After finally coming to the conclusion that Joe Borchard is the odd man out in the Sox roster crunch, I'm wondering does he have trade value? If so, can we turn him into a useful reliever?
I'm beginning to get a little worried about our bullpen. It seems to me that the pen is a house of cards just waiting for the right gust of wind to knock the whole thing down.
- Jenks' elbow and weight make him a huge risk. And that's without even bringing up his off-the-field issues.
- I don't think Politte can match the control he showed last season. He had a K/BB ratio of 34:9 before the ASB, and was 23:12 after.
- I doubt Hermanson can post another season like last year without improving his strikeout rate greatly.
- Brandon McCarthy has never pitched from the pen. Plus he's a flyball pitcher who has a tendency to give up the long ball.
- Javier Lopez, who appears to have made the team barring another Kenny Williams trade, had an ERA north of 10 last season. That's awfully hard to ignore just because of 5 scoreless innings in Tucson.
- Neal Cotts is the member of the bullpen that I have the most confidence in. That says it all right there. A lefty who walks about 5 guys per 9 innings pitched is who I consider the best bet to produce near his '05 level.
Fortunately, I have great confidence in our starting staff...
