Pablo Ozuna / Kevin Walker Bandwagon!

[Jabroni]

I know we have room for Ozuna but what about Kevin Walker? He has looked great so far. He fools hitters with his delivery and slow stuff. I would love to see him in our bullpen. I would like to hear your thoughts on this!

[EvilJester99]

If the Sox want Cotts to get back to being a starter maybe they will keep Walker up and send Cotts back to AAA. Only way I see him making the big club...unless Marte keeps struggling all year. .

[whitesox91403]

I know we have room for Ozuna but what about Kevin Walker?  He has looked great so far.  He fools hitters with his delivery and slow stuff.  I would love to see him in our bullpen.  I would like to hear your thoughts on this!

 

 

If Walker can continue this, I'd love to see Cotts back in AAA working on being a starter.

[GoodAsGould]

if Cotts gets sent down to work as a starter i rather see Arnie Munoz up instead of Walker,

[DBAHO]

If the Sox want Cotts to get back to being a starter maybe they will keep Walker up and send Cotts back to AAA. Only way I see him making the big club...unless Marte keeps struggling all year. .

Even if last season was an off year for Marte he was still insane against lefties with them only hitting .143 against him. And a 3.42 ERA isn't too bad at all for what many thought was a down year for Damaso.

[DBAHO]

if Cotts gets sent down to work as a starter i rather see Arnie Munoz up instead of Walker,

Munoz lost any chance he had of making the bullpen with his 1st performance in Spring Training.

[Cerbaho-WG]

Walker got beat up in the PCL last year, so having him on the 25-man roster would be a huge mistake.

[GoodAsGould]

i dont know how many times i need to say it, i dont give a damn how our players do in spring training, and Ozzie knows that spring training is not even close to the real deal. I suppose we should send Garland and Contreras to the minors too right and idonno hasnt Dye been struggling les send him down to AAA and put Borchard as our RF because spring training means so much.

[DBAHO]

i dont know how many times i need to say it, i dont give a damn how our players do in spring training, and Ozzie knows that spring training is not even close to the real deal.  I suppose we should send Garland and Contreras to the minors too right and idonno hasnt Dye been struggling les send him down to AAA and put Borchard as our RF because spring training means so much.

The difference is Contreras and Garland have guaranteed spots on the 25 man roster, Munoz doesn't. It's exactly like last year, when there was 1 spot open in the bullpen, and Jon Adkins had such a great Spring Training, he pretty much forced himself onto the team. For those borderline guys fighting for a spot, performances in ST can be important even though much shouldn't be taken into it.

[YASNY]

Munoz lost any chance he had of making the bullpen with his 1st performance in Spring Training.

 

I find that statement highly unlikely. One bad day at the beginning of ST doesn't ruin a guys chances.

[DBAHO]

I find that statement highly unlikely.  One bad day at the beginning of ST doesn't ruin a guys chances.

I know, but he didn't have much of a chance to begin with, which was what I was trying to say. And with Walker doing well so far, Munoz ain't going to be in our bullpen at the start of the season. End of Story.

[YASNY]

I know, but he didn't have much of a chance to begin with, which was what I was trying to say. And with Walker doing well so far, Munoz ain't going to be in our bullpen at the start of the season. End of Story.

 

Well, with that post you are using other arguments which have some validity. That first post was kind of "out there".

[elrockinMT]

I find that statement highly unlikely.  One bad day at the beginning of ST doesn't ruin a guys chances.

 

Folks, it's way to early to be thinking roster spots, hot players, transactions, etc. ST games have only been underway for 2 weeks. When you get to the last week then you will see how things have shaken out.Right now all you do is relax and soak up the sunshine of AZ. It's fun to see players doing well, especially ones we don't know much about, but right now it's all about letting a lot of folks play, stretch out and get some ideas for the future.

[CWSGuy406]

I agree with Cerb.

 

So what, Walker has had a few nice outings? Maybe a nice guy to call up in September, too...

 

But he shouldn't be anywhere near our major league roster if we want to compete. Hell, give me Man Hands, Diaz, or Adkins over him.

 

He has a career 4.10 ERA in the minors -- he's average in the minor leagues. The guy is nothing special, IMHO.

[DBAHO]

Well, with that post you are using other arguments which have some validity.  That first post was kind of "out there".

It could have been worse if I said someone like Freddy Garcia I suppose.

[bjm676]

I agree with Cerb.

 

So what, Walker has had a few nice outings?  Maybe a nice guy to call up in September, too...

 

But he shouldn't be anywhere near our major league roster if we want to compete.  Hell, give me Man Hands, Diaz, or Adkins over him.

 

He has a career 4.10 ERA in the minors -- he's average in the minor leagues.  The guy is nothing special, IMHO.

 

I agree, too. Adkins, Cotts, Bajenaru are all probably on the pitching horizon IMHO long before we get to Walker. Just because he's left-handed doesn't mean anything.

[Rowand44]

I agree with Cerb.

