According to Ozzie Guillen, Kenny Williams isn't giving up on the 25-man roster just yet. Joe Cowley thinks change will first manifest itself in new coaches. A new hitting coach, a new bullpen catcher (Mark Salas has had it too good for too long) ... you know the deal -- the "somebody's gotta do something!" move before somebody actually has to do something.
Williams' vote of confidence/stalling tactic won't be enough to quiet the masses chanting for more heads to roll. And we're starting to see that here.
So, in order to steer the discourse into more fruitful discussion, I put together a first draft of what we can expect from a White Sox fire sale, should they continue their slide out of contention.
I put the 25-man roster and a few extras into seven different categories based on their situations. The order of the players roughly represents how firmly entrenched they are in that group. For instance, Mark Teahen and Alex Rios are both in the untradeable group, but Rios has a much better chance of a team kicking his tires over the next two months, so Teahen is listed first, and Rios last.
Feel free to add your own suggestions, ideas and enhancements. We're all in this together, gang!
Have to be flipped
No. 1: Andruw Jones. Scott Boras is his agent, so it's not like there's any hope of a goodwill re-signing if he managed to be a solid player for six months instead of two this time around. He's been a nice story and a crowd-pleaser, but he's not going to even be a Type B free agent.
No. 2: J.J. Putz. There are signs that he's close to being the guy he was in Seattle. If he puts it all together, he could be the kind of reliever you could get a halfway interesting prospect for.
No. 3: A.J. Pierzynski. Everybody seems to be inagreement withthisone. Some salary relief plus the opportunity tolet Tyler Flowersgethis feet wet in a low-pressure situation seems to bethe bestway to make lemonade out of 2010's lemons.
No. 4: Bobby Jenks (theoretically good). Granted, he's untradeable in his current state. This is entirely based on an imaginary world in which he can string together 1-2-3 innings once in a while. The Sox could very well non-tender him next year, so if they can get something for him by the deadline, they should go for it.
Could be moved
No. 1: Freddy Garcia. The Sox have his replacement ready in Daniel Hudson, but Garcia's situation is more than a guy overachieving on a cheap contract. He's related to Ozzie Guillen, and he flopped with three teams in between successful stints with the White Sox. Teams still might be scared by his track records regarding both health and performance for non-Sox organizations. Ergo, Garcia and the Sox might be a comfortable combination that won't break the bank.
The 10-and-5 kids
No. 1: Paul Konerko. He could very well accept a trade to acontender, but he's not going to Baltimore. Very limited market, but movable, especially with the way he's playing now. I have no strong feelings on this one.
No. 2: Mark Buehrle (on July 6). There would be a limited but credible market for him as well, but trading Buehrle would cause an uprage and outroar among Sox fans, especially among the fickle segment of the fanbase that is responsible for attendance fluctuations. This one could be filed under the testicle section below for those with derring-do.
Selling too low
No. 1: Carlos Quentin. Since he unwisely turned down the contract Gavin Floyd agreed to, Quentin's salary trajectory should be fairly low as he enters arbitration. Holding onto him would be the smart move, in the increasingly unlikely event that he reverts to 2008 form. And if he doesn't, he is still a good bet to be worth his 2011 salary. Further bridges will be crossed when we get to them.
No. 2: Alexei Ramirez. He's only making $1.1 million, and the Sox need a second guy to play a middle infield position. He'll probably be perpetually disappointing when thinking about how fun he was to watch his rookie year, but he's serviceable.
No. 3: Gavin Floyd. I mentioned before that Floyd is apparently a slow starter. After eight starts:
- 2009: 44.1 IP, 7.71 ERA, 1.87 WHIP
- 2010: 45 IP, 7.00 ERA, 1.71 WHIP
On the ninth day start last year, Floyd rose again and shut out the Pittsburgh Pirates over eight innings. So this excuse will be running out of time shortly, but J.J. thinks he's going to be fine, too.
No. 4: Gordon Beckham. Just in case anybody's thinking about it. Guillenis benching him for the Detroit series; we'll see if that helps.
Untradeable (without lots of cash or other sacrifices)
No. 1: Mark Teahen. The three-year extension given to Teahen might be known as Williams' Folly. Currently rangeless and batless, and on track to make $5.5 million in 2012.
