May 21, 20187 yr There was a lot of hand-wringing the first month of the season, but the bullpen has quietly cemented itself as the strength of the Sox team. They currently rank 12th overall according to FG with plenty of reasons for optimism moving forward. Some stat lines so far this season: Jones 3.50 ERA, 3.86 FIP, 4.12 xFIP, 10 K/9, 3.5 BB/9 Soria 5.65 ERA, 3.21 FIP, 3.76 xFIP, 10.67 K/9, 1.88 BB/9 Avilan 5.25 ERA, 3.47 FIP, 4.14 xFIP, 11.25 K/9, 5.25 BB/9 Bummer 3.68 ERA, 2.39 FIP, 3.38 xFIP, 9.82 K/9, 3.68 BB/9 Rondon 3.86 ERA, 2.28 FIP, 3.55 xFIP, 11.57 K/9, 4.50 BB/9 Fry 0.00 ERA, 0.98 FIP, 2.14 xFIP, 12.96 K/9, 2.16 BB/9 You'd like to see some improvement with Avilan and Rondon's BB%, but they are both striking out a ton of people so they can get by with the elevated BB totals. In addition, Avilan and Soria are both battling BABIPs above .400 right now, so we should hopefully be seeing some positive regression on both accounts. The emergence of the last 3 is what has really surprised though. The Sox can effectively move all of their veteran talent in the bullpen this deadline, get some pieces for the system, and still have a solid core next year that they can supplement with Burdi, Hamilton, and maybe a free agent or two. Optimism!
May 21, 20187 yr Author Just now, southsider2k5 said: One thing is painfully obvious with those numbers, our defense sucks right now. It's without a doubt the worst outfield defense I've ever witnessed
May 21, 20187 yr Bummer, Rondon, and Fry are nice surprises. Jones has been a bit inconsistent. Soria has been what we expected, I think. Avilan has been a bit of a disappointment so far. Overall, though, I would agree that the bullpen has been doing a decent job. And they've been asked to take on more innings that they should have been due to some horrendous starts.
May 21, 20187 yr The other thing is that the pen will be a whole lot more effective when they are covering 3 to 4 innings a night instead of 7 or 8.
May 21, 20187 yr I hope Jones pitches well enough to lure some team in to trading for him. I have no confidence in him to a) stay healthy and b) become an elite reliever for which he held so much promise.
May 21, 20187 yr Did anybody really see this coming with Fry? He's been phenomenal so far...just nasty. Rondon has been a nice surprise too...but agree with Hogan above that Avilan has been a major disappointment. I'm begging for a miracle that Soria heats up once the weather does and has a stretch the next month and a half that makes him look at least moderately attractive for some team.
May 21, 20187 yr 20 minutes ago, Wanne said: Did anybody really see this coming with Fry? He's been phenomenal so far...just nasty. Rondon has been a nice surprise too...but agree with Hogan above that Avilan has been a major disappointment. I'm begging for a miracle that Soria heats up once the weather does and has a stretch the next month and a half that makes him look at least moderately attractive for some team. If you believe in the stats, his numbers should be about two full runs better than they are right now.
May 21, 20187 yr 1 hour ago, southsider2k5 said: The other thing is that the pen will be a whole lot more effective when they are covering 3 to 4 innings a night instead of 7 or 8. B-I-N-G-O You realize as a whole they are giving a lot of 0 innings, but that's also because they are giving a LOT of innings, and the ones where runs are given up can be painful for a struggling offense. Good recovery at this point. They also seemed to do well at identifying the ones in a slump vs ones that needed to just go
May 21, 20187 yr I wonder if/when they call up Vieira & Hamilton. Those two (and eventually Burdi) could really be game changers. Here are Vieira’s stats over his last 10 games: 12.2 IP, 2.13 ERA, 8 H, 0 HR, 22 K, 10 BB Still a bit wild, but clearly effective with a rediculous 15/9 K rate. Hamilton meanwhile has been stellar all year with the following stats: 15 IP, 1.20 ERA, 8 H, 0 HR, 22 K, 7 BB, 1.81 FIP Can’t wait for these two to join the big league club!
May 21, 20187 yr 24 minutes ago, bmags said: B-I-N-G-O You realize as a whole they are giving a lot of 0 innings, but that's also because they are giving a LOT of innings, and the ones where runs are given up can be painful for a struggling offense. Good recovery at this point. They also seemed to do well at identifying the ones in a slump vs ones that needed to just go Yeah it's really surprising how well they've actually held up considering they're consistently being left out to dry by both the starting pitching and the defense.
