Tag Archives: Edwin Jackson

AL Central Trade Winners, losers

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Well, the trading deadline has past and I’d thought I’d weigh in on who were the winners and losers in the AL Central, outside of one clear-cut winner, I think everyone faired well, except for the team that traded away their entire future for an average pitcher this season.

1 – Detroit Tigers
By far made the smartest most efficient moves to better their squad in the necessary areas without giving away the farm like another AL Central club. Doug Fister has been a hard luck loser on a bad ball club, the Seattle Mariners. Fister only has three wins this season despite posting a 3.33 ERA, while only allowing 139 hits over 146 innings pitched. Reliever, David Pauley is also an improvement of Charlie Furbush, who pitched well out of the pen for the Tigers, but Pauley has an ERA over a run lower. Enough said.

It pains me to say this, but even the signing of Wilson Betemit makes sense from the fact that he’s been a White Sox killer his entire career, which prompted the Sox to trade for him back in 2007 after the Nick Swisher debacle. Betemit committed three errors in the first four innings of a game and was not heard from much after that. It again cost very little and is an improvement over the struggling Brandon Inge.

2 – Sox/Twins/Royals
There might be people laughing at this right now, but by none of these teams making wholesale changes to their teams they’ve made a commitment to this season and next season by no real movement. Since the Sox had six starters and three players that can play third base they shed some salary and brought over a solid arm to improve the bullpen. With Edwin Jackson and somehow Kenny Williams getting a team to take Mark Teahan, the Sox cleared out some payroll without creating any holes.

The Twins did absolutely nothing which means they feel like making it a four team race, while the Royals only traded away Mike Aviles and his .222 batting average to Boston for two prospects. Again, a bold move for the Royals, but they have a solid nucleus and with the extra revenue next season from the All-Star game they might make some big offseason moves.

3 – The Cleveland Indians
Can’t figure the Indians out? Colorado refuses to release the medical records of Ubaldo Jimenez, so the Indians pay to fly him to their Spring Training facility to work out. He passed the physical so they sent the farm to the Rockies which included top prospects, Alex White and Drew Pomeranz. Both White and Pomeranz were considered the cornerstones of the future Indians’ starting rotation. Even more puzzling they sent Orlando Cabrera to the Giants for minor league outfielder, Thomas Neal, who is currently on the DL. Cabrera was only batting .244, but seemed to be pretty clutch for the Indians this season. Last I checked Jimenez won’t be batting and the Indians really needed some offensive help, but nothing there. Smart.

Kosuke Fukudome was putting together a solid season with the Cubs, but rumors are that the Indians thought they needed to trade for a Japanese player by MLB rule, since they had Shin Soo-Choo on the DL. Well, not really but it’s kind of funny.

Edwin Jackson jersey available briefly on BlueJays.com

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The Toronto Blue Jays acquired RHP, Edwin Jackson from the Chicago White Sox only to trade him roughly 30 minutes later to the St. Louis Cardinals for outfielder, Colby Rasmus.

For that brief period of time, the Blue Jays made available Jackon’s #33 jersey for sale on their website.  No records have been releasesd as to how many Jays’ Jackson jerseys were sold.

In his tumultuous career in Toronto, Jackson had a disappointing 0-0 record, but amassed an impressive 0.00  ERA and 0.00 WHIP.

All-Star Break Report Cards

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Jim Hendry: you are an EPIC FAIL

Detroit Tigers – 49-43, 1st place, AL Central

Hitting: B+
413 Runs (5th AL)
819 Hits (4th AL)
90 HRs (6th AL)
.264 Avg (4th AL)

Pitching: C-
4.27 ERA (11th AL)
621 Ks (9th AL)
.260 Avg. Against (11th AL)
1.37 WHIP (11th AL)

Defense: D
.982 FPCT (11th AL)

Head of the Class: Justin Verlander – 12 Ws, 2.15 ERA, 147 Ks

Overall Grade: B-
The Tigers are certainly happy to take over first place on the last day before the All-Star break (as opposed to losing it a year ago) but there’s clearly a lot of work for Dave Dombrowski to do if they expect to hold off those pesky Indians and the suddenly resurgent Twins. A frontline starting pitcher will be at the top of their wish list as the trade deadline approaches. Houston’s LHP Wandy Rodriguez might fit the bill.

