Controlled Chaos Posted August 15, 2006 Share Posted August 15, 2006 Cotts: White Sox 'pen coming around MLBPLAYERS.com Left-hander Neal Cotts has a 3.18 ERA through his first 53 appearances this season. (Ron Vesely/Getty Images) The composition of our bullpen has changed a lot in the last year. I'm the only guy still active from the beginning of last season until now, and Bobby Jenks is the only other reliever who pitched for us in the playoffs. We've had some rough patches, but I really think we're coming around. We've made a couple trades, and some of our acquisitions from the beginning of the year are doing well and succeeding now. We've made adjustments and, as solid as our bullpen was last year, I think we're as strong or stronger in some aspects right now. It's a difficult job being a reliever; we're really under the microscope. If you're struggling at one part of the season, it's really important to have the depth in the bullpen to have a different guy who can get the job done any day. When we're all clicking together, it goes pretty freely. Some have said it's tough to duplicate last year's success, but most of the guys in the bullpen weren't here last year, so they don't really know what went on. You just go out there and try not to worry about life. When it's your turn, you get the ball and get the outs you need to get. We have a very hard-throwing bullpen now. The guys they've brought in all have tremendous stuff. A bunch of them are younger guys who just have great stuff. Once we get going, they'll do well. Change is a constant in baseball. Cliff Politte was a great teammate here and it was difficult to see him get released. He just struggled and couldn't get out of a slump. He wasn't making pitches. It was hard to see. It was hard to watch a guy go from pitching so well last season to a point where he couldn't buy an out. It's tough to lose a guy like Cliff, but by bringing in Mike MacDougal and David Riske, we've succeeded in filling that void. MacDougal is nasty. Anybody who sees his stuff, especially his sinker and slider, comes away impressed. He has filthy stuff. I'm just glad to see he's healthy this year with us. Even though some guys have left, though, we try to keep the same fun atmosphere in the bullpen. Bullpen coach Art "Cave" Kusnyer and bullpen catcher Man Soo Lee do their best to keep it entertaining. We go down there relaxed, and when it's time to get ready, we're ready to go. Our relievers don't have a lot of playoff experience, but I think as we get further into the season and the games take on more and more significance, everyone will rise to the occasion. The adrenaline, the atmosphere and the game take over at that point. When the pennant race kicks into gear, you're going to be ready. Whether you succeed or not is a different story, but you're going to be mentally and physically ready. I didn't have playoff experience before last season, either. But the lessons I learned are pretty simple: Just go out there, be competitive and be confident. That's the key. If you go out there and just throw strikes, it's just like any other game. You have to feed from the crowd, but stay within yourself. Neal Cotts, a 26-year-old left-hander in his third season with the White Sox, is the only reliever remaining from Chicago's Opening Day roster in 2005. This season, he's 1-2 with a 3.18 ERA in 53 appearances. He was 1-0 with a perfect ERA over six postseason appearances last season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitesoxfan101 Posted August 15, 2006 Share Posted August 15, 2006 (edited) Cotts with the Damaso Marte style 3.18 ERA....looks good on paper, but really he has had long periods of being brutal. However, back to the point....we have a damn good pen now. Edited August 15, 2006 by whitesoxfan101 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve9347 Posted August 15, 2006 Share Posted August 15, 2006 QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Aug 15, 2006 -> 11:47 AM) Cotts with the Damaso Marte style 3.18 ERA....looks good on paper, but really he has had long periods of being brutal. However, back to the point....we have a damn good pen now. incredibly brutal. so much so, matt thornton is now our top lefty option out of the pen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hi8is Posted August 15, 2006 Share Posted August 15, 2006 QUOTE(Steve9347 @ Aug 15, 2006 -> 04:47 PM) incredibly brutal. so much so, matt thornton is now our top lefty option out of the pen. well, considering how much of a badass thornton has become, thats more a complament to him then it is a knock on cotts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoodAsGould Posted August 15, 2006 Share Posted August 15, 2006 Cotts has certainly not been the same as he was last season but some of you make it seem like he is politte out there. His era is a little deceptive but its no where as much as Marte's was last season. It should be high 3's low 4's probably with how he pitched while Marte's should of been around 6-7. