SB Nation - Octavio Dotel

Three Rules to Keep in Mind Regarding Relievers

R.J. Anderson — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:00:19 -0000

by John Bazemore - AP

Atlanta Braves relief pitcher Mike Gonzalez freaks the hell out after recording the final out in the Braves' 6-2 win over the Washington Nationals in a baseball game in Atlanta, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

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1) No Type-A Relievers

These players will cost the Rays their first round pick as well as the financial terms necessary to hook the arm. That means Billy Wagner, Darren Oliver, Octavio Dotel, Jose Valverde, Mike Gonzalez, Rafael Soriano, LaTroy Hawkins, Rafael Betancourt, Kevin Gregg, and John Grabow are all no-goes. Yes, the Rays have two first round picks, however, the compensatory pick is more than a dozen picks away from the 2010 first round pick, meaning if the Rays want a Type-A player it will come at the cost of a mid-first rounder, not a late-first rounder.

Now, there is a potential exception. If the team of a select player chooses against tendering an offer of arbitration which waives the compensatory pick. That being stated, if the Rays were to sign a player before the arbitration acceptance deadline (which falls within the first week of December) then they would give up the first round pick no matter the other team's intentions.

Some of those relievers are good players, but giving up the sixteenth pick (technically; virtually the seventeenth pick) for 60 innings is worthless. That slot has produced some fantastic ballplayers. Over the last four years: Bobby Borchering, Brett Lawrie, Kevin Ahrens, and substance abuser Jeremy Jeffress. Some other notables: Chris Volstad, David Purcey, Nick Swisher, Jason Jennings, Kip Wells, Lance Berkman, and Shawn Green. A few true stinkers too, but for the most part some fine talent.

2) Injuries Are Sometimes a Necessary Evil

Especially with pitchers. If guys like Kiko Calero were 100% dependable then they would be outside of our price range. Thankfully they aren't in either case. This is where luck and medical staffs come in handy. If you sign three relievers with about 60% chances of pitching more than 45 innings, then the chances of all three doing such is 21% and the chances of none of them doing it is 6.4%.

J.J. Putz, for instance, has bone spurs, tendon fraying, and gingeritis which lead to downed velocity and ineffectiveness but could make for an interesting non-roster invitee. Same can be said about Chad Cordero who quickly disappeared after a few years as a rosterbation champion.

3) Trading Prospects for Relievers

Not a good idea under most circumstances. Trading Reid Brignac for a young catcher with a few years of control left and having a young relief arm thrown in as an equalizer is one thing, trading a young prospect for a reliever straight-up is generally not smart. For instance: I absolutely detested the Orioles/Dodgers mid-season swap from the Dodgers perspective. They gave up third baseman Joshua Bell for George Sherrill. The latter was fantastic for the Dodgers - providing 0.4 WAR during half a season - meanwhile the former posted a .397 wOBA in Double-A and possesses the nickname "Baby Kemp". You don't have to guess which side is probably winning that deal.

Summary

Of the top 15 relievers this year, only three were free agent signings and those three were Kiko Calero, Chan Ho Park, and Trevor Hoffman. Seven were dealt for, four were drafted (three as starters), and one via the Rule 5 draft. Relievers are often overvalued because of sentimental value - i.e. when a team loses in the late innings - but the truth is even the best closers are only worth two-to-three wins in any given year.

Lester Comes Through, BoSox Roll ChiSox 6-1

USG — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 23:41:21 -0000

More photos » by Charles Rex Arbogast - AP

It's always nice when you have to choose whether it was the dominant pitching or productive offense that was the story of the game. Let's go with pitching for now. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

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After dropping the first two games of the series by a combined score of 17-3, the Sox looked to Jon Lester to play the role of stopper--a role he filled perfectly. After allowing a single and a walk to the first two Chicago batters, Lester induced a bloop fly ball which Dustin Pedroia made a fantastic play on, doubling Scott Podsednik off of second and averting a first-inning disaster. After that, he was nearly untouchable, allowing only 3 hits and a walk in 7 scoreless innings, throwing 122 pitches.

The offense showed some life through the first 3 innings, but didn't score until the 4th when Jason Bay singled and Mike Lowell homered to left on a John Danks fastball. Another Bay single would plate Jacoby Ellsbury for a 3rd run in the 5th.

