A hodgepodge of thoughts on the Sox

June 15, 2:56 PMChicago White Sox ExaminerJJ Stankevitz

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Chicago White Sox Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Gavin Floyd has been dominant in his last five starts.

I'll get back to regular postings in about three weeks—at least, that's when my current reporting class is done here at Mizzou and I'll actually have some free time on my hands. But since I have a little block of time now to write, here are some thoughts/observations/musings I figured I'd write up:

• Jose Contreras is back, and it's no coincidence that his success is due to him finding the feel for his forkball. He had major problems getting hitters to respect that pitch early in the year—when, let's be honest, he really wasn't ready to pitch in the majors—and he obviously found it while he was in Charlotte. His mound presence in his two starts since returning has been great, too, as he's pitching with a ton of confidence in his ability now. While nobody's expecting him to go eight shutout innings the rest of the way, at the least there's a good chance he pitches well enough to keep Bartolo Colon on the disabled list with a "knee injury" for the forseeable future.

• I love what Scott Podsednik has done at the plate so far, but I'm not sure it's sustainable. He's currently hitting .311 with a .360 OPS—far better than anybody could have anticipated—but his BABIP of .336 probably isn't sustainable given his 14.5 line drive rate. It's not inevitable that he tails off a bit, but nobody should be surprised if it happens. That being said, let's revisit the fact that Scott Podsednik is hitting .311 on June 15. It's not like the Sox have been the greatest team ever with him in the lineup, but it's almost scary to think where the team would be if he didn't sign that minor league deal in April that looked like a joke at the time.

• Gordon Beckham is starting to show signs of life. He's had back-to-back two-RBI games and isn't looking as jittery at the plate as he did in his first week in the majors. Beckham hasn't showcased a whole lot of power, but as he gets adjusted to major league pitching, that power should come. He needs to be given time to develop, and so far, Ozzie Guillen has done a good job keeping him in the lineup—which is somewhat surprising given how he's talked about Beckham the last two weeks. Nobody should expect Beckham to be a major impact player this year, but if he can put up better numbers than Josh Fields, I think everybody should be satisfied. Another plus side to Beckham: his 2.2 UZR (in a short period of time, though) is second-best on the White Sox.

• Back on May 21, Peter Gammons reported on ESPN that the Sox thought Gavin Floyd had been tipping his pitches. Gammons was definitely on to something, because in five starts since that date, Floyd has been pretty darn good. He's thrown 37.2 innings over five starts (three of those starts lasted 8.0 innings), allowed seven runs, struck out 36, and walked eight. Unlike last year, Floyd's FIP is nearly a run lower than his ERA—so it's not unreasonable to expect Floyd to continue pitching as well as he has while his ERA moves toward his FIP. While Floyd's success was somewhat shaky last year, his success in these last five starts has been anything but shaky. If the Sox can find a way to get John Danks going, this rotation will certainly be formidable enough to contend in the division, especially if...

• ...Detroit starts coming back to earth. While Edwin Jackson has been great this year, hitters have a BABIP of .252 against him this year. That's not likely to be sustainable, but it could hold up for the rest of the year a la Floyd last year. Outside of Justin Verlander—who's been dominant this year—Detroit's rotation should be due for some struggles in the coming months, especially if Jackson regresses a bit. Rick Porcello's been good, but if his ERA regresses toward his FIP, he'll struggle, and it's not like Dontrelle Willis or or Armando Galarraga have been all that great this year to back him up. Detroit's offense still is good enough to carry them, but if it comes down to pitching, the White Sox may ultimately end up with an advantage over the Tigers.

• That being said, the Sox need to find some offensive consistency to even think about contending. That's no guarantee to happen, but if Alexei Ramirez continues his resurgence and Beckham starts to hit (among other factors), it could happen. I get the feeling, though, that this offense will continue to be boom-or-bust for the rest of the season. They'll go on runs where they look great and then turn around and lost seven of 10 in an instant. While that's not exactly consistent, I'm thinking that 88 wins could take the division this year—so that's really not all that tall of an order. If the offense is able to go on a few streaks from now until September, there's a good chance this team will be in the race down the wire (especially because I really don't think Detroit's success is sustainable).

• One final thought: maybe all this positivity is because we're back into interleague play. The Sox are 5-1 against the Pirates and Brewers, and with nine games remaining against the Cubs and Reds (both of which struggled against AL Central opponents over the weekend), the Sox really could make a killing in the next week or so. And, yes, I realize that they're playing the almighty Dodgers for three games, but even if they lose two of three in that series it's not impossible that the Sox can recoup those losses with some nice wins over the Reds and Cubs.