the chicago white sox finally got the pitcher they wanted in jake peavey but at the same time conceded the central division title to the detroit tigers. why? well, the tigers also made a big trade but the pitcher they got is healthy and ready to go right now while peavy still needs at least a month before he's ready and in the meantime, the sox have just 4 pitchers with the toughest part of their schedule happening RIGHT NOW.
don't get me wrong. i LOVE the trade because peavy is the real deal whose just short of a hundred victories at the age of 28 and he's averaged 15 wins a year while playing mostly for really bad padre teams that averaged 85 losses a year for the past seven seasons.
but regarding this season, the sox have screwed themselves in order to be the odds-on favorite next year. relying on 58-year old jose contreras and the grossly overweight bartolo colon to bring you to the winner's circle this year is pure folly and the south siders traded away any possible pitching help for this year in order to obtain peavy.
so the die has been cast for next year when the core of their rotation will be mark buerhle, john danks, gavin floyd and jake peavy. colon will just be a bad memory so if you can plug in a decent 5th starter along with the strongest bullpen in baseball.........you can start making plans to spend part of october on the south side.
i hope i'm wrong about this year but unless the sox go to a three man rotation, it looks like a third place finish.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment