he became more effective against lefties but righties began to tee off of him. The Knights have been using Gobble almost exclusively for at least one inning in each of his appearances so his 2009 numbers are somewhat alarming at first glance; however, he is more than holding his own against lefties. He's held them to 1 hit and 1 walk in 19 plate appearances and has struck out 9 of them. He's also inducing rather weak contact, as well. The leading candidate.

Randy Williams: He’s been significantly more hittable than Gobble down in AAA. He’s faced 26 lefties and given up 7 hits and 1 walk while striking out 7. While some of this can be attributed to an inflated BABIP, lefties are also making harder contact on his pitches than Gobble's. A distant second.

Wes Whisler: This guy just doesn’t strike enough people out. While his ERA is often very nice – 3.81 last year and 2.12 so far this year – his peripherals scream “not a major leaguer.” He’s averaged about 4.5 K/9 in the upper minors and that simply won’t do. While he does perform better against lefties, he hasn't shut them down like a Gobble can. Also has little experience pitching in relief. No chance.

Aaron Poreda: You can read all about what Poreda has been doing in my weekly minor league updates or in the minor league fanshot that is updated daily. While Poreda is certainly the best pitcher of the bunch - and can be absolutely vicious on lefties - the White Sox are intent on making Poreda a starter and having him work on his secondary offerings. A call-up to the major league bullpen would be diametrically opposed to this goal. No chance.

[edit 1:24 pm: The White Sox make this moot by purchasing Gobble's contract from Charlotte.]

White Sox Still Riddled with Roster Questions

The Cheat — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 04:30:46 -0000

While the beat writers start to ring the alarm bell on the health of Mark Buehrle, Ozzie Guillen seems concerned (with good reason) about the backend of his rotation. The Sox will send Bartolo Colon to the mound in a Cactus League game Wednesday, and the Sox will be closely monitoring his velocity.

Colon was reported to have thrown 89 MPH -- though I guessed it at more like 86-87 -- in his first outing 9 days ago, but only hit 87 on the gun in his second, sharper outing last week. Guillen has issued a clear challenge to Colon; show us what you got if you want a roster spot. But Colon is well known for a slow crescendo in velocity as opening day nears.

"I want to see a little bit better stuff," Guillen said Tuesday. "Other people know Colon better than I do. Colon has pitched that way all his life—easy, easy and all of a sudden, the last two outings, he starts to put something on the ball. I want that to happen.

"I want him to crank it up a little bit to see exactly where we are with the starting rotation. Hey, if Colon is not ready for Opening Day, we got Plan B already."

Plan B is obviously Clayton Richard, whose role has yet to be decided. If either Colon or Jose Contreras is unable to go on April 11th, Richard will get the call and send a set of dominoes in motion that could see Randy Williams or Mike MacDougal making the opening day roster.

Death is not an option

The Sox center field competition continues to be uglier than RuPaul's Drag Race. All three options took the field on Tuesday, with all three looking ugly at the plate and/or in the field. Dewayne Wise was the only one to get the ball out of the infield against Fausto Carmona, while Jerry Owens dropped his spring average to .192 and Brian Anderson made a poor play in the outfield in addition to looking overmatched against a real major league pitcher.

Center field is obviously the Sox Achilles heel right now, which is why you'll continue to see speculation that the Sox are exploring the trade market. But don't expect the Sox to pick up one of the overpriced options from the two LA ball clubs (Gary Matthews Jr and Juan Pierre). Both carry prohibitively large salaries, and neither represents a sizable enough upgrade over Anderson to rationalize the salary and talent cost of a trade.

I'm not a big fan of Anderson, but the other options have me hoping Ozzie views him as his almost-everyday center fielder. Anderson is probably the best defensive option -- his 5 outfield assists this spring might represent some improved throwing accuracy or mechanics -- and we know he's capable of replacement-level production at the plate. Toss the Wise/Owens tallest midget in there a day or two a week against tough righties, preferably at the bottom of the lineup, and forget about them.

Getz is the Key

Before spring training got into full swing, I openly wondered if Chris Getz could rid us of Jerry Owens. Back then I couldn't have imagined the center field candidates all having such feeble springs -- Anderson used to be good for a teasingly torrid spring -- but now that they're all proving to be feeble options, it's time to upgrade that question to Can Chris Getz Help Rid Us of Our Leadoff Problem?

