The last 12 games. Starting with the Cubs series where we got swept. They pitched great.

I can't beleive where we are in the standings with this starting staff. This might be the best staff ever not to make the playoffs since the expanded playoffs started in 1995.

Buehrle and Garland are very very good, but the rest of the staff is inconsistant like most MLB pitching staffs. You may well be right about the best of the rest status for the Sox starting five.
Buehrle and Garland's win totals would be three or four more with an offense worth anything from the Sox this season. Prime example of the most overrated stat in baseball...Pitcher's Win total.

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

Vasquez too. Of his 15 or 16 starts I'll bet at least 11 of them have been quality starts.

Contrerous has struggled but if you consider him the 4 this year he's been OK.

Danks is the worst obviously but for a rookie 5 starter he's been more then I expected. His ERA is inflated by 2 or 3 really bad outings.

All 5 of these guys might pitch 200 innings this year. Danks will probably fall short.

White Sox rotation is very good. It may not have a true ace pitcher, but all of those guys, with the exception of Denks, who has been fine in the #5 hole, can dominate a game.

What a garbage year this season has been. If they had any hitting, and just the same bullpen as last year, they'd probably be 4 or 5 games out of the division right now as opposed to where they are today, and that's done.

All 5 of these guys might pitch 200 innings this year. Danks will probably fall short.[/quote]

That's a rather suprising thought. I wonder how many starting fives in baseball can claim that. Fairly impressive. Vazquez going all nine tonight might be Ozzie's best move in a month. Keep the ball out of the bullpen. Sounds like the Cubs the first two months of the season.

Quality starts are an iffy stat. A 4.50 ERA can be a quality start and that's not good enough. If they pared down the definition abit, I'd be willing to lend it more credence.

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

As of right we're one game shy of the half way mark. If Contreras stays healthy he'll have to get his 200 on another team. We've got to trade him before he gets hurt.

Buehrle - 16 starts - 107.2 IP

Garland - 16 starts - 111.1 IP

Vazquez - 16 starts - 107 IP

Contreras 16 starts - 95.2 IP

Danks - 15 starts - 83.1 IP

I couldn't agree more with trading Jose along with another player in some sort of package deal. He still has effective stuff to be a #4 in the rotation somewhere else, and hanging on to this guy any longer will just decrease his value. Afterall, we don't even know how old this guy is.

On the Mets, I think he would have more value than being their #4 starter. Maine, Glavine, Sosa, El Duque, did I miss anyone currently in their top 4 ? I don't know that Contreras is better than any of these guys, but I would think he's a 2 or 3 in that rotation.

In return for who?

What do you mean ? I'm not suggesting we swap Contreras for another starting pitcher, just saying that he may be better than a #4 starter on their staff.

As for what we would get in return, I'd take a bag of balls, as long as it means ridding ourselves of his contract.

Hopefully yesterday's performace will serve as a sign to Kenny that we can spare losing Contreras. However it will also show that we can spare losing every reliever as well.

That was as pathetic a game that they have played. In that 4th or 5th inning where Baltimore was just running on every play because Contreras is so slow to the plate, and then you have puss-armed Toby Hall back behind the plate, and that's a disaster waiting to happen, and it happened.

Bullpen is god awful. All of those guys, excluding Jenks, suck. I am disgusted that this is a major league team with no reliable middle relief help.

I can't diagree with most of that, BD. I would only say that Jenks is the bright spot in that bullpen and will unfortunately be under the microscope for the rest of the year because of his teammates' futility.