The White Sox would cut the lead to 2 runs in the 8th as Billy Wagner allowed his first earned run with the Red Sox on an absolute bomb by Ramon Castro. He would retire the next 2 batters before Bard came in and struck out Paul Konerko on 3 pitches.

Victor Martinez put the game out of reach, hitting a 3-run homer off of Octavio Dotel. Jonathan Papelbon gave up only a single in the 9th in closing out the game.

The Sox will look to earn a series split as they send a struggling Josh Beckett to the mound against "Mr. Perfect" Mark Buerhle. Buerhle has been hittable of late, giving up 35 hits over his last 23 innings, but has managed to avoid too much damage.

Indefensible: Cubs Defense And Managing Shoddy In 5-0 Loss To White Sox

Al — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 04:12:50 -0000

More photos » by Charles Rex Arbogast - AP

This kind of sums up the entire 2009 season.

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SOMEWHERE NEAR CLEVELAND -- Finally in for the evening after driving halfway to NYC from Chicago, before I recap the Cubs' 5-0 loss to the White Sox on Thursday, I wanted to say a few words about some of the behavior in the game threads.

We are all frustrated with the play of this team and particularly Alfonso Soriano, who's had a tough year while being injured and not really telling anyone for four months and trying to play through it.

Today's dropped fly ball really summed up not only his, but the Cubs' entire season. However, threatening him with death really isn't called for. This is baseball. It's a sport that's supposed to provide us with enjoyment, and perhaps one day the fulfillment of our dreams of a Cubs World Series. All I ask here is that you try to behave as you would around other people when you're on this site, particularly in the game threads, which I know can get kind of heated. Please keep it clean and don't make threats -- I know it doesn't feel very good to see losses like this. Just try to keep things in perspective. Thanks.

At this point in the season, with Soriano clearly still hurting -- it was impossible to tell, even sitting as close as I was to him in left field, whether his attempt to do his usual "hop" under A.J. Pierzynski's fly ball, or he just slipped on a piece of turf -- maybe it's time to shut him down. Soriano didn't make excuses:

"I slipped, and when I slipped I lost my balance," Soriano said. "I don't make an excuse, but that's the first time it happened -- that I slipped and missed the ball."

That wasn't the only problem, and in fact, as Aramis Ramirez went on to say:

"The last time I checked, we didn't score any runs," Aramis Ramirez said, "so even if [Soriano] makes that play, we lose, 1-0. Nobody wants to make a mistake on the field. 'Sori' doesn't want to make mistakes. Nobody wants to be embarrassed like that. We have to pick it up, that's the bottom line."

Ryan Dempster nearly matched Tom Seaver -- er, Carlos Torres, he just looked like Seaver out there Thursday afternoon -- by allowing no earned runs in seven-plus innings. Jake Fox's error on a routine pickoff throw allowed Chris Getz to go to second base in the second inning, where he scored on Alexei Ramirez's single. A 1-0 loss is tough enough to take, but then there was the managing problem.

When Fox led off the seventh inning, there was absolutely no excuse for him to still be on the bases. Your best bet defensively is to get him out of there in the next inning for Micah Hoffpauir, so why was he still running with nobody out? That is the one place, the ONE possible place, where Aaron Miles could have been useful. If Miles is running for Fox, he probably scores on Jeff Baker's single. Or maybe Mike Quade holds Fox (or Miles) at third base and there are runners on the corners with nobody out and then maybe Ozzie Guillen lifts Torres for Octavio Dotel. The Cubs have hit Dotel well since he signed with the White Sox -- and maybe then the whole game turns out differently.

Lou compounded his mistake of not using Miles in the one possible place where he could actually have been useful, by sending him up to pinch-hit in the last of the eighth for PH Mike Fontenot, who had already been announced to PH for Angel Guzman, when Ozzie called on lefthander Matt Thornton.

Now, think about this for a minute. Miles hasn't done anything useful all year. He's hitting .226 vs. LHP coming into this game, and .095 (2-for-23) as a pinch-hitter. Why on Earth would you put him in that situation at all, much less trailing 3-0 in the 8th inning? Send up Andres Blanco. Or Geovany Soto. Or even Carlos Zambrano, for heaven's sake. Miles grounded to short, which was utterly predictable.

