The White Sox are changing from a team reliant on its bullpen to one that’s leaning heavily on its starters, a tact the Yankees use successfully.
The Sox led the American League in pitching changes last year with 466, second in the majors to Colorado. But manager Jerry Manuel doesn’t expect that to continue this season. Not that he doesn’t expect closer Keith Foulke and set-up man Bobby Howry to be just as effective, but he believes his starters will minimize the need to overuse middlemen such as Sean Lowe and Bill Simas, both of whom had surgery.
“Coming out of spring training last year, you didn’t know how long or how deep in the game (Mike) Sirotka could go, or (Jim) Parque, (Cal) Eldred, (James) Baldwin, so you concentrated on the bullpen being stronger,” Manuel said.
“You had to keep them fresh. Now we have a guy like David Wells, who pitches deep into a game, Eldred, who probably had our most complete games last year, Parque came around late in the ballgames. You kind of hope for that (pitching evolution).”
Letting it go: James Baldwin, coming off arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder, threw 50 pitches on the side Saturday, mixing in six curveballs for the first time with fastballs and changeups.
“He let it go at the end,” said Kirk Champion, the Sox Class AAA pitching coach who oversaw Baldwin’s session. “It was the kind of day we expected. The pitches coming out of his hand looked the same at the end as the beginning.”
Baldwin, who’s expected to stay back when the Sox break camp, is on pace to start April 22.
Starting up: David Wells will start on three days rest against Anaheim Sunday, then go every fifth day so he can open the season in Cleveland April 2.
A relief: Sox set-up man Bobby Howry doesn’t know how fast he’s throwing–General Manager Ken Williams eyeballed it at 93 m.p.h. last week–but he knows it’s plenty fast based on hitters’ reactions.
“I’ve been able to throw it by some guys,” Howry said. “Some guys have been late on it. That’s how I gauge it. But then Opening Day comes and the hitters are right on it, like they were fooling with you.”
Big hurt: Frank Thomas, who was hitting .130 going into Saturday night’s exhibition game against Colorado, has a sore left knee, Manuel said. But Thomas said it’s just tendinitis like he had last year and not the reason his average is so low.
“I’m making solid contact, hitting balls hard at people,” said Thomas, who has lost 15 pounds. “If I wasn’t hitting ball hard, then I’d be worried. The last seven days you start locking in. It’s all about timing. I came to camp in shape. The timing is off. I’ll get it with more at-bats.”
Thomas got it good against Rockies starter Masato Yoshii, slamming his first spring homer Saturday, a majestic two-run shot in the first inning, then lining a single to center in the second.
Up the middle: Shortstop Royce Clayton botched a double-play throw from second baseman Ray Durham in Friday’s game, a sign they are still behind in their work because of Durham’s quadricep injury that kept him out a couple weeks. “When the ball’s hit, I immediately need to know where he’s going to put the ball–the angle I receive the ball, the angle he’ll throw the ball,” Clayton said. “That’s very important for tunring double plays. Once we play some more games together, it’ll get better.”
Wearin’ o’ the green: The Sox wore green caps Saturday in the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day.
“I’m going to have to look up and see if I have to wear this hat,” Clayton said before the game.
“I’m the furthest thing from Irish there is.”
