I'm about 12 pages and 5,000 words into a retrospective piece on Kenny Williams' first 10 years that will serve as the centerpiece for White Sox Outsider 2011, so I'm going to hand over the heavy lifting to Buford.
You may have seen the appeal for Chris Sale to start the season in the bullpen toward the end of yesterday's lengthy and great discussion. I'll yield the floor to re-post it here, because I think it has some great points worth debating.
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Buford sez: Originally I wanted Sale as a starter but upon further review I have changed my mind for four reasons:
1. Last year the Sox and Twins played nine one-run games. The Sox won two.
2. LHH Mauer
3. LHH Morneau
4. LHH Kubel
If the Sox are going to pass the Twins, winning these close games area must. This means holding onto leads late in the game (and keeping tiegames tied) by neutralizing these 3 guys with quality LH relievers.
Last year we saw how helpless Joe Mauer looked vs. Sale and I suspectJustin Morneau wouldn’t feel very comfortable. And we simply have to stop Jason Kubelfrom looking like Babe Ruth vs. us.
Kubel (career)92 HR.463 SLG%
Kubel (vs. Sox)18 HR.585 SLG%
Almost20% of Kubel’s HR’s have come vs. the Sox. His career HR’sand SLG% are the highest vs. any AL team. Mauer or Morneau lighting youup is one thing, but this gremlin?
Matt Thornton can’t do this alone and some soft-tossing situational LHreliever isn’t the answer. Thornton and Sale in the bullpen to pitch inthe late innings vs. LHH – and especially Minnesota’s LHH’s – makes me ahappy camper.
Sale showed last year vs. Mauer how to get him and other LHH out –fastballs up and in and sweeping breaking balls on the outside corner.And if by chance one of his high and tight fastballs hits meat, I canlive with that too.
If Jake Peavy can’t start the season, re-sign Freddy Garcia.He had 3 qualitystarts in 4 appearances vs. the Twins last year. Or Kenny can do histhingy by acquiring someone else. The guy I would love to acquire is theCubs’ Sean Marshall, who seems to fly under the radar. But that’s foranother day.
Also, since the AL pennant will likely go through Boston, we will facing Gonzalez, Crawford, Ortiz, Drew and Ellsbury.
And if the World Series goes through Philadelphia, you’re looking at their two LHH game-changers Utley and Howard.
I know I’m getting ahead of myself, but I’m tired of the Twins getting ahead of us.
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Jim again: Given that there are several solid left-handed options on the free agent market, I'm inclined to let the decision wait for as long as possible. If nobody like a Pedro Feliciano or Randy Choate falls through the cracks, that would certainly allow the Sox a couple of months to see how well Sale adjusts to stretching out.
But this is certainly the emotional argument to make. Obviously Sale has more value as a starter, but if the Sox are truly "all in," this would be the all-inningest decision they could make, as it hits their chief rival where they live. It's not just that left-handed hitters power the Minnesota offense, but if their bullpen can't recover from losing Matt Guerrier and Jesse Crain (and to a lesser extent, Brian Fuentes), a lot of games could be had in innings No. 7 through No. 9.
Using Sale in relief for a full season before giving him a chance to start might permanently reduce his potential, kind of like taking cookies out of the oven well before they're baked. Then again, sometimes cookie dough gets the job done in its own right.
