If you had to name two adjectives that descirbe the Sox bullpen of 2012 to this point, they’d probably be along the lines of “young” and “solid.”
Coming in to this year, the bullpen looked like the weak spot of the team on paper. In fact, when the team headed to Opening Day in Texas, manager Robin Ventura had decided upon a ‘pen with four youngsters of the seven total relievers.
Photo courtesy FlickRiver.com (personal photo)
But to this point, the group has surprised the masses, for the most part. Rookie closer Addison Reed has been great in all pressure-packed, high-intensity situations so far as he’s converted all 7 of his save opportunities. Jesse Crain and Matt Thornton have been good set-up guys, as everyone expected. Hector Santiago is settling in to the lefty middle relief role nicely, and fire balling rookie Nate Jones has been flat out superb.
But obviously, that’s only five of the seven guys, as Will Ohman (5.40 ERA) and Zach Stewart (5.40 ERA) have struggled mightily. In recent games, we’ve seen the Sox trail, only to have Ohman and/or Stewart come in and put the game completely out of the Sox’ reach for a comeback.
If the team wants to win their division and be a good playoff team, you need to be solid top to bottom in the bullpen. As Ken Harrelson always says, “You’re only as good as your bullpen.”
So, the question is what exactly should the Sox do? It’s clear that in both Will Ohman and Zach Stewart’s cases, a 5.40 ERA won’t cut it.
Oh, boo hoo, Will. Photo courtesy ESPN Chicago
Transaction Ideas:
The White Sox do not have a lot of good long-term prospects on the mound in their farm system, but they do have some guys around the ages of 25-27 who could help the team for a shorter amount of time.
Since Jose Quintana has had a 2.05 ERA in the rotation, I don’t think he’ll be yanked out of that role. I do, however, see Humber being moved there when John Danks returns, unless he turns it around in his next start or two (which we’re all crossing our fingers for).
With Humber in the ‘pen, we’d have a much more lively arm than Stewart’s as the long man. Also for Philip himself, it’d give him some time to refine his mechanics in case we need him back in the rotation for the playoff push in the 2nd half of the season.
Since both Stewart and Humber are righties, that move would work out well. And heck, who knows, maybe Stewart could really use some time in Charlotte to fine tune his game.
Once upon a time, Stewart was a promising prospect for the Toronto organization. Photo courtesy NCTCAthletics.com
The bigger question revolves around the left-handed specialist, though. There are a couple of different ways the team could replace Ohman, which I obviously think is inevitable and entirely necessary.
They could go to the minors, where 25 year-old southpaw Charles Leesman is 7-4 with a 2.42 ERA in 13 starts. Maybe more realistically, there’s 27 year-old lefty reliever Donnie Veal, who has a 1.33 ERA in 18 appearances for the Knights.
Despite posting a high ERA for the 2009 Pirates, Veal went 1-0 in 19 relief appearances. Photo courtesy MLB.com
But with a bullpen that already lacks experience, a veteran arm would be ideal, especially considering that this proposed transaction would cut one of the three vets in the ‘pen. So, where to look? Since I think these things should be taken care of sooner rather than later, the only place to look is to the sure-fire sellers this summer: the Cubs, Padres, and Athletics.
The north siders have pieces that would fit on the south side in the rotation or the lineup, but not in the bullpen; so already we’re down to two teams. The Padres have a great option in Joe Thatcher, who shuts down lefties and is no “kid” at 31 years of age. Over in Oakland, Brian Fuentes is rumored to be available, and while he has struggled this year, he would be much better fit as a left-handed specialist than as a closer.
In both instances, they’d be cheap acquisitions that would help out the ‘pen in the later innings in addition to the middle innings, as Hector Santiago could moved out of a set-up role and into more of a middle/long relief role.
Now of course, there’s more options out there than the few I listed with Charlotte, San Diego, and Oakland. But either way, there are viable options out there, and in my opinion, now is the time for Kenny Williams to take care of retooling at these not-so-glamorous positions.
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White Sox, White Sox, Go Go White Sox!
By @zach_gropper, Creator and Managing Editor of GSB!