FanShot

Broadway Up; Getz down

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By Mark Gonzales - 6:22 p.m. BALTIMORE - Following the White Sox's 4-3 loss at Baltimore in 14 innings, pitcher Lance Broadway was promoted from Triple-A Charlotte and infielder Chris Getz was optioned to the Knights. Also an appropriate place for this: Optioned RHP Lance Broadway to Charlotte (Triple-A). [8/14] Recalled LHP Clayton Richard from Charlotte. [8/15] I've railed in the past about how teams who find themselves with a less-than-ideal rotation should mix and match starters, especially when they have no established fourth and/or fifth starter, and here's a great case in point—with Jose Contreras out for the balance of the season, the Sox have only four relatively established starters. But what if they acknowledge that the limitations of Broadway—a soft-tossing righty with a sketchy performance record—and Richard—an unestablished lefty—make for a nice bit of pairing off and playing matchup games against low-end matchups? That seems to be what they got in plugging in Broadway against the Royals, an especially feeble foe in light of their .254/.306/.371 team line against right-handed pitching, while against the Mariners they ran Richard out there against a made-over lineup that features five lefty batters in relatively regular roles. Both guys delivered good games, so not settling on one or the other seems to have already yielded an immediate reward. The next time the slot rolls around will be against the Orioles today, but after that, the Sox haven't committed to anybody in the fifth slot, or even employing one in turn with the front four when they might instead skip them. Basically, it's looking like a great way to use a pair of young starters to best effect without asking too much of them, while putting the Sox in the best position to win ballgames and take their best shot at the division title. Then, if the team makes it to October action, whoever is or was the fifth starter becomes irrelevant, because you no longer need one (and barely need a fourth). It would be another little bit of cleverness from a management team that seems to find ways to distract you from the clever little things that they're up to on the margins. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=7991