27-year old lefty swinging outfielder Alejandro de Aza is off to a good start for the White Sox. He has played in 25 games for the White Sox so far this year and he is 21 of 69 (.304 avg, .835 OPS) with 10 runs scored, 2 homers, 10 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. de Aza has been a nice surprise for the White Sox as they called him up to put pressure on Alex Rios. He has not only done that but he has helped them wherever he has been needed. Look for him to continue to get decent P.T. as long as he keeps hitting.

The White Sox have placed 28-year old righty swinging RF Carlos Quentin on the 15-day disabled list due to a sprained left shoulder. Quentin has played in 117 games for the White Sox so far this year and he is 107 for 419 (.255 avg, .842 OPS) with 53 runs scored, 24 homers, 77 RBIs and 1 stolen base. 22-year old righty swinging outfielder Dayan Viciedo has been called up from AAA to essentially replace Quentin in the starting lineup in RF. Viciedo has played in 119 games in AAA-ball so far this year and he is 134 for 452 (.296 avg, .856 OPS) with 60 runs scored, 20 homers, 78 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. He played in 38 games in his first taste of the majors last year for the White Sox and he was 32 for 104 (.308 avg, .840 OPS) with 17 runs scored, 5 homers, 13 RBIs and 1 stolen bases. White Sox’ GM has been waiting to call up Viciedo and now he gets his wish.

32-year old lefty starting pitcher Mark Buehrle is turning in another very solid season for the White Sox. He has started 25 games for the White Sox so far this year and he is 10-6 with a 3.19 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP. This is Buehrle’s 11th straight season with double digit wins for the White Sox, which shows how consistently good he has been for them. Buehrle has now pitched in 384 games (359 starts) in his first 12 years with the White Sox and he is 158-116 with a 3.80 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP. He is currently is #7 in White Sox’ history in wins.

24-year old righty swinging 2B Gordon Beckham has looked pathetic with a bat in his hands so far in August. Beckham has played in 17 games so far in August and he is 10 for 59 (.169 avg, .472 OPS) with 5 runs scored, 1 homer, 2 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. He has now played in 113 games for the Pale Hose so far this year and he is 90 for 381 (.236 avg, .634 OPS) with 44 runs scored, 9 homers, 33 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. If the White Sox had a better alternative to play at 2B, Beckham would likely be on the bench right now…..but they don’t. With that in mind, they really need him to pick up the pace with the bat.

The White Sox have placed 28-year old righty starting pitcher Philip Humber on the 15-day disabled list due to a facial contusion. He was hit in the forehead with a linedrive off the bat of Cleveland Indians’ outfielder Kosuke Fukudome in Thurstday Night’s game. Humber has pitched in 23 games (21 starts) for the White Sox so far this year and he is 8-8 with a 3.63 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP. Humber will be replaced in the rotation by 24-year old righty Zach Stewart. Stewart has pitched in 4 games (2 starts) for the White Sox so far this year and he is 1-1 with a 2.65 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP. He has now pitched in 7 games (5 starts) for the Jays & White Sox this year and he is 1-2 with a 3.74 ERA and a 1.63 WHIP. I have a feeling that Stewart is going to pitch well while Humber is out of action. The Pale Hose have called up 32-year old righty reliever Josh Kinney to replace Humber on the pitching staff. Kinney has pitched in 49 games (0 starts) in AAA-ball so far this year and he is 6-3 with 14 saves, a 2.77 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP. He has not pitched in the majors since the 2009 season with the St. Louis Cardinals. He has pitched in 45 games (0 starts) in parts of three years in the majors and he is 1-0 with a 4.56 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP.