Chicago White Sox - 44-48, 3rd place, AL Central (5 games back)

Hitting: C-
366 Runs (9th AL)
791 Hist (7th AL)
89 HRs (7th AL)
.252 Avg. (9th AL)

Pitching: B-
3.86 ERA (6th AL)
650 Ks (2nd AL)
.256 Avg. Against (8th AL)
1.28 WHIP (6th AL)

Defense: A
.987 FPCt (1st AL)

Head of the Class: Paul Konerko - .319 Avg., 41 Runs, 22 HRs, 67 RBI

Overall Grade: C+
Despite decent numbers across the board, the Sox have lacked the chemistry and timely hitting to win consistently thus far. Kenny Williams cannot be happy entering the All-Star break after losing a home series to his nemesis, the Minnesota Twins, and the trade winds have been swirling.  Expect a big shake up in the next week or so that could involve Carlos Quentin and/or Edwin Jackson.

Chicago Cubs - 37-55, 5th place, NL Central (12 games back)

Hitting: B
375 Runs (8th NL)
836 Hits (3rd NI)
79 HRs (8th NL)
.263 Avg. (2nd NL)

Pitching: F
4.62 ERA (15th NL)
676 Ks (5th NL)
.269 Avg. Against (15th NL)
1.47 WHIP (16th NL)

Defense: F
.977 FPCT (16th NL)

Head of the Class: N/A

Overall Grade: F
What can you say about the Cubs that hasn’t already been said?  MAJOR changes need to happen immediately, but it would take a miracle for Jim Hendry to be able to unload any of the albatrosses that permeate this roster due to bad contracts. The future is as bleak as it ever has been, and that’s saying a lot.

Are all no-hitters really historic?

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Is there such a thing as a bad no hitter? I say there are. Francisco Liriano walked six batters last night, potentially putting the tying run on base six times and bringing the winning run to the plate six times. That’s not the best control, nor is it what I would consider a great no-hitter or a historic no-hitter as its currently being described. He only struck out two, while Mark Buehrle and Carlos Zambrano’s no-hitters were brilliant as they each walked only one, and of-course the Buehrle perfect game was just that, perfect.

There have been 109 no hitters in baseball history excluding perfect games. Of the 109 no hitters there’s only been 15 with six walks or more, making last nights feat a little less spectacular then writers are making it out to be.

Jim Maloney set the record with 10 walks in 1965 with the Cincinnati Reds during a no-no. Two players have come close in the last decade; AJ Burnett had nine walks in 2001 while pitching a no-no for Florida, and Edwin Jackson walked nine last year for the Arizona Diamondbacks during his no-no.

You might weakly argue that Jackson pitched better than Liriano, you’d probably lose that argument like Jackson lost the game one nothing last night. He did have better control then Liriano only walking one, but gave up a solo homer to Jason Kubel that sank the Sox.

Nolan Ryan had a no-hitter while walking eight, but struck out 15, so I would consider that a pretty good no-hitter. Ryan leads the league for no-hitters with seven where he had 11 or more strikeouts in six of them. Those are pretty impressive numbers that will probably never be touched again.

Sometimes no hitters happen by running into a team at the right time, kind of like Liriano last night. The Sox have several key members of their hitting core struggling to make contact right now with Adam Dunn and Alex Rios leading the pack for biggest early season busts at the moment. To call Liriano’s no-hitter historic seems a bit of a stretch other then in the sense it’s only happened 109 times or the fact that so many walks have been given up so few times in a no-no. I think that might be considered historically mediocre.

Santos or trade are the only options

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I stink!

In 2009, Si.com’s columnist, Cliff Corcoran, wrote article about the Top 10 set-up men in baseball, which featured Matt Thornton in the number one spot. Oh, how the mighty have fallen in result of one word, “closer.” Since Thornton has switched roles he’s been completely ineffective as the White Sox’s closer. Chances are he’ll slowly work himself back into his set-up role, as Ozzie Guillen will be forced to make a change.

Next up will be Sergio Santos as he has been the most effective pitcher out of the pen this season with no runs allowed over five innings pitched. Hopefully, the word closer does not affect his psyche as it has done to Thornton and Chris Sale.

