Six Pack: CSN random thoughs

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http://www.csnchicago.com/06/15/11/Six-Pac...&feedID=621

 

MINNEAPOLIS – With more time than usual between games, unsurprisingly thoughts have turned to two players who wouldn’t be pitching for the Chicago White Sox anytime soon, Jake Peavy and Tony Pena.

 

1. More than this

 

Peavy’s latest injury has left the team in a state of flux, to be sure, as manager Ozzie Guillen was unable even to commit to the number of starts he’d need to see his righthanded hoss make at Charlotte before bringing him back up to Chicago.

 

“It’s up to how he feels, how many pitches he throws [in his rehab start Thursday] and how hard it was to throw them. There will be a lot of things they’ll watch to see how many days he’ll be down there.”

 

As for what the White Sox will do when Peavy returns, Guillen was again noncommittal.

 

“We talked a little bit yesterday and today, but right now we’re better off deciding what to do once he’s back,” he said. “When I know the exact day he’s back, I’ll decide whether we keep the six-man rotation. But I don’t have anything specific now what we should do.”

 

2. Layover blues

 

Yes, even big-leaguers have to suffer the indignities of us regular folk sometimes. Both Peavy and Pena, due to fly from Minneapolis to Charlotte for rehab appearances on Wednesday afternoon, found their flight canceled.

 

Peavy, still in the clubhouse, was disappointed to report that not only would he have to schlep around about five pieces of luggage down to Charlotte, but that for his new flight, around 11 p.m. Wednesday night, he had no seat assignment in coach—usually a dead ringer for a middle seat.

 

Pena, on the other hand, was stuck at the airport all day, somehow unaware that his flight had been bumped some eight hours.

 

 

3. Wishlist

 

In spite of just a 33-35 record at nearly the midseason mark, Guillen didn’t plan on posturing about his roster as the trade deadline nears.

 

“I need [Alex] Rios and [Adam] Dunn to start hitting, to be honest with you,” Guillen said when asked of his team’s needs. “I’m not going to say we need this or that—when we set this ballclub up, spent a lot of money, we assumed they’re going to do what they’re supposed to do … Hopefully these guys start hitting and help the ballclub.”

 

4. In one corner, Pena

 

It didn’t sound like Guillen was all that eager to have Pena back in the fold.

 

“That’s another case of it being up to him—and I don’t know how many games Hermie and Kenny will have him throwing down there,” Guillen said. “When Pena comes here he has to be 100% ready to pitch, so I’m guessing more than once. We have to see how he throws, if he can go back-to-back days, can he go two innings in a row, little things like that.”

 

5. In the other, Bruney

 

Guillen immediately asserted that he was pleased with AAA callup Brian Bruney’s work, but qualified it almost immediately.

 

“He’s only thrown back-to-back days once,” Guillen said. “I want to bring him in in situations to find out what he can do.”

 

So it comes down to how the seventh man in the pen can sew the gaps shut between starters and the back-end power arms.

 

Said Guillen: “Bruney has done very well, but am I 100% percent comfortable with him? No, because I’ve only seen him once”

 

6. It all comes down to Crain

 

“At the end of the day, I have to take care of Crain,” Guillen said of last righty in the pen. “I use Crain in big-game situations, but he can’t be out there five times a week—that’s a crime. That’s why I need somebody I can have confidence in, to get that inning out of the way to bring the game to lefties [Matt Thornton and Chris Sale] and [sergio] Santos. That’s a big inning for us.”

 

Brett Ballantini is CSNChicago.com's White Sox Insider. Follow him @CSNChi_Beatnik on Twitter for up-to-the-minute Sox information.