Not long ago, the White Sox acquired starter Francisco Liriano from the Minnesota Twins to bolster their rotation depth. It was then announced that the team would implement a 6-man rotation consisting of Chris Sale, Jake Peavy, Gavin Floyd, Jose Quintana, Francisco Liriano, and Philip Humber.
Grab Some Bench!’s own Luke Stanczyk discussed the benefits it could bring the team just last week.
A little over a week later, pitching coach Don Cooper told 670 The Score that the team would make the move back to a normal 5-man rotation after recently skipping Chris Sale and Jose Quintana’s most recent starts to give them more rest, as their innings totals have reached new personal highs.
Humber, as expected, is the odd man out. That’s just what happens when you can’t get your ERA down from around 6.00 and/or perform well at any better than an “every other outing” rate. He will be the bullpen’s long man, taking over for Nate Jones, who recently filled that role with decent success for a handful of days. Phil should be able to take a lot of pressure off the rest of the ‘pen’s arms.
Humber went from consistently solid in ’11, to dominant in early ’12, to terribly inconsistent (ESPN)
Whenever multiple innings need to be eaten up, Humber will be the guy; he obviously can do that. But Humber can have good stuff when he’s going well, so I think he may be able to flourish (that may be a bit generous, I know) in the bullpen when he can put the pedal to the medal and go all-out, since he won’t be facing nearly as many batters. Also, he serves as a pretty viable option to make a spot start. It’s certainly better than calling up a rookie and expecting him to come up big in a late-season game amongst a heated playoff race.
In case Humber struggles in the ‘pen, I assume Hector Santiago will get the call back up to be the long man. He’s been being stretched out since he was recently sent down to AAA, as his future with the ball club may indeed be as a starter.
But for someone who’s been around the block a time or two,Humber, who put together a very respectable 2011 season and threw the MLB’s 21st perfect game in the sport’s glorious history back in April, I don’t think success as a long man in the bullpen is too much to ask for. If it is, it may just be the last straw for Humber’s future in Chicago.
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Chris Sale and Jose Quintana are not injured; I think that’s worth clarification. Sale was going through a dead arm period, despite being pretty solid in Texas last weekend (outside of the 1st inning), and should be good to go as he makes his first start after 9 of days rest tonight versus the Royals, who have hit him well in 2012.
Quintana went through a couple mediocre starts, so Cooper and Manager Robin Ventura just thought some extra rest would be best. Look at me, I’m a poet and I didn’t even know it.