The choices are going to be so tough manager Gene Lamont and General Manager Ron Schueler may wait until the final game of spring training to name the White Sox pitching staff for 1993.
But a few things are clear already:
The Sox will carry 11 pitchers.
One pitcher with dismal statistics is a cinch to make the team.
One or two pitchers having good springs will get left behind.
And, no matter how many closers it looks like the Sox have in the bullpen on Opening Day, only one will have the job.
`I think you want to have one closer,” says Lamont. “I know some guys like to go with a closer by committee, but you only do that when you have to. It’s better to have one guy to call on most of the time.”
That one guy seems likely to be right-hander Roberto Hernandez.
Hernandez was the dominant relief pitcher in the Sox bullpen, and one of the best in the American League, the second half of last season. He was 5-2 with 11 saves and a 1.29 earned-run average after the All-Star break and, for the entire year, held opposing hitters to a .180 batting average-lowest among AL relievers.
Through Saturday, he was 1-0 with a 3.52 ERA and was holding opposing hitters to a .207 average in the spring games.
If he continues to pitch that way, Hernandez is certain to be the closer. But the Sox probably will carry two other would-be closers in veteran right-hander Bobby Thigpen and left-hander Scott Radinsky.
Thigpen is the youngest player in major-league history to save 200 games. But he has been in a slump since mid-1991. He had a major-league record 57 saves in 1990 and 19 more before the All-Star break in 1991.
Since, then, however, Thigpen has just 33 saves and an earned-run average of 3.91.
Thigpen has been hot and cold this spring. Through Saturday, when he pitched one shutout inning, he was 0-1 with a rocky but steadily dropping 9.90 ERA.
Radinsky has fared better, but he gave up the game-tying run in one inning against the Rangers Saturday to raise his ERA to 4.00.
Thigpen, Radinsky and Hernandez combined to save 49 games for the Sox last season-the first time since the save rule became official in 1969 that three Sox relievers finished in double figures in saves in the same season.
Chances are it won’t happen again this year, although all three pitchers are expected to be around to give it a shot.
Lamont says he plans to use Radinsky in late-inning situations against tough left-handed hitters. That probably means Radinsky will get some saves.
The rest of the time, Lamont will go to either Thigpen or Hernandez.
“I’m going to tell one guy before the season opens that he’s the closer,” says Lamont. “I think he should know ahead of time that he’s the one who’s going to get the call in the ninth inning.
“I’ll go to the other guy, too, and let him know how I intend to use him. I want everybody to know what I’m thinking.”
That’s when the season begins. Right now, it is hard to let anyone know what Lamont is thinking because the competition to make the pitching staff is so intense.
The Sox came to camp with 23 pitchers. They still have 23.
Lamont and Schueler plan to make their first cuts on Monday. “You’d like to get your team set as quickly as possible, but we want to make sure we take the right guys, too,” says Lamont.
Barring trade or injury, the starting rotation seems set with Jack McDowell, Kirk McCaskill, Dave Stieb, Wilson Alvarez and Alex Fernandez.
McDowell is having a shaky spring statistically. He is 2-0, but his ERA is 5.63 and opposing hitters are batting .353 against him. And he has a sore back that forced him to miss his last start.
He is healthy enough to be penciled in as the starter Monday against Detroit. And even if his ERA reaches 100, he will be the Opening Day pitcher.
McCaskill has been impressive (2.57 ERA, .184 opponents’ batting average), and Stieb appears to have recovered from elbow problems that shortened his career at Toronto. He gave up just one run in five innings Saturday to lower his ERA to 3.86.
That leaves Fernandez and Alvarez, a pair of highly touted 23-year-olds, who have a combined 30-35 record in the big leagues.
“Our rotation has a lot of good possibilities, but Alex and Wilson have to step forward and pitch like we say they can-like we know they can,” says Lamont. “It’s time for both of them to step up, especially Alex.”
It’s an important spring, too, for several other pitchers.
If Thigpen, Radinsky and Hernandez make the team, that leaves three spots open in the bullpen.
One spot is reserved for middle reliever Terry Leach, who had a career year with a 1.95 ERA last season.
Technically, 14 pitchers are contending for the other two spots. But, realistically, only six have a shot. And two of those are fading.
Barry Jones and Brian Drahman, both of whom have pitched for the Sox in the past, have had unimpressive springs. Opposing hitters are batting .313 against Drahman and .359 against Jones.
The four other leading contenders for the bullpen are veteran Donn Pall, former Yankee Chuck Cary and two pitchers who spent last season at Triple-A Vancouver-Ramon Garcia and Rod Bolton.
Going into this weekend, Bolton and Cary seemed to have the edge.
Pall was hit hard in his third spring-training appearance on Friday. And Garcia, although he has pitched well enough (2.84 ERA), has been bothered by elbow problems.
Cary has three things going for him. He has four years’ experience in the majors with Detroit, Atlanta and the Yankees. He is a left-hander. And he has yet to give up a run in 8 1/3 innings while holding opposing hitters to a .143 average.
Bolton has 12 strikeouts and just three walks in 11 innings pitched. His ERA was 3.27 and opposing hitters are batting .216 against him.
A starter his entire career, Bolton had the second-best ERA in the Pacific Coast League last season. But if he makes the big-league team, it will be as a reliever.
“This is the time when it’s getting to be tough,” says Lamont. “Guys are running out of time.”