May 21, 20187 yr 26 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said: I wonder if/when they call up Vieira & Hamilton. Those two (and eventually Burdi) could really be game changers. Here are Vieira’s stats over his last 10 games: 12.2 IP, 2.13 ERA, 8 H, 0 HR, 22 K, 10 BB Still a bit wild, but clearly effective with a rediculous 15/9 K rate. Hamilton meanwhile has been stellar all year with the following stats: 15 IP, 1.20 ERA, 8 H, 0 HR, 22 K, 7 BB, 1.81 FIP Can’t wait for these two to join the big league club! We have a system full of big time arms. It will be very interesting to see how they all shake out and who succeeds.
May 21, 20187 yr 7 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said: We have a system full of big time arms. It will be very interesting to see how they all shake out and who succeeds. With all of our discussion on "will the sox pony up for players?", a huge boost to that will be if we could somehow build a dominant in-house bullpen. Bullpen has become incredibly expensive. Having that be cheap again would allow us to allocate more resources to a position player or rotation member. edit: And I'm not sure how likely it is, but I do think it's fair to say this actually has been part of the white sox strategy.
May 21, 20187 yr Jones, Fry and Rondon are doing well. Those are the only 3 that pitched in our last 3 wins, except for 1 (unsuccessful) inning out of Avilan. Beck has had a few good moments - he's probably next best. The rest of them are awful. It's way too early to project a 2020 and beyond bullpen. Their staying power isn't long. Rondon clearly should be flipped in a month or 2; there are a couple of guys in Charlotte who probably have a better flip projection at this point than Soria or Avilan. Edited May 21, 20187 yr by GreenSox
May 21, 20187 yr 3 hours ago, Wanne said: Did anybody really see this coming with Fry? He's been phenomenal so far...just nasty. Yes... but not THIS good. Always liked him though.
May 22, 20187 yr 1 hour ago, kitekrazy said: I'll treat this thread as sarcasm. Yeah, the Soxtalk jinx means the pen will now go into a 3 month long historical meltdown.
May 22, 20187 yr 12 hours ago, Chicago White Sox said: I wonder if/when they call up Vieira & Hamilton. Those two (and eventually Burdi) could really be game changers. Here are Vieira’s stats over his last 10 games: 12.2 IP, 2.13 ERA, 8 H, 0 HR, 22 K, 10 BB Still a bit wild, but clearly effective with a rediculous 15/9 K rate. Hamilton meanwhile has been stellar all year with the following stats: 15 IP, 1.20 ERA, 8 H, 0 HR, 22 K, 7 BB, 1.81 FIP Can’t wait for these two to join the big league club! Would love to see Vieira up if he can keep a hold on his stuff. Could be electric out of the bullpen!
May 22, 20187 yr Author A good name to keep an eye on in the minors: Jose Ruiz. Sox acquired him from the Padres in the offseason and so far between A+/AA, he has accumulated 2.57 ERA, 0.81 WHIP, 34:6 K:BB in 21 IP.
May 22, 20187 yr 21 minutes ago, Dunt said: A good name to keep an eye on in the minors: Jose Ruiz. Sox acquired him from the Padres in the offseason and so far between A+/AA, he has accumulated 2.57 ERA, 0.81 WHIP, 34:6 K:BB in 21 IP. Has he got the stuff to be a starter or do you see him as only a bullpen guy?
May 22, 20187 yr 27 minutes ago, Bart said: Has he got the stuff to be a starter or do you see him as only a bullpen guy? Can't answer this question on stuff, but that could take a while to perform the switch. He was a converted catcher just 2 years ago.
May 22, 20187 yr 27 minutes ago, bmags said: Can't answer this question on stuff, but that could take a while to perform the switch. He was a converted catcher just 2 years ago. Looks like a quick developer if he only moved over to pitching 2 years ago, so could move through the system quickly!
May 23, 20187 yr Jeanmar Gomez (30 yrs old) has been pitching pretty good for Charlotte and had 3 good years in MLB but his last 2 trys with the Phillies were disasters. He might be a AAA pitcher at this point but he should be given another shot.
May 23, 20187 yr On 5/21/2018 at 7:31 PM, kitekrazy said: I'll treat this thread as sarcasm. Indeed. Our pen still blows.
May 23, 20187 yr 22 hours ago, Dunt said: A good name to keep an eye on in the minors: Jose Ruiz. Sox acquired him from the Padres in the offseason and so far between A+/AA, he has accumulated 2.57 ERA, 0.81 WHIP, 34:6 K:BB in 21 IP. I wonder who you got this from..?
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