In truth, this has been the best possible scenario for the Sox; from Jayson Nix' hamstring injury to Getz meeting the challenge of Gordon Beckham to the three predictably poor center field options playing poorer than predicted. Chris Getz was the Sox best second base and leadoff option when camp opened, but the Sox seemed determined to make their ultimate decision based on 70 spring at-bats. Thankfully, Getz has proven to be the most capable player of the group, and I suspect he'll be the Sox everyday leadoff hitter in short order.

It occurs to me that other than a few words written about his K/BB ratio and his comps, I haven't really explained specifically why the minor league record of Getz should have been enough to hand him the opening day 2B job in February. I'll put together a piece on what to look for in minor league stats before the longest spring training in history comes to a close. Promise.

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Also, I'll be closing the Carlos Quentin Community Projection sometime in the afternoon. So get your entries in if you haven't already.

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.

F.A.T.: LOOGYs

R.J. Anderson — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 20:03:10 -0000

LOOGYs are funny. Teams will overpay for something so easily found throughout the minor leagues and scrap yards. Here's the list of guys worth keeping in mind for your team that won't run you a great ransom.

John Rheinecker via mlb.mlb.com

John Rheinecker is perhaps the most interesting of the list. A former first (actually supplemental) round pick of the Oakland Athletics, Rheinecker was dealt in March of 2006 in a deal that netted the Cubs Freddie Bynum, the Athletics Juan Dominguez, and the Rangers John Koronka as well as Rheinecker. In 2006 Rheinecker was primarily used as a starter (13 of his 21 appearances), his starts would be curbed in 2007 but one thing remained: struggles against right-handed hitting. Rheinecker missed 2008 due to a surgery to remove a rib as well as arthroscopic shoulder surgery that caused him to miss almost the entirety of the season. Astoundingly good against lefties, Rheinecker is only 29 and pitches in the mid-80's, but still finds a way to get more than 9% swinging strikes.

The first of a pair of Twins on this list, Florida Atlantic University alumni Carmen Cali is a 30 year old who sits in the lower-90's. Last seen in the majors with the Twins in 2007, and the Cardinals in 2004/2005 Cali's control has abandoned him in his major league stints. He gets nearly 11% swinging strikes, and nearly 55% groundballs. Cali is at least worth a look as a non-roster invitee. Also has the best name of the list: Carmen Salvatore Cali.

Minnesota's other offering, Mariano Gomez, is 26 years old and finally reached Triple-A in 2008 after spending parts of four seasons in Double-A. The promotion only occurred after Gomez was signed by the Twins as a minor league free agent. At 6'6" Gomez is more intimidating than you'd except from a LOOGY, one not named Billy Traber at least, and got a decent amount of strikes swinging at 9.3%.

Ian Ostlund is 30 years old and a Tommy John Surgery survivor (yes, survivor). Last season he got 11% swinging strikes and had a 2.94 FIP, impressive, add in a 2.18 BB/9 and there is little to question, except his GB%. Ostlund only gets 36.55 grounders, but he didn't give up a ton of homeruns. Odds are that changes a bit in the majors, but there's something decent about him considering the swinging strikes amount.

Then there's Royce Ring, Randy Williams, and Stephen Randolph. All former major leaguers who either got raw deals or deserve another shot.

Ring didn't pitch too much for the Braves, but was decent, not nearly as good as his major league career totals indicate he could be however. The former San Diego State closer throws in the upper 80's and has pitched for three teams since 2005.

Williams made appearances with the Padres and Rockies in 2005 and throws in the low 90's. Now 32, he has bounced around the past few seasons, starting with the Mariners in 2004, then the Padres/Rockies, then the Rangers, and last season the Marlins. He gets a ton of strikes swinging, and doesn't give up many homeruns, is prone to walking a few though.

Finally we reach 34 year old Stephen Randolph, who last spent time in the majors for the Astros in 2007, and in 2003/2004 for the Diamondbacks. He too sits in the low 90's, but got the most strikes swinging of anyone else on this list last season with 15.9%, he walked quite a few (nearly 6 per nine) but gave up only 0.38 homeruns per nine despite a 38 GB%.

Obviously there's no guarantee any or all of these guys are going to have their success carry over, but let's face it, any of them on a minor league deal (MiLD for shorthand) with an invite to spring training is better than spending a few million on Joe McLefty. Why? Because Joe McLefty would've been on this list seasons ago and makes a killing on GMs who aren't willing to take a shot on guys like Carmen Cali.

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References

Minor League Splits

FanGraphs

StatCorner