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockRaines Posted August 15, 2006 Share Posted August 15, 2006 QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Aug 15, 2006 -> 12:07 PM) Cotts has certainly not been the same as he was last season but some of you make it seem like he is politte out there. His era is a little deceptive but its no where as much as Marte's was last season. It should be high 3's low 4's probably with how he pitched while Marte's should of been around 6-7. That bad part about Cotts is his inherited runners scoring avg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitesoxfan101 Posted August 15, 2006 Share Posted August 15, 2006 QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Aug 15, 2006 -> 12:07 PM) Cotts has certainly not been the same as he was last season but some of you make it seem like he is politte out there. His era is a little deceptive but its no where as much as Marte's was last season. It should be high 3's low 4's probably with how he pitched while Marte's should of been around 6-7. Cotts inherited runners numbers are terrible, if he comes in with men on base, they are a lock to score. If your in the pen and have that label accurately attached to you (especially as a lefty), it's a big problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted August 15, 2006 Share Posted August 15, 2006 Hopefully Cotts will come around before the end of the year. If he does find some sort of groove again...then I don't know how anyone's going to score on our bullpen. The additions KW has made to it this year are just beautiful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milkman delivers Posted August 15, 2006 Share Posted August 15, 2006 QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 15, 2006 -> 12:33 PM) Hopefully Cotts will come around before the end of the year. If he does find some sort of groove again...then I don't know how anyone's going to score on our bullpen. The additions KW has made to it this year are just beautiful. Gee, thanks. ::blushes:: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbeFroman Posted August 15, 2006 Share Posted August 15, 2006 When you consider what Kenny paid to get Thornton (and for that matter McDougal), he's done an outstanding job improving the bullpen. Its funny... he's been really good a picking out guys who were underrated and bringing them in to piece together a solid bullpen: Shingo was extremely solid for a while; The Angels basically gave up on Jenks... So did Seattle with Thorton; McDougall's price was pretty low considering it was an intra-division trade; Throw those moves together with the Contreras-Loaiza swap, the Dye signing, Iguchi signing, and the general construction of our bench... Thats one helluva job of general managing... I don't care how bad Todd Richie was Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ginger Kid Posted August 15, 2006 Share Posted August 15, 2006 QUOTE(AbeFroman @ Aug 15, 2006 -> 11:22 AM) Thats one helluva job of general managing... I don't care how bad Todd Richie was Truly. It's why he's the best, IMO. And Ritchie wasn't his fault. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WHarris1 Posted August 15, 2006 Share Posted August 15, 2006 But Soxpranos told me our bullpen sucks... Updated... IP ER Hits BB WHIP ERA Jenks 55.00 22 48 21 1.25 3.60 Riske 22.33 7 17 12 1.30 2.82 McCar 69.00 26 52 22 1.07 3.39 MacDoug 6.67 1 6 2 1.20 1.35 Cotts 45.33 16 46 15 1.35 3.18 Thornt 40.67 16 33 18 1.25 3.54 Total: 239.00 88 202 90 1.22 3.31 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WCSox Posted August 15, 2006 Share Posted August 15, 2006 QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 15, 2006 -> 10:33 AM) The additions KW has made to it this year are just beautiful. Agreed. If the Sox fall short this season, it won't be because KW didn't put them in the best possible position to win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitesoxfan101 Posted August 15, 2006 Share Posted August 15, 2006 QUOTE(The Ginger Kid @ Aug 15, 2006 -> 01:33 PM) Truly. It's why he's the best, IMO. And Ritchie wasn't his fault. And even if it was, we gave up Kip Wells, Josh Fogg, and Sean Lowe?? None of them have been any better than mediocre in their career. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milkman delivers Posted August 15, 2006 Share Posted August 15, 2006 QUOTE(WHarris1 @ Aug 15, 2006 -> 01:59 PM) But Soxpranos told me our bullpen sucks... Updated... IP ER Hits BB WHIP ERA Jenks 55.00 22 48 21 1.25 3.60 Riske 22.33 7 17 12 1.30 2.82 McCar 69.00 26 52 22 1.07 3.39 MacDoug 6.67 1 6 2 1.20 1.35 Cotts 45.33 16 46 15 1.35 3.18 Thornt 40.67 16 33 18 1.25 3.54 Total: 239.00 88 202 90 1.22 3.31 McCarthy has a 4.12 ERA, 57 hits, 23 BB, and a 1.26 WHIP. Did you factor out his one start or something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WHarris1 Posted August 15, 2006 Share Posted August 15, 2006 QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Aug 15, 2006 -> 02:56 PM) McCarthy has a 4.12 ERA, 57 hits, 23 BB, and a 1.26 WHIP. Did you factor out his one start or something? Yeah I took out his start as only to count how they perform coming out of the pen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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