The irony of this situation is the Sox addressed their issue with left-handed power by adding Adam Dunn, but let worrisome closer, Bobby Jenks, go to the Boston Red Sox for $6 million a year. Apparently, addressing one problem left a gapping hole for another problem to surface this season. The only solace Sox fans can take is the fact that three closers were used in 2005, but it should be noted that Bobby Jenks taking over that role played a key part of winning it all. I was actually at Jenks’ first game against the LA Dodgers, where he hit 101 on the speed gun and snapped off 69 mph curveballs. Ah, the good old days.

If Santos does not fill the role adequately I suggest a trade with the Yankees for Rafael Soriano. I know that may sound crazy, since they just signed him to have a back-up plan when Mariano Rivera retires or suffers an injury, but the Yankees are a team desperate for starting pitching.

A trade of Edwin Jackson or Jake Peavy for Soriano would nearly be perfect and fiscally responsible. I do not think that the Yankees would take a risk on Peavy at the moment, but if he comes back strong that might be a possibility. By trading Peavy, it would give the Sox the roster flexibility in June or July to add a marquee pitcher for teams looking to deal. A trade of Jackson for Soriano is really a wash roster wise, and will handcuff the Sox from making a key trade for a fifth starter at the trading deadline.

I know Phil Humber had a decent outing the other day, but I’m not sold on him just yet.

Preferably, I’d like Thornton to figure out this problem, and have Santos shift into the closer role with a rotation of Mark Beuhrle, John Danks, Jake Peavy, Gavin Floyd, and Edwin Jackson. Sounds pretty good to me, but not sure that will be case.

Seven in a row…

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The Sox are 7-0 with Manny.

The White Sox have won seven games in a row and haven’t even gained a full game on the Twins. They’ve gained only a half game over the last seven games. The Sox and Twins are both 8-2 over their last ten games and it seems like both teams find a way to win, of course if this keeps up something will have to give next week when the Twins arrive at the Cell.

Both teams won 5-4 on Monday, but the Sox game had a little more drama as a ball that was clearly foul was called a home run. Brandon Inge hit the ball well foul, but the third base ump called it fair. The play went to review after the White Sox protested. The call was reversed and it set-up an extra inning win for the White Sox. Rookie phenom, Chris Sale, retired all eight batters that he faced to earn his first win. Sale’s stats continued to become more impressive with an ERA of  0.66, a WHIP of 1.10, and 19 strike outs in 13-2/3 innings pitched.

Edwin Jackson had his first so-so game with the Sox as he let up four runs over 7-1/3 innings while striking out six. He continued to eat up innings for the White Sox, and his control remained excellent as he only walked one. The Tigers hit Jackson early before he settled in and pitched a decent game.

Paul Konerko sat out with back spasms, but should return on Wednesday or at Thursday the latest. Ozzie Guillen may sit Konerko an extra day to be safe, especially if the Sox continue to win. Manny Ramirez continued to swing a hot bat as he had three hits and scored a run. He has seven hits in four starts with the White Sox, and while he hasn’t hit for power he is getting on base of keeps the line moving. It’s reminiscent of Bobby Abreu, and if that’s the case the Sox will continue to have opportunities to score a lot of runs.

Oh no, Manny’s on deck!!!

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courtesy of AP

The mere sight of Manny Ramirez strikes fear into the hearts of pitchers throughout the league, well at least the bullpen of the Cleveland Indians. Last night Manny came out to pinch-hit in the ninth inning with AJ Pierzynski at the plate. As Hawk Harrelson would say, “AJ got a cookie and he did not miss it.” No he did not, as AJ launched a three-run bomb that helped the Sox win behind another stellar pitching performance from Edwin Jackson.

The Sox have struggled all year against the Indians, so when they had the opportunity to go for the sweep this afternoon I had my doubts, but something crazy happened again with the Sox down 4-2 with two runners on. Paul Konerko stepped into the batters box and Manny stepped into the on-deck circle and BOOM!!! For the second straight game a three-run homer occurred with Ramirez on deck. Bill Melton spoke last night during the White Sox post game on how Manny’s presence will help add to Konerko’s already gaudy totals, 33 home runs, 98 RBI’s, and a .319 batting average. If that’s the case then the White Sox should not have any problems over taking the Twins, because in Yankee fashion they should be able to out slug an opponent.

