Tuesday, July 11, 2006 8:21 PM
Perry
White Sox 2006 First Half Report Card - Part I
I hated report cards when I was a kid. It’s not because my grades were bad. (they weren’t) It’s because I hated being evaluated. Teachers would sit down with each student before the report card was put in the mail. It was as if they wanted to prepare you for the inevitable beat-down you were going to get for doing so poorly. In reality they wanted to tell you the things you excelled at and what you needed to improve upon.
That’s exactly what I am doing with this post. I’m handing out grades for the Sox’s first half of the 2006 season. Remember, there is no crying in baseball:
Pitching
- Contreras (9-0): Jose can get guys out. He is second on the team with 77 strike outs. His WHIP is a 1.18. That’s fifth on the team. He’s first on the team with 10 wild pitches, but considering he hasn’t lost a game yet I think we can overlook that bit. Jose is our rock. He’s been promoted to first in the rotation and I expect him to get his 3.38 ERA down below 2.50 before the end of the year. He missed a few days with a slight injury earlier this season, which would be the only negative I can throw at him. Score: A
- Buehrle (9-6): Mark has shown great promise this season. That’s the problem. He’s supposed to be our best pitcher. He is supposed to be showing everyone a run at the Cy Young. Instead we watched him struggle against the Cubs and the Red Sox recently to close out the first half. He has an ERA over 4.00 and leads the team in innings pitched. I’m worried about him getting tired. He has 54 strike outs so far placing him as 5th on our list. He needs to keep the ball down and work on better pitch selection. Opposing batters have a .440 slugging percentage against Mark. Way too high. Score: C+
- Garcia (10-5): Freddy is one of my favorites on this staff. Especially when he avoids the big inning. We haven’t seen his best stuff, and I wonder when we will. If he waits for the playoffs to pull out the big guns, it might be too late. Freddy has 66 strike outs and has given up 28 walks. He’s got a whopping 4.91 ERA. He’s pitched over 113 innings so far this year which concerns me. He’s only thrown 3 wild pitches, so at least he is learning to control himself a bit more. Oh, he’s also given up the most homers on the team at 20 and he can’t keep guys from stealing bases on him. Score: B
- Garland (8-3): Jon is a tough nut to crack. He started very poorly this season. He’s got an ERA of 5.37 with 55 strikeouts, 28 walks, and has given up 19 homers! The last few starts have been much better outings for Jon, so if he decided to flip flop his seasons this year by starting off slowly, I’m fine with that. He’s got to get that offspeed stuff working again. I’d like to see his ERA dip to something that doesn’t come with a respirator and a heart monitor. Score: C
- Vazquez (9-4): Javi is a great 5th starter for our club. He has already thrown in over 100 innings. He’s got 86 strike outs! That leads the team! He also has given up 28 walks which ties him with Buehrle and Garcia. Not bad right? He has gotten some great run support this year and if it wasn’t for his tendency to give up a single huge inning, he would be our best pitcher. Finally, he’s got a 5.07 ERA which I would have hammered him for here, but man can he get guys out. Score: C+
Part II will cover our starting line up. Stick around! GO SOX!
Filed under: WhiteSox