When the White Sox signed 35-year old righty starting pitcher Freddy Garcia over the winter not many people thought he would make much of a impact in 2010. After all, from 2007-09 Garcia pitched in 23 games (all starts) in which he was 5-10 with a 5.02 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP. This season though Garcia has been very solid for the Pale Hose. He has pitched in 14 games (all starts) for the White Sox this season and he is 8-3 with a 4.66 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP. I guess not too many White Sox fans should be surprised at how well Garcia is pitching for them this season. He has pitched in 105 games (all starts) in his 5 years with the White Sox and he is 51-28 with a 4.30 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP. The White Sox are praying that Garcia can stay healthy the whole year.

The White Sox have traded 27-year old lefty reliever Wes Whisler to the Marlins for future considerations. Whisler pitched in 19 games (0 starts) in AAA-ball for the White Sox this year and he was 0-0 with a 5.02 ERA and a 1.61 WHIP. Whisler pitched in 3 games (0 starts) for the White Sox in 2009 and he was 0-0 with a 13.50 ERA and a 2.25 WHIP. The White Sox have a lot of pitchers they like more than Whisler so they won’t miss him.

The White Sox have sent 28-year old righty swinging catcher Jared Price to the A’s likely for a bucket of baseballs. Price played in 35 games in AA-ball this year and he was 20 of 102 (.196 avg, .591 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 3 homers and 5 RBIs. He also whiffed 39 times while only walking 9 times this year showing an utter lack of plate discipline. The White Sox won’t miss Price at all.

UPDATE: (6/28/2010) - The A’s have sent 25-year old righty swinging 2B/SS Michael Richard to complete this trade. Richard has played in 42 games in A+AA-ball this season and he is 26 of 125 (.208 avg, .533 OPS) with 14 runs scored, 7 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. He has now played in 283 games in his four years in the minors and he is 275 of 1,016 (.271 avg, .690 OPS) with 171 runs scored, 4 homers, 91 RBIs and 87 stolen bases. The White Sox got by far the better end of this trade.

When the White Sox signed 43-year old switch hitting 2B/SS/3B Omar Vizquel they thought they wouldn’t need to use him a whole lot. He was brought in to pretty much mentor 2B Gordon Beckham and SS Alexei Ramirez. But when starting 3B Mark Teahan went down with a broken finger Vizquel found himself getting a lot of starts at 3B and he has been holding his own there. Vizquel has played in 33 games for the White Sox so far this season and he is 28 of 108 (.259 avg, .656 OPS) with 15 runs scored, 1 homer, 14 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. It will be interesting to see how the Hall of Fame voters handle Vizquel five years after he retires. He likely won’t get to 3,000 hits as he currently has 2,732. Vizquel also has 391 stolen bases and 11 Gold Gloves. His career resembles that of Ozzie Smith who made the Hall in his first year on the ballot.

33-year old righty reliever J.J. Putz had a rough time with the Mets last season but you wouldn’t know it by watching him right now. Putz has pitched in 22 games (0 starts) for the Pale Hose so far this season and he is 1-2 with a 2.38 ERA and a 0.88 WHIP. He has only given up 16 hits in 22 2/3 innings this season while whiffing 29 batters and only walking 4. A lot of other teams have been scouting Putz but with the White Sox’ sudden surge they likely won’t be looking to move him any time soon.

The White Sox have designated 27-year old righty swinging infielder Jayson Nix for assignment. Nix played in 24 games for the White Sox this season and he was 8 of 49 (.163 avg, .513 OPS) with 3 runs scored, 1 homer and 5 RBIs. He played in 118 games in his two years with the White Sox and he was 65 of 304 (.214 avg, .683 OPS) with 39 runs scored, 13 homers, 37 RBIs and 10 stolen bases. It will be interesting to see if Nix gets claimed off waivers or not. The White Sox have called up their #7 prospect heading into this season according to Baseball America, 21-year old 3B Dayan Viciedo. Viciedo has played in 62 games in AAA-ball this year and he is 69 of 238 (.290 avg, .855 OPS) with 30 runs scored, 14 homers and 34 RBIs. He is a free swinger though as he whiffed 52 times while only walking 8 times in AAA. The White Sox probably should have called up Viciedo as soon as Mark Teahan broke his finger.

UPDATE: (6/24/2010) - The Indians have claimed Jayson Nix off waivers ending his time in the Windy City.

32-year old lefty swinging starting LF Juan Pierre came to the White Sox in a trade over the winter with the idea that he would provide a spark at the top of the lineup but it hasn’t worked out that way so far this season. Pierre has played in 61 games for the White Sox this year and he is 60 of 242 (.248 avg, .589 OPS) with 28 runs scored, 0 homers, 7 RBIs and 25 stolen bases. He is the major league leader in steals this season (25) and he has the most steals of any active major leaguer (484) right now. The White Sox need Pierre to be the player he was in his first 10 seasons (all in the N.L.). In his first 10 years in the majors he played in 1,433 games in which he was 1,663 of 5,533 (.301 avg, .720 OPS) with 804 runs scored, 13 homers, 387 RBIs and 459 stolen bases.

The White Sox have signed 28-year old lefty swinging 2B/SS Fernando Cortez to a minor league deal. He’s off to a good start for the Pale Hose in AA ball as he has played in 6 games in which he is 10 of 24 (.417 avg, .917 OPS) with 1 run scored, 4 RBIs and 1 stolen base. Cortez last played in the majors in 2007 with the Royals. He has played in 16 games in his major league career and he is 5 of 27 (.185 avg, .464 OPS) with 3 runs scored and 2 RBIs. It never hurts to have guys like Cortez in the minors for depth reasons so this was a good signing for the White Sox.

27-year old righty starting pitcher Gavin Floyd is starting to get the reputation of being a very slow starter but a strong finisher. Well he’s living up to the first half of his reputation as the White Sox wait for him to get going. Floyd has started 12 games for the Pale Hose this year and he is 2-6 with a 6.18 ERA and a 1.63 WHIP. He has allowed 84 hits (7 homers) while walking 25 batters in only 67 innings this season for the White Sox. The White Sox need Floyd to get it together soon or they are going to continue to falter in the A.L. Central.

OF/DH Harold Baines started his career with the White Sox and he came back to them a couple of other times later in his career. He always seemed to have a very nice stroke at the plate from the left side. Baines played 14 years for the White Sox appearing in 1,670 games in which he was 1,773 of 6,149 (.288 avg, .809 OPS) with 786 runs scored, 221 homers, 981 RBIs and 32 stolen bases. Baines was tied for 6th all time in games for the White Sox (1,670), #5 in hits (1,773), #8 in runs scored (786), #3 in homers (221), #4 in RBIs (981) and #4 in doubles with 320. Baines was one of the better hitters in White Sox history but I think he will still fall short of the Hall of Fame.