Chisoxfn Posted April 23, 2006 Share Posted April 23, 2006 Cotts, Politte Draw Concern By Mike Matha Soxtalk.com Cockiness now seemingly aside (or perhaps, simply a slow start), the White Sox are back atop the Central Division looking to kick it into high gear and run away. They’ve won eleven of their last twelve, Jim Thome is among the league leaders in home runs, and after shaky go-rounds, Buehrle, Garcia, Garland, Contreras and Vazquez all seem to be on track. With an 12-5, start, they’re only one game off their 2005 pace...Click Here For the Rest of the Story Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chisoxfn Posted April 23, 2006 Author Share Posted April 23, 2006 I'm not too concerned with Cotts, but I do have some concerns with Politte namely because he's lost some velocity. Cotts still looks like the same pitcher as last year, the results just haven't been there. I expect him to get on a hot streak pretty soon though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chisoxfn Posted April 23, 2006 Author Share Posted April 23, 2006 Politte comes in the 9th and gives up two hits. I'm very concerned about Politte. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chisoxfn Posted April 23, 2006 Author Share Posted April 23, 2006 Looks like he was jsut a bit rusty (hasn't pitched since the 17th). His velocity looks a lot better and he gets a double play (did give up a run). 1 more out and this thing is over with. Best Cliff has looked in a while though (and yes I'm mostly paying attention to his FB, but as Hawk is saying that will help give him some confidence). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WCSox Posted April 23, 2006 Share Posted April 23, 2006 I'm not worried about Cotts. However, Politte's track record strongly suggests that he won't put up anything in the vicinity of last year's numbers. KW's going to have to make a trade for bullpen help before the deadline. Not necessarily one that involves big names, but we're going to need somebody better than Cliff, Logan, and Thornton. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitewashed in '05 Posted April 23, 2006 Share Posted April 23, 2006 Cotts just hasn't been locating well, I think he will be fine, but last year was sort of a career year for Cotts in the pen. I don't expect him to be as dominant, but he can definitley do better than he has shown. Then again for all I know he can be just as good as last year since he's just beginning his career. As far as Politte, I really hope he improves. He also hasn't been locating or pitching inside. While he did get lucky a lot last season he put up some good numbers. I don't think a mid 3 ERA is out of the question for him. Besides them two, we need at least 1 great arm in the bullpen. The only way we will know how Boone will do is if he gets consistent inning...which is unlikely since most of our games are close until the late innings. One thing that is true though is that our offense won't be supplying 6 run games everyday. They need to get their act together rather quickly or we could be in to some big trouble similar to the Indians. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AirScott Posted April 24, 2006 Share Posted April 24, 2006 QUOTE(WCSox @ Apr 23, 2006 -> 04:49 PM) I'm not worried about Cotts. However, Politte's track record strongly suggests that he won't put up anything in the vicinity of last year's numbers. KW's going to have to make a trade for bullpen help before the deadline. Not necessarily one that involves big names, but we're going to need somebody better than Cliff, Logan, and Thornton. Politte's numbers were so good last year, I wouldn't even begin to expect him to match those, but what would you say the vicinity would be? an ERA in the 2.60-3.00 range would do us a lot of good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonard Zelig Posted April 24, 2006 Share Posted April 24, 2006 (edited) QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Apr 23, 2006 -> 06:24 PM) One of the problems could be(might not even be a problem) is that our starters are going to go far in ALOT of these games, and Oz is going to be hard pressed to find spots for these guys. I think rust has alot to do with Cotts and Cliff struggling. I also think we are putting Boone in a bad place. Logan is a young kid that needs to see batters. He isnt getting that here, and when he is, its 7 or 8 days at a time. Get another SOLID arm this pen, and send Boone down, maybe even Thornton... Wouldn't Thornton have to clear waviers? Do you think he would? Edited April 24, 2006 by Leonard Zelig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WCSox Posted April 24, 2006 Share Posted April 24, 2006 QUOTE(AirScott @ Apr 23, 2006 -> 05:07 PM) Politte's numbers were so good last year, I wouldn't even begin to expect him to match those, but what would you say the vicinity would be? an ERA in the 2.60-3.00 range would do us a lot of good. Yeah, I guess that range would qualify as "in the vicinity," but I don't think that he'll get anywhere near that. I'm thinking ~3.50 in a best-case-scenario with a 4.00 being more likely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chisoxfn Posted April 24, 2006 Author Share Posted April 24, 2006 QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Apr 23, 2006 -> 03:24 PM) One of the problems could be(might not even be a problem) is that our starters are going to go far in ALOT of these games, and Oz is going to be hard pressed to find spots for these guys. I think rust has alot to do with Cotts and Cliff struggling. I also think we are putting Boone in a bad place. Logan is a young kid that needs to see batters. He isnt getting that here, and when he is, its 7 or 8 days at a time. Get another SOLID arm this pen, and send Boone down, maybe even Thornton... Thornton won't pass through waivers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobDylan Posted April 24, 2006 Share Posted April 24, 2006 QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Apr 23, 2006 -> 05:24 PM) One of the problems could be(might not even be a problem) is that our starters are going to go far in ALOT of these games, and Oz is going to be hard pressed to find spots for these guys. I think rust has alot to do with Cotts and Cliff struggling. I also think we are putting Boone in a bad place. Logan is a young kid that needs to see batters. He isnt getting that here, and when he is, its 7 or 8 days at a time. Get another SOLID arm this pen, and send Boone down, maybe even Thornton... Why get another solid bullpen arm if he's just going to rot away in the bullpen? Kenny got this five man rotation assembled so he wouldn't need anyone after Jenks, Politte, Cotts and McCarthy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve9347 Posted April 24, 2006 Share Posted April 24, 2006 they will both be fine, mike matha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rowand44 Posted April 24, 2006 Share Posted April 24, 2006 QUOTE(BobDylan @ Apr 24, 2006 -> 12:08 AM) Why