With double-headers Saturday and Tuesday, the White Sox play six games in the next four days. That means added stress on the pitching staff.
To meet this demand, the Sox in the next four days may call upon three men who until Friday night hadn’t thrown a pitch for them this season: Mike Sirotka and Keith Foulke, recalled Thursday from Triple-A Nashville, and Jason Bere, who has been on the disabled list all year recovering from elbow surgery last fall.
Bere, who pitched his ninth rehab-assignment game Thursday night for Nashville, said if his arm still feels good Saturday, he could pitch in one of Tuesday’s games against Toronto.
Sirotka, 26, compiled a 2-4 record in brief appearances with the Sox in 1995 and ’96. He is scheduled to start Game 2 Saturday against Seattle. The lefty had a 6-5 record, a 3.32 earned-run average and an excellent 88-20 strikeout-walk ratio at Nashville.
Foulke, 24, who debuted Friday night against Oakland, is one of the six minor-leaguers the Sox received from San Francisco in the recent trade of Roberto Hernandez, Wilson Alvarez and Danny Darwin. He’s the first of the six to appear for the Sox.
General Manager Ron Schueler said both he and special assistant Ed Brinkman scouted Foulke and liked him.
“He throws 89 to 92 (m.p.h.),” Schueler said. “He pitches in and out. He throws strikes. He can start or relieve. He fits in the bullpen right now.”
Bere has used up all the time he is permitted for a rehab assignment. He allowed five hits and one run in Thursday’s outing.
“The time before, he was not ready,” Schueler said Friday. “Reports I received indicate he was closer to being ready in Thursday’s start. We’ll see how he feels tonight and then tomorrow after throwing on the side.
“If he feels he’s OK, we may pitch him in one of the games on Tuesday.”
Bere said he felt fine Friday. As for pitching Tuesday? “I think I can do it. We’ll see how I feel after throwing on the side (Saturday).”
If Bere does not feel capable and comfortable about pitching Tuesday, Schueler said the club will not rush him.
“We have too much invested in him. If he isn’t ready Tuesday, we’ll wait until he is ready–if that’s a week or longer or even if it’s after Sept. 1, when he can expand our roster to 40 players.
“I want him to be able to come to us and say, `I’m ready.’ “
Draft plans: Major League Baseball announced Friday that the expansion draft will take place on Nov. 18. The two new teams, the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays, will choose a total of 70 players from the existing 28 teams.
Each club can protect 15 players before the draft. When a player is picked off a team’s roster, that team can protect three more players.
No team can lose more than three players.
Backstop shortage: Thursday’s trade of Tony Pena to Houston for minor-league pitcher Julien Tucker left the Sox with only two catchers: the regular, Jorge Fabregas, and lightly used veteran Ron Karkovice, who has batted only 109 times in 39 games.
Manager Terry Bevington said he anticipated no lineup problems having only two catchers.
