State of the Pen: With Putz In, Carrasco Out

[Chisoxfn]

State of the Pen: With Putz In, Carrasco and Dotel Out, It's a Wash for the Sox

 

Along with not being able to hit or field very well, the White Sox bullpen was a mess much of 2009. With Bobby Jenks proving unreliable, Scott Linebrink buckling halfway through, and the rest minus Matt Thornton and DJ Carrasco just sorta being there, it needed to be addressed this off-season. So far, it's one talented-but-injured guy in (JJ Putz), and two less-talented-but-healthy-and-equally-effective-relievers out (Carrasco, Octavio Dotel)....The Whole Story, Including Our Depth Chart

[Rowand44]

I expect Putz to be just fine and I really believe that Tony Pena is going to be an absolute stud this season. Jenks and Linebrink still worry me to death though. Thornton is going to do his thing and I believe Huddy will provide quite a boost to the club. Lots of question marks obviously but if(big if) Jenks can bounce back then I think we'll have a real solid pen, no matter what Liney brings to the table.

[greg775]

It would be nice if our rotation was as good as people think and those guys could go 7 every game.

Then I'd like our bullpen or at least think it's acceptable.

You go five plus innings and it's too many arms being trotted out there.

Thornton and Bobby are good; pray for rain with the rest of 'em. Hopefully JJ wil be OK and Pena will be serviceable. I think we know what Linebrink is and it's not good. I'm glad Dotel is gone. Let Hudson or somebody try it as well in his place.

[spiderman]

The state of the bullpen depends on the success/failure of the starting rotation. The White Sox are expecting 6-7 IP on most nights from their starting pitchers (outside of perhaps Freddy Garcia). If that holds true, the White Sox only need to worry about 2-3 IP per night. Assuming the White Sox keep Bobby Jenks and Matt Thornton, they have their 8th and 9th inning options. Tony Pena and J.J. Putz will be in the mix as well, but both are coming off underwhelming seasons. Both have the ability, assuming they are healthy, to be pretty nasty. So, in a perfect world, the White Sox can mix and match in the 7th and 8th innings with Thornton, Putz and Pena in order to get to Jenks in the 9th. Randy Williams has value against lefties as well so I'm sure they will work on using him where he can be most effective (vs lefties), and, of course, Scott Linebrink. One thing that I would avoid doing with him is using him on b2b in the 1st half of the season. I'm not sure if he becomes worn down as the season progresses or if other teams simply figure him out, but he'd be a guy I'd prefer using only in the 5th and 6th innings of games. Finally, the long reliever will be probably Sergio Santos, Carlos Torres or Daniel Hudson to fill out the bullpen.

 

So, obviously, we do have 3 guys (4 if you count Jenks) - Pena, Linebrink and Putz - who need to bounce back this season, but they, on paper, shouldn't have to be overworked with our rotation being strong.

[chw42]

Since Carrasco is gone, would you guys be okay with Hudson as long relief our would you want him to be down in the minors starting to gain more experience?

Edited December 15, 2009 by chw42

[SoxAce]

I expect Putz to be just fine and I really believe that Tony Pena is going to be an absolute stud this season. Jenks and Linebrink still worry me to death though. Thornton is going to do his thing and I believe Huddy will provide quite a boost to the club. Lots of question marks obviously but if(big if) Jenks can bounce back then I think we'll have a real solid pen, no matter what Liney brings to the table.

 

As do I, maybe not a "stud" per say, but definitely pretty damn good for us. I also wonder if the sox will carry 12 pitchers this season, as it has been speculated they might go 11 because of the stronger rotation. Honestly, I feel this team has as many question marks as last year personally going into the season. (How is Vizquel and Jones gonna do? Is Putz gonna pitch well like his Seattle years? Is Juan Pierre gonna not be worthless? How is Alex Rios gonna do this time around? Will Beckham hit the sophomore slump? Is Freddy gonna pitch well? etc.. etc..)

[Chisoxfn]

By the way, what did you guys think of the format? We are going to try to do more pieces using the slide-show format.

[JDSox]

Tony Pena was lights out in AZ up until last year. Most people thought he should be closing over then-closer Brandon Lyon.

 

He should have a nice rebound year, despite the move to the AL. I think he is going to surprise some Sox fans this year.

 

 

 

But then again, I said that about Linebrink when he came over from the NL....

Edited December 15, 2009 by JDSox

[Mattchoo]

Tony Pena was lights out in AZ up until last year. Most people thought he should be closing over then-closer Brandon Lyon.