Thanks, Lou. It wasn't all your fault, but it was yet another situation in which you used the wrong player in the wrong situation at the wrong time. Lou seems, again, disinterested and defeated, as noted in his postgame remarks, where he said about three sentences and didn't take questions. Maybe it's time for him to go.

It just wasn't the Cubs' day, and that started two hours before game time when a snafu resulted in anyone who had actually had their ticket scanned on June 16 (the original game date, and that included me) denied entry until the Cubs released those barcodes from their system (it took a few minutes before they figured it out, even though they had had two other postponed and rescheduled games earlier this year where no such problems occurred). Fortunately, they worked it out and everyone got in with a minimum of fuss.

And, the Rockies actually cooperated Thursday by losing, keeping the Cubs six games behind (five in the loss column) with 30 to go. It's still not an impossible task, but winning a few in a row right now would be the thing to do. Maybe starting in New York. Keep the faith. I'll report from Citi Field after Friday night's game.

White Sox Gamble Again

Jesse — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:27:06 -0000

More photos » by Lenny Ignelzi - AP

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Kenny Williams might have just pulled off his second coup in the last two weeks.

Gambling on Jake Peavy was one thing. A Cy Young candidate when he's healthy, it's pretty easy to defend the $52 million Chicago will be shelling out for his services from 2010 - 2012, and maybe even that $22 million option in 2013 could look like a steal when the time comes. Now the Sox have added Alex Rios. He's having a down year, but there's no denying what he could bring to the table in the middle of the order for an aging lineup.

Like Peavy, Rios is owed a lot of money over the next few years. It's $58.7 million from 2010 - 2014, with a $13.5 million dollar option in 2015.

Prior to both of these shrewd maneuvers, the White Sox had approximately $45 million committed to their 2010 payroll, and roughly $28 million committed to 2011. (Figures courtesy of Cots Contracts.) With these two additions they still have room to maneuver, but I wonder how much.

Player	2010	2011
Jake Peavy, SP	$15,000,000	$17,000,000
Alex Rios, RF	$9,700,000	$12,000,000
Mark Buehrle, SP	$14,000,000	$14,000,000
Paul Konerko, 1B	$12,000,000	---
Jermaine Dye, RF	$1,000,000	---
A.J. Pierzynski, C	$6,250,000	---
Scott Linebrink, RP	$5,000,000	$5,000,000
Mike MacDougal, RP	$350,000	---
Dayan Viciedo (Minors)	$2,250,000	$2,250,000
Matt Thornton, RP	$250,000	---
Alexei Ramirez, 2B	$1,225,000	$1,225,000
Gavin Floyd, SP	$2,750,000	$5,000,000
Total	$69,775,000	$56,975,000

That's a lot of money. It doesn't include picking up options on Dye (add $11 million, if for some odd reason the Sox actually pick it up) or Thornton (add $2 million), paying Bobby Jenks more than $6 million for his second year of arbitration or Wilson Betemit around $2 million for his third, or money for first-year arb guys like John Danks and Carlos Quentin. Jim Thome, Octavio Dotel and Jose Contreras are all free agents.

If the White Sox are planning on duplicating this year's $95 million opening day payroll in 2010, it will be interesting to see how they choose to fill their open roster spots.

The genius behind both of these moves is that if they pay off and both Peavy and Rios play like they're capable of playing, Williams will have given Ozzie Guillen a pair of stud 29-year olds who inject high-level and prime-aged lifeblood that will keep Chicago's window of competetive ball open. The gamble, naturally, is that if Rios is closer to his '08 or '09 version than his '06 or '07 version, and/or if Peavy doesn't get and stay healthy, then Chicago has taken on over $100 million worth of contract for two guys.

I haven't always been a fan of the way Williams has run the White Sox, or the way he sometimes handles himself. But he made a couple of ballsy, high-risk, high-reward maneuvers these last couple of weeks, and nobody can accuse him of playing it safe or of not taking the risks necessary to put his club over the top. And the best part (for White Sox fans) is that it couldn't have come at a better time, whether you're thinking about 2009 or the future. Chicago has given playing time to 16 guys 32 or older just this year. This rejuvenation was necessary.