So a sweep of the Indians is how this ten game road trip starts out for the White Sox, now if we could get a little help from the Tigers tonight and tomorrow things will get even more interesting in the AL Central.

Cowboy Joe strikes again!

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What, it's raining.

The White Sox lost a starting pitcher last night, not to injury but to idiot umpire, Cowboy Joe West. He allowed last nights game of the Sox vs. Royals to start even though radar showed him 20-minutes prior to the game that it would surely get rained out. Edwin Jackson threw seven pitches in the bottom of the first and then Shit-kicker Joe called the game as torrential rains poured down.

Now, the Sox and KC have to play a double-header tonight that can’t start until 6:10pm because of ridiculous rules that MLB has with Fox television. As of right now the Sox have no starter for the second game this evening which will probably start just shy of 10pm this evening.

Is there any punishment for an umpire? What kind of idiot allows a game to start after he looks at a radar with the grounds crew chief and it’s all green? This moron’s reign of terror needs to be put to an end, Cowboy Joe should stick to his shitty music and get out of baseball.

The Peavy Effect

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It took until now but the White Sox are finally feeling the effects on losing Jake Peavy for the year as I’m officially saying that starter, Freddy Garcia, is out of gas. A lot of people probably are thinking that the Sox would not have gotten Edwin Jackson if Peavy was still in the rotation, but don’t be so sure about that. The idea at the trading deadline is to make your team better, and if Peavy did not go down to injury and the Sox had the opportunity to add Jackson to one of the best pitching staffs in baseball then they would have.

Garcia has not pitched that well since Jackson has shown-up, and has even commented that he’s the odd man out going into next season. That’s obvious since Jackson is as good of a pitcher as Garcia was in his prime, if not better. Jackson continues his domination of offenses since coming to the White Sox with 11 strike outs against the Tigers on Saturday. Since arriving Jackson has compiled some pretty impressive stats over a three-game span; 24 strikeouts, three earned runs, only four walks, and a 1.35 ERA over 20-innings pitched. His one blemish would be he has let up 20 hits, but he’s certainly gotten out of whatever jams he’s gotten into.

As Sox fans you can only imagine the rotation in 2010 with Peavy pitching down the stretch, but we’ll have to wait until 2011 to see that rotation. Instead, the Sox now sit three games back of the Twins since J.J. Putz has had one really bad pitch in each of his last two appearances that helped the Tigers win. You can blame Putz, but the lack of offense on Saturday that had many opportunities again, and another poor outing by Garcia put the Sox in a bad position. They did battle back and took a lead, but a poor bullpen outing and bad fielding lead to their demise on Sunday.

Hopefully the White Sox will show-up with clear heads to Target Field on Tuesday evening as they send their top three pitchers against the Twins, and let’s hope the Sox hitters don’t let the Twins’ pitchers off the hook like they did on their last home stand.

A little revenge

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Avila celebrates what would be the game winner.

I’m sure the Tigers wouldn’t mind spoiling the White Sox postseason hopes at all this season, especially since many of players on the 2010 Tigers were part of last years team. The Sox basically took it to the Tigers in the last few weeks of the season aiding in their demise into a one-game playoff against the Twins. UGH… the Twins. The Twins won that and the Tigers went home. I believe a team should compete until the end of the season no matter what their situation (don’t watch the Cubs,) and the top three AL Central teams do just that.

Jim Leyland is a hard-ass and would never settle for a team that just sits back and coasts in any situation, he expects that everyday and the Tigers are a mirror image of that attitude. Last night is a perfect example of how they scraped out a victory from the Sox pushing the Sox two games behind the Twins. Edwin Jackson struck out 11 and newly ordained closer, J.J. Putz struck out three, but not before he let a man on and gave up a go-ahead, two-run shot to Alex Avila. Another blown save for the White Sox bullpen, not good.

I really thought this season it was going to be the White Sox and the Tigers battling for first with the Twins looking in, but that’s not the case, again. Instead, it’s the Twins leading the division looking to win the AL Central, AGAIN! The sad part about that is the White Sox and Tigers are the only AL Central teams to get out of the first round, the Twins get there and choke every year they make the playoff, what a waste.