No. 2: Scott Linebrink. Another $5.5 million guy. The Sox might be able to save themselves a million at next year's deadline.
No. 3: Juan Pierre. He's playing respectable, borderline enjoyable baseball right now, but nobody's going to give up John Ely for him.
No. 4: Bobby Jenks (current state). Too much salary to take on,not enough future gains.
No. 5: Jake Peavy. He's going to have to last a full year before people buy into him completely.
No. 6: Alex Rios. Remember, taking him off the Blue Jays' hands for $20,000 was seen as controversial. He's been every Sox fan's dream in center this year, but I don't think eight awesome weeks are enough to sway most GMs to give up commensurate talent for him.
Your balls are showing
No. 1: John Danks. He's really, really good. Unfortunately, he knows he's really, really good, and hasn't signed an extension even buying out arbitration years, much less a year of free agency. Since he hasn't granted the White Sox front office any cost certainty yet, it's possible that he could be moved. And if you want to change the shape of the young, major-league-ready talent pool on the White Sox, this is the guy who could make it happen. Hey, he's worth at least Jose Lopez, at least.
No. 2: Matt Thornton. The top left-handed setup man in the league, and very affordable for this year and the next. The risk is removing the only sure thing out of the Sox bullpen, and exposing fans to torturous turns of events in the late innings, night after night. The reward is that he's only a reliever, and could fetch an everyday type player in return.
No. 3: Daniel Hudson. With four starters locked into place through the end of 2011, I could see him being included in a seemingly lateral move, just like Brandon McCarthy was.
No. 4: Tyler Flowers. I'm not sure what this would accomplish, but these things happen, so I'm more or less just sayin'.
No. 5: Sergio Santos. Santos is kind of an odd duck here, but he's closer material in an organization lacking lights-out relievers. So it would take serious conviction -- or knowledge of a burgeoning injury -- in order to move him.
Irrelevant
Ramon Castro
Tony Pena
Omar Vizquel
Mark Kotsay
Jayson Nix
Randy Williams
All these guys would be DFA'd before anything else. I considered putting Pena under the "selling low" section, but I'm just too apathetic about him to give him even that much credit.
A word about replacements
I'm not a huge fan of calling for promotions out of frustration. Let's take Dayan Viciedo, whose name will likely be a popular one going forward.
Right now, he's hitting .288 with a .511 slugging percentage. Both of those are great for a guy at his age in Triple-A. He has an OPS of 1.002 in May, which is even better.
Drill down, however, and there are some huge red flags.
*Walk/strikeout ratio. He's drawn four walks. He's struck out 32 times. This is untenable.
*Left/right splits. Viciedo is hitting .407/.448/.815 against lefties, and .259/.291/.438 against righties. Moreover, he's struck out 29 times while drawing just two walks against righties. He might be able to help the Sox against lefties a little right now, but it would come at the expense of developing any kind of competence against the majority of pitchers.
*Home/away splits. His numbers are aided by tiny Knights Stadium -- his OPS is 400 points higher at home (1.074 to .672).
Viciedo is making great strides after a scary first few weeks at Triple-A, but he still has a lot to learn. He doesn't need more on his plate (literally, too).
The same goes for Jordan Danks, who needs to show improvement in his strikeout rate, and Brent Morel, who is getting the job done at Double-A but lacking walks and extra-base hits. You could put these guys on the Sox, and it might be entertaining for about two weeks before everybody gets itchy again.
There are a lot of toxic hitters on the 25-man roster right now, but there's no point in contaminating even more position players for no better reason than wanting to watch something different.
It may not be what anybody wants to hear, but we're just going to have to take this one like men. That goes for the ladies, too.
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Minor league roundup:
- Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 5, Charlotte 4
- Dayan Viciedo went 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBI.
- Tyler Flowers doubled and struck out over four ABs.
- Jordan Danks went 1-for-5 with two K's.
- C.J. Retherford went 1-for-3.
- Birmingham 2, Montgomery 1
- Brent Morel went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts to drop his average to .299.
- Christian Marrero went 1-for-4 with a K.
- Jhonny Nunez threw five scoreless innings, allowing three hits and a walk while striking out three.
- Buck Coats went 3-for-3 with two walks.
- Winston-Salem vs. Myrtle Beach PPD
- Hickory vs. Kannapolis PPD