Reviewing Dayton Moore at the Deadline: 2007

royalsreview — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 03:51:04 -0000

Continuing our look back at Dayton Moore's performance at the trade deadline. For 2006, click here.

The 2007 Royals were the first Royals team since 2003 that did not lose at least 100 games, though at 69-93 they were hardly a factor in the AL Central. They reached the level of "not laughably bad", which is more or less where the Royals have stayed. In 2009, through 99 games, the Royals were 40-59. In 2007, they were 43-56. In a way, it should come as too much of a shock that this stagnation has occurred: after a very busy first year on the job, Dayton Moore has stopped aggressively shopping players.

The 2007 trade deadline was the beginning of this new phase, a phase that apparently will continue through 2009. Although the 2007 deadline did produce one of the better trades of Dayton's tenure, his inability or reluctance to do more makes the 2007 deadline an incomplete success

July 13, 2007: Dan Christensen traded to Tigers for Roman Colon. Christensen was one of the many Baird Era guys who found new addresses in 2006-7. A pitcher drafted in the fourth round of the 2002 draft, Christensen is now in the Seattle system. Considering the long odds that Christensen will ever contribute at the Major League level, snagging Roman Colon -- yes, a former Brave -- was not a bad move. Colon is no great shakes, but after spending 2008 in Omaha, he's appeared in 22 games with the Royals this season. He has a live arm, but little control (11 walks in 24 IP) and is your standard issue mediocre to poor bullpen arm. Then again, the Colon trade was less a case of Dayton's great scouting abilities than a case of the Tigers needing to part way with Colon. The Tigers likely gave Colon away for so little because he had punched Jason Kamuth -- who was trying to break up a fight between Colon and another pitcher -- so severly that Kamuth needed plastic surgery on his face. Cool!

July 25, 2007: Royals release Scott Elarton. Hours after a horrible Elarton start against the Yankees that had me questioning the meaning of life, Dayton parts ways with one of Allard's worst signings. Elarton was signed to a two year, eight million dollar deal for 2006-7. He was terrible. Moore showed a willingness to move on... from somebody else's mistake.

July 31, 2007: Octavio Dotel traded to Atlanta for Kyle Davies: An early high point of the Moore regime. Dotel had signed a one year, $5 million dollar deal, with a number of appearance escalators, in December. Everyone's assumption was that Moore had taken a chance on the oft-injured Dotel on the chance that, if healthy, he could be traded. Dotel made his first appearance with the Royals in late May, and eventually appeared in 24 games, notching 11 saves. On deadline day, this actually happened, with the Braves, yes the Braves, sending back the promising but inconsistent prospect Kyle Davies. Davies has started 46 games for the Royals since, but like JDLR and Odalis Perez, has turned in an ERA+ of 85. Davies has improved a little since his Braves days, though he hasn't made a great leap forward, and his numbers remain all over the place. His 1.8 WAR season in 2008 makes him one of Dayton's better pickups, especially considering the price paid was a partial season of Dotel.

That's it, two trades and a no-brainer DFAing.

The Colon trade was ok, but basically pointless. The Dotel-Davies trade was a very good deal however, probably the best trade of Dayton's career. (However, it's 2009 and Davies is in Omaha, so let's not go crazy.)

In spite of two ok-to-good trades, in retrospect, it is clear that a more aggressive approach would have better served the Royals long-term. The bottom line is that Dayton should have done more.

The biggest mistake was at second base. Not trading Mark Grudzielanek was an absolute mistake. It was a mistake at the time and it's a mistake now. Grudz was hitting .305/.346/.441 on July 30th, and was only owed ~2 million of his $4 million dollar salary. You have to find value for Grudz in that situation. And if you can't find the value you want, you settle for what you can get. Work with the salary and turn it to your advantage if you can in the form of another body. Whatever it takes. The Royals, of course, stuck with Grudz, and it worked out so well for them that they started 2009 with Mark Teahen playing second.

Dayton's second mistake at the 2007 deadline was holding onto David Riske. Riske had a 2.22 ERA with 11 holds at the deadline, and was only owed ~1 million in salary, with an affordable club option for 2008. Again, get something. Get a body. Take a bad contract from someone else, package it with Riske, and get two bodies. Now, of course, we know that Dayton loves collecting mid-tier veteran relievers.

