Jose Contreras (11-7, 4.23) vs. Kyle Snyder (4-3, 5.94)
Kyle Snyder is a terrible pitcher. He was even released by the Kansas City Royals. Jose Contreras, has been a terrible pitcher lately. He has a nearly $30M contract.
For the first time all year, Ozzie is has really shaken up the line-up. BUT HE'S NOT PANICKING!
Sensing a glaring weakness in the Sox outfield, and a with a highly-touted prospect providing half the offense yesterday, Ozzie has made the obvious move of replacing Scott Podsednik Brian Anderson in the lineup with Ryan Sweeney.
Anderson has prodived league average offense for the last 3 months with well above average defense. Scott Podsednik has been below average at the plate for 14 months with decent range, but scary bad outfield fundamentals. And he's gotten even worse lately.
White Sox left fielders are batting .228/.277/.315 since the All-Star break, with all their at-bats coming from the leadoff position. Even worse, they have batted just .111/.200/.288 in the first inning, which is the only inning in which they are guaranteed to lead off.
Sweeney will bat in the leadoff spot tonight, while playing centerfield. So while I don't really like throwing the kid to the wolves right away, it appears that Ozzie has finally acknowledged the problem with his leadoff hitters. Now if he would only make the connection that his leadoff hitters have played LF in every game this season. Why stop tonight?