White Sox news

[shawn555]

01/20/2003 4:52 pm ET
Sox sign Gordon to one-year deal
By Damon P. Young / MLB.com


CHICAGO -- The White Sox completed an overhaul of their bullpen Monday, signing Tom "Flash" Gordon to a one-year contract.
Gordon replaces Antonio Osuna, who was dealt to the Yankees last week as part of the Bartolo Colon trade.
Gordon, 35, went 1-3 with a 3.38 ERA and no saves in 34 relief appearances with the Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros in 2002. He missed most of the first half of 2002 with a major muscle tear in the back of his right shoulder.
"He passed his physical with flying colors and his elbow is fine," general manager Ken Williams announced Monday.
The 5-foot-10, 190-pound right-hander made his 2002 debut on July 2 and finished the season with an average of 10.1 strikeouts per 9.0 IP. Gordon allowed just two earned runs over 19 2/3 innings for a 0.92 ERA in 15 outings from Aug. 10-Sept. 12. He was traded to Houston on Aug. 20.
A veteran of 14 big-league seasons, Gordon is 106-101 with a 4.11 ERA and 98 saves in 525 games, including 203 starts. Gordon's best season as a reliever came in 1998 with Boston when he recorded a league-leading 46 saves.
As the 2002 season ended, the White Sox's bullpen had emerged as a strength. But that hasn't kept Williams from making changes -- all in the name of improving the team as a whole.
Back in December, Williams made his first move, swapping closers with Oakland. Out went Keith Foulke, who recorded 100 saves -- the third highest total in team history -- and a 2.87 ERA in 5 1/2 seasons on the South Side. In came Billy Koch, a flamethrower with an attitude, who notched 144 saves over his first four big-league seasons.
Then came last week's blockbuster trade that landed Colon. The White Sox didn't exactly, on paper, give up the farm for one of the game's more dominant pitchers, but they did part ways with Osuna, one of the team's most reliable relievers, and Rocky Biddle, who shuffled between the rotation and the bullpen.
"I would have preferred not to have traded Antonio Osuna," Williams insisted, "but that's what it took and I wasn't going to let that stand in the way of acquiring Bartolo at this point.
"Antonio did a heckuva job for us last year. I mentioned I like the way our bullpen set up when we acquired Billy Koch earlier. It wasn't until we were able to line up a potential replacement for Antonio that we felt comfortable enough to [trade him]."
Last year, the White Sox were the only team in baseball to have three relievers with at least 10 saves -- Foulke (11), Osuna (11) and Damaso Marte (10).
With Koch firmly planted in the ninth inning, Marte and Gordon serving in setup roles and Kelly Wunsch, Gary Glover, and perhaps one of the organization's young hurlers -- Josh Stewart, Dave Sanders, Arnie Munoz or another undetermined acquisition, manager Jerry Manuel will once again have at his disposal one of the league's deepest bullpens.
"A lot of pieces had to fit together," Williams suggested last week. "These things were part of the whole process and planning before we could go [get Colon] because we're looking at the team in its entirety and

 

[shawn555]

01/16/2003 12:36 pm ET
White Sox now a contender
Minnesota gets serious competition in AL Central
Base Ball Perspectives
Mike Bauman
The number of contending teams in the American League Central just doubled. In fact, the number of teams in the AL Central that could finish with winning records just doubled. What a day for baseball in the Midwest.
When the Chicago White Sox obtained Bartolo Colon in a three-way trade with the Montreal Expos and the New York Yankees, they covered much of the distance from question mark to exclamation point.
If you merely pencil in Colon as Chicago's No. 2 starter, behind Mark Buehrle, you will see the dramatic change in status. That second spot in the rotation was held last season, at least for a while, by Todd Ritchie, who was 5-15 with a 6.06 earned-run average. Now, the same job will be held by a 20-game winner. This is a great leap forward by the White Sox.
Does this mean that the Pale Hose will automatically displace the Minnesota Twins atop the AL Central? Wait a second. The Twins were short-changed, almost to the point of extinction, one short year ago. They emerged from trial and travail to become a scrappy, determined, winning operation. They were fed by general manager Terry Ryan's solid organization, a tribute to thrift and sound judgement. They were maintained by manager Ron Gardenhire's relentless and sound approach. Writing them off now would be the worst sort of error -- the repeated error.
But the addition of Colon should mean that there will actually be competition for the top spot in the AL Central. That would be good. Last season, the Twins were one of baseball's best feel-good stories, maybe baseball's best feel-good story. But the race in the AL Central seemed to be over at about the same time that the Belmont Stakes was run.
The White Sox were merely a .500 club last season. They finished 13 1/2 games behind the Twins, but they weren't exactly threatened for second place.
The Cleveland Indians were thinking "transition without rebuilding." Unfortunately, they got both the transition and the rebuilding. Elsewhere in the division, the Kansas City Royals lost 100 games. But that was all relative, because the Detroit Tigers lost 106 games. The Tigers would have lost fewer games than that, but they decided in April that it was all Phil Garner's fault. Only bad karma could ensue from that decision.
Bartolo Colon's presence on the South Side of Chicago doesn't do anything for those other three clubs. In fact, it will probably do something to those other three clubs. But at least it suggests that there will be more than one team in this division involved in winning in 2003.
The White Sox are an interesting case in more ways than one. This trade, not to mention the one that gained them an established closer in Billy Koch, tells you that GM Ken Williams knows exactly what he's doing and has been given enough resources to do what he's doing.