Lastly, there's the possibility of buying at the deadline, as the Mariners just did. No, it wouldn't have been easy, but rebuilding the Royals was never going to be easy.

Supposedly, the Royals were going to rebuild around Dayton's scouting acumen. (Which frankly, should not be taken as a given anymore.) What better chance to display it than finding a 19 year old kid languishing in obscurity in some other system that turns into a useful player? Instead, Dayton quickly fell in love with his ability, real or otherwise, to scout 33 year old veterans, which is how we ended up with the Jose Guillen Generation.

Nearly all of Dayton's 2006 moves ended up being losing trades for the Royals, but most of them were chances worth taking. For whatever reason, after 2006, Dayton's mentality seems to have changed by 2007. Perhaps the success of the Meche signing convinced him he could win soon, especially with Greinke, Gordon and Butler lying around.

As it turned out, he was wrong then, and wrong now, and we're still paying for it.

White Sox Shopping Relievers?

Eli Greenspan — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 19:44:44 -0000

More photos » by Frank Gunn - AP

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The White Sox are looking to acquire a front of the rotation starter, but need to clear payroll in order to make a move. While teams are not looking to add too much payroll, adding a top reliever for a fringe prospect might be worth a team's while. Scott Linebrink has been shopped around by the Sox, but his contract, which will give him 10.5 million dollars through 2011, makes him harder to move

One reliever the White Sox could move is Octavio Dotel, who is making 6 million dollars in the final year of his contract. The Indians' bullpen has been inconsistent this season and would benefit from a veteran reliever with experience of the division.

More at The News-Herald.

White Sox 12, Orioles 8: Welcome to the 2nd half, y'all

Stacey — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 06:00:56 -0000

More photos » by Charles Rex Arbogast - AP

3 months ago: Baltimore Orioles' Nick Markakis celebrates his two-run home run, off Chicago White Sox starting pitcher John Danks, that also scored Brian Roberts during the third inning of a baseball game Friday, July 17, 2009, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

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The theme of tonight's game was bad pitching and sloppy defense. The Orioles scored 8 runs and still managed to leave 11 men on base. The White Sox scored 12 runs, 7 of which were scored by runners who reached base via walk or HBP. Each team made two errors in the field and of the 10 pitchers who were used in the game, only three didn't give up a run (Octavio Dotel and Tony Pena each pitched one scoreless inning for the White Sox, Kam Mickolio pitched 1.2 scoreless for the Orioles). Every other pitcher gave up at least two runs.

Jim Thome had a hell of a night, hitting two home runs, the first a 3 run HR and the second a grand slam. The funny/pathetic thing about the grand slam is that the three guys on based reached on two walks and a HBP. That's right, the Orioles walked two guys and hit another with a pitch to get to the man with over 550 career home runs. I didn't catch the distance on the Thome grand slam (hit off of Danys Baez), but it was basically a line drive to straight away center that only stopped when it hit a wall.

If you're looking for positives, there were plenty to be had in the offense. Nick Markakis and Adam Jones both homered, with Adam Jones' HR being a liner to the opposite field. Brian Roberts, Nick, Adam, Aubrey Huff, Nolan Reimold, and Melvin Mora all had multi-hit games, and even Cesar Izturis got in on the action with an RBI double. You might not believe it if you didn't see it, but one of Brian's hits was a bunt single. No lie! And Aubrey Huff hauled ass down the first base line for an infield hit in the 6th inning. Aubrey was obviously well rested from the break.

The O's and White Sox face off again tomorrow at 4:05 for the Fox game of the week. Thankfully Brad Bergesen will be on the mound so the national embarrassment should be kept to a minimum. Mark Buehrle goes for the White Sox.

Poll

Who was tonight's Most Birdland Player (MBP)?

Brian Roberts (2-3, 2 BB, bunt single, 2B, 3 R)

24 votes

Nick Markakis (2-5, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B, HR)

25 votes

Adam Jones (2-5, 2 R, 3 RBI, HR)

53 votes

Aubrey Huff (2-5, 1 RBI, busting ass for an infield hit)

9 votes

Melvin Mora (3-4, 2B, BB, 1 R)

9 votes

Nolan Reimold (2-4, 2B, BB)

4 votes

Cesar Izturis (1-5, RBI 2B)

1 votes

125 votes | Poll has closed

Tony Pena is Octavio Dotel's Successor

The Cheat — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 02:15:50 -0000

More photos » by Ross D. Franklin - AP

Tony Pena would be a poor man's Octavio Dotel if he didn't cost so damn much.