The White Sox have placed 34-year old lefty swinging catcher A.J. Pierzynski on the 15-day disabled list with a fractured right wrist. Pierzynski has played in 105 games for the White Sox so far this year and he is 110 for 371 (.296 avg, .750 OPS) with 32 runs scored, 6 homers and 39 RBIs. With Ramon Castro also on the D.L. with a broken hand, the Pale Hose are going to have to go with 25-year old righty swinging Tyler Flowers and 29-year old righty swinging Donny Lucy behind the plate until Pierzyski or Castro come off the D.L. Tyler Flowers came into this season as the White Sox’ #17 prospect according to Baseball America. Flowers has played in 8 games for the White Sox so far this year and he is 6 for 20 (.300 avg, .841 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 1 homer and 1 RBI. He has also played in AAA-ball this year and he was 58 for 222 (.261 avg, .890 OPS) with 36 runs scored, 15 homers, 32 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Flowers will likely get the bulk of the P.T. behind the plate for the time being. Donny Lucy played in 7 games earlier this year for the Pale Hose and he is 5 for 15 (.333 avg, 1.178 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 1 homer, 2 RBIs and 1 stolen base. He also played in 40 games in AAA-ball this year and he was 21 for 133 (.158 avg, .489 OPS) with 11 runs scored, 4 homers and 9 RBIs.

35-year old righty swinging 1B Paul Konerko keeps rolling along for the White Sox. He has played in 114 games so far this year for the White Sox and he is 128 for 411 (.311 avg, .949 OPS) with 54 runs scored, 27 homers, 82 RBIs and 1 stolen base. He has now played in 1,882 games in his first 13 years with the White Sox and he is 1,941 of 6,289 (.284 avg, .868 OPS) with 1,004 runs scored, 385 homers, 1,209 RBIs and 9 stolen bases. Konerko is #2 in both homers and RBIs in White Sox’ history right now.

25-year old righty swinging 1B Ian Gac has played in 118 games in A-ball so far this year for the Pale Hose and he is 119 for 435 (.274 avg, .896 OPS) with 81 runs scored, 30 homers and 82 RBIs. Gac has now played in 845 games in his first 9 years in the minors and he is 798 for 3,195 (.250 avg, .772 OPS) with 447 runs scored, 157 homers, 538 RBIs and 16 stolen bases. Gac has whiffed 1,041 games in his minor league career as he seems to have a lot of holes in his swing. Despite all the power he has shown in the minors, Gac has never played in higher than A-ball….which is amazing.

The Chicago White Sox really liked Sergio Santos’ throwing arm from shortstop but he was never going to make it to the show there because he wasn’t a good hitter. In his first seven years in the minors, he played in 799 games in which he was 712 for 2,867 (.248 avg, .699 OPS) with 380 runs scored, 72 homers, 373 RBIs and 27 stolen bases. The White Sox decided to convert Santos to pitching in 2009 and it didn’t go too well. Santos pitched in 26 games (0 starts) in A+AA+AAA-ball in 2009 and he was 0-3 with a 8.16 ERA and a 1.99 WHIP. The White Sox pressed on and Santos won a job in the Pale Hose’ bullpen in the spring on 2010 and the rest is history. Santos has pitched in 45 games (0 starts) for the White Sox so far this year and he is 3-3 with 22 saves, a 2.85 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP. He has only given up 27 hits while whiffing 61 batters in his first 47 1/3 innings so far this year as he is missing a lot of bats. He has now pitched in 101 games (0 starts) in his first two years with the White Sox and he is 5-5 with 23 saves, a 2.91 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP.

The White Sox have designated 29-year old righty reliever Brian Bruney for assignment. Bruney pitched in 23 games (0 starts) for the White Sox this year and he was 1-0 with a 6.46 ERA and a 1.93 WHIP. He has now pitched in 272 games (1 start) in his first 8 years in the majors and he is 18-12 with 13 saves, a 4.70 ERA and a 1.62 WHIP. Bruney has always had good enough stuff to succeed in the majors but his lack of control has always gotten him into trouble. I don’t think the Pale Hose are going to miss Bruney at all going forward.

UPDATE: (8/15/2011) - The White Sox have released Brian Bruney.