Midterm grades for the 2013 White Sox pitching staff

Earlier today, I graded out the White Sox offense. Things weren't pretty. Parents were shouting. Students were crying. Administrators were giving hard stares. Thankfully, now I can grade the White Sox pitchers. This one should be smooth sailing.

Chris Sale- 6-8, 2.85 ERA, 131 strikeouts- Sale has been dominant all year long, but only has six wins to show for it. You can put the blame squarely on the offense and some poorly timed fielding blunders. Sale has been one of, if not the best, pitcher in the American League this year. This one is easy. Midterm Grade: A+

Jose Quintana- 4-2, 3.71 ERA, 90 strikeouts- Quintana is another guy who's numbers are severely struggling from a lack of run support. He has pitched very well on most occasions, only to come up empty handed in the win department. At this point, he looks like a legit mid-rotation guy and is proving to be a quality find on the part of Kenny Williams. Midterm Grade: A

Dylan Axelrod- 3-6, 5.33 ERA, 55 strikeouts- Axelrod really pitched well at the start of the season, but things have since caught up with him. He has gotten hammered in June. The White Sox wasted plenty of above average starts from Axelrod at the beginning of the year. He has proven to be someone who can make a few starts, but in the long run isn't quite cut out for the job. Midterm Grade: C-

Hector Santiago- 3-5, 3.30 ERA, 91 strikeouts- Santiago has proven to be an invaluable pitcher to the White Sox in 2013. He has been yanked back and forth between the rotation and the bullpen and he keeps on doing a fantastic job in whatever role he is called upon. He is another guy that has been hindered by poor run support (I'm sensing a theme here). It is pretty clear now that he is more suited for the rotation than Axelrod and his role may be steadier forward. Midterm Grade: A

Jake Peavy- 6-4, 4.30 ERA, 66 strikeouts- Peavy was having a solid season until his start on May 30 against the Cubs, where he got hit around pretty good. His next outing was another bad one, as he tried to pitch with a broken rib against Seattle and got lit up. He's been on the DL ever since. Hopefully he can come back and pitch how he was prior to that Cubs start. With a thin pitching market, Peavy could prove to be a quality trade chip for the White Sox, but he needs to be healthy to do that. Midterm Grade: B

John Danks- 2-6, 4.31 ERA, 45 strikeouts- Danks is returning from offseason shoulder surgery and after a rocky start, has pitched quite well. He has a quality start in each of his last four outings and has made it through at least seven innings in three of them. Hopefully he continues to progress and doesn't have any setbacks. Midterm Grade: B

Gavin Floyd- 0-4, 5.16 ERA, 25 strikeouts- He stunk then he was injured. Maybe vice versa. Either way he didn't get the job done this year. I find it hard to grade a starter on 24 innings, though. Midterm Grade: Incomplete

Addison Reed- 4-1, 3.95 ERA, 25 saves- Reed has done pretty well in a tough situation. Because of the poor White Sox offense, the games are usually close. The White Sox have only won eight games this season when Reed hasn't gotten the win or the save. He has had a couple of hiccups here and there but has been solid for the most part. Midterm Grade: A-

Nate Jones- 3-4, 4.34 ERA, 47 strikeouts- Jones really struggled out of the gate but has done well lately. His role will get bigger when/if Jesse Crain and Matt Lindstrom get moved. As long as he is staying ahead and keeping the ball in the park though, he should be fine. Midterm Grade: C+

Matt Lindstrom- 2-3, 2.87 ERA, 28 strikeouts- Lindstrom has done a good job, especially lately, for the White Sox. He has helped solidify the back end of the bullpen and may have made himself appealing to other GM's in trade talks. Midterm Grade: B+

Jesse Crain- 2-3, 0.74 ERA, 46 strikeouts- Crain had a record-setting run in the first half as he went 29 consecutive appearances without allowing a run. He made the All-Star team even though he is currently on the DL and should be a hot ticket item on the trading block should he return healthy. He has been pretty close to untouchable this season. Midterm Grade: A+

Matt Thornton- 0-3, 3.86 ERA, 21 strikeouts- The veteran was shipped out to Boston last week, ending his long tenure on the South Side. He struggled with righties this season, but still did a good job against left-handed hitters. He had his bad moments, but most of the time he still produced positive results. Midterm Grade: B

Simon Castro- 0-1, 2.70 ERA, six strikeouts- Castro was pretty impressive in his brief appearance here, and although he was just sent back to the minors, he is sure to get recalled soon. He looked a lot better than a lot of the guys who have been up and down this season. Midterm Grade: Incomplete

Casper Wells- 0-0, 0.00 ERA, one strikeout- Maybe this is why he's still here. Midterm Grade: A

Donnie Veal- 1-0, 6.75 ERA, nine strikeouts- I was going to include Veal in the bottom group, but decided against it because he was actually supposed to be a pretty major part of the bullpen this season. He struggled terribly in his first two stints up with the big club and was recalled again after Matt Thornton was traded. For what it is worth, he looked pretty good against Philadelphia last weekend and I hope there is more of that in the future, but for right now, he just hasn't gotten the job done. Midterm Grade: F

Brian Omogrosso, Ramon Trancoso, Deunte Heath and David Purcey have all appeared in games for the Sox this season. None of them have fared very well and some of them shouldn't be in the Major Leagues at all. Midterm Grade: Incomplete

This season really is a tale of two clubs. If this were football, there would be a strong possibility of Don Cooper landing a punch on Jeff Manto's jaw at some point during this season. If only the offense wasn't this painfully bad, maybe we would have had something here.