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In a post that was written only in my head during yesterday's off-day, I was trying to figure out where the most obvious, cost-effective areas would be for the White Sox to acquire talent as the trade deadline approached. They've got (or previously had) 4 obvious holes; third base (now covered by Beckham), second base (starting to figure things out with a platoon of Getz/Nix), center field (to be filled by Pods when Quentin comes back) and 5th starter (waiting for Richard/Poreda to figure things out). In each instance I seemingly talked myself out of pursuing an upgrade as I just wasn't imaginative enough to come up with realistic cost-effective solutions.

There was, however, one more area I could envision the Sox upgrading at what I imagined wouldn't be such a talent-cost burden; the bullpen, specifically another right-hander. I wasn't going to bother wading through possible trade targets -- there are just too damn many potential targets -- but in my mind, I was thinking about the David Riske deal of a few years back.

Enter Tony Pena in the White Sox annual trade with the Diamondbacks.

Pena is an Octavio Dotel-type fastball-slider pitcher, though he's never had a Dotelian ability to miss bats. His mid-90's fastball has helped induce groundballs at a much higher rate than Dotel, however. He's shown flashes of greatness, and at one point appeared to be Arizona's closer of the future. In fact, just this year, he had a 1.85 ERA, good component ratios, and held opponents to a .626 OPS through the season's first two months (a span of 24 appearances). But since June 1, he's been terrible, allowing 18 hits over his last 9.2 innings, good for a 1.038 OPS allowed and 10.24 ERA.

I can't see any major difference in his pitch f/x data since then, so I'm not really sure what to make of the recent ugliness aside from your usual reliever volatility. I'm not quite sure how to feel about the notion of the Sox scouting him during that stretch. On one hand, it could be a Matt Thornton type situation, where Don Cooper and the Sox scouting staff sees something that the Snakes don't, on the other ... Nick Masset.

Pena will be arbitration-eligible next year, which puts him under White Sox control through the '12 season, so this isn't a 1-year Riske-type hired gun acquisition. No, Pena is here to lighten the load on Linebrink, who has lost effectiveness in back-to-back days, and slide into the Dotel role as he probably moves on as a free agent this off-season.

Through that prism, I love the acquisition of Tony Pena. He's a live-armed middle reliever with some potential to work high-leverage situations, and he's not a one-and-done mercenary. But, and this is a significant but, why did it have to cost Brandon Allen?

Colin and I disagreed a bit about Allen's expendability just a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't willing to pencil Allen into the Sox opening day lineup for next year, but I had his ETA pegged for mid-season '10, with him taking over full time for Konerko-Thome in '11. I couldn't see the Sox moving him because it would seem to point them in the direction of staying old-and-slow at 1B/DH in the not-too-distant future. The Sox obviously have different ideas.

It's not like Allen was without his faults. It wasn't until a breakout campaign last year that I started paying attention to him again, and even then it was really only when he began tearing up AA. He didn't have the strike zone control of future major leaguer at the lower levels, though he has improved on that significantly in the last two seasons. For me, the bigger question is what happened to his power? His ISO has dipped to its lowest since he first hit full-season ball, and has struggled in his very short stint at AAA thus far.

It's for those reasons that I could probably very easily be convinced that trading Allen was the right move. I'm just having a hard time wrapping my head around moving him in a deal for what seemed to be the Sox 5th most pressing need, even if I do like the guy we got.

Ozzie Guillen: Ramirez Not As Good As Me

The Cheat — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 02:36:32 -0000

More photos » by Nam Y Huh - AP

Ozzie Guillen discusses the rules about inserting himself into the game at SS.

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The Game That Wouldn't End might have finished a lot sooner if Alexei Ramirez hadn't pulled Paul Konerko well off the bag with another one of his lackadaisical lollipop throws to first base. Ramirez clearly has a strong enough arm to play shortstop in the major leagues, but he's shown a reluctance to showcase that arm on plays that don't require it, turning routine, easy outs into bang-bang plays, making Konerko dig balls out of the dirt, and, on occasion, extending innings with completely avoidable errors.

