New Phil Rogers Article

[Loaiza21]

Good things aren't happening for White Sox

BY PHIL ROGERS

Chicago Tribune

 

CHICAGO - (KRT) - When the Chicago White Sox said their farewells at the end of September, they controlled pitchers who had combined for 91 victories in 2003. Look at them now.

 

Having failed to replace Bartolo Colon, Tom Gordon and Scott Sullivan with proven options, the Sox are down to 62 victories among the pitchers scheduled to begin spring training in a month.

 

This is not a good thing.

 

Unless Ken Williams stops spinning his tires and finds a way to pull off a trade or significant signing - and Greg Maddux, Sidney Ponson and Kenny Rogers are about the only reliable winners still unsigned - the Sox are going to have to count on a comeback from Dan Wright while giving guys like Jon Rauch, Enemencio Pacheco and Francisco Campos a chance to win spots in the rotation.

 

That is not a good thing either.

 

It's telling how badly the Sox's talent drain has been_and how little they have done to address it compared to other teams.

 

With pitchers who won only 62 games in 2003 under their control, the Sox rank below all but four American League teams_Detroit (51), Texas (49), Cleveland (46) and Baltimore (30). Even Tampa Bay has built a staff with more victories (65).

 

Kansas City outscored both the Sox and Minnesota last season but fell from first place in the AL Central because of a thin pitching staff. The Royals now appear deeper than the White Sox and Twins.

 

The current Kansas City staff has pitchers coming off years in which they won 80 games; the Minnesota staff (minus Eddie Guardado, LaTroy Hawkins, Eric Milton and Kenny Rogers) is at 68.

 

At the moment the Sox have the following options behind Esteban Loaiza, Mark Buehrle and Jon Garland:

 

Wright, who won 14 games in 2002 but went 1-7 with a 6.15 earned-run average last year after encountering elbow problems in spring training. He could be moved to the bullpen.

 

Scott Schoeneweis, who has a 5.28 ERA after 74 big-league starts.

 

Rauch, who has been bothered by injuries but enjoyed a productive season at Triple-A (7-1, 4.11 ERA in 1242/3 innings) after losing the fifth starter's job to Loaiza in spring training.

 

Neal Cotts, who was a stud in Double-A last year but got whacked around in two of his four big-league starts, including a costly meltdown at Yankee Stadium.

 

Pacheco, a hard-throwing right-hander who was a huge surprise at Double-A last year. Birmingham was 20-4 in his regular-season starts and he threw 13 shutout innings in the Southern League playoffs.

 

Campos, a 31-year-old right-hander from Mexico who was selected from Milwaukee in the minor-league portion of the Rule 5 draft. He has pitched great in winter ball, leading the Mexican Pacific League in victories (10), innings (90) and strikeouts (68) and twice has held his own in playoff matchups with Elmer Dessens. In their wildest dreams, some in the Sox system see him using that success as a springboard to big-league success, as Rodrigo Lopez did with Baltimore after leading Mexico to a Caribbean World Series title in 2002.

 

The other side: Paul Molitor and Dennis Eckersley go into the Hall of Fame in large part because they conquered their personal demons, which were cocaine and alcohol, respectively. Molitor wasn't amused to read Pete Rose's insinuation that he would have been in the Hall long ago if Major League Baseball was as forgiving about betting as those other vices.

 

"I understand what he's trying to say, if you want to call it a double standard," Molitor told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "But the point is, the one rule that everyone is read specifically every spring training is the rule regarding gambling on baseball and how it specifically talks about lifetime bans. That's very clear."

 

Molitor said he visited with Eckersley about their substance-abuse problems.

 

"We talked a little bit about that with each other," he said. "At different stages of your life, you encounter different battles. A lot about who you end up becoming and the character you develop is how you handle some of the things that maybe you're not so proud of, poor decisions, failures and mistakes. For me, getting involved in that area at that time in my life, dabbling into drugs and the party scenes as a youngster at the major-league level, it's hard for me to imagine it has been 25 years ago.

 

"It was real and problematic and could have easily cut short my career if I didn't get a grip on it quickly. But you learn from it and try to use your experiences to help other people. And it makes you appreciate things that are good."

 

Blindsided: Joe Carter remains in a state of shock after being knocked off the Hall of Fame ballot in his first year of eligibility.

 

A reliable run-producer who wrapped up Toronto's World Series victory in 1993 with a homer off Mitch Williams, Carter received only 19 of 506 votes, giving him fewer than the 5-percent total required to remain on the ballot. He joins Lou Whitaker and Kirk Gibson among the really good players shown the door in their first year on the ballot in recent years.

 

"Total disbelief," said Carter, a career .259 hitter with 396 homers and 1,445 RBIs in 16 seasons. "Total shock, just wake me if I'm dreaming. Not even to receive 26 votes_it just befuddles me and probably will befuddle me all the way to my grave."

 

Fernando Valenzuela and Keith Hernandez also fell off the ballot this year. They join Dave Stewart and Ron Guidry among the notables who have fallen off the ballot in recent years. Dale Murphy and Dave Parker are inching their way downward.

 

Bang for the buck: New Devil Rays closer Danys Baez is guaranteed $6.5 million for two years and an option but gets only $2 million in 2004. That's typical of the creative deals that have allowed general manager Chuck LaMar to add 13 big-leaguers for only about $11 million in `04 dollars (it doesn't hurt that St. Louis is paying $7 million of Tino Martinez's $7.5 million salary).

 

In addition to Martinez and Baez, Tampa Bay has added Jose Cruz Jr., Rey Sanchez, Geoff Blum, Eduardo Perez, Brook Fordyce, Paul Abbott, Trever Miller, John Halama, Mark Hendrickson, Deivi Cruz and Robert Fick.

 

"With the money we had to spend, we addressed a lot of issues," LaMar said. "It may not be as big of an off-season as some of the other clubs with more money, but for a team still developing young players it was a very productive off-season."

 

Even manager Lou Piniella seems satisfied, saying the `04 Devil Rays should be "a nice little ballclub."

 

The optimist's club: If Cory Lidle lived for Skyline chili or the chance to be an Opening Day starter, we could understand his enthusiasm over the one-year deal he signed last week with the Reds. But he went over the top in talking about the move.

 

"I did my homework and was excited," Lidle said about getting an offer from Cincinnati. "When I found out about how good that bullpen is and how that team hits, this is the place I want to be."

 

Perhaps no one told Lidle the Reds have parted ways with Sullivan, Scott Williamson, Gabe White, Kent Mercker and Felix Heredia since last July. Nor that the Cincinnati hitters led the National League in strikeouts while hitting .245, better than only Los Angeles.

 

Being a sinkerballer, Lidle might have wanted to research the Reds' fielding. They made the most errors in the majors last year.

 

One-sided stockpile: Montreal has 11 outfielders on its 40-man roster, including eight who hit left-handed and switch-hitter Carl Everett. The Expos' latest left-handed-hitting outfielder is Ryan Church, acquired from Cleveland in the Scott Stewart trade.

 

Sticking with the plan: The Texas Rangers insist on being old as well as bad. They have signed two 37-year-olds this winter_Brian Jordan and Eric Young. That gives them five players born in the 1960s, which is two more than the World Series champion Florida Marlins.

 

Last word: "I think the last two years, I didn't work hard enough, and I want to put my game in the high level where I used to be two years ago."_new Arizona Diamondback Robbie Alomar, who has seen his career batting average drop from .306 to .301.

[DBAHO]

Shows u how desperate things r gonna be if they r countin on Campos to compete for the #5 spot in our rotation.