 

He should have a nice rebound year, despite the move to the AL. I think he is going to surprise some Sox fans this year.

 

 

 

But then again, I said that about Linebrink when he came over from the NL....

 

The first half of the first year Linebrink was here he was amazing. Then wasn`t there a cubs game that took place where he gave up back to back homers in the 8th or 9th inning resulting in a 2-1 or 3-2 loss. He kind of went down hill after that... i am going from pure memory here and didn`t verify stats or game logs for this post....

Edited December 15, 2009 by Mattchoo

[monomach]

I don't see how the pen is any better than last year.

 

We ditched Carrasco, who was underrated and picked up a guy that no one is sure still has it.

 

We'll still have Ozzie using an amazing lefty-only guy (Randy Williams) against righties.

 

On the other hand, the rotation is so good that the pen should be "good enough."

[Chisoxfn]

I don't see how the pen is any better than last year.

 

We ditched Carrasco, who was underrated and picked up a guy that no one is sure still has it.

 

We'll still have Ozzie using an amazing lefty-only guy (Randy Williams) against righties.

 

On the other hand, the rotation is so good that the pen should be "good enough."

Linebrink, Pena, and Jenks should all be better than last year. That alone should make them significantly better.

[Mattchoo]

I don't see how the pen is any better than last year.

 

We ditched Carrasco, who was underrated and picked up a guy that no one is sure still has it.

 

We'll still have Ozzie using an amazing lefty-only guy (Randy Williams) against righties.

 

On the other hand, the rotation is so good that the pen should be "good enough."

 

I was never that much impressed with Carrasco. He would come into a lot of games when we were losing by 5+ runs early. To me, it is easier to pitch 4 innings when your team is losing 6 to 1 in the 3rd, then to pitch 1 inning when it is 4-3 in the 7th or 8th.

[monomach]

Linebrink, Pena, and Jenks should all be better than last year. That alone should make them significantly better.

"Kerry Wood and Mark Prior should be fine this year, we're going to win the world series!"

[Chisoxfn]

"Kerry Wood and Mark Prior should be fine this year, we're going to win the world series!"

They had injury concerns, the guys I'm mentioning don't really have them. Linebrink has been very healthy over his career as has Pena. Jenks has been pretty healthy in a Sox uni.

[WHITESOXRANDY]

I think the last spot in the pen should go to either Jon Link or John Ely.

[justBLAZE]

I think the last spot in the pen should go to either Jon Link or John Ely.

[YonderLaroche]

It looks very good on paper, but I see a Linebrink meltdown 2nd half (after dominating with 2.00 era til July, then picks up 5 losses in a row when Ozzie refuses to find a new setup guy), Randy Williams will get a full season of suckage, Thorton will dominate, Jenks DL stint, Putz takes over closer role, Pena does good, Carlos Torres takes over for Carrasco and puts up better #'s.....

Edited December 16, 2009 by b-Rye

[SouthsideDon48]

I think the bullpen will be something like this:

 

Closer: Jenks

Set-up: Thornton

Set-up: Putz

MR: Pena

MR: Linebrink

LOOGY: Williams

Long-relief: Torres

 

I think Hudson should be in AAA getting full-time starts every 5 days so that he can be on a routine and waiting in the wings in case something happens to Garcia in the rotation.

 

I also wouldn't mind upgrading Williams with a better left-handed reliever, and bump Linebrink down another spot.

[southsider2k5]

Since Carrasco is gone, would you guys be okay with Hudson as long relief our would you want him to be down in the minors starting to gain more experience?

 

It is going to be Santos versus Hudson for the last spot, I believe. I do think the Sox will bring in another arm or two as the off-season winds down, and people get desperate for jobs.

[ThunderBolt]

do think the Sox will bring in another arm or two as the off-season winds down, and people get desperate for jobs.

I stumbled across Greg Miller’s name in the list of minor-league free agents. Miller was a 1st round pick for LAD, a couple years back, he's a left-handed pitcher who was on the fast track to the majors before sustaining a shoulder injury in spring back in 2004, and has since struggled in his recovery and his transition into a relief pitcher. Miller had the best curveball and slider for a couple of years running in Baseball America. Despite his struggles over the last couple of years, Miller has a career minor league k/9 of 9.6 .I’d like to the see Sox take a chance on guys like him come spring, because Randy Williams is anything but a sure thing. These are the types of risks we can afford to take.

[Eminor3rd]

I think it's solid. Though if Jenks gets traded, less so.