 

So what, Walker has had a few nice outings?  Maybe a nice guy to call up in September, too...

 

But he shouldn't be anywhere near our major league roster if we want to compete.  Hell, give me Man Hands, Diaz, or Adkins over him.

 

He has a career 4.10 ERA in the minors -- he's average in the minor leagues.  The guy is nothing special, IMHO.

I'm not ready to give him a roster spot or anything but he can pitch. Maybe he's one of those diamonds in the rough kenny sometimes finds. From what I've seen he works both sides of the plate, he changes speeds, he just knows what he's doing out there. Like I said, don't get me wrong I'm not saying he deserves a roster spot yet but I like what I see out of him.

[DBAHO]

Pretty much at the moment, Kevin Walker = Kelly Wunsch Clone at Charlotte. That contract goes up about $500,000 too if he makes the 25 man roster at some point IIRC.

[qwerty]

Pretty much at the moment, Kevin Walker = Kelly Wunsch Clone at Charlotte. That contract goes up about $500,000 too if he makes the 25 man roster at some point IIRC.

 

 

Only $100,000 of the $525,000 contract Kevin Walker signed with the White Sox today is guaranteed. This makes more sense. Walker will get the rest of the money if he makes the team out of spring training. He can also earn $50,000 in bonuses, $25,000 each for making 65 and 70 appearances.

[DBAHO]

Thanks for clearing that up qwerty.

[GoodAsGould]

i just think if Cotts goes to triple A and we need a 2nd lefty in the bullpen id feel a lot more better with Munoz out there than Walker also if he has a role like cotts last year it wont be that big of an impact on the team and gives Munoz good experiance.

[CWSGuy406]

I'm not ready to give him a roster spot or anything but he can pitch.  Maybe he's one of those diamonds in the rough kenny sometimes finds.  From what I've seen he works both sides of the plate, he changes speeds, he just knows what he's doing out there.  Like I said, don't get me wrong I'm not saying he deserves a roster spot yet but I like what I see out of him.

 

I respect your opinion, but your basing your opinion upon less than ten innings pitched. I certainly can't tell whether or not a pitcher "can pitch" based upon ten innings pitched -- or, at least make an honest opinion on the guy.

 

To me, at least, it seemed like he was pitching against scrubs -- and, while he did a good job of doing that, he also left a couple of pitches over the heart of the plate -- pitches that, if are going to a guy like Derrek Lee or Nomar Garciaparra -- would be crushed.

 

I'd like to think that Kenny might have found some diamond in the rough, but his IP in the minor leagues, and not even being able to produce a sub-four ERA tells me differently...

[Rowand44]

I respect your opinion, but your basing your opinion upon less than ten innings pitched.  I certainly can't tell whether or not a pitcher "can pitch" based upon ten innings pitched -- or, at least make an honest opinion on the guy.

 

To me, at least, it seemed like he was pitching against scrubs -- and, while he did a good job of doing that, he also left a couple of pitches over the heart of the plate -- pitches that, if are going to a guy like Derrek Lee or Nomar Garciaparra -- would be crushed.

 

I'd like to think that Kenny might have found some diamond in the rough, but his IP in the minor leagues, and not even being able to produce a sub-four ERA tells me differently...

Fair enough and I'm not basing my opinion on his results so far. I did say from what I've seen he can pitch. Like I said I need to see more of the guy but so far I like what I see.

[YASNY]

It wouldn't bother me one iota if either or both of these guys played their way onto the 25 man roster. That's what spring training and battling for a job is all about. I assume Cotts is penciled in the bullpen, but if Walker outperforms him, he deserves the shot to see if he can hold onto the job while Cotts tries to establish himself as a starter in Charlotte. If Cotts was an established major leaguer, I'd look at it differently. But, he has had limited success at the big league level. As for Ozuna, he's competeing against Valdez so it's not like Valdez's slot was carved in stone either. In both cases, let the best man win.

[witesoxfan]

I'd prefer Walker on the 25-man over Cotts, quite honestly. Doing that allows the Sox to have Cotts start in AAA, stretching him out for 06, when the Sox will almost undoubtedly need another starter in the rotation.

 

If he pitches well enough to make the roster, I have no problem with it at all. He has been a career NL pitcher, so the AL will not be used to seeing him(which may mean very little...but I'm sure there is some value to it).

 

The worst thing about him appears to be the amount of men he walks. In his career, he has 95 IP, and 58 BB...or a BB/9 of 5.50. But a career BAA of .213 isn't horrible by any stretch of the imagination.

 

Also, career wise, he appears to be Luis Vizcaino of 04...a career BAA vs RHB of .185, vs LHB of .247...scary thing is that his WHIP is the same for both(1.39)...what makes that as scary as it does is that his career BB/9 against RHB is 6.7(40 walks in 54 IP).

 

Like I said...I'm not opposed to having him on the roster over Cotts at all, especially if it means Cotts is starting in AAA...but if he is on the roster, it will be WALKER TIME.