get another solid bullpen arm if he's just going to rot away in the bullpen? Kenny got this five man rotation assembled so he wouldn't need anyone after Jenks, Politte, Cotts and McCarthy. That's a good point because right now we can't find any innings for these guys at all. Eventually we're obviously going to need a few of them but I really don't think it's going to be that much. Almost everytime out there we're going to get at least 7 innings out of our starters and with Bmac being able to go 2 when needed, we're hardly ever going to need the 5th and 6th guys in our pen to pitch in high pressure situations. Hell..so far this year we've only really needed 2 guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted April 24, 2006 Share Posted April 24, 2006 QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Apr 24, 2006 -> 09:35 AM) That's a good point because right now we can't find any innings for these guys at all. Eventually we're obviously going to need a few of them but I really don't think it's going to be that much. Almost everytime out there we're going to get at least 7 innings out of our starters and with Bmac being able to go 2 when needed, we're hardly ever going to need the 5th and 6th guys in our pen to pitch in high pressure situations. Hell..so far this year we've only really needed 2 guys. That was one of the big things I was saying going in to this season. Last year, the biggest times we needed the bullpen were: Starts by El Duque, Starts by Jose Contreras in the 1st half of the season, and 14 inning games. Mark averaged almost 8 innings a start IIRC, Garland about 7, Freddy just under 7, and JC in the 2nd half was about 7. We replaced El Duque with another 200+ inning guy. There just isn't going to be a monstrous need for the bullpen this year, especially given that when a 14 inning game shows up, we have 2 guys who are ex-starters in the pen who can throw long innings. We can quite literally afford right now to sit on our hands and wait for Cotts and Politte to work out whatever problems they're having, and it's just not going to cost us a lot of games, because there's just not a lot that they can do. We could run with a 10 man pitching staff right now and get away with it as long as our starters don't go down. Last season, Politte had a couple of rough stretches over the summer. None as bad as this current one, but he certainly was off for a few weeks. Hopefully he'll work things out. And remember, they all still get to work with Coop and AJ. If he can turn around Jose, Thornton, Garland, etc., Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoSox05 Posted April 24, 2006 Share Posted April 24, 2006 (edited) they've barely pitched. Why all the sudden this year is everything a "concern". So far this year we have had threads about concerns on Scott Pods Iguchi Thome Crede Anderson Garland Garcia Pollite Cotts Thorton Logan Jenks yet here we are in first place and tied for the best record in baseball. Edited April 24, 2006 by GoSox05 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobDylan Posted April 24, 2006 Share Posted April 24, 2006 QUOTE(GoSox05 @ Apr 24, 2006 -> 11:53 AM) they've barely pitched. Why all the sudden this year is everything a "concern". So far this year we have had threads about concerns on Scott Pods Iguchi Thome Crede Anderson Garland Garcia Pollite Cotts Thorton Logan Jenks yet here we are in first place and tied for the best record in baseball. Because they're the go to guys in the bullpen and after them...it ain't exactly pretty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fathom Posted April 24, 2006 Share Posted April 24, 2006 QUOTE(GoSox05 @ Apr 24, 2006 -> 05:53 PM) they've barely pitched. Why all the sudden this year is everything a "concern". I get concerned when Cotts has allowed more homers in about 5 innings than he did last season in about 70 total innings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Allen Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 Its just a matter of time before the bullpen will get a lot of work. They all made a ton of appearances last year. This year should be no different. Cotts isn't locating, but I think he'll be decent. I've been concerned with Politte since before spring training. The last time he made as many appearances as he did last year, the next season his ERA was around 6.00. Jenks seems to be coming around, although his fastball still seems to be AWOL from time to time. Logan goes from being thrown in to pitch to Hafner in a crucial situation, to not pitching in 10 days, and Thornton's lack of control during his career isn't going to be helped by not getting in a game. Eventually though, all will see some action, and I for one wouldn't mind Gload being replaced by a pitcher if they don't have a right handed hitting OF available. Ross may be a nice guy and a decent player, but his is a totally wasted roster spot right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rowand44 Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Apr 24, 2006 -> 07:03 PM) Its just a matter of time before the bullpen will get a lot of work. They all made a ton of appearances last year. This year should be no different. Cotts isn't locating, but I think he'll be decent. I've been concerned with Politte since before spring training. The last time he made as many appearances as he did last year, the next season his ERA was around 6.00. Jenks seems to be coming around, although his fastball still seems to be AWOL from time to time. Logan goes from being thrown in to pitch to Hafner in a crucial situation, to not pitching in 10 days, and Thornton's lack of control during his career isn't going to be helped by not getting in a game. Eventually though, all will see some action, and I for one wouldn't mind Gload being replaced by a pitcher if they don't have a right handed hitting OF available. Ross may be a nice guy and a decent player, but his is a totally wasted roster spot right now. A 12th pitcher would be as much a waste of space as Ross. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fathom Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Apr 25, 2006 -> 02:01 AM) A 12th pitcher would be as much a waste of space as Ross. For the 100th time, we need to replace Gload with a righty hitting outfielder. I can't believe we have to play Mackowiak against a lefty 3 weeks into the season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoSox05 Posted April 25, 2006 Share Posted April 25, 2006 (edited) QUOTE(fathom @ Apr 24, 2006 -> 06:02 PM) I get concerned when Cotts has allowed more homers in about 5 innings than he did last season in about 70 total innings. Yeah but did you really think that Cotts was gonna give up only one home run again this year. If you did, your living in a dream land. Politte and Cotts both pitched an inning of work last night giving up no hits and no walks. Edited April 25, 2006 by GoSox05 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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