OK seeing is this is by far my biggest concern with the Sox this year, I looked up the 3-4-5 starters on the other AL Central teams.


(all numbers are WHIP / ERA)

CWS
1.54 / 5.50 LH JOHN DANKS
1.56 / 5.57 RH JOSE CONTRERAS
1.49 / 5.27 RH GAVIN FLOYD

DET
1.38 / 5.01 RH JEREMY BONDERMAN
1.47 / 4.76 LH NATE ROBERTSON
1.60 / 5.17 LH DONTRELLE WILLIS

CLE
1.41 / 4.32 RH JAKE WESTBROOK
1.39 / 4.59 RH PAUL BYRD
1.52 / 6.29 LH CLIFF LEE

MIN
1.53 / 5.10 RH BOOF BONSER
1.60 / 4.93 RH LIVAN HERNANDEZ
1.40 / 4.73 RH KEVIN SLOWEY

KC
1.30 / 3.69 RH ZACK GREINKE
1.55 / 4.05 LH JOHN BALE
1.50 / 5.55 RH BRETT TOMKO


I don't exactly see any Cy Young contenders there...

What is considered a good WHIP? What's considered a great WHIP?

1.30 is a good WHIP, anything below it is great

could the sox 3,4 5 be good Yes, could the cubs 3,4,5 be good yes.

The Sox will feel it more than most teams though if any of them are complete busts then you should really be worried as your next step is Masset and Wasserman as starters.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

See, everybody in our division has a shitty 4&5 guy. Eary on those 4's and 5's will match up. On those days the Sox are gonna have to win 10-9 games.

I think Danks might step up this year. I think Floyd is gonna suck. He'll be sent down to the minors after his 6th start.

Not sure what Contreras will be this year.

Floyd is out of options, and the White Sox don't have much in their minor league system that they can turn to if they do have injuries or underperformance.

WHIP= walks + Hits per innings pitched


basically think about this way;

1.3 would be 1 and a third hits or walks per inning, meaning that your facing 4-5 batters, 3 make outs, and hopefully the one(s) that got on didn't have extra base hits or somebody got erased in a double play.


Guys who strike out a lot of guys (Vazquez) or get a lot of double plays or pick-offs (Buerhle) can afford higher WHIPS... but that's a whole other discussion.


Most are in the 1.30-1.40 range, 1.10 is Johan Santana territory, and 1.50 is Double A ball.

Ok. So they release Floyd if they're out of options. My point is I see him being so bad they'll have to bring up someone. I hope I'm wrong. You'll always have Charlie Haeger to call up. That SOB will be in the Sox minors for 10 more years. They'll wait forever until he perfects that knuckle ball.

Haeger? Broadway? Gio Gonza.... oops, just out of curiousity, where is Freddy Garcia?

Gio was traded for Swisher.

Are you pining for Freddy? He missed most of last season with arm trouble. I have no idea where he is.

It's not just 3-5 that bother me. 1 and 2 aren't so hot, either.

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I know. I was being sarcastic... just re-iterating that if our guys don't pan out, the pickings are slim...

Who has a better 1-2?

Sabathia and Carmona, I'll give you that.

Verlander and Rogers, could be a wash...

Meche and Bannister... heh
actually they arent bad, young and up and coming but the Royals... come on now, it's the Royals!

Scott Baker and Boof Bonser? lol...


Vazquez and Buerlhe are proven 220+ inning guys that will get you into the 6th-7th every time, they can win the 10-7 games as well as the 3-2 games.

Buehrle is fine. Actually, Vasquez deserved to be a 18 or 19 game winner last year. He still is a concern cuz he never has had back to back good years.

Let's put it this way: If you win the division with Buehrle and Vazquez as your top two starters, it's highly unlikely that you've done so because of your starting pitching.

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They did so with Beurhle and various guys having hot streaks in 2005

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Absolutly. They're gonna have to hit.

See, I'm still holding out that if they're in it, Williams will trade for that extra starter by the deadline. You might be saying, who the hell do they have to offer in their minors? I don't know. Hopefully some kid steps up that other teams want.

Best case scenario:

Anderson hits .300, makes 5 Rowand like WebGems by the deadline, Alexei looks like the 2nd coming of SorryAno, Haeger or Broadway lights up AAA and goes on a 56 inning scoreless streak, Billy Beane's fax machine jams up and in a clerical mistake Gio Gonzalez comes back to the Southside for a Ben Wallace autographed headband and an Eddie Gaedel jersey, and a Jason Schmidt or a Mark Mulder rehabs from arm injuries and are being sold to the highest bidder.


*goes back to sipping the kool-aid*

Pitching Matchups to Start the Season

Buehrle v Sabathia

Vazquez v Carmona

Danks v Westbrook

Contreras v Robertson

Floyd v Willis

Buehrle v. Verlander

It's pretty bad in that minor league system. I think Lance Broadway would probably get the next shot. He did pitch well out of the bullpen in the meaningless September time period, but I don't think he's viewed as anything more than an average prospect anymore.

If they win the division, the starting rotation will be much better than I'm expecting them to perform.

6-0 baby!!!!!

The Tigers rotation doesn't look so hot either, but they have a ridiculous lineup. Our lineup should be better than last year, but Detroit's line, at least on paper to start the season, looks pretty amazing. Bonderson, Robertson, and Willis will get 15 wins (or so) just giving up 4 runs in 6 innings, and the Tigers winning games 7-5...

Shaky pen.

Good point there. Tigers could actually blow some of those leads.

Floyd vs. Willis... what's the over/under on that one going to be? Willis flat out sucks and Floyd isn't consistant. Gavin has an off day and there will be 12+ runs scored that day if the temperature is halfway decent. Both teams can hit the ball just fine.

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Stupidity irritates the crap outta me... and yes, I irritate myself far too often.

Sox' overly right-handed lineup has murdered southpaws over the last few years... the only guy that appreciably drops off is Thome.

Willis flat out sucks? Are you kidding me? I'll take him over anyone on the Sox right now. Every Sox pitcher is capable of starting 2-10.

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I don't see how a 5.17 ERA, a .294 BAA and a 1.60 WHIP can be described as anything but sucking. And this is in an extremely weak NL with the pitcher batting...

That herky jerky motion is coming home to roost. He stunk last year and it's the beginning of a rapid end.
You'd take Willis over Buehrle? Over Vazquez? I think that's foolish. Buehrle had one bad year and bouced back. Vazquez has lights out stuff... for five innings. He gets past that third time through the order pratfall and he'll be excellent.
As far as every Sox pitcher being capable of starting out 2-10, that can be said for many rosters, the Cubs included. The top two in the Sox starting five wouldn't shock me if they started out 5-2 or 6-2 with their stuff and the Sox offense. 10-2... that would surprise me.
Willis will be awful this year. Book it.

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Stupidity irritates the crap outta me... and yes, I irritate myself far too often.

Baseball is a funny game. How did Contreras go from winning 15 of 16 to an ERA over 6 in one year? Anything can happen.

You can also use all these predictions as toilet paper, by the end of the year nobody knows what will happen.