The White Sox manager, Jerry Manuel, is a man of spirituality and depth, who has already won with many of these same players in 2000 and who ought to be able to win again.
The White Sox are often the best baseball team in Chicago, but they are always the second most popular baseball team in Chicago. And it isn't all because the upper deck at new Comiskey Park is slanted at roughly the same angle as Mt. Everest. The White Sox at times appear to be sort of a big-market underdog.
But at this moment, they are much less of an underdog in the AL Central than they were before the acquisition of Bartolo Colon. The White Sox should score runs. If you assume good health for a change, and normal progress from their promising young pitchers, you could easily look at them and say, "Potential division winners."
Still, the one thing you know about the Twins is that they do not go away quietly. In fact, they don't go away at all. It looks like a real race in the AL Central. Fully 40 percent of the teams there look good, as opposed to last season when only 20 percent looked that way.
Mike Bauman is a national columnist for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major league Baseball or its clubs.

 

[Marra]

As you can tell by my avatar, I am a White Sox fan. Out of all the teams I like, the White Sox are MY team.

Now, when Vegas comes out with win totals for the season, if the White Sox are anything less than 87, jump on the over. They have added Colon, Koch and Flash Gordon to the pitching staff. The Buerhle/Colon 1/2 combo is second only to-Arizona, Boston, and Oakland. Add another year experience for Garland (he threw a no-hitter into the 8th inning against the Red Sox and ended up with a 2 hit CG. The last two months of the season he had a 3.41 ERA) and Wright (finished very strong as well.) The 5th starter will be 6'11" Jon Rauch, who was Minor League Player of the Year in 2000. He had shoulder surgery mid season in 2001. He started last season with the big club, but was sent down after about 2 weeks, b/c he wasn't anywhere near 100%. He dominated AAA last year when he was full strength, and is going to be 100% healthy at the start of this year. I think he is a big time sleeper this year. The bullpen should be very solid, with Koch closing the games.

The line-up is also stocked, led by Mags Ordonez and Paul Konerko. Frank Thomas had an off year last year, but he is spending this whole off-season with his old hitting coach, Walt Hriniak. The last time he did that, he was second in MVP voting in 2000. No more off the field problems, either. Carlos Lee made big strides last year. Joe Crede finally got a chance at the big leagues, and he really impressed. 15 home runs in less than half the season, and he was a rookie. He will be the fixture at 3rd base for years to come.

The biggest question marks are
1)Lead-off hitter. Jimenez had a near .400 OBP with the Sox last year, but can he duplicate that?
2)Center fielder-Aaron Rowand is a nice player, but he is recovering from broken ribs and nobody knows if he will be 100% to start the season. If not, look for uber-prospect Joe Borchard to be with the big club.
3)Defense up the middle. The Sox are starting a rookie catcher, Miguel Olivo (Had 25 SB and led the league in triples at AA, as a catcher. Arm has been compared to IROD. Has some pop in his bat. A top 50 prospect. )
Jose Valentin at SS-36 errors in 2000. Makes the spactacular play, but blows the routine ones.
Jimenez at 2B.-Young inexperienced, but only made 1 error in 25 games last year.
Rowand at CF-See above.

As you can see, I am very optimisitc about this years team. I haven't seen any win totals yet, but I expect the Sox to cash on the "over."