At Home Plate - White Sox have Close to Enough

Written by Jonathan Leshanski (Contact & Archive) on July 17, 2010

Just about a month ago I thought the White Sox were on the verge of throwing in the towel and becoming sellers before the non waiver trading deadline at the end of the month. What a difference a month makes as the White sox come into the second half as the first place team in the AL Central.

Barring a big swoon over the next two weeks, it's safe to say that the Chi Sox will actually be buyers in the next few weeks, but unlike a lot of contenders and wanna-be contenders the White Sox won't be seeking too much on the open market. In fact their one glaring need seems to be a legitimate starting pitcher who can slide in and take the place of Jake Peavy, who underwent season ending surgery over the All-Star break.

White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen would love some reinforcements.

Photo by Keith Allison, used under creative commons license.

And while there is no one obviously available with Peavy-in-his-prime-type stuff there are plenty of good pitchers out there who could be difference makers during what looks to be a heated title drive.

But just how much are the White Sox willing to pay in what is clearly a seller's market when it comes to pitching? That's a big question for an organization that has been successfully producing players for the Major League roster and who have several promising prospects on the radar screen with ETA's in the next season or two.

Even Roy Oswalt with his hefty $16 million dollar salary probably won't come as cheaply, in terms of prospects, as we thought a month ago as even more teams have managed to lever themselves into contention and are poised to make a second half run.

Manager Ozzie Guillen has made it clear in conversations that he doesn't think this team needs anything -- not even another starter unless he comes cheaply. Guillen feels that the Sox have what they need within their own organization and thinks that one of the young pitchers, probably 6'3 Daniel Hudson, can handle the job and learn as he goes.

That seems a bit of a reach considering Hudson's resume includes just 22 games at the AAA level and that his few Major league innings, including two starts thus far in 2010 haven't shown much that anyone could call dominance. After him the Sox don't seem to have anyone who stands out and is ready for the pressure of a playoff race.

That could be exactly why GM Kenny Williams needs to do some shopping even if just for a rental. Unlike Guillen, Williams doesn't seem to thrive on the tightrope of public opinion, nor should he. He's a GM who wants to field a winning team and this team is ripe for a run at the division, maybe more.

While his job doesn't seem to be in jeopardy, making a bad decision and either failing to add a needed pitcher, or adding one and still falling short, certainly won't help his cause unless ownership is on board with whatever decisions are made.

Either way we'll all be watching Hudson's next two starts to see just what the kid can really bring to the table. He certainly doesn't have frontline stuff and projects out to a three or four starter rather than an ace, but that's enough to make him very tradable in a package if the White Sox do decide to make a move.

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Comments (5)

I think it's good for Jake Peavy to replace him with someone else because he deserves to have a long rest. I know he's a good player particularly in pitching but he's been headed to the disabled list again. Less than a month after his return from shoulder surgery, Peavy left the game Sunday against the Detroit Tigers with a strained right groin.

Decades of mediocrity followed for the White Sox until the 1950s, when perennially competitive teams were blocked from the playoffs by the dynastic New York Yankees.

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Combine that ability to drive the ball out of the ballpark with an all-around solid pitching staff, and the White Sox could be potentially dangerous down the stretch.

Thanks for the article... I agree with the previous poster regarding jobs.

Nice deliberation to White Sox. Hopefully, Daniel Hudson could meet what Guillen expects from him or else he'll feel he was wrong to trust Hudson in the field.