His error Thursday may not have cost the Sox in the 'W' column -- the only stat that matters -- but it set the wheels in motion for Ozzie Guillen to burn through the bullpen, and shortens his pen options for tomorrow's game with the Cubs.

Octavio Dotel has pitched in 3 consecutive games, which means he'll probably be unavailable.
Bobby Jenks has pitched on back-to-back days. So while he's not off-limits, Ozzie might be reluctant to use him in anything but the highest-leverage of save situations.
Scott Linebrink, as I've discussed before, hasn't been good in over a year when pitching on back-to-back days, but he'll definitely be available. Oh joy.
DJ Carrasco threw 38 pitches one day after throwing 15.

The rest of the pen should be available, but they're all left-handed, which means Jim might get one of his wishes. Asked directly about Aaron Poreda's performance, Guillen gushed

"That's his first [win] in the big leagues?" Guillen asked after Thursday's game. "There's a lot more to come. When this kid comes out of the bullpen and is throwing strikes with cockiness, he'll be used a little more out of the bullpen now."

Poreda has breezed through his first 4 outings, using almost exclusively fastballs. He threw only one non-fastball on Thursday, a quality slider to strike out Mark Loretta. I've felt that Poreda could succeed from the bullpen for the last year now, and haven't seen anything to change my mind in his few appearances.

As for Ramirez, Ozzie was not nearly as positive

"We played 14 innings because we were lousy in the field," Guillen said. "Lousy and lazy in the field. I never criticize my players for making errors, I never will. But when you make a lazy error, that really [bothers] me."

"I made a big mistake when I said in January he's going to be a better shortstop than Ozzie Guillen. I never thought I was that bad."

I don't expect Ramirez to sit out any games of the Cubs series this weekend. But he at least got an earful from Ozzie after the press conference, which might be the kick in the pants he needs to finally throw over to first base like a professional.

* * * * *

Frank Thomas is 'close' to retiring, which isn't really news. It's not like teams are were beating down the door to sign the broken down slugger. But it's of interest to us here because the White Sox could have something planned. It sounds like both sides want to work something out.

"I hope so," he said. "This is family. The South Side made me who I am, and I had such a great career there, so I would love for that to happen. "Right now, I haven't officially retired. Once I officially retire, we can sit down and talk about what we want to do."

If the Sox plan a Frank Thomas night for sometime in September, where he either suits up one more time to 'retire' in a White Sox uniform, or just simply retire his number -- the statue comes later -- I'll be there. They could probably even make it a premium date. ;)

White Sox Ready To Clean House?

Matt Buggenhagen — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:21:25 -0000

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According to a report in the Arlington Heights Daily Herald, the Chicago White Sox may be interested in moving several key players.

The report indicates that with the July 31 deadline rapidly approaching the White Sox may be willing to part ways with veteran players, Jim Thome, Jermaine Dye, Jose Contreras and struggling relievers Octavio Dotel and Scott Linebrink.

When asked, White Sox GM Kenny Williams said, "I know a lot of people call us for pitching. We must have a little bit."

However, manager Ozzie Guillen believes the Sox should know where they stand on July 5 (No idea why he picked this specific date) following series against the Indians and Royals.

"That will dictate exactly where we are," Guillen said. "If we play good against them, that's going to be important to see what we're going to do in the summer. I expect them to go out there and play well, and that will dictate what we should do and not do."

Following yesterday's 5-2 loss to the Dodgers the White Sox have fallen to 33-37 a full six games behind the division leading Tigers.

Unless somehow the White Sox figure out how to put together some consistent offense I don't imagine them turning the ship around this year. They have been abysmal offensively batting a mere .218 as a team at home.

I would expect the White Sox to be sellers by the July 31 deadline (or the July 5 Ozzie Guillen deadline) and move at least two of their veteran players. Look for Jermaine Dye and possibly Octavio Dotel to be on the move.

Poll

What do you expect the White Sox to be by July 31

Buyers

31 votes

Sellers

154 votes

Neither

36 votes

221 votes | Poll has closed