Less than two hours after saying, “At this time of year you can feel as though you’re close to [completing a trade] and nothing will materialize,” White Sox general manager Ken Williams found a way to bolster his bullpen.
He acquired veteran left-hander Scott Schoeneweis from Anaheim in a five-player trade.
The 29-year-old Schoeneweis was 1-1 with a 3.96 ERA in 39 relief appearances. He held lefties to a .182 average and posted a 1.31 ERA in his last 14 outings.
“After having discussions with our scouts and coaches, we had a very short list of guys we thought could fit into our situation right now and in the future,” Williams said. “He was obviously on that list.”
The Sox also get right-hander Doug Nickle, 28, who has appeared briefly for Philadelphia and San Diego, in exchange for right-hander Gary Glover and minor-league pitchers Scott Dunn and Tim Bittner.
Glover was called in from the bullpen and informed of the deal minutes before the Sox took the field Tuesday night.
Williams said he envisions Schoeneweis, who hasn’t thrown more than 39 pitches in an outing this season, competing for a spot in the starting rotation in 2004.
Schoeneweis was Anaheim’s Opening Day starter in 2001 but was moved to the bullpen to fill a need and because of his trouble against right-handed hitters. They’re batting .324 against him this season with two homers in 71 at-bats.
“He shows us three quality pitches: the cut fastball, the breaking ball and a solid change,” Williams said. “So we can envision him in our rotation if he competes next year and wants it bad enough.”
Apparently he does.
“I know they have two lefties [Damaso Marte and Kelly Wunsch] in the pen,” Schoeneweis told reporters in Anaheim. “It leads me to believe maybe there’s a hope for me to start there. As we all know, that’s the thing I’m looking to do.”
Schoeneweis said he had mixed emotions about leaving the Angels, a team he helped win the World Series last year when he had a 3.00 ERA in six postseason games.
“I’m just awestruck right now,” he said. “I’m sure once I get there and get involved with the day-to-day stuff I’ll be excited. It’s not as if I’m excited to leave. Hopefully, a change of scenery will allow me to do the things I wanted to do here.”
“Schoney was a big part of our second-half surge,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “A lot was said about John Lackey . . . but what can’t go unnoticed is the job Schoney did in the pen.”
The Sox will pick up the remainder of Schoeneweis’ $1.425 million salary this season.
Williams said there were some “creative things we had to do internally to make this fit into our budget” but wouldn’t specify what those things were.
Nickle went 2-2 with four saves and a 1.48 ERA in 34 relief appearances at Triple-A Salt Lake. He’ll report to Triple-A Charlotte.
The 26-year-old Glover went 1-0 with a 4.54 ERA for the Sox. He was out of minor-league options and had been used sparingly for much of the season.
Dunn, 25, was 3-1 with a 1.69 ERA at Double-A Birmingham. The Sox acquired him from Cincinnati on July 6 for infielder D’Angelo Jimenez.
“What we’ve tried to do with each of our deals is bring back a couple of pitchers in return because, obviously, they’re the hottest commodity on the market,” Williams said.
Bittner, a 23-year-old lefty, had a 3.60 ERA for Class A Winston-Salem.
Scott Schoeneweis’ career statistics
YR., TEAM W L ERA G GS SV IP H ER HR BB SO
1999, Anaheim 1 1 5.49 31 0 0 39.1 47 24 4 14 22
2000, Anaheim 7 10 5.45 27 27 0 170.0 183 103 21 67 78
2001, Anaheim 10 11 5.08 32 32 0 205.1 227 116 21 77 104
2002, Anaheim 9 8 4.88 54 15 1 118.0 119 64 17 49 65
2003, Anaheim 1 1 3.96 39 0 0 38.2 37 17 2 10 29
TOTAL 28 31 5.10 183 74 1 571.1 